Zion Church

The Carnal Mind

If we receive a curse accompanied by terrible problems, then we need to ask God to show us the cause. Proverbs 26:2b says, ...the curse causeless shall not come. Perhaps our problem has been that we have not known how to appropriate God’s blessings and how to overcome our flesh.

The Lord gave us the key to victory by giving us His power to overcome the flesh (the carnal mind). He did not leave us powerless.

This was one of His promises, to give us the Holy Spirit. We are told that the carnal mind is enmity against God; it is against God’s ways and consequently produces death. Our minds have been filled with ideas and imaginations of the world before we come to Christ and therefore they need cleansing and renewing. This renewing is a continual process and is accomplished by reading God’s Word and fellowshipping with Him in prayer. This process of renewing of the carnal mind, emotions, and body is called

sanctification. Ephesians 5:26 says, That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.

In order for us to understand how we can renew our minds and put on the mind of Christ, let us use the following example. In the world when someone has hurt us or deliberately maligned us, our first reaction is to hurt back and to hate them. However, when

we have been “born again,” we are told in God’s Word, Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:19-21). If our carnal mind is still in control, our automatic reaction will be one of hate instead of love. To overcome this, we must, by an act of our will, choose not to hate, and ask the Holy Spirit to give us His love for the person who is hurting us. As we do this, our carnal mind will soon be renewed and we will love instead of hate when we encounter those who are unkind to us. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to renew our minds; our part is to make the choice for Him to do it (Romans 12:2).