Did you ever wonder what it means to "have the mind of Christ"? What would that be like? What kind of mind did Christ have and how can we have the same kind of mind? How did He think? How did His thoughts affect those around Him? How can I have the mind of Christ? These are just some of the questions I will attempt to answer in this new article on the mind of Christ. I pray you will be blessed.
Philippians 2:5-11
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ isLord, to the glory of God the Father.
This portion of scripture, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" , is something the Lord has been dealing with me about over the last several weeks. I began to think, what kind of mind did Jesus have? I know we have the verses that speak of His humility and obedience but, I was stuck on this mind of Christ. What kind of mind did this man Jesus have to be able to heal the women who had an issue of blood for 12 years (Luke 8:43). What kind of mind does a man have to be able to raise Jairus' daughter from the dead (Mark 5:22-23), who has fed 5,000, who has walked on the water, who has calmed the storm at the Sea of Galilee, who healed the lepers, and delivered the demoniacs, who has healed the blind, who has healed the dumb? What kind of mind is this? What kind of mind would we have if we had the mind that was in Christ Jesus?
I had to stop and think about what kind of mind He had to have. I'm just going to touch on a few highlights but I encourage you to study the Book of St. John. It really gives you a look at Jesus, His personality, likes, dislikes and how He thought.
1. JESUS KNEW WHERE CAME FROM: Jesus had some confrontations with the Pharisees and Sadducees and, in one such confrontation in John, Jesus said to them:
"Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going."
"Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world."
I love this! Jesus told them that He knew where He came from and where He was going. He said He was from above and that He was not of this world. They could not comprehend this. This was Jesus' way of thinking. He knew where He came from and where He was going. He knew He was not of this world!
This is the kind of mind we must have. We must know where we came from. We are not of this world. As Christians, we are citizens of the Kingdom of God. We are not of this world. We are not to be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Romans 12:2. Jesus came from the Father as did we. We were In Him before the foundations of the earth. In Jeremiah 1:5 the Lord told Jeremiah:
" Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations."
God already had a plan and purpose for Jeremiah before He was even conceived. We too, were IN THE FATHER before the foundation of the world and, being so, He had already spoken a word over us when we were still spirits dwelling In Him, when we were still dwelling in Heaven within the Father. He already had a plan, purpose and design for our lives. He already had our lives completed. He knew the end from the beginning. All we had to do was to be born and to walk it out by staying connected to Him. In Jeremiah 11:29 God said:
"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."
Ephesians 1:3-5:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
2. JESUS KNEW WHO HE WAS. Jesus had no identity crisis. He knew who He was and had no problem letting people know who He was. Jesus had no problem telling the Pharisees and Sadducees exactly who He was.
John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Now, when Jesus said this the church leaders got really angry with Him because they knew he was claiming to be the embodiment of the Tabernacle of Moses. The way being the gate or door to the tabernacle, the truth referring to the inner court where the golden candlestick was kept representing revelation and the life, the most holy place where the Ark of the Covenant the very presence of God was. But, Jesus knew that He was the tabernacle in the incarnate and that the tabernacle pointed to Him. Hebrews 9:11-12:
11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
You must read Hebrews 9 in full to see this whole picture, it is so very awesome.
In essence, Jesus was calling Himself the tabernacle, the door, the bread of life, I Am the light of the world. I Am the Door, I Am the Good Shepherd, I'm the resurrection and the life. In other words, without actually saying it, Jesus was calling Himself God and they really did not like that!
Well, I don't know about you but I and my Father are one. I may not be the Son but I am a son of God. You have to know who you are in Christ. Jesus knew who He was. We also must realize that our citizenship is in heaven. We are not of this world. We are citizens of the Kingdom of the Most High God in Heaven. We are seated with Him in heavenly places. We must remember where we come from. We came out of the Father. Our spirits came out of the Father in heaven and were born into these earthly vessels.
We are ambassadors of Christ. An ambassador is someone who travels from his country to another country to represent his leadership or, in our case, the King of kings and Lord of lords. We are to re-present Him. As ambassadors, wherever we live, wherever our territory or realm of influence is, it is actually the property of the country you came from. So, your home, your job, your church, wherever your sphere of authority - is actually property of the King of heaven, the country you came from. You have more authority in this earth than you thought you did. When you speak, it is just as though the King Himself spoke. When you decree and declare something you are saying "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven".
The Word says that we are a royal priesthood, a chosen generation! A holy nation. We are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. A joint-heir is not the same as a co-heir where you get 50% and I get 50%... we are joint-heirs - what's yours is mine...we share 100%. Everything that belongs to Christ belongs to me! All power belongs to Him it belongs to me in Christ Jesus. The fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him, He is in me and I in Him so the fullness of the Godhead dwells in me too! We have to get back to thinking with the mind of Christ.
3. JESUS KNEW HIS PURPOSE. Jesus said in John 5:19
But Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing alone. The Son does only what he sees the Father doing, because the Son does whatever the Father does.
John 5:30
I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
John 9:4
I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
John 4:34
Jesus said, "My food is to do what the One who sent me wants me to do and to finish his work.
John 7:16
Jesus answered, "The things I teach are not my own, but they come from him who sent me.
We, like Jesus, need to know what our purpose is. We need to know why we are here. God has a plan and a purpose for our life. In Acts 17:26 He said:
And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,
Jesus also said in 1 John 3:8:
He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
John 10:10(b) . . . I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
My favorite verses are in Luke 4:17-19 after Jesus was driven into the wilderness by the Holy Ghost where He was tested by the devil for 40 days and night and He entered back into the City of Galilee full of the power of the Spirit:
And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18 " The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."
Jesus found Himself in the Book of Isaiah. Jesus gave us a commission in Matthew 10:8 saying:
Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.
Jesus did not say to stand around for 45 minutes asking the devil questions while you are trying to get him to leave. He said to cast the out! He said heal the sick! Can you imagine watching Jesus as He was walking by a funeral procession of a widow off to bury her son and Jesus stopping the procession to raise the boy from the dead? Now you must remember that Jesus is of the Spirit... He walks in the Spirit. Jesus took His hand and reached into the spirit realm and saw the spirit of death upon this boy. Jesus took the hand of death and told him to be removed and the boy woke up! There were no ifs, ands or buts!! Jesus did not say I hope I have enough faith to do this, He did not wonder if He could do it, He did not pray to God wondering if He had enough faith. He did not have to think about it, pray about or wonder if He had enough expectation for it. He just did it, walked in it and it happened!! Oh ye, of little faith! We are called to do the same thing. Jesus said in John 14:12:
12Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
I want to talk just a moment about "assignment". Those of you who have served in the military will understand this. According to Webster's Dictionary, an "Assignment" is a position of responsibility, a post of duty to which one has been appointed. We are in the army of the Lord. After we have gone through boot camp and all look a like and have become part of the same body, we are given an assignment or post of duty to which we have been appointed. So, what are we going to do with that post of duty? Are we going to do what we were trained for? Are we going to do our purpose, what we were called to do? In reality, we are part of the same body with Jesus Christ being our head. Jesus lives His life through us! Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20:
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Christ is living His life through us! Are we allowing Him to continue His ministry through us? Or, are we living our lives Monday through Saturday and allowing Jesus to live through us on Sundays? Jesus should be living His life through us 24/7/365!
To finish up, or come as close to finishing this as I can because I could continue this forever, I want to conclude with Revelation 10:5-6. There is really only one sentence I want to refer to but I need both verses for it to make any sense.
The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised up his hand to heaven 6 and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there should be delay no longer,
The King James version of the Bible says, ". . . there should be time no longer."
Either way, it is correct. God is saying - delay no longer... now is the time to walk in your calling. To fulfill your purpose in Christ Jesus. Time is short. We are running out of time and straight into eternity. Jesus is soon to return and there is still much work to do. The fields are white unto harvest but the laborers are few. We are to heal the sick, raise the dead and cast out demons.
Jesus said in Matthew 28:19-20:
All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
19Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU THAT WAS ALSO IN CHRIST JESUS!
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