Christianity is not just another religion.
It is the life of God abiding within and
flowing out of the believer. Other religions
leave you the same person you were before.
But the wonderful thing about the Christian
life is that it will completely transform you.
When you are born again, your spirit is
instantly transformed into the image of God.
Your spirit is the part of you that takes on
the nature of God. According to the Word,
once that happens you should immediately
start the process of changing your soul. The
Bible calls it “renewing the mind.”
Your soul is your mind, will and emotions.
Spiritual growth is determined by how much
your soul is changed by the Word of God. The
more you know the Word, the more you
conform to the image of Jesus. When you are
born again, nothing is wrong with your spirit—
the life of God is in there—but you are hindered
from living a spiritual life by a soul (mind) that
thinks like the world instead of like God.
After becoming a Christian, the Bible
instructs you to “put on the new man, which
after God is created in righteousness and true
holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). This means your
soul and body are to take on the same image
that is in your spirit. This happens through the
process of changing your mind, your will and
your emotions to understand and walk in the
ways of God. We are to conform to the image
of God’s Son (Romans 8:29). You and I ought
to act just like Jesus. The only thing that stands
in the way is our soul. Without a renewed mind,
we could not dare to walk and act like Jesus.
That’s why Romans 12:2 tells us, “be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
The word transformed is translated from the
Greek word from which we get the term
metamorphosis. This Greek word is used in
the Scripture in two other places.
One such account is when Jesus was
transfigured on the Mount. The other is in
2 Corinthians 3:18: “But we all, with open
face beholding as in a glass the glory of the
Lord, are changed into the same image from
glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the
Lord.” Changed is the same word in the Greek
as transformed and transfigured. Our souls are
changed when we spend time beholding the
Lord in the Word and in prayer. It is a natural
process like metamorphosis.
Renewing our minds causes our outer
being to be transformed in much the same
way as a caterpillar is changed into a butterfly.
As we behold Him, our outer man
changes to match the inner man which is
created in righteousness and true holiness.
The world would have you think that
God is a liar. Yet God tells you that Satan
is the liar, and in between these two adversaries
is your soul. Here is where the spiritual
battle is fought. Therefore, your soul must
be anchored. Anchored to what? To the
Word. To eternal things. If it is moored to
this world, you will never walk in victory or
in the power of God. If your soul is not fixed
on eternal things, it will not hold steady in
the time of crisis.
When you become a Christian, you are
sustained from the inside. Your spirit is
steady in adversity. You are upheld and maintained
by your spirit man and not by your
intellect or reasoning. “For the word of God
is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any
twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints
and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
God’s Word divides (distinguishes between)
the soul and the spirit. Nothing else
can cause you to recognize whether you are
being led by your soul and natural thinking
or whether you are following your spirit
which is led by the Holy Spirit.
Every problem, weakness or difficulty you
have could be solved immediately if you could
know the mind of God. But it takes effort,
dedication and faithfulness to renew your mind.
Mind renewal is not like the new birth. It is a
process and doesn’t come overnight. Though
your spirit is renewed and transformed, your
soul must be saved. Saved from what? From the
world’s influence and thinking.
James 1:21 is quite clear concerning this:
“Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity
of naughtiness, and receive with meekness
the engrafted word, which is able to save your
souls.” You can’t just read the Word. It must
be implanted in your soul (your mind) and
be received with meekness.
Meekness is often misunderstood. It is a
thing of power, not weakness. It is an attitude
in which we accept God’s dealing with us as
good. Therefore, we do not resist His correction
or guidance. Meekness is giving your will to
God and letting Him change it. So, your soul
is saved as you yield your will to God’s will.
The Scripture says that God energizes and
creates in us the power and the desire to will
and to work for His good pleasure (Philippians
2:13). He works from the inside out, not
from the outside in. He takes the image of
the Word in our spirits and grafts it into our
souls as we behold Him. Only then can we
outwardly express the image of Jesus that we
inwardly possess.
But this takes conscious effort. If you are
just going to give God a couple of hours a
week, your mind will not be renewed. The
Word won’t be implanted in you. You might
know it with your head, but it’s the engrafted
Word in your soul that changes you. It’s the
Word of God that controls your thinking and
transforms your life.
So, take the time to get away from the
world and study God’s Word. Meditate on
it, and let it change you from the inside out.
“Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to
you” (James 4:8). Make a conscious effort to
allow the Word of God to be engrafted into
you. Only then will you begin to understand
His Word and His will. Only then will you
be on your way to renewing your mind.
Kenneth Copeland Ministries
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