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To be renewed in the spirit of our mind is inward and intrinsic—Rom. 12:2:
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The renewing in the spirit of our mind revolutionizes our logic, philosophy, thought, concept, and psychology.
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Renewing is to have our mind changed in our religion, logic, and philosophy concerning the universe, mankind, God, etc., by the Spirit of truth with the revelations in the Scriptures, even to have Christ's mind replacing our mind through the consuming work of the cross—Titus 3:5; Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23; Rom. 8:6; Phil. 2:5; 2 Cor. 4:16.
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The only possibility of God's purpose being fulfilled in this age is that we would all be willing to be renewed in the spirit of our mind.
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The renewing Spirit is mingled with our regenerated spirit as one mingled spirit to spread into our mind in order to renew our entire being as a member of the new man by putting off the old man and putting on the new man—Eph. 4:22, 24:
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To put off the old man is to deny and renounce our old self—v. 22; Matt. 16:24.
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To put on the new man is to apply what Christ has accomplished in creating the new man—Eph. 2:15; 4:24.
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Whereas the cross is for the putting off of our old man, the Spirit is for the putting on of the new man:
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In order to put off the old man, we must apply the cross to ourselves—Matt. 16:24.
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To put on the new man is to live and magnify Christ through the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ—Phil. 1:19-21a.
Morning Nourishment
Matt. 16:24 …If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.Phil. 1:19-20 …This will turn out to salvation through your petition and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I will be put to shame, but with all boldness, as always, even now Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death.
Paul…could say, “Walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4), in the realm of the newness of the divine life. In Ephesians 4:23 Paul says, “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” To be renewed in the spirit of our mind is inward and intrinsic. If we learn to be renewed in this way, we will have a deeper perception with which to understand persons and matters….Often our knowing of people is shallow. We lack the perception that penetrates the barriers and coverings because we do not practice being daily renewed in the spirit of our mind. The renewing in the spirit of our mind always revolutionizes our logic, philosophy, thought, concept, and psychology. As a result, our perception in all things is different, and we have a deeper understanding of the people we meet. Even by the way they ask questions, we can know people's condition. A natural man is a very shallow man, but if we are spiritual, we will be deep. If we are deep, we will know others, even though they will not be able to know us (1 Cor. 2:15). (CWWL, 1990, vol. 2, “Messages to the Trainees in Fall 1990,” p. 453)
Today's Reading
The renewing Spirit is mingled with our regenerated spirit as one mingled spirit to spread into our mind (Eph. 4:23) to renew our entire being as a member of the new man by putting off our old man (v. 22), that is, by renouncing and denying our old self (Matt. 16:24), and by putting on the new man (Eph. 4:24), that is, by applying what Christ has accomplished in creating the new man (2:15).Ephesians 4:23 says that we are to be renewed in the spirit of our mind. To put off the old man and to put on the new man are by being renewed in the spirit of our mind. When the Holy Spirit who dwells in and is mingled with our spirit spreads into our mind, that mingled spirit becomes the spirit in our mind. It is by this mingled spirit that our mind is renewed.
In Matthew 16:24 the Lord said that if we want to come after Him, we need to deny ourselves and take up our cross. To deny ourselves is to renounce ourselves, to apply the cross to ourselves. This is to put off the old man. To put on the new man is to live and magnify Christ through the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19-21). The renewing is altogether wrapped up with the Spirit and our regenerated spirit, which became the one spirit. This one spirit is the renewing spirit in our mind to change our mind.
The Lord uses the environmental sufferings to consume, to kill, our outer man so that our inner man may be renewed day by day. Second Corinthians 4:16 says, “Therefore we do not lose heart; but though our outer man is decaying [is consumed], yet our inner man is being renewed day by day”…This renewing is by God's working with every situation in our daily environment. Every day we are troubled from many directions. This trouble could be from our spouse, our children, or our co-workers. This trouble consumes our outer man, our natural man, so that our inner man can be renewed with the supply of the resurrection life.
Since we believers all will be the consummating part of the New Jerusalem, we have to be renewed to be as new as the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2). The New Jerusalem is first called the holy city, so we have to be holy. Then it is called the New Jerusalem, so we have to be new If we are not renewed, we are not qualified to be in the New Jerusalem. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “The Divine and Mystical Realm,” pp. 131-132)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “The Divine and Mystical Realm,” ch. 4