The abiding comes after we win the mind-battles. We abide in Christ, and His Spirit dwells within us when our minds have won the thought-wars.
But it is a battle in our minds. Satan attacks our thinking. He tries to occupy our minds with trivial, physical pursuits. Christ said to not think on food, clothing, and other physical things, but look on the invisible, spiritual things.
Our spiritual growth level is determined by how much or how little of His Spirit is manifested through thinking the things that He thinks about.
Where do we get His thoughts? From studying His Word. His Word is made known in Christ. For Christ is “the Word made flesh.” He has left us a treasure trove of the Father’s thoughts. These thoughts from above make up the “whole armor of God [Spirit].” When we think on these things, we are protected from all the “fiery darts of the wicked.” We are speaking about the “mind of Christ.”
Through prayer we conquer the thoughts of the world and replace them with the King’s thoughts. This is what the spiritual war is all about. Yahweh has allowed Satan to be the “god of this world.” Satan is the “power of the air.” This “air” is the invisible highway that transports Satan’s thoughts into the minds of human beings. Worldly thoughts arise in our minds. We are at spiritual war with these.
The apostles knew of this battle. They knew it was worldly thoughts versus thoughts that are based on His Word. They knew that the armor of God would spiritually protect us, but we must put it on. We are to “put on the whole armor of God” (Eph. 6:11-18).
War Imagery
Brothers and sisters, we are at war with a clever, deceitful adversary, whose job it is to negate the plan and purpose of Yahweh. He thinks he can win this war by attacking the minds of God’s people. That’s why we desperately need God’s armor.
Notice the war imagery used by the apostles concerning the resistance we fight. We are commanded by Christ: “Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (II Cor. 10:5). Here thoughts are likened to prisoners of war. Thoughts not for Christ are taken captive by His Spirit of truth within us. Thoughts are captured and replaced with a thought from the mind of Christ. We have an adversary that needs to be conquered and sequestered.
God’s armor is His thoughts on these things: truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, the Spirit, the word of God, and prayer. Study these out and think on these things, and you will “arm yourself” with Christ’s mind. When we think the thoughts that Christ thinks then all is won, and we are secure in Him.
When we do this, then He will abide, dwell and remain in us. The battle is in our minds. And we shall soon know that the mind of Christ is armor of God. We are told to “arm yourselves with the same mind of Christ. It is in the thoughts. When we think His thoughts and not what the denominations teach, then we have armed ourselves spiritually.
What is God up to?
To understand God’s vision for His creation, we must understand His law of harvest. We must comprehend His desire to reproduce Himself. We need to see that His harvest includes His Spirit totally reproduced in the humans He has chosen for this honor. It is all His doing. “Many are called, but few are chosen” by Him for the honor of fully showing forth His glory, for fully being like Him.” We need to see that Satan is attacking God’s plan when He attacks us with wayward thoughts that do not further His plan and purpose.
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He has promised us that if we put on the armor, that He will be our Protector. He “will never leave us nor forsake us.”
Kenneth Wayne Hancock