Cooperation

“The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God;

it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.”

Romans 8:7

Maybe you’ve read that scripture above before and thought to yourself:

“I’m not hostile to God so my mind must be governed by the Spirit of God!”

I think the word hostile can mislead us though because we often think it to mean anger toward another or even outright conflict.

But a mind hostile to God can be one who simply has different ideas and thoughts from what God has and acts on those thoughts.

A mind governed by the flesh has a mind which allows the flesh to rule.

The flesh has the say and not the Spirit.

Understand that a renewed mind is an on-going work of the Spirit in our lives and the length of that work is proportional to our cooperation with the Holy Spirit.

Some have been saved for many years and their mind today is still governed as much by the flesh as it was the day they invited Christ into their heart.

Others are making great strides even though they have been saved a much shorter time.

Does God play favorites in this area?

No!

It comes back to cooperation.

Do you cooperate with the Holy Spirit in the renewing of your mind?

Do you meditate on His Word?

Do you search out and study the scriptures?

Are you intentional in applying the teachings to your life?

Do you rehearse His promises in times of stress and trouble?

Be a doer of the Word and not a hearer only.

Cooperate with the Holy Spirit in the work of renewing your mind!