The Importance Of Having A Spiritual Mindset
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. ”
“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”
A non-spiritually minded Christian is a contradiction in terms. Yet, many contemporary believers do not possess a spiritual mindset. They think only in the natural plane restricting themselves only to human logic and rationale. While they can accept the miracles in biblical accounts, somehow, they dismiss the supernatural in their lives. They engage passionately in intellectual discussions of the Scriptures. However, they are sceptical of many of the teachings therein like healing, prophecy, dream and vision, miracles and anything supernatural in nature. They might not openly reject these things, but they do not embrace them.
___________________________________________
A non-spiritually minded Christian is a contradiction in terms.
Yet, many contemporary believers do not possess a spiritual mindset.
___________________________________________
As a result, they relegate spirituality to faithfully abiding to a set of Christian beliefs and practices. Faith is an academic concept with little relevance in their lives. It follows that their pattern of thinking and decision-making rarely go beyond the bounds of human rationale and logic. The spiritual perspective is instinctively disregarded and put aside. To them, it is considered subjective because it is paranormal and unverifiable.
Faith and the supernatural in most cases can be reasonably explained. They are not implausible. Neither are they irrational nor illogical. However, sometimes,they are beyond the realm of human reasoning. The human mind is incapable of fully and satisfactorily explaining them.
God declared through the prophet, Isaiah, the nature of His wisdom and ways. They are not finite like ours, and so, they are beyond our comprehension in some cases. We can only accept them by faith. However, not everyone can accept the things of (the Spirit of) God. The natural person cannot accept them because he is incapable of doing so. Only he who is spiritually minded can discern, understand and accept them.
I am going to give you two examples to illustrate the point.
Discerning the Will of God
The story of the twelve spies (Numbers 13 & 14) is a case in point.
Using conventional wisdom and human logic, you cannot fault the ten spies who brought a bad report of the Promised Land. What they reported was factual. The land was a good land flowing with milk and honey, but “the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there…” (Numbers 13:28). The Anakites were a giant race, and comparatively, the Israelites were like grasshoppers. Their intelligence gathering was accurate. Naturally, the ten spies concluded that the Israelites stood no chance of conquering the land.
Then, came the report from the remaining two spies, Caleb and Joshua. They saw exactly the same things as the ten spies. They concurred with the observations. However, they had a different conclusion – “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it” (Numbers 13:30). Objectively speaking – using human rationale and logic – these two spies did not make any sense at all. The Israelites had never fought a war before, and they had no weapons. There was no way that they were going to defeat the giants in their fortified cities and take possession of their lands.
___________________________________________
The two spies discerned the will of God, and they knew what they must do.
They must exercise faith and trust the LORD God to give them victory despite the impossibility of the situation.
___________________________________________
Why were their conclusions different?
The two spies discerned the will of God, and they knew what they must do. They must exercise faith and trust the LORD God to give them victory despite the impossibility of the situation. Whereas the ten spies assessed the situation only with human logic and wisdom. They had a solid argument based on facts. Unfortunately, their lack of a spiritual mindset to discern God’s will and act on faith displeased God greatly. God struck them with a plague, and they died (Numbers 14:37).
Understanding Divine Mysteries
The royal court of Babylon had many wisemen. These wisemen were the best of the breeds recruited from different countries. They served King Nebuchadnezzar by advising him on all matters ranging from politics and wars to social and spiritual matters. They always had answers to the king’s questions. Nothing was too hard for them.
One day, King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, which he sensed was of great significance. To make sure that his counsellors did not pull a fast one on him, he decided not to tell them the dream. They must tell him his dream and give the interpretation. That was an impossibility. The wisemen were stumped. They insisted to the king that no one could interpret a dream without knowing the details of it. But the king was adamant.
____________________________________________
… Daniel received the knowledge and understanding of the king’s dream by divine revelation.
___________________________________________
Enter the prophet, Daniel. Daniel is a man of uncommon wisdom. He had a rare combination of human and divine wisdom. Daniel sought the LORD for the dream and its interpretation. God answered his prayer. Daniel was able to tell the king the exact details of the dream and its meaning.
Notice that Daniel received the knowledge and understanding of the king’s dream by divine revelation. There was no other way that he could have received the details and insight of the dream. This is supernatural. The apostle, Paul, called this the “secret and hidden wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 2:7). We access this wisdom from above not by human wisdom, but through the revelation of the Spirit of God ((1 Corinthians 2:10-13).
Paul then goes on to say that even when this revelation is told to a “natural person,” he would not accept it because it would sound foolish to him. Only a “spiritual person” can understand and accept the revealed knowledge. Only a spiritually minded person can discern its validity.
Wisdom Concerning the Last Days
It is vitally important for Christians to possess a spiritual mindset. Especially during this time as we enter the terminal phase of the Last Days.
Many unusual, as well as catastrophic things, are going to happen. Without a spiritually tuned mindset, we cannot understand what is going on. We would easily get confused and pushed off track. Natural happenings have spiritual implications. Supernatural manifestations will become more overt. Angelic and demonic activities will increase in intensity. You need spiritual discernment and wisdom to navigate through this perilous time.
___________________________________________
Like the first generation of Israelites coming out of Egypt,
The religious leaders’ lack of a spiritual mindset
had catastrophic consequences
for them and the destiny of the Jewish people.
__________________________________________
Jesus chided the Pharisees and Sadducees for their inability to interpret the signs of the times (Matthew 16:1-4). They were smart people and the cream of the Jewish society. Yet, they failed to discern that Jesus was the Messiah. Why? Because though religious, they were not spiritually minded. They lacked spiritual discernment.
Like the first generation of Israelites that came out of Egypt, the religious leaders’ lack of a spiritual mindset had catastrophic consequences for them and the destiny of the Jewish people.
Please understand the importance of having a spiritual mindset. It is crucial for a time such as now.
Pastors Leslie & Adeline Chua