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Scripture Reading: Mark 12:30; 1 Cor. 2:16b; Rom. 12:2a; Eph. 4:22-24a; 2 Cor. 4:4a; 11:3; 10:4; Matt. 16:21-26; Rom. 8:6; Heb. 4:12; James 1:21
Many passages in the Scriptures, especially in the New Testament, deal with the mind. Mark 12:30 shows us that the mind is different from the soul and that the soul is different from the heart. The last part of 1 Corinthians 2:16 says, “We have the mind of Christ.” Can you find a verse that tells us we should have the heart of Christ? Rather, this verse says we have the mind of Christ.
Romans 12:2a says, “Do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind.” This verse speaks of transformation being related to the mind. Ephesians 4:22 through 24a says, “That you put off, as regards your former manner of life, the old man...and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man.” The renewing in the spirit of our mind comes between putting off the old man and putting on the new man. The spirit of the mind is a strange term. To be renewed in the spirit of the mind is related to putting off the old man and putting on the new man. Whether or not we can put off the old man and put on the new man depends on the renewing in the spirit of our mind. These verses alone show us how important the mind is in relation to the inner life. In order to know the inner life and be transformed, we must know the mind.
Second Corinthians 4:4a says, “In whom the god of this age has blinded the thoughts of the unbelievers.” Whenever a person does not believe, this means that there is the blinding of the mind. However, the Greek here does not say mind in a general way; it says thoughts in a detailed way. The mind is the whole, but the thoughts are the items, the details, of the mind. Verse 3 of chapter 11 says, “I fear lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your thoughts would be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity toward Christ.” Again the Greek here says thoughts in the plural. Chapter 4 tells us that the thoughts of the unbelievers are blinded, and chapter 11 tells us that the thoughts of even the believers can be corrupted, confused, from the simplicity toward Christ.
Second Corinthians 10:4 says, “The weapons of our warfare are not fleshly but powerful before God for the overthrowing of strongholds.” What are the strongholds? Verse 5 tells us, “As we overthrow reasonings and every high thing rising up against the knowledge of God, and take captive every thought unto the obedience of Christ.” The strongholds here are the reasonings and the thoughts. Reasonings are in the mind; thus, our mind is the stronghold. If we read 2 Corinthians, we can realize that what the apostle Paul intended to do at that time was to pull down, cast down, all those rebellious thoughts, to subdue all those confused, rebellious minds.
Matthew 16:21 says, “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised.” The Lord Jesus told them not only that He was going to be killed but also that He would be raised from the dead. However, it seems that poor Peter did not hear Him. Verses 22 and 23 continue, “And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, God be merciful to You, Lord! This shall by no means happen to You! But He turned and said to Peter, Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.” Instead of addressing him as Peter, the Lord said “Satan.” This clearly shows us that when we are in the soul and in the self, we are united with and related to Satan. We are one with Satan. Peter was speaking, but the Lord rebuked Satan. In verse 23 the Lord said, “You are not setting your mind on the things of God.” The mind has something to do with the things of God, with God’s interests, and it also has something to do with Satan.
Verse 24 continues, “Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” This verse speaks of the self. Then verses 25 and 26 say, “For whoever wants to save his soul-life shall lose it; but whoever loses his soul-life for My sake shall find it. For what shall a man be profited if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul-life? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul-life?” In these verses there are four items: Satan, the mind, the self, and the soul. The self is the soul, and the soul is very much related to Satan and is one with Satan. To speak and do things in the soul is to be one with Satan. Here Peter spoke something in his own soul. He thought that it was himself, but the Lord Jesus realized that it was not Peter alone but Satan. Therefore, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Satan.” Then He added that in order to follow Him Peter had to deny his self and lose his soul. Again, self is the soul, the soul is the self, and the soul, or the self, is related to Satan and is one with Satan. This is the key: Whether we are one with Satan or one with God depends upon where we set our mind. If our mind is set on the side of God, then we are one with God, but if our mind is set on the side of Satan, we are one with Satan. These few verses have very much to show us.
Romans 8:6 says, “The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.” This speaks again about setting the mind either on the spirit or on the flesh, either on the Lord Himself or on something other than the Lord Himself. By this we can see that the mind is the secret and the key.
Hebrews 4:12 says, “The word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” The soul and spirit must be separated, divided, by the living word of God. James 1:21 says, “Putting away all filthiness and the abundance of malice, receive in meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” The Greek word implanted implies that there is a seed planted in us. God’s word is a living seed planted in us. It is by receiving this implanted word in meekness that our soul is saved. This verse does not say that our spirit is saved in this way. Verse 18 says, “He brought us forth by the word of truth, purposing that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.” God has already brought us forth, begotten us, that is, regenerated us, with His word. Regeneration took place in our spirit, but after we are regenerated, we need to be transformed in our soul. In verse 18 the spirit is regenerated, and in verse 21 the soul is saved. After being regenerated, we still need our soul to be saved.
Some may ask what our soul is saved from. Verse 15 of chapter 3 says, “This wisdom is not that which descends from above, but is earthly, soulish, demonic.” This verse uses three adjectives: earthly, soulish, and demonic. This indicates that the soul is earthly and demonic, related to the demons. That is why the soul needs to be saved. Our spirit was deadened and dormant, so our spirit needs to be made alive, regenerated. Our soul, however, is fallen, demon-like, and earthly, so it needs to be saved. I would ask you to keep all these verses in your memory. If you will spend more time to read them and pray about them, the Holy Spirit will give you a clear vision of the inner life.
We all must remember that we are fallen people. To be fallen is not a small matter. The fall was due to Satan; by the fall Satan worked himself into us. Satan was originally outside of us, but by the fall he worked himself into us, and now he is within us. According to Romans 7, something dwells in the sinful body that is powerful and evil (vv. 17-20). This is not just sin but personified Sin, with a capital S. This Sin reigns like a king and has dominion in us. Verse 20 says, “If what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that work it out but sin that dwells in me.” This is similar to Galatians 2:20, which says, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” Galatians 2 says that Christ lives in us, but Romans 7 says that Sin dwells in us. Personified Sin is powerful and evilly alive. This is the satanic nature and life, even Satan himself, because by the fall Satan worked himself into human beings.
However, this is not all. The history of the human race is a history of the fall, but one day, after four thousand years of this history, the Lord Jesus came to man. While He was on the earth, He met many people. What was their situation and condition? According to the four Gospels, these persons were both learned and unlearned, strong and weak, but if we have the view of the Spirit, we can see that they all were under the fall. Therefore, the Lord came to save them from the fall. One day while I was considering the record of the Gospels, the Lord showed me that the thousands of people whom the Lord met can be placed into several categories, or classes. One class was the people possessed by demons. This is a matter of the body; people who are possessed by demons are possessed in their body. Another class comprises those whose mind, whose mentality, was taken over by Satan, the evil spirit. Many people whom the Lord met were possessed by demons, but most were taken over by Satan in their minds.
The learned ones—the Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, priests, and lawyers—were all very thoughtful, clever people. They were not possessed by demons in their body. However, they were not free or independent. They were taken over by Satan. In what part of their being were they taken over? It was in their mind. Therefore, when John the Baptist came, the first word he proclaimed was “repent.” To repent is to change the mind, or turn the mind. The first step fallen people must take in order to contact God and have a godly, right relationship with Him is to turn their mind.
The situation on the earth is the same today. Almost everyone is either possessed by demons in their body or taken over by Satan in their mind. Many professors, scientists, and holders of doctoral degrees are one hundred percent in the mentality. They think they are the most clever people. They suppose that they are free. They are not superstitious and believe that they have nothing to do with God or with any kind of spirit. However, they are not free. Unconsciously, their mind is taken over by the enemy.
Satan is the ruler of this world (John 12:31; 14:30). He is the king of the dark kingdom. In most modern countries there are three forces: the air force, the navy, and the army. To be strong, a nation must have strong forces. Likewise, in Satan’s dark kingdom there also are forces. Satan is not a simple king, ruling by himself without any forces. In the four Gospels, for example, there are many demons, even a legion, a camp, of demons. Then the Epistles, especially those written by the apostle Paul, tell us that in the air there are rulers, authorities, and world-rulers—that is, the wicked spirits. If we read the New Testament carefully, we can see that in the dark kingdom of the ruler of this world there are at least three forces: the demons in the water, the wicked spirits in the air, and the fallen people on the land, the earth.
The demons like to take over bodies. If they cannot take over human bodies, they will take over even the bodies of swine. Moreover, they like to dwell in the water. In Matthew 12:43 through 45 the Lord said that when an unclean spirit is cast out from a man, it roams through waterless places, seeking rest, and when it does not find it, it returns to the man. By this we can realize that the demons like either to take over a body or to stay in the water. Those who have experience in casting out demons know that a symptom of demon possession is that the possessed person is always thirsty, drinking day and night.
On the second day of creation God did not say that His work was good (Gen. 1:6-8). God saw that His work on the first, third, fourth, and fifth days was good (vv. 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25). Moreover, His work on the sixth day was very good because on the sixth day God created man, and man in the eyes of God was very good (v. 31). On the second day, however, God did not say that His work was good, because His work on that day was to separate the waters below the expanse from the waters above the expanse, knowing that in the water there were the demons and in the air there were the evil spirits.
Once when the Lord was crossing the sea, a storm suddenly came. There were waves in the water and winds in the air (Matt. 8:23-27). We may have thought that this was something natural, but this was not so. If it were natural, there would have been no need for the Lord to rebuke the winds and the sea. The Lord rose up and rebuked the winds and the sea, because in the wind there were the wicked spirits and in the sea there were the demons. The demons who possess bodies are the dark kingdom’s force in the water.
On the other hand, the evil spirits, the wicked spirits in the air, like to take over the mind. They do this by sending thoughts as the “darts” (Eph. 6:16). Every thought from the evil spirits is a dart full of poison. Satan’s intention is not merely to cause us to fall. His intention is to take us over. From the time he caused man to fall, he has used his forces— the demons to possess the body, if possible, and the wicked spirits in the air to constantly take over the mind. Man can avoid being possessed by demons, but he cannot avoid being taken over by the evil spirits in the mind. Today in America not many people are possessed by demons, but sorry to say, perhaps more than ninety percent are taken over by evil spirits in their minds. The darts are there in their minds. This is why we need the helmet of salvation. We need a covering for our head, that is, for our mind, our mentality.
Satan constantly sends the darts. Being taken over in this way is very subtle. No one is ever conscious that he is being taken over by the evil spirits. A person always thinks and considers that it is he himself who has so many thoughts. These thoughts, however, whether they are good or evil, come not from within but from without as the darts.
I do not like to speak much about demons and evil spirits; this is not my ministry. However, we need a strong spirit to stand against the evil forces of darkness. Today the evil forces of darkness are still trying to take over the body or the mind. Sane and sound human beings do not want to be possessed by demons in their body, but they can still unconsciously be taken over by the evil spirits in their mind. All the Pharisees, Sadducees, and other thoughtful people believed they were very clever. They did not know that they were taken over by the evil spirits in their minds.
It is easy to cast out a demon, but it is hard to deal with the stronghold in the mind. In a case of demon possession, it is easy to cast out the demon in a short time by strong prayer. It is very hard, however, to deal with a person who is taken over in his mind by the evil spirits with all kinds of thoughts and doctrine. In China the most difficult people to deal with in gospel preaching were those learned ones who followed the teachings of Confucius. Those teachings were good teachings, but Satan utilized those thoughts to take over the minds of those learned people. Satan blinded their thoughts by the teachings of Confucius. Those teachings became the veil over their mind so that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ could not shine into their hearts.
Today I am burdened that we would be clear to no longer trust in our mind, for two reasons. First, we are fallen. Second, the subtle one knows that he cannot possess us by his demons in our body, but he can do one thing subtly and easily: he can take over our mind by sending in many thoughts. Just today, from the morning to the evening, how much of the time have we been free from our thinking? Day by day and hour by hour all kinds of thoughts are sent in. All of a sudden we may consider something about one brother, and suddenly we consider something about another brother. This is dark. It seems that the darts are not poisonous, but sometimes they are very poisonous. Darts are being sent in all the time. That is why we need the helmet, the covering, of the Lord’s salvation. We need the protection.
I first experienced this almost thirty-five years ago. In 1931 for more than half the year I went to a mountain to pray day by day. Almost every morning after my prayer, while I was coming down from the mountain, the thoughts would come. Many times I shook my head and said, “I do not want these thoughts.” Later I read a book that said that others would shake their head in the same way and say the same thing. Brother Watchman Nee once said that if we do not want a thought, but it keeps coming, that proves that it is not our thought. It is not something of ourselves but from someone else.
I hope I can make it clear that the battlefield within us between Satan and God is the mind. Our mind is the battlefield for Satan to fight with God. It is not easy for Satan’s forces to possess human bodies. Even the unbelievers, if they are sound and sane, do not allow demon possession. However, Satan is subtle, and it is very easy to take over people—both unbelievers and believers—in their mind. As we have seen, 2 Corinthians 4:4 says that the thoughts of the unbelievers are blinded, and 11:3 says that the thoughts of the believers can be corrupted. This is why we have to fight the battle.
Sooner or later we all have to experience this. The more we go on with the Lord, the more we will be attacked in our mind. It is very dangerous to open and expose our mind to the enemy. We need to pray, “Lord, cover us with the helmet of Your salvation. Cover us with Yourself, and cover us with Your blood.” Our mind needs to be covered. We should not expose our mind to the enemy. Even brothers who are very faithful to the Lord cannot withstand the attacks if they expose their mind to the enemy. I can testify that if I expose my mind to the evil spirits without any covering, my Christian life will immediately be wrecked. Someone who does this may even doubt that there is a God. We need the covering for our mentality, our mind. The shield of faith quenches all the flaming darts, and the helmet of salvation keeps away all the thoughts. We need this covering.
When we preach the gospel, many people like to argue. If we argue with them, we fall into a snare. We can never help a person to be saved through our arguments. Satan always likes to challenge us, to ask something, in order to get us into the snare of arguing, because the more we argue, the more we are in the mind, the more we are under the attack of the enemy, and the more God is gone. This is why we try to help people to pray, because when they pray, they turn their mind to God. Day by day we are under the attack of the enemy. Where is the attack? It is in the mind. Therefore, we need the covering of the blood and the helmet of God’s salvation.
We need to learn always to turn our mind to the Lord. This is clear not only in the New Testament but also in principle in the Old Testament. Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep the steadfast of mind / In perfect peace / Because he trusts in You.” This verse speaks of one whose mind is steadfastly on the Lord. Today the Lord is in our spirit. Our spirit is the very organ, the very center, for us to contact the Lord and for the Lord to contact us. Therefore, Romans 8:6 says that the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.
The enemy’s attack today is on our mind. It is very hard for our mind to be focused on the Lord. The proper direction for the mind is to be toward the Lord, but the enemy entices our mind to be directed toward something other than the Lord. Whether that thing is good or evil, it is the same. When our mind is set on something other than the Lord, we are under the attack. Therefore, we all must learn to repent, which in the spiritual language means to turn the mind.
I have observed that after a husband and wife have a honeymoon, what often follows is a “vinegar moon.” Even a Christian husband may become disgusted with his wife the more he considers about her. The more he considers in this way, the more Satan does his best to attack his mind and turn it to something other than the Lord. Sometimes Satan would attack the mind of a husband toward his wife, or he may attack his mind concerning another brother or other matters. I say again, whenever our mind is set on something other than Christ, we are under the attack already. If we know the secret, we will repent right away. When we are considering something about our wife, we should right away say, “Lord, forgive me. I just turn my mind to You.” This is to repent.
It is the same with the sisters. The more many Christian wives consider their husbands, the more bitter they are. If a sister learns the lesson, then whenever she has a thought like this about her husband, she will immediately repent; that is, she will turn her mind from her husband to the Lord. Then she will be covered, and she will be saved.
I hope the Lord will make you clear that the mind is the battlefield and that we need to take the responsibility always to repent, to turn our mind to the Lord. Even when we go to the department store, Satan will utilize many things to attract our mind. Right away, then, we have to repent, to turn our mind to the Lord. This is the principle that we must apply to our daily life. To repent, to turn our mind to the Lord, is a significant step in constantly being saved. We must learn this. If you would ask me what is the most practical lesson I have learned in all these years, I would say that it is to turn my mind to the Lord all the time. Much “information” may come to us, with criticism, opposition, and many matters. All these things just attack and distract us from the Lord. We must learn always to turn our mind to the Lord. In the morning we must repent, at noon we must repent, and in the evening we must repent again. We must repent all the time, and to repent means to turn our mind to the Lord.
We must learn the lesson always to set our mind on the Lord. We should not argue, and we should not discuss. The more we argue and discuss, the more we are distracted from the Lord. We should simply turn our mind to the Lord. Someone may come to us asking us to explain this or that. If we have learned the lesson, we would never answer. We would simply say, “Brother, let us pray.” Sometimes the subtle enemy would lead the person to say, “I know that it is your way to tell me to pray. What does it mean to pray?” If we try to explain the meaning of prayer, we are caught. Rather, we should learn to turn our mind to the Lord and help others to turn their mind to the Lord.
The more we quarrel, the more we have to quarrel. We can quarrel until this time tomorrow. Some brothers and I once had a ten-hour talk with one person. What did we accomplish? Later I regretted this to the Lord and to myself. I was foolish to waste the time. I should have just gone to sleep. There is no need to talk, argue, and discuss. It only brings in more opinions, more attacks, more poison, and more death.
We all have to learn this basic, practical lesson: always to turn our mind to the Lord. Then when our mind is turned to the Lord, it will be renewed. Consider our repentance when we were saved. How much renewing we received just through that one repentance! The more we repent, the more our mind is renewed; that is, the more we are transformed. We should forget all the thoughts, arguments, and reasonings. These come from without, from the enemy. We must learn to turn our mind inwardly to the Lord. Then we will meet the Lord; spontaneously our mind will be renewed, and gradually our whole being, our soul, will be transformed.
It is in this way that our soul will be saved. Our soul today is fallen, earthly, demonic, and devilish. It is mingled with the devil; therefore, our soul needs purification. First Peter 1:22a says, “Since you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth.” The only proper way for our soul to be saved and purified from Satan is to turn our mind to the Lord. In this way our soul will be saved from mixture with the enemy Satan, and it will be transformed.
James 3:8 says, “But the tongue no one among men is able to tame; it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” Darby’s New Translation says, “Full of death-bringing poison.” Why can the tongue not be tamed and bridled? It is because the mind has too many thoughts. When the mind is full of thoughts, the tongue exercises to express something. The thoughts are like electricity, and the tongue is like the blades of a fan. When the electricity is flowing, the blades turn. The tongue is full of death-bringing poison because the tongue passes on the thoughts like poison darts. Many times when people talk with me—both believers and unbelievers—I just look to the Lord, saying, “Lord, cover me.” I do not want to have thoughts as darts coming into me. That brings the poison of death.
We must learn the lesson that in order to control our tongue, we have to turn our mind to the Lord. We cannot control our tongue unless we turn our mind to the Lord. When we have a real repentance, our tongue is “cut off”; it is circumcised. We may exercise much effort to control our tongue; without a real repentance, however, even if we control it in the morning, it will explode in the afternoon. When we have a real repentance, turning our mind to the Lord, this turning of the mind will silence our tongue.
This is not a mere doctrine; I am speaking something of experience. The more we turn our mind to the Lord, the more we will be persons of fewer words. We will not have much to say. If we have something to say, it will be something of the Lord, something bringing life rather than death, something full of life, not death. But when we are taken over in our mind by the enemy, then we cannot control our mouth. We need repentance. We can all agree from our experience that the more we turn our mind to the Lord, the more silent we are. We can only speak praises to the Lord and testify of His grace and mercy. We have nothing to say, however, about any other person. When we turn our mind to the Lord, we are silent in speaking but very powerful in praying.
All of the above matters are related to the mind. I am limited in my language and expression, but I look to the Lord to make this clear to you. This is a part of the spiritual warfare. In order to fight the battle in a better way, we must know that the mind is the battlefield today, and we have no other way to protect and cover the mind but to turn it to the Lord all the time. We do not care about anything other than the Lord, good or evil. We simply care for one thing: the Lord Himself. Therefore, we turn our mind to Him. Then we are protected. In addition, we are renewed in the mind, and our soul is transformed. Spontaneously, we will be circumcised in our mouth, and we will be silent. The tongue will be absolutely controlled, because the source is gone. The “electricity” is cut off at the source, so the “fan” stops turning. We must learn this lesson. Then we will be powerful in the spirit.
We must remember that our soul is fallen, demon-like, and devilish. Therefore, our soul needs to be saved by our turning our mind—the leading part of the soul—to the Lord. We always must turn our mind inwardly to the Lord. Then our mind will be renewed, and the entire soul will be influenced; that is, it will be transformed, and our soul will be saved. Why must we read the Word? It is because the implanted word, the word planted into us, helps us to divide the soul from the spirit, and the more the soul is divided from the spirit, the more it is saved. We should never let our spirit stay mixed with the soul.
