It’s A Mind Thing!

By Tammy Lacock

“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” (Romans 6:6)

Warren Litzman continues to explain the importance of understanding the Apostle Paul’s revelation knowledge, which he shares with us throughout his epistles.

In order to understand this revelation knowledge, Paul tells us we must undergo a radical mind-change and a continual mind-renewal. This takes place by the teaching and comfort of the Holy Spirit who reveals to us just what it means to now be in Christ, to live a new life in Him while letting go of our old lives. The Holy Spirit is integral in transitioning us from our sin-natured mindset to knowing Christ.

In Romans chapter 6, Warren dives into the four “knowings” which the Holy Spirit reveals to Paul and he shares with us. These “knowings” are revelations of who we are now in Christ. As brand-new creations, we can know now that our old lives, along with our old mindsets, have been crucified and buried with Christ. By His death, burial, and resurrection, we are no longer bound by law, sin, and death. We can now choose to serve sin or to serve Christ. As believers, our spirits are made perfect by Him. We are now joined to Him, making us one Spirit in Him (1 Corinthians 6:17). He will never leave us nor forsake us, no matter what we do or don’t do. Being one with Him in spirit, however, doesn’t mean we are one with Him in our souls (we are a tripartite being: soul, body, spirit). Our minds reside within the soul part of us. This part of us can still be stuck in the sin-mindset, still making decisions without the knowledge of who we are now in Christ. Christ wants to use our minds now but He can only use a renewed mind.

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5 KJV)

And by revelation knowledge given to us by the Holy Spirit, we can learn to let go of the “old man”, and more importantly, our old mindsets, and hand them over to Christ, who now lives in us and who can now come through us in our renewed minds. This is where our love affair with Him takes place. This is where we truly get to know Him personally and deeply. This is where we choose Him over everything else, even the identities we’ve been holding onto all of our lives. We are no longer the “old man.” Yet we hold on to the old mindset. Paul tells us that our ongoing mind-renewal of who we are now in Christ gives us an understanding that we always have a choice, a choice to serve Christ or a choice to serve sin. A choice to know Him or a choice to ignore Him. Love is a choice. As we get to know Christ as our new life, as the very life within us now, the one who is our strength, our peace, and our joy, we undergo a continual mind-renewal. We begin to realize more and more that the only thing that really matters is choosing Him and loving Him, making it easier and easier to let go of a mindset that keeps us tied to our old lives.

“But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” (Ephesians 4:20-23)

“Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.” (Colossians 3:9-10)