In our last teaching, we concluded that the battle of making the promises of God and
our identity in Christ applicable in our lives is fought in the mind. We saw that anger,
hatred, fear and other sentiments are emotions of the soul but are manifested in the
physical realm by our actions.
In this episode, we shall still go further to consider how to apply the teaching on the
battle in the soul to our personal lives.
In our everyday lives, it is natural to get anxious, fearful, worried and angry about the
things happening around us and the way people treat us. It seems logical to respond in
kind when a careless and negligent driver dents one’s car. It seems okay to insult
someone because they abused you. It seems okay to regale friends about all the bad
things that happened to you in the past one week and how sick you have been. People
lose control, use abusive language, get violent and cause a lot of damage out of anger,
hatred and resentment due to the things they see and hear.
However, the Bible refers to the soul and body as flesh and describes the act of limiting
our actions and responses in life only to the physical realm and the 5 sense organs as
carnality.
In Romans 8:5-8 Apostle Paul declares-
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the
flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to
be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God…So then, those who are in the
flesh cannot please God.” NKJV
Apostle Paul’s illustration here raises the question we all need to respond to. Where
are you setting your mind? On the things of the flesh or the things of the Spirit? Are your
emotions and desires, actions and responses ruled and motivated only by the sense
organs-the way people treat you and talk to you; the way you feel; the need to impress
people. Are you prone to anger and hot tempered? Are you fearful? Do you complain
and find fault a lot? Do you glorify sickness and bad experiences? If this is you, then
you are setting your mind on the things of the flesh. A Teacher of the Gospel told me
recently, that if after receiving healing in my body by faith, I still confess pain and
sickness, I am being carnal. This is true because it means I am listening to my feelings
rather than the Word of God.

The things we see and feel are in the realm of the soul and the physical while our new
identity is in the realm of the spirit. According to the scriptures, the things we cannot see
control the things we can see. The spiritual controls the physical. Therefore if your life
and your actions revolve on the things you can see and the physical realm only,
Romans 5:8 says you cannot please God. Your spiritual life will remain stunted.
So in the practical sense, how do we set our minds on the things of the spirit? Let’s take
look at this important issue of subduing the flesh. As you study the word of God on a
daily basis, you would come across several scriptures that tell you about your new
identity in Christ. You would come across scriptures that say that you are a new
creature in Christ; that you now have the nature of God in you; that you have been
delivered from the law of sin and death; that you are the righteousness of God in Christ
Jesus; that you have dominion over the sin nature; that you have authority over the
devil. Am not telling you where to find these scriptures so you can search for them
yourselves.
As you meditate on these scriptures, your mind is being renewed to the truth of the word
of God. The renewal of the mind continues until a time when your mindset comes into
complete alignment with the word of God. Once this happens, you will receive boldness
to declare the word of God over your weakness. When you boldly confess the word of
God over your area of weakness consistently and faithfully, that word of God which is
sharp and active will heal that weakness from the root by uprooting your desire or the
need to act in that way.
Assuming you have an anger problem, you will find that the word of God says that as a
child of God you have dominion over sin. Your role is to continue meditating on that
word that says you have dominion over sin and therefore anger and confessing it to
yourself. When your mind accepts the truth of the Word of God that says you have
dominion over anger and that anger does not control you, you have received the
weapon that you need to resist anger. The weapon is your confession. And your
confession on a daily basis should be: Sin does not have dominion over me therefore I
am free from anger and I have control over my actions.
This same principle applies to whatever weakness we are experiencing-whether it is
fear, telling lies, stealing, inappropriate sexual activities or any other weakness. It also
applies to every negative situation we are facing including sicknesses, financial lack,
anxiety and other challenges. Find as many scriptures as possible concerning your
situation. Meditate on them until your mind aligns with the mind of God on that situation.
Start confessing the word of God consistently and faithfully; and I assure you, you would
experience a turn around. As long as you don’t uproot your positive confessions by
negative confessions. I talk from experience.

We can only bring the promises of God and our identity in Christ into reality in our lives
by setting our mind on the things of the spirit which are manifested in the word of God.
No circumstance can defy the word of God. But you have to be consistent in your
confession. And not uproot your positive confessions by negative confessions.
The reason why the lives of many Christians are not reflecting the new identity in Christ
is because they try to subdue the flesh by self-will.
Sometimes due to the threats and warnings by preachers, people decide to desist from
a particular weakness and they start struggling in the flesh to do so.
But it doesn’t work that way. Because they are setting their minds on the things of the
flesh in order to subdue the flesh.
Only a spiritual alignment with our spirit man which is reflected in the word of God can
subdue the flesh. The word of God can do this because according to Hebrews 4:12, it is
living and active, and sharper than a two edged sword. It divides the soul and spirit and
it judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.