“If your thinking is controlled by your sinful self, there is spiritual death. But if your thinking is controlled by the Spirit, there is life and peace.” (Romans 8:6 ERV)
Your results, outcomes, or experiences in life are not accidental; instead, they are determined, regulated, shaped, or influenced primarily by you. Things that will happen to you in the coming New Year won’t happen by chance.
Whether or not you will experience life or death, success or failure, victory or defeat, joy or sorrow, prosperity or poverty in the coming year is entirely within your power to determine.
It is your God-given privilege and responsibility to determine, decide, define, influence, or shape your results, outcomes, or experiences in life. It is foolish to abandon or shirk this responsibility to another person or even God or Satan. You are not justified in blaming anyone for your outcomes or experiences in life.
While at the border or threshold of the Promised Land, God said to the children of Israel,
Deuteronomy 30:15-20 – NKJV
15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil,
16 “in that, I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD, your God, will bless you in the land which you go to possess.
17 “But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them,
18 “I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess.
19 “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
20 “that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
The above scripture reveals that the results or experiences of the children of Israel in the land they were going to possess would not be accidental; instead, they would be primarily decided, determined, defined, fixed, or shaped by the children of Israel, not by God or their enemies.
Similarly, as you stand at the border or threshold of the New Year, you need to know that your results, outcomes, or experiences in the coming New Year are not going to be accidental; instead, they will be decided, determined, defined, fixed, or shaped primarily by you, not by God or Satan.
This is your God-given privilege and responsibility!
How can you define, decide, or determine your results or outcomes in life?
First, it is essential to understand that your life experiences can be divided into two categories: Life and Death.
The Scripture reveals this truth.
God said to the children of Israel, “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.” (Deut. 30:19 NKJV).
Paul also warns, “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” (Rom. 8:6 NKJV).
Your results, outcomes, or experiences can be considered life or death in the coming New Year. It cannot be both!
While life speaks of good or positive experiences, death implies evil or negative experiences or outcomes.
How do you decide whether your results or experiences in the coming New Year will be life or death?
The Scripture reveals how in Romans 8:5-6!
Let us examine Rom. 8:5-6 in different translations.
Romans 8:5-6 – NKJV
5 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.
Romans 8:5-6 – ASV
5 For they that are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
6 For the mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace.
Romans 8:5-6 – ERV
5 People who live following their sinful selves think only about what they want. But those who live following the Spirit are thinking about what the Spirit wants them to do.
6 If your thinking is controlled by your sinful self, there is spiritual death. But if your thinking is controlled by the Spirit, there is life and peace.
Romans 8:5-6 – GNT
5 Those who live as their human nature tells them to, have their minds controlled by what human nature wants. Those who live as the Spirit tells them to, have their minds controlled by what the Spirit wants.
6 To be controlled by human nature results in death; to be controlled by the Spirit results in life and peace.
Romans 8:5-6 – NET
5 For those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit.
6 For the outlook of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace.
Romans 8:5-6 – NASB
5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.
Romans 8:5-6 – NIV
5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.
The following truths can be easily deduced from the above scriptures, examined in various renditions.
First, your mind, mindset, or thinking primarily determines your results, outcomes, or experiences in life.
Second, whatever controls, influences, molds, or shapes your mind or thinking will eventually control, determine, mold, or shape your results, outcomes, or experiences in life.
Third, the flesh or the Holy Spirit controls your mind or thinking.
Fourth, it is the object of your mind (i.e., what you set or focus your mind on) that ultimately determines your results or experiences.
Fifth, your mind can be set on the things of the flesh or the Spirit.
Sixth, your results or experiences in life can be broadly divided into two categories: life and death.
Lastly, if your mind or thinking is governed, directed, influenced, or controlled by your sinful self, your results or experiences in life will be death – evil.
But if your mind or thinking is ruled, governed, or controlled by the Holy Spirit, your results or experiences will be life (sound).
Therefore, in the coming New Year, if you choose to be carnally minded, it simply means that you have decided to have and experience death, defeat, failure, sickness, sorrow, poverty, and all evils.
On the contrary, if you choose to be spiritually minded, you have chosen to have and experience life – peace, joy, favor, good health, prosperity, victory, and success.
What does it imply to be carnally minded?
It simply means to set or fix your mind on the flesh, or on natural or physical things.
It means to be preoccupied, concerned about, governed, influenced, or controlled by your natural senses – by what you can see, smell, feel, taste, and touch in the natural realm.
It means letting your mind or thinking be controlled or governed by the flesh, which involves thinking, reasoning, judging, or perceiving as natural men without God’s Spirit.
What does it imply to be spiritually minded?
It simply means allowing the Holy Spirit to shape, govern, dominate, or control your mind, thoughts, perceptions, outlooks, views, and mindsets. How?
By constantly reading, studying, hearing, imbibing, and meditating in God’s Word!
It means to set or fix your mind on spiritual or heavenly things, to be preoccupied, concerned about, or engrossed with what God has said or promised in His Word.
Being spiritually minded implies thinking, viewing, judging, perceiving, or seeing things from God’s perspective.
God’s perspective on your life and situation is revealed or expressed in God’s Word.
Beloved, don’t expect things to happen in your life or to you by chance in the coming New Year.
God expects you to define, decide, and determine your results, outcomes, or experiences in the New Year by choosing to be spiritually minded (allowing the Holy Spirit to dominate, rule, control, direct, or govern your mind or thinking with God’s Word) and thus experience life and peace in the New Year.
Paul warns, “If your thinking is controlled by your sinful self, there is spiritual death. But if your thinking is controlled by the Spirit, there is life and peace.” (Rom. 8:6 ERV).
Do you want to experience life and peace this coming New Year?
If yes, then choose to be spiritually minded!
I wish you and your family a Happy and Prosperous New Year!
Prayer:
My Dear Heavenly Father, I choose to experience life and peace this coming New Year. My Dear Holy Spirit, teach and help me daily to be spiritually minded, in Jesus’ name. Amen.