Daily Success
Institute in Basic Life Principles

Command 1 : Repent | Day 6

Put Spirit Over Mind

The secret of effective meditation is quoting Scripture back to God with the spirit rather than the mind. This means that rather than trying to intellectually understand God's truth, we discern it by His Spirit speaking to our spirit because “the things of the Spirit of God ... are spiritually discerned” (I Corinthians 2:14).

If we evaluate Scripture with the mind we tend to become proud, because "knowledge puffeth up," but if Scripture "evaluates" the heart, we become humble because it exposes our secret sins.

By coming to Scripture with our spirit, we cry out, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalm 139:23-24).

Your spirit has direct access to God's Spirit, because “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). The Spirit of God has direct access to the conscience and is able to activate it with the spiritual understanding of what is right and what is wrong as we meditate upon His truth. It is this intimate fellowship of Spirit-to-spirit communication that constitutes true meditation and results in daily success.

Scripture is "the wisdom of God" and is given to us "in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world." God determined that this wisdom would be "unto our glory." However, it is revealed to us only “by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things: yea, the deep things of God” (I Corinthians 2:7-10).

“The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him” (John 4:23).

Our natural inclination is to simply quote Scripture back to God as a mental or intellectual exercise. This will rob us of the riches of God's wisdom and the joy of His fellowship. Therefore, we must bring the mind under the control of God's Spirit with a definite act of the will.

Thus, it would be wise to pray, "Heavenly Father, right now I do place my mind under the control of Your Holy Spirit and the authority of Your Word." With this prayer, you have just taken a giant step toward daily success.

“Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).

Daily Success
Like Twitter Pinterest GooglePlus LinkedIn Forward

Online Resources for Command 1 »

Make sure your Daily Success e-mails always go straight to your inbox by adding dailysuccess@iblp.org to your address book.

You are receiving this e-mail because you are enrolled in Daily Success, a ministry of the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP). E-mail addresses are never sold or given out to third parties. You may unsubscribe at any time.

Copyright © 2005–2013, Institute in Basic Life Principles. All Rights Reserved.
The Institute in Basic Life Principles is located at 707 West Ogden Ave., Hinsdale, IL 60521.
Contributing writer: Bill Gothard