The Mind of Christ

By

David Alsobrook

CONTENTS

1 The Magnificent Mind

Adam's Unlimited Imagination

Memory Recall

No Recall Problem

Forgetful Hearer

The Thief

Getting the Word into the Heart

Provisions Have Been Made

2 The Mind of Christ

How to Receive the Mind of Christ

Attributes of the Mind of Christ

3 How to Remember the Word

Understanding the Word of God

Revelation Knowledge

About the Author

“But we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16)

1 The Magnificent Mind

I was in prayer some time ago and asked the Lord to bless my memory. He spoke to me so abruptly in my spirit (I don't use that term lightly—if God does not really speak to me I don't say, "God spoke to me." If I'm just impressed, or feel a nudge, I don't call that the voice of God). God doesn't waste too many words with me. Sometimes I wish He spoke a lot more! But on this occasion He said, Why have you never considered the magnificence of Adam's mind?

That question startled me.

He went on to say, You've considered the magnificence of his spirit before the fall when his spirit was alive to Me.

You have considered that over and over and how when man sinned his spirit became deadened. (We say "died" but the spirit of man did not die in the sense of it ceasing action. Spirits are deadened to God but they are still very much in operation. Though my spirit was dead in sins it still hungered, it still thirsted. A person who is dead does not hunger or thirst.)

You have considered how Jesus the last Adam came, took man's sins so man could be made a new man in his spirit. Man can be born from above in his spirit.

I said, "Yes, every Christian believes that or he's not a Christian, for one must be born again to be a Christian."

You considered that part of man; his spirit, and you've also considered the body of man before he fell; that body was immune from sickness and disease, from pain and when he sinned sickness entered into man as a direct result of the fall and that Jesus came for your physical nature, took your sicknesses, your pain, your infirmities—so that by His stripes you are healed.

"Well, yes, Full Gospel Christians believe that, and I believe that."

Then why is it you have not considered the magnificence of Adam's mind?

The Lord had already taught me that everything that Adam lost in the fall we regain through Christ. The Book of Romans tells us five times "much more" than. We have much more in Christ than we would have had in Adam. We have more in Christ than we would have had even if Adam had not sinned. Adam was only a created son of God, but we are begotten sons! Jesus Christ is not God's only begotten son. He was this when God sent Him into the world, but now you and I have been begotten again into a lively hope.

"Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures" (James 1:18).

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively [living] hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (I Pet. 1:3).

We are the firstfruits of His creation—His new creation.

The New Testament church is the firstfruits of His creation.

So Jesus is not God's only begotten Son anymore. He's the first begotten among many brethren.

I had not considered the mind of Adam before he fell.

When God spoke to me and instructed me to read in Genesis 2 I was just reading along asking God to show me the verse, or verses, that would prove that Adam had, as God called it, "a magnificent mind."

And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field ... (Gen. 2:19-20).

I could find nothing that said Adam had

—a magnificent mind

—a perfect memory

—an unlimited imagination

Then it dawned on me that Adam must have had that kind of mind for him to do what he did as listed in Genesis 2:19-20.

God formed out of the ground every living creature and brought them to Adam to see "what he would call them."

God was curious to know what Adam would call them.

God did not tell what name to give them. God created the animals and Adam created the names. Adam was the ruler of this world, the animals were to be living on this planet, and when they saw Adam they would be seeing God for Adam was made in the image and likeness of God. Adam was god to those animals. He had dominion over the world.

Adam gave names to the animals so they would know who was calling them and so they could make a distinction.

He gave them names for the purpose of communication.

God had told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. No one would ever die under God's original plan and perfection. They would multiply over the earth. Adam was to keep the garden in perfect order. He would teach his sons and they would continue doing that all over the world and would eventually rule over the sun, moon and stars. According to Psalm 8, God made man a little lower than Elohim. The word "elohim" reads "angels"

in the King James Version. But this is translated 232 times in the Old Testament as "God," and 17 times as "angels."

God made man a little lower than Himself. Adam was higher than the angels. Adam was to rule in authority and dominion. He was not to be subjected to anything other than God's headship.

There wasn't any taint of curse in Adam. He walked in complete and total divine health, his spirit was alive to God. Before Adam fell his intellect must have been magnificent!

Satan became the god of this world only when Adam gave him that position. Adam said, "Here, you take my place," and when that happened everything—man and animal fell. Everything under man's dominion fell. We fail to realize that animals were much different before the fall than they are today. What was the purpose for giving animals names? To call them! And what would happen when Adam would call them? He and Eve would talk to them.

Chapter three of Genesis tells about one day when a serpent came to Eve. The serpent that day had yielded to Satan and Satan used it as an instrument of temptation. The serpent opened its mouth and said, "Yea, hath God said?"

Eve was accustomed to all of the animals speaking.

When you read about Balaam's ass, you see that the Lord opened her mouth and she begin to speak plainly (see Numbers 22:28). The curse of the fall was the breakdown of communication. Man could not talk to God any more.

God no longer came to speak with Adam in the cool of the day. Just as the communication with God and man was broken, so the communication under Adam's dominion was broken. The dominion under Adam began to moo, meow, bark, growl, groan—make inarticulate sounds. Paul tells us in Romans 8:22 that the whole creation, the whole animal kingdom is groaning, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God.

One thing that is going to happen when Jesus rules and reigns on earth is that the beast of the field will honor Him.

Isaiah 43:20: "The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls ..."

Psalm 148:1, 10: "Praise ye the Lord.... Beasts and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl ..."

Psalm 150:6: "Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord."

Animals are "things" and they breathe. One day they are going to praise the Lord! That's the way it was in God's original garden. That is the way it was on earth before sin entered.

Adam's Unlimited Imagination

Adam's mind had an unlimited imagination because God created multiplied species of animals. It is very clear that every type of specie made on earth God brought to Adam to be named. "Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field...."

Adam had to invent hundreds and hundreds of names.

Think how many species of animals there are on the earth today! And how many there were then—many now have become extinct.

Adam didn't have what many have today: their cassette recorders.

Suppose the Apostle Paul had said, "Timothy, fight a good fight according to all the prophecies that went before thee" (see I Tim. 1:18).

Timothy writes back, "Sorry, I can't fight a good fight according to those prophecies because I can't remember them. The recorder didn't pick it up that night."

Paul expected Timothy to remember what he had told him. He didn't have cassette recorders, video tape machines, television equipment, no computer memory bank. We would require all of these to do today what we do, yet Adam did it all with his mind.

Everything that God made before the fall was good. It was perfect, it was beautiful. It operated in perfection. The mind of man was perfect before the fall. Adam had no limit to his imagination. Out of it he created hundreds of names.

It was no harder for Adam to invent the names than it was for God to create the animals.

Memory Recall

Now, Adam not only had to name the animals, he also had to remember the names. His memory knew no hindrance whatsoever. His reasoning powers were undiminished, unlimited, his imagination without any horizon upon it and his ability to recall information evidently unimpeded—full, free recall! It was as hard for Adam to forget (before the fall) as it is for us to remember.

Forgetfulness is part of the curse. Christ has redeemed us from the curse (see Galatians 3:13).

When man took of the forbidden fruit immediately his spirit died. He lost the glory covering. A curse was placed on the ground. The shekinah presence lifted. Man's body began to succumb to illness and disease. Man had to invent some new names: pain, aches, sickness, and "I'm sorry, I forgot."

It took the devil almost 1,000 years to kill Adam's body after the fall. We don't know how old Adam was, or how long he had lived in the garden. Adam may have lived longer than Methuselah. He lived 930 years after he fell.

Methuselah lived 969 years. With each succeeding generation man's life-span dropped from 900 to 800, 700, 600, and by the time Abraham came on the scene it had dropped to 175. Today, our bodies generally last less than 100 years. With each generation instead of being stronger it has become weaker. Satan is the one "which didst weaken the nations" (Isa. 14:12). The glorious body has fallen and degenerated.

Jesus was born in a flesh and blood body, but it was not inherited with the sinful nature or the fallen nature of man.

It was created by the Holy Ghost in the virgin's womb. It was sovereignly created as was the body of the first man.

For this reason, some would argue that His temptations were not real to Him. Adam's temptations were real to him.

Adam fell but Jesus prevailed.

Jesus had a mind that was not operating under the curse.

He had a body that knew no sickness, pain, disease. He was above that realm. He hadn't sinned, therefore, the law of sin and death was not operating in Him. When Adam sinned his spirit died, his body became subject to disease and death, his mind became reprobate as spoken of in Romans 1:28: "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind ..." or a corrupt mind, as stated in 2

Timothy 3:8: "Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith." The fact that we've never considered the provisions for the mind is proof that the curse is in operation on us.

You have heard about renewing the mind—as though you were going to give it a reprogram job. God has something far better than that for us.

No Recall Problem

The kind of mind that Jesus had is the same kind of mind that Adam had—the mind God intended for all the human race.

Jesus had to learn the Word through His natural memory process—although He was the Word—although He was the begotten from the Father. His natural mind still had to learn the Word. He quite likely did not have scrolls to read. He learned the Word by hearing it read every Sabbath day in the synagogue. At the age of 12 he had probably heard it read three or four times. At that age he went into the temple at Jerusalem and began to reason with the scribes who had made copies of the Law, and doctors of the Law. He reasoned with them and they were dumbfounded at His wisdom. They were amazed at the knowledge that poured out of His mouth. He asked questions they could not answer. He answered their questions with quotations from Scriptures. He could recall everything He had heard.

"And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers" (Luke 2:47).

It's hard for me to picture Jesus of Nazareth in a carpenter shop wasting precious moments scratching His head wondering where He had put the nails, or placed the saw or hammer.

In Ephesians 5:16 we are told "Redeeming the time, because the days are evil." Yet we lose so much precious time because we forget. We forget natural things. We have to retrace steps to take care of errands we failed to remember on the first trip to the store. The Spirit-filled, new creatures, joint-heirs with Jesus Christ, seated in heavenly places, going around with a new spirit, a healed body and a most forgetful mind!

I have seen preachers going around with a rubber band on their fingers. "Brother, why do you have that rubber band on your finger?"

"Well, don't you know? You tie a rubber band around your finger so you don't forget." One said he tied a rubber band around his finger, but unless he put a note in behind the band, he'd remember the band but forget what he was to remember.

Jesus had no problem recalling the Word, once He had heard it. The three quotations in Matthew 4 and Luke 4 that Jesus gave the devil in the wilderness temptation were from Deuteronomy and He was as well as telling His disciples:

"There's a whole lot in Deuteronomy. Man shall live by every Word of God. You need the volume of the book: Numbers, Amos, Hosea, etc., etc." (This was wisdom, for He could foresee that in the New Covenant many of His disciples would reject much of the Old Testament as being profitable for study.)

Some Christians say, "I can't see anything good in Numbers and Deuteronomy. Who wants to study those books? They are so boring. It's so obsolete, it's not for us today. I don't want to read in the Old Testament, I want to read about Jesus."

Jesus said, "Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) ..." (Heb. 10:7). He was saying to the Pharisees, "Moses wrote about Me!" He could quote the old covenant, the law, the prophets, the psalms and fully expound on them.

The Old Testament foreshadowed everything we have in the New. As you study it God will open to you so many new things. You will see the reason, the why and the wherefore of the New Testament in reading it.

Jesus had no problem with recall. He didn't spend endless hours studying the scrolls. He did not come before the people wondering how the Scriptures went, saying to the people, "Now you'll just have to forgive Me, but it goes something like this!" When He was being tested by the devil He didn't say, "It is written something like this." He said, "IT IS WRITTEN," and quoted it just the way it was written!

Do you know that the Bible is not your "sword"?

I've heard some say, "I'm not going to take my sword tonight. I'll just take my pocketknife." What's the pocketknife? The New Testament! So they reach for their New Testament. The Word that is in your heart is your sword!

Not the book in your hand!

In a sword fight when two men are fencing, one of them will ultimately win. The one who knows how to wield his sword better will win. One may get out front and say,

"Well, it goes something like this." He's not going to last five seconds in a sword fight.

We have to be able to handle the Word in the right manner. In 2 Timothy 2:15, Paul said, "Study [labor in your studies] to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Rightly dividing can mean cutting a straight path. You are going to have to take that sword and cut a straight path with it. That is the only way to overcome the enemy.

Many read the Bible, various versions, and spend lots of time reading and also getting tapes of the Scripture and listen to them. Jesus studied the Word but it wasn't a fruitless study. He read it, knew it and could use it with perfect recall. The Apostle Paul operated in this same realm. When he went into a synagogue he began to reason from early till late from the Word, the book of the law, the prophets, the psalms. He was never at a loss, the words just came pouring out of him, as we see frequently in the Book of Acts.

Sometimes we read the Word, study it and then ask ourselves: What did I just read? You'll be reading along, mark a place and say, "Praise God, that's a good verse!

Hallelujah! I needed that verse last week." (And a few days later you need it again.)

The devil comes and begins to tempt you.

"I know there's a verse right over here some place, somewhere that goes something like this."

No wonder we still get whittled down by the enemy!

Forgetful Hearer

Now in between hearing the Word and doing the Word, in most instances, there is involved a time lapse. During that time lapse many become what James calls "a forgetful hearer" (James 1:25).

One of the things God told His people to remember was His Word. In Malachi 4:4, God, through the prophet, told Israel: "Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments."

Why did God tell Israel, "Remember the word which Moses commanded you" ? Because He knew in a few centuries Messiah would be coming, and if they would remember the LAW that Moses had taught them they would recall he had said a Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up like unto me and to Him shall ye hearken (see Deuteronomy 18:15). And what did they do? They disobeyed that Word.

The last word in the Old Testament is "curse." If God had never spoken to the people again His last word to them would have been "CURSE"! God spoke again through His Son.

The Old Testament said, "Remember the law." Israel forgot it. When the Messiah did come they couldn't recognize Him. They rejected Him. They forgot the Scripture saying, "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting" (Micah 5:2). They forgot!

They forgot God said, "a virgin shall conceive and bear a son" (Isa. 7:14).

They forgot that God said, "out of Egypt I have called my Son" (Hos. 11:1).

They forgot that God had said, "cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree" (Deut. 21:23).

They forgot Christ had foretold, "They have pierced my hands and my feet" (Ps. 22:16).

They forgot that Word and could not recognize the Messiah when He was standing in front of them even though there had been over 300 accurate descriptions of Him given in the Old Testament. If they had remembered even a few Scriptures they could have known He was the Messiah.

God tells us to forget some things. "Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old" (Isa. 43:18). Forget your past life. "This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before" (Phil. 3:13).

We are told to forget our past, those things that are behind, and not to look back to our past lives. This is a willful forgetting. It doesn't mean that you can't recall it.

God tells us He forgets our sins—it's not that He cannot remember them, it is that "I will not remember them against you anymore" (see Isa. 43:25). He chooses not to remember them. That is how it should be with us, and other than that, forgetfulness is satanic. It is part of the curse and one of Satan's chief operations.

Some things are to be forgotten, but never are we to forget the Word of God. Now, if you want to be an obedient child of God you will make God a promise, "I will not forget thy word" (Ps. 119:16). That was a promise that the psalmist made to God. In Psalm 119:162 he said, "I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil."

In ancient times when an enemy was overcome the Israelites would go into the camp and would heap to themselves all the spoil—all the treasures, riches, all the precious things.

"Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee" (Ps. 119:11). Hid means "treasured."

"Thy Word have I treasured in my heart that I might not sin against Thee" (NASB). This is a great spoil. This is that great treasure!

"The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times" (Ps. 12:6).

"The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver" (Ps. 119:72).

The Thief

"More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb" (Ps. 19:10). This is gold, this is silver, this is the most precious thing. Taking a comparison of the most precious treasures on earth—He was comparing those precious treasures with His Word. His Word is like gold.

Men hunt for gold. Men dig for silver. Men leave all that they have and go hunt for those treasures.

Now if His Word is your treasure, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (see Matthew 6:21). When you get the Word in your heart Satan can't take it away.

Satan is a thief. When the thief breaks into someone's home usually he doesn't try to drag out the sofa, the stereo, the queen-size bed. He knows he doesn't have too much time. He knows there's only one thing he really has time to get and it's probably one of the smallest things in the home, but it's one of the most priceless, the jewelry, the precious stones. Things he can tuck into his pocket and go on. Not only is Satan a thief, he is also a murderer, but he has to first operate as a thief before he can function as a murderer. Note John 10:10: "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy ..." The order of these words is very important.

Before the enemy can kill and destroy he must first steal!

And what is it that he steals? The knowledge of the Word of the Lord. God said in Isaiah 5:13: "Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge." God's people go into captivity because they don't have knowledge—the knowledge of the Word. "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:31-32).

Satan steals that knowledge and God's people go into captivity. And if they don't get set free they are ultimately destroyed. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge ..." (Hosea 4:6). In both cases they go into captivity, and are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

We don't often speak about the reprobate mind as referred to in Romans 1:28, "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient ..." We are prone to think that this only applies to those who are in perversion, homosexuality, lesbianism, etc. What we don't realize is that the reprobate mind in its first stages has forgetfulness, lack of reasoning ability or inability to have logical powers according to the Word of God. We all suffer from the effects of the reprobate mind in the fallen state and don't realize it. In ourselves we are "men of corrupt minds" (1 Tim. 6:5).

We are taught mind doesn't count, just your heart. Just be sincere. Many Spirit-filled Christians say, "If I'm just sincere in my heart toward the Lord that's all that's necessary." Then they'll turn right around to an unconverted person who says, "Well, I'm sincere in following Buddha,"

and they will say, "Sincerity is not enough." Does the Word of God tell us "My people are destroyed for lack of sincerity?" No, we are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Satan knows he cannot kill and destroy until he first steals! He steals the Word and then he begins to afflict. He is the Word thief. How does he steal the Word? He causes you to forget it. Consider this, and you will agree: Forgetfulness of God's Word is satanic!

Every time we see forgetfulness of God's Word it is always something to be out of God's will, contrary to His purpose, and something that is devastating to the Christian.

Who causes it? Satan working on the fallen mind of man.

Getting the Word into the Heart

If the Word is not being treasured deep within your heart then Satan can get it—when it is still up in your mind.

The Word does not instantly enter into your spirit (heart). It has to be filtered through your thinking processes. It enters through the eyegate, the eargate—that's why we are told

"incline your ear, don't let it depart from your eyes." It enters the mind like natural food must enter into the mouth before it can enter into the belly. It is like taking the seed and throwing it upon the soil. When the seed is upon the top soil, that's when the birds of the air come to devour it.

They are not going to get it as easily when it is deep down and rooted.

I was ministering in Tyler, Texas, for ten weeks in various churches and the power of God was moving. Night after night I noticed that people would be so blessed, but the very next night we would have to start all over again, they would be so defeated, drained and empty.

I was praying and seeking God. "Lord, how come I can minister Your Word and Your people get so built up and edified, but the very next night they are drained and empty?

They can't remember the Word or use it," I said.

The Lord said to me, "Arise!" I was praying at the church altar.

I arose and He said, "Now go to the glass door."

I did and was looking out at the empty parking lot. Then He said, "Son of man, what do you see?"

"In all honesty, I see an empty parking lot." Then the Scripture came to me, "The Lord sees not as man sees."

"You see an empty parking lot, but 1 see a flock of vultures. Son, the devil doesn't bother the people in the meeting. They keep the victory during the service. When you are ministering the Word the devil doesn't really bother them. Many of the people are robbed of having the treasures of My Word because they think the Christian life is just having a good meeting. They are robbed of the day-to-day experience because they don't retain what they hear.

They let it bless them momentarily but they don't retain what they hear."

At this particular meeting the power would fall and we had demonstrations of the Spirit, people under the power, miracles and healings.

I asked, "Lord, what happens?"

"When you are ministering the Word it has just entered into their minds. It doesn't get down into their hearts, it just goes on the top soil of their minds. Satan waits a few hours.

He's outside in the parking lot. He has a fowl, vulture assigned to every car in that parking lot. When the people are dismissed, they leave the meeting and before they go they usually talk half of their blessing away in the sanctuary, and then they walk to their cars and they don't realize the vultures are there and are beginning to pick the Word from their brain. They start foolish or unprofitable conversations, sometimes things about tomorrow or the future. By the time they get home those crows and vultures have picked half the seed you have sown. Before they go to bed they will turn on the TV and watch something foolish and by the time they go to sleep, very little of what you have ministered is retained in the memory. By the time they awaken the next morning it is nearly all a blank. Usually the feeling of blessing has subsided so they go to face their job empty and defeated. The devil really hits them hard, and that is why some people won't be back the next night.

The devil has come against them. Every time I bless my people, Satan counterattacks. If they haven't been trained about this then they lose the victory for the devil steals the Word."

"Lord," I asked, "what do You want me to do?"

"What would you do if there was a flock of crows and vultures in that parking lot getting ready to feast on something?"

"Well, I would get out there and shoo them," I said.

"Then get out there and shoo them!"

So out there in broad daylight I was saying, "Get away.

Get away you crows and vultures, you evil demons, in the name of Jesus." People really thought I was crazy.

From then on we had beautiful meetings and the people retained the Word and we went from "glory to glory"

instead of from "glory to valley." I still do this in my meetings. I get out there and rebuke the vultures and plead the merit of the blood of Jesus and tell them they can't even land on the parking lot, that the people of God are protected. By the time they go to sleep much of the Word is in their spirit. Then it can root and begin to grow. God ministers to His children as they sleep (see Jeremiah 31:25-26; Psalm 127:2, NASB).

Just as it is one of Satan's tactics to steal the Word from your mind, it is one of the Holy Spirit's functions to quicken your memory. Serve the enemy notice that you will no longer allow his activity in your mental life.

Satan, you Word thief, I serve you notice—take your hands off my memory, release me in Jesus' name! Loose ALL the treasures that you have stolen. I claim them all to be restored. I will not forget God's Word. Satan, release all the Word that I have heard and forgotten, and bring it back in Jesus' name. You cannot come and take away the Word, you blessing thief.

Provisions Have Been Made

Sometimes we tend to emphasize the BODY provision more than we emphasize the provision for the SOUL. We can believe for physical healing, but are slow to accept the provision of Christ for our mind. We are quick to say,

"if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Rom. 8: 11), but fail to put the verse in John 14:26 to use:

"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said to you."

On the one hand Satan tries to steal the Word, but on the other hand the Holy Spirit wants to remind me of the Word. He wants to quicken my memory. We should not try to remember the Word through the use of carnal methods, we should rely upon the inspiring moving of the Holy Spirit! In Leviticus 14:17 the priest was instructed to place the "rest of the oil that is in his hand ... upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed." And in Revelation we read, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith" (2:17), which signifies the anointing of the Holy Spirit quickening our thinking processes. The Holy Spirit can quicken your mind. He can quicken your memory. Quicken means to vitalize, make alive, revive, recover, restore.

2 The Mind of Christ

Jesus had a mind that was free from the curse, a mind that could quote the Word, a mind that didn't forget natural things, He had no problem recalling anything He had heard or learned. In 1 Corinthians 2:16 we are told, "But we have the mind of Christ."

For years I would read that and say, "Praise the Lord. I can have a good spirit. I can have the right attitude. I can know what God wants me to do in a service because I have the mind of Christ."

Then I became aware that the verse said what it meant and meant what it said. Just as I have the righteousness of Christ, I have the mind of Christ. When you got saved He didn't just make you a better person. He clothed you with what kind of righteousness? His righteousness! (see Isaiah 61:10). Note 1 Corinthians 1:30,

"But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."

We usually see the words righteousness, sanctification and redemption but fail to see the word wisdom. (When I received the Holy Ghost I was accused of "you have lost your mind." At the time I thought the accusation was incorrect, but now I realize it was correct.) Notice that this verse tells us of Him are we in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom. In the Old Testament we are told wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge. (Many times in the Book of Proverbs the word

"wisdom" is talking about the pre-incarnate Christ.) It is knowledge applied. In the verse in 1 Corinthians 1:30 it not only means the ability to apply knowledge, but it means ability to store and apply knowledge. Now if wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge, I can't forget knowledge, otherwise I won't be able to apply it, implying that wisdom speaks of memory.

Before the fall Adam had that kind of wisdom. He had the ability to store all the names of the animals and whenever the occasion arose he could apply knowledge.

Jesus said take heed what you hear. In Philippians 4:8 we read a very powerful word: THINK.

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

When Jesus heard the Word of God He had the ability to store it and apply it, whenever the occasion would arise.

Isn't it something how the scribes and Pharisees put their heads in a huddle and tried to figure some trap for Jesus out of the Word! They sought to make Him look like an imbecile. "Master, if so and so said thus and so, why does such and such say thus?" They were always left holding the bag. Jesus had the wisdom. He had that knowledge stored in His mind. He had it in His Spirit of course, but it had to be channeled through the mind. He had the ability to apply it in any given situation. You cannot find one time when He was at a loss to apply Scripture.

God allowed Christ to First be made unto us WISDOM.

Jesus is my ability to store and apply knowledge because I have the mind of Christ!

Would you want the mind of Adam?

You can have the mind of Jesus.

It is already given to us positionally or legally, but we have to acquire it experientially (see 2 Peter 1:3; Ephesians 1:3). We have to possess "the land." God gave all of Canaan to Israel, but they had to take it city by city. We have to enter into our spiritual heritage provision by provision. Many persons are taught that when they get saved they already have all spiritual blessings, but they are not going to do you any good until you enter into them.

I began to see that the mind of Christ was like the Holy Ghost baptism, healing, and all of the other spiritual benefits, not an automatic provision, although it was already provided in Christ. But it was something I had to set my hand to that I might possess it.

Did you know your memory is blessed? In Proverbs 10:7 we find: "The memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot." Indicating that a righteous person, when he dies, his name is blessed among those who knew him. This is the interpretation or surface meaning given by the natural mind. However, the word BLESSED not only means "happy and to be envied," but also means "fruitful and productive." "The memory of the just" is another way of saying RIGHTEOUS. THE MIND OF THE RIGHTEOUS IS PRODUCTIVE AND FRUITFUL—in particular, the memory. THE MEMORY OF THE JUST IS BLESSED. Your mind is blessed with a good memory!

If wisdom is the ability to store and apply knowledge, how can you apply it unless you can recall it? A dear elderly minister once said to me, "Sonny, I have forgotten more of the Word than you'll ever know!" If she has forgotten it, what good does it do her?

Instead of saying, "I've gotten old and forgetful," you can say, "I'm righteous and my memory is blessed!"

How to Receive the Mind of Christ

You ask, "How can I have the mind of Christ?" Just as all the grace provisions of God—by grace through faith—

not of your own works lest any man should boast. The grace provision simply means something that you cannot deserve or merit but can only receive by faith. "LET this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2:5).

This is a Scriptural command. If it's a command then it is something I must do. You may think it's something you must do by your own effort, and that is where we fail. We are never able to obey the commands of God in our own efforts. If we could, there would be no need for Jesus to have come.

You realize you need a better memory, you need better remembrance, so you get a memory course, those given in repetition form. I attended a Full Gospel Bible School at one time for four months. They had me take a memory course. I detested it. It made the Word of God drudgery, it was so boring. We were to write one verse five times, not as a good confession or as a statement of faith, but just a way to grind that Word into the memory.

Then along came a man teaching a memory course through pictures to aid children in learning the alphabet, multiplication tables, etc. The more absurd the more it would impress the memory to remember. The carnal mind does remember by association with absurdity. "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal ..." (2 Cor. 10:4).

God does not want us remembering His Word by association with the absurdity in the carnal mind. "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Rom. 8:7).

Christ is my ability to store and apply knowledge, as well as my health! I used to interpret 1 Corinthians 2:16 "But we have the mind of Christ" as having the mind of the Lord in certain situations, or knowing what God wants to do or being able to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, or having the right attitude. Have you applied the Scripture that way?

The "mind of Christ" means what it says. Jesus had a mind that had no problem in recalling (remembering) and using the Word. In His everyday situations He was not plagued by forgetfulness. If we can have the health He had, the righteousness He had, we can also have the mind that He had. When He took that crown of thorns He was making a provision for our mind. Each of those thorns with poison in them was symbolic of all the evil thoughts that the unregenerate have had to corrupt the mind. * Christ not only provided a purity and cleansing of our mind, He also provided complete restoration for our mind.

* For more information write for THE PRECIOUS BLOOD book and study chapter 6, "Sanctification by the Blood."

Attributes of the Mind of Christ

The mind of Christ was pure (see 2 Peter 3:1). It was not plagued with evil. It was not obsessed with unclean thoughts. He could control His thinking. He could choose not to think on something.

The power of our will is often underemphasized. We talk about demonic influence and how the demons can control or make a person do something. In Mark 5 it is implied that the Gadarene demoniac had from 2,000 to 6,000 demons in him. Yet when he saw Jesus, what did he do? He ran to Jesus, fell at His feet and worshipped Him.

Now did those unclean spirits want him going to Jesus?

Did they want him worshipping Jesus? Did they want him prostrate at Jesus' feet in honor and worship? Could they keep that unsaved man from doing this? No! If Satan had to respect the will of the Gadarene demoniac, he also has to respect your will! You can choose what you will and will not think. You can refuse thoughts. You can monitor and refuse thoughts by an act of your will. The will faculty of the mind is very powerful.

Jesus never had an evil thought. Evil thoughts defile a man and Jesus was undefiled (see Mark 7:21, 23; Hebrews 7:26). You say, "If He never had an evil thought then He was not tempted in all points like we are." He did have thoughts of the Evil One that came to Him, but His will never accepted them, they never became evil thoughts. Evil thoughts contaminate us when they come and we accept or harbor them. When you harbor a thought of evil it is the same as yielding to that thought of evil. Thoughts of the Evil One addressed His mind, but His will said, "I choose not to entertain that thought," so they did not change ownership. They never became His thoughts.

If you have a thought from the Evil One, or one that comes from within, and you accept it into your mind, your will says, "Yes, I like that. I want to pat it on the head. I want to yield to it. I want to harbor it even in my fantasies or imaginations." At that moment you are defiled. But not so with Jesus. He did not meditate on such. He said, "I delight to do thy will O my God, thy law is in my heart." Jesus operated by this principle. He had a pure mind.

Jesus was tempted "for a season." He wasn't struggling every day through temptation. The Book of James makes it clear that if we unceasingly encounter temptation it is because we have not crucified the lust of our flesh (see James 1:14). Some things are not a temptation because the mind is already made up. Anything that was of Satan Jesus refused. If you say NO to Satan today and tomorrow he tempts you again, you decide again to say NO. Why don't you make one final commitment of NO to Satan and then all future thoughts that come to you from him refer them back to that decision. That way you are not confronted with making a new decision every time you are tempted. If you can say YES to God for the future, you can say NO to Satan for the future. You can inform Satan that no matter what he tempts you about the answer is already NO!

The mind of Christ is sound (see 2 Timothy 1:7).

The word "sound" means disciplined (not insane, unsound or crazy). The Holy Spirit gives us power and love and produces within us a disciplined mind. He enables us to think the way God wants us to think and to refuse those distractions that come to us.

Suppose you are praying or reading the Word and distracting thoughts come, "You need to tend to your cows," "You need to be answering that letter;" "You need to be paying that bill," "You need to call so and so and invite them to the meetings." This can be a satanic attack on your mind, and comes from the Evil One to distract you from spiritual devotion, anything to hinder you from pure devotion. A disciplined mind enables one to think the way God wants us to think and to refuse those distractions that come to us.

Take the case of Martha and Mary. Martha was busy with many things, "encumbered about with many cares."

Her mind was distracted from hearing the words of Christ's teaching because she had a weak, undisciplined mind that could not cast out those imaginations of "You better get the cooking on." Mary, on the other hand, was able to discipline her thinking and set her affections upon the words of Christ. We are to put devotion above duty. Those who can sit and worship Him and minister to Him receive revelation knowledge. Why? Because they are able to cast down distracting thoughts. They are able to discipline their minds. The Holy Spirit is bringing us to a disciplined thinking.

The mind of Christ is submitted to the spirit of the believer.

When I used to read Romans 8:6 "for to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace," I thought a carnal Christian was one who read the

"funnies" on Sunday and a spiritual-minded Christian went to church on Wednesday. There is only one difference. You have spirit, mind and body. The body tends toward the outward things, the physical sense realm, the carnal things.

While the Spirit tends toward the higher things, the things of God: your aspirations are to serve God. Now the mind can either be bent toward the flesh, or brought into subjection to our spirit.

In 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 we read:

"(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."

Now in what realm are the thoughts?

Where do you think?

The mind—that is the mental realm. We are to "bring into captivity" the mental realm to the obedience of Christ.

Where is Christ? He is in your spirit. "He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit" (1 Cor. 6:17). You are to bring your mind into subjection to your spirit.

I bring my mind into subjection to my spirit, and as an act of my will I say, "Yes, I will submit my mind to my spirit." This does not mean bringing your mind into subjection to the Holy Spirit, but bringing your mind into subjection to your own recreated, reborn spirit which is one with the Holy Spirit. A mind that is not brought into subjection to the spirit is allowed to continue as in the past: governing the life by reason, by logic that was geared according to the outward phase of this life—through what your eyes could see, your nose could smell, what your mind could think—according to a carnal pattern.

When one is born again you are to begin to wash your mind in the water of the Word.

In my early teens I was making poor grades in school. I didn't remember well. The teachers thought I was dumb. I was dense. Satan had so filled my mind with rock and roll music, which I now know is a mind deteriorator. At first it is enjoyable as you yield to its beat, but later it becomes something that produces grooves in the mind that wears out the thinking capacity. There I was trying to listen to the teachers in class and couldn't think, my mind was so gone.

Through various evils Satan is trying to tear down our minds just as he is trying to wear down our bodies.

When I got saved I didn't get a new mind, I got a new spirit. Jesus came into my heart, not into my head. I began putting the Word into my head. I didn't want to be like many Christians who never read the Bible. I read through the Bible four times in the first six months. My grades skyrocketed. I made straight A's. I was learning to bring my mind in subjection to my spirit.

Christ is in your spirit and when your mind is subject to your spirit you have the mind of Christ because your spirit is able to influence your mind with spirit-inspired thoughts rather than flesh-inspired thoughts.

The mind of Christ is a spiritual mind. It is subjected to the spirit. God so designed you that you are to govern out of your spirit through your mind in your body. The body is to be third, the mind (soul) second, and the spirit is to be first.

That is, the spirit is to have preeminence—this is a spiritually-minded, spirit-led Christian. It is also a renewed or reprogrammed mind. "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind ..." Just as a computer gives out data that has been fed into it so now all kinds of wrong data that has been fed into the mind and caused "wrinkles" in the brain has to be reprogrammed.

When the body feels pain the mental process is to call

"Dr. Jones," and there is a little wrinkle that gets deeper with each succeeding year. As you read in the paper and hear people talk about that "wrinkle," that knowledge is stored in your brain. When you feel pain, "Call Dr. Jones."

Now the gray matter has to begin making a new wrinkle after the spirit gets saved because the spirit wants to feed on the Word and the mind has to filter the Word. The mind resents the Word—the carnal mind is enmity against God (see Romans 8:7), but it has to be brought into subjection.

You read in the Word: "by His stripes I am healed." That starts a new wrinkle. You begin confessing, "by His stripes I am healed," and the wrinkle gets a bit deeper. You meditate on that word, "by His stripes I am healed" and that edifies that wrinkle. Now you have two wrinkles and when the body feels pain there is a battle. One wrinkle says, "Call Dr. Jones." The other says, confess "by His stripes I am already healed." One wrinkle says, "I'm going to get sicker and die," and the other wrinkle says, "Himself took my infirmities and bear my sicknesses."

What battles we have!

Psalm 33:4 says, "For the word of the Lord is right..." In every situation and decision you face the Word of the Lord is right! There is always the right wrinkle to follow—a wrinkle that has the Word programmed into it.

After a while that wrinkle begins to take the preeminence because that is the wrinkle you feed. Soon when pain comes the body says, "Call Dr. J. J. J., Dr. Jesus." That is how to become a spiritually-minded believer.

How can this be accomplished? A simple three-letter word: LET. "Let this mind be in you ..." Permit that mind to be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Thank You, Jesus, I yield to Your mind.

Here are some symptoms of the effects of the fall on the mind:

You read in the Word of God and then ask yourself, "What did I just read?" Your mind is a blank.

God gives you a prophecy and a few days later you are faced with a trial. You know what was said in the prophecy could help you but you can't remember it.

You hear a message but you can't use it in the day-today walk.

Many people say, "Thank you, brother. That message blessed me tonight."

It did not! You are being deceived if you think a message blesses you when you hear it. James 1:22 tells us,

"But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." When you have not given time for that message to do that work in your life you don't dare say it blessed you. It doesn't bless you until you do it!

James went on to say "... he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the word, this man shall be blessed in his deed." Blessed in your deed, not in your hearing. The Word can strengthen, edify, challenge, exhort, comfort, but it can only BLESS you when you do it.

3 How to Remember the Word

When I began to move in the realm of the mind of Christ, the Scriptures that were most difficult for me to remember were the ones I had memorized in the past. I find no instruction in the Holy Scriptures that one is to memorize the Word. We are told to meditate on the Word.

Some think that this means memorize. Meditate means to revolve around in one's mind, to muse, to ponder, but it doesn't mean to memorize. You are doing a work that the Holy Spirit is to do when you seek to memorize Scripture.

"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance"

(John 14:26). Just as it is Satan's primary objective to steal the Word of God from our memory, the Holy Spirit's primary objective (among many) is to bring all things to our remembrance.

How many things is the Holy Ghost to bring to our remembrance?

All means all!

Where Satan comes to steal the Word, the Holy Ghost comes to restore it.

In the parable of the sower given in Luke 8, the main teaching of this parable is why three out of four persons don't go on after they have accepted Christ. There are different ways the Word is received.

Verse 5: Jesus talks about a sower going forth to sow his seed, and as he sowed, some fell by the way side and the fowls of the air came and devoured it. In verse 11 Jesus 39

The Mind of Christ

said to His disciples the seed is the Word of God. Verse 10:

"... unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God ..."

"Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved" (v. 12).

Here is given a principle that carries on even after you are saved: then cometh the devil. You can be sure any time God comes and leaves you a blessing "then cometh the devil."

He will come to take away the Word.

If the Word of God is taken away, WHO took it? "Well, I don't know, I'm just getting old and forgetful." No, the devil did it. Satan attacks you with forgetfulness. He is a stealer of the Word.

I got to realizing Satan had stolen from me treasures. If you had many treasures in your home and a thief broke in and stole them you would get indignant. Some say it's righteous indignation. Righteous indignation is just plain old anger—when it's directed in the right way. When Jesus came through the temple that day throwing those cords over His head—they saw eyes of love?—No, they saw flames of fire! He operated in that temple like the "Incredible Hulk"!

He overthrew the tables, the money changers' loot and smashed their seats and threw it around. He made a mess that day (see Isaiah 42:13).

Being righteously indignant means being just plain mad at the devil!

I said to the devil (you can talk to him when you say the right thing): "You have stolen from me precious truth, precious treasures. I'm giving you notice you cannot steal any more of my treasures." When I said that I felt something release from my mind. From that day on when I would read the Word or hear the Word to remember the Word, it was easy.

One brother said, "What you are saying is not right."

"What do you mean, it isn't right? Doesn't the Bible say such and such?"

"You said, 'Devil, you can't take any more of my treasures.' If a thief broke into your home and took all your treasures, would you go look him up and say, 'Now listen, Mr. Thief, I serve you notice, you can't steal any more.'"?

I understood what he was saying. The next day I went back in prayer and said, "Now, Lord, I was just a little wrong. I told the devil he can't steal any more, which implies no more in the future. But since the devil has to do what I tell him I'm going to now tell him he has to bring back all he's stolen for the past nine years!"

I got my gumption up and said, "Devil, listen, you dirty thief, loose my treasures, loose them in Jesus' name. It's mine and you can't have it. Take your hands off my treasures!"

I then saw the meaning in John 14:26 where Jesus in essence said EVERYTHING THE DEVIL HAS STOLEN FROM YOU the Holy Ghost is going to get it and bring it all back to your remembrance.

In Joel 2:25 God talks about "the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm ..." I WILL RESTORE TO YOU. God will restore everything they ate up. I began remembering things I had forgotten so long ago that I had forgotten that I had forgotten. Such as some of the precious things God showed me the first six months I was saved, things God showed me in those early hours and late night hours in His Word.

So you've been saved many years and heard many wonderful teachings. If you have forgotten it, it was the devil who took it from you. Tell him to loose it in Jesus' name!

Understanding the Word of God

Not only is the mind of Christ the ability to remember the Word, it is also the ability to understand it.

Jesus had no problem understanding the Scriptures. His main difficulty was in getting the disciples to understand it.

This is still true today.

While ministering on a college campus in the south a student of the Word asked, "Where does the Bible teach cremation?" (I am asked all kinds of questions.) I said, "The Bible doesn't teach cremation, it doesn't even teach embalming. 'Four days in the grave—by this time he stinks!' (see John 11:39). An embalmed body doesn't stink four days after it's dead. The only Israelite in the Old Testament that was embalmed was Joseph, and that happened while he was in Egypt. Cremation in the Old Testament was an idolatrous practice among the Molech worshippers. They made their children pass through the fire, that is, they would literally burn their children. Israel did that when they became idolaters. God called it an abomination."

Here's a new Christian, hungry for the Word and he's going to come with the question, "How come in Matthew 13:52 Jesus said something that was in no way connected with what He had said in the preceding verses, or what happened afterwards?"

This is one I really love, one of my treasures, one of the morsels of meat. I had been eating on this lately. I said to him, "Notice in the 51st verse that Jesus asked a question after He had been teaching. The teaching had been on end time things, judgment, and separation of the righteous from the wicked, and eternal retribution. Then He asked His listeners, 'Have you understood all these things?'"

What did they say to Him?

"Yea, Lord," grinning from ear to ear, "we knew that a long time ago. Sure, we saw that."

Liars! The disciples hardly understood anything the 3 1/2 years Jesus taught them. One time He said in a very divinely perplexed way, "How is it that you do not understand?" (Mark 8:21).

The disciples had gotten into the boat one day and Jesus said, "Beware of the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees," and they said, "We forgot the bread!" He then told them it was not concerning bread but about a doctrine of the scribes and Pharisees. Now Jesus knew they did not understand.

Jesus then begins to predict, there is coming a day when they will see it. "Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old" (Matt. 13:52). He was predicting when His kingdom would be established there would be scribes in it.

A scribe was a man who spent all of his life copying the scrolls, a student of the Scriptures. So "everyone that's instructed in the kingdom," referred to the scribes. How do you get instructed in the kingdom? By being born again as we are told in Colossians 1:13: "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." We have passed from death unto life. We are in the kingdom now. We got into the kingdom by being born again. Jesus said, "every scribe who is instructed in the kingdom," that is to say, everyone who is born again who applies himself to My word. (His listeners couldn't have been born again at that time for the New Covenant hadn't yet been enacted, not until Jesus sprinkled His blood on the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies, which happened immediately after His resurrection morning experience. That's why Jesus came to the believers after the resurrection [John 20:22] and "breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost." )

Just because a man has entered the kingdom is no reason he will become a scribe in the kingdom. A scribe in the kingdom is a Christian who is an ardent student of the Scriptures. When the Word becomes your treasure then you become a scribe. In John 8:31-32 Jesus told those Jews that those who believed on Him would be His disciples if they continued in His Word. "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." This verse can be applied only to the true disciple, students of the Word of God. The "if" is continuing in My Word. The "then" is my disciples.

"You shall know the truth"—why do you know the truth?

Because His Word is truth. "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth" (John 17:17). If you know the Word you know the truth, revelation knowledge.

Revelation knowledge sets you free. It sets you free more and more.

When God made man out of the dust he didn't become a living soul until He breathed in his nostrils the breath of life. Paul took this comparison and made an analogy of it, as given in 1 Corinthians 15:45: The first man, Adam, became a living soul, but the last Adam, referring to Christ, became a quickening spirit, literally a life-giving spirit.

When He was raised from the dead He had the ability to impart life in the spirit realm, and that's what He did.

Breath speaks of life because God breathed in a man's nostrils the breath of life. Now Jesus breathed into His disciples the breath of life everlasting and they were regenerated and born of the Spirit at that time.

Jesus said every scribe who is instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven will be like a man that is a householder.

He didn't say everyone that is in the kingdom will be a scribe, but He did say every scribe in the kingdom will be like a man who is a householder. His disciples were familiar with this term. A householder was a wealthy, prosperous man. So He was saying every scribe in the kingdom will be wealthy and prosperous.

In that day a householder would bring into his beautiful home all kinds of treasures, lovely paintings, new and old artifacts, precious jewels of silver and gold.

Notice Jesus said, "out of his treasure." The householder in the kingdom of God will be different from the householder in the natural realm who brings in his treasure and guards it with lock and key. Jesus said you are going to bring it IN by being a SCRIBE. But as a householder you will bring it OUT of your treasure, (the Word) things new and old. New things that God shows you in the continuing stream of revelation knowledge and old things that He showed you years ago. Precious old things.

"More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb" (Ps. 19:10).

Now when we stand before the people, or are sharing, we will bring forth something new and something old, and make many rich.

Many say, "Oh, praise God, I believe in that, I believe in prosperity." But prosperity here doesn't necessarily indicate in the natural realm. The Lord delights in the prosperity of His servants (see Psalm 35:27). He doesn't want you to have any worries about material needs so you can devote your time to prayer and the Word, but He was using a natural illustration to give a spiritual comparison.

He was speaking of a spiritual understanding, a spiritual enlightenment. Being enriched by Him in all understanding, and according to spiritual knowledge and spiritual understanding. Jesus will make you rich and wealthy in the things of God.

That which is natural is first and that which is spiritual is second. The Old Testament was natural, and although Abraham was before the Old Covenant, he was first. We are his seed by faith so he is natural and we are spiritual.

There should be prosperity in the natural, but I don't believe that cattle, silver and gold are a type of just literal things. If you know the Word you know that silver and gold is a key throughout the Bible.

The church at Laodicea boasted of gold and silver in the natural, but what did Jesus say to them? "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich..." (Rev. 3:19). Gold is the Word, fire is the trial. He was saying, "Buy of me the Word that you get in the fire. Take the Word with you in a trial, that is gold tried in the fire."

You have to buy it, you have to pay a price.

The church of Laodicea was told to "anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see" (Rev. 3:18). This is a spiritual ability to perceive. The word TRANSFORMED in Romans 12:2 is the same word used in Matthew 17:2 where Jesus was TRANSFIGURED, that is, "His face did shine as the sun." So when we get our minds "transfigured," renewed, we will glow, we will have a shine, we will have a joy about our countenance.

We say "Abraham's blessings are mine according to Galatians 3:13," and we look in Genesis 13:2 and read that Abram was blessed in cattle, silver and gold. "Hallelujah, that means we're to have plenty of meat in the deep freeze and plenty of silver and gold. Plenty of money." It can mean that. But, "howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual," (1 Cor. 15:46).

Some reason that since they are of the seed of Abraham "therefore I'm entitled to a Cadillac, etc., etc., etc." We are thinking according to the carnal mind and the sense realm.

Now God can give you a Cadillac, that's nothing with Him.

He can supply your every need financially, and He does, but that is not what He is teaching. We must compare spiritual things with spiritual as the Holy Ghost teaches (see 1 Corinthians 2:13).

When you are a student of the Word God will bless your memory, but you will still have to study. But when you do and when you have the mind of Christ you will be able to recall and to meditate on the Word. Our part is to do the considering, the meditating on all that He tells us, and His part is to give you the understanding of it, the quickening of it, the revelation of it. "Consider what I say [our part]; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things [His part] " (2 Tim. 2:7).

In Ephesians 1:17-18 Paul prayed that we would know the riches of our inheritance. We live on copper and tin when we could have gold and silver. We could have treasures unlimited.

The "cattle" in Genesis 13:2 represents the meat of the Word. The average Christian cannot digest it, cannot inject it, cannot take it into his normal being. Most Christians today are still on milk (see 1 Corinthians 3:1-2). Sometimes you sink your teeth in meat and chew on it a while. If you do this in the spiritual, it will set you free from the darkness of ignorance! (See John 8:31-32). It will be as real in your spiritual man as steak is to your natural man. It will produce spiritual growth.

"Silver and gold" are the precious revelation knowledge—the jewels of the Word. The silver and gold of the revealed Word. The hidden things which are to be desired more than gold, much fine gold. The Word of God is our treasure. We need our eyes opened, we need our understanding enlightened. Spiritual things must be spiritually discerned. It is a revelation.

Now look again at the verse: "Every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old." Every student of the Scripture will be wealthy and prosperous. And you'll not only be blessed but you'll bring out of your treasures new and old and bless others.

In 2 Corinthians 4:7 we read: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." And in Colossians 2:3: "In whom [Christ] are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

You might say, "Yes, I know that wisdom and knowledge are in Christ, and also that they are hid." Some Christians read this verse: "All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid." Truly they are hid in Christ, but read on. "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God" (3:3).

We can stumble over more treasures in a day than you average gathering in a year. We stumble over them through our Christian walk when we could be having the unveiling of them and beholding them undiminished. All about us are treasures of gold, silver, precious things, meat, nourishment, revelation knowledge—things that will make you rich.

Things that will bless you are not to be hidden to you.

Ephesians 3:5 teaches that hidden things of ages and generations are now revealed to us. The prophets of old longed to look at those things, yet were not permitted to see them (see 1 Peter 1:10-12).

These treasures are hidden to Satan. "There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen: the lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it" (Job 28:7-8). In Luke 8:5

Jesus talked about fowls of the air that came and devoured the Word. There is a path that no fowl knoweth and which the vulture's eye hath not seen. Vultures are symbolic in the Word of God of evil spirits. There is a place where no demon or evil spirit has ever seen. That is why it is all a mystery to Satan.

Satan cannot understand why many people would sit on the floor or hard chairs by the hour listening to what in his estimation would be boring. New creations are baffling to him.

The young lions and fierce lion have not passed by this hidden way (see Psalm 91:13).

It is hidden, but not to those hidden in Christ.

Revelation Knowledge

We say, "Praise God, I got a revelation."

"Let's hear it, Brother," we reply, thinking it is going to be something new. Many times it is new—to us.

A revelation is not bringing in a new truth, but rather the unveiling of a hidden truth. Revelation means "unveiling." It was there all the time, it was just now unveiled. No revelation is new. If you have a "new" revelation, I don't want to hear it, for every revelation from God is as old as the Word. The Word is older than the world and it was forever settled in heaven in ages past. The mind of Christ has the unveiling of the Word.

When the Word of God is revealed it is unveiled. The Word may have a covering on it, it is hid from our natural senses, but our spiritual understanding can remove that veil.

When a man turns to the Lord the veil is taken away. The Spirit of the Lord gives the revelation and understanding.

When the Apostle Paul was praying that the Ephesian church would have the eyes of their understanding opened it would be so that they would be able to unveil all the treasure of knowledge that was at their disposal. The treasures are there, they just need to be unveiled. If you have treasures of wisdom and knowledge all about your feet, you can be a householder. A wealthy plantation owner.

An owner of a beautiful mansion.

The mind of Christ understands the Word.

Jesus not only remembered the Word, He understood it.

His disciples didn't understand it so He did something for them after He arose from the dead. He appeared to them and spoke,

"And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:27).

Later He showed them His hands and feet, and even ate a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And again said,

"These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me" (Luke 24:44).

Then Jesus did something for them that He couldn't have done a few months previous.

"Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures" (Luke 24:45).

Jesus gave them a measure of the Spirit they never had before, enabling them to understand. In Isaiah 11:2 we are told the Spirit of the "Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding."

This was the mind of Christ—the ability to understand the Word.

Most Christians get every new version on the market. It is not a new version that we need as much as new understanding. Spiritual things are spiritually discerned.

They must come about through a spiritual operation, the opening of our understanding.

Some people say, "Why, the baptism of the Holy Ghost will do you so much good, you'll be able to remember the Word." Peter remembered the Word before his Holy Ghost baptism (Acts 1:16-17). So the new birth does not automatically give you the mind of Christ, neither does the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

What is the understanding? In 1 Corinthians 14:14 we read: "For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful." Jesus opened the disciples' understanding. He ministered to their minds. He imparted to them the mind of Christ, a restored mind. Restored from the effect of the fall. They began getting revelation. Peter, the unlearned Galilean fisherman, stood on the day of Pentecost and quoted from Scripture.

He had the mind of Christ. Peter recalled from Psalm 69:25, "Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take" (Acts 1:20). This ignorant Galilean could quote more Scripture than anyone who had taken a memory course!

The mind of Christ is something you enter into.

When Jesus opened the disciples' understanding locked doors began swinging open. Things that were dark began to be light. "The entrance of thy word giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple" (Ps. 119:130).

In receiving the mind of Christ is the opening of the understanding.

Was the opening of the disciples' understanding a distinct act? Yes! It was so just as much as being breathed on or being baptized in the Holy Ghost.

You say, "Brother, do you believe in more than two works of grace?"

I sure do. I lost count a long time ago!

Does Jesus love you as much as He loved the disciples?

Does Jesus want you to understand His Word as much as He wanted the disciples to understand the Word?

Sometimes now as I drive down the highway I begin quoting a Psalm and it just flows. Some have told my wife that "it is a special gift."

I was in a restaurant with a precious pentecostal minister who said to me, "You can't just sit there and quote the Word to me, you can only do that when you are under the anointing, unless the Spirit is moving you. When I was a young man I could get up to speak and my mind would be completely blank and a supernatural something like a scroll would appear in my mind and I could just read it off."

I said, "What I have is not a special gift, this is just the mind of Christ. This is God's provision for our mind. In the natural I don't have a photographic mind. I was making very poor grades in school prior to my conversion, and begged my teachers to pass me to the next grade. At the time I had many problems. But after I was born again and began washing my mind in the water of the Word something began to happen and it's been getting better and better. I've only seen this revelation a short while, but I'm claiming it more and more and the Word of God has taken on a new meaning."

Many have a reborn spirit and divine health in body but are still flubbering around with a faulty memory. You have heard and received the teaching of the spirit and body, but now for the intellectual side you can have the mind of Christ! It's as if God has said, "Your mind is shot, but you can have Jesus' mind." It is for everyone of God's children.

Before the Apostle Paul embarked on the writing of the loftiest of the epistles, he prayed a special blessing of wisdom and revelation,

"That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened" (Eph. 1:17-18a).

This is speaking of a special blessing. Paul did the same as Jesus did in Luke 24:45. For what reason?

"That ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints."

In Leviticus 14:14 we are told the priest took the blood of the lamb and applied it to the tip of the ear, and after the blood the oil was placed on the tip of the ear. Now we are priests in the kingdom of God and we can apply the oil, which is the Holy Spirit. When you apply the blood that silences Satan's voice, but when we apply the oil that opens the Holy Spirit to speak to you.

By faith you can apply the blood to your thought life.

The blood provides a hedge and protection from satanic impressions.

Spiritual things are spiritually discerned. They must come about through a spiritual operation, the opening of our understanding.

Father, in Jesus' name I thank You that You made a perfect atonement plan before the worlds were created and that however the fall affected me, every aspect of it is restored in Christ.

I thank You in Jesus' name that You've given me authority over Satan who is, according to Scripture, the Word thief.

I refuse the reprobate mind. I reject the corrupt mind.

I bring my mind into subjection to my spirit. The Holy Spirit will quicken my memory.

You have blessed my memory.

You have told me to remember Your Word and You have given me grace to do so.

I will not forget Thy Word. The Holy Ghost brings it to my remembrance.

I have a sound mind.

I receive the mind of Jesus for He is my wisdom and gives me the ability to store and apply knowledge, and receive revelation.

I have the mind of Christ and I claim restoration for all the cankerworm ate of my memory, complete restoration for my memory.

I have the mind of Christ, complete restoration for my understanding. God opens my understanding.

I thank You that You enlighten the eyes of my understanding so I can see what the riches are, then I can find some treasures and Your Word can become gold.

Open now my eyes and I shall behold wonderful things!

Thank You, Father! Thank You, Jesus! Thank You, Holy Spirit!

I'm free from the curse of forgetfulness.

About the Author

Sharing his testimony with host Roger Holloway David Alsobrook is a living testimony to God's great grace. Although he was raised in a minister's home he rebelled against the church's teachings in his early teens. He became involved in all forms of sin embracing the hippy tradition of the late 60's.

Through active involvement in Transcendental Meditation a strong spirit of suicide obsessed his mind in the Summer and Fall of '69 until in his despair he called on the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was born again on November 30, 1969, and read the Bible from cover to cover four times the first six months.

As a result of intensive study of the Word of God he was led into a conviction of the reality of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit for today. At the age of 17 he began traveling the country sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and teaching the Word of God without partiality to man's traditions.

God has confirmed His Word through supernatural signs and wonders on many occasions. David teaches the Kingdom of God on a wide variety of subjects. Dianne, his wife, assists him in ministering to people's needs. They are the happy parents of two lovely children and make their home in Paducah, Kentucky.

Table of Contents

1 The Magnificent Mind...................................

Adam's Unlimited Imagination

Memory Recall

No Recall Problem

Forgetful Hearer

The Thief

Getting the Word into the Heart

Provisions Have Been Made

2 The Mind of Christ...........................

How to Receive the Mind of Christ

Attributes of the Mind of Christ

3 How to Remember the Word........................

Understanding the Word of God

Revelation Knowledge

About the Author.......................................

Table of Contents

1 The Magnificent Mind...................................

Adam's Unlimited Imagination

Memory Recall

No Recall Problem

Forgetful Hearer

The Thief

Getting the Word into the Heart

Provisions Have Been Made

2 The Mind of Christ...........................

How to Receive the Mind of Christ

Attributes of the Mind of Christ

3 How to Remember the Word........................

Understanding the Word of God

Revelation Knowledge

About the Author.......................................