Mind Control - Spiritually Stunted

 Romans 8:6 - "For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace."

There Is A Heavenly Plan For You

1 Corinthians 3:1 - "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ."
That same verse in the NIrV says - "Brothers and sisters, I couldn't speak to you as people who live by the Holy Spirit. I had to speak to you as people who were still following the ways of the world. You aren't growing as Christ wants you to. You are still like babies."

I hope you realize that God had a purpose in drawing you to Him. I hope you don't think of your salvation as the destination of your life. Because being born again wasn't intended to be your ultimate goal...rather, it was supposed to be the first step. 

God saved you for something...He had a purpose for introducing Himself to you. That purpose involves you doing something and leads to lives that are changed because of what you do. To get to that point though, you need to grow up. You will need to learn to recognize the voice of God in your spirit. 

And in order for this to happen, you must learn to bring your mind under control. As long as you have a carnal mind screaming out whatever it wants...you will have a hard time hearing the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit in your own spirit.

A carnal mind always stunts spiritual growth

At That Point, Shouldn't They Have Known?

Remember the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000? 

After preaching and teaching to people out in the country, Jesus wanted to give them something to eat. John 6:6 says that Jesus knew how He was going to do this, but He wanted to help His disciples learn how to move in the supernatural just like Him.

When Jesus asked them where they would get some food, they were very predictable...probably replying the same way we would: in a financial way. "Half my yearly salary wouldn't be enough to get food for everyone here!" Jesus told them again to find a way to get food...and they came back with five pieces of bread and two fish...basically enough for two sandwiches. At every point in this process, the disciples continued to respond in the natural, out of a carnal mind. They were still operating like spiritual babies.

Of course, this was to be expected - since Jesus intended this to be a learning exercise. He helped them through it, and we all know the miracle that took place.

Later on, they found themselves in an almost identical situation. Once again, Jesus was teaching a large crowd of about 4,000 people out in the countryside. After three days of teaching, the people once again started getting hungry. So Jesus went to His disciples again and said, "I feel for these people. They've been out here with me for three days, listening to everything I've said. I want to feed them. I can't send them away hungry, they may pass out on the way home."

Notice that He didn't tell them to do anything or ask any questions. He simply mentioned what He wanted to do..I believe this was intended to spark something inside their spirits, jogging their memory of what He did earlier. 

Now, you'd think they would remember what happened the first time and reply with something like, "Absolutely Lord! We'll go find out what we have here and watch what God does with it this time!"
I'd like to think that, if I were there, I'd remember what happened before...right?

But immediately, the disciples reverted right back to their natural way of thinking. When Jesus said what He'd like to happen, they replied, "What? Jesus, where would we get enough food for everyone out here?"

I feel like Jesus must've just looked at them for a minute, waiting on them to remember. I think He even tried to spur them on by saying, "How many loaves do you have?"
(Side note...as far as I can tell, the Bible doesn't say that He added "...this time?")

Still nothing...they just gave Him an inventory: "We've got seven with us now."

Can you see how their carnal, natural mindsets were stunting the supernatural that God wanted to do with them? I believe that this second miraculous dinner for the multitudes could've actually been done by the disciples hands. After all, Jesus had already shown them how! What was stopping them?
Their own spiritual immaturity, caused by their carnal mind.

"How Is That You Still Don't Understand?"

Just a few days after this second miracle of massive provision, Jesus and His disciples took a trip across the lake in their boat. Shortly after they left, the disciples realized that they didn't pack any food. The longer they sailed, the more they fretted about it, to the point where all that they were thinking about was the lack of natural food.

So when Jesus said, "Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees...", they could only hear it through the filter of: "We forgot to take bread!"
"Great - Jesus is hungry now!"
"Haha, I get it. He's ragging on us for not packing a lunch."
"He's warning us about buying bread from a Pharisee. When we buy food, we'll have to make sure it's not a Pharisee selling it to us."
"I'm sorry guys, I thought one of you would've remembered lunch."

Whatever they assumed He was saying didn't matter...because they were interpreting spiritual words through their natural minds.

At this point, Jesus had enough. In Mark 8:17-21 we read what He said to them, "Why are you reasoning among yourselves as if I were talking about snacks?! Don't you understand yet? Do you still have a hard heart? Obviously you have eyes...can't you see? I know you have ears...can't you hear? Don't you remember? There was a time when we had five thousand men waiting for dinner; how much leftovers did you collect from that miracle?"

"Twelve baskets full," they said.

"Ok, just last week, we had four thousand people waiting for food as well. Did you get any leftovers from that miracle?"

"Yessir, seven large baskets full." 

"Knowing that...how can you still not understand that I was not the slightest bit concerned about what we're going to eat for lunch?"

Jesus was trying to make a serious spiritual point to His disciples, but they were oblivious to it because they weren't spiritually-minded. Instead of growing up under His teaching, they seemed to be stuck in carnal immaturity.

I pray this isn't you, friend. I pray that you're learning how to take control of your own mind, and that you're beginning to focus your thoughts on spiritual matters. Because if you're not,...if you're still letting your thoughts wallow in the world, then you will completely miss what God has for you. You will never rise to your destiny if you keep letting your mind sink in the mire of this world. 

If you don't want to be stunted in your spiritual growth, then set your mind (and your thoughts) higher!