Ephesians 4:17-19
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: 19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. (KJV)
It doesn‘t take too many things to do to be a gentile. In fact, a gentile is so called on the basis of one thing: he walks in the vanity of his mind. To walk in the vanity of the mind is to seek the gratification of the will of the mind.
Get this: there is no such thing as self will after salvation. Those who confess Jesus as their Lord and Savior are literally saying that they have surrendered their will to Jesus. Thus, it is inconceivable to say that we are truly following Jesus when all we really are doing is to follow the counsel of our will. Make no mistake: the Holy Spirit is never ever going to let us have our mind rule over us. I am sure you have had times in your life that you sought to do something you thought was great and the Holy Spirit just won‘t let you do it because it was not God‘s will for your life. I have had plenty of those spiritual alerts. What God is trying to do is to get you and I away from the mentality of the gentile. And if we ever ignore the Spirit to pursue our own will and fight for our own way, we will find certain misery. The counsel of the mind is evil, and those who follow it have their understanding darkened. In short, they are alienated from the life that is in Christ Jesus.
How does one escape from the mentality of the gentile?
First, make a serious commitment in prayers to renounce the old man. Until you are committed, you will never be commuted. Renunciation of the old man, the root of the gentile mentality, is a gradual Holy Spirit supervised process. That is, you are going to need the help of the Holy Spirit big time.
Feed and overfeed your mind with the word of God every day. Remember, the only balanced diet for the spirit is the word of God. Thus, the gentile mentality is a product of under nourishment of the mind. Therefore, the word of God is the only word that can transform a heart emblazoned in enslavement to the mindset of the flesh. Every time I dig into the word, I get liberated in ways that are sometimes hard to explain.
Put on the new man. The new man is the man fashioned after the nature of Christ.
Be consistent in the altar of prayer. Nothing moves mountains as a heart devoted to daily communication with the Father.
Receive special insight on how to go about these in Jesus Name.
Lord, empower me to take down every gentile mentality. I surrender my entire will and I sink it in Your Will today. I refuse to be led by the counsel of my mind.
