Paul made a profound statement in 1 Corinthians 2:16 when he said, “But we have the mind of Christ.” What, exactly, does this mean?
To answer this question, you need to read the entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 2. But to save time, here’s my quick summary of this chapter:
Paul contrasts human wisdom in all its various expressions with God’s mysterious, hidden, and eternal wisdom.
The soulish person—whether unregenerate or born-again—lives by rational thoughts and reasoning. This means the soulish person lives by the wisdom of man, the wisdom of the age, and the wisdom of the rulers of the age.
The spiritual Christian, on the other hand, does not live by their rational mind and limited understanding. Instead, they live by the mind of Christ. They live by revelation of God’s thoughts, desires, plan, and purpose.
Using Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 2, a spiritual Christian lives by God’s mysterious wisdom reserved for the mature, His hidden wisdom, and the wisdom predetermined before the ages to our glory.
Just as your spirit knows your own thoughts, the indwelling Spirit knows God’s thoughts. And because the indwelling Spirit has been joined to your spirit, you can now know God’s thoughts through your spirit-to-Spirit union with the Holy Spirit.
This is God revealing His deepest thoughts to you. What eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and what has not entered the heart of man.
The indwelling Spirit, who is fully God, gives you anytime access to the mind of Christ. He also knows the deep things in God’s heart.
As you develop intimacy with the indwelling Spirit, He graciously reveals the mysteries, passions, and burdens of God’s heart to your spirit, causing you to know intuitively God’s personality, character, thoughts, ways, and eternal purpose. The indwelling Spirit gives you the ability to know all things pertaining to God.
To live by the mind of Christ, you must understand:
- Spiritual communication is intuitive;
- The indwelling Spirit communicates directly to your spirit through thought transference;
- God designed your spirit with the innate ability to know intuitively;
- How to develop your spirit’s intuition;
- The importance of receiving revelation of the depths of God;
- Focusing on the part of you where God communicates to you helps you discern His thoughts.
This article will focus on the first two points and the next article will cover the remaining four points.
Spiritual Communication Is Intuitive
Over the years, I have had the privilege of knowing several authentic prophetic messengers, who have had regular spiritual experiences. Some have encountered angels, visited heaven, and had open visions. After hearing many different stories, one truth that stuck with me is spiritual communication is intuitive.
I have also read about and listened to numerous near-death experiences, where people have died for a short time and been taken to heaven.
From what I understand, people in heaven don’t have conversations like we have on earth, where someone speaks and another hears with their physical ears, processes with their brain, and then understands with their intelligence.
In heaven, communication is intuitive. Every thought you have is immediately known by another without voicing a word. You just know what the other is thinking intuitively, without the need of conscious reasoning.
Some have stressed that spiritual communication in heaven often occurs through thought transference, from one spirit to another.
When you are on the receiving end of spiritual thought transference, you know immediately what the other is communicating, apart from conscious reasoning. These spiritual thoughts then resonate within you.
Spiritual Thought Transference
On my journey of learning to live by Christ’s indwelling life, I have discovered spiritual thought transference is not reserved for heaven.
A common way the indwelling Spirit speaks is through thought transference, where He transmits His thoughts, and you know His thoughts instantly, apart from reasoning. You didn’t actually hear Him speak, even though it can be labeled as hearing from God. Instead, your spirit immediately knew His thoughts intuitively.
This type of spiritual communication is exactly what Paul described in 1 Corinthians 2. Just as your spirit knows your thoughts intuitively, Paul inferred that the indwelling Spirit knows God’s thoughts intuitively (see 1 Cor. 2:11). And because the Spirit of God dwells within you, He communicates His thoughts or transfers His thoughts directly to your spirit.
This is why Paul said, “In words taught . . . by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words” (1 Cor. 2:13). More literally translated, the Spirit communicates by joining spiritual with spiritual.
This means the Spirit communicates His thoughts directly to your spirit through your spirit-to-Spirit union with Him. As He transfers His thoughts, you instantly know His thoughts by your spirit’s sixth sense of intuition.
Paul ended 1 Corinthians 2 with this statement: “But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16). This underscores what I have said so far. Since you have the mind of Christ, your spirit has the ability to experience thought transference from the indwelling Spirit.
Just as your spirit knows your own thoughts, your spirit can also know the thoughts of the indwelling Spirit intuitively. Because the Lord loves you so much and desires to fellowship with you, He designed your spirit with this innate ability to receive the indwelling Spirit’s thoughts directly.
How God Communicates with Me
Everyone is unique, and we all have our own relationships with the Lord. But if I had to rank the way the Lord communicates with me, here’s the order.
By far, the most common way I hear from the Lord is through His Word. And to be clear, I wouldn’t want it any other way.
The second most common way He communicates with me is what I wrote about in this article—spirit-to-Spirit communication through thought transference, where my spirit knows the indwelling Spirit’s thoughts immediately and intuitively.
The third way the Lord communicates with me, rarer than the previous two, is through the gifts of the Spirit, such as the gift of prophecy, words of knowledge, words of wisdom, or discerning of spirits (see 1 Cor. 12:7-12).
And the finally way He speaks to me is through dreams. Though I dream often, I’ve only had a handful of authentic dreams from the Lord over the past twenty-five years. I never have visions or trances, and I have only had one angelic encounter.
Hopefully, explaining how the Lord communicates with me will help you recognize His voice.
Often, I will spend time in prayer and the Word seeking the Lord in the morning. And frequently, I won’t sense the indwelling Spirit communicating anything to my spirit. Even though the Word might be alive with the words seeming to leap off the page, I won’t sense the Spirit speaking anything to my spirit.
But then I will do some mindless activity, such as yardwork, paint a room, take a walk, or ride my bike. And it’s then, when my mind is at rest, I sense a flood of spiritual thoughts from the indwelling Spirit.
Often, it’s fresh insight into Scripture. At other times, it’s ideas about the church I lead, ministry, writing, pastoring, wisdom about a situation, or a word of encouragement for someone.
Because this happens so frequently, I have learned to pay close attention to my spirit as I engage in mindless activities.
In conclusion, since you have access to the mind of Christ through your spirit-to-Spirit union with the indwelling Spirit, begin developing intimacy with the indwelling Spirit. Ask Him to graciously reveal God’s deepest thoughts and desires to you.
To learn more about living from the mind of Christ, you can listen to my message titled Your Sixth Sense.
