FOOD FOR TEENS: THE ANATOMY OF THE MIND

Hello dearly beloved, happy New Year, I welcome you into the year 2021. I believe you are growing in the grace and wisdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

The mind in Scriptures usually refers to man's consciousness either at the surface level or at it deepest level. The mind is that which is responsible for one's thoughts and feelings. The reason why we need to understand the the workings of the mind is because, that is where the battles of life are fought. 2nd Corinthians 10:4-5 says, “(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.” The devil wants us to be ignorant of the importance of the mind which is why some Christians find themselves losing battles that they could easily have won. 

The mind is divided into three main parts; 

1. The conscious (mind) 

2. The Unconscious (spirit) 

3. The Subconscious (soul) 

1. The conscious mind is the part of our mind that we use to carry out deliberate actions at any given time, for instance one could decide to speak or keep silent at any time, these are deliberate actions that are controlled by the conscious mind. It is used to interact directly with our environment, it is the part of our mind that we are awake or aware of. It pretty much controls our immediate environment. It's scope is usually limited, this part of the mind has the least capacity to retain information of the three of them. It can process information one at a time, that's why if there are 10 people in a room, it is almost impossible to accurately tell what everyone is wearing and what actions each and everyone is engaged in at the same time which is why your conscious mind usually locks into just one activity at a time. Which is why when a person starts learning how to drive a car, he or she struggles because we are teaching our conscious mind several things at the same time, like controlling the steering, watching your mirrors, selecting the gear, knowing when to accelerate and hold your breaks which could be too much for the conscious mind. It is the gateway between the outside world and the other parts of the mind. Every information that must get into you must go through your five senses which are directly linked to your consciousness. It is this part of the mind that scripture refers to in Romans 7:25, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” You must consciously be spiritually minded, always putting God's word in your consciousness, this is the first step to living a successful Christian life. 

2. The unconscious mind: This is the part of the mind takes account of everything that happens in a man's life, usually referred to as the spirit of a man, this is the real man. It's a often said that your spirit knows everything about you, but these information locked up in your unconscious are information that you have gathered from the very day you were born, some of these information, though your conscious mind might be ignorant of it but it is there locked up in your spirit.  1st Corinthians 2:11, “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.” In this unconscious mind is locked all your life experiences, which is why people say when they have near death experiences that their whole life began to play before them, this is because the spirit of the man was about to awaken to his full consciousness when it leaves the body which we refer to as death. 

3. The Subconscious mind (Soul): This is like the middle ground between the conscious and the unconscious mind, it is the most influential part of the mind. This is the part of the mind that is more active than the conscious mind yet almost unnoticeable like the the unconscious mind. Ephesians 4:23, “And be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” The Bible refers to this part of the mind as the spirit of the mind, that is, it is the program running on this part of the mind that controls how the conscious mind interprets and interact with things. This is the part of the mind that controls all emotions and habits of a person; though the conscious mind decides when to speak or keep silent, it is the emotions locked in the subconscious that really would determine if he could really behave in a certain way because emotions and desires locked in the subconscious can override what the conscious mind intends to achieve. Romans 7:23 says, “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin.” 

As a new believer, this is the part of the mind that needs renewal. Romans 12:2, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” According to the above scripture, it is when the subconscious mind is renewed, that is when we can prove what is the good, acceptable and perfect will of God, why? Because this part of the mind controls how your conscious mind interprets things, it controls how our reflexes and habits, whatsoever goes in here controls a man, the reason why learning how to drive is such a daunting task is because the information we need to control every aspect of the car has not entered into our subconscious mind, once it gets there all your reflexes kicks in and you can control all the parts of the car without consciously trying to. Even so when you try to live out God's will from Scriptures, you could find it difficult initially because the information needed to do that is still lodged only in your consciousness, and you have to remember it before you can work in it, but once it gains entrance into your subconscious state it begins to control that believer. You must strive to get the word into your subconscious by consistent meditation and prayer. Only then can you prosper as a believer, 3 John 1:2, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” 

James 1:8 says, “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” A double minded man in this regard refers to one who has one set of information in his consciousness and a different one in his subconscious state, he would always struggle to do that which he should normally do, like a car learner would struggle until his subconscious and conscious mind begins to align, this is why we labour continuously in our study, meditation, declaration and prayer life because it is when the word of God gets into our subconscious that it becomes part of us. It is this subconscious mind that scripture spoke about in Proverbs 4:23; that we must guard diligently for out of it are the issues of life. Contained in subconscious are the old programs of fear, poverty failure, low self esteem, lack of self control etc; even though you are born again, until you consciously starts changing images there, that person will still be ruled by that old program. Matthew 22:37, “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” When all three aligns to God's word, then can a believer begin to truly walk in victory. 

God bless you and happy new year.