The Spiritual Mind: Putting On the New Man and Moving Beyond the Carnal

To renew your mind is not a passive hope — it is an active choice to put on the spirit man who is already within you.

The renewal of the mind described in Ephesians 4:23 is not automatic. It requires understanding the difference between the soul and the spirit, rejecting the false doctrine of blind faith, and actively clothing yourself in the new man through prayer, spiritual discipline, and submission to God. The spiritual mind is not a higher version of human reasoning — it is a completely different mode of existence that accesses knowledge, dominion, and realities the soul cannot perceive on its own.

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Teaching Overview

1. Faith is not blind — God expects you to ask questions, inquire of Him, and go to Him knowing what you expect to receive.
2. The soul and spirit are distinct — the soul operates with what you know naturally, while the spirit adds knowledge the soul cannot access on its own.
3. Spiritual experiences are tangible and unmistakable, unlike soul experiences, which are fragmented and internal.
4. Renewing the spirit of your mind requires actively putting on the new man — the spirit — who is already present but must be engaged through choice and action.
5. God's ways transcend human morality and reason, and spiritual maturity means learning to perceive what is beyond the moral categories of men.

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Key Distinctions

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Faith Is Not Blind — Inquiring of God

• Blind faith is a doctrine developed by modern believers who lack communion with the Holy Spirit and cannot inquire of God.
• When Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced she would conceive, she asked how this was possible as a virgin — Gabriel answered her fully, explaining the process without offence.
• Going to God without knowing what you expect to receive is a testament to not knowing God.

"You've been taught this blind faith and it's completely nonsense. There is no faith that is blind. Doesn't exist. You're supposed to know by faith what God is going to do."

"There is a reason why there is unbelief in the church is because you are commanded to believe something without knowing what you believe. That is what we call religion."

Going to God With Specific Expectation

• Every person who came to Jesus received according to what they specifically asked for — those who came only to see what He would do received nothing.
• The command "ask that your joy may be full" reveals that unanswered prayer and spiritual misery are the direct result of not asking.
• Confidence before God is not arrogance — it is the fruit of knowing Him and knowing what He is able to do.

"You always go to God, knowing what you're going to receive, because He's able to do exceedingly abundantly."

"There are so many miserable people in the church because you are not asking so that your joy may be full. You are not asking."

Renewing the Spirit of Your Mind — Putting On the New Man

• Ephesians 4:23 commands renewal of the spirit of the mind through putting on the new man — the new man is the born-again spirit, already present within you.
• The soul and body are the old man; the spirit alone is new at the new birth — therefore spiritual renewal requires the soul to actively engage and clothe itself in the spirit.
• The spirit man is already there, but activation requires a deliberate act of submission and clothing.

"The new man is already there, but you have to be clothed in him."

The Soul and the Subconscious Mind

• The conscious mind is the active operating mind; the subconscious is the programmed mind that runs automatically from whatever has been repeatedly stored in it.
• A carnal mind has progressively silenced the voice of conscience — each time the conscience is ignored, its voice diminishes until it disappears entirely.
• The soul knows only what has been learned and experienced in the natural; it is the spirit that adds knowledge beyond what the soul possesses.

"Whatever you repeat goes into your subconscious and then out of your subconscious, it is a program that already operates."

"The more you keep ignoring it, that voice goes away."

Soul Experiences vs. Spiritual Experiences

• Soul experiences are internal, fragmented, and imaginative — like dreams and impressions that must be interpreted and remembered.
• Spiritual experiences are tangible and external — perceived through more than five senses, as real as the physical world, and impossible to confuse with imagination.
• The disciples' response on the Mount of Transfiguration demonstrates this reality: seeing Moses and Elijah was so tangible and unmistakable that they immediately proposed building three tabernacles.

"You have a spiritual experience, there is no doubt. There is no confusing the two because you are still thinking according to the soul."

"It is as real as here but more. So it is because the soul experience is internal. The spiritual experience is external."

The Spirit Man's Capacity for Knowledge

• The five senses can tell you names and surface information, but they cannot reveal the mind or intentions of another person — only the spirit man can know this.
• Your spirit already knows everything about your life, including its end — your soul does not know this, but your spirit does.
• As you draw closer to God, you develop the spiritual capacity to sense significant spiritual realities, including events the soul has no access to.

"The spirit man is incredible. He has the capacity to know."

"Your spirit even knows that they are living this world. Your soul doesn't know it, but your spirit does 100%."

The Challenge of Transferring Spiritual Knowledge to the Soul

• When in the presence of God or in spiritual experience, understanding is vastly greater than anything possible in the flesh — yet when returning to the body, the soul retains only a small fraction.
• The soul must receive spiritual knowledge; it cannot generate it on its own — this is why dreams require effort to remember and understand.
• The Holy Spirit does not control your thoughts — you bear the responsibility of making your thoughts subject to the will of God.

"The reason is your soul doesn't know anything. It has to receive it."

"The Bible says, make all thoughts subject to the will of God. It doesn't say the Holy Spirit will control your thoughts. That is your responsibility."

Image, Appearance, and Dominion

• Being made in God's image is not about physical appearance — it is a profound spiritual and character-based resemblance that transcends gender and form.
• Angels rule over territories and domains of God, but only humanity was created for dominion — the devil fell precisely because he desired what was not appointed to him.
• Human spirits and angelic spirits are completely distinct in character, mannerism, and jurisdiction — not in whether they have wings.

"Don't confuse appearance and image. Don't confuse the two."

"We were called to have dominion because God has dominion. We were called to work with God. They are called to serve God."

God's Ways Transcend Human Morality

• God's ways have nothing to do with man's categories of good and bad — He works through people, circumstances, and even apparent failures to accomplish His sovereign purposes.
• Samson's desire for the Philistine woman, Rahab's placement in Jericho, and Judas's betrayal were all part of God's sovereign plan — none can be understood through the moral lens of men.
• Spiritual maturity is required to perceive God's ways beyond morality — baby Christians can only interpret God through the limited moral framework of men.

"When you are a baby Christian, you cannot understand things beyond morality of men."

Submitting the Soul and Putting On the Spirit Man

• Pain and suffering force a person into the flesh, disconnecting them from their spiritual foundation — even John the Baptist, the greatest of the prophets, doubted from prison.
• If learning to submit your soul and body to God is mastered, it becomes possible to put on the spirit man and engage with heaven.
• Walking in the spirit fulfills the promise that you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

"So if it can happen to John the Baptist, it can happen to you."

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Key Definitions

Blind Faith — There is no faith that is blind. Faith is not belief without understanding — it is conviction based on knowing, inquiring of God, and going to Him with specific expectation.

Subconscious Mind — The stored, programmed part of the soul mind that operates automatically from whatever has been repeatedly rehearsed, without requiring conscious thought.

Carnal Mind — A mind that has been progressively stripped of the voice of conscience through repeated disobedience, until it operates with no feeling, no care, and no spiritual perception — producing death.

Image (as in the image of God) — Not physical appearance, but a spiritual and character-based resemblance to God that is beyond gender, form, and natural categories — the basis on which humanity is predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.

Dominion — The absolute authority over creation given exclusively to humanity to work with God — distinct from the territorial rule assigned to angels, and the very thing the devil fell for desiring.

Groanings — A spiritual language beyond earthly words through which the Spirit helps believers pray — a real, functional form of communication with God that exceeds what human speech can express.

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Key Takeaways

• Faith is not blind and God is not offended by questions — approaching God without understanding produces unbelief, misery, and people who eventually abandon their faith entirely.
• The new man is already within you — he must be put on, not created — spiritual renewal is not passive transformation but an active, daily choice to clothe yourself in your born-again spirit.
• Soul experiences and spiritual experiences are completely different in quality — recognising the difference protects you from confusing imagination with genuine spiritual encounter.
• Your spirit knows what your soul does not — submitting your soul to your spirit gives you access to knowledge, discernment, and dominion that the natural mind can never generate.
• God's ways operate entirely beyond human morality — spiritual maturity means developing the capacity to perceive and trust God's sovereign purposes even when they cannot be understood through the moral categories of men.

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Reflection Questions

1. Are you currently going to God with specific expectation, or are you attending services and prayers with a vague "let me see what God will do" posture — and what does that reveal about your knowledge of Him?
2. Where in your life have you been operating from your soul — relying on what you already know naturally — when God has been calling you to access something deeper through your spirit?
3. Have pain, suffering, or prolonged difficulty disconnected you from your spiritual foundation the way prison disconnected John the Baptist? What would it take to re-engage your spirit in that area?
4. What thoughts have you been expecting the Holy Spirit to correct for you, that you now understand are your own responsibility to submit to the will of God?
5. Is there a situation in your life right now that you have been judging through the moral categories of men — that may require a more spiritually mature perspective to understand what God is actually doing?

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Prayers and Declarations

"Father, I pray that your people will receive the grace to truly do this word that you have given us today. That there are minds and their hearts who change, that there are the ability to speak or change, they are prayer will change. They will learn to break the flesh daily, that they may put on the spirit man, that they may receive the mind of the Spirit. Father, you said to be carnally minded, is death. We don't want to die. That's why you brought us unto yourself. We want to live and we want to give life to others. Father, we pray in the name of your son Jesus, do a new thing with us. Make us new today. May we know you as you are. May we walk with you. May we experience you. Father, we thank you for the grace that you have bestowed upon us through your son Jesus. Father today I pray that the areas they have struggled with may they receive relief by your spirit, strengthen their soul in you, strengthen their bodies in you that they may chase after you. Father, whatever the enemy has used to hold them down, let it be broken in the name of Jesus, help them to know your ways. Father, I thank you now and eternally, in Jesus mighty name. Amen."

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Scripture References

• Ephesians 4:23 — "And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;" (KJV)
• Genesis 1:26 — "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." (KJV)
• Romans 8:16 — "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:" (KJV)
• Romans 8:29 — "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." (KJV)
• Colossians 1:15 — "Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:" (KJV)
• Jeremiah 32:41 — "Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul." (KJV)
• 2 Corinthians 12:2 — "I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven." (KJV)
• John 16:24 — "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." (KJV)
• Judges 14:4
• Romans 8:26 — "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." (KJV)

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Golden Nuggets

"You've been taught this blind faith and it's completely nonsense. There is no faith that is blind. Doesn't exist."

"You always go to God, knowing what you're going to receive, because He's able to do exceedingly abundantly."

"The new man is already there, but you have to be clothed in him."

"Whatever you repeat goes into your subconscious and then out of your subconscious, it is a program that already operates."

"The spirit man is incredible. He has the capacity to know."

"The soul experience is internal. The spiritual experience is external."

"The Bible says, make all thoughts subject to the will of God. It doesn't say the Holy Spirit will control your thoughts. That is your responsibility."

"We were called to have dominion because God has dominion. We were called to work with God. They are called to serve God."

"When you are a baby Christian, you cannot understand things beyond morality of men."

"Don't confuse appearance and image. Don't confuse the two."

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Resources and Further Reading

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• Study with a Recommended Bible →