Last of all, the Spirit gives life to our body (Rom. 8:11b). Paul calls our body a mortal body. This means that our body is dying. The more we live, the closer we are to dying. When we live to the end, we die. Today we all are dying persons. We may be dying, but we have the living One—God, Christ, and the Spirit. We are dying, but He is living. As an elderly man, I have often asked the Lord how long He wants me to live. Thus far, I have not received an answer. But regardless of when I will die, I do have God, Christ, and the Spirit as the living factor within me.
Today we have the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19). This bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ is our salvation, and He is the source of the dispensing that we enjoy every moment. This supplying Spirit within us is the dispensing One. His supplying is His dispensing. He continually dispenses nothing less than God, Christ, and life into us. This dispensing brings the new element into us to replace our old element and to discharge the old element from us. This makes us not only a new man but a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). By such a dispensing, we will be made altogether new.
The renewing of the believers by the Holy Spirit is mainly in the believer's mind. Romans 12:2 says, "And do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind." Renewing is for transformation. The renewing begins from our mind. The part of us that needs the most renewing is our mind. Our mind directs us. Whatever we think, we do; whatever we think, we say; whatever we think, we express. Our mind is the director. For this reason, God desires to touch our mind. Before touching our mind, He touched our spirit, and we were regenerated; we were made alive in our spirit. But our mind remains a problem, so God continues to touch us in our mind in order to renew it.
The renewing of the believers by the Holy Spirit is also in the spirit of the believers' mind (Eph. 4:23). One day our mind will become the mind of the spirit. This means that, eventually, our spirit will get into our mind. In Romans 8:6 Paul said, "For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace." A proper Christian life is one in which we always turn our mind to our spirit.
As human beings, we all have relatives—spouses, children, parents, brothers, and sisters. We also have neighbors, friends, classmates, and so forth. Because we have so many relationships, it is easy to get into trouble and to have friction. We may not like some of our relatives, and our relatives may not love us. This causes trouble, and if we are living together, this trouble may cause us to remain in our mind throughout the day. Our mind might be occupied with thoughts about others the entire day. The more we think about others, the poorer they seem to be in our eyes. If you think about your spouse from morning until evening, you will surely quarrel with your spouse. But if you turn your mind to your spirit, after a few minutes you will say, "Praise the Lord!" Before you turned to your spirit, you might have thought that everyone was wrong and that only you were right. But after turning to your spirit, you consider that everyone is right and only you are wrong.
We must set our mind on the spirit (Rom. 8:6). When we set our mind on the flesh, we experience death. Death comprises things such as hatred, darkness, emptiness, weakness, and dissatisfaction. All these are elements of death. To have no peace or to feel dark within is death. These are indications that we have set our mind on the flesh. We must check to see whether we have the feeling of death or the feeling of life. If we sense life, then our mind is set on the spirit. If we sense death, our mind is set on the flesh. If our mind is on the flesh, we will suffer from hatred, dissatisfaction, and a number of other negative things. Hence, we must turn our mind to our spirit.
When we are absent from the spirit, we are absent from the dispensing. When we set our mind on the spirit, our mind and spirit are connected. This is like switching on electricity. Once the electricity is switched on, the current flows. In the same way, when our mind is set on the spirit, the dispensing of the divine element goes on continually. When we remain in our spirit with our mind set on such a spirit, we enjoy the renewing. This renewing will not only keep us clean and purge us, but will also renew us to keep us from being old.