Since Christ is in the spirit, when our mind submits to the spirit, it is submitting to Christ. Thus, He is given the opportunity to expand from our spirit into our mind. Formerly, nothing of Christ was within our mind, but when our mind submits to the spirit, the Lord has the opportunity to permeate, fill, and renew our mind with Himself. In this way our soul is transformed by the renewing of our mind. Our mind, thus, will be filled with Christ. This is why Paul is able to say in 1 Corinthians 2:16, "We have the mind of Christ." When we are regenerated in our spirit, we have the Spirit of Christ. When our mind submits to the spirit and lets Christ as the Spirit occupy it, we have even the mind of Christ.
Many times we meet some good Christians, but when we talk with them, we realize that in their mind is nothing of Christ. Undoubtedly they love the Lord; but in their mind, as revealed by their way of talking, there is nothing of Christ. They may talk about spiritual things and use spiritual terms, but there is nothing of the mind of Christ. It is still their mind and their way of thinking about the Lord. They do not have the mind of Christ.
There are other Christians in whom we discover a mind full of Christ, the Spirit. When they express their thoughts and ideas, we sense the presence of the Lord Spirit. Because their minds are under the control and direction of the spirit, the Lord Spirit has the opportunity to saturate and occupy their mind.
The transformation of the entire soul depends on the renewing of the mind. This is extremely important. After we are renewed in the mind, we will automatically be renewed in the emotion and in the will. The mind always adjusts the emotion, and the will is always influenced by the mind. Our thinking balances and limits our emotional feelings, and we make decisions according to what we consider, think, and understand. If our mind is opened to the Lord, the emotion and the will surely will follow. If our mind is closed to the Lord, then, of course, the emotion and the will also will be closed. If the mind is saturated and occupied by the Lord, the Lord will certainly take over our emotion and possess our will. It is for this reason we are told in Romans 12 that the transformation of the soul is by the renewing of the mind. If the Lord can possess our mind, He will automatically control our emotion and our will.
Many Christians love the Lord, but they will not submit their mind to the Lord. Many times a Christian will say, "Yes, I do love the Lord, but I think such and such. I love the Lord, but what about this or that?" They close their mind and imprison the Lord in their spirit. We have a hymn which says that the Lord Spirit has come into our spirit with the intention of flowing out from us, but once He has entered, He is enclosed.* Our spirit should be a residence for the Lord, but it has become a prison. How many Christians have Christ within them, yet He is locked within! There is no way for the Lord to come out, because their mind is not submissive. They have their way of thinking with their old and natural mind. As long as we retain the old mind, we remain old in the soul. We need to submit our mind to the Lord and let Him come into it to possess and renew it.
The life of Christ is always waiting for an opportunity to transform us, but we will not grant it because in our mind we are unwilling to submit to Him. The problem is our stubborn mind. We will not submit our thinking, our concepts, our ideas, our thoughts, our reasonings, our knowledge, and our understanding. This is the problem. As long as we keep our mind, Christ is shut within our spirit with no way out. We must pray: "Lord, now I understand that I must surrender my mind to Thee. If I love Thee, I must give up my thoughts and my concepts. I must submit my thoughts to Thy thoughts and my concepts to Thy concepts." Then the door will be opened and the way paved for the Lord to come out from our spirit and enter our mind. He is already in our spirit, but He is waiting and seeking an opportunity to spread from our spirit into our mind. If we submit our mind to Him, He will have a free way to saturate, fill, and renew it with Himself. Our natural mind must be transformed into the mind of Christ.