Today a countless number of believers carry their old way of thinking with them wherever they go. Although they are saved and have obtained the new life, they have not changed any in their former reasoning, their way of thinking, and their prejudice. They merely put on a Christian coating! They still apply their former mind, reasoning, way of thinking, and prejudice to examine, receive, or preach spiritual truths. It is no wonder that they fall into many mistakes and cause many disputes in the church. Just as God hates man to do His work with his own strength, He also hates man to think His truth with his own mind. The unrenewed mind is spiritually dead; whatever issues from it is also dead. Although many believers boast of the profoundness of their biblical knowledge and the excellence of their theological doctrines, they are just dead to those who have eyes.

After the believer is aware of the oldness of his mind and is willing to concentrate on "putting off" through the cross, he should daily refuse all the thoughts that are of the flesh through practice. Otherwise it will be impossible to be renewed. Even though God wants to renew the mind of the believer, the believer may continue daily to think according to the flesh. When this happens, God's work cannot be successful.

The believer should patiently and resolutely examine his own thoughts one by one in the light of God. All that are not of God and contradictory to God's truth should be "squeezed out" from the mind and abandoned completely. Even the exercise of his unrenewed mind to understand God's truth must be rejected completely. The apostle tells us that the unrenewed mind is full of "reasonings" and all kinds of imaginations that rise up against the knowledge of God (2 Cor. 10:5). These reasonings and imaginations hinder man from truly gaining the knowledge of God. The believer must break through them. "Every thought" must be brought "unto the obedience of Christ." The believer cannot be satisfied until every thought of his mind has come unto the obedience of Christ. The apostle said "every thought." Therefore, the believer cannot let one thought be loose. He should examine his thought and find out whether it is: (1) from his former position, (2) from the ground which he has relinquished, (3) from new ground given to evil spirits, or (4) whether it is a proper thought. He should examine why his mind is so confused and why he has prejudicial thoughts, rebellious thoughts, and angry thoughts. For example, why do I reject certain truths without ever examining them? Why do I oppose certain persons, based only on hearsay? Do I have sufficient reasons? Is there any intention to hate within my natural mind? Every thought must be examined in order that every thought issuing from the old creation would be discovered and eliminated. Naturally, this is a heavy burden to those who are accustomed to living foolishly because their thoughts are controlled by the power of darkness, and they are wild. But warfare is warfare, and it can never be carried out by a simple method. If we do not fight, we cannot break through these thoughts one by one, because the mind is the stronghold of evil spirits. The enemy is real. This has been proven by warfare. Because there is a warfare, there must be an enemy. Since the enemy is before us, how can we be negligent?