"To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace." (Romans 8:6)
It’s natural that when you pray, you think about spiritual things. But that doesn’t mean that you are spiritually minded. As we have seen, your thoughts may be prompted by circumstances or religious obligation rather than by a heart in love with spiritual realities and animated by grace. So is there any way to know whether these thoughts come from being spiritually minded or from something else? Here are some suggestions.
Faith, Love, and Delight in God
I take it for granted that anyone who has been the recipient of grace will be able to examine his own heart and find genuine faith toward God, love for Him, and delight in Him. When the spiritually minded person prays, these are his primary motivations. Knowing this to be so is part of the inward testimony that John writes about and that Paul says is the ministry of the Holy Spirit (1 John 5:10; Romans 8:16). Sincere faith will be its own evidence; and when our actions are motivated by such faith, they, too, when judged in light of the word, will be their own evidence. But if you settle for mere performance of religious duty without examining your heart, you will not be able to tell whether you are spiritually minded.
Spiritual Satisfaction
When the soul finds a deep spiritual satisfaction in and after prayer, it is evidence that grace is at work and that the one praying is spiritually minded. Jeremiah 31 gives us an example of this kind of satisfaction. In this chapter, Jeremiah received a message from God that is filled with wonderful promises and encouragement for His people. The message is summed up in verse 25: “For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.” Jeremiah then says, “At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me” (Jeremiah 31:26). God’s promises had touched him so deeply that he was like a man sleeping. But at the end of it, he stirred himself up to consider what he had heard: “I awoke and looked.” When he thought about it, his soul was refreshed and he found a deep satisfaction in the message: “my sleep was pleasant to me.” This is often the case with a soul that has had real communion with God in prayer. It finds itself, both during and after prayer, spiritually refreshed; it is pleasant to him.
This spiritual satisfaction is the foundation of the believer’s delight in prayer. He doesn’t pray only because it is his duty, nor does he pray merely because he can’t live without it. He prays because he delights in it. Not to pray is the same to him as not eating. He delights in prayer because he has found that is satisfies his soul. Without this satisfaction, he may pray, but he cannot do it with delight. So, where does this spiritual satisfaction come from?
First, satisfaction comes from drawing near to God in prayer. Prayer, by its very nature, is drawing near to God who sits on a throne of grace (Ephesians 2:18; Hebrews 4:16). When grace is at work in your prayers, that nearness to God is experienced and known. Since God is the fountain of all spiritual refreshment and satisfaction, when you draw near to Him in prayer, you will taste this refreshment (Psalm 36:7-9).
Second, satisfaction comes from the exercise of faith in, love for, and delight in God. The spiritual life of the believer consists mainly in these things. There are certain things that your natural life requires: eating, sleeping, breathing, etc. Without these, you will not only be unhappy, your life will be in danger. But when you do these things, you are satisfying the needs of your natural life. The same is true for the spiritual life. When you do the things that will nurture and strengthen your spiritual life, you will be satisfied, as well. Prayer, as well as other spiritual disciplines, is to the spiritual life what air and food and sleep are to the natural. When grace is at work in prayer, your soul is refreshed and the things that trouble it are quieted. What is more, when you focus your faith and love on Christ, they prepare you to receive love and grace from Him. And receive them you will, even if you aren’t always aware of it.
Third, satisfaction comes from the testimony of conscience. When prayer is motivated by love for and delight in spiritual realities, your conscience will bear witness to your sincerity. A pure conscience with regard to your aim and motives will be a source of great delight.
If you have never experienced these things in prayer, then it is likely that you aren’t praying as you should, because these are among the principle things that you should be praying for. And if you never experience the effects of your prayers in your heart, if they never produce in you this deep spiritual satisfaction, you don’t gain anything by them or glorify God in them. If this is true in your case, don’t give up. Keep asking God to satisfy your soul in Him and He will.
For other posts in this series, check the directory.
This post is adapted from John Owen, Works, vol. 7, The Grace and Duty of Being Spiritually Minded, 261-497.
This post is adapted from John Owen, Works, vol. 7, The Grace and Duty of Being Spiritually Minded, 261-497.
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