The Spiritual Minded Family

By Barry Cunningham

The family is the bedrock of society. We are living in days when families more than ever need to be strong and stable. It begins with husbands and wives following the best marriage and parenting manual ever--the Bible. The key to being a strong family is spiritual mindedness which leads to a successful marriage and effective parenting. The Spiritual Minded Family presents key biblical principles that when practiced can make you the best husband, wife and parent its possible for you to be.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: May 26, 2016
• ISBN: 9781514498491

Barry Cunningham

Barry Cunningham is the Pastor of an Evangelical Church in Manchester UK. He also has a Bible teaching ministry on the “Discovery” radio programme which is heard in many countries. Barry holds a Doctor of Ministry degree in Biblical Counselling. He is the author of a number of ebooks available from Amazon Kindle Store including "Handling Life's Problems", "All About the Bible", and "Redeeming Love". Barry has a passion for helping people see the relevance of scripture in today's world. He lives in Manchester UK and is married to Kathy. They have four grown children and six Grandchildren.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Barry Cunningham.

ISBN:   Softcover        978-1-5144-9848-4

              eBook            978-1-5144-9849-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. [Biblica]

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 05/26/2016

Xlibris

800-056-3182

www.Xlibrispublishing.co.uk

619490

Contents

Chapter 1 Understanding Spiritual-Mindedness

Chapter 2 A Spiritual-Minded View Of Marriage

Chapter 3 Spiritual-Minded Behaviour In Marriage

Chapter 4 The Spiritual-Minded Husband

Chapter 5 The Spiritual-Minded Wife

Chapter 6 A Spiritual-Minded Foundation For A Christian Marriage

Chapter 7 The Spiritual-Minded Father

Chapter 8 Spiritual-Minded Relationships

Chapter 9 Spiritual-Minded Parenting

Getting It Right

The Christian Family

Guiding Children

Appendix 1 Spiritual-Minded Singleness

Appendix 2 Spiritual-Minded Beauty

Appendix 3 Spiritual-Mindedness And Infertility

Further Reading

To my dear wife, Kathy.

A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies

Proverbs 31:10.

CHAPTER 1

Understanding Spiritual-Mindedness

The importance of spiritual-mindedness in the life of a Christian cannot be overestimated. Before we are able to move on to consider any subject dealing with Christian living, we must understand the importance of the spiritual mind. This is vital. We will lay the foundation for this now and then, in later chapters, show how this is demonstrated in relation to marriage and family life. The mind plays a fundamental role in living the Christian life. It can be described as the HQ of your soul. It’s the place where choices are made and decisions are reached. It’s the governing centre of the whole person—physical, intellectual, and psychological.

The mind is not merely the brain. The mind is the centre of consciousness and will. It’s your very personality, the thing that motivates you. Whoever or whatever has your mind has you! They are in the control seat. Whoever or whatever influences the mind determines your behaviour, outlook, values, and attitudes on a whole range of things connected with everyday living, including marriage.

The Bible has a lot to say about the mind. It tells us, ‘The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace’ (Romans 8:6). I think we all prefer life and peace! Spiritual-mindedness produces this. It’s a sign of spiritual growth and maturity. It’s evidenced in the spiritual use of the mind. We think in a way that conforms to God’s Word and will. As we shall see in later chapters, this has a great impact on proper thinking in marriage and family life.

A Christian who has received Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord has been given a disposition towards spiritual-mindedness. Every Christian has a spiritual mind to a varying degree. I say ‘to a varying degree’ because this God-given disposition towards spiritual-mindedness must be developed, encouraged, stimulated, and strengthened. It must be brought to increasing levels of influence and maturity in our lives. If you have no inclination whatsoever towards spiritual-mindedness, then you are not a Christian.

This is the apostle Paul’s argument in Romans 8:6–8. A clear contrast is made between a sinful person’s mind and a mind controlled by the Holy Spirit. The mark of a sinful mind is its hostility towards God (Romans 8:7a). It will not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so (8:7b). This is altogether different from a believer, who delights in God’s law (Romans 7:22). The sinful mind is bound in darkness, enslaved to sinful attitudes and behaviour, and he is unable to be set himself free from this condition (Ephesians 2:1–10). The person without the Spirit doesn’t accept the things of God (1 Corinthians 2:14).

How can someone be delivered from this state? It can only be achieved by divine action on our behalf. Paul tells us, ‘For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his only Son in the likeness of sinful men to be a sin offering’ (Romans 8:3). Jesus Christ dealt with our sin problem on the cross. The promise is that to all who are sorry for their sins and receive him as their Saviour, he will set them free from sin’s bondage and power (John 8:32–36). The believer is set free from being controlled through a sinful mind. He can now begin to follow the new spiritual-minded inclinations, which are produced in the heart and mind by the Holy Spirit. Before coming to know Jesus Christ, you were controlled by ‘the law of sin and death’ (Romans 8:2). The word law means ‘a ruling principle’. You were under the thumb of sin and death and could do nothing about it. Sin and death controlled you through a sinful mind. When God saved you, he put you under new management.

A little girl was asked to explain what she understood about conversion. She said, ‘The devil knocks on your door, and Jesus answers!’ A new ruling principle was put into operation in your soul at conversion. It’s the law of the Spirit of life. This law, through Christ, will set us ‘free from the law of sin and death’ (8:2). God has given you through Jesus Christ all the power and energy, and all you will ever need to live above sinful-mindedness and to please God. You are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and have a new controlling principle in your life.

When my son was younger, I used to take him to the viewing area at the nearby airport. We would see the large aircraft and watch them taxi along the runway. They were earthbound and pulled down by gravity. The planes own great weight, pulling it down. Then it sped along the runway and took off. This aircraft weighing many tons lifted from the ground with seemingly little effort. A new law was in operation. The law of aerodynamics had negated the law of gravity. A new principle was in force that sent the plane soaring into the sky.

This is what happened to you when you became a Christian. The law of the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ negated the law of sin and death. You no longer have to be controlled by the sinful mind. You can soar above it in fellowship with God. You are now able to live above the sinful things that once controlled you. You have the capacity in the dynamic of the Holy Spirit to do those things which please the Lord and bring life and peace to your life. A new order has broken in counteracting the influence of the old order of sin and death (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Anyone who has a spiritual mind will demonstrate it in their life. You will be controlled by the Holy Spirit and no longer by the sinful nature (Romans 8:9). You will live your life according to the rules of the kingdom of God. To be controlled by the Holy Spirit means that you will