I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. — ROMANS 12:1

Present your body to God. You can do it, because the inward man, or the spirit man, has the life and nature of God in him. In addition to that, you can be filled with the Holy Ghost and have the power of God in him.

Let’s look at the next verse in Romans chapter 12. Verse 2 says, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

It astounded me in 1949 when I really saw what these verses said. It dawned on me one day when I was reading these scriptures that Paul was writing to born-again, Spirit-filled believers. He told them that they needed to do something with their bodies and minds. You see, they were born again and filled with the Holy Ghost, but their bodies and minds had not yet been affected.

The New Birth is not a physical or a mental experience. It’s a spiritual experience. Jesus said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). And being filled with the Holy Ghost is not a physical or mental experience. It’s a spiritual experience. And after that experience, we must then do something with our mind and body. We must present our body to God and renew our mind with His Word.

Confession: I present my body to God as a living sacrifice. And I renew my mind with the Word of God. I do something with my body and my mind. I bring them into subjection to my spirit.