God’s word helps us answer this question.
Romans 8:6 states: “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.”
What God is conveying to us is that if our thoughts are influenced by the things of this world – money, cars, houses, social media popularity, sex, selfish desires, etc. – then “the flesh” is governing us. The result of that is spiritual death, eternal separation from our Creator God.
But God has the way out of spiritual death.
Jesus Christ, God’s one and only Son, is the only way we can be saved from eternal death and brought into eternal life.
If Jesus is not yet your Lord and Savior, why are you waiting to take this step? You can confess your sins, admit you are powerless to do anything about that condition, and ask Jesus to forgive you and cleanse you from your sins.
Jesus is amazing!
He wants to be your Lord and Savior.
He wants to help you.
He wants to guide you and equip you to serve Him.
He wants to do so much more than we can imagine.
How do we know if we are governed by the Spirit of God?
We can know that we are governed by the Spirit of God when we examine our lifestyle, our thoughts, and our choices. As we examine ourselves, we can compare our behavior with the Word of God. We can ask ourselves self-examining questions:
- Is God the most important Person to me each day?
- Do I thirst to know Him better?
- Do I want to spend time with Him every day in His word and in prayerful communication?
- Am I less selfish now than I was in the past?
- Am I experiencing God’s Spirit transforming me so that I am more like Jesus?
- How excited am I about Jesus, and sharing His Gospel with others.
We can use the Bible to help us with determining if God is governing our lives.
Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us that we are to: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
We can ask ourselves, based on this verse, the following questions:
- Do I trust the Lord?
- How much do I trust the Lord?
- How often do I lean on my own understanding?
- Am I truly submitting to the Lord or do I resist Him more than I submit?
- Am I trusting God to help me, to make my paths straight?
Based upon Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”, we can ask ourselves further questions to determine who governs our mind:
- What evidence of God’s Spirit is in my life based upon the attributes given in this passage?
- How has that evidence increased as I walk with God?
- What might need to be improved in my relationship with God so that His Spirit works more of Christ’s character into me?
When God governs our minds, we experience inner change that impacts how we interact with God and people.
Once we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, His Spirit works methodically to produce His character in us. We should not be impatient with this process. I’ve walked with Jesus for 39 years. His Spirit still has a lot of work to do in me. But God shows me what He has already done, and that encourages me to trust Him for further transformation.
When God governs our lives, we are able to experience His mercy and grace in abundance!
Will you make the effort to do a scriptural check to determine who is governing your life?
If you determine it is Jesus who governs your life, how surrendered are you to Him? Might you need to surrender further to Him?
I would enjoy hearing your story about your relationship with Jesus. If you don’t have a relationship with Him, please contact me.
You can write to me at: ButGodCares@gmail.com.
Living for Jesus, Donna
P.S. If this has helped you, please share it with others!
Note: If the verses for Bible references do not appear when you hover over them, go directly to the website, and they should appear for you. Also, please remember to look at the full context of the verses by reading the complete passage.
Copyright 2026 Donna Shappy All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other – without the prior permission of the author.