What is carnal-mindedness? The word carnal means "fleshly," therefore, to be carnally minded means to be fleshly minded, to be world system-minded, to be void-of-the-Word-minded. And the Bible says to be carnally minded is death. Death is separation from God. So Paul is saying here that to have a mind void of God's Word is to be separated from God. To have a mind of flesh is to be separated from God.
You have no communion with God when you have a mind of the flesh. Carnality, the Bible says, is enmity against God (Romans 8:7). You are dead and separated from the things of God when you are carnally minded. Jesus said: "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."
(John 6:63) To be spiritually minded is to be Word-minded. And to be spiritually minded is life and peace. A mind that is not affected by the Word is a mind that does not have peace.
"Okay," you say, "but what do I do when I don't have peace?"
Do what the Bible says to do—seek peace and pursue it (Psalm 34:14), that is, pursue the Word. Whenever you lack peace, stop what you're doing right then and get in the Word.
Don't pace around the room wringing your hands and moaning, "Oh, Jesus, give me peace," because all He can say is, "I've already given it to you." No, no. Seek, inquire for, and crave peace and pursue (go after) it in the Word.
Open your Bible; read it; meditate on it; focus in on it. Peace is in the Word of God. If you're looking for peace anywhere except in the Word, you're looking for it in all the wrong places.
So why is the devil after your peace? The Bible says Satan comes immediately "to take away the Word that has been sown in your heart." (Mark 4:15) But Jesus keeps telling us to let not our hearts be troubled, to hold on to our peace.
Now let me tell you why peace is trouble to the devil. Peace is our security guard. The devil wants to take the Word out of us, but he cannot take the Word from us as long as we refuse to let go of it.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers