Date: February 8, 1941, eveningPlace: ShanghaiScripture Reading: Psa. 119:130; Heb. 4:12-13
Today Christians ask many questions. They often ask themselves, "Was I in the soul or in the spirit when I did this thing? Was this something out of myself or of the Lord? Was I following the flesh or following the Spirit?" Actually what we do is not that crucial. The outward things are not that crucial. The crucial thing is whether or not our inner being is in darkness. If it is, we are in trouble. Some people like to analyze their situation, but the more they analyze, the more confused they are and the less clear they become. They analyze so much that they can no longer go on, and they fall into a kind of spiritual sickness. Others are engaged in another kind of analysis: they analyze themselves. They often become very confident of themselves. They are very clear about what is spiritual and what is soulish. They seem to be very clear and confident about all spiritual things. However, the more confident a person is, the more he needs mercy from the Lord. Self-analysis is not of God, whether or not one feels that he is doing the right thing, and whether or not he is confident about it. As long as this analysis is not the direct result of God's shining, it is based in darkness. Of course, every Christian has to go through this stage of "inner darkness" in his spiritual journey. It is, in fact, quite beneficial to us to have this inner darkness, because this forces us to go to God and to seek for light. However, it is not God's will for a Christian to continually live in darkness and foolishness, deprived of light. God wants us to know what the will of the Lord is (Eph. 5:17). It is unhealthy for a Christian to remain in darkness for a long period of time, being ignorant of the Lord's will, failing to divide the soul and spirit, and not discerning the difference between the spiritual and the carnal.
How can we divide the soul and spirit and discern the difference between the soulish and the spiritual? The Bible shows us that God's word alone is living and operative and able to divide our soul and spirit. Hebrews 4 speaks of the operation of God's word. His word operates not only in man's bone, but in the marrow as well. God's word is operative. If a man has God's word, this word will bring him light. The light in His word will enlighten everything within us. It will make us inwardly clear and divide our soul and our spirit, the soulish and the spiritual. We do not need Bible doctrines or teachings in the letter. We do not need spiritual methods. What we need is the Lord's enlightening. Once God's word comes, His light shines in the innermost part of our being, and the spirit is spontaneously divided from the soul. When a man is clear within, he no longer needs to ask what is soulish and what is spiritual. The dividing of the soul and spirit does not come by asking or research. When the word of God operates in man, the spirit and the soul are divided.
At the time of regeneration a believer receives God's life into him, and the law of life begins to operate. Yet many believers have not allowed this law of life to manifest itself. The manifestation of the law of life is hindered when a man lives in the soul. Those who live in their soul do not know the things of the spirit, because the Holy Spirit cannot break through from their spirit. First Corinthians 2:14 says, "But a soulish man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he is not able to know them because they are discerned spiritually." Many people are governed by their thoughts, conscience, emotions, sentiments, and ideas in their daily life. No soulish person can know the things of the Spirit. Those who are soulish and those who are spiritual are in two different worlds, two different realms, and two different kingdoms. When a man lives in the soulish realm, he knows nothing of the things of the Spirit, and he considers them to be foolishness.
Some people say that I like to criticize others. Actually, I have no interest in criticizing others. But if someone says this pillar is white when it is black, I can only say that it is black. I know for sure that it is black. I do not care what others say. Some also say that my messages point out what is wrong but do not offer what is right. It seems that I always point out others' mistakes but do not tell others what to do. Actually, when all the wrong things are exposed, the right things will be manifested. The important thing is for a man to know where he has gone wrong. If a man lives in darkness, he will never experience deliverance. Once a man finds his mistakes and steps into the light, it becomes easy for him to experience deliverance.
Darkness is the result of the lack of light. The way to be delivered out of spiritual darkness is through the word of God. Once God's word enters a man, he will immediately and clearly see what is soulish and what is spiritual. As a result many problems will no longer be problems. We need to ask for God's word to come into us and to enlighten us so that our soul can be divided from our spirit.
