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Scripture Reading: Rom. 12:2; Phil. 2:5, 13; 2 Thes. 3:5
In the previous chapter we saw four different obstacles that God’s life encounters in us. Although these four problems are in us, relatively speaking, they are objective rather than subjective. Now we need to see four additional obstacles that God’s life encounters in us. These four obstacles are not only in us, but they are also very subjective in our experience. They are not like the four previous obstacles which are mainly outside of us. For example, some people have difficulty with some aspect of their behavior and actions, but these problems are mainly outward and objective. However, there are some obstacles that God’s life encounters in us that are more subjective and intrinsic.
We need to understand that God’s life does not come into us to be our life in an outward way. Furthermore, God’s life does not nullify our person in order to be our life. Rather, God’s life comes into us to mingle with us and be our life. Therefore, He still needs our person, and our person continues to exist. God does not become our life by putting us aside and eliminating our person. This is not what God is doing. Although God’s life becomes our life, God still wants our person to exist because He needs our person. God’s purpose is to mingle with our person; His desire is to be mingled with us as one.
For example, tea begins as water inside a cup. When the element of tea is added to the water, it becomes tea. This does not mean, however, that there are only tea leaves and no water in the tea; the tea leaves are mingled with the water, and the water becomes tea. The water and the tea become one. Even though we were originally only human, God’s life has come into us to become our life. This does not mean that our person has ceased to exist and that only God’s life is in us. Some people correctly think that before they were saved, they did not have God’s life but then incorrectly assume that God’s life replaced their human life after their salvation. In their understanding, these are two successive events, but this is not true. After we are saved and regenerated, God’s life is mingled with our human life.
In the first stage of our human life, we have only the human life, not God’s life. After we are saved, God’s life comes into us. On the one hand, God’s life wants to be our life; on the other hand, our personal life still exists. God’s life has not replaced our life but has mingled with us. Now, we are not merely a man but a God-man. This can be compared to a cup of tea, which is no longer merely water but rather both tea and water. When the element of tea is added into the water, it becomes tea-water. As saved ones, we are no longer simply human; we are humans mingled with God. If we said to an unbelieving friend, “You are not merely human,” this would sound like an insult to him, and he would feel uncomfortable. However, this is a very practical word to Christians because it is exceedingly precious and sweet when God’s life comes into us.
After God’s life comes into us, we are no longer merely human; we also have God’s life and God’s element. We can say that we are God-men. We are no longer merely men, but we are men mingled with God; we are God-men. However, even though God is mingled with us, are we willing to cooperate with Him? There is a popular game in elementary school called a three-legged race. Those who participate in the game form a team of two students, and one leg of each student is tied together so that the two must walk on three legs. Both of the students have to walk together in one accord to a destination. In the end, the ones who run the best are the teams that have the best mutual understanding and the ability to coordinate together. In fact, it often does not matter if they run slowly, because winning in a three-legged race does not depend on speed as much as it does on not tripping and falling. Of course, if a team can run faster, that is even better. But it is dreadful when a fast student and a slow student cannot coordinate together and soon fall. Once they fall, the race is lost. Thus, the team that typically wins the final victory is made up of two people with a similar disposition, pace, view, and understanding. Since they run as one person, they are able to win.
Before we were saved, we were only one person. After we were saved, God came into us, and now He wants to live with us as if we were in a three-legged race. He wants us to cooperate with Him and move with Him. It is at this point that problems begin to arise, because we lived entirely by ourselves before we were saved. We did whatever we wanted to do, loved whatever we wanted to love, and chose whatever we wanted to choose. Everything was our own personal matter, and we made decisions entirely by ourselves. Even though we outwardly seem to be the same as we were before our salvation, many of us can testify that now there are two persons in us. For example, when we decide to do something, another person in us disagrees. I believe that we have all had this kind of experience. It often seems that Someone in us wants us to do a certain thing, but our outer man disagrees. In such a situation, we clearly sense that there are two persons in us — one inside and one outside.
This can be compared to a Chinese two-man comic show. In this type of show, one person acts according to what a person hiding behind him is speaking or singing. During the performance, if I am the person hiding behind the person in the front, I may say, “Bend at the waist,” and he will bend at the waist. If I say, “Move your head,” he will move his head. To perform a two-man comic show well, the person hiding in the back and the person in front must act in unison. If they do not perform in unison, the audience will easily see that they are not performing together. The living of a genuine Christian can be compared to a two-man comic show. There is a person in a Christian who causes him to cry or laugh. Nevertheless, there are times when the One in us is sad, but we are laughing on the outside, or we may be sad, but He is happy. He may want to do a certain thing, but we want to do something else. Then we clearly sense that there is one person on the outside and another person on the inside.
Every genuine Christian can testify that he is not a normal Christian when his living within and without are in contradiction. God may want him to go east, but he wants to go west. If so, his outer person is not one with his inner person, and he is not a proper Christian. In other words, he may be a genuine Christian, but his living is abnormal. Under normal circumstances he should be one person, both within and without. When God is happy in him, he is happy; when God is sad in him, he is sad; and when God gives a command, he immediately follows. His entire person corresponds with God completely.
This kind of Christian is not only a genuine Christian but also a normal Christian. This kind of Christian is consistent within and without. Consequently, he will be joyful and peaceful within. When he prays, he is filled with God’s presence. He can act in perfect unison with God as if he were in a two-man comic show. Whenever God moves, he moves; whenever God urges him to speak, he speaks with one voice, and he speaks the words that God speaks within. Whatever God shines in him, he shines forth the same light on the outside; whatever leading God gives him within, he follows this leading on the outside. He is in perfect harmony with God, and he can cooperate with God. This is the normal Christian living of a normal Christian.
Regrettably, there are very few normal Christians. It is as if we are all bad actors in a two-man comic show, who cannot act in unison and who are not “professional.” God’s life may move in us, but we do not move according to Him; we are not one with Him. We do not cooperate with Him and obey Him. Thus, God’s life encounters obstacles in us. These problems can be divided into three categories, but there may also be a fourth category that needs some final consideration.
Our spirit is the deepest part of our being, and God’s life is in His Spirit. When the Spirit comes into us, He comes into our spirit. The spirit in us can be compared to a filament in a light bulb. The filament is the innermost part of a lamp, and it allows the electrical current to flow. When electricity flows into a light bulb, it flows into the filament of the light bulb. If there is no filament in a light bulb, electricity cannot flow into it, and the bulb cannot shine forth any light. The filament can be compared to the spirit in us with the Holy Spirit coming into our spirit with God’s life. Our mingled spirit can also be compared to the hidden actor in a two-man comic show: the Spirit, hidden in our spirit, prompts us with orders and feelings in our spirit.
Our innermost part is our spirit, but surrounding our spirit is our person, our self, which is also the soul spoken of in the Bible. Our soul surrounds our spirit. The three parts of our soul are the mind, which is the organ through which we think; the will, which is the organ through which we choose and make decisions; and the emotion, which is the organ through which we express feelings. The mind, emotion, and will equal our self, which is also our person, our soul. The Holy Spirit dwells in our spirit, which is in the deepest part of our being. Surrounding our spirit is our mind, emotion, and will. Therefore, in order to be consistent within and without, our mind, emotion, and will in our soul must cooperate with our spirit. The mind, emotion, and will equal our person, which is the outer man spoken of in the Bible; the Holy Spirit in our spirit is the inner man (2 Cor. 4:16). Our soul can be compared to the actor at the front of the stage, and our spirit can be compared to the person hiding behind him in a two-man comic show. There is one person inside and another person outside.
A proper Christian is one whose mind, emotion, and will cooperate with his spirit. An abnormal Christian is one whose mind, emotion, and will cannot cooperate and even contradict his spirit. Thus, he lives under a veil. If our mind, emotion, and will cannot adequately cooperate with our spirit, we will have problems.
A certain brother may be very zealous after he is saved, and he may have the concept that he should preach the gospel for the Lord and save sinners. This concept comes from his mind. He thinks that once he becomes a Christian, he should be zealous for the Lord and preach the gospel because this is what a proper Christian is supposed to do. However, he does not realize that this is only a natural opinion, which comes from his mind and thoughts. The Lord Jesus lives in his spirit, and when he prays in the morning, the Lord may give him a feeling to apologize to his wife. This feeling does not come from his mind and thoughts; instead, it comes from his spirit, which is where the Lord’s Spirit dwells. Such a thought is unrelated to his natural mind or natural thoughts. He has absolutely no concept of apologizing to his wife.
While he desires to zealously preach the gospel for the Lord, the Spirit of the Lord is moving in his spirit and urging him to apologize to his wife. This shows that the thought in his mind of going to preach the gospel is different from the feeling in his spirit that he should apologize to his wife. The thought in his mind and the feeling in his spirit do not match. Inwardly, there is a sense that he should apologize, but outwardly, his thoughts are focused only on preaching the gospel. The two are not one. This is a problem because his thoughts do not match the sense in his spirit. His only consideration is to preach the gospel zealously; he has no thought to apologize to his wife, even though he has a sense in his spirit. There are thousands of stories like this. This shows the problem of our mind.
The year after China won the Sino-Japanese War, I went to Nanking and met a brother whom I had known for ten years. He was prominent in the textile industry. One day he invited us to eat with him, and he purposely sat beside me. He said, “Brother Lee, I genuinely feel that I should do more things; that is, I should do more things for the Lord.” When I heard this, I did not agree with him, and I did not feel very comfortable within. I looked at him, and he continued to tell me that he wanted to care for orphans and that he wanted to do this and that. He spoke of many things, and the more he spoke, the more excited he became. At the end of our time he asked, “Brother Lee, what do you think?” I could not say anything. I could only think inwardly, “Do these things come from the moving of Christ within?”
I was very disappointed that day. This brother had been saved for a long time, and he had passed through many things, but it seemed as if he had not learned any lessons or made any advance. I actually wanted to ask him, “Is this something that the Lord wants you to do, or does it come from your own thoughts and opinions?” I also wanted to ask, “Brother, have you dealt with the matter of consecration over these past few years? Have you dealt with sin thoroughly? Has the Lord gained the ground in you? If the things you want to do originate from your thoughts, then they will be nothing more than religious activities even if they are successful. They will not help people see and gain Christ, because they are merely religious activities that originate from your thoughts; they are not a testimony of Christ being lived out from your spirit.”
Christ is the Spirit, and the Spirit dwells in our spirit. When the Spirit comes out of us, it is life. Nevertheless, we are often like an unwilling participant in a two-man comic show with God. When the Spirit moves in us, we ignore, suppress, and put Him aside; instead, we exercise our mind to think and our eyes to watch. We use our mind to think about what others would do, and we use our eyes to watch what others are doing rather than following the living Christ in us. Consequently, even if we accomplish some religious enterprise, we are not living out Christ’s life. His life will be blocked and unable to get through in us. Although we have the life of Christ within, we do not cooperate with Christ’s life in our thoughts and in our actions, and so this life cannot be lived out from us. This is the problem of our mind.
There is also the problem of our will. Even though our mind often understands the intention in our spirit and we know the will of God, we are unwilling to submit and obey. For example, consider the brother who decides to preach the gospel according to the concept in his mind. When he prays and the Lord gives him a feeling in his spirit to apologize to his wife, his mind has no difficulty in understanding this feeling, but his will is stubborn and unwilling to submit. This shows the problem of the will. Such a brother is not able to submit even to the Lord, much less to his wife. Thus, our will is another great obstacle. We may understand, know, apprehend, and deeply sense that the Lord wants us to do a certain thing, but our will refuses to submit and surrender. Our will is stubborn and hard, and we refuse to be softened, to let God break us, and to submit to Him. Although this brother clearly knows that the Holy Spirit wants him to apologize to his wife, his will is too strong, and he refuses to obey. Thus, God’s Spirit and life encounter an enemy and an obstacle.
We should not think that only brothers have a stubborn will. It often is much more difficult to subdue a sister’s will than a brother’s. There was a sister who once prayed, “O Lord, I know clearly that I should apologize to a sister, but I cannot submit. If she were a stranger on the street, I would apologize, but she is a sister who serves in the church, so I cannot submit.” This sister was bold in speaking such a word to the Lord. She even had excuses for not submitting.
A sister can argue and quarrel with her husband at home but sit with him before the Lord’s table in the bread-breaking meeting. She may even pray, “O Lord, allow me to pay my debt to You, and I will apologize to my husband later at home.” By doing this, she seemingly has a peaceful conscience. However, after coming home, she will refuse to submit, inwardly thinking, “I am willing to apologize to any brother in the church whom I offend, but I cannot give in to my husband. If I apologize to him, I will be admitting that I am wrong and that I have lost. How can I let this happen?” She can even have morning watch the next day, and her conscience can bother her in regard to her cheating of the Lord, but her mind will also tell her that it is not reasonable to apologize to her husband. This kind of struggle can drag on for weeks, even half a year. Because of her refusal to apologize, she can lose the Lord’s presence for half a year. Thus, the Lord encounters a strong obstacle in her stubborn and unyielding will. Our will is truly a great hindrance to God.
Some people are very weak in their will; their will is so weak that they cannot be strong. Their will is as soft as a well-cooked noodle, and others do not know how to deal with them. Even though a brother knows that he should submit to the Lord, he can be incapable of moving because he is not strong in his will. He may clearly know the Lord’s will but be unable to carry it out. No matter how much he is exhorted, he is like a soft, wet noodle that cannot be propped up with a pair of chopsticks. It is possible for a person to be clear about what the Lord wills when he is praying in his room but be unable to do anything once he steps outside of the room. Both a strong will and a weak will are hindrances to God’s life.
A will that has been dealt with is both strong and pliable. Being pliable is not the same as being soft. Being pliable means that one is not insistent or stubborn. However, when a need arises, one can be strong and bold; such a one is not afraid to give up his own life. Only a person with such a will can carry out the Lord’s command and act according to the Lord’s leading. A person with this kind of will allows the Lord’s Spirit to come out of him as life. Having a will that can cooperate with God is a great matter.
Furthermore, our emotion is also a big problem to God. The New Testament does not speak only of Christ being our life and of God coming into us so that we can live out Christ through the Spirit. The Bible speaks also of the need for our mind to be renewed so that we have the mind of Christ and so that God can operate in our decisions (Eph. 4:23; Rom. 12:2; 1 Cor. 2:16; Phil. 2:5, 13); the apostles who wrote the New Testament knew the intention of the Holy Spirit. They realized that without the renewing of our mind and the dealing with our will, God’s life could not be expressed through us. This is the reason the New Testament speaks so much about our mind, emotion, and will.
Second Thessalonians 3:5 says, “The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God.” This means that our emotion needs to have God’s emotion and that we need to fully enter into God’s emotion. We should love whatever God loves, like whatever God likes, and hate whatever God hates. Our feelings of love, anger, sorrow, and joy should be God’s feelings of love, anger, sorrow, and joy. Our likes and dislikes should be God’s likes and dislikes. Everything of God is ours because His nature has been wrought into us. Our emotion and His emotion have become one emotion.
We often have the Lord’s presence and feeling within, but our emotion has some preference other than the Lord’s. Our likes and dislikes are different from the Lord’s feeling and moving. Thus, even though we truly have the Lord’s feeling and moving within, we disobey this feeling and ignore His moving because they do not match our likes and tastes. Therefore, we move according to our own likes and emotions and do not cooperate with the moving of the Lord’s life. Hence, the Lord’s life encounters an obstacle in our emotion.
Although the saints should fellowship with one another — brothers with the brothers and sisters with the sisters — we often fellowship beyond a limit and are influenced by our emotion. A problem develops when our fellowship with one another turns into friendship with one another. Sisters, especially, develop friendships with other sisters through their fellowship. This is a problem related to emotions. Although the Lord may give a sister a clear sense to deal with a friendship, she is often unwilling. Such a friendship takes her away, and in the end she follows her outward friendship while disobeying her inward feeling. This is an example of the Lord’s life encountering the obstacle of our emotion.
We need to see a great principle: In order for God’s life to have a way in us, we need to turn from our emotion, have a strong and pliable will, and be renewed in our mind. We need to drop our concepts and views, and we need to read the Bible and allow the Lord’s Word to renew our mind and thoughts so that we will think and see things according to God’s view in the Bible. In this way our mind can cooperate with God’s life. At the same time, we need to learn to surrender our will to the Lord so that our will would be pliable. Then when we need to be strong, we will be able to stand up for the Lord. Thus, our will can be both strong and pliable, and we will be able to cooperate with the Lord.
Furthermore, our emotions and tastes need to match the Lord’s. We need to let God lead us so that our disposition is one with His disposition in order that we would have His emotions and tastes. Each and every part of our soul — our mind, emotion, and will — must cooperate with the Holy Spirit’s operation in us and with the Lord’s feeling. Then God Himself will be lived out of us. This is the best cooperation that we can give to God so that His life will have a way to live out of us. If we do not cooperate, our mind, emotion, and will will remain as obstacles to the divine life.
When we consider the problems related to our mind, emotion, and will together, we can see that our person is the problem; our person is truly an obstacle for the living out of God’s life. If we analyze this matter, we see that some problems are related to the mind, others are related to the will, and still others are related to the emotion. Speaking as a whole, however, all our problems are due to our person, which has never been broken by God. We may have been saved by grace, but our person remains unbroken; we have never been broken by God, and we remain intact. Our self, which is our person, is a problem for God’s life. God’s life cannot come out of us because our person is an obstacle; our person hinders God’s life. In order for God’s life to come out of us, we need to exercise to have our person broken and shattered. The more severely we are broken, the more God’s life will be able to come out of us.
