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The starting point of the ministry of the word is revelation. Once revelation comes, God shines in us, and we feel that we have a little light within. However, even though we seem to see something within, this light does not seem to remain for long. It seems as if we have seen something, and yet we cannot say what we have seen. To deny that we have seen anything is wrong because we clearly have seen something. A vision will appear to be with us for a time and then disappear. This is an actual description of the enlightening process. When we are enlightened, our inner being seems to be clear about everything. Yet we cannot explain anything. It seems as if we are more than clear, and yet we cannot explain what we are clear about. On the one hand, we are very clear within, but on the other hand, we do not have the assurance that we are clear at all. Inwardly we are clear, but outwardly we are confused. It is as if there are two persons in us. One is very clear, and the other is confused. After some time, we seem to forget everything except the fact that God’s light has shined on us at one time. Perhaps after some time, God will shine on us a second time. The light comes again, and we seem to see something again. The second encounter may be exactly the same as the first, or there may be some differences. In fact, the two may actually be totally different. Because of our first experience, we may react differently the second time by trying to grasp hold of the light for fear that it will disappear again.
We should pay attention to a characteristic of light — it easily fades. It seems to run or fly away every time. It comes to us in a flash and does not stay for long. It does not remain. All ministers of the word have such an experience. They all wish that the light would make itself clear before it goes away again. They wish that the light would remain long enough to clear them up completely. But the strange thing is this: Many of those who are familiar with the ministry of the word have the experience that they cannot hold on to the light; they cannot grasp it. A man can remember many things, but it is hard to remember light, and what he remembers may not be what he has seen. God’s light is so great and so strong, yet it flies away quickly, and we have no way to remember it. The more light we have, the harder it is to remember it. Many brothers have remarked, “The more we read the writings of those with revelation, the more we tend to forget them.” We must admit that it is not an easy thing to remember light. In fact, light is the most difficult thing to remember. We see with our eyes, not with our memory. The more light we see, the harder it is for us to remember the light. Our memory cannot grasp hold of light. The nature of light is to provide only revelation; it does not provide anything for our memory.
We have to pay attention to the nature of light. Even while the light is shining on us, it seems to be moving away at the same time. In fact, it often does fly away. It often appears that it is passing away and, in fact, does pass away. Our memory cannot retain light. Therefore, we do not know how many times a person has to be enlightened before this shining becomes a revelation to him. When light comes to him the first time, it may pass away. He may not remember anything of the content of what he has seen, other than the fact that he has seen something. The only thing he retains in his memory is the registration that he has seen something. When light comes the second time, he may see something more but still may have no way to grasp its content. He may only remember that he has seen something again. Light comes quickly, yet it is hard to retain it. When light comes the third time, he may see what he saw the previous two times. He may see something more clearly, or the light may stay longer than the previous two times. But he faces the same problem of not being able to remember the light. He knows that he has seen the light, and he knows that he has had an encounter with light. Light comes again and again. Each time the light comes, it is different. Yet each time he is enlightened, he has the sensation that the light passes by too quickly. It flies away. It escapes easily. It is too transient. He remembers nothing of what he saw and how he saw it; all he remembers is that he saw something. Sometimes this light shines into a person’s spirit directly without passing through any other means, and its shining goes on in a dynamic way. Sometimes a person experiences this shining in his spirit as he is reading the Bible. Most of the time he receives the shining directly in his spirit, but occasionally he receives some shining when he is reading the Bible. Whether he sees the light directly in his spirit or through reading the Bible, there is one characteristic of light — it is fleeting and hard to retain.
This brings us to our second subject — translating light into thoughts. At the time of revelation, God shines His light into man. The starting point of the ministry of the word is God’s shining and enlightening within us. The shining disappears in a moment; then we forget about it after a while. It is hard to grasp light. No one can make this fleeting light the basis of his ministry of the word. It is impossible to take this flash of light as the source of the ministry of the word. Something more is needed in order to have the ministry of the word. One needs something more in addition to light: Thoughts are needed. If a man has been dealt with by the Lord and his outward man is broken and torn down, he will spontaneously be enriched in his thoughts. Only those who are rich in thoughts are able to translate light into thoughts. Only those who are rich in thoughts are able to understand the light. A brother once said, “I must understand Greek before I can understand clearly the meaning of the word and before I can translate its meaning more clearly to myself.” In the same principle, light is God’s word. It conveys God’s will. Yet if we do not have thoughts, we do not know the meaning of the light, and we do not know the content of the light. Our thoughts must be powerful and rich enough in order to understand the meaning and content of the light. When our thoughts are strong, we capture the light, and we are able to translate it into intelligible thoughts for ourselves. We only remember the light after we have translated it into thoughts that are understandable to us. We can only remember our thoughts; we cannot remember light. Only after we have translated the light we have seen into our thoughts are we able to retain the light. Before light is transformed into thoughts, we cannot remember what the light was all about, nor can we retain the content of the light. After the light becomes thoughts which, in turn, unveil the significance of the light, we can remember the light and retain it.
Here we see the crucial significance of our thoughts, our mind, and our understanding in the ministry of the word. In learning to serve as a minister of the word, we have to realize the significance of the word mind in 1 Corinthians 14. That chapter directs our attention to the matter of prophesying. We have to pay attention to the matter of prophesying because it makes the mind fruitful. This chapter does not emphasize speaking in tongues because it makes the mind unfruitful. Verse 14 says, “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.” Verse 15 says, “What then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray also with the mind; I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing also with the mind.” Verse 19 says, “But in the church I would rather speak five words with my mind, that I might instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.” Man’s mind occupies a crucial part in the ministry of God’s word. It is God’s intention that light reach the mind of every minister of the word.
When light shines, it first shines in man’s spirit. But God does not want this light to remain in the spirit; He wants this light to reach man’s understanding. Once light reaches man’s understanding, it will never fly away; it will be retained in us. Revelation is instantaneous; it flashes and goes away like lightning. But when this light shines and man’s mind is enlightened, the latter begins to interpret the former. Thus the light is retained, and we discover the content of the light. When light is in the spirit, it can come and go as it pleases. But once it reaches our mind and our understanding, it is retained. From that point onward, we can utilize this light. We should remember that light is unusable when it is only in our spirit; it has not become utilizable light. Before God we are a “living soul” (Gen. 2:7). If something has not reached our soul, our personality cannot make any use of it, and our will cannot control it. We are not just spiritual entities. We have a spirit, a soul, and a body. When the light of revelation is in our spirit, we cannot say that this light is ours. The light of revelation should not remain in the spirit; it must reach our outward man. The outward man cannot receive any revelation; revelation comes into our spirit. But revelation cannot remain in our spirit; it must reach our mind.
The translation of light into thoughts varies in different people. If a man is rich in thoughts, he will make a great difference in this respect. If a man’s thoughts cannot match God’s light, God’s light will suffer loss. If a vessel cannot match God’s light because of either its limitation or lack of capacity, God’s light will suffer loss. If God’s light comes to a man and his thoughts are sharp and in focus, they will retain the light. A wandering mind cannot retain God’s light, nor will distracting thoughts understand the light. You may know that light is present, yet because of distractions and unrelated burdens, you cannot translate the light you see into thoughts. Some thoughts are not wandering or unduly burdened, but they are dull. When God’s light shines on them, they do not know what it is all about. God has one basic requirement for those who serve as ministers of His word — their minds must be renewed.
The problem with many people is that their minds are active yet confused. They cannot translate God’s light; they have no way to know what the light means. Many people’s thoughts are too shallow; they are constantly paying attention to low things. They cannot retain the light or find out what God’s light means to them. God is light; light is God’s nature. Hence, God’s light is as great, as rich, and as transcendent as God Himself. When God’s light is unveiled and our thoughts are low, narrow, or confused, we will surely miss much of its shining. God has no intention of giving us small revelations. If God gives a man any revelation, that revelation is always great, and its scope and content are always rich. Anything that comes from the God of glory has to be glorious. Everyone has to admit that God’s measure to man is always an overflowing cup. God is always rich, great, and all-inclusive. The problem today is that many minds do not have the capacity to contain this light. Many people are too petty and low to contain God’s profound light. Brothers, if our thoughts are undisciplined and out of focus all day long, how can we expect to retain God’s light? If God gives us light, yet our thoughts are so low and base, how can this light be retained, and how can we translate this light into intelligible thoughts?
We must remember that the first thing the ministry of the word needs is revelation from God. Yet in order for the human element to be present in God’s word and in order for man to be a minister to God, the light of revelation has to pass through man. It has to enter man’s spirit and be translated into man’s thoughts. If our spirit is not in the right condition, we will not receive any revelation or light. On the other hand, if something is wrong with our mind, light will not reach our outward man and cannot be translated into thoughts. After light shines into our spirit, there is still a need for a strong and rich mind to translate this light into understanding and then into words. If we are pressed all day long by our own worries over such things as food, clothing, and family, and if our thoughts wallow in these things all the time, our mind does not have the capacity to meet the need. A man’s mental capacity is like his physical capacity. If a man’s arm has a capacity to lift fifty pounds of weight, he can only lift fifty pounds of weight; one more pound will become too heavy for him. Our mind has similar limitations. If our mind is occupied by other things, we cannot use it in the things of God; we will not be able to translate God’s light into thoughts. Brothers, the sooner we acknowledge our limitations, the more blessing we will receive. A vain struggle is a great loss.
Some brothers set their minds on food, clothing, family, and affairs of this world all the time. How much room is in their minds for God? Their minds are full of things already; their thoughts are pressed by too many things. Their spirits cannot receive any light. Even if their spirits can receive light, the shining will only be a vain exercise. They will still not be able to serve as an outlet of the ministry. When light shines in their spirit, they do not have a stable mind to receive the light. When light comes, only a free, powerful, and rich mind can retain this light. If our thoughts are revolving around other things, we will be in a maze, and we will not be able to come out of it. Our thoughts will never understand the light. Light has indeed entered our spirit, but it may stop there. Light must follow a definite pathway. God’s word also has its pathway; it has to go through some definite steps before it can be released as the ministry of the word. If a man wants to serve others with the word, he has to allow God’s word to come out of him step by step. If something is wrong with his mind, God’s word will remain in his spirit as light; he will not be able to translate it into thoughts.
The interesting thing is that every time light comes to our spirit, we do not know what it means or what it is saying. By the time we try to understand it and retain it, it is gone. Our minds and thoughts are not sufficient enough to understand the light. We see something, yet we do not know what we see. Many times, light has to come to us two, three, or even more times before we can capture it. If our thoughts are rich enough, we can retain the light more easily. If our mind is not burdened or occupied by other things and if our thoughts are sufficient and inclusive enough, we easily see what the light is and what it all means. All experienced ones agree that while our minds try to translate the light, this light seems to run away. Our minds have to be very quick. The quicker our mind is, the easier it is for us to translate the light. Once our mind misses, the light runs away. If God is merciful to us, the light will come back the second time. But if He does not have mercy on us, it will not come back. Sometimes we feel as if we have lost something; we feel as if something is gone. This means that our mind has not been able to function properly. Many times we feel that our mind is not quick enough. Many times we see something, and like a rescue team rushing to a burning house, we quickly try to translate the light into thoughts. If our minds are quick enough, we may catch a few things, but the rest is gone. Light does not wait patiently for us to ponder and understand. It flies away quickly. We have to snatch it quickly before it runs away.
Brothers, once you find that you cannot retain the light, you realize how useless your mind is. Before you try to engage your mind in the pursuit of God’s light, you may think that you are a very clever man. You may boast that your mind is sharp, but when God’s light needs to be translated into intelligible thoughts, you find out how poor your thoughts are. This is like the experience of interpreting for a speaker on the podium: You need to interpret for him, yet you cannot do it because the words do not come to you fast enough. When you interpret for a human speaker, he is able to wait for you to find the right words. However, light is different; it does not wait for you. If you cannot catch up with it, it flies away. I cannot tell you why this is so, yet it is a fact. You can only retain as much light as your capacity allows; what cannot be retained is lost. If light comes back a second or third time, you can thank the Lord and capture it again. But if the light does not come back, you suffer a loss, and the church suffers a loss as well. If you lose the light, the church loses the ministry.
Who decides who the ministers are? God decides. Yet if our thoughts cannot match the light, we miss our opportunity to serve as a minister. This shows how crucial our thoughts are in relation to the word of God. Many people have a foolish idea: They think that a minister of God’s word does not need to exercise his mind at all. There is no such thing. First Corinthians 14 clearly tells us that a minister of the word needs to exercise his mind. Without exercising his thoughts and mind, he cannot serve properly as a minister of God’s word.
Some may ask, “Does not 1 Corinthians 2:13 teach us that spiritual things require no human wisdom?” What should we say? We have to realize that this verse refers to the breaking of the outward man. If our mind can be like a servant standing at the door of God’s light, waiting for its shining and looking for the interpretation of its meaning, it is the best servant of all. Without it, there is no ministry of the word. But if the mind is not employed in the interpretation of light and instead is being used to devise one’s own thoughts, it is the worst master of all. There is a big difference between the mind acting as a servant and the mind acting as a master. When the mind is the master, it tries to find God’s light by itself; it tries to figure out God’s will or understand God’s word. This is human wisdom. When man tries to come up with something by himself, he is exercising human wisdom, and this should be condemned and destroyed. Our mind should be a servant standing at the door, waiting and preparing itself for God’s use. We do not create light; God is the One who shines the light on us, while the mind only prepares itself to retain the light, to understand it, and to translate it. We can say that the mind is an important servant in the ministry of the word. There is a fundamental difference between the mind creating light and retaining light. All those who have learned their lesson before the Lord know when they listen to a message if a speaker’s mind is acting as his master or if it is translating the light it has received. When man’s mind intrudes into God’s affairs and tries to be the master, it becomes a frustration to God. This is why the outward man has to be broken. Once a man’s mind is broken, it is no longer confused or independent.
We should bear in mind that when the outward man is broken, the power of the mind is not damaged; rather, it is enhanced. The breaking of the mind refers to the breaking of the self-centered mind, the self-motivated and self-propelled mind. Once such a mind is broken, its usefulness is greatly increased. Suppose a man’s mind is always occupied with a certain matter. He thinks about it day and night to the point that he is obsessed with it. If a man’s mind is in such a state, is it reasonable to think that he will be able to read the Bible well? Surely not! We should realize that in God’s eyes our mind is already disoriented. Sometimes our mind can be obsessed with one matter all day long; it can be totally occupied with it. Or our mind may be occupied with thoughts about what we want; it can be totally centered upon ourselves. Then when God wants to use our mind, it has no more capacity for anything else. As a consequence, God cannot use our mind. Brothers, we have to realize the seriousness of this matter.
One basic qualification of the ministry of the word is an uncluttered mind, a mind that is reserved for God. This is a basic requirement for anyone to participate in the ministry of the word. When we say that the outward man needs to be broken, we do not mean that our mind should be so torn down that it can no longer function. Rather, we mean that it should no longer be full of thoughts for the self; it should not think in an undisciplined way. It should not be taken hostage by outward things. The wisdom of the wise has to be broken, and the cleverness of the clever has to be removed. Then our mind will become a useful organ; it will no longer be our life or our master. Some people simply love to think; they love to be clever. Their thoughts become their life, and they live by their thoughts. If you tell them not to exercise their mind, you are asking them to give up their life. Their minds are turning all day long. They are so active that we are not sure whether or not God’s Spirit can shine into their spirits at all. But even if He can, their minds cannot receive such light. We should know that in order for one to see anything, he must not be subjective. If he is subjective, he cannot see anything. If a person’s mind is his very life, it is impossible for him to see and understand God’s light. This is because he is too subjective. In order for the mind to become a useful organ, it must be dealt with by God. It must be totally smitten. This is the breaking of the outward man. If our mind remains the center of our being and our whole being is centered around ourselves, thinking about our own things, with everything revolving around ourselves, our minds are unavailable even if God’s light shines into our spirit. We do not know what God is saying, and we do not understand the meaning of God’s word. As a result, the ministry of the word stops in us; it terminates in us. If the word cannot get through our mind, there is no ministry of the word. The ministry of the word needs a channel, and that channel has to be through us. We are the channel through which God’s water flows. He uses living men to be His channel, and the water flows out in stages. Once there are obstacles along the way or a section of the channel is blocked, water cannot flow through. Many people are blocked from having a ministry of the word through a blockage in the mind; the mind is blocked, and the ministry of the word cannot flow out.
Brothers, do not think that squandering our mental energy is a small thing. Many people often waste their mental power on unrelated things. All day long they dwell on unimportant things. This waste of mental energy becomes a frustration to God’s way. This is not to say that the mind is useless. Revelation requires the cooperation of the human mind. Everything that God has given us is useful. The mind is created by God, and we should not think that it is useless. But a mind that is self-centered and self-propelling is useless. The mind should be God’s servant. If it remains a servant, it is useful. But if it tries to be the master, it becomes God’s enemy and an arch-opposer of God. This is why 2 Corinthians 10:5 says that every thought has to be taken captive unto the obedience of Christ. God does not want to annul our mind. He wants to take every thought captive unto the obedience of Christ. The issue is whether or not man’s mind is under control. If we are so assured of our own wisdom and mental ability, God has to break us. We have to be utterly and totally destroyed. But we should not misunderstand this breaking work; this work does not break down the organ itself or the function of the organ. The breaking merely breaks down the life, the center. God still uses the organ. The soul being one’s life and the soul being one’s organ are two entirely different things. God does not want our mind to be our life; He does not want it to control us. He wants our mind to be His servant. The soul that acts as one’s life has to be broken. But the soul that acts as the servant of the spirit is necessary.
Romans 8:2 says that God has freed us in Christ Jesus. How has God freed us? He has freed us by the law of the Spirit of life. How then can we have the law of the Spirit of life? We have to walk according to the Spirit. If we walk according to the Spirit, the law of the Spirit operates in us. If we do not walk according to the Spirit but according to the flesh, the law of sin and of death is manifested in us. Romans 8 tells us that those who walk according to the Spirit overcome the law of sin and of death. Who are the ones who walk according to the Spirit? They are the ones who set their mind on the spirit (v. 6). Those whose minds are set on the spirit walk according to the Spirit, and those who walk according to the Spirit have the law of the Spirit of life in them, and they overcome the law of sin and of death. What does it means to set the mind on the spirit? To set the mind on the spirit is to set the mind on the things of the Spirit. If a man spends all of his time thinking about wild and strange things, he is surely of the flesh. If his mind is set on bizarre things, he is surely of the flesh. But if a man is led by the Lord to the point that he can think about the Spirit, he becomes spiritual and understands the spiritual things. Some people’s minds are constantly occupied with human affairs; it is impossible for them to live by the law of the Spirit. Likewise, it is impossible to ask those whose minds are set constantly on fleshly things to live by the Spirit. We should always remember that our mind cannot be the center of our being. It should be the servant, and it should listen carefully to the voice of the Master. If we do not exercise care to listen to the Spirit, we will follow our own will, set our mind on many different things, and fall into the very things that our minds have been set on. If our outward man is broken, our self is no longer the center, and our mind is no longer the focus. We no longer act according to our mind but instead learn to listen to God’s voice. We wait on God like a servant. When His light flashes within us and our spirit perceives this light, our mind immediately knows its meaning.
Contrary to what some would like to think, a minister of the word cannot serve merely by memorizing a message. If this were the case, Christianity would be a religion based on the flesh; it would not be based on revelation in the spirit. Christianity is based not upon a religion of the flesh but upon a revelation in spirit. We know the things of God in our spirit, and we study, translate, and realize these things in our spirit through our mind. Therefore, we cannot allow our mind to wander. Once our mind wanders, we cannot retain the light. If our mind is not lofty enough, we cannot capture the light. Different levels of understanding result in different perceptions of light. Some may see the meaning of justification before the Lord; this is a common and elementary truth. They do see the matter of justification, but when they stand up to speak about justification, there is a great shortage in them. The basis of the ministry of the word is God’s light in man’s spirit. However, the interpretation of this light varies according to the condition of the minds of different people. The light that a lofty mind captures is very different from the light that a lowly mind touches. What a man touches is affected by what his mind can grasp. The richer his mind is, the more thorough his understanding of justification will be. When God’s word is released through him, his utterance is richer and higher. If a man’s thoughts are always low, he may see the matter of justification, but he understands it according to his low thoughts and speaks about it according to his low thoughts. God’s word is the same in both cases. But among those with low thoughts, His word is being discounted. There are human factors in the ministry, and the first human factor is the mind. If our mind is not under strict control and does not soar high, we will lose God’s word. One problem with the ministry of the word is that there is a danger of adding improper words to God’s word and mixing improper thoughts with God’s light. When this happens, the word is ineffective when it is released, and there is much loss.
Brothers, do we see this? Our responsibility is great. If our mind is dealt with, God’s word will be served properly by our thoughts, and the addition of our human element will be a glory to God’s word. We can see this in Paul, Peter, and John. Paul was a man with his own characteristics and personality. He had distinctive features. When God’s light fell upon him and the word was released through him, God as well as Paul himself could be found in the word. This is precious. God’s word can be perfected in man without hindrance. In fact, God’s word can be glorified. We also see this in Peter. When God’s word was released through him, the outflow of God’s word contained the flavor of the man Peter. God’s word was perfected through Peter. His word did not suffer loss. Today the ministers of God’s word must be the same as the first ministers of the word. God still needs ministers of the word. But there is a question of how much of God’s light is lost when it passes through our spirit and mind. How much of it is perfected? May the Lord have mercy upon us. If our mind has not been dealt with and is unable to read and interpret God’s light, the light is released in a weak way. The word is weak because our mind is weak; the ministry is weak because our mind is weak. We are the channels for God’s word. As channels, we control the word just as a water pipe controls the flow of water. A pipe can leak, or it can be contaminated. Similarly, we can convey God’s word to the brothers and sisters in a strong way, or we can convey it in a contaminated, weak way. Our responsibility is indeed great. Those who only pay attention to doctrines are on an altogether different track. Those who are on this track must be dealt with. If they are not dealt with, they will be useless.
We have emphasized the matter of the mark of the cross and the breaking of the outward man. Without breaking, there is no ministry. This is not something optional; it is fundamental. If we want to be ministers of God’s word, supplying others with Christ and God’s word, our outward man must be broken. This is the reason that we have to continually return to the matter of our very person. We cannot avoid this. If our person is useful, we will be useful. If our person is not useful, we will not be useful. The condition of our person is the crucial issue.
We must not waste our thoughts. We have to treasure and conserve every bit and every drop of our mental energy. The more powerful and enriched our thoughts are, the higher we will climb. We should never waste our thoughts on useless things. We can tell how useful people are with respect to the ministry of God’s word by the way they use their mind. If a man wastes and squanders his thoughts on vain things, how can he have any capacity for thoughts pertaining to God? A subjective person is useless because he constantly thinks about his own things, looks at his own surroundings, and is fettered by his own thoughts. The more his thoughts revolve around himself, the less he can put his thoughts to good use. We cannot allow our thoughts to constantly be wild, confused, unchecked, and untamed before God. We must not allow our thoughts to remain low by constantly walking according to the flesh, setting the mind on the flesh, and minding the things of the flesh. If we do, we will have little room in our mind for God. The ministry of the word needs the mind. If our thoughts have been dealt with, we will catch and retain the light when the word appears in our spirit. Light tends to run away. We often lament how hopeless our mind is in catching God’s light. As long as our mind is occupied with other things, God’s light runs away. Our thoughts must be like a servant waiting at the doorstep of the master. This is the pathway of the ministry of the word. We have to know this pathway. Bear in mind that light comes quickly. Many things are contained in its speedy flash. Only those whose thoughts are perfect, lofty, rich, and clear have the ability to retain the contents of that flash. Even then we should realize that there are still many things God wants us to see which we cannot retain. The perplexing thing is that we know that there is a speaking in our spirit and that this speaking has a certain significance. But we do not know what the significance is. We know that we have lost something, but we do not know what has been lost. Our mind is short in its useful capacity.
We should realize that even the sharpest mind in the world is short of capacity for God’s light. If we waste it on useless things, it will be even less productive. We should never allow our thoughts to freely roam; this is not wise. Light can only be retained by minds, and it is only useful in accordance with its retention in our minds. Light is spiritual and runs away easily. If we want to retain the light, our minds have to be powerful, rich, and strong. God is great, and our ability to discover the extent of His shining and speaking is limited. Therefore, when He shines, our thoughts must be rich. Even when we come to the Lord, we often feel that we are short and that our minds do not match the need. Many times we are conscious of the poverty of our mind. We lose many things and miss much shining. How much worse will our situation become if we waste our thoughts on distracting things!
We have to discipline our mind before the Lord every day. The way we use our thoughts is very much related to the way we function as ministers of the word. The ministry of the word has dried up in many people because they have wasted their thoughts. This is like a man who wastes his energy making wrong turns; he does not have any energy to take the right pathway. Many people waste their thoughts away; they have no energy left for the shining of the Spirit. Brothers, do not think that our mind is unrelated to the shining of the Spirit. We must realize that our mind is related very much to the shining of the Spirit. While it is certainly true that thoughts cannot replace the shining of the Spirit, they are necessary in order to understand the shining of the Spirit. Hence, we must not waste our thoughts at ordinary times. Many people engage their thoughts in unnecessary things. As a result, they cannot capture the light. A man is poor in his thoughts because he has too many desires. We have to learn to conserve our thoughts; we must not waste them. I am not saying that we should not use our minds. I am saying that we should not waste them on distracting things. Much mental energy can be wasted. If we waste our God-given mental capacity on unnecessary things, we will find that there is no capacity for the understanding of God’s word. There are many minor issues in the Bible, the discernment of which is not critical. We should not waste our thoughts on these things. Moreover, we should realize that we cannot solve every spiritual problem with our mind. We may be able to think of solutions, but we cannot solve them. Spiritual problems can only be solved by God’s light. Many people use up all their energy in trying to solve biblical riddles or spiritual problems. They waste their thoughts on doctrines and reasonings. Even if they think that they have solved these problems, others only come into contact with their thoughts when they touch them. The greatest loss comes with the inability to retain God’s light. The mind’s usefulness lies in its ability to capture the shining of God’s light as it breaks forth. A minister of the word must learn the important lesson of employing his thoughts in useful matters. He must put his thoughts in a suitable place where God’s light can shine. He should not put his thoughts in a place where God’s light cannot shine. We cannot see anything just by using our thoughts alone. God must first shine on us before we can exercise our mind. Do we see this way? We should not come to the Bible with our mind alone. Before we can exercise our mind to translate the light and before we see anything, God must first shine. But if our mind is open to Him, we will see God’s light, and we will take the first step in receiving God’s word.
May the Lord create ministers of the word among us. Without the ministers of the word, the church will always be poor. A man must receive the supply of God’s word before he can minister to the church. The problem today lies in man, in the channel. When God’s light shines on us, it first has to get through our mind. Light is in our spirit, but it first must pass through the mind. Since the light is in our spirit, how can we expect to have a powerful ministry if it is discounted as soon as it reaches our mind? This is a very basic issue. May the Lord grant us to know the way of the ministry of the word.
