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If someone desires to look into the Christian life, he must realize that the Christian life is basically a matter of life. All other matters, such as reading the Bible, preaching the gospel, and serving, are also wrapped up with life. Once this matter of life has been dealt with, all other matters are resolved. Life is the origin and foundation of everything. It is our way, our power, and our light. Life is everything to us. Since life is such a crucial matter, our most urgent need is to learn how to touch the way of life so that we may grow in life. Hence, the following items are the most important matters concerning the way of life.
First of all, every brother and sister should have a clear understanding that at the time they prayed and called on the Lord, the Lord’s life entered into them. This is not a doctrine but a reality. When a person calls on the Lord, the Lord’s life will enter into him.
Second, God’s intention is not only that a person would receive the life of the Lord, but that after a person is saved, he also would live in such a life in an absolute way. It is not God’s intention that man would go to a heavenly mansion or to the heavens after he has received God’s life; rather, God wants man to live in such a life.
Third, what should man do to live in God’s life since it is God’s desire for us to do so? The essential, indispensable thing to do is to love the Lord. Even though all the saved ones have received the Lord’s life, those who do not love the Lord will not live in His life. The more a person loves the Lord, the more he will live in the Lord’s life. If a person does not love the Lord, he will not be able to live in the Lord’s life. John 15 says that the Lord is the vine and that we are the branches. It also says that we have to abide in Him. John 15 and 16 speak about abiding (15:4-7) on the one hand, and about loving the Lord (16:27) on the other hand. Only when we love the Lord will we allow Him to abide in us. The degree to which we love the Lord determines the degree to which we will live by His life.
The epistle that the Lord wrote to the messenger of the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2 says that the Lord had one thing against the church in Ephesus—she had left her first love (v. 4). She was irreproachable in her works, but she was short of love. Eventually, the Lord said that unless she repented, He would remove her lampstand out of its place (v. 5). As a result, she would not be given to partake of the fruit of the tree of life (v. 7). The lampstand is a matter of light, and the tree of life is something related to life. Every time we leave our love for the Lord, we lose light and life. If a brother in the church in Ephesus had risen up to love the Lord in order to gain the Lord’s life, he would have received the light of life to maintain the testimony of life. Once we leave our love for the Lord, we lose life and light. We are here not to preach a doctrine to people but to guide them to the path of life. Doctrine cannot enable people to live in the Lord’s life. Only walking on the path of life can help people to live in the Lord’s life.
Everyone who wants to live in the Lord’s life has to love the Lord. This love is not a love of adoration but a love of romance like the love that is spoken of in Song of Songs. Without such a love we will have nothing to do with the path of life. For us to live in the Lord’s life, we have to love the Lord and even be deeply in love with Him. Our love for the Lord enables us to receive His life and light. If we find that we do not love the Lord, we have to pray, “Lord, up to this moment I still do not love You. Although I know that I have Your life, I do not have any love for You. I do adore You, but I do not love You. I cannot sense Your freshness, Your beauty, and Your loveliness. O Lord, save me and grant me Your love.”
No one can serve the Lord without loving Him. Madame Guyon’s most precious trait was that she loved the Lord. If you want to live in the life and nature of another person, you have to live in love. Then that person’s nature will become your nature because you love him, and your nature will become his nature because that person loves you. The two natures not only interact, but they also are interchanged. It is the same with us in regard to the Lord. If we want to live in the life and nature of the Lord, we have to love Him. I can show you the way and the principle, but I am not able to fill up your lack. You must go and pray by yourself. If we do not love the Lord, there is no way for us to grow in life. When we were saved, we received the Lord’s life, but if we do not love the Lord, desire the Lord, and pursue the Lord, then in the end we will at most be like an elderly child. We will be able to pray, read the Bible, and meet with the saints, but we will have no way to live in the Lord’s life. The principle here is that only those who love the Lord can live in His life.
Fourth, everyone who lives in the Lord’s life not only needs to love the Lord but also should learn to deny himself in an absolute way. In the Gospels there are two groups of people who followed the Lord. One group was composed of brothers, including Peter, John, and James; the other group was composed of sisters, such as Mary and Martha. The brothers followed the Lord, but they did not love the Lord. Consider, for example, the case of Judas. Wherever the Lord went, Judas followed, yet in the end he betrayed the Lord. What about Peter? Can we say that he loved the Lord? We cannot say that he did. Hence, the Lord asked Peter, “Do you love Me?” The Lord asked him several times, to the extent that Peter was puzzled. If he did not love the Lord, then why had he been following the Lord for three and a half years? But he could not say that he did love the Lord, because it did not seem to be the case. Therefore, Peter could only say, “Yes, Lord, You know...” (John 21:15-17). It was the same with John. We also cannot tell for sure that he loved the Lord. In the Gospels it is difficult to find any examples that clearly show us that any of the brothers loved the Lord. This reveals that the brothers represent those who pursue and follow the Lord without loving the Lord.
In the beginning of the New Testament, although there was a group of brothers who followed the Lord without loving Him, there was a group of sisters who knew nothing but to truly love the Lord. These sisters represent those who love the Lord. Thus, the brothers represent those who have a clear mind, and the sisters represent those who are rich in their emotion but are not clear in their mind. However, those who love the Lord are also divided into two categories—Mary represents one category, and Martha represents the other. Both Mary and Martha loved the Lord, but there was a big difference between Mary’s love toward the Lord and Martha’s love toward the Lord. Mary was one who put her opinions aside, but Martha was one who expressed all her opinions.
The subject of John 11 ought to be “The opinions of man in opposition to the power of resurrection.” In John 11 God’s intention was to express the power of the Lord’s resurrection through Lazarus. However, this expression of the power of life was frustrated by human opinions. Lazarus was sick, and God in His sovereignty intended for Lazarus to be sick unto death; however, Martha and Mary sent people to ask the Lord to come and heal him. The Lord did not go right away; instead, He stayed where He was until Lazarus was dead. Before the death of Lazarus the disciples of the Lord urged Him to go to Lazarus, but the Lord did not go. After Lazarus died, the Lord wanted to go to Lazarus, but the disciples did not agree, saying that the Jews might stone Him. Then the Lord told them that Lazarus had fallen asleep and that He had to go to wake him out of his sleep. Yet the disciples were still there expressing their opinions as a frustration to the Lord. When the Lord Jesus arrived at the place where Lazarus was, Martha went to meet Him and immediately expressed her opinion, saying, “If You had been here, my brother would not have died” (v. 21). What she really meant was that the Lord should have come before Lazarus was dead, but now that he was dead and buried, there was no need for the Lord to have come. Then the Lord told her, “Your brother will rise again” (v. 23). But Martha said, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection in the last day” (v. 24). While she thought she knew what resurrection was, she was actually speaking her own opinion, expounding the Lord’s word in a way that would postpone the present resurrection to the last day. Then the Lord said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes into Me, even if he should die, shall live...Do you believe this?” (vv. 25-26). Martha immediately replied, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God” (v. 27). The Lord was speaking about the east, but Martha was speaking about the west; the Lord was speaking about the heavens, but Martha was speaking about the earth. Martha seemed to answer different questions than the ones she was asked.
Moreover, after Martha had spoken this way, she went to call Mary and told her that the Lord was calling her. This must also have been Martha’s opinion because we cannot find anywhere that the Lord had said this. When Mary went to see the Lord, she expressed the same opinion as Martha had. Then the Lord wept (v. 35). Many people think that the Lord wept because He was sad, but the real reason that the Lord wept was because He realized that even Mary did not know Him. After this the Lord asked the people to take away the stone that lay before Lazarus’s tomb, and Martha, who was used to answering questions that no one had asked her, expressed her opinion again, saying, “By now he smells” (v. 39). This whole story is full of human opinions. Opinions hinder the move of the Lord. Thus, a person who lives in the Lord’s life must be one who puts his opinion aside. Opinions are the greatest enemy and hindrance to the expression of the life of God through us. Hence, we must have love and no opinions.
Fifth, when we love the Lord and put aside our opinions, we will be full of the Lord’s feeling. Then we will have to follow the Lord and walk according to the sense of life in our spirit. When love comes in and our opinions go out, the sense of life will be activated. Then we can live and walk according to such a sense. Many times within us we do not have much spiritual sensation because we have too many opinions and not very much love. The secret of receiving the sense of life is to love much and not have any opinions. When we love the Lord absolutely and do not have any opinions, surely we will have more of the sense of life.
Throughout the entire Scriptures we see that Mary expressed her opinion only once, but Peter expressed his opinion on many different occasions. Although this always got Peter into trouble, he still had opinions. In Matthew 16 the Lord told His disciples that He had to go to Jerusalem, suffer many things, and be killed. After hearing this Peter quickly said, “This shall by no means happen to You!” (v. 22). The Lord then immediately turned and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan!” (v. 23). This shows us that Peter’s opinion was Satan himself; Satan was hiding in Peter’s opinion. Then the Lord continued, “You are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men...If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself” (vv. 23-24). The Lord first spoke of Satan, then of the mind set on the things of men, and then of denying the self. This indicates that Satan is expressed through the human mind with its opinions and that our opinions should be rejected.
Later, the Lord Jesus brought Peter, James, and John up to a high mountain and was transfigured before them. Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared to them. When Peter saw this, he immediately expressed his opinion again. God eventually had to interrupt him (17:1-5). Later, when they came to Capernaum, those who collected the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Does not your Teacher pay the temple tax?” Peter expressed his opinion right away and said, “Yes.” After this, when Peter came into the house and before he opened his mouth, the Lord asked him, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth receive custom or poll tax, from their sons or from strangers?” (vv. 24-25). What the Lord meant when He asked this was, Why did you say that I have to pay the poll tax for making repairs in the temple of God when you just heard on the mountain that I am the Son of God? In the end the Lord told Peter to go fishing and to take the stater from the mouth of the first fish that he would catch and use that to pay the tax (v. 27). I believe that Peter must have learned a big lesson while he was fishing. The Lord had told him to cast a hook, but he must have wondered where he could find a fish in such a boundless sea? Even if the fish came, would it actually have a stater in its mouth? In this difficult situation Peter learned a big lesson.
Now we come to Mary. She expressed her opinion only one time. By the time she anointed the Lord, she did not have any more words or opinions. The voices, opinions, and judgments of the disciples are evident in their following of the Lord, but we cannot hear the voice or opinion of Mary. She did not have any opinion, and thus, she was full of feeling within. Although others did not sense that the Lord was going to die, she sensed it. When others did not know that they needed to anoint the Lord, she sensed that she had to anoint the Lord. Have you seen this? When we love much and have little opinion, we will be rich in our inner feeling. Many times we have little feeling because we have a lot of opinion and not much love. When we have much opinion, we will not have much feeling. Then once we do have some inner feeling, we should live according to it.
Sixth, we should never be influenced by what is good or by what is right. Many times as Christians we are easily influenced by things that are good or by things that are right, yet this should not be the case. For example, when we see a humble brother, we may want to imitate him. This is not wrong, but we who follow the Lord should not be influenced by other people. Instead, we should be directed by the inner sense of life. We may use another example. There was once a sister who was very zealous for the preaching of the gospel. When the young brothers and sisters saw her, they all tried to imitate her. Eventually, they did not care for anything other than the preaching of the gospel. In the fellowship meeting they would rise up and rebuke those who did not preach the gospel. When some other young sisters heard their speaking, they also were stirred up to be zealous for the gospel. Do you think this is good? This is a way most welcomed by Christianity today, but this is not the way that God wants us to take. It is not a matter of whether something is good or bad; what matters is the way that we take. This sister’s way was a way of promoting and urging, not one of life. It was a way in which people were influenced by outward things, not by the inner life.
When we lay down our opinions, we will have an inner sense, and when we follow and are led by this sense to preach the gospel, then our gospel preaching will be something that comes from within. This is the way of life. If we are those who are influenced by outward things, it will be absolutely impossible for us to live in the Lord’s life. Consider our former example. Is that kind of service a service of the spirit or a service of the soul? No doubt, it is a service of the soul. Although the service itself is good, its source is not proper. This is not a question of good or bad, right or wrong, but a question of the source. As long as we love Him, give our heart to Him, and present ourselves to Him, we will be full of feeling within. Once we have some feeling, we should walk according to it. This is the way of life.
Although we have not mentioned the cross, in the way of life there is the cross. Although we have not mentioned the power of resurrection, the way of life is full of the resurrection life. Human opinion is the expression of the self. When we lay down our opinion, we experience the cross. The most prominent expression of the self is human opinion. Matthew 16 first mentions human opinion, then the self. When the self within us is expressed, it is opinion. Opinion is eventually broken by the cross. When due to our love for the Lord we are willing to lay down our opinion, this is the breaking of the cross. If someone can come to the church in our locality twenty times without seeing us express our opinion, then we are almost matured. Today in serving the Lord, on the positive side, we do not love the Lord enough, but on the negative side, we have too much opinion. This indicates that we have not allowed the cross to do a deep work in us. If we allow the cross to work in us in a deeper way, all our opinions will disappear. Opinion represents the self, and the self is the soul. The work of the cross is to put the soul aside. Living according to the sense of life is actually to live according to the power of resurrection. We should not be influenced by people outwardly or live according to morality or religion; rather, we should live according to the inner sense of life. We should love the Lord, follow the Lord, lay down our opinions absolutely, and live according to the sense of life. This is to live in the Lord’s life.
Question: In my daily life, sometimes I have a word that operates in my heart at a certain time, then after some time there is another word that operates in my heart. Is this the sense of life?
Answer: This is not the sense of life but the teaching of the word. The sense of life is not a teaching that we have heard but our inner feeling. An outward teaching may remind us of our inner feeling, but it is not the sense of life. The genuine sense of life is this: We do not think about denying the self, but because of our love for the Lord, there is a feeling within us when we are loving Him that causes us to deny the self. When we do a certain thing owing to our love for the Lord, this is the sense of life. Even the feeling that we get as a result of others’ speaking stems eighty percent from religion and teaching, not from revelation or life.
Suppose someone swings his hand toward your eyes. If this happens, you will automatically close your eyelids. Such a reaction is of life. Suppose, however, that someone told you that your pupils are precious, that your eyelids should protect your pupils, and that when someone swings their hand toward your eyes, you should close your eyelids. In response, you decide that later when someone tries to hit you, you will close your eyelids. This would be something related to teaching and religion. If something is the issue of life and revelation, we do not have to have the understanding concerning it. We do not need an eye doctor’s explanation, because we spontaneously close our eyelids when someone tries to hit our eyes.
The Christian life, which has its source in revelation, is actually the Lord Himself. Once we touch Him, we will live and be full of life. Whatever requires the help or the teaching of doctrines is something religious. Although sometimes the word that operates in us may also come from the sense of life, this is usually not the case. For example, when a person says that the word about the Lord’s eyes being like a flame of fire is working in his being, I believe that this is eighty percent something religious. The word entering into his heart and working in his being may be the result of his decision, not of the Spirit. Even if it is of the Spirit, it would be at the most only twenty percent.
Anything that requires outward teaching and reminding is not the product of revelation or life. Why do we avoid watching movies? Is it because the Word says that we should not watch movies? Is it because we are afraid that we would not know what to do if the Lord were to come back while we were watching a movie? If the reason we do not watch movies is because of such a fear, then this is something religious. Some people say that if we tell lies, then after we die, we will be judged, and our tongue will be cut out. This is a degraded religious thought. However, even such a thought has come into Christianity. When we no longer need the outward reminding of other people, yet we still have the feeling that we should not watch movies, then this is most likely something produced by life. When we love the Lord, draw near to Him, and put aside our opinions, the Lord will have the ground to operate and move freely within us. His operation and His move come from life and will produce a certain sense within us. Once such a feeling comes forth, the Lord comes forth. At this time, regardless of what kind of opinion or thought we may have, we will be willing to lay it down and closely follow the Lord. This is the experience of the cross and of resurrection life.
Question: What is the difference between our natural goodness and the goodness that issues from life?
Answer: In the Bible there are good people and bad people. Some people are good while some are not good. There are two kinds of goodness, as seen in the stories of Esau versus Jacob and David versus Saul. Esau was an ethical man, but Jacob was a crafty person. Esau never deceived anyone and, in terms of ethics, he was a virtuous man. On the contrary, Jacob was always a supplanter and a base person. In the story of David and Saul, Saul wanted to kill David, but when David was given the opportunity to kill Saul, he did not kill him. The generosity of David was a kind of goodness. However, Esau’s goodness and David’s goodness were different. The goodness of Esau came out of his own effort, but the goodness of David was the issue of the power of God.
By nature, many Christians may be like Jacob—loving to supplant—while many unbelievers may be generous. From such a perspective, many Christians seem to be inferior to unbelievers according to nature. Take the case of Jacob, who was crafty from the time he was young. Jacob cheated his brother, his father, his uncle, and his wives. The name Jacob can mean “crafty” and “struggler.” Although he was such a person, the Bible tells us that Jacob was the one that God loved (Rom. 9:13). From a human perspective, Jacob was far from being a good person. Nevertheless, he was dealt with by God to the point that when he reached old age, God changed his name to Israel (Gen. 32:28). Moreover, while Jacob was dying, when he blessed Joseph, he genuinely and boldly said that God was the One who had shepherded him all his life (48:15). At that point he did not have any tricks; he simply bowed himself at the head of his bed (47:31). When he spoke, he spoke for God. Jacob’s maturity in his old age was the work of God and was altogether different from Esau’s natural nobility. This is the difference between natural goodness and goodness that issues from life.
On the other hand, although David was one who lived before God and had fellowship with God, when God’s hand departed from him, he committed a sin (2 Sam. 11). When David’s goodness was not sustained by the power of God’s life, it did not last. When a person is apart from God, he is evil and filthy. Only when he is living before God is he a noble and upright person, having the genuine goodness of life.
Question: Sometimes I cannot tell if a feeling comes from life or from my mind. How can I discern between the two?
Answer: If we love the Lord and put ourselves aside, we do not need to analyze our feelings; rather, we should simply follow the feeling we receive until we lose the sense of peace.
First of all, as Christians, we are like a woman who is married to the Lord (2 Cor. 11:2). The motivation for us to live such a life is that we are married to the Lord, and we love Him. Hence, we have to tell the Lord all the time, “Lord, I do this because I love You.” Second, we also need to put our opinions aside. When we do this, a sense will rise up within us. Then we have to walk according to this sense. Once we do not have the peace within, we should stop. When a Christian lives by the sense of life, it is not easy for him to feel it. When he makes a mistake, however, he will lose his peace, and then he will have some feeling. Therefore, we should simply follow our inner sense and not analyze too much. We may not see the result right away, but when we look back after some years, we will be able to tell that we have made some progress. Thus, it is enough just to love the Lord, lay aside our opinions, and follow the inner sense. We do not need to analyze so many other matters.
Question: Is it a problem if our will is not strong?
Answer: A will that is not strong is a problem. Some people have a strong will by birth, but this natural strength has to be broken. On the other hand, those who are not born with a strong will should ask God to strengthen their will. A will that is not strong is really a problem related to life. When life directs us from within and we follow the leading of life, gradually there will be a strengthening of our will. Our will is not strong because our spirit is not strong enough. If we allow the Lord’s life to have the ground in us, our spirit will surely be strong. Once our spirit is strengthened, our soul will be normal, and we will be delivered from all abnormal situations. Some people naturally do not have a smart mind, but because they love the Lord and are strengthened in spirit, they become clear in their mind. Some people were weak in their will, but because of their love for the Lord, their spirit became strong, and their will was also strengthened. Hence, if our will is weak, we should pray.
Question: Is the word of God meant to teach us?
Answer: The word of God given to us seems to have at least two sides. On the one hand, the word of God is for our teaching; on the other hand, the word of God is really a book of revelation. It is true that we may read the Bible to receive teaching and golden verses, but more often we should read the Bible in order to receive revelation and enlightenment. When the word of God touches our spirit and gives us a sense in our spirit, this is revelation. Sometimes we take the word of God for our understanding and for us to have a clear mind. This is to take the word as teaching and is religious. In brief, this teaching is something of religion and of the mind, but revelation is something of life and of an inner consciousness.
