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Scripture Reading: Jer. 31:33; Psa. 51:6; Prov. 4:23; Rom. 10:10; Ezek. 36:26; 2 Cor. 3:15-16; 1 Kings 3:9; Mark 12:30; Matt. 5:8
The inner life is nothing other than the Lord Himself as life within us to be mingled with us. I would ask you to pay your full attention to this brief word. Not all Christians are clear about this. As we have pointed out many times, God’s purpose, God’s economy, is to work Himself into us to make Himself one with us. This is the main and central item. God’s way to make Himself one with us is to be life within us so that we may take Him and experience Him as our life. Concerning life, there are three necessary matters: the fellowship of life, the sense of life, and the law of life, which correspond with the three functions of the human spirit—the fellowship, the intuition, and the conscience as the representative of the divine law. These matters should not be merely lessons that we speak about; I would ask you to put all these matters into practice in your daily life. It is too easy merely to bring our two ears to listen to messages and grasp them with our understanding. This helps, but it does not work out these matters. When we put what we have heard into practice, we will truly learn it, and it will be so practical and living to us. We need to practice how to have the fellowship of life in the spirit; we need to exercise our spirit to sense God’s intention, will, and mind; and we need to exercise the conscience to realize and cooperate with the law of life.
We have also seen that God Himself, the Triune God—the Father in the Son and the Son as the Spirit—is working, moving, acting, operating, and energizing within us. In the New Testament this working is called the anointing. The anointing is the very work of the Triune God. God Himself as the Father, the Son, and the Spirit is working by anointing us. Previously we used the illustration of painting. God’s anointing within us is just like a painter painting us. I have the assurance that even in one week’s time we have experienced something of this painting. We have been painted by the Lord many times. He Himself is the painter, He Himself is the paint, and His working within us is the painting work. God paints us with Himself as the paint. Eventually, the issue is that God has been painted into us.
Thus far we have seen three matters of the inner life and one matter concerning working. These three plus one, however, are on God’s side. No doubt, the fellowship of life, the sense of life, the law of life, and the anointing within us are very subjective. Yet these four matters that are so vital and necessary to the inner life are still somewhat objective because they are on God’s side; they are not on our side. Because they are within us, they are subjective, but in themselves they are objective. The things that are subjective, as far as we ourselves are concerned, are our inner organs, or inner parts. We have to know all these inner parts.
All good drivers agree that in order to drive well, they must know the inner parts of a car. Every smart, experienced driver knows the inner parts. I do not drive, but for a long time I was with Brother Watchman Nee, who had a car. He told me, “There is no need to look inside the car. When you drive, you just listen to the sound of the car. Then you will know if it is right or not, and if you are an expert, you can realize what part is wrong just by listening to the sound.” Recently, when I listened to someone start my car, I could tell by the sound that she did it incorrectly. I begged her to ask her driving instructor the right way to start the car. She answered by complaining that I just had a poor car. However, when another brother drove my car, it started very smoothly and softly, like music. After that, the first person learned the secret to starting the car. If the starter in the car is something fine, not rough, we should treat it finely. This illustrates that we need to know the inward parts.
In the same way, medical doctors study the whole body with all the inward parts. If one does not know the inward parts of the entire body, he cannot be a good doctor. Even for our own health, we must know our members and inward parts. Otherwise, we may feel that something is wrong in our head or feet and say that the problem is with our kidneys. This may seem laughable, but many Christians are like this with their spiritual life. Some things that people say are nonsense, because they do not know the inner parts of the person; they do not know what they have within them. We must learn to know the inner parts.
The inward parts are not a concept that we invented. This term is mentioned in the Scriptures, specifically in Jeremiah 31:33 and Psalm 51:6. Within our body we have a spirit and a soul; these are the two main parts. However, the main part related to the inner life is neither the spirit nor the soul but the heart. The relationship between us and God does not depend primarily on our spirit or our soul but on our heart. The heart is neither the spirit nor the soul, nor is it separate from the spirit or the soul. Rather, the heart is a composition of the three parts of the soul and one of the functions of the spirit: the mind, will, and emotion plus the conscience. Therefore, the heart is almost a composition of the spirit and the soul, but not exactly. All three parts of the soul are in the heart, and one part of the spirit is also in the heart.
The relationship that we have with God first depends on the heart, because the heart is the very organ by which we express ourselves and by which we make decisions to receive or reject things. The heart controls these things, so the heart is the guard to the being, the person. The main entrance of a building is its guard, controlling what should remain outside and what should come in. In the same way, our heart is our guard. It is the entrance into ourselves. Whatever goes out or comes in does so through our heart. There is at least one verse in the Scriptures that tells us this. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, / For from it are the issues of life.” This can also be translated “Guard your heart.” The issues of life are the flowing out of life. By this verse we can realize that the heart is the entrance, the guard, of our whole being. We believe in the Lord Jesus, but by what organ do we believe? It is by the heart (Rom. 10:10), because the heart is the organ that we use to make a decision, to reject or receive something.
The heart, I say again, is our guard. Ezekiel 36:26 says that at the time of our conversion, God renewed our heart. In God’s salvation, in His way of conversion, the first part within us that He recovered and touched was not the spirit but the heart; then the spirit follows. In verse 26 there is first the heart and then the spirit. The heart is the first thing God must deal with and touch. The first thing we touch when we come to a building is the entrance; we have to find a way to get through the entrance. In the same way, God must deal with us to open an entrance to Himself. What is the entrance? It is the heart. When God comes to deal with us, it is first to deal with our heart.
As we have seen, the heart is of four parts: the mind, will, emotion, and conscience. When God comes to deal with us in our heart, what part does He touch first? The first message, the first word of the gospel of the New Testament, is “repent” (Matt. 3:2; 4:17). In Greek, repent is metanoeo, meaning “to change the mind.” We need to change our mind. In God’s dealing with us, the first thing within us that He touches is the mind. He enlightens the mind. This is why we need to preach the gospel. Second Corinthians 4:4 says, “In whom the god of this age has blinded the thoughts of the unbelievers that the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine on them.” The god of this age has blinded not the will, emotion, or conscience but the thoughts, the mind. Then verse 6 says, “Because the God who said, Out of darkness light shall shine, is the One who shined in our hearts to illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” By these two verses we know that God shines in our heart through our mind. We may compare ourselves to a camera, our mind to the lens, and our heart to the film; in addition, Christ is the figure before the camera, and God is the light. The light from the figure (Christ) comes to the film (our heart) first through the lens (our mind). Once when I traveled on a train, I took some pictures with a camera. However, I did not get anything because I was hurried and did not take the cover off the lens. This illustrates how Satan blinds the mind.
The mind is the first thing God touches. That is why we have to preach the gospel. To preach the gospel is to give knowledge to the minds of people, to enlighten their minds. If someone is in darkness, he cannot turn to God and he cannot be touched by God. We must be brought under the knowledge of God by the preaching of the gospel.
Without exception, God first comes to touch our mind. Second, God touches our emotion. If people had no emotion, no one could be saved. To be saved is truly an emotional matter. We can preach the gospel to a chair, but it cannot be saved, because it has no emotion. Whenever God touches our mind, He always follows to touch our emotion. Therefore, the best way to preach the gospel is first to bring a little knowledge about God and Christ and then to tell people about God’s love and mercy. This touches people’s emotions. Do not argue too much. I observed a brother who is an expert in gospel preaching. He never argues with people. He tells people, “Friend, you have to know God. You need Jesus.” If someone argues, the brother simply says, “Oh, God loves you. The Lord Jesus loves you and is waiting for you.” The first few words touch the person’s mind; then all the following words touch his emotion. Sometimes there is no need to touch people’s mind purposely. You can simply preach about God’s love. This one “stone” will kill two “birds.” Eventually, people’s minds will be touched, and their emotions will be stirred up. The mind is first, and the emotions are second.
Third, God touches the conscience. In order to know how to deal with people in God’s way, we have to learn this. After we say something about God’s love, when people’s emotions are stirred up by our preaching, we need to say something about God’s law and people’s sins. This hits the conscience, causing people to condemn themselves. The two easiest ways to preach the gospel are to preach concerning God’s love and to preach concerning people’s sins.
Then when the mind is enlightened, the emotions are stirred up, and the conscience is convicted, a person makes the decision to believe. This decision is the exercise of the will, which is the last step. However, I know many persons who, after listening to the gospel, were enlightened by God in their mind, touched in their emotion, and convicted in their conscience. Eventually, however, their will would not cooperate. They hardened their will like Pharaoh. Exodus says many times that Pharaoh hardened his heart and even that God hardened his heart for a purpose. When the heart is hardened, what part of it is hardened? It is the will. To harden the heart is to be stubborn in the will. We need these four steps: the mind enlightened, the emotion stirred up, the conscience convicted, and the will submissive. Then we can deal with God in a good way.
These four steps of God’s dealing are good not only for unbelievers but also for His dealing with us. This is why the New Testament tells us that after we are saved, our mind must be transformed by renewing. To be renewed is simply to be enlightened. First, our mind must be enlightened. Then the New Testament tells us many times that we have to love the Lord. The first steps of God’s dealing with us as believers are that our mind is renewed and our emotion is stirred up to love Him. Then our conscience always needs to be convicted. We need to be convicted that we are wrong, we are short of God’s glory, and we are disobedient to God. We need this kind of conscience. Eventually, we have to make the decision by our will to seek God. Our mind must be enlightened, renewed, and transformed; our emotion must be stirred up and encouraged; our conscience must be convicted; and our will must be soft and submissive to make decisions. These are the steps in God’s dealing.
We all have to learn that for God’s dealing our mind must be as clear as possible. In order to take a good picture with a camera, the lens must be very clear. Our mind must be very clear. The minds of many brothers and sisters are not clear concerning God. They are still covered under a veil. The veil has not been taken away (2 Cor. 3:15-16). This is why we have to come to the meetings, listen to messages, read the Word, and read spiritual books. This will help us to clear up the mind. The enemy Satan always tries his best to keep people away from the proper knowledge. To be without knowledge is to be under a cover. What our mind needs is to be clear. We must have an understanding mind.
The Scriptures speak of an understanding heart. In 1 Kings 3:9 Solomon asks, “Give therefore to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people and to discern between good and evil.” In the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, the seed is sown in the heart, but if someone does not understand the word, Satan snatches it away (v. 19). For the heart to be understanding means that the mind of the heart is in a good condition. Because the mind is the “lens” of the whole person, it must be clear. We must have a clear understanding, a clear mind concerning God. However, the minds of too many Christians are not clear. It is hard to speak the things of God to them. They are under darkness; their mind is blinded, and they are “darkened in their understanding” (Eph. 4:18).
In addition, our emotion must be loving. We need to love the Lord from our whole heart (Mark 12:30), that is, from the emotional part of our heart. Our emotion should be loving, not toward something else but toward God Himself. Some Christians have a clear mind, but they are short of a loving heart. They do not love the Lord with their emotions. Their treasure is not the Lord Himself. The Lord Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matt. 6:21). If our treasure is the Lord Himself, then our emotion toward Him is loving; we will love Him in our emotion. Some may say, “Don’t be too emotional. You are too emotional toward the Lord.” We are not emotional enough; we need to be more emotional. I wish that every one of you would weep for the Lord each day. We need to be emotional. A person can never be spiritual if he is not emotional. In order to be spiritual, we have to be emotional.
Our conscience must also be right. It must not be wrong. We have to be right with God, right with others, and right with everything in our conscience. In our conscience we must be right toward everyone and everything.
Moreover, our will must be soft and submissive. To be soft is one hundred percent different from being weak. Our will must be strong but not hard or stiff.
Our mind must be clear before the Lord; our emotion must be loving; our conscience must be completely right with the Lord, being wrong in nothing; and our will must be soft and submissive. If we put these four things together, we have a proper heart. We need to deal with these four matters. We should check whether or not our mind is clear. If not, then our heart can never be right, because our mind is darkened. Then we should check, do we love the Lord? Are we right according to our conscience with God, man, and everything? Is our will soft and submissive?
We have the fellowship of life, the sense of life, and the law of life within, and we have the anointing of the Triune God within us. However, this requires our cooperation, and our cooperation depends first on the heart. We speak much about the exercise of the spirit. This is good, but before we learn how to exercise our spirit, we must learn how to deal with our heart—to be renewed in our mind, to have a loving emotion, to be right in our conscience, and to have a soft will.
I hate to see that the dear brothers come simply to listen to messages. If we do not put all these things into practice, the messages will not help much. If we deal with our mind, emotion, conscience, and will, we will have a proper heart, and it will be a useful entrance for God. We will have a good dealing with the Lord, and we will allow Him to have the ground and the way to deal with us in a proper way. Then we will have the Triune God within us as life and the anointing. This requires our cooperation. Therefore, I ask you, especially the young brothers and sisters, to put all this into practice. Practice to be clear in your mind, love the Lord with your emotion, have a right conscience, and be softened in your will. The only way to do this is by praying. We need to go to the Lord to pray, “Lord, give me a clear mind, an understanding heart.” The prayer in Song of Songs 1:4, “Draw me; we will run after you,” is a prayer for a loving heart. We also have to pray, “Lord, give me a loving heart toward You and emotions that love only You.” We also must pray for this, and also pray for our conscience to be right. Then when we pray, we will see that our will is not only hardened but stubborn, so we need to pray for our will to be softened.
If we do not deal with these things, we can never have the proper growth in the inner life. The proper growth of the inner life depends on dealing with the heart. That is why in the New Testament there are many teachings concerning the renewing of the mind, the understanding of the heart, loving the Lord, how the conscience must be good, pure, and without offense, and concerning the will. All the New Testament teachings concerning life stress these matters. Many Christians today read these words in the New Testament, but they do not know why there is so much stress on these four matters. It is simply because these are the things related to our heart. If our heart is not ready and right with God, there is no way for God to deal with us, and there is no way for us to grow.
If we deal with our heart, we will have a pure heart. Matthew 5:8 says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” What does it mean for a person to have a pure heart? It is these four matters—the mind is clear, the emotion is loving, the conscience is right, and the will is soft. This kind of heart is a pure and right heart. It is a proper heart. We all need to deal with our heart in this way. We need such a heart, so we must pray for this.
