We have seen what life is, what the real experience of life is, and that the first experience of life is regeneration. In this chapter we will see how to experience life. By the first experience of life we receive the very divine life. Now after we have received life, we need to constantly experience life. The proper way to experience, enjoy, and apply the life we have received is very practical, yet many dear brothers and sisters do not exactly and definitely know the way. In order to know how to experience the life that we have received, we must realize that at the time we received the Lord as our Savior and were saved and regenerated, something happened to us related to ourselves and related to God. Here we will point out a few very important and vital matters, although in actuality there are more than these.
First, at the time the Lord regenerated us He gave us a new heart. Our heart has been changed. Ezekiel 36:26 says, “I will also give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.” Our old heart is hard, like a piece of stone. Here it is called the heart of stone. However, at the time the Lord regenerated us, He renewed our heart and changed our heart from a stony heart to a heart of flesh. A heart of flesh is a softened heart, a soft and tender heart. It is also a conscious heart. Since our original heart was old, it was hard for it to have a proper consciousness.
At the same time, the Lord also gave us a new spirit. Our old spirit was a dead spirit. Before we were regenerated, we were dead in our spirit, but at the time the Lord came in to regenerate us, He renewed and enlivened our spirit. Our spirit became a living and new spirit. A new heart is a softened heart, and a new spirit is an enlivened, living spirit.
Here we must point out the difference between the functions of the heart and the functions of the spirit. Many Christians consider that the heart is the spirit, and the spirit is the heart; they take it for granted that these are synonyms. However, these are two items with different functions.
The heart is an organ for loving and for desiring. We love and desire to do things by the heart. For example, I love to read the Scriptures, and I may love a certain drink. This is the function of the heart. However, we cannot receive something with our heart. I may love to drink water, but I cannot drink water with my heart, and I cannot store water with my heart. I need another organ-the mouth-in order to drink the water, and yet another organ-the stomach-in order to store the water. Similarly, we may love a certain color with our heart. We can shut our eyes and say, “I love this color,” but we cannot contact and realize the color with our heart. We need another organ, the seeing organ, the eyes, to substantiate what the heart loves. It is the same with music. The heart is an organ that can love music, but we need another organ, the hearing organ, the ears, to hear music.
Do you love the Bible? To be sure, you do, but with what part of you do you love it? You love the Bible with your heart. However, if I hand a Bible to you, you cannot receive it with your heart. You love it with your heart, but you must take it with your hand. In the same principle, we love the Lord with our heart, but we receive the Lord with our spirit. Why after giving us a new heart, did the Lord also need to give us a new spirit? It is simply because the heart is a loving organ and not a receiving organ. It is the spirit that can contact God. John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.” Strictly speaking, we cannot contact God by our heart. We must contact God by our spirit. We love the Lord, but we must realize that the Lord is Spirit, so we need our human spirit as a receiving and contacting organ to contact the Lord. At the time the Lord came in to regenerate us, He gave us a new heart and a new spirit. A new heart is for us to love Him, and a new spirit is for us to contact Him.
When we were unsaved, we did not have a heart to love the Lord. We may even have hated the Lord. Praise the Lord, at the time He regenerated us He gave us a new heart to love Him, and now we do love Him! After we are saved, we always have a longing heart to love the Lord. About fifteen years ago, when I was in Brother Watchman Nee’s city preaching the gospel, hundreds of people were saved. The next week the church had a baptism, and many people came. The responsible brothers were busy taking care of affairs, so I was asked to help them. I and another brother contacted some new ones before baptizing them. When a certain young lady came to us, I asked her, “Do you love the Lord?” She wept and said, “Oh, I do love the Lord.” I asked, “Why do you love the Lord?” She answered, “I do not know. I just love Him.” I said to the other brother, “This is good enough. I am one hundred percent sure that this is one of our sisters.”
How can we know that we are saved? We simply love Jesus. Even while we are sinning, we still love Him. Perhaps some may not agree with this. They may ask, “How can someone who is sinning still love the Lord?” Yes, on the one hand while sinning, a person is weak. But on the other hand, there is something deep in his heart longing to love the Lord. It is the longing heart that causes believers to repent after they have sinned. They may feel shameful to come back to contact the Lord, but they know that the Lord is within them. Our longing heart to love the Lord is a strong proof and confirmation that we have been saved.
In addition, before we were saved we did not have a living spirit, so we could not contact the Lord, but at the same time we received a longing heart to love the Lord, we also received a living spirit. The Lord is the Spirit, and we have a living spirit, and with this spirit we can contact the Lord as the Spirit. Receiving a new heart and a new spirit are the two main matters related to ourselves that took place in regeneration. Our heart has been renewed, and our spirit has been renewed. So now we are able, qualified, and equipped to love the Lord and to contact Him.
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