Without learning we will not have anything stored up within us, and without anything stored up within us, our inner content will not be rich. Thus, what we impart to others will be like air, like an empty packet that does not contain any seeds. After we visit someone, he may be somewhat excited inwardly, but there may not be anything growing in him. This is a very serious matter. We must see that our work is a work of sowing. After visiting someone five times, has the seed of life been sown into him? Have we merely given him “sunlight” and “air,” or have we given him the most important thing-the seed of life? It is futile to give people sunlight, air, and water if we do not sow the seed of life into them. This is a serious matter, and we must be deeply impressed with it. It is not enough to be stirred up merely to pray. At most, this is just like having the right kind of environment-like the air that a seed needs in order to grow. However, we must also have the real seed of life. To have the real seed of life, we need to go before the Lord to learn and experience. We should not merely be excited and uplifted in spirit. Instead, we must have the reality of life sown into our spirit. We need to pursue matters such as dealing with sins, living before God, caring for the inner feeling, following the inward leading, and having fellowship and coordination in the Holy Spirit with the brothers and sisters. However, we cannot learn all these matters within a short period of time. We have to learn and experience them step by step.
We also need to help others while we are learning. We cannot engage merely in promoting and exhorting. Rather, we ourselves first have to learn a little, and then we can teach a little. The extent of our learning determines the extent of our teaching. On the one hand, what matters is not the extent of our learning but the spirit and reality; on the other hand, the more we learn, the more we will be able to supply. In any case, we absolutely must live before the Lord, paying attention to spiritual experience and not living merely in excitement or simply seeking to have the right “environment” within us. We must also have the seed, and how much real seed we have altogether depends on how much learning and experience we have in our daily life.
In the past when we spoke about the death of the cross, we did not clearly see that to condemn and judge our problems is to accept the death of the cross. If we would learn to condemn and judge our problems daily, we would gain something real and spiritual. After gaining this spiritual reality, when we meet people with problems, we will be able to minister to these people what we have learned. Then what we give them will not only create the right environment within them, but it will be a life that is solid and able to help them. Otherwise, their flesh will still be the flesh, they will not have received life, and we will only be stirring up the proper environment within them. In other words, if we do not experience the breaking of the cross, then when we visit someone, there will be no change in his condition. He may be exposed to “sunlight,” but no life will be added into him.
If a person has been broken by the cross in his natural disposition and is controlled and restricted by the Holy Spirit, then when he contacts people, spontaneously he will cause them to be restricted not only in their natural being but also in many other aspects. The lesson of being broken will be a real seed of life that can be planted into people’s hearts as the field. However, this altogether depends upon his learning and dealings in his daily life. At present the majority of the work that most of us are doing is still the stirring up of the proper environment within people. This is not proper because it will not last long. We must have something that is of life to sow into people. If we do not take the opportunity to sow the seed of life into people while there is a good environment within them, then this good atmosphere might become a hindrance to them rather than a help. When this good environment passes away, they will become depressed and revert to their original condition. At that point, to stir up a proper environment within them again will no longer be useful. Therefore, although it is necessary to stir up the environment, we also must be prepared to sow the things of life into people after we do this.
For this reason we must look to the Lord that we would not just be excited for a moment but exercised every moment of every day. Whenever we have a feeling about a certain thing, we must deal with it before the Lord. We must have dealings not only concerning the meetings but also in all other matters. In every aspect of our daily walk we must correspond to the nature of God. This is what we need to learn before God. Then we can minister to others what we have learned.
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