In Matthew 13:43 the overcomers are likened to the sun shining forth in the kingdom of their Father. The sun rises afresh every morning. If we are to be the overcomers, the sun, we must also rise up every morning to be revived by the Lord. Proverbs 4:18 says, “But the path of the righteous is as the dawning light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day” (ASV). We should follow the sun to be revived and to have a new start every morning. Our path is like the dawning light that shines more and more until the full day. I like Paul’s expression in 2 Corinthians 4:16—“day by day.” The Christian life does not only have one day. We are being renewed day by day. This means that day after day we have to be revived by the Lord. Yesterday morning we may have had a revival, but this morning we need another one, and tomorrow we need another one. Every year we need three hundred sixty-five revivals to be renewed day by day.
God has the best provisions to help us to receive the renewing. The first provision is the cross, the putting to death of Jesus. According to 2 Corinthians 4, Paul was always under the killing of the cross, the Lord’s death. The cross is the greatest help to accomplish the renewing for us.
The second provision is the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:5 speaks of the “renewing of the Holy Spirit.” We have the Holy Spirit within us. His main work is first to regenerate us and then to renew us every day. We are receiving the new supply of the Spirit daily to renew us metabolically. Thank the Lord that we have such a renewing Spirit. The third provision God gave us is our mingled spirit, our human spirit mingled with the divine Spirit. In our human spirit, the Holy Spirit dwells, works, and renews us. Ephesians 4:23 says that we need to be renewed in the spirit of our mind. Our spirit is the place where we receive the renewing. Our mingled spirit spreads into our mind, thus becoming the spirit of our mind. It is in such a spirit that we are renewed for our transformation.
Many times when we are suffering, we are questioning, “Why am I suffering? What is the reason?” Many Christian teachers tell people that if they are careful to obey the Lord, they will have less suffering, but the experiences of many spiritual people throughout the history of the church have been just the opposite. While we are in the midst of suffering, we need to receive the renewing. Otherwise, the suffering we pass through means nothing to us. Within us there is a refuge. This refuge is our spirit. We need to turn from our mind to our spirit. Then we are safeguarded, hidden, and concealed from any attacks. It is in our spirit that we will be renewed.
In addition to the cross, the Holy Spirit, and our spirit, we have the holy Word. The Head of the Body cleanses the church, His Body, by the washing of the water in the word (Eph. 5:26). Because I have studied the Bible for such a long time, I can recall chapters such as Matthew 1 and Romans 8. When I just think about the contents of these chapters, I get washed. When I think about Romans 8:4—to walk according to spirit—I get washed. We all need to receive the washing of the water in the word daily.
We may feel that many of the things which we pass through are not fair, but we need to realize that the cross is not fair. When Pilate sentenced the Lord Jesus to death, was that fair? Was the Lord Jesus put on the cross fairly? What was fair that happened to the Lord Jesus? Everything that happened to the Lord Jesus was not fair. We should not say, “This is not fair.” No suffering is fair. The Lord could respond to us in this way: “Yes, the suffering itself is not fair, but My calling you to suffer is fair. I am fully right in placing you into this unfair treatment, so that you can receive the renewing.” Some of us may still be under a certain amount of suffering. We have to learn how to turn to our spirit. That is our refuge, our hiding place, to receive the renewing. Because we are human, according to our thinking and our consideration, what we are passing through is not fair. We may not even be able to take the situation we are in, but when we come to the Word, regardless of what chapter or verse, the word will wash us. There is water in the word to wash us. Washing is a synonym of renewing. By these four items— the cross, the Holy Spirit, our mingled spirit, and the holy Word—we can receive the renewing.
I would also like to say something about the Lord’s table meeting. Whenever we come to the Lord’s table, we need renewing. When the Lord Jesus established the table, He said, “I will by no means drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in the kingdom of My Father” (Matt. 26:29). The Lord established a principle here. He will never take an old table. The table He set up was new, and the table He will take in the kingdom of His Father will be new. We have to come to the Lord’s table in a new way, in the principle of newness. How can we come to the table in newness? We need to realize that anything negative is a cause and a factor of oldness. Negative things cause us to be old.
When we come to the Lord’s table, we first have to make a thorough confession of all the negative things, and we have to deal with all the negative things. We have to confess and deal with any negative things between us and God and between us and men. Our relationship should be right and positive with God and with man (Acts 24:16). If it is not, we need a thorough confession and a thorough dealing. Another thing that makes us old is not forgiving others. Always forgive people (Matt. 18:21-22, 35; Eph. 4:32; 5:2), and always seek to be forgiven (Matt. 5:23-24). Because we are human beings, people offend us, and we offend people. As long as we are flocked together, we will offend each other. What husband and wife have never offended each other? Because God has placed two people together in marriage and because they are so close to each other, they will offend each other frequently. These offenses are the cause of oldness. What is the way to get rid of this oldness? The way is to forgive each other. We need to forgive others and seek to be forgiven. One of Brother Nee’s “proverbs” for a healthy marriage life was that both the husband and the wife needed to learn how to say: “I’m sorry. Forgive me.” If we do not learn how to say this to one another in our marriage life, we will get ourselves into trouble. We must learn to say to our spouse: “I’m sorry. Forgive me.” We need to pray that the fellowship in this message will become our day by day experience so that we can enter more into the reality of being renewed day by day.
This message was given by Brother Witness Lee to the church in Anaheim on May 14, 1989.