Whether or not Christ is formed in us and we are transformed in our soul depends on at least three things. First, we have to love Him. When a husband and wife walk together, they often walk hand in hand. Although they are two persons, they are one in action and gesture. This indicates that they love each other. In the same way, if we love the Lord in a real way, we will desire to be the same as He is in everything. When we are about to do something, we will ask ourselves, “Is this the way the Lord loves things? Is this the way the Lord acts?” By checking ourselves in this way, we will naturally be adjusted in our thinking, feeling, and deciding. When we discover that our thinking is not the Lord’s thinking and that our mind is not His mind, we will give up our thinking and be adjusted by the Lord’s mind. We must submit our mind to the Lord’s mind, our emotion to the Lord’s emotion, and our will to the Lord’s will. Let us simply submit to Him. If we love the Lord in such a way, we will give Him the liberty, ground, and opportunity to occupy one part of our being after another. Our problem is that although we have been regenerated and have a heart that loves the Lord, we do not love the Lord to the fullest extent. As a result, it seems that the Lord does not have the chance to do anything in our mind, emotion, and will. The reason the Lord does not have the ground to occupy our mind is that we simply do not love Him much.
Frequently, although we do love the Lord to a certain degree, we are not one with Him. Having visited many homes throughout the years, I realize that between husbands and wives, even those who love each other, this kind of situation often exists. Although these couples often act and think as one, I have noticed that very often the husband and the wife are not one. I have seen the wife determine to do the exact opposite of what her husband does, and vice versa. Many times, we have this kind of relationship with the Lord. How many times have we told the Lord, “You go Your way; I will go mine”? If this is the state of our relationship with the Lord, not only will we fail to be renewed in our mind; our mind will become increasingly independent of the Lord, and we will shut the Lord out of our mind. If we love Him in an absolute way, however, in every situation we will look to the Lord and say, “Lord, I just love You. I want to know how You consider my situation. What is Your mind concerning this? I want to take Your mind as my mind and have Your mind spread into my mind. Because I love You so much, I want to have my mind saturated by and mingled with Your mind.” If we love the Lord in this way, we will give Him much liberty, ground, and opportunity to deal with us regarding our mind. We must love Him so that gradually our mind can be renewed, filled, saturated, and mingled with the Lord’s mind, that is, with the Lord Himself. Then when we think and consider things, people will sense that within our thinking and consideration there is the savor of Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 2:14). If we want Christ to be formed in us and if we want our minds to be renewed, we must love the Lord more.
Second, in order to be renewed, we need to remain in fellowship with the Lord. Not only should we stay in fellowship with the Lord during our times of prayer; we should keep in contact with Him even in the midst of our daily activities and conversations. When we converse with people, we should fellowship with the Lord simultaneously. Even during the busiest of times, we should remain in fellowship with the Lord. This needs our practice. Many years ago, I knew a young brother who was brought to the point where he was constantly in fellowship with the Lord. This brother told me that as he walked, he would stop every block or two in order to stay in communion with the Lord. If we remain in constant fellowship with the Lord, we will give the Lord much opportunity to take possession of our mind, emotion, and will.
Third, for Christ to be formed in us, we must pray. It is not adequate for us to pray simply because we have many things to ask of the Lord. We must pray for the simple purpose of contacting the Lord and exercising our spirit.
When we listen to things, we automatically exercise our ears. When we walk or run, we automatically exercise our legs and feet. According to the same principle, if we pray, we will automatically exercise our spirit, because to pray is to exercise the spirit. Even though many times when we begin to pray, we are not in the spirit, after maybe five or ten minutes we get into the spirit. When toddlers first try to walk, they do not use their feet and legs much. But the more they practice walking, the more they use them. In the same way, if day by day we pray more, we will automatically exercise our spirit more as well. I believe that many of us have experienced that the more we pray, the more we are in the spirit and the more we grow accustomed to exercising our spirit. The more we exercise our spirit to pray, the more we open the way for the Lord as the Spirit within us to spread into all the parts of our inward being. Although we may pray to ask things of the Lord, the most important reason why we pray is to exercise our spirit to keep in contact with the Lord. If we exercise our spirit by praying in this way, our entire being will be gradually renewed, and we will be transformed into the Lord’s image.
Christ being formed in us and our being renewed in the spirit of our mind depends very much on these three matters—we must love the Lord, remain in fellowship with Him, and exercise to pray. The more we do these things, the more we will be renewed.