Question: Is trying to set our mind on our spirit an example of trying to do good?

Answer: In my youth I heard a saying, “To know sin is to sin.” Before Adam and Eve took the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they were innocent; there was no sin. After they took the fruit, their eyes were opened, and they began to know good and evil. To try to do good is sin. Likewise, to try to set our mind on the spirit is also sin. Do not try to do anything. Simply set your mind on the spirit. Paul did not charge us to try to set our mind on the spirit. He simply said, “The mind set on the spirit is life and peace” (Rom. 8:6b). After hearing a message on setting the mind on the spirit, some may resolve to do their best to do this. We need to stop our doing. Whenever we try to overcome, we are defeated. Faith is not doing or trying; faith is simply believing what God has said and saying “Amen.” This faith keeps us in rest.

Question: How do you apply the law of the Spirit of life?

Answer: To apply the law of life may also be our doing. Do not consider how to apply the law of the Spirit of life or how to stop the law of sin. If you have seen the law of the Spirit of life, simply say, “Hallelujah, Amen!” The law of the Spirit of life will work by itself; it does not need you to apply it. Faith stops any kind of activity. It stops you from trying and doing. We do not know how the Lord will do it, but we do believe that He will do it.

Question: What is a practical example of setting our mind on the spirit?

Answer: To define the way to set our mind on the spirit is to yield to a temptation. Paul did not charge us by saying, “Set your mind on the spirit.” We do not need to make up our mind to do this. Faith stops our activities. Faith always praises God. The example of Joshua and Caleb in the Bible shows us what it is to believe. Joshua and Caleb were not the ones who overcame in Numbers 13 and 14; it was the One in whom they trusted. God did everything. They simply enjoyed what God did. In Joshua 3 they crossed the Jordan River, but it was God who stopped the water. They simply walked over.

Do not try to overcome your sin. Simply believe. Hallelujah! We are in Christ. Christ is our great I Am, and He is the Spirit of life. We have a Savior. If we do something for ourselves, we are attempting to be our own savior. We are declaring that we do not need Him. If we declare that we are wretched and hopeless and cannot do anything to rescue ourselves, then we are declaring that we need a Savior.

Question: If in our fallen nature we are Satan, how can we live a grafted life with the Lord flowing through us to express Himself?

Answer: We are the branches grafted into the cultivated Christ. He is the stronger life, and we are the weaker life. Regardless of what Satan would do, Christ is stronger. As long as we abide in Him, we remain in the place where we are grafted. Christ will do everything. We do not need to analyze. An antibiotic is stronger than the germs. We know that it deals with the germs, but we do not know how, and we do not need to know.

Faith stops our activities. Faith even “blinds” us. If we have faith, we are like blind men. Abraham did not know where the Lord was leading him or what route he was taking. He only knew that the Lord was leading him. This is faith. To be too clear is to not believe.

Question: It seems that it is easy to have faith when I am in the meetings. However, as soon as I return home, there are “giants” waiting to devour what I have enjoyed. What can I do?

Answer: Faith is always real and true. The environment is a lie. Listen to faith, not to the lie. If our environment is good, we do not need to believe. We need to believe when we are in a difficult environment. Worry, anxiety, and even physical sickness, all are lies. Faith always tells the environment that it is a lie, not a giant. To deny the environment is faith. In Numbers 13 and 14, Joshua and Caleb took the word of God as their faith. The unbelieving Israelites all saw the giants in Canaan and gave an evil report. However, Joshua and Caleb said, “Only do not rebel against Jehovah; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our bread” (Num. 14:9). Do not recognize the environment. Do not say that the meeting hall is the mountain top and that your home is so poor. If you say this, you are standing with Satan. Your home is much better than the meeting hall. It is like the third heavens and the Holy of Holies, because wherever Christ is, there is the Holy of Holies.

Sometimes we help Satan to do many things. Our husband or wife may not be that bad, but because we say they are bad, they become bad. The more we talk in this way, the worse they will be. This kind of speaking opens the door to Satan. We need to shut the door by declaring something positive. We should say: “I am not defeated. My being defeated is a lie. Satan, this lie must return to you.” To proclaim in this way is to exercise faith. Faith is against the environment.

Question: Some of the persons whom we are visiting are involved in improper matters. Should we tell them not to try to change themselves?

Answer: We should not tell them this. We should simply bring them into Christ. We need to help them to believe into Christ and to pray. The Lord Jesus did not tell Zaccheus to restore fourfold what he had taken from others. The Lord only ministered Himself into Zaccheus and did something within him. It was not Zaccheus himself who could give half of his possessions to the poor. It was the Lord within him. He experienced a dynamic salvation.

When we go to visit people, we must learn to speak Christ, to speak by the Spirit, that is, to minister Christ, the Spirit of life, into them. Then their salvation will be dynamic and organic, not something of teaching. Their salvation is not a receiving of a certain religion to change their way of living. Therefore, we have to pray much. While we are going out to speak to people we need to be praying: “Lord, regardless of how good my word is, it is vanity. You are the reality. While I am speaking, You must come out with my word.”
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