When life grows out from within us, the second place through which it passes is the emotion of our heart. With the emotion of the heart, it is a question of love. To deal with the emotion is to cause our emotion to fervently love the Lord.
We know that whatever a man does, the most important question is whether he likes it or not. If he likes it, he is willing and happy to do it; if he does not like it, he is neither willing nor happy to do it. If we would allow the life of the Lord within us to grow out freely, it also requires that we be happy to cooperate with Him and willing to let Him work. Therefore, when God wants to work on us, He often moves our emotion first to make us willing to cooperate with Him. Many places in the Bible speak of loving the Lord. They are all mentioned with the intention of moving our emotion. For example, in John 21, the Lord said to Peter: “Lovest thou me more than these?” This means that the Lord wanted to move the emotion of Peter; He desired that Peter would love Him so completely that His life could have a way out from him. Again, in Romans 12:1-2, the apostle Paul says: “I beseech you...by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice...that ye may prove what is the...will of God.” When he speaks here of the mercy of God, it is also to move our emotion, to make us love the Lord, want the Lord, seek after the Lord, and consecrate ourselves to the Lord; then we can understand the things of God. These examples show us that if we want the life of the Lord to have an outlet from within us, besides a conscience without offense, we also need an emotion which fervently loves the Lord.
The emotion which really loves the Lord is intimately related to our heart and our conscience. First Timothy 1:5 says, “The end of the charge is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience...” This passage speaks of emotion, heart, and conscience together. Paul’s intention here was to tell Timothy that much of the talking of men does not count, but that love and love alone is the end of all. Yet where does this love come from? It comes out of a pure heart and a good conscience. Thus, it is necessary to have a pure heart and a good conscience before love can be produced. For this reason, when we help others, we must first help them to deal with their heart and their conscience. When the heart and the conscience are dealt with, the emotion can easily love the Lord and want the Lord. When there is love in the emotion, it affords an outlet to the life of God from our spirit. Thus, emotion is the second place through which the growing out of life passes, or the second section of the outlet for the growing out of life.
The third part through which the growing out of life passes is our mind. The mind needs to be renewed. To deal with the mind means to have our mind renewed and delivered from all the old thoughts. Romans 12:2 says, “Be not fashioned according to this age: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.” This indicates that only when we have a renewed and transformed mind can we understand the will of God and allow the life of the Lord to pass through and grow out naturally. Thus, the mind is also intimately related to the growing out of life.
All the renewing work in our entire person is done by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). Therefore, when speaking of the renewing of the mind, we still must begin with the work of the Holy Spirit. We know that the beginning of the work of the Holy Spirit within us is to regenerate us. After this, much of the continuing working of the Holy Spirit within us is to renew us. The Holy Spirit regenerating us causes us to receive the life of God and have the nature of God. The Holy Spirit renewing us causes us to know God, or to understand the will of God and have the mind of God.
The parts within us which the Holy Spirit in His renewing work renews are the spirit and the mind. In the chapter entitled The Inward Knowledge we have made it clear that if we want to know God, it is accomplished on our part by the spirit and by the mind. First we obtain the knowing of the intuition in the spirit, and then we gain the comprehension in the mind; by this we understand the will of God and know God. Thus, the spirit and the mind can be said to be one set of organs for us to know God. To have the spirit alone is not sufficient; to have the mind alone is also not enough. We must have both the spirit and the mind. It is like a light bulb shining forth with electric light. The light bulb alone is not sufficient; the filament alone is also not enough. It requires both to work together. Since the Holy Spirit’s renewing is for the purpose of our knowing God, He must naturally renew the set of organs for knowing God, namely, our spirit and our mind.
Ephesians 4:22-23 says, “That ye put away, as concerning your former manner of life, the old man...and that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” This passage, when speaking of the matter of renewing, combines the mind and spirit together and calls the spirit “the spirit of the mind.” Though in the understanding of God’s will, it is a matter of the mind, yet the mind itself cannot directly touch God and know God. In order to understand the will of God, we must first use the spirit to touch God and sense God; then we must use the mind to comprehend the meaning in the intuition of the spirit. Thus, in the matter of understanding the will of God, as far as the mind is concerned, it needs the cooperation of the spirit; as far as the spirit is concerned, it is joined to the mind and is of the mind. It is like the filament in the light bulb which is connected to the light bulb and also belongs to the light bulb. Hence, in this passage the Bible calls our spirit “the spirit of the mind.” When the Holy Spirit renews the “spirit of our mind,” it means that He renews our spirit and our mind. The Holy Spirit renews our spirit because in the matter of knowing God the spirit is of the mind; therefore, the real renewing of the mind always begins with the renewing of the spirit. The Holy Spirit first renews our spirit, and then He renews our mind; thus, the spirit of our mind is renewed.
When the spirit of our mind is thus renewed by the Holy Spirit, our spirit becomes lively and keen. Every time the Holy Spirit works and anoints, this spirit can sense and know. In the meantime, our mind is also clear and proficient; it can immediately interpret the meaning of the intuition in the spirit. In this way, we can understand the will of God. Then whatever our mind thinks and considers is on the side of the spirit; it no longer yields to the flesh to be employed by the flesh. Our mind then will no longer be a mind set on the flesh, but a mind set on the spirit. Romans 8:6 calls such a mind the “mind of the spirit.” Since this mind of the spirit is constantly set on the spirit and is mindful of the spirit, it allows the life of God to grow out continuously from our spirit.
In summary, concerning the renewing of the mind, there are these three points: Firstly, Romans 12 says that the mind needs to be renewed and put off all the old thoughts; secondly, Ephesians 4 says that the mind needs the spirit to cooperate with it, to be joined as one with it so that the spirit may become “the spirit of the mind”; thirdly, Romans 8 says that the mind should stand on the side of the spirit, yield to the spirit, be of the spirit, be constantly set on the spirit, mind the spirit, and heed the move and consciousness of the spirit, thereby becoming a “mind of the spirit.” When the mind is thus renewed, has the cooperation of spirit, and stands on the side of the spirit, it can allow life to pass through and grow out smoothly without hindrance. Thus, the mind is the third place through which the growing out of life passes, or the third section of the outlet for the growing out of life.