Some have heard the teaching concerning the exercise of the spirit, but since, in reality, they do not practice it much, their spirit is still weak. Such a person especially has difficulty exercising his spirit in prayer. Just as when I lay on the bed for six months my legs became the weakest parts of my whole being, when one does not exercise his spirit it becomes the weakest part of his whole being. My weight increased, and my blood count improved, but due to lack of exercise the walking ability of my legs decreased. Due to lack of exercise many brothers’ and sisters’ spirits have become extremely weak and flat, so that even when you encourage them to pray, their spirits cannot rise up. Therefore, we not only need to exercise our spirit at prayer time, but whenever something happens in our daily life we must return to our spirit, exercise our spirit concerning the matter, and then use the consciousness in our spirit to discern the situation. At such a time, the spirit must take the lead-the faculties of the soul must wait.

Some are so clear in thought and deep in thinking that whenever they meet a situation, the first organ they use is their mind, considering the matter over and over. This does not mean that it is wrong to use the mind. What it does mean is that to exercise the mind first and then the spirit, or even to exercise only the mind and not the spirit, is wrong in principle for a Christian. For a Christian, the principle in handling any matter is to first sense out the matter by exercising the spirit and then think it over with the mind. The mind should be a slave, an instrument, of the spirit. We should not allow the mind to take over; rather, we should allow our spirit to take the lead in touching every matter. For example, a brother may come to see you and talk with you. Your attitude should be to use your spirit first to contact and sense his situation; then use your mind to comprehend the consciousness in your spirit. Many people, whenever they meet someone or hear something, immediately exercise their mind to think and ponder. This is reversing the proper order. When we contact people or handle things it is especially important that we first exercise our spirit and then our mind.

The principle is the same concerning the will. Never use your will to make a decision concerning some matter and ignore the consciousness of your spirit. First sense it with your spirit, and then allow your will to serve as an instrument of the spirit to make the decision for you. In making any decision, we should submit our will wholly to the control of the spirit.

This is also true with the emotion. The sisters are usually full of emotion. Many times a sister’s spirit is not strong because it has been subdued by her emotion. Emotion includes numerous elements, such as human preferences, hatred, fear, boldness, and so on. Never consider that all sisters are timid. Sometimes the sisters are bolder than the brothers, because they are more in their emotion. When the sisters are for something they are so bold that they fear neither heaven nor earth. But sometimes when they are afraid of something they are afraid to the extent that they do not care about reasons or anything else. All of this is something of the emotion. Therefore, if we want to learn how to be a proper Christian, in every situation we must first turn to our spirit and sense how it feels about that particular matter. We must keep this principle in our daily life, which includes our actions, our attitude toward others, our help to others, and even our service in the church. We should not say, “This is good, why don’t we do it?” It is not a matter of good or bad, but it is a matter of what our spirit says. No matter how good something seems, if our spirit does not sanction such an action, we should not do it. By all means, we must allow our spirit to take the lead in all things.

Let us give a further explanation. When someone brings a matter to you, you should not let either your preference or fear take the lead. You must not approve the matter simply because you like it, refuse it because you are afraid of it, or put it aside because you are disgusted with it. Rather, you should first use your spirit to touch the matter, and allow your spirit to take the lead, overcoming the liking and approval, fear and distaste, and even the mind and will of your soul. Toward every thing that is set before you, always first exercise your spirit. In order to be a proper Christian, we need to have a strong spirit. In everything we need to exercise our spirit. I may not like a particular person, but if he comes to see me today, by all means, I must touch the consciousness in my spirit. I should not react according to my particular preference or distaste but according to my spirit.

I believe, brothers and sisters, you are clear about this point. May you henceforth put it into practice so that your spirit can become the strongest part in your whole being. I once saw a child learning to play the piano spend many hours each practice time. He practiced continually until his hands became the most skillful parts of his body, and his piano playing was excellent. The strongest part of a Christian should be his spirit. When our spirit is strong and living, we can pray well. However, just to know the teaching is useless; it is an absolute necessity that we faithfully put it into practice.
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