Then you would ask, Is that good or bad? I would say it is wonderful to be on fire; it is excellent; it is very good, but it may not be for you. You have to realize that in seeking the Lord there is a narrow pathway, and once you pass through a certain stage of this narrow pathway, you have no way to get back. The most you can do is just stand there. You may stand still, but it’s hard for you to go back. You may consider that you are backslidden because ten years ago at Elden Hall you were having certain experiences, but you can never go back to that.
In the spiritual growth it is right to say that on the one hand you are growing, but on the other hand while you are growing, you are being reduced all the time. From the day we came to the matter of peculiarity, I was burdened to speak messages to reduce, to reduce, to reduce. I hate that our human language is really short. Language is a kind of product of culture. If you don’t have a certain kind of culture you will not have a certain kind of language. In our culture we don’t have what we’re talking about here, so we are short of language. It is hard for me to utter something because of the lack in language.
You have to know that God has no intention for you to do something for Him. You must drop this. God’s intention surely is to entirely and thoroughly work Himself into you that He may really be your life. This is not a mere doctrine. This is what God wants to do. But we became fallen; we got away from Him. We didn’t have a heart toward Him, and we were very indifferent concerning Him. So He had to come to call us and to stir us up. But the problem is, after we got stirred up, we became so active. This is not wrong, but the more you are active and the more you are growing, the more you become a trouble to yourself. The more you are growing, the more you will pray, the more you will read the Bible, the more you will have the church life, the more you will have fellowship, the more you will have many spiritual things.
Eventually, every one of these things will become a trap to possess you, to occupy you, and to fill you up. Then in your capacity as a human being, there is no more vacancy for the Lord. The really experienced Christians after many years have learned one lesson: the Lord only wants you to have a heart. The Lord only wants you to have a desire. You need a heart to love Him, a desire to gain Him. That is good enough. Even to pray too much is a frustration. Believe me. The Lord just wants you to love Him and desire Him. The more you say, “Lord, I love You. Lord, I want You. Lord, I need You,” the more you need to stop your doing. But to stop your doing can never be effective by your stopping. The more you stop doing, the more you do. This depends upon the measure of stature in life. The more you grow in the Lord, the more your doing will be reduced. Gradually your doing will be reduced until one day you know that what the Lord wants of you is absolutely not your doing. He only wants you to love Him, to want Him, and to tell Him you need Him. That’s all—don’t do anything. Even to live Christ becomes your doing. Sooner or later if you keep seeking you will reach a point where you realize you don’t need to do anything.
Actually, the Lord is within you, and the Lord is one with you, and He really is everything for you. What you need to do is just say, “Lord, thank You. You are one with me. I love You. I desire to have You. I just want You and I need You.” That is good enough. Spontaneously, the Lord will act in you; He will live in you; He will do everything for you; and He will do everything with you. He lives and you live by His living. Again, our human language is short. I just don’t have the language to utter what I see. Not only am I short in the English language, but even in my mother tongue, Chinese, I couldn’t utter. But I do know I have experienced this thing. You will eventually hit the point or the stage that the Lord lives in you and you don’t need to do anything. What you need to do is just to keep yourself open, telling the Lord that you want Him and that you need Him. You need to realize that your doing does not avail. Only the Lord avails. In a sense, not even just His presence or His anointing avails; only the Lord Himself avails.