Suppose a person is preoccupied by his excessive talking. Every time you meet him, he incessantly talks like a chatter box that never shuts its lid. He never stops talking. If this man wants to make any spiritual progress, his excessive talking must be removed. Real progress for him will occur when his excessive talking stops. Spiritual progress is the increase of the element of God in us. It is also the removal of things other than God within us. We must not think that we can make progress by simply attending a meeting, hearing a message, or understanding a message. Spiritual progress for us is not only addition but also subtraction. Having eight or ten messages in us is not progress; it can well be a hindrance. Spiritual progress is the increase of the element of God and the removal of everything else. Brothers and sisters, what is spiritual progress? Is it listening to a few messages? No. When we listen to a message, the message reaches our mind, but this is not progress. When something is removed from us there is progress. If something is removed from us, we have progress. If God's element increases in us, we have progress.

Many Christians are delivered from the pleasures of sin as soon as they are saved. Yet it is not enough to be free from sin alone. Spiritual progress is being free from everything that usurps the place of God. Brothers and sisters, we must not only be clean but also pure; we should not be occupied by anything other than God. Whenever God's work removes something from us other than God, we have spiritual progress. We must continually ask ourselves whether we are shedding things. We must remember that if nothing is removed from us, we have no spiritual progress. If nothing has been cast off from us for a month or a year, we have had no progress during that month or year. Brothers and sisters, spiritual progress on the positive side means the increase of the element of God, and on the negative side, it means the decrease of ourselves. A Christian who makes great progress is one who decreases daily. Today he may see that vanity has no place in him, and he decreases. Two days later, he may see that pride has no place in him, and he decreases some more. After the fifth day, he may see that gossip has no place in him, and he decreases still more. After seven days, he may see that his impatience should not have any place in him, and he will decrease some more. Some people find it very difficult to remove the love of money from themselves. Others find it very difficult to remove their temper. Still others find it very difficult to remove their lethargy. Some things can only be dropped a little at a time. They may need ten years before they are completely dropped. This dropping is a kind of dying. Dying to money means dropping money; dying to temper means dropping our temper. On the positive side, spiritual progress means the increase of God's element within us. On the negative side, it means the dropping of many things from within us little by little.

How can these things be dropped? Simply put, the love of God first operates within a saved person. When this person is constrained by God's love, his heart turns towards God, and the Spirit of God is then given a chance to work and operate within him. When this happens, he is enlightened and sees something. Once he sees something, the Holy Spirit intensifies His work. The believer will obey the Spirit, and something will drop from him. One day God's love will inexplicably constrain you, and your heart will be turned to God, and you will say, "O God, I love You." When this happens, the Holy Spirit enlightens you. Once the Holy Spirit enlightens you, something is seen. Once you see something, the Holy Spirit intensifies His work, and you will immediately obey and say amen. This obedience results in something falling off. The degree to which things fall off will be the degree of your spiritual progress. The Lord said to the disciples, "Everyone of you who does not forsake all his own possessions cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:33). Some people forsake all things, only to pick them up again shortly. When the Lord Jesus spoke of forsaking all, He meant for it to be accomplished by the Spirit in us. Consequently, the work of the cross can only be executed by the Holy Spirit in us, and only then will things drop off. How does the Holy Spirit execute the work of the cross? As long as our heart is open towards the Lord, the Spirit will execute the work of the cross in us. On the cross the Lord Jesus stripped away everything for us already. Now the execution of this stripping work by the Holy Spirit is based on the degree to which our heart is turned towards God.

We must reiterate that spiritual progress on the positive side is the increase of the element of God, and on the negative side it is the decrease of things usurping God's place. The extent of this decrease depends on the degree to which our heart is turned towards God. How we wish that something would be removed from us daily! This is dying daily. Whenever we do not find anything dropping off, our progress has stopped.