From the time that God begins His building work in us onward, the Spirit of God continuously moves us and motivates us within, and the life of God continuously operates and works within us. Both the moving of the Spirit of God and the operating of the life of God are God’s building work within us. This kind of building work requires our cooperation, mainly in the matter of the breaking of our self. If the self is not broken, it is impossible for God to build Himself into us. How much God can build Himself into us depends on how much we allow God to break us. Those who do not allow God to break them cannot have God Himself built into them.
It may be difficult for some to understand how God breaks us or how God builds Himself into us. To illustrate, when we are sick, the doctor often must give us an injection and a prescription. Because we may lack the proper nutrients or vitamins, the doctor must inject the nutrients or vitamins into us. What is his first step in doing this? He must first “‘break” our body. He must insert a needle into our flesh in order to inject the nutrients into our body. If there is no opening in our body, the nutrients cannot be injected into us. Likewise, if we do not allow God to break us or to make an opening in us, then God Himself cannot enter into us. Perhaps some people may say that they understand this. However, what is it that God wants to break in us? The injection given by the doctor breaks our physical flesh. Similarly, in order for God to build Himself into us and to enter into us, He needs to break our “flesh”—our soul-life, our self. God has to break our self so that He can enter into us and build Himself into us.
What is the soul-life or the self? Practically, the self refers to our thoughts, preferences, and opinions. All the activities in our mind are actions of the soul, our self. Our thoughts, views, preferences, choices, opinions, and decisions all represent our self and are all part of our self. When God comes to break our self, He comes to break all these things. What has to be broken? Our views, thoughts, preferences, choices, opinions, and decisions all need to be broken. If we allow God to break all these things, then God will have an opening in us, and then He will be able to inject Himself into us.
Some people may say that they understand this doctrine well but that it is still very troublesome to them and unclear in their practice. For example, you may be a genuinely saved person with the Spirit of God and the life of God in you. However, your views, insight, thoughts, opinions, preferences, choices, ideas, and decisions may be intact and altogether yours. Thus, not one bit of God’s element can be injected into you. Though you are saved and the Spirit of God and the life of God are in you, your thoughts and views do not have the element of God in them. God has no access to your thoughts and views and has no ground in your preferences and choices. In your ideas and decisions you keep God outside the door.
Although we have the life of God and the Spirit of God in us, we may handle things as if we do not have God in us. Though we have God’s life and God’s Spirit dwelling within us, God may not have the ground in us when we make choices or decisions.
In other words, although all those who are saved have the Spirit of God and the life of God within them, God may not have the ground in their thoughts, preferences, and views, that is, in their soul. This is the main reason why there is no growth in life in many saved ones and why God cannot build Himself into them.
How does God build Himself into each part of our being? God first needs to break our thoughts, ideas, preferences, views, choices, and opinions. How much God can build Himself into us depends on how much God has broken us. For example, suppose a brother would like to arrange his children’s marriages. The brother is indeed a saved person, having God’s Spirit and God’s life within. But when he is dealing with his children regarding the matter of marriage, he does not give any ground to God in his thoughts and views. When he worships God, God has the ground, but when he considers his children’s marriages, he puts God aside. In the matter of his children’s marriages, his thoughts and insight do not have God’s element. Therefore, in this matter he does not have God.
This brother may have very little of God’s element in him, so God’s desire is to build more of His element into him. In the brother’s insight, thinking, and determination, he still may lack the element of God. Therefore, God has no ground in his view of his children’s marriages. What can God do in such a situation? If God has mercy on him and is gracious to him, He will continue His building work within him. How will God do this building work in him? He will do it by breaking his insight and thinking. First, God must move him through the Spirit like a doctor giving an injection. While he is being punctured, he may have a sense of pain, which may remind him that his thinking and determination for his children’s marriages have all been from himself and without God. The Spirit then may move and pierce him a little more so that he will feel sorry, mournful, and regretful. During this time, if he humbles himself and receives the piercing and moving of the Spirit, God’s element will be built up in him more and more.
On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit moved in men, and many of them felt their hearts being pricked (Acts 2:37). When a doctor gives injections to people, they feel the pricking of the needle. The work of the Spirit inside us is very often like the piercing of a needle. His particular moving pierces our thoughts and preferences. One day the Spirit will pierce our view concerning our children’s marriages and our plans for our career and our future. He will be like a doctor giving an injection, piercing our skin and flesh, so that we will have a sense of pain and feel mournful. If we are willing to humble ourselves and receive the moving of the Spirit, then the Spirit will inject God’s intention into our thinking, determination, and preferences. Then our thoughts and views toward our children’s marriages will give more ground to God and have more of God’s element. Thus, God will do a further building work in us. With the increase of God’s element within us, God’s life will then expand and grow.