Deal with our Heart to have a Soft Heart and a Pure Heart for the Lord to Grow in us

For us to grow in life for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ, we need to cooperate with the Lord by dealing with our heart so that it can be soft (a soft heart) and pure (a pure heart) in our Christian life.

May the Lord have mercy on us and open our eyes to see that the central work of God in this age is that man may gain His life and grow and mature in this life so that God may gain a corporate expression of Himself, the church as the Body of Christ.

When we see that God wants to gain His increase, the growth of God in us, we will give ourselves to the Lord to cooperate with Him for His increase in us.

When we believed into the Lord for the first time, we were born again with the life of God, and we became infants in Christ; we were like a little baby, spiritually speaking, longing for the guileless milk of the word.

As we drink the Lord as the pure, guileless milk in His word, we grow in life, and the Lord’s life can grow and develop in us.

We need to grow in life day by day so that God would grow in us for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

We need to grow in life unto maturity, and we can reach maturity in our lifetime.

But in order for us to grow in life, we need to deal with our heart. Our heart is the switch to the flow of life.

The life of God is in our spirit, but in order for this life to flow out, it has to go through our heart.

If our heart is not turned to the Lord or is indifferent, the flow of the divine life is stopped.

If we do not cooperate with God for His life to grow in us by dealing with our heart so that He would have a free way in us, the Lord’s growth in us will be hindered.

There are many obstacles in our being – not just outside of us, but in our very heart, that hinder the growth of Christ in us.

We need the Lord to shine on us and, under the Lord’s light, we need to deal with all the obstacles that hinder the growth of God in us.

The more we deal with the matters that the Lord exposes in us, especially in our heart, the more His life in us can grow and even flow in a free way.

Many subjective things are in our heart and need to be dealt with by the Lord.

We may be quite superficial in dealing with the things in our heart, and the Lord may not have a way to flow in us and out of us.

There’s a treasure in our heart, which we accumulate through many years; where we are and what we are is directly related to and owed to our heart.

What our heart loves, seeks, and desires, is what we are becoming.

May we come to the Lord and turn our heart to Him, even continue to turn our heart to Him so that He may direct our heart in His love and grace and we may grow in life unto maturity!

Dealing with our Heart so that we have a Soft Heart, a Good Earth for the Lord to Grow in us

Our growth in the divine life as believers in Christ builds up the church as the Body of Christ; the building up of the church takes place by the growth of Christ as the seed of life in our heart (1 John 3:9; 1 Pet. 1:23; Col. 2:19; Eph. 2:21; 4:15-16; Matt. 13:18-23).

However, in order for the Lord to grow in us in a proper way, we need to cooperate with Him by dealing with our heart so that it can be kept in a proper condition day by day.

One of the first characteristics of our heart toward the Lord is that it needs to be soft; we need to have a soft heart toward the Lord for Him to grow in us.

When God deals with our heart, He takes away the stone from our flesh and gives us a heart of flesh, a soft heart (Ezek. 36:26).

This happened at the time of our regeneration.

However, after the Lord replaced our heart of stone with a heart of flesh, many times the soil of our heart became hardened by worldly traffic, hidden sins, the anxiety of the age, and the deceitfulness of riches.

So we become hard again toward the Lord, and the seed of life cannot grow in us.

If we are not submissive to the Lord and do not fear Him, we gradually fall away from His presence, and our heart is hardened.

If we want to have a spiritual condition that is living before the Lord, we need to have a soft heart toward the Lord, not a hard heart that is hardened.

To be soft means that our heart is submissive and yielding to the Lord, not stiff-necked and rebellious (Exo. 32:9).

Many times we pray that the Lord would grow in us, and that’s a good prayer, but we need to go on and ask Him to deal with us and grant us a soft heart, a submissive heart.

We need to ask the Lord to deal with us and give us a yielding heart, a heart that surrenders to Him.

If we don’t have a soft heart, the Lord cannot grow in us.

In the Old Testament many times the Lord called His people Israel, Stiff-necked people.

We may be like that also. We may have tissues like iron; instead of having tissues of flesh, soft and open to the Lord, our neck may be stiff-necked toward Him.

We are just stubborn toward Him, like a donkey; we know what He wants us to do, but we won’t do it, for we’re rebellious, not agreeing with Him.

Oh, Lord! At one point or another, we all experienced this.

We need to have a soft heart toward the Lord so that our heart may be the good earth for Him to grow.

Since our heart is vitally related to the flow in and out of the divine life in us, God has no alternative but to deal with our heart so that His life may flow freely in us and through us.

We have four main problems: hardness of heart, impurity of heart, unlovingness, and unpeacefulness.

Each of them is related to one part of our heart. We need to have a soft heart, a heart that is the good earth in which Christ can freely grow.

In such a heart, the soil is soft, for such a heart is not hardened by worldly traffic, is not self-seeking, and is free of the anxiety of the age and the deceitfulness of riches (Matt. 13:3-9, 18-23).

We need to deal with the soil of our heart to have a soft heart toward the Lord, a heart that allows the Lord to grow in us.

Many times we are not submissive to God but are rather stiff-necked, rebellious, and not yielding to Him.

So God softens our heart by using His love to move us and cause our hearts to be soft; however, if His love cannot move us, He uses His hand through the environment to discipline us until our heart is softened (2 Cor. 5:14; 4:16-18; Heb. 12:6-7; cf. Jer. 48:11).

We thank the Lord for His love toward us; His love constrains us to love Him and live to Him. He loves us, and He wants to help us have a soft heart toward Him.

However, if we don’t cooperate with Him, He will discipline us – not to damage us or to make us suffer, for He is not a cruel God, but to have a soft heart toward Him.

He may discipline us through the environment, blow after blow, to soften our heart.

May the Lord be merciful to us that we may cooperate with Him so that our heart may be soft toward Him.

Sadly to say, some Christians are so strong in their disposition and so stiff-necked that even the Lord’s discipline does not soften their heart.

It seems that, even after such discipline from the Lord, their heart is still the same; this delays the growth of Christ in them.

If we have a soft heart, if we cooperate with the Lord and allow Him to soften our heart, His life in us can grow faster.

May we open to the Lord concerning this matter and tell Him,

Lord Jesus, we want to cooperate with You in dealing with our heart so that our heart may be soft toward You. Lord Jesus, soften us. Soften our heart. May the soil of our heart be the good soil with no worldly traffic, no hidden sins, no anxiety of the age, and no deceitfulness of riches. May every inch of the ground of our heart be given to You to receive You, enjoy You, and bear fruit. Oh Lord Jesus, we open to You. We turn our heart to You. Thank You for coming to us in love to constrain us and soften our heart. Thank You for loving us so much that You discipline us for a period of time so that our heart would be a soft heart toward You. Oh, Lord Jesus. We want to cooperate with You and have a soft heart for You to grow in us. Oh Lord, we don’t want to hinder the growth of Christ in us. Save us from being rebellious and stiff-necked toward You. Oh Lord Jesus, deal with us and grant us a submissive heart toward You, a heart that is soft toward the Lord!

God wants our Heart to be Pure: we need to have a Pure and Single Heart toward the Lord

The second major problem we have in our heart is impurity, that is, our heart is not pure and single toward the Lord.

A pure heart is a heart that loves God and wants God; a pure heart has no other love, inclination, or desire besides God (Matt. 5:8; Psa. 73:25; cf. Jer. 32:39).

A heart that is pure is a heart that is focused only on the Lord and wants nothing else.

God Himself and nothing else is the unique focus of a pure heart.

However, our human heart is like sticky paper, the flypaper to which the flies stick.

Our heart sticks to so many things, and simply by going to the office by public transport, our heart sticks to this and that matter.

In the morning we may love the Lord and enjoy Him with a pure heart, but then we go shopping or go to school, and our heart sticks to so many things. Oh, Lord Jesus!

We need to deal with our heart in the Lord’s light again and again to cleanse our heart and purify it so that there would be no other love, inclination or desire except God.

Only those who are pure in heart will see God.

Our heart needs to be single for God so that we are fearful of nothing except offending Him and losing His presence (Psa. 86:11; Isa. 11:1-2).

We need to ask the Lord to make our heart single in fearing His name. Single in fearing the Lord’s name.

We need to fear only offending the Lord by not focusing absolutely on Him.

A proper heart, a pure heart, is a heart that fears God and fears offending God, that is, fears losing His presence.

In such a heart, the Lord can grow.

For us to be pure in heart is for us to have the single goal of accomplishing God’s will for His glory; our goal should be nothing else but the fullest enjoyment and gaining of Christ (Phil. 3:7-14).

This is the goal that Paul had; he forgot everything else and focused only on Christ, seeking to gain Him and obtain Him as his prize.

On one hand, we need to have a soft heart toward the Lord; on the other hand, our heart needs to be pure in seeking Him.

We may have a soft heart, but we may have many other goals besides the Lord.

Being pure in heart means we have the single goal of accomplishing God’s will for His glory.

A pure heart has an emotion that is pure and simple toward God (2 Cor. 11:3).

Those who are pure in heart will see God; if we cooperate with the Lord to be pure in heart and let Him purify our heart, we will see God.

Many times, however, we are focused on many things besides God, and we are not pure in heart.

And we don’t even realize this. We may think we still love the Lord and are pure in heart, but our focus is no longer on the Lord.

We need the Lord’s living light to shine on us, scatter all our darkness and dispel the night, and we need to let Him expose our impurity.

In His mercy and grace, the Lord is faithful to shine on us, as we come to Him, on anything in us that is impure.

In His light, we can confess our sins, trespasses, and impurities, and we can take Him as the absolute One, the One who is pure in heart.

We need to ask the Lord to purify our heart.

And on our side, we need to open to Him in prayer throughout the day, especially as we feel that we’re drawn to so many other things.

We must pursue Christ with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart (2 Tim. 2:22; 1 Tim. 1:5; Psa. 73:1).

May we remain together with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

As we pursue the Lord together with those who call Him out of a pure heart, we see God, we enjoy God, and the Lord as the divine seed can grow in the soil of our heart for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

May we learn to open to the Lord and deal with our heart in His light, telling Him in all honesty,

Lord Jesus, we open to You. Purify our heart. May Your living light scatter all our night and everything make bright. Expose any impurities in our heart. Expose and remove anything that our heart loves more than You. Oh Lord, we want to set our whole being with our entire heart absolutely on You. May our emotion be exceedingly pure and simple toward You, loving You and desiring only You. Lord, keep our heart always soft, pure, and true to You, never backsliding but always loving You! Save us from focusing on anything and anyone apart from You. Oh Lord, we turn our heart to You. We want to be pure in heart so that we may see God! Amen, Lord, we want to pursue Christ with all those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart! May we be those pure in heart and may we pursue You together with those who are pure in heart, loving You and enjoying You together!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Minoru Chen in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1953, vol. 3, “The Knowledge of Life,” ch. 10, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Enjoyment of Christ and our Growth in Life unto Maturity (2023 Thanksgiving Blending Conference), week 3, entitled, Dealing with Our Heart for the Growth of the Divine Seed of Life within Us unto Our Maturity in Life for God’s Building in Life.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – How to Have a Pure, Loving, and Soft Heart toward God, via, Bibles for America blog.
  – Growth of the Divine Seed of the Kingdom in the Human Heart for God’s Building (5), via, Christian Students on campus.
  – Pursue with Those Who Call on the Lord Out of a Pure Heart, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – What we receive through regeneration, a portion from, What is Regeneration?, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
  – God-Given Companions and the Principle of the Body, via, Living to Him.
  – The function of the heart, a portion from, Life-Study of 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 21, by Witness Lee.
  – 14 Words to Enrich Your Fellowship with Jesus, article via, Holding to Truth in Love.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – We need a heart in all things pure, / With mind both sound and clear, / To understand His mind and heart / In trembling and in fear. / We need a fervent, loving heart, / A heart on fire with love, / With an emotion filled with zeal / For Him, all else above. (Hymns #744 stanzas 2-3)
  – Oh, may Thy living light, Lord, / Scatter all my night, Lord, / And everything make bright, Lord, / For this I pray to Thee. / I hardly know myself; / Deceived so much by pride, / I often think I’m right / And am self-satisfied. (Hymns #426 stanza 2 and chorus)
  – Lord Jesus, soften us; / You know the source from which we came. / By calling on Your name, / Lord, let no earth unturned nor rocks remain— / Lord Jesus, grow in us… / Lord, make us pure in heart; / For we’ll be not content until / You all our being fill, / O Lord, renew our mind, emotion, will— / Lord Jesus, grow in us. (Hymns #1132 stanzas 3 and 6)