To Live the Christian Life is for us to Accept the Discipline of the Holy Spirit

To live the Christian life is for us to accept the discipline of the Holy Spirit, for God wants to take away our taste and change our scent by His discipline, which is God’s emptying us from vessel to vessel until we have the pure taste of Christ and exude the pure fragrance of Christ. Amen!

On the one hand, the Christian life is something very positive, for it is for us to live Christ by loving Christ, doing all things in the person of Christ, and having a walk worthily of the calling with which we were called.

On the other hand, there’s the matter of the dealings, the discipline of the Holy Spirit, which we as believers in Christ experience.

The Lord loves us, so He disciplines us.

When we speak of the discipline of the Holy Spirit, we should not think that this is only for those who are mature in the Lord, for it is so deep that only when we’re fully grown can we experience it.

We need to realize that, just as our Christian life is for us to live Christ, love Christ, do all things in the face of Christ, and walk worthy of God’s calling, so it is for us to accept the discipline of the Holy Spirit.

The discipline of the Holy Spirit is something we need to understand, accept, and teach others even while they are young in the Lord.

The Lord disciplines all those whom He loves, and He does not want us to remain at ease.

When the people of Israel were at ease, languishing in the land, the enemy came in and they failed God, even losing the possession of the good land.

When David was at ease, he committed his greatest sin with Bath-sheba, and the Lord had to discipline him.

Today we as believers in Christ need to realize that, whether we think we deserve it or not, the Lord is disciplining us, because He loves us, and He wants to obtain the peaceable fruit of righteousness, that is, to have Christ lived out of us in righteousness and peace. Amen!

On the positive side, we need to love the Lord and live Christ, and we need to live in the person of Christ, do all things one with the Lord, and have a kind of living and walk that is worthy of God’s calling.

On the negative side, we need to not murmur or rebel against the discipline of the Holy Spirit but welcome it, opening to the Lord and entrusting our soul to our faithful Creator, for He knows what He is doing, He knows what He wants to gain in us, and He will accomplish His purpose in all these things.

May we learn to open to the Lord not only on the positive side to enjoy Him and love Him but also when His discipline reaches us, that we may be at peace with Him and there would be the fruit of righteousness, for Christ to live in us and be expressed through us.

To Live the Christian Life is for us to Accept the Discipline of the Holy Spirit

In Jer. 48:11 the Lord speaks of Moab who had been at ease from his youth; he was not emptied from vessel to vessel, and therefore his taste remained in him and his scent is not changed.

As we pray and read this verse, opening to the Lord for His shining on us personally, we will realize that in so many ways we have been at ease, for we were not emptied from vessel to vessel, and our taste remained in us and our scent had not changed. Oh, Lord!

This verse describes those who have not suffered any chastisement or sufferings before the Lord but rather, they are settled, not changed. In the old days, the way they made the wine is by crushing the grapes and then putting the wine in vessels, where the lees, the dregs, would go to the bottom.

Then, they poured the wine from the top to another vessel, and waited some time for the dregs to settle, and then they poured it again, until they obtained the pure wine.

One pouring was not enough; some lees were bound to remain into the other vessel; therefore, there was the need for pouring and sifting again and again.

What a tragedy it would be for us to be a Christian and in the church life for many years yet to be at ease, not being emptied from vessel to vessel but having the same scent as when we were not a Christian or before we came into the church life! Oh, Lord!

This is where the discipline of the Holy Spirit is very much used by the Lord.

To live the Christian life is to accept the discipline of the Holy Spirit. God wants to take away our taste and change our scent by our accepting the discipline of the Holy Spirit (Jer. 48:11; 2 Cor. 2:14-15; S. S. 4:16; 2 Kings 4:8-9).

The discipline of the Holy Spirit is God’s emptying us from vessel to vessel for the removal of the lees, the dregs, of our natural outer man until we have the pure taste of Christ and exude the pure fragrance of Christ.

Sometimes you meet a brother or a sister who loves the Lord so much, but when you speak with them, you sense that they have a scent, something very strong from their natural man.

On one hand, they love the Lord; on the other hand, their scent remains, for the Lord did not empty them from vessel to vessel.

These dregs, the sediments, signify our natural man, our outer man.

The Lord uses all kinds of things, persons, environments, and situations to pour us from vessel to vessel so that our dregs – our natural man – would be sifted out and removed.

We need to accept the discipline of the Holy Spirit so that our scent will be changed and we will exude the pure fragrance of Christ.

When others meet us and speak with us, when we speak to others at work or at home, Christ needs to exude from our being.

We should not just have a superficial enjoyment of Christ but allow the Lord to go deeper in us by our accepting the discipline of the Holy Spirit so that the dregs of our natural man, our outer man, may be removed and sifted out, and the fragrance of Christ may be emanated from our being.

This requires trials and chastisements.

Some trials and chastisements are due to our foolishness, sin, and negligence; others, however, are simply allowed sovereignly by the Lord for us to be emptied, poured from one vessel to another, and have our scent changed and our taste taken away.

What the Lord wants to gain is just Christ living in us, Christ being expressed through us, and Christ being emanated through us.

Wherever we go, we need to bring the fragrance of Christ.

But if we do not accept the discipline of the Holy Spirit through the Lord’s sovereign arrangement in our environment, in the church life, and in the family life, we will remain the same, and the Lord has no way to be expressed through us.

We all seek to be at ease; we love to be comfortable and take it easy, and none of us loves trials, chastisement, or discipline.

However, the Lord wants to purify us; He wants us to be at peace and to express Christ, but at the same time He wants to deal with our natural man so that Christ may be expressed through us.

May we allow these words regarding Moab to sober us and cause us to be before the Lord so that we may cooperate with and accept the discipline of the Holy Spirit for God to change our scent and remove our taste.

As we go through trials, chastisement, and situations that are sovereignly arranged by God to deal with our natural man, we need to simply open to the Lord from within so that He would pour us from vessel to vessel, empty us of ourselves, and purify us.

Lord Jesus, we want to live the Christian life by accepting the discipline of the Holy Spirit. We open to You, dear Lord. Save us from remaining the same. Save us from not being poured from vessel to vessel and therefore having the same taste and scent as before. Oh Lord Jesus, may we accept the discipline of the Holy Spirit so that we may be emptied from vessel to vessel for the removing of the dregs of our natural outer man. Have Your way in us, Lord, that our outer man may be broken and removed and the pure taste of Christ may come out. May we bear the fragrance of Christ, exuding the pure fragrance of Christ, and not bear our own scent and have our own taste. We just love You, Lord, and we open to You. We do not want to remain the same. We do not want to be untouched and whole. Have Your way in our being through all the things that You sovereignly arrange around us. Break through in us. Change us from within. May we welcome the discipline of the Holy Spirit!

Accept God’s Discipline to be Emptied from Vessel to Vessel until we Yield the Peaceable Fruit of Righteousness

On the positive side, the Christian life is a life of living Christ, walking worthily of God’s calling, and living and doing all things in the face of Christ, in His very person.

On the negative side, since we still have the natural man which is very much living and active, even in the work of God and in our daily living, we need to accept the discipline of the Holy Spirit.

To live the Christian life is to accept the discipline of the Holy Spirit.

Our God is the Father of spirits, and He disciplines us through trials and chastisement so that we may partake of His holiness (Heb. 12:4-13).

He pours us from one vessel to another vessel so that we lose our taste and scent and bear only the fragrance of Christ.

God doesn’t want our own taste and scent; He wants Christ to be expressed through us.

We may have been a believer for ten years or more, but our taste may still be the same; we may have the same scent as we had before we believed into the Lord. Oh, Lord!

The word “scent” in Hebrew means smell, which is the flavour of something in its original taste.

Oh Lord, what about our smell, our taste, our flavour? Do we still have the same taste as before we were saved?

Are we now calling ourselves Christians but do the same things as before, are involved in the same activities, and participate in the same flood of dissoluteness as the others?

Do we live the Christian life and the church life by building up our own flavour, taste, and scent?

How much we need the discipline of the Holy Spirit!

Those who have never gone through trials and chastisement have not been emptied from vessel to vessel.

As a result, the taste of the lees, the dregs, the sediment of their natural disposition, their outer man, their self, remains within them and their scent is not changed (Jer. 48:11; Rom. 8:28-29; S. S. 4:16).

We all need to pray and open to the Lord so that we may accept the discipline of the Holy Spirit and allow the Lord to empty us from vessel to vessel so that our scent may be changed and our taste would not remain in ourselves.

When we see the need for God’s discipline, we will realize that it is so precious for Him to uproot us and empty us from vessel to vessel.

God has a way by means of His discipline to deal with us so that we may lose our original smell and yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

As seen in Heb. 12:11, though we may not like or be joyful about the discipline of the Holy Spirit at the present time, if we accept it, it will yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness if we have been exercised by it.

God works on us. He wants to take away our taste and change our scent by emptying us from vessel to vessel by means of His sovereign arrangement in our environment.

We may be grieved by the discipline of the Holy Spirit, but we should not murmur nor fight back; rather, we need to learn to accept it.

When we make peace with God and accept His discipline, realizing it is not man who persecutes us or the brothers in the church who deal with us but the Lord who exercises discipline over us, we will have peace.

The problem is that many times we have no peace; we struggle, we justify ourselves, we fight back, and we try to do many things to remain the same.

No one wants to change. No one wants to change his scent or taste; we all want to remain the same.

But we need to realize that the Lord in His love and mercy deals with us by means of the discipline of the Holy Spirit to obtain the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

May we learn not to fight with God or argue with Him but make peace with Him and before Him that He is working in us to obtain the fruit of righteousness.

Just like Mary, we have an alabaster flask filled with a point of ointment of very valuable pure nard, and it is only when the alabaster flask is broken that the house is filled with the fragrance of the ointment and we can pour it all on the Lord (John 12:2-3; Mark 14:3; S. S. 1:12).

Our outer man is signified by this alabaster flask; our outer man needs to be broken so that the inner man can break forth.

The Lord is working in us and on us in so many different ways for the purpose of breaking the earthen vessel, the alabaster flask, the outer shell (2 Cor. 4:7; John 12:3, 24; Rom. 8:28-29).

May we cooperate with the Lord in His work in us and on us.

May we allow Him to break our outer man through the discipline of the Holy Spirit so that the inner man may be released and flow forth.

May we not resist the Lord in His disciplining of us but rather cooperate with Him so that the alabaster flask may be broken and the pure nard of the Christ constituted into our being be released to flow forth.

Oh, may the fragrance of Christ exude from us so that others may smell Christ, receive Christ, be filled with Christ, and be drawn to Christ!

Lord Jesus, have mercy on us and empty us from vessel to vessel so that the dregs of our natural disposition may be changed and the outer man may be broken. We entrust ourselves to You, Father of spirits, that You may discipline us through trials and chastisement so that we may partake of Your holiness. We do not want to resist You or murmur against Your disciplining hand. May the sediment of our outer man, our self, be removed and the pure scent of Christ remain and exude from our being. Oh Lord Jesus, we open to You. We bring to You our alabaster flask and we break it for You so that the pure nard may be poured on You and the house be filled with the fragrance of the ointment. Oh Lord Jesus, we open to Your working on us and in us in many ways so that the outer man may be broken and the inner man may be released and flow forth. May Christ be seen in us. May Christ flow through us. May the fragrance of Christ be exuded from our being. Have Your way in us, Lord! Make us proper Christians, those who accept the discipline of the Holy Spirit so that Christ may be manifested through them in all things!

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 Ed Marks in the message for this week, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 50, “Messages for Building Up New Believers (3),” chs. 41-42, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Christian Life (2024 Memorial Day Blending Conference), week 1, The Intrinsic Significance of the Christian Life.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The position of the discipline of the Holy Spirit, a portion from, The Experience of Life, Chapter 12, by Witness Lee.
  – Sufferings and Transformation for New Jerusalem (6), via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – The acceptance of the discipline of the Holy Spirit, a portion from, The Experience of Life, Chapter 12, by Witness Lee.
  – What Is the Difference between the Soul and the Spirit? More via, Bibles for America blog.
  – How to Enjoy the Hidden Christ in Your Spirit, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – Partake of God’s Holiness for the Holy City, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – The purpose of the discipline of the Holy Spirit, a portion from, The Experience of Life, Chapter 12, by Witness Lee.
  – What is the proper way to exercise discipline in the church? More via, Living to Him.
  – Dispensational Discipline, via, Shepherding Words.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Olives that have known no pressure / No oil can bestow; / If the grapes escape the winepress, / Cheering wine can never flow; / Spikenard only through the crushing, / Fragrance can diffuse. / Shall I then, Lord, shrink from suff’ring / Which Thy love for me would choose? / Each blow I suffer / Is true gain to me. / In the place of what Thou takest / Thou dost give Thyself to me. (Hymns #626 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – Praying always in the spirit, / Thus expressing God’s desire; / Staying with the Lord in spirit, / We’ll be wholly set afire. / Praying always in the spirit, / Even groaning from within, / Thus we utter God’s intention / By the Spirit’s discipline. (Hymns #780 stanzas 3-4)
  – Precious Lord, my flask of alabaster / Gladly now I break in love for Thee; / I anoint Thy head, Beloved Master; / Lord, behold, I’ve saved the best for Thee. / Dearest Lord, I waste myself upon Thee; / Loving Thee, I’m deeply satisfied. / Love outpoured from hidden depths within me, / Costly oil, dear Lord, I would provide. (Hymns #1159 stanza 3)