What is the real growth in the divine life? What does it mean to grow in life? How can we cooperate with the Lord so that His life in us may grow?
On the one hand, one thing we should definitely do is enjoy the Lord every day, pray-read the Bible, call on the name of the Lord, fellowship with the Lord, and pray.
On the other hand, we need to take heed to the Lord’s word in Matt. 25:1-13, where He told us the parable of the ten virgins waiting for the bridegroom. All the believers in Christ have oil in their lamp (their spirit, see Prov. 20:27), but most of the believers do not pay the price to buy the extra oil in their vessel (their soul, see Rom. 9:21, 23).
Today we need to be the prudent virgins, those who are transformed in their soul so that we may gain more of the Spirit not only in our spirit but also in our soul. After we have been regenerated we need to be transformed in our soul, and the real growth in life is the transformation of our soul.
When we grow in life, the divine life in our spirit spreads into our soul and saturates our soul, and we gain more of God as the Spirit in our vessel, our soul.
Lord Jesus, by Your mercy, make us the prudent virgins, those who pay the price to buy the oil today so that they may have oil not only in their lamp but also in their vessel! Lord, fill our soul with the Spirit! We want more oil today!
Being the Prudent Virgins who Buy the Oil in Their Vessels
After the Lord captured us by showing us how wonderful He is, we as pure virgins are now waiting for His return, preparing ourselves to enter in with Him at His wedding feast, which will last 1000 years. However, in order to join the Lord in the wedding feast, we need to have oil not only in our lamp but also in our vessel!
The spirit of man is the lamp of Jehovah (see Prov. 20:27) – our spirit is the lamp. When we received Christ as the Spirit in our spirit, we received the divine oil in our lamp, and now our spirit is burning with the divine fire. But our vessel – which is our soul (Rom. 9:21, 23) – needs to also be saturated and filled with the Spirit so that we would have that extra portion of oil in our vessel.
All the genuine believers in Christ have oil in their lamp, but the question is: how much of the Spirit did we gain in our soul? How much did the Spirit spread from our spirit into our mind, emotion, and will? Whether we are the prudent or the foolish virgins depends on whether we have an extra portion of the Spirit in our soul.
The divine life in our spirit needs to spread into our soul until it saturates our soul. This spreading of God’s life into our soul is the transformation of our soul. May we be the prudent virgins, those who buy the oil every day.
It is practical for us to buy the Spirit, to pay the price today to gain an extra portion of the Spirit in our soul. We are exercising good judgment and common sense when we gain more of the spreading Spirit.
The most careful we can be in regard to our interest is gain more of the spreading Spirit! We want to meet our beloved Bridegroom with oil in our lamp and also in our vessel, so that we may feast with Him for 1000 years in the wedding feast!
We Need to be Transformed in our Soul by Paying the Price to Buy the Oil
Our need today is to be transformed in our soul so that we may grow in life and be matured, and so that we may gain more of the Spirit in our soul. If you look around, you will see that so many Christians have almost no growth in the divine life! They have Christ in their spirit, but their soul has not been filled with the Spirit because they didn’t give an opportunity to the indwelling Spirit to spread into their soul.
The way for us to grow in life unto maturity is to prepare oil in our vessels, that is, to pursue the infilling of the Spirit. We need to be filled not only in spirit (Eph. 5:19) but also in our soul, allowing Christ to spread in our soul and make His home in all our heart.
The Lord will return for a mature bride, and the way to mature in the divine life is to allow Christ to occupy every part of us and allow God to fill our entire being. We need to open to Him our thoughts, our preferences, our personal views, our insight, our inclinations, our choices, and everything about us, until we are occupied with Christ and filled with God!
Here are some practical ways we can be filled with the Spirit in our soul:
Do not grieve the Spirit (Eph. 4:30). The Spirit with our spirit is many times unhappy, grieved, and made sorrowful by us. The reason we feel unhappy is because the Spirit in us is not happy. Don’t grieve the Spirit but seek to have the Lord’s smile all the time. In our daily life, we need to converse with Him and open to Him, seeking to be filled with Him and have His smile.
Do not quench the Spirit (1 Thes. 5:19). In the meetings of the church and in meeting other people many times the Lord within wants us to speak something to them, something of what He has revealed to us. In our function, we should not quench the Spirit. One way to be filled with the Spirit is to allow the Spirit to flow out through us, so that we may gain a fresh portion of the Spirit!
Walk according to the spirit (Rom. 8:4). Daily we need to walk according to the spirit, that is, to live, move, and have our whole being according to the Spirit. In our daily life, in doing this and that, we need to always seek to live according to the Spirit by abiding in the Lord and exercising our spirit to touch Him, doing everything one with the Lord. In this way, the Spirit spreads from our spirit more into the different areas of our soul.
The Lord guides us to walk according to the spirit for His name’s sake (Psa. 23:3). On His side, Christ as the Great Shepherd is shepherding us by transforming our soul. He guides us on the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake, that is, He is guiding us to walk according to the Spirit (when we walk according to the Spirit we spontaneously fulfill the righteous requirements of the law) on the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Praying and watching unto this (Eph. 6:17-18). We need to watch unto our prayer life, not being negligent with our prayer life with the Lord. The best way to buy the oil is to pray, even to pray unceasingly. How can we pray unceasingly when we’re at work, on the street, or while shopping? To pray is to talk to the Lord about everything and in everything, conferring with Him in everything. As we talk to Him in prayer, we are filled with the indwelling spreading Spirit into our soul!
Lord Jesus, go on in transforming our soul! Spread as the indwelling Spirit into all the parts of our soul, so that we will gain more oil in our vessel. Save us from grieving or quenching the Spirit. May we walk by the Spirit by having our entire being according to the Spirit. Lord, thank You for restoring and recovering our soul by leading us on the paths of righteousness for Your name’s sake. May we be those who cooperate with You in this process of transformation by opening to You about everything and talking to You, conversing with You, and seeking to be filled with You in our soul!
References and Further Reading
- Inspiration: bro. Ed Marks’ sharing in the message and portions in, The Way for a Christian to Mature in Life (chs. 6-9), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, “The Completing Ministry of Paul“, week 6 entitled, Growth in Life through the Transformation of Our Soul for the Building Up of the Body.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Virgins Christ comes quickly for, / Those with oil an extra store, / Not the fools who oil ignore— / Buy in time! / For the oil a price we pay, / Deal with self without delay, / Fill your vessels every day— / Buy in time!
# But our vessels need oil for Thy coming; / We must gain a reserve supply. / So our vessels we give for the filling / That our lamps may never, never die. / Fill us, Jesus! Fill us, Jesus! / Every moment give us more of Thee!
# How can I ever stay away / And grieve Thy Spirit all the day / While Thou dost wait for me? / I now am willing to return, / And wait no longer, for I yearn / Henceforth to follow Thee.
About aGodMan
Oh
Lord, how we need the growth in life which is the transformation of our
soul (mind, will & emotion), as well as the regeneration of our
spirit when we 1st receive You! Grant us the necessary willingness to
allow You to fill every part of us!
Matt. 25:1-4 At that time
the kingdom of the heavens will be likened to 10 virgins, who took
their lamps & went forth to meet the bridegroom. And 5 of them
were foolish & 5 were prudent. For the foolish, when they took
their lamps, did not take oil with them; but the prudent took oil in
their VESSELS with their LAMPS.
Lamp=spirit(Prov. 20:27), Vessel=soul(Rom.9:21&23)
“Whether we are foolish or prudent, then depends not on our spirit but
upon our soul. Our spirit has been regenerated, but is our soul now
saturated with the Spirit?”
(The Completing Ministry of Paul, p. 68)
Amen
: )