The Provisions God gives us to Help us Receive the Renewing in the Spirit of our Mind

As believers in Christ who are preparing themselves for the Lord’s return, we have four wonderful provisions from the Lord to help us receive the renewing, and we need to be renewed day by day, especially when we come to the Lord’s table.

Amen, may we remain in the process of being renewed day by day, little by little, until we become as new as the New Jerusalem, fully matching Christ to be His wife for eternity!

Our home, our future, our destiny, and our goal are all not in and of this world but in the Lord and of Him.

Our eternal abode is the New Jerusalem, and our dwelling place today is God Himself, not the place we live in.

So we do not set our roots on this earth, we do not want to make a career and a future for us here, but we set our hope on the coming Lord, and we learn to live the life of the altar and the tent.

As believers in the Lord who yearn for His return and want to hasten His coming, we realize that we’re merely sojourners and strangers, passing through this world, and we do not love the world or the things in the world but rather, put everything on the altar.

Everything we have and are is on the altar, and the Lord does allow us to keep certain things for our human existence; these things we use in the tent, being ready to move where the Lord wants us to move.

Like our father Abraham, we are waiting for the city which has the foundations, whose Architect and Builder is God.

We live by faith here, living an anti-testimony to those who live in and for the world today, for our commonwealth is not in this world but in the Lord.

Though we need to have a job and take care of our human responsibilities, our focus is not on the things in this world or our career, but on the Lord Himself and His interest.

For the Lord’s interest, we want to be ready to go where the Lord wants us to go.

May we have such a consecration to the Lord, a consecration that issues from the Lord’s fresh appearing, so that we may be for His purpose and His move as we live the life of the altar and the tent.

And may we allow the Lord to transform us freshly every day so that we may live a revived life.

In our daily living, may we remain in contact with the Lord, the One who is ever-new and ever-fresh, so that we may be renewed and transformed day by day into His image from glory to glory until we are fully like Him!

We are all in the process of becoming precious materials for the building of the New Jerusalem, the holy city.

All these materials are being transformed and built up, and they are new, for they all have the element of God wrought into them.

Hallelujah, God is working Himself into us to make us new, to renew us, and to transform us until we become the same as He is in life and nature but not in the Godhead!

The Best Provisions God Gives Us to Help Us Receive the Renewing

Our God has the best provisions to help us receive the renewing; He gives us at least four main provisions for us to be renewed.

First, He gives us the cross, the putting to death of Jesus.

Paul testified of this in 2 Cor. 4, that he and those who experienced the putting to death of Jesus were being renewed.

The more the Lord’s death operates in us, the more we are being renewed.

We can receive the renewing by receiving the cross and allowing the Lord’s death to operate in us.

We do not have to ask for the cross or beg God to give us the experiences of the death of Christ; these experiences will come, and we simply need to be open to receive the renewing.

The second provision God gives us is the Holy Spirit.

We have been saved not out of works in righteousness which we did but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5).

As we touch the Spirit, we receive the renewing, a fresh supply of the Spirit for our being renewed.

When the Holy Spirit comes, He first regenerates us and then He renews us.

Thank the Lord, the renewing Spirit is in our spirit!

The third provision God gave us is our mingled spirit, that is, our human spirit mingled with the divine spirit.

Actually, this is one of the most wonderful provisions God gave us for us to be helped to receive the renewing.

Our spirit was originally deadened and lifeless, but through the Holy Spirit coming into our spirit to be mingled with us as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17), our spirit became alive and new, fresh and living.

Now the Spirit with our spirit seeks to spread into our mind and become the spirit of our mind (Eph. 4:23), thus renewing our mind.

When we turn to our spirit and live in spirit, we are being renewed.

When we exercise our spirit and contact the Lord in the mingled spirit, we receive the renewing.

It is in our mingled spirit that we are renewed for our transformation.

Thank the Lord, we can turn to our spirit all the time and in every place, both out loud and inwardly, and whenever we turn, we are being renewed.

The fourth provision God gives us to help us receive the renewing is the holy word of God. Praise the Lord for His word!

The Lord as the Head of the Body is washing the church to renew it by the washing of the water in the word (Eph. 5:26).

When we come to the Lord’s word with the exercise of our spirit to contact the Lord, we are being renewed.

When we just read a few verses in the Bible and pray over them, the new element of God is added to us and our inner being is renewed.

No matter what book, chapter, and verse we come to, there is water in the Word to wash us.

Thank God that He has given us these four provisions.

The cross is not to cause us to suffer but to terminate us, that is, to terminate our old man, our natural being, our self, and our flesh.

Though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day (2 Cor. 4:16).

This is the work of the Spirit to renew us. As we turn to our mingled spirit, there’s a renewing going on.

We need to put off the old man and put on the new man so that we may be renewed in the spirit of our mind (Eph. 4:23).

Hallelujah, the spirit spreads into our mind to renew our mind and become the spirit of our mind!

Our mind as the leading part of our soul needs to be invaded, permeated, and saturated with the Spirit of God!

It is in the spirit of our mind that we are renewed.

Our mind is so old, so natural; every day we need to allow the Spirit of God to spread into our mind so that our mind may be renewed.

May we bring these matters to the Lord and receive these wonderful provisions so that we may be helped to receive the renewing day by day!

Thank You, dear Lord, for giving us many wonderful provisions to help us receive the renewing. Amen, we open to You, dear Lord, to be renewed! We believe that, though our outer man is decaying and being consumed, our inner man is being renewed day by day! Amen, Lord, we open to You! We open to Your renewing work in us. May the Holy Spirit recondition us, remake us, and remodel us with the divine life, thus renewing our whole being. We turn to You, dear Lord, and we exercise our spirit to just contact You. Thank You for our mingled spirit. May we be renewed in the spirit of our mind as we put off the old man and put on the new man. We come to You, dear Lord, in Your word so that we may receive the renewing. Renew our mind as we read and pray over Your word. Amen, Lord, more renewing today!

Coming to the Lord’s Table in Newness and Experiencing the Renewing even in Sufferings

In Matt. 26:29 the Lord said that He will drink this cup and eat this bread with us in newness at His second coming in the kingdom.

We need to exercise to come to the Lord’s table in newness.

The Lord never takes an old table! Therefore, before we come to the Lord’s table meeting we need to confess our sins, mistakes, shortcomings, and anything that the Lord shines on.

Anything that is negative in us is a cause and a factor of oldness; therefore, we need to first make a thorough confession, and then partake of the Lord’s table in newness.

We need to confess and deal with anything negative between us and God and between us and others.

How do we come to the Lord’s table, and what is the condition of our heart?

Do we come to the Table Meeting in a routine way, just to sing some hymns, declare some lines of the hymn, and then partake of the elements? Oh Lord.

May we be renewed in the way we come to the Lord’s table and may we not be formal when we partake of the elements.

May we allow the Lord to give us a genuine appreciation of Him.

Yes, we do need to sing hymns, but in a sense, the hymns need to come out of our inner being.

The Lord’s table is always new, and we need to partake of it in newness.

We need to receive the renewing day by day, and we need to be renewed in our way of coming to the Lord’s table.

May the Lord be merciful to us and deliver us from any formality and routine in our coming to the Lord’s table.

One particular thing that makes us old in coming to the Lord’s table is offenses and not forgiving others.

It is unavoidable to offend others and be offended in the church life; such things often happen.

So we need to seek to be forgiven and to forgive others also.

If we offend others, we need to ask to be forgiven.

Especially in married life, we need to say, I am sorry, dear, please forgive me.

We shouldn’t just bury things in the ground and try to forget about it; we need to confess and deal with things so that we receive the renewing.

We may be offended by someone sitting next to us, or we may have offended them; we need to come to the Lord’s table in newness by forgiving others and seeking to be forgiven by them.

May we confess and forgive and forget; may we forgive one another and allow the Lord to wash us and cleanse us with His precious blood so that there’s no old record of offenses in us.

Another way we can receive the renewing is while we are in the midst of suffering; even in the suffering, we can receive the renewing.

While we are in the midst of suffering, we need to receive the Lord’s new compassions every morning so that we may experience His renewing (Lam. 3:22-24; 2 Cor. 4:16-18).

If we do not receive the renewing while we’re in the midst of suffering, we may remain the same, and the suffering we pass through will be in vain.

Everyone on earth passes through suffering, and we as Christians also pass through suffering.

The Lord uses suffering to strip our outer man and cause it to decay and be consumed. But this is not all.

Inwardly, as we are suffering, may we open to the Lord to receive the renewing.

Many times, however, we complain to God or to others. We just complain and murmur.

May we learn to open to the Lord and allow Christ to be added into us more and more.

May we learn to just open and not become bitter, bitter against others and bitter against God. Oh Lord Jesus!

When we exercise our spirit to contact the Lord in the midst of suffering, the new element of God is added to our being, and we are being renewed.

But if we don’t contact the Lord but rather, we complain and murmur, we may pass through suffering, but there’s no renewing. Oh Lord.

May we not waste our time but rather, redeem the time and learn to receive the Lord’s wonderful provisions even in the midst of suffering so that we may be renewed, thus gaining more God!

Lord Jesus, we open to You to be renewed in the spirit of our mind day by day. We want to learn to forgive others and seek to be forgiven. Save us from coming to the Lord’s table in oldness. Save us from having unforgiven offenses. May we learn to ask to be forgiven and to forgive others from the heart so that we may receive the renewing. Amen, Lord Jesus, renew us in our way of coming to the Lord’s Table meeting! May we come to the Lord’s table in newness, partaking of the Lord with the saints with no offenses between us! We open to You, dear Lord, even as we go through sufferings, that we may receive the renewing. May we receive the Lord’s new compassions every morning so that we may experience the renewing. Oh Lord, save us from remaining the same. Save us from merely complaining and murmuring concerning our sufferings. May we learn to open to You and receive Your new and fresh compassions day by bday so that we may experience the renewing!

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 the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1989, vol. 2, “Being Renewed Day by Day,” pp. 351-353, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Making Ourselves Ready for the Lord’s Coming (2023 ICSC), week 5, entitled, Making Ourselves Ready for the Lord’s Coming by Having a Revived Living and a Labor of Shepherding.
• Similar reading on this topic:
  – Renewed in the Spirit of Your Mind – What does it mean and how do you experience it? More at, Holding to Truth.
  – The mingled spirit in Ephesians and experiencing the mingled spirit by faith, a portion from, Messages to the Trainees in Fall 1990, Chapter 9, by Witness Lee.
  – The economy of God to produce the church as the Body of Christ in Ephesians, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – The True Nature of Our Relationship with the Lord Jesus, article at, Bibles for America blog.
  – The Renewing of the Mind, via, Living to Him.
  – We Are Being Renewed into New Jerusalem, article at, New Jerusalem blog.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – By the cross discern the spirit, / With the mind by light renewed, / All emotion consecrated, / And the will in love subdued. (Hymns #748 stanza 3)
  – God hath us regenerated / In our spirit with His life; / But He must transform us further- / In our soul by His own life. / Spreading outward from our spirit / Doth the Lord transform our soul, / By the inward parts renewing, / Till within His full control. (Hymns #750 stanzas 2-3)
  – Minding just the spirit is God’s saving way, / Minding just the spirit, Christ we will display; / Minding just the spirit, we can overcome, / Minding just the spirit, we the race may run. / Minding just the spirit, we the cross will know, / And His resurrection pow’r thru us will flow; / Minding just the spirit, Christ will live thru me, / And His life within will reach maturity. (Hymns #593 stanzas 5-6)