Put Away Malice and Drink the Guileless Milk of God’s Word to Grow for God’s Building

In order for us to grow in life for God’s building, we must away all malice and guile and evil speakings and we must be nourished with the guileless milk of God’s word; as we feed on Christ as the milk-Christ we are transformed with Him as the stone-Christ and are built up as the Body-Christ. Amen!

God is life, and the life of God is really life; every other life in the universe is not real, for only the divine life is the real life.

The life of God is the life that is really life. And what a privilege it is for us as believers in Christ to have received this life!

At the time of our regeneration, we received the life of God. Now all genuine believers in Christ have the divine life in their spirit.

This life is not stagnant or aimless; it grows, it flows, and it has an aim, which is the building of God, the church.

The life of God and the building of God are the main thought of the Bible, even the main street in the holy word of God.

The building of God, the church, is the issue or result of our growth in life.

We grow in the divine life not only so that we may arrive unto maturity; we grow in life so that we may be built up together in the church as the spiritual house of God.

How do we grow in life for God’s building?

The Bible shows us many ways for us to grow. One way is to love the Lord; when we give ourselves to love the Lord with the first love, we grow in life.

Another way is to take heed to our spirit; when we exercise our spirit, the divine life in us grows to issue in the building of God.

Still, another way is to guard our heart with all vigilance, for from it are the issues of life.

On the negative side, we need to allow the cross of Christ to operate in us so that all the obstacles to the life of God in us may be dealt with.

The main reason that God’s life doesn’t grow in us is that we have some inner obstacles, some things in our being which hinder the growth of God in us.

First, it is that we don’t know the pathway of life and therefore we don’t take Christ as our unique aim.

Second, we think that spirituality is determined by our outward appearance, and so many times we are hypocrites, putting on a show of something we are not.

Third, rebellion is in us; we may be quite active and even zealous for the Lord and we may do many things for Him, but we may neglect Him and we may disobey His inner speaking.

Fourth, our natural capabilities may not be dealt with; if we don’t allow the cross to break our natural man, our natural capabilities may become a problem to the life of Christ.

May we deal with all the obstacles, on the negative side, and may we love the Lord, take heed to our spirit, and guard our heart on the positive side.

To Grow in Life for God’s Building we must Put Away all Malice and be Nourished with the Guileless Milk of God’s Word

In 1 Pet. 2:1-2 we are told of a wonderful way for us to grow in life for God’s building: on the negative side we need to put away all malice, guile, hypocrisies, envyings, and evil speakings, and on the positive side we need to be nourished with the guileless milk of God’s word. Amen!

These five sinful things mentioned in v. 1 are related and progressive in their development and manifestation.

First, there’s the root, the source, which is malice. Malice is something that is a kind of bitterness in your heart.

Maybe you are offended and there’s some bitterness that has crept into your heart.

Now your thoughts and feelings toward someone else are not that pleasant.

We may even want to see a little bit of harm happening to them, maybe some failures to come their way; this is to have malice in our heart.

The issue of malice is that we have guile, hypocrisies, envyings, and eventually evil speakings; evil speakings is the expression of the root of malice, if we do not deal with it in time.

We see evil speakings when there are turmoils in the church life; the root of all these evil speaking is malice, the bitterness and unhappiness that we allow to remain in our heart toward others or toward the church life.

May we not let malice settle in our heart but put all malice away!

May we not let bitterness settle in our heart but come to the Lord and deal with our heart so that we may put away all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and all evil speakings.

As we come to the Lord and turn our heart to Him, we need to be like newborn babes who long for milk; we are like newborn babes longing for the guileless milk of God’s word (v. 2).

As we long for the milk of God’s word and come to the Lord in His word to drink Him as the pure milk, the guileless milk, we grow unto salvation, and we realize that the Lord is good for food.

May we ask the Lord to stir up the longing in our heart and the hunger in our being for the guileless milk of God’s word.

We may realize that, as believers in Christ who love Him and want Him to grow in us for God’s building, we do not have a hunger for His word, and we do not long for the guileless milk of God’s word.

So we need to ask the Lord to grant us a hunger and thirst for His word.

As we open to the Lord and converse with Him, asking Him to rekindle our love for Him and stir up our hunger for His word, He will shine on all malice in our heart, all guile, and He will expose any hypocrisies and envyings and evil speakings.

We may have an offense that we nurture and treasure, and because our whole being is focused on it, we are not able to drink the milk in the Word.

We may have a certain hurt that occupies our heart and keeps us busy with our hurt emotion, and therefore we may not have a hunger for the milk of God’s word.

May we come to the Lord in His word day by day, asking Him to shine on us and give us a hunger and a thirst for His word.

On the negative side, may we put away all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envying and all evil speakings.

On the positive side, may we be like newborn babes longing for the guileless milk of God’s word.

The guileless milk is conveyed in the Word of God to nourish our inner man through the understanding of our rational mind and is assimilated by our mental faculties (Rom. 8:6; Deut. 11:18).

As we come to the Lord’s word with the exercise of our spirit, we will realize that the guileless milk of God’s Word nourishes our spirit.

The nourishing milk of the word is for the soul through the mind; however, it eventually nourishes the spirit, making us not soulish but spiritual, those who are suitable for being built up as a spiritual house of God (1 Cor. 2:15). Amen!

Lord Jesus, we want to grow in life for God’s building by putting away all malice and by drinking the guileless milk of God’s word! Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit and come to You as we are; shine on us and expose any root of bitterness, any malice in our heart, and any offense. We want to put away all malice and all guile from our heart. We want to put away hypocrisies and envyings and all evil speakings. Instead of focusing on these negative things, we want to be like newborn babes longing for the guileless milk of God’s word! Amen, Lord, nourish us with the guileless milk of God’s word today. We exercise our spirit and we turn our heart to You as we come to Your word. May Your word be like milk to us, nourishing both our soul and our spirit. Amen, Lord, may the guileless milk conveyed in God’s word nourish our inner man through the understanding of our rational mind. May we be inwardly nourished with Christ as we come to the Word of God as newborn babes, longing for the guileless milk of God’s word!

Receive God’s Word by Means of All Prayer and Muse on it to Feed on Christ as the Nourishing Milk and Grow unto Salvation for God’s Building

How can we drink the guileless milk in God’s word? In order for us to enjoy the milk of the Word, that is, in order for us to taste God with His goodness in the Word, we must receive His word by means of all prayer and muse on His word (1 Pet. 2:3; Eph. 6:17-18; Psa. 119:15, 23, 48, 78, 99, 148).

The loving seekers of God have tasted the Lord richly by musing on the word of God and by mixing the word with their prayer by exercising their spirit of faith.

We need to not just read the Bible but even more, sing the Word, muse on the Lord’s wonderful deeds, and mix the Word with our prayer.

To muse on the word of God is to taste it and enjoy it through careful consideration (1 Pet. 2:2-3; Psa. 119:103).

We don’t just read the Bible: we consider it by musing on it with much prayer.

Musing the word includes speaking to ourselves, praising the Lord, singing to the Lord, crying before Him, waiting on Him, and praying to Him as we read the word of God.

Just as the cow chews the cud, so we need to receive the word of God through much reconsideration; this is to drink the guileless milk of God’s word.

This is not a routine or a practice that we need to learn; this should be our daily experience.

Every morning we need to wake up a little earlier to take a few verses to “chew” before the Lord, musing on God’s word and exercising our spirit and our whole being to absorb His riches through His word.

We believers in Christ have received Christ as our life, but now we need to grow in life. Our growth in life results in salvation.

On the one hand, we have received God’s salvation, for we have tasted that the Lord is good.

But God’s full and complete salvation has a long span – from regeneration (including justification) to glorification (Rom. 8:30).

We were regenerated with God’s life, and now we need to grow by feeding on Christ as the nourishing milk in God’s word unto salvation, unto maturity for glorification.

When we reach maturity, we will receive the salvation of our soul, which will be revealed to us at the revelation of the Lord Jesus (1 Pet. 1:5, 9-10, 13).

For us to grow in life for God’s building so that we may arrive at maturity and receive the salvation of our soul, we need to be nourished with the guileless milk of God’s word.

We need to acquire a taste for God’s word.

We may have a taste for many other things in the world, and we may think we know what the Bible says, but we need to open to the Lord and ask Him to give us a taste for His word.

Also, we need to read the ministry that properly interprets the word of God so that we may eat the Lord and drink Him in His word more.

By feeding on Christ as the nourishing milk in the Word, we grow unto full salvation, unto maturity through transformation for glorification. Amen!

The salvation mentioned in 1 Pet. 2:2 is a matter of transformation for God’s building.

May we enjoy the “milk-Christ” – the Christ as the guileless milk of God’s word – to be nourished with Him and be transformed with Him as the “stone-Christ” – Christ as the living stone transforming us to be living stones.

When we drink the milk-Christ and are transformed by the stone-Christ we are built up as the Body-Christ, the spiritual house of God as His holy priesthood (1 Pet. 2:2-5; 1 Cor. 12:12-13).

On our side, we need to put away from us all malice and guile and evil speakings, and we need to come to the Lord in His word to be nourished with the guileless milk of God’s word.

On His side, He is operating in us to grow in us, transform us, and build us up. He is the milk and He is the stone, and He is also the building.

Christ is everything to us to be wrought into us and constituted into the intrinsic nature of our being so that we may be transformed and built up to be the building of God! Hallelujah!

Christ is the guileless milk of the word which we drink.

Christ is the living stone whom we contact and who transforms us to make us living stones.

Christ is the Body, the building of God, which we are becoming through regeneration, growth, salvation, transformation, and building. Christ is everything!

When we contact Him in the morning and muse on His word with much prayerful consideration, we drink Him as the guileless milk of God’s word.

Then, throughout the day, there’s a process of transformation going on in our being.

In the evening, we come to the meetings of the church and fellowship with the saints, and we are built up together. Praise the Lord!

Lord Jesus, we come to You in Your word to enjoy You and drink You as the guileless milk in God’s word. Amen, Lord, we want to enjoy the milk of the Word and taste God with His goodness in His word. We exercise our spirit and we turn our heart to You to receive Your word by means of all prayer and petition. We muse on Your word, mixing Your word with our prayer, our prayerful consideration, and our speaking. Amen, Lord, we taste Your word and enjoy it through careful considering, for we have tasted that the Lord is good! We take Your word and we speak it to ourselves, we praise the Lord, and we chew it so that we may drink the guileless milk in God’s word. Hallelujah, by feeding on Christ as the nourishing milk in the Word of God, we grow unto salvation! Amen, Lord, grow in us today! Grow in us unto maturity through transformation for glorification! May we all focus on drinking the guileless milk in God’s word so that we may grow unto salvation for the building of God!

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 Ray Mulligan in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 Peter, msgs. 15-16, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living a Christian Life and Church Life under the Government of God for the Economy of God (2024 Thanksgiving Blending Conference), week 3, Life and Building in Peter’s Epistles.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Drink the guileless milk of the Word that we may grow and be transformed into living stones for God’s building, a portion from, The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, Chapter 7, by Witness Lee.
  – Learning to Taste God in His Word, via, Bibles for America blog.
  – The believers’ receiving and enjoying of Christ, a portion from, The Economy and Dispensing of God, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee.
  – It is the Spirit who gives life – enjoying a verse with CSOC via, Youtube.
  – What is to Eat God’s Word? More via, The Hearing of Faith.
  – Living Stones for God’s Building, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Life’s Feeding—the Need of the Hungry, a free e-booklet via Living Stream Ministry.
  – 1 Corinthians (Program #22) – Feeding, Drinking, Eating, Planting, Watering, Growing, via, Bible Study Radio.
  – A Satisfied Seeker of Christ, a testimony via, The church in Anaheim.
  – Discovering the Lost Art of Musing on the Word of God, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – According to the God-ordained Way – Feeding the New Believers, via, The Practical Building up of the Local Churches.
  – Overcoming the degradation of the church by eating the hidden manna to be transformed into white stones for God’s building, article by David Yoon in, Affirmation and Critique.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – But there’s a Person in my spirit now, / Born as a babe so small, so weak, so low; / Who by the Word’s pure milk will grow to be / The overcoming inner man in me / To gain my heart. / Christ as my Person must possess my heart / And be preeminent in every part. / The former owner died but haunts it still. / O Lord, move in; my mind, emotion, will / Now welcome Thee. (Hymns #1179 stanzas 2-3)
  – Now to enjoy Thee I come to Thy Word, / On Thee to feed till my hunger is o’er. / Now in my spirit I turn unto Thee, / Of Thee to drink till I’m thirsty no more. / Feeding and drinking, Lord Jesus, of Thee, / Feeding by reading, and drinking by prayer; / Reading and praying, I eat and I drink, / Praying and reading—Lord, Thou art my fare. (Hymns #811 stanzas 6-7)
  – In such a fellowship / Thou, Lord, art grace to me; / My heart and spirit gladdened, filled, / I enter rest in Thee. / Lord, I would linger here, / Still seeking after Thee, / Continue in the Word and prayer / Till Thou dost flow thru me. (Hymns #812 stanzas 4-5)