See and Deal with the Subjective Obstacles encountered by God’s Life in our Heart

We need to see the subjective obstacles encountered by God’s life in our heart – the subjective obstacles in our mind, emotion, and will – and cooperate with God’s central work in this age for His life to grow in us unto maturity so that we may work out of this life, one with the Lord. Amen!

This week we have been prayerfully studying and considering before the Lord the matter of dealing with our heart so that the divine seed of life within us may grow unto maturity in life for God’s building in life.

For the Lord to grow in us, that is, for the divine seed of life to grow in us, our heart is very important.

Our heart is quite complicated, and the Bible clearly says that it is incurable, unknowable, and wicked.

Our fallen heart is always inclined to do evil, and even after we believe into the Lord, we cannot trust our heart.

We have heard and even seen many times how genuine believers who loved the Lord and were very much used by Him suddenly changed and had a big turn negatively, because of their heart.

We don’t know what is in our heart, but we do know that we listen to things, we watch and look at things, and we allow things to get into our heart, and there’s much confusion in our heart.

Especially in this age today where you can get anything you want, you can watch everything and everywhere, and you can listen to so many things, it is easy to simply build up and solidify a particular kind of heart in our being.

It is easy to be under a constant stream of opinions, philosophies, entertainment, politics, and all kinds of things that are infused into us; all these things will affect our heart.

We need to guard our heart with all vigilance, for from it are the issues of life.

The heart is the entrance and exit of life, the “switch” of life; when our heart is turned toward the Lord, the Lord as life can grow in us, but when our heart is not turned toward Him, He has no way to expand in us.

So we need to know what kind of heart we should have according to the Bible, and we need to know how to deal with our heart.

God wants our heart to be soft toward Him, pure and single for Him, loving Him, and at peace.

This means that we need to come to the Lord again and again and allow Him to soften our heart by His love and through the environment.

We need to turn our heart to the Lord so that we may love Him, and we need to deal with anything in our conscience so that our heart would be at peace.

Furthermore, we need to see what are the problems that God’s life encounters in our heart.

First, we have our human concepts, which are darkness; then, we have hypocrisy, an outward appearance but no inward reality.

Another problem we have is rebellion, which is our refusal to cooperate with His inner speaking, and finally, the fourth problem is our natural capability, which is a great hindrance to God’s life.

May we learn to cooperate with the Lord to allow His life to grow in us in an unhindered way by dealing with the obstacles to God’s life for Him to grow in us and flow through us.

Seeing and Dealing with the Subjective Obstacles Encountered by God’s Life in our Heart

We need to see and deal with the subjective obstacles encountered by the life of God in our heart.

On one hand, there are problems that we have in our being, in our heart, and these problems hinder God’s life in us.

On the other hand, there are some subjective obstacles in our heart, which are posed by the four parts of our heart; due to these subjective obstacles, God’s life cannot grow in us nor can it flow out of us.

Many times we are abnormal Christians, for our mind, emotion, and will do not cooperate with our spirit but rather, contradict it and hinder the Lord’s life in us.

This is why we need the Lord’s light to shine on the subjective obstacles encountered by God’s life in us so that we may deal with them and therefore release the flow of life in and out of our being.

Seeing and Dealing with the Subjective Problem of our Mind for God’s life to Grow in us

The first subjective problem encountered by God’s life in us is the problem of our mind. Our mind is so full of problems!

So many times we do things according to our own concepts and opinions; we think about something, and we just do it.

We think of something that we should do for the Lord and, without contacting the Lord or fellowshipping with the fellow saints, we think it is a good thing, so we go ahead and do it.

If the things that we want to do originate from our thoughts, then these things will be nothing more than religious activities, even if they are successful. Oh, Lord Jesus!

Unless we contact the Lord and depend on Him, taking Him as the source of what we do, anything we do according to our thoughts is a religious activity, not the testimony of Jesus.

We need to repent for so many religious activities and return to the Lord to contact Him, set our mind on our spirit (Rom. 8:6), and depend on Him so that in all we do and say we would be the testimony of Jesus lived out from our spirit (Phil. 2:5; 1 Cor. 2:16; Eph. 4:23; Rom. 12:2).

We are all guilty of this; we either did things for the Lord out of our thoughts for Him or we simply did not do anything for Him, therefore hindering the Lord’s life in us.

Although we believers in Christ have the life of Christ within us, so many times we do not cooperate with His life in our thoughts and actions.

The result is that this life cannot be lived out from us.

He wants to live in us and express Himself through us, but we have different thoughts, and we do not set our mind on the things which are above. Oh, Lord!

When we set our mind on the spirit, our outward actions are in agreement with our inner man, and there’s no discrepancy between us and God.

When we set our mind on our spirit, God and we are at peace, not at enmity, and the result is that we feel peaceful within. Amen!

This is the real peace of mind, the peace that comes from setting our mind on our spirit.

When we take the lead to set our mind on our spirit, we enjoy life and peace, and we spontaneously express Christ; the result is that we are the living testimony of Jesus.

May we see the subjective obstacles in our being to God’s life and deal with these obstacles so that God’s life may grow in us and flow through us.

Lord Jesus, remind us to set our mind on our spirit all throughout the day. We do not want to do anything apart from You. Save us from doing things that originate from our thoughts. Save us from doing mere religious activities, things that result from our thinking and our concepts. Oh, Lord! We want to be the testimony of Christ so that we may express You by living in the mingled spirit. We want to learn to cooperate with the life of Christ within us in our thoughts and actions so that this life may be lived out of us. Amen, Lord, we choose to set our mind on our spirit! May our outward actions be in agreement with our inner man. May we be one with You so that there’s no discrepancy between us and You! Live in us today!

Seeing and Dealing with the Subjective Problem of our Will for God’s life to Grow in us

The second subjective problem is the problem of our will. Sometimes our mind understands the intention in our spirit, and we know the will of God; however, we are not willing to submit and obey.

This is similar to what Balaam did in the Old Testament; he clearly knew that God wanted to bless His people, but he did not want to obey, for he was enticed by the riches the king would give him if he cursed God’s people.

Many times we understand, know, and apprehend what the Lord speaks to us; we even have a deep sense that the Lord wants to do a certain thing, but our will does not cooperate.

We simply refuse to submit and surrender, and as a result, we lose the Lord’s presence. Oh, Lord Jesus!

First, we need to deal with the subjective problem of our mind and set it on our spirit; then, we need to be before the Lord concerning our will.

The Lord may give us a feeling that, instead of going and preaching the gospel or visiting a gospel friend, we should go and apologise to our spouse and spend some time with them to enjoy the Lord.

But our will may not want to cooperate. Our will is not willing to submit to God, much less to our spouse.

Many times our will is a great obstacle. It may not be a big thing that the Lord leads us to do, but our will just doesn’t want to go along with it.

Some have a strong will and others have a weak will; both are hindrances to the life of God.

What God wants is a will that is dealt with, a will that is both strong and pliable.

To be pliable is to be flexible, not insisting on our own things nor being stubborn but going along with the Lord’s will.

However, when a need arises, one can be strong and bold, laboring for the Lord and not counting the cost.

May we be open to the Lord to deal with the will to the extent that we are one with the Lord in doing His will.

Only a person who allows the Lord to deal with his will can be useful in the Lord’s hands, for such a person can carry out God’s command and act according to His leading.

Having a will that cooperates with God is a great matter.

May we be encouraged that it is God who operates in us both the willing and the working according to His good pleasure, and we simply need to cooperate with Him (Phil. 2:13).

He operates, and we cooperate. He does all the work, and we cooperate with Him.

May we come to the Lord again and again regarding the matter of our will, especially as we see that the Lord leads us in a certain direction but we’re inwardly unwilling to cooperate with Him.

We shouldn’t try to do what God wants us to do and submit ourselves in our natural man to His will; rather, we should open to Him concerning our unwilling will, our stubborn will, and allow Him to come into us to deal with it.

May we ask the Lord to grant us a will that is dealt with, a will that is both strong and pliable, for it was subdued and resurrected by the Lord to cooperate with Him.

Lord Jesus, we want to cooperate with You in the matter of dealing with our will. Oh Lord, our will is so stubborn, and we do not really want to go along with Your will. But we open to You, Lord. Keep speaking to us. We want to be one with You. Deal with our will. Have Your way in us to subdue our will and make it submissive to You. Oh Lord, may our will be dealt with so that we may be both strong and pliable. Amen, may our will be subdued and resurrected by the Lord so that it may cooperate with God. We open to You, Lord, for You are operating in us both the willing and the working. May our will cooperate with You for Your life to grow in us and flow freely through us!

Seeing and Dealing with the Subjective Problem of our Emotion for God’s life to Grow in us

The third subjective problem to God’s life growing in us and flowing in us is the problem of our emotion.

Our mind needs to be renewed by being set on our spirit, our will needs to be dealt with to be submissive to God’s will, and our emotion needs to be directed in God’s love to love the Lord.

Many times we have to admit that our emotion is a big problem to God, for we love things that God does not love, and we hate things that God loves. Oh, Lord!

Our emotion needs to have God’s emotion, and we need to fully enter into God’s emotion (2 Thes. 3:5; Phil. 1:8).

Our heart needs to be directed into the love of God.

What does our heart love? What does our heart hate? Are we in agreement with God’s emotions when we love and hate?

Do we desire what God desires and do the things that displease God also displease us?

The Bible says that Christ is our life, and we need to live Christ; at the same time, the New Testament also reveals that our mind needs to be renewed so that we may have the mind of Christ (Eph. 4:23; Rom. 12:2; 1 Cor. 2:16; Phil. 2:5, 13).

Even more, what the writers of the New Testament reveal is that our emotion needs to become one with God’s intention, for we should love whatever God loves and hate what He hates (Eph. 5:25; 2 Cor. 12:15; 1 Cor. 16:24; Rev. 2:6; Phil. 1:8).

On one hand, God loves all men, and He wants all men to be saved and come to the full knowledge of the truth.

On the other hand, God hates evil, He hates hypocrisy, and He hates Satan and his work.

The Bible reveals that the God who is love also has hate toward certain things.

May we open to the Lord with respect to our emotions, and may we ask Him to make our emotions one with His emotions, even to work His emotions into our emotions.

May we daily be strengthened into our inner man so that Christ as life may make His home in our heart – in our mind, emotion, and will (Eph. 3:16-17).

And may we cooperate with the Lord to give Him a free way to grow in us and flow through us as life by being renewed in our mind, having a strong and pliable will, and being one with Him in His feelings and emotions.

May the Lord have mercy upon 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 His life.

May our work be one with His work by allowing Him to grow in us and flow through us to impart His life into others.

Only the work that comes out of the life of Christ in us can reach His eternal standard and be accepted by Him (John 7:37-39a; 2 Cor. 4:10-12; 1 John 5:16a; 2 Cor. 3:3, 6).

Many Christians do a work for God, but does their work come up to God’s standard and is it accepted by Him?

Does our work impart the life of God to others or is it just a piece of religious work?

May we be those who deal with our heart and remove any subjective obstacles to the life of God in us so that He may grow in us unhindered and may flow through us freely to supply others also for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

Lord Jesus, we love You. We open our emotions, feelings, and sentiments up to You. Flow into us and saturate our emotions with Your emotions. May our emotions have God’s emotion. May we fully enter into God’s emotion and care for what God desires. Amen, Lord, direct our hearts into the love of God. We want to love what You love and hate what You hate. May our emotion and Your emotion be one. May our emotion not be a problem to the growth of God in us but rather be one with God’s emotion. Amen, Lord, strengthen us daily into the inner man so that Christ as life can make His home in our mind, emotion, and will. Have mercy on us, Lord, and show us the central work of God in this age. May we cooperate with You to gain Your life and grow and mature in Your life. Have a free way to grow in us and have an unhindered way to flow through us! May our work for the Lord come out of Your life in us so that it may meet Your standard and be accepted by You!

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. 1, “Knowing Life and the Church,” pp. 145-150, 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:
  – Having a proper heart, a portion from, Practical Lessons on the Experience of Life, Chapter 9, by Witness Lee.
  – What is Your Heart According to the Bible and How Can You Exercise It? Read more via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – The main part related to the inner life being the heart, a portion from, Practical Lessons on the Experience of Life, Chapter 9, by Witness Lee.
  – Dealing with Our Conscience, via, Living to Him.
  – The prayer and the subjective experience of Christ that we must have for God’s building, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – What Does It Mean to Be Pure in Heart? Read more via, Bibles for America blog.
  – 4 Simple Ways to Grow in Christ, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – The Ministry Produced through Revelation and Suffering, Part Two: Suffering (4), via, Shepherding Words.
  – 1 & 2 Samuel Program 27: God’s Intention to Build Himself in Christ into Us, Life-study of the Bible with W. Lee, video via youtube.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – In dealings with the Lord as life / We need a proper heart, / That of His riches, in His grace, / We fully may take part… / Lord, grant us such a heart as this, / Forever fixed on Thee, / That of Thyself we may partake / And Thy true fulness be. (Hymns #744 stanzas 1 and 6)
  – Oh, save me, Lord! Subdue this stubborn will; / Oh, save me, Lord! / In spite of all, Thy purposes fulfil / In me, Oh, Lord; / I yield my self, and all I have and am, / To follow Thee, Thou all redeeming Lamb! (Hymns #385 stanza 4)
  – 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)