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We must dig away the dirt in our mind; the Lord wants to transform us by the renewing of our mind—Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23; Rom. 8:6; 2 Cor. 10:4-5:
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Many who are regenerated are just like the people of the world in their thinking about fashion; they dress in conformity to the modern age.
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Many who are regenerated continue to use their money in the same way as those in the world; not until they love the Lord more and give the Lord more ground to work within them will they be transformed in their way of spending money.
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Many young people studying in the colleges have the same thoughts about their studies and degrees as other worldly young people; if their minds were being renewed, they would not give up their studies, but they would have the Lord's point of view in which to evaluate their studies.
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Our mind has been blinded by the many imaginations that we have day by day; the heaps of dirt are simply the many thoughts, imaginations, and dreams, which must be dug away before the living water can freely flow.
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We must dig away the dirt in our will; there are not many who are absolutely and utterly obedient to the Lord:
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Many times we do not submit ourselves to the Lord's sovereign arrangement in our environment—cf. Phil. 4:11-13.
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Sometimes we think that we are quite submissive to the Lord, but when He puts us into certain circumstances, we are exposed.
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Many experiences and circumstances under His sovereignty simply expose us to the light so that we may know how stubborn our will is.
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The will must be wholly submissive, and not only submissive but in harmony with the will of God; then every decision that we make will be an expression of Christ—Luke 22:42; James 4:7; Phil. 2:13.
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After digging away the dirt from the will, we need to deal with our emotion:
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When we are emotional, we are occupied with ourselves; we are under the bondage and control of our emotion.
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The regulating of our love must be under the control of the Lord, and we must always be ready to exercise our emotion according to the Lord's pleasure—Matt. 10:37-39; Phil. 1:8.
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We all must learn to deal with our emotion according to the pleasure and joy of the Lord; we must learn that whatever we hate or love, whatever we like or dislike, must be done under the permission of the Lord with His joy.
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If our emotion is kept under the rule of the Lord with His pleasure and joy, it will be saturated with the spirit and transformed.
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We must forget about our needs, our jobs, our future, and our circumstances; we must seek only the Lord's presence and ask Him to bring us into His light; then we can follow His light to dig away the dirt in our heart, conscience, mind, will, and emotion—Isa. 2:5; Luke 11:34-36; 1 John 1:5, 7, 9.
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This digging is accomplished only by prayer in our private time with the Lord; we have to spend more time with the Lord and pray according to His inner leading.
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The more we dig away the dirt, the more living, strengthened, and victorious we will be as the living water flows freely within us to cause us to grow in life for the building up of the Body of Christ—we need to sing and pray over Hymns, #250.
Morning Nourishment
1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin.9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
[There are] many layers in us through which we have to dig. We have a layer of the conscience, a layer of the heart, and…a layer of our mind, which holds much dirt. We do not know how many imaginations we have day by day. We not only dream during the night while we are asleep, but we are still dreaming during the day while we are awake. All our imaginations are different dreams….Satan blinds our minds…merely by the imaginations. Sometimes while you are listening to a message, I do not know where your mind is perhaps it has traveled to the moon! Outwardly you are nodding your head, but inwardly your mind is imagining something in space. During the message you hear the voice, but you do not receive anything. Your mind has been blinded by imaginations. When there is a lot of dirt in your mind, how can the flow of living water within you be free?… The heaps of dirt are simply the many thoughts, imaginations, and dreams, which must be dug away before the living water can freely flow. (CWWL, 1964, vol. 3,”The Economy of God,” pp. 229-230)
Today's Reading
The will also contains much dirt. There are not many who are absolutely and utterly obedient to the Lord. We need to be more submissive in our will. How many times we do not submit ourselves to the Lord's sovereign arrangement! Sometimes we think that we are quite submissive to the Lord, but when He puts us into certain circumstances, we are exposed. It is easy to submit to the invisible Lord, but it is rather difficult to submit to visible persons. You say,”I am submissive to the Lord. With the Lord I have no problem. But…” Yes, there is a big but!”…But with the church…Oh, I cannot be submissive to them!” The Lord especially put you into your local church in order to break your will.“If my husband could be such a dear brother, I would gladly be submissive to him.” How many times have you sisters thought this?…The Lord gave you such a suitable husband; he is just the husband you need. If you could have the husband of your dreams, you would never be exposed. Many experiences and circumstances under His sovereignty simply expose us to the light so that we may know how stubborn our will is…. If the living water is to flow in us, we must be dug. The flowing is the Lord's business, but the digging is our business. We have to dig ourselves.
After digging away the dirt from the will, we need to deal with our emotion… When we are emotional, we are occupied with ourselves. We are under the control and bondage of our emotions….It is so easy for us to like one thing and dislike another….It is not very easy to change our will, but it is easy to have many changes in our emotions. Our emotions fluctuate even more than the weather.
Forget about your needs, your job, your future, and your circumstances. Only seek the Lord's presence, and ask Him to bring you into His light. Then follow His light to dig away the dirt in your conscience, heart, mind, will, and emotion. The more you dig away the dirt, the more you will be alive….You must maintain the flow of living water, that is, the fellowship of life flowing freely within you. When the living water flows freely within you, then there is victory. All the problems will be solved spontaneously and even unconsciously.
We have to spend more and more time with the Lord and pray according to His inner leading. According to that leading, we must confess and dig away all the dirt within us….Sometimes we need to pray with others, but the digging prayer is more prevailing in privacy. It is extremely necessary to spend more private time with the Lord. All the dirt within the conscience, heart, mind, will, and emotion must be dug away by our prayers. (CWWL, 1964, vol. 3,”The Economy of God,” pp. 230-232)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1964, vol. 3,”The Economy of God,” ch. 10