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In order that God may be fully expressed through us, we need to have spiritual emotions, be tenderhearted with one another, and be able to serve God with tears—James 5:11; Exo. 34:6; Psa. 103:8:
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A spiritual person is full of emotions; the more spiritual we are, the richer our emotions are—1 Cor. 4:21; 2 Cor. 6:11; 7:3; 10:1; 12:15:
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We need the Lord to work on us until our feelings are fine and tender.
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Every time God works on us, chastises us, and deals with us, our feelings become finer and more sensitive; this is the deepest lesson in the breaking of the outer man—4:16.
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In the church life we need to be tenderhearted with one another—Eph. 4:32:
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We should not judge and condemn our fellow believers but be kind to them, tenderhearted, forgiving them even as God in Christ also forgave us—Luke 6:37; Eph. 4:32.
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The more we experience Christ as our life supply, the more our hearts become tender, and when we are tenderhearted, we will forgive others.
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The apostle Paul served the Lord with tears and admonished the saints with tears—Acts 20:19, 31; Phil. 3:18:
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If we do not know how to weep or shed tears, we are not very spiritual.
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When we live in the spirit, using the soul as an organ, we will be able to serve the Lord and admonish the saints with tears—Acts 20:19, 31.
Morning Nourishment
Jer. 9:1 Oh that my head were waters, and my eye a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!Acts Serving the Lord as a slave with all humility 20:19 and tears and trials which came upon me by the plots of the Jews.
No proper worker of the Lord can be without tears….All those who have a heart for their work cannot help weeping. Many times when we try to deal with someone and exhaust all means, there is no result….Sometimes when no persuasion works, tears become the last persuasion.
There is no lover of the Lord who does not cry. We should ache for sinners to the point of weeping for them. We should weep because God’s glory is challenged, and we should weep in anguish that the enemy is not yet bound….All those whose hearts are in the Lord’s work surely weep. Jeremiah was a prophet who was greatly used by the Lord. He was such because of his tears. He was anxious and felt responsible for God’s children, and he wept for them day and night. (CWWN, vol. 19, p. 494)
Today’s Reading
Tears are a good way to work. I say again, no one can be complete without tears. A person may be good at many things, but if he does not weep, he cannot be considered as complete. In serving the Lord, we must have tears, both before the Lord and before men. Of course, such tears cannot be fabricated. They must flow spontaneously out of our deep feelings.Paul said that for three years he was in tears for them night and day [Acts 20:31]. Have you shed tears this way for your work? All we have to ask a person is whether or not he has shed tears to find out whether or not he is zealous, if he is single for his work, and if his heart of service is complete. I must say honestly that without tears no work can become prosperous. If we do not do this one thing in secret, the progress of our work will be hindered. (CWWN, vol. 19, pp. 495-496)
The more spiritual we are, the more emotional we are. Actually, if we do not know how to weep or shed tears, we are not very spiritual. However,…if we shed tears from our soul as our person, this is not to live Christ. When I began to live in the spirit, in my new man, taking the soul as my organ, I began to shed tears. At these times I shed tears by the soul as my organ, not as my person. The person who shed tears was my spirit….When we love someone by our soul as a person, that is wrong. It may be love, but it is of the old man and is still related to the flesh. To love by our soul as our person is wrong, but to love by our spirit as our person with our soul as our organ is right. It is impossible to love someone without our soul. Our spirit, strictly speaking, does not have the loving ability. In order to love, we must have a loving organ. The loving organ is our emotion, a part of our soul.
Our spirit by itself cannot weep or shed tears. In the Gospels the Lord Jesus wept (John 11:35; Luke 19:41). He wept from His spirit as His person with His soul as His organ. He did not love by the soul as His person; rather, He loved by His spirit as His person with His soul as His organ. Today, as Christians, we are the same as the Lord Jesus. In our Christian life our soul must be denied as our person, yet our soul is still very useful as an organ. When our soul rises up to be our person, we should tell our soul, “Dear soul, you were my person in the past but not today. Today you are my organ in resurrection, and my person is my regenerated spirit with the Lord Jesus as its life. This spirit is the new man, and this new man is my person. You, dear soul, are now only my organ. Stay in your position, and do not propose anything to me. When I love or think, you must be my loving and thinking organ.” (CWWL, 1989, vol. 3, “The Experience and Growth in Life,” pp. 20-21)
Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 19, issue no. 48; CWWL, 1989, vol. 3, “The Experience and Growth in Life,” ch. 3; Life-study of Ephesians, msg. 48