Weekly Pursuit – June 30, 2013-July 6, 2013
Verses:
Psa. 51:10
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
12 “Restore to me the gladness of Your salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit.”
The spirit in our innermost part is pure and undefiled. However, surrounding the spirit are the soul and body, both of which have been mixed with the wicked elements of Satan and are thus filthy and corrupt. Therefore, when the spirit comes forth and passes through the soul and body, it becomes contaminated by this filthiness and corruption. Hence, when being manifested, the spirit bears certain filthiness, corruption, impurity, impropriety, and various other undesirable conditions. If a person is proud in his soul, the spirit also manifests itself in pride; if a person is
angry in the flesh, his spirit also reveals the anger. We often encounter the spirit of anxiety, the spirit of jealousy, a crooked spirit, or a rude spirit, all of which are not the problem of the spirit itself, but the defiling influence of the undesirable elements of the soul and body upon the spirit as it passes through them. We can tell the kind of defilement from the kind of spirit, and the kind of spirit reveals the kind of man.
The daily discipline of the Holy Spirit is for the purpose of dealing with the self and destroying it. In this way the quality of the spirit is enhanced and purified. If we seek for ease and comfort and run away from the Spirit-ordered environments, we may reduce our troubles, but the quality of our spirit will not be enriched and purified. What is the result of having a sterling spirit? If all the brothers and sisters in the church have a pure and noble spirit, they will mutually supply one another, and the church will be rich.
Brother Nee said that a person should not only do the right thing, but also do the right thing in the right way and in the right spirit. The thing one does may be right, but the spirit by which he does the right thing maybe wrong. He must do the right thing in the right way and in the right spirit. That word from Brother Nee has helped me very much throughout the past fifty-eight years….If we do the right thing, but our spirit is wrong, our conduct will neither edify the saints nor build up the church. For our
conduct to be constructive, edifying, and useful in building up the Body of Christ, we must be right in the thing that we do, right in our way, and right in our spirit. Often we may claim that what we are doing is right. This may be true, but our way, our attitude, or our spirit may offend people. At such a time we have to ask ourselves, “What kind of spirit are we of?”
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