3. God Raised Us Up With Christ

(3) The law of the Spirit of life (A)

Let’s pray:  Oh, amazing Lord, wonderful salvation plan!  We are so full of thanksgiving.  Oh Lord, we often heard, “do not live under law but live under grace”, but we haven’t had real experiences yet.  Oh Lord, we were all born under law and our true nature compels us to live under law to please you.  Lord, I pray that you would save and free us from ourselves.  I earnestly ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten us, to continually remind us what the old way of the written code is and what the new way of the Spirit is.  In Lord Jesus Christ’s name I pray!  Amen!

Praise the Lord, through our taking up our own cross daily to follow the Lord, we constantly die with the Lord and be raised with the Lord.  Because we died with the Lord so we are dead and are freed from the control of sin; we are dead so we no longer live under law, and we should not be like before do whatever we please; because “I no longer live but Christ lives in me”.  As for me, it is easier to understand “a dead man is freed from sin”; but as for “a dead man is released from the law”, though I have some idea, yet in my actual life growth process I find it more difficult to grasp.  Because after I became a believer, all those years I was following the traditional model of “how to become a good Christian”:  I should do whatever the Bible says (including demanding others to do the same).  Therefore for a long time I was living by relying on my own efforts to do good so as to meet the requirements of the Bible.  Thus, it felt unnatural to me when we talked about after having been saved and born again, we should not live in the old way of the written code, and should not rely on our own thinking and efforts to try to attain God’s requirements.  Regardless, we should earnestly pray and ask the Holy Spirit in us to enlighten and shine on us, so that through our life experience we can learn that the old way of the written code will ultimately lead us to “giving up on ourselves” – utterly convinced that by relying on my own efforts I cannot be good, and I am totally incapable of doing good work, so I must turn to the new way of the Spirit.  Lord, save me from relying on myself so your life in me will fulfill all things.

One year, on the farm right after the “double-rush” (harvesting and planting) season, a brother said to me: “Auntie, we are very weak, though we desire to have Bible study but we can’t get our spirits up to do it.”  I answered: “Brother, we are not weak enough!”  He said: “Auntie, what do you mean by not weak enough?  We are already so weak, can’t get any worse than this!”  I answered: “When we feel that we are weak, it indicates that we still have something left, and implies that only if we can get stronger then we will be fine.  But God wants us to be so weak as to be dead.”  Brothers and sisters, is it a good thing to do Bible study?  Of course it is!  The problem is when I bring up “Bible study” (or any other “good” requirements), the old way of the written code surfaces: “I” would start making arrangements: Brother X, you prepare this part and Sister Y, you take care of that part.  Thus brothers and sisters are all in a frenzy looking for material for the Bible study, or trying to think of ways to carry out the study.  Is there anything wrong with that picture?  What’s wrong is not because we want to do Bible study today, rather what should our attitude be when faced with the task of doing Bible study:  Who is in charge?  What power are we relying on for this task?  That is, when we want to do Bible study, according to the new way of the Spirit, the first thing is to pray: “Oh Lord, I really want to do Bible study, oh Lord, save me from relying on myself.  Lord, you lead and guide us on how we should go about doing the study.”  After that, it is not by what I think or by what ability I have, rather it is by following the step by step guidance of the Holy Spirit to act.  Brothers and sisters, sometimes people would say to me: ”Auntie, when I asked the Lord to save me from myself, it didn’t seem to work all the time!  For if I was mad at someone, it didn’t go away; if I had an issue with someone, it was still not resolved after I had prayed.  Why didn’t it work all the time?”  I answered this way: “After you call out to the Lord and exalt the Lord from your heart, then just exercise your faith and turn over these things to the Lord.  God has a set time for doing his work so he will complete his work on his time; there is no need for us to struggle.”  Sometimes God doesn’t seem to answer your prayer right away, why?  God allows us to be weak, even so weak as to die.  God wants us to realize that by ourselves, we are downright useless.  Just like when Lazarus was sick, Lord Jesus heard about it but still stayed where he was two more days.  Only after Lazarus had died for four days and a bad odor was emanating from his body, that Lord Jesus raised him from the dead.  If you feel that in spite of your praying you can’t seem to curb your anger or keep your emotion in check, and in the end you still have to resort to self-control; then you may want to change the way you pray:  “Lord, I admit this is how I am, I feel that I cannot control myself anymore, I ask you to save me.”  When you are ready to give up on “relying on yourself” – “Lord, I do have a bad temper, I can’t help it, I look up to you to save me from my bad temper.”  Brothers and sisters, just try it, and you will be freed immediately.  A sister once told me: “Auntie, after hearing “the principle of the cross” from you, everyone else is set free; and today I gave up the opportunity to sign a contract with others to come here, but I haven’t been set free!”  I said to her: “Sister, we just hand it over to the Lord, whether we are set free or not we just let the Lord do his work.  When you say ‘I want to be set free’, it is your “self” surfacing again, isn’t it?  You have to give up on yourself, have to admit that you are at your wit’s end and cannot set yourself free, and then ask the Lord to save you.”  By that afternoon, this sister was so happy: “Auntie, I have been set free!”  “Giving up on yourself; looking up to the Lord for his salvation; and recognizing that Jesus is my life, he is working in me to fulfill all things for me”, this is the new way of the Spirit.

Lord Jesus ended the law on the cross.  On one hand, he died to free us from the law; but on the other hand he fulfilled a new law – the law of the Spirit of life.  When we speak of the truth, we must mention both the do’s and the don’ts; we can’t just talk about being freed from the law, we must also talk about our living under grace; and when we say that we won’t serve the Lord in the old way of the written code, we must also say that we serve in the new way of the Spirit.              

1.      Different names for “the law of the Spirit of life”  (Romans 8: 2; James 1: 25; 1 Corinthians 9: 21)

      Lord Jesus Christ completed a new law on the cross – the law of the Spirit of life.  In the Bible, we can look at the three different results accomplished by this law to give it three different names:

(1)   The law of the spirit of life:  Romans 8: 2: “through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”

·         What is “the law of the Spirit of life”?  After Lord Jesus Christ completed the salvation plan and rose to high heaven, Father God, in Jesus’ name, sent the Holy Spirit to earth to implement the salvation plan.  The Holy Spirit, after causing our rebirth, resides permanently in the heart of all believers, leading and guiding us.  This is the law of the Spirit of life.

·         Why do we use the name “the law of the Spirit of Life”?  It is because when we call on the name of the Lord and acknowledge Jesus as our Lord, then the Holy Spirit will work in us to cause our rebirth so we have a new life; when we continue to call on the name of the Lord and acknowledge the Lord, the Holy Spirit will continue to work in our heart, causing our new life to grow gradually.  So this is how it works: “you call on the name of the Lord, the Holy Spirit works to give you a new life; you call on the name of the Lord, the Holy Spirit works to make your life grow”.  This is a law – it never changes.    

(2)   The perfect law that gives freedom:  James 1: 25, “But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.”

·         What is “the perfect law that gives freedom”?  The word “perfect” and the word Lord Jesus said on the cross “it is finished” are the same word in the original Bible text.  That is to say that this law is what Lord Jesus fulfilled on the cross.  This law is attainable by men therefore it gives freedom.  So “the perfect law that gives freedom”, is what Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled on the cross – a law that men can meet.

·         Why do we call it “the perfect law that gives freedom”?  Whether it is the law of the Old Testament (as represented by the Ten Commandments), or the daily requirements that we face, they all restrict our freedom.  Why?  Because even if we strive to meet these requirements, our insides are full of suppressions and struggles, and in the end we are frustrated and discouraged because we cannot meet them.  Therefore, though the law of the Old Testament is the royal law (see James 2: 8) but because we cannot meet its requirements so it becomes the law that binds us (see Romans 7: 6).  However, the law that Lord Jesus gives us is a law that gives us freedom.  We will discuss how it gives us freedom below.

(3)    Christ’s law:  “To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.”  “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”  (1 Corinthians 9: 21; Galatians 6: 2)

·         What is Christ’s law?  Romans 10: 4: “Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.”  The law of the Old Testament requires our efforts to obey; the Christ’s law is that “there may be righteousness for everyone who believes”, hallelujah!

·         Why is it called ‘Christ’s law”?  Because Christ completed the salvation plan of “crossing over from death to life” on the cross – dead, to be freed from the law; raised, to fulfill a new law.

2.      The fundamental difference between the law of the Spirit of life and the law:  (Jeremiah 31: 31-33; 32: 40; Ezekiel 36: 26-27; Isaiah 40: 11; John 16: 13; 1 Corinthians 13: 11; Hebrews 5: 13-14)

(1)   The law of the Old Testament is the ten commandments written on the stone tablets, demanding people should behave like this, or like that, but doesn’t give people the ability to obey the law (it’s impossible for people to obey because of their rock-hard hearts of stone); with the law of the Spirit of life, God put the Holy Spirit inside us so our hearts turn into hearts of flesh, and with the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit in us, we naturally have the ability to obey, fear, and submit.

·         “’The time is coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.  It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,’ declares the Lord.  ‘This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,’ declares the Lord.  ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.  I will be their God, and they will be my people.’”  (Jeremiah 31: 31-33)

      The law of the Old Testament is written on the stone tablets but the law of the Spirit of life is written on our hearts.

·         “I (God) will make an everlasting covenant with them:  I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never run away from me.”  (Jeremiah 32: 40)

      The law of the Old Testament taught us to “fear the Lord” but didn’t give us the ability to comply; the law of the Spirit of life is in us so that we naturally have a God-fearing heart.

·         “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”  (Ezekiel 36: 26-27)

      Because of our rock-hard hearts of stone we cannot keep the law of the Old Testament; with the law of the Spirit of life, God put the Holy Spirit in us so that we have a new spirit (we have a heart of flesh), and we naturally have the ability to obey the new covenant, and to fear and submit to God.

(2)   The law of the Old Testament is just like a ruler that makes demands of people and measures people; it is rigid and unchanging; while the law of the Spirit of life, depending on each individual’s new life progression, will guide and lead him in a step by step fashion.  That is to say, the Holy Spirit talks to you, moves you and guides you according to the level of your new life growth.  If your new life is at the one-year-old level, he talks to you as a one-year-old; if you are at two then he talks to you as a two-year-old.  Whatever the Holy Spirit tells you or moves you, will be in line with the level of your new life; so the guidance you receive is just right for the stage of your life growth.  Therefore on the surface it appears that the law is being met right away.  The law tells us not to be jealous so we cease to be jealous of others (in reality we are just keeping a lid on it, and not really meeting the law); but the law of the Spirit of life will guide us step by step to truly meet the righteous requirements of the law.

·         Isaiah 40: 11: “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.”  The law of the Spirit of life does not rush us, but slowly guides us.

·         John 16: 13: “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.”  Here the phrase “guide you into” means to lead us into all truth in a step by step fashion.

·         1 Corinthians 13: 11: “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.”

      God’s guidance for us has many different levels:  child’s level, adult’s level, etc., they are all different.  The law in the Old Testament made no distinction between children and men, whatever the scripture says all must follow.

3.      What are the three aspects of the law of the Spirit of life?  (Luke 11: 9-13; Galatians 5: 16, 25)

      The law of the Spirit of life includes the following three aspects: (1) God’s requirements; (2) calling on the Lord until there is peace in my heart; (3) obeying the guidance of the Spirit to act while maintaining inner peace and outward harmony:

(1)   The first aspect of the law of the Spirit of life – God’s requirements:

      We have discussed previously that after we have been saved and born again, God has a set of plan for every one of us regarding our life growth, i.e. through the cross that we face daily to build us.  The daily cross that happens to us (all people, events, things that don’t agree with me or not to my liking) is God’s requirement for us; God allow these things to come upon us in order to build up our character of holiness.  Brothers and sisters, how great the comfort we have received!  Without God’s permission nothing will happen to us; now that God allows these things to happen to us, surely they are here to build our character of holiness.  Hallelujah!  What is man that you make so much of him?!

(2)    The second aspect of the law of the Spirit of life – I call on the Lord until there is peace in my heart.  The content of the inner peace is the content of the law of the Spirit of life:  as discussed before, when we are faced with our daily cross we should take “the way of the cross” – calling on the name of the Lord. 

·         In all things we tell our heavenly Father what we want through praying and supplicating.  We should keep on calling on the Lord until we have complete peace in our hearts.

·         The content of our inner peace (whether it is thoughts, God’s word, hymns, etc.) is the content of the law of the Spirit of life; it is also what we called the “anointed teachings” when we were discussing “putting the word into practice”.

o   It must be the peace of Christ:  That is, to pray quietly until you have peace as Colossians 3: 15 says “let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts”, and Romans 14: 22 says “blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves.” 

o   It must comply with the requirements of God’s word, must not be contrary to the principle of the truth. (see Isaiah 8: 20)

o   The Holy Spirit not only can move us, he also has the power to submit, to fear, and to obey. (see Luke 1: 37; Hebrews 4: 12)

For example, I knew an unwed couple who was living together.  According to the moral standard of Christians, unwed couples shouldn’t be living together; this is the righteousness of the law and must be met.  How should I handle this situation?  Should I rely on myself or rely on the Lord?  “Relying on myself” is to use my smarts, wisdom, and ability to come up with a plan of action; “relying on the Lord” is to earnestly pray to the Lord and hand over this matter to him, “Oh Lord, how should I handle this matter?  Oh Lord, ….”  You should just keep on praying and praying, until there is complete peace in your heart, then you just act according to this peace in your heart.  Perhaps the peace in your heart moves you to earnestly pray for this couple; or the peace in your heart tells you to seek out a particular brother to fellowship and to pray together; or to use some other ways to handle this matter.  In any event, just let the Holy Spirit guide you.  Luke 11: 9-13 says that God gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask him; so as long as you pray, the Holy Spirit will lead and guide you, this is the law of the Spirit of life.  The law of the Spirit of life must include peace in the heart, and at the same time, must bring harmony externally; because the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, …”.  In the Book of James the phrase “the wisdom that comes from heaven” is exactly the guidance of the Holy Spirit – it is first of all pure, then peace loving (James 3: 17), and clearly says that the guidance of the Holy Spirit can never be contrary to the truth.  Brothers and sisters, we live under the law of the Spirit of life (according to the principle of the new life, according to the new way of the Spirit, and living under grace are all of the same meaning), when faced with our daily cross we should pray first, acknowledge in our thoughts and minds that the Lord is our lord, he is in charge, and “I no longer live but Christ lives in me”.  Many people asked me, “If I have to deal with the situation right away and don’t have time to pray, what do I do?”  My answer: ”Is it a medical emergency?”  Even in a medical emergency you can still pray.  For example, you are informed that your child is ill or something happened to your child, though you don’t have time to kneel down to pray at a leisure pace but you can say this while you are running to the aid of your child: “Oh Lord, oh Lord, you guide me!”  I’m sure this is doable.  When you are faced with an emergency, just keep on calling out to the Lord in your heart: “Oh Lord, lead me.  Oh Lord, give me the proper attitude to face this situation, give me the proper words to say, …, oh Lord, oh Lord”.  If you say you don’t have time to pray, then you are not paying attention to let the Lord be the lord.    

(3)   The third aspect of the law of the Spirit of life – obeying and relying on the Holy Spirit to act:  That is to obey the guidance of the Holy Spirit and to rely on the great power of the Holy Spirit to do the work.  Galatians 5: 16, 25: “live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”  “Let us keep in step with the Spirit.”

      The fundamental difference between “the law” and “the law of the Spirit of life” is “who is the lord?” and “Whose power do we rely on?”  The righteousness of God and the righteousness of the law must be fully met; the question is through what path:  Is it “the principle of the new life”?  Or is it “human understanding and insight”?  The new way of the Spirit is “the principle of the new life”; the old way of the written code is “the human understanding and insight”.  According to the new way of the Spirit – the law of the Spirit of life, means to pray over all things; after that just obey the guidance of the Holy Spirit (doing what brings peace to your heart and also maintains external harmony around you), and rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to act, “Lord, we give you praises, Christ is my life, accomplish everything with your life.  Oh Lord, let your power become my power, oh Lord …..”  Hallelujah!  The Lord says, “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength,” so “anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work”, “be still, and know that I am God”; this is the “principle of the new life” which is completely different from human understanding and insight.  When we are faced with a situation, it is not that we don’t deal with it immediately, but we should acknowledge that God will take care of urgent matters expeditiously and non-urgent matters at a slower pace.  For us, the first thing to do is to pray and then wait and see how the Lord intends to lead and guide us.  Those who live under law may ask: “Look here, a Christian couple is living together unmarried; how come no one says anything to them?”  Those who are practicing “following the new way of the Spirit – the law of the Spirit of life” would answer this way: “For sure we should handle this matter.  The question is:  Who is the lord over this matter?  We should acknowledge our Lord is the lord, so we should ask the Lord first and then follow his command (his leading and guiding) to act.  Why do we act on our own first without asking the Lord?  It seems “those who live under law” believe that if we don’t talk to the couple immediately then we are not fulfilling our duty.  I have seen and also heard of people when faced with this kind of situation would confront the couple with a slap on the face.  Brothers and sisters, we have said over and over again, the righteousness of God and the law must be met, the question is: Who is the lord?  Whose power should we rely on?  Which path do we take to act?  Do we take the path of following “the principle of the new life” or the path of following “the human understanding and insight”?        

4.      The relationship between “the law of the Spirit of life” and “the way of the cross”   (Luke 11: 9-13)

What is the relationship between “the law of the Spirit of life” and “the way of the cross”?

“The way of the cross” is a path; “the law of the Spirit of life” is the rule for regulating our life on this path.   When we walk on the path of “taking up our own cross daily and following the Lord” (the way of the cross), we pray over all things and then just follow the law of the Spirit of life to act:  We pray until there is peace in our heart (i.e. let the peace of Christ be the lord in you), then just obey the guidance that brings peace to your heart while keeping harmony around you.  If after you have prayed and there is no peace in your heart then you should wait before you say anything or take any action; it is wrong not to wait.  Since you have prayed to the Lord, then you should acknowledge him as the lord and let him be in charge, otherwise there is no reason to pray to him.  The principle for taking action is to make sure there is peace in your heart.  If not, then we should pause and continue to pray; this is not being passively keeping hands off, but rather it is actively entrusting the matter to the Lord; it is to say that I’m not relying on my own idea to act, but let Christ in my life accomplish everything for me.    

5.      Key points in practicing the law of the Spirit of life:

(1)   What is the meaning of “be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry”?   (James 1: 19-20)

      This scripture passage in the Book of James says that we have been born again by God so we have the law of the Spirit of life in us (i.e. the guidance, moving, and leading of the Holy Spirit).  Therefore, when we face a situation, “I” shouldn’t be the first one to come out to speak or to get angry          , rather we should first pray: “Oh Lord, faced with this situation, what should I do?  I ask you to guide me and to lead me.  Oh, Holy Spirit, you lead me!”  We should be quick to listen to the Holy Spirit’s guidance and spurring in our heart, this is what it means to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.  God wants us to rest our own toils, to rest from our own work, to enter into his rest, and to let his life in us accomplish all things for us.  Let me go back to the previous example.  When you see this unwed couple living together and if you are living under law then you will be quick to speak: “This is too much, we can’t allow this to go on.  We must quickly resolve this.”  Or you may be quick to speak: “What do you two think you are doing?”  But the law of the Spirit of life is “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry”, because man’s anger does not meet the righteousness of God.  We should not use anger to deal with our situation, because that is living under law, and the sinful passions aroused by the law will bear fruit for death resulting in our temporary separation from God.  Often times, because we relied on “ourselves” to take care of things and ended up making a big mess of things.  After being confronted, this couple might appear to stop living together on the surface but in reality were still carrying on behind the back; they might not say anything in front of you but were bad mouthing you behind your back.  Why?  Because we didn’t rely on prayers, we didn’t let the life of Christ live in us, we didn’t rely on the Holy Spirit to act, and instead we rely on “ourselves” to act.  Here James encourages us to be quick to listen, and since we are taking the path of “the law of the Spirit of life”, so when we see this couple living together, what should we do?  “Oh Lord, free me from myself, defeat me, put me to death; let Christ’s life in me guide me to have the proper words and attitude, Lord, what should I be doing?”  This is called “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.”  One time during the fellowship I asked the brothers and sisters what they would do if the school called and told them their child misbehaved today.  One brother gave a cute answer: “I‘ll give him a good whipping first and then slowly listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.”  Of course I hope that was just a joke, however please hear God’s word, “today, you must listen to his voice” (see Hebrews 4: 7), “today” is the day of rest, when faced with situations by all means be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry; God wants us to rest our own toils, to rest from all our own work, and to enter the peace in him.  Do not think that if you don’t get angry then you are not fulfilling your duty or by getting angry you are doing your job.  Brothers and sisters, you should pray and ask the Lord what to do, let the Lord be the master, that’s the true picture of fulfilling your duty.

(2)   Why should brothers and sisters not slander and speak against one another?  (James 4: 11-12)         

      Since every Christian, who clearly knows that he has been saved and born again, has the Holy Spirit dwell in him and has the law of the Spirit of life in him; and since the Holy Spirit is at work in everyone but because the degree of life growth is different in all individuals so the guidance of the Holy Spirit received by each is different also.  For example, a person may be nine months old and you are two years old, so naturally he will be different from you in every aspect.  He may still be crawling and not standing well at all; but you are walking just fine.  However, just because of that you shouldn’t criticize him for not being able to walk well because he is only nine months old.  We have always been able to acknowledge that in a family there are old people, adults, youths, children, babies, etc., and according to their different ages, conditions, we are able to use different vocabularies to talk to them.  We have no problem acknowledging their different ages and circumstances.  However, we often have trouble acknowledging that in the church there are differences among the brothers and sisters in terms of their life growth level and spiritual condition.  We wish that all of us are adults (of equal or similar spiritual life) but that’s not right.  If we criticize brothers and sisters, then we are criticizing the law of the Spirit of life in them.  Brothers and sisters, if the Holy Spirit moves you, we can, in the Lord, encourage each other, remind each other, support each other, and supplicate for each other.        

(3)   What does it mean to “acknowledge that life growth is a process”?  (Mark 4: 26-29)

·         We must acknowledge that life growth is a process:  New life growth does not happen overnight, rather it matures slowly.  “All by itself the soil produces grain – first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head” (Mark 4: 28), just like our growing up, it takes many days and many nights and goes through many peaks and many valleys.

·         The growth of new life is a process of coming to know your “self”, that is, it is the process of “I” (my true self) gets exposed gradually so that I eventually give up on myself”:  If you say that you understand the truth of “not living under law but under grace” does that mean from now on our life will completely reflect “not under law but under grace”?  Impossible!  If we don’t give up on ourselves, and still feel that we are very capable, very resourceful then we will continue to live under law.  During the process of life growth, God allows us to experience many weaknesses, insults, persecutions, hardships, difficulties, and failures so that we gradually expose our “selves” to be utterly corrupt and incompetent, and we will grow more and more disappointed at ourselves, so that we are more and more willing to live under grace, totally convinced to admit that “Lord, I cannot do anything, I praise you and look up to your mighty power to accomplish all things in me”.  Getting to know your “self” is a life-long process.     

·         Since life growth is a process then we should allow it to develop naturally and not try to speed it up artificially, whatever the level you are at just live your life accordingly:  We are on the path of taking up our cross daily to follow the Lord, but it’s impossible for us to become fully grown overnight.  Many of our old natures are perhaps worse than those exhibited by people who are not practicing “the way of the cross” (new life), for example:  By my old nature I like to judge people, and there are many people though not practicing the way of the new life are not inclined to judge people by their nature.  When the Holy Spirit shines on me regarding this old nature, I just pray to the Lord to free me from this old nature.  We must realize that to be freed from our old nature will take some time.  Before we are completely freed from it, we shouldn’t use suppressing, covering up or other means to help it along artificially; as long as we are on the right path, God will save us to the end.  

·         Since life growth is a process, so as long as we are on the right path our life will grow:  How is the road leading to new life growth different from the roads that we have traveled before?  In the past, after we have been saved and born again – crossing over from death to life, we did not take up our cross to follow the Lord, i.e. we were not on the way of the cross.  Sometimes when we encountered major problem we would pray, but the main emphasis was on “asking the Lord to help ‘me’ solve the problem (self-centered attitude)”, but most of the time, in our daily life at home and in our dealing with co-workers, when things didn’t go well we were all tied up in a knot and struggled.  We didn’t understand what the way to life growth is (relying on the Lord, letting the Lord be in charge, and God-centeredness); we were on the road of relying on ourselves to struggle to control our old nature.  Now we want to walk on the right path!  Only when we are on the right path – the way of the cross, hand over everything we face to the Lord, and acknowledge that he is the Lord, we may die with Christ to continually take off our old-selves, and to be raised with Christ to put on our new-selves.  We must acknowledge that this is a process, and should not think that we can grow up and mature just like that.  As long as we crave for our life to grow, take in the necessary elements for life to grow, take up our own cross daily to follow the Lord, and acknowledge the level of our own life growth, then we are on the right path and do not have to feel guilty or depressed for lagging behind others.  We can continually offer and renew our hearts and minds to the Lord by saying: “Lord, I am willing to walk on the path of life growth.  Though I am still little, I ask you to save me; I crave for my life to have a healthy growth.”  

(4)   When I am dissatisfied with others’ or my own situation, what should I do?  (Ephesians 3: 16)

      When we are dissatisfied with others’ or our own situation, we would often say: “Ah, Lord, why am I like this?”  “Why is that person like that?”  We must acknowledge that life growth is a life-long process.  On one hand, we should not artificially try to speed up its growth; on the other hand, we can ask God to strengthen us (or others) with power through his Spirit in our inner being (see Ephesians 3: 16), to continually demolish the strongholds in our (or others’) hearts, so that we may acknowledge and accept our (or others’) true nature, and to continually take back our hearts and minds so that we may submit to Christ and gradually grow our lives.