Note 1 on peace of God: “The result of practicing fellowship with God in prayer is that we enjoy the peace of God. The peace of God is actually God as peace (v. 9) infused into us through our fellowship with Him by prayer, as the counterpoise to troubles and the antidote to anxiety (John 16:33).”

Cross-reference “a” on peace of God directs us to one related verse:

Philippians 4:9—“The things which you have also learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things; and the God of peace will be with you.”

The verse, note, and cross-reference are from the Recovery Version, published by Living Stream Ministry. The Recovery Version outlines, footnotes, and cross-references were all prepared by Witness Lee. Bibles for America gives away the New Testament Recovery Version for free. You can order your free copy on our order page.

But what do these terms really mean? Why does the Bible speak of being born again?

In this post, we’ll look at the significance and importance of being “born again.” Does it simply mean to have a new beginning? A fresh start? Is it a promise to do better? To live morally from now on? To do right instead of wrong? And what if someone is a good, upright, ethical person? Does such a person even need to be born again?

Nicodemus and the Lord Jesus

The Gospel of John tells us of Nicodemus, a moral man who held a high position in religion and society. He came to Jesus privately and said, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher.” Nicodemus’ words showed that he sought teachings from the Lord.

Perhaps Nicodemus expected the Lord Jesus to teach him how to improve his conduct, or to be a better Pharisee. But the Lord didn’t give him teachings. Before Nicodemus could even ask Him anything, Jesus told him,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)

Baffled, Nicodemus asked,

“How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” (John 3:4).

The Lord explained,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:5-6)

Nicodemus didn’t need better teachings. He needed to be born of the Spirit. He needed another life in addition to his human life. This is why the Lord told him to be “born anew.”

Our need for another life—the divine life of God

The Lord told Nicodemus that to see and enter into the kingdom of God, he needed to be born anew. What did the Lord mean?

In the natural world, a particular kingdom consists of a certain kind of life. For instance, the plant kingdom consists of organisms with the plant life. Just as the plant kingdom consists of the plant life and the animal kingdom consists of the animal life, so also the human kingdom consists of the human life.

The only way to participate in a particular kingdom is to possess the life of that kingdom. A rose can’t participate in the animal kingdom because it doesn’t have the animal life. And a monkey can’t participate in the human kingdom because it doesn’t have the human life. Even if the monkey is an excellent monkey, can walk on two legs, and dress and behave like a human, it still isn’t part of the human kingdom. It simply doesn’t have the human life.

Similarly, trying to look or behave like God cannot make us part of the kingdom of God. Our excellent behavior at most makes us prime examples of the human kingdom.

We can enter God’s kingdom only if we have the divine life of God. And we can have the divine life of God only by believing in Christ and being born again.

Birth is our entry

By our physical birth, we received our parents’ human life and genes and entered the human kingdom. In the same way, by our spiritual birth, we receive God’s “genes,” that is, we receive His life and nature, and we enter the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus had no moral or sinful problems outwardly. Yet the Lord indicated he lacked something crucial. Like Nicodemus, regardless of how noble, good, or upright we are in our human life, we don’t possess the divine life. We need to be born again with the divine life of God.

What happens when we’re born again?

To be born again, or regenerated, simply means to be born of God with God’s life. First Peter 1:3 says,

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

The first part of the note on “regenerated” in the New Testament Recovery Version can help us understand the meaning of regeneration:

“Regeneration, like redemption and justification, is an aspect of God’s full salvation. Redemption and justification solve our problem with God and reconcile us to God; regeneration enlivens us with God’s life, bringing us into a relationship of life, an organic union, with God.”

When we are saved, or regenerated, by believing into Christ, we receive God Himself into our human spirit as life. Our human spirit is born of the divine Spirit. In this way, being born again is to receive a life other than the human life we received by our natural birth. And this other life is the divine life of God.

How can someone be born again?

Being born again is very simple; it does not require us to turn over a new leaf, but rather to repent, that is, to turn our heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, and to believe in all He’s done for us. We can do this by praying a genuine, honest, and simple prayer like this:

“Lord Jesus, I need You. I believe into You. I receive You right now as my life.”

If you’ve ever prayed such a prayer to the Lord, you were born again with Christ in you as your new life. You have been born into God’s kingdom!

The incorruptible seed—the living and abiding word of God

First Peter 1:23 says this about being born again:

“Having been regenerated not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, through the living and abiding word of God.”

Note two on this verse in the Recovery Version explains the word “seed”:

“A seed is a container of life. The word of God, as the incorruptible seed, contains God’s life. Hence, it is living and abiding. Through this word we were regenerated. It is God’s living and abiding word of life that conveys God’s life into our spirit for our regeneration.”

When we heard someone speak God’s Word to us, and we believed, we were born of the life that was conveyed to us. Praise the Lord! This should encourage us to speak the living word of God to others because when we do, His word can convey life to them for their regeneration.

What should we do after we’re born again?

Just as with our physical birth, once we’ve been born again by the divine life, we can’t be unborn. We needn’t worry or be afraid that we’ll lose the divine life we received at our regeneration. We simply need to move forward by growing in that life day by day.

At birth, a baby’s primary needs are to breathe and eat. A newborn doesn’t need teachings or textbooks; it needs air and nourishment. These aspects of life cause the child to grow spontaneously, without any striving or effort. The baby simply breathes, eats, and grows.

It’s the same with our spiritual birth. After being born again, we need to nourish this new life in our spirit for it to grow. We can breathe by praying, drink by calling on the Lord’s name, and be nourished by spending time in the Word and starting our day with the Lord. When we take care of our spiritual breathing, drinking, and eating, the divine life within us will grow, and we will more and more express God in the everyday details of our lives.

In the physical realm we need to spend time daily to obtain physical nourishment by eating physical food. How much more time we need to spend to obtain spiritual nourishment by eating the spiritual food. According to the present situation nearly all Christians know how to study, memorize, meditate, and search the Scriptures for knowledge, but very few know how to come to the Word of God to enjoy the Lord and to receive spiritual nourishment.

As people who have God living within us, we need to set aside some time each day to come to the Word of God to enjoy Him, to feed upon Him, and to receive spiritual nourishment.”

From Basic Elements of the Christian Life, vol. 2 by Witness Lee and Watchman Nee (mass-distribution ed., p. 7). Bibles for America gives this book away for free. You can order your free copy on our order page. You can also download a free PDF version here.

But knowing the reasons for handing ourselves over to the Lord may not be enough for us to take the action of consecrating ourselves. We have to see something more concerning the underlying basis for our giving ourselves to the Lord. We also have to see what can motivate us to consecrate ourselves willingly to the Lord. If we see these two things, our consecration will not be a dry or forced act based merely on knowing it’s good for us. It will be a sweet exercise of our hearts towards the Lord Jesus.

The basis of our consecration

If you were to buy a book from the store, paying the stated price for it, it would belong fully and legally to you. But if the book could talk, it might argue with you: “What are you doing? What right do you have to take me with you? I don’t want to belong to you. I’d rather belong to myself. I want to stay with the other books here.”

What would you say? You would tell the book, “I paid for you. Based on that, you now belong to me.” The book would have no choice but to go with you. You’re the rightful owner now with full authority over the book.

Do we realize that we have a “rightful owner”? Our owner is the Lord Himself. He became our owner with full authority over us, at great cost to Himself. Two verses clearly state this:

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price. So then glorify God in your body.” (1 Cor. 6:19-20)

“For whether we live, we live to the Lord, and whether we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” (Rom. 14:8)

Furthermore, our Lord Jesus paid the price to redeem us not with something He simply had, not with something objective or apart from Himself. He paid the price with nothing less than His own precious blood:

“Knowing that it was not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, that you were redeemed from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers, but with precious blood, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot, the blood of Christ.” (1 Pet. 1:18-19)

Now, because He gave His life to purchase us, we belong to Christ, and He legally owns us.

But although we belong to Him, the Lord still waits for us to take the action of handing ourselves over to Him willingly. He would never force us. He wants us to choose Him, but He gave us a free will. Unlike the example of the book, we are living beings, not inanimate objects, and can determine what we do.

This is why it’s crucial for us to see that, in fact, we are no longer our own. We belong to the One who purchased us. If we see and appreciate all the Lord did to gain us, we’ll recognize His rights over us. We’ll pray, “Lord Jesus, thank You for paying the price of Your own precious blood for me! Thank You, Lord, I no longer belong to myself. I belong to You! You paid the highest price of Your own blood for me! I recognize Your full rights over me. So Lord, I give myself to You. I hand myself over to You.”

The solid basis for consecrating ourselves to the Lord is His purchase of us. We are no longer our own.

The motivating factor of our consecration

We may see the solid, objective basis for consecration, but we may not be touched by it in our heart. We may acknowledge God’s rights over us because Christ purchased us with His blood on the cross, but we may do so in a begrudging way. So what can cause us to give ourselves willingly, even lovingly, to the Lord?

Besides the fact of God’s legal right over us, there also exists an irresistible force that has motivated people throughout the centuries to give their all to Christ. That irresistible force is the love of God. When His love comes to us, we can’t help but yield in consecration to the Lord.

We clearly see the poured out love of God in our Lord’s giving up His own life for us. We were worthy of nothing but judgment. Yet God in His Son, Jesus Christ, came to this earth and suffered a death on the cross we simply cannot imagine—all in love for us.

If we read in the Bible the account of the Lord’s life and especially His death on the cross for us, we will be touched in the depths of our being with the love of Christ. As we consider the Lord and what He did for us, we’ll say with Paul,

“The love of Christ constrains us because we have judged this, that One died for all, therefore all died.” (2 Cor. 5:14)

His love, so tender yet so mighty, so gentle yet so relentless, constrains and moves us. It motivates us to spontaneously give ourselves to Him. Our presenting ourselves to Him is no longer simply because we recognize His rights over us. It’s also our loving response to His love for us.

When we taste the love of Christ and are brought to see His preciousness, no one needs to exhort us to present ourselves to the Lord. We’ll spontaneously find ourselves telling the Lord, perhaps even in tears, “Lord, I am worthy of nothing. Yet in Your love You suffered and died on the cross for me. Lord, what love is this! It’s beyond my understanding! I love You, dear Lord. I give myself to You, all I have and all I am.”

So the solid basis of our consecration is God’s ownership of us, and the motivating factor of our consecration is God’s constraining love. When we taste the love of God, we can’t help but respond in love to Him.

The words of this hymn express the sweet experience of being constrained by the Lord’s love to give our all to Him.

“Thy mighty love, O God, constraineth me,
As some strong tide it presseth on its way,
Seeking a channel in my self-bound soul,
Yearning to sweep all barriers away.

Shall I not yield to that constraining power?
Shall I not say, O tide of love, flow in?
My God, Thy gentleness hath conquered me,
Life cannot be as it hath hither been.

Break through my nature, mighty, heavenly love,
Clear every avenue of thought and brain,
Flood my affections, purify my will,
Let nothing but Thine own pure life remain.

Thus wholly mastered and possessed by God,
Forth from my life, spontaneous and free,
Shall flow a stream of tenderness and grace,
Loving, because God loved, eternally.”

(You can hear the music here: http://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/431.)

May the Lord open our eyes to see the precious price He paid to purchase us and that we belong to Him. And may we be constrained by the love of Christ and experience the sweetness of handing ourselves over to Him.

You can read more about consecration in Chapter 4, “Consecration,” in Lessons for New Believers, by Witness Lee, in this free online library. The book Consecration by the same author is also an excellent resource.

Note 1 on Son of Man: “The high priest asked the Lord if He was the Son of God, but He answered with ‘the Son of Man.’ In His temptation He had answered the devil in the same way (4:4 and note 2). The Lord was the Son of Man on the earth before His crucifixion, has been the Son of Man in the heavens at the right hand of God since His resurrection (Acts 7:56), and will be the Son of Man even at His coming back on the clouds. To accomplish God’s purpose and to establish the kingdom of the heavens, the Lord had to be a man. Without man, God’s purpose could not be carried out on earth, nor could the kingdom of the heavens be constituted on earth.”

Cross-reference “b” on Son of Man directs us to one related verse:

Acts 7:56—“And he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

The verse, note, and cross-reference are from the Recovery Version, published by Living Stream Ministry. The Recovery Version outlines, footnotes, and cross-references were all prepared by Witness Lee. Bibles for America gives away the New Testament Recovery Version for free. You can order your free copy on our order page.

It’s the same with us believers. Our being saved and born again with the life of God is truly wondrous and joyful. But it’s not a conclusion. Our regeneration is only the beginning of our spiritual journey. And just as babies need to grow and develop, we Christians need to move forward step by step.

After we’re regenerated, the next step in our spiritual, life-long journey is to present, or give, ourselves to the Lord. This is to consecrate ourselves to Him.

What does “consecration” mean?

The word consecration isn’t a commonly used word, but even so, we might have an existing concept about what it means. In religion, the word consecration has been used in relation to the official ordaining of a person to be a preacher, a priest, or a missionary. This use implies consecration is for a special category of people.

But the consecration revealed in the New Testament is for every believer in Christ. It’s not something only for knowledgeable Christians or spiritually mature ones. In fact, as we’ll see, we cannot subjectively know the life of Christ in us or reach spiritual maturity without consecrating ourselves to the Lord. This is because consecration is the basis for every spiritual experience.

So what is consecration? Consecration is our giving ourselves to the Lord to become “a living sacrifice,” as Paul says in Romans 12:1:

“I exhort you therefore, brothers, through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.”

In the Old Testament, a sacrifice was something set apart for God by being put on the altar. When people offered that thing to God, it no longer belonged to the one offering it. It belonged to God, for His use and His satisfaction.

Today, when we consecrate ourselves to the Lord, we become a living sacrifice. We give up our own claims on ourselves and put ourselves completely in His hands. Previously, our life was for our use and our satisfaction; now it is for His.

When we present ourselves to the Lord as a living sacrifice, we’re simply saying, “Lord Jesus, I am for You. I’m no longer for myself, the world, or anything else. I am for Your use and Your satisfaction.”

Now we need to ask, How important is it for us to present ourselves to the Lord? Does it matter whether we do or don’t?

Four reasons why we should consecrate ourselves to the Lord

1. So we can walk in the Lord’s way

Before we were saved, we walked in our own way, made our own decisions, and chose our own direction. But after we’re saved, God wants us to walk in His way, follow Him, and be led by Him. But if we don’t give ourselves to Him, how can we know what His way is? How can He lead us? Consecrating ourselves to Him keeps us in His way and saves us from taking our own way. We can pray, “Lord, I don’t want to make my own decisions or take my own way. I want to be kept in Your way. So Lord Jesus, I give myself to You.”

2. So we can grow in life

With any physical life, after birth comes growth. In the same way, when Christ comes into us His intention is for His divine life in us to grow. But any kind of life, even the divine life of Christ in us, needs the proper environment and opportunity to grow.

Our surrendering ourselves to Him provides the best opportunity for His life to grow in us. As we surrender every part of our being and every aspect of our lives to Him, we give His life the best opportunity to grow in us.

Whether or not we give ourselves to the Lord makes a big difference in our experience of Christ. When we keep ourselves in our own hands without consecrating ourselves to the Lord, we may not feel certain things are wrong, and we’re unable to tell whether or not something is of God. Our lack of consecrating ourselves to the Lord hinders the life within. The life in us simply doesn’t function that well because it doesn’t have the opportunity to grow or develop.

But when we surrender ourselves to the Lord, we provide the best opportunity for His life to grow and develop in us. Spontaneously, we can sense what is pleasing to Him and what is not, what is of God and what is not. This sensation comes from the functioning of God’s divine life in us. Our consecration is what activates this life function that gives us the sense of God’s life in us. As we go along with and obey God by this sense, we grow in the divine life in a real and practical way.

3. So God can work in us

Before we can go and work for God, God needs to work in us. Even though we’re saved, we all have to admit that He still has much work to do in us to conform our thoughts, feelings, decisions, and inner disposition—our whole being—to the image of His Son.

God is surely omnipotent, but in His relationship with us, He is not a dictator. He respects our human will and doesn’t force His work on us. He wants and needs our consent in order to work freely in us. Our consecration is our consent.

Since God will only work in us if we allow Him do so, this explains how a person can be genuinely saved for years and yet have little to no growth in the divine life, and little real change in their being. God will wait until we give Him the permission to work Himself into us for His purpose.

So instead of letting our time slip away or resisting His work in us, we can pray to Him, “Lord, I give You permission to work in me. I offer myself willingly to You. Lord, I open the door of my heart to You. Come into each room of my heart and conform me to Your dear Person in every way.”

4. To enjoy the riches of God’s salvation

God’s salvation is full of riches. It includes being saved from eternal perdition, certainly, but God’s salvation encompasses so much more. When we were saved, God blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ. The divine life, Christ’s perfect humanity and living, His effective death, His powerful resurrection, His victory over Satan, His ascension over all things—all are ours. But without consecrating ourselves to Him, we have no way to enter into the enjoyment of all of these blessings. We have them in fact, but for us to enjoy them in our daily lives, we must consecrate ourselves to God.

In this respect, consecration is like a gate or a door. To enter into a building, we must go through a door. If we don’t, no matter what wonderful thing awaits us on the other side, we can’t enjoy or participate in it. It’s there, but we’re on the outside. Consecration is the door for us to enter through to enjoy all the riches of God’s salvation. When we give ourselves to the Lord, He will lead us in our experience into the enjoyment of the rich blessings of God’s full salvation.

We can pray, “Lord, I don’t just want to know about the riches of Your salvation; I want to enjoy them. So Lord, here I am. I give myself to You fully. I belong to You. Lead me by Your Spirit into the experience and enjoyment of all You have for me in Your salvation.”

Take the next step

If we’re saved, we’ve taken the initial step of our spiritual journey. Thank the Lord for that! But we’ve only just begun. The next step for us is to consecrate ourselves to the Lord. When we do, we’ll be kept in God’s way, grow in His life, allow God to work in us, and enjoy the riches of His full salvation.

Whether we’re newly saved or we’ve been saved for a while, every one of us can give ourselves to the Lord. Even if we never heard of consecration, we can still present ourselves to the Lord right now. He is happy and willing to receive our consecration at any time!

In a subsequent post, we’ll cover further points on this important matter of consecration; we hope you’ll read and enjoy that one also.

If you’d like to read more about consecration, we recommend Chapter 4 of Lessons for New Believers, by Witness Lee, in this free online library.

From Basic Elements of the Christian Life, vol. 1 by Witness Lee and Watchman Nee (mass-distribution ed., pp. 14-15). Bibles for America gives this book away for free. You can order your free copy on our order page. You can also download a free PDF version here.

Before we were saved, every one of us had a past life. We committed many sins, and our life as unbelievers included things that weren’t pleasing to God. But praise the Lord, when we’re born again, the blood of Christ washes away our sins. All of our sins are forgiven and forgotten by God.

Before God, we are justified, saved from condemnation, and freed from our sins. But in our practical daily life, are we free from our past? Or do things from our past life still cling to us and hinder our walk with the Lord? For us to be free to go on in our Christian life, these hindering things from our former life need to be cleared away.

Why do we need to clear up our past life?

The foundation of our salvation is grace. Because the Lord Jesus shed His blood, we are forgiven for every evil thing of our past. God cleansed away every trace of our former sins. We don’t have to be bothered by what we did or who we were before we were saved. We must be very clear about this.

But when we’re saved, we’re not only forgiven; we also become a new person, part of God’s new creation. From that point on, we begin a new life and we should have a new living. If we remain in our old way of life, we are hindered from experiencing a new start and going on in Christ. Things of our past life will drag us down and hold us back. We need to put an end to those things and stop their further influence in order to progress in the Christian life.

So how do we go about putting an end to things from our past life?

The feeling in our conscience

One of the first things that happens after we believe is that our conscience is awakened. Previously, our conscience was somewhat dull and in some cases, even dormant. Things that didn’t bother us before are now brought to light as sinful, worldly, unrighteous, or inappropriate. This is because our newly awakened conscience functions so we can perceive right from wrong. Without having to consult with others, we know what’s wrong in our living and what’s displeasing to God.

For example, perhaps we previously used crude language, and even took the Lord’s name in vain, without feeling like anything was wrong. But after we were saved, we began to have an uneasy feeling whenever we would speak this way. This feeling comes from our conscience, and if we go along with it by ceasing to use such language, we will feel peaceful, and this matter will not be one of the things that holds us back.

This is a normal experience that comes from being saved. If we remain in something improper from before we believed, we have an uneasy or frustrated feeling. We have the feeling that we need to put an end to something to be able to go forward in our Christian life. The way we deal with the past is by going along with that feeling.

The New Testament gives us examples of what a believer must terminate from the past in order to grow in the life of Christ. These examples help to sensitize our conscience and make us aware of some of the things the Lord might shine on in our living.

Idols and idolatrous things

The first and most important thing we should rid ourselves of is any idol or object related to an idol. First Thessalonians 1:9 says, “You turned to God from the idols to serve a living and true God.”

Idols are lifeless images that are worshipped in place of the living and true God. God cannot tolerate idols. For us to hold onto an idol is a serious matter. Our God is a jealous God who wants us to worship and love Him, the unique living and true God, alone.

We may think we don’t have a problem with idols because we never bowed down to one. But even possessing an idol for any reason or having an inclination in our heart toward one is objectionable to God. The apostle John warned the believers in 1 John 5:21 by saying, “Little children, guard yourselves from idols.”

Our dealing with idols must be decisive and absolute. It’s not sufficient just to put it away, out of sight, in a closet somewhere. To be free from their effect, idols must be destroyed, not even sold or given away. Objects related to idols, such as things pertaining to superstition, fortune telling, horoscopes, and religious icons, also need to be completely eradicated from our lives.

We must forsake anything related to idols immediately and thoroughly after we believe in Christ. But sometimes idols may not be obvious to us. Even if you believe you do not have any idols around you, you can take a moment to ask the Lord for His feeling.

“Lord Jesus, I don’t want to have any idols in my home or heart. I love You and I don’t want to be near any idol. Lord, show me if I have any idols or things related to idols that You want me to remove from my life.”

Improper objects and filthy things

Perhaps we don’t have idols, horoscopes, or superstitious things in our home, but we possess something improper from our old life.

Acts 19:19-20 gives an account of people in the city of Ephesus immediately after they believed in Christ:

“And a considerable number of those who practiced magic brought their books together and burned them before all; and they counted up the price of them and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver. Thus, the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.”

What caused these believers to do such a thing? What made them realize their magic books, which were of great monetary value, were improper and demonic and needed to be burned?

No one told them, “Now that you are saved, you must destroy these books.” They took this action not because of an outward commandment but because of the inward work of the Holy Spirit who lived in them. Their salvation experience was dynamic, motivating them to forsake and burn wicked books that were once precious to them. They would not even sell them. They had a firm, freeing, absolute separation from them. And the result of their actions was that the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.

This account of the Ephesian believers shows us that improper objects that are sinful or filthy—pornographic material; indecent clothing; gambling paraphernalia; items related to drug and alcohol abuse; improper books and pictures; and things related to witchcraft and magic—should all be destroyed. A thorough clearance of even the remnants of an ungodly life will release us from the hold of our past.

“Lord Jesus, make me clear. Make my conscience sensitive. Shine on anything improper or filthy in my life, Lord. Help me rid myself of these things so I can go on with You in an unhindered way!”

Repaying debts and making restitution

Luke 19:2-8 records the story of Zaccheus, a tax collector who met the Lord Jesus as He passed through Jericho. As soon as the Lord spoke to Zaccheus and told him that He would come to stay in his house, Zaccheus said to the Lord, “Behold, the half of my possessions, Lord, I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore four times as much.”

As soon as he met the Lord Jesus, Zaccheus was instantly convicted of his sins, especially of extorting money from people, and professed his desire to repay them fourfold and give half of all he had to the poor. Again, the Lord didn’t command him to do this. Zaccheus was saved in such a genuine and living way that he instantly knew what he should do to clear up his former dishonest way of living.

Zaccheus’ declaration was the spontaneous result of his having received the Lord Jesus as his Savior. Even the amount he repaid—four times as much—was the result of the Lord’s life within him, not of an outward regulation or command. The divine life within Zaccheus motivated him to clear up his past in this particular way.

Restoring to others what we owe them should also be an outflow of the divine life within us, as it was with Zaccheus. The leading of the Spirit within us makes us conscious of what we need to repay and to whom. Perhaps we need to repay money we borrowed from someone long ago, or perhaps we need to return items to our workplace. If we allow the Spirit to speak to us, we’ll be clear about what we need to deal with and how to do it.

We can seek the Lord concerning how to repay our debts, trusting Him to help us make things right.

“Lord, work in me. I don’t want anything wrongfully acquired in my possession. If I owe anything to anyone, show it to me and lead me how to repay them.”

If after praying we’re unclear about how to practically make restitution for something we wrongfully acquired, we can seek fellowship with someone who is more experienced in the Lord.

Our former manner of life

Ephesians 4:22 says:

“That you put off, as regards your former manner of life, the old man, which is being corrupted according to the lusts of the deceit.”

Our former manner of life is a broad area that refers to how we previously conducted ourselves in every aspect of our daily living. It encompasses things like the people we associated with, our way of speaking, how we dressed, places we went, how we spent our time, our relationships with people, how we spent our money, and so on.

After we’re saved, our whole way of living needs to have a change from what it was before.

If we open to the Lord and ask Him to shine His light, we’ll realize many things in our living are unbefitting for a child of God. For example, perhaps we wore certain kinds of clothing before we became a Christian, but after we believed into Christ and became one with Him, we feel uneasy about wearing them. In that case, we should go along with this feeling, which is the Lord within us, and either alter the clothing or replace it with something else.

The new life of Christ within us wants us to have a new living that corresponds with Him. We need to ask the Lord to tell us what areas in our living He wants us to deal with. He may speak to us about certain things we used to do, places we used to go, music we used to listen to, and many other things.

As He speaks to us, we need to respond to Him by getting rid of what displeases Him, discontinuing certain practices and activities of our former life, and having a change in the way we live now that we’re saved people.

Not a matter of regulation outwardly but of the new life inwardly

Dealing with things of our past isn’t a matter of fulfilling an outward regulation. It’s a matter of being sensitive and obedient to God’s life within us. We can’t find direct teachings in the Bible related to the clearance of our past, but we do have clear examples of it in the Scripture passages used above, and many others.

Now that we know we need to clear up the things of our old living, what should we do? The best thing to do is to bring this matter to the Lord Himself. We don’t need to take it upon ourselves to dig up things we think might be a problem. The One we received as our Savior is living, real, and full of feeling. He is also very definite and specific with us. We can open our hearts to Him and ask Him to point out the improper things that may still be present in our living.

“Lord Jesus, thank You for saving me. I want to have a free way to grow in You and walk with You. Lord, touch any improper thing in my living that hinders my going on with You. Shine on it, and help me remove any such thing completely from my life!”

The Lord Jesus lives inside us and wants His life to grow in us. Surely He will answer this prayer. We don’t have to remain in the former things and be held back from enjoying Christ and growing in Him. He will reveal what impedes us in our Christian walk. By cooperating with the Lord to deal with our past, we can go on and experience Christ every day.

If you’d like to read more about terminating the past, we recommend Chapter 3 of Lessons for New Believers, by Witness Lee, in this free online library.

Note 4 on renewing of the mind: “After presenting our body, we need to have our mind renewed. The renewing of the mind, which results from setting the mind on the spirit (8:6), is the base for the transformation of our soul. Our mind is the leading part of our soul, and as it is renewed, our will and emotion automatically follow to be renewed also. To be renewed means that a new element is wrought into our being. This produces an inward metabolic transformation, making us suitable for the building up of the Body of Christ, which is the practice of the church life. All the virtues and the overcoming in chs. 12—16 also are the results of this transformation.”

Cross-reference “d” on renewing of the mind directs us to two related verses:

Ephesians 4:23—“And that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind.”

Titus 3:5—“Not out of works in righteousness which we did but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.”

The verse, note, and cross-references are from the Recovery Version, published by Living Stream Ministry. The Recovery Version outlines, footnotes, and cross-references were all prepared by Witness Lee. Bibles for America gives away the New Testament Recovery Version for free. You can order your free copy on our order page.

It’s normal for us to want to serve Him. So we ask God questions like, “What do You want me to do for You?” “Lord, what should I do to serve You?” and “How can You use me?”

How God created us

The trouble with these kinds of questions is they suggest God created us primarily for the purpose of our doing something for Him. Actually, the desire of God’s heart when He created mankind wasn’t for us to do something for Him. What God deeply desired was that He would be joined to us and that we would be filled with Him.

God created human beings as vessels

The first thing we have to consider actually isn’t what we should do, but how we were made. The Bible tells us that God made us human beings as vessels.

Romans 9:23

“In order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He had before prepared unto glory.”

What is a vessel? A vessel is a receptacle; it’s meant to hold something. In fact, its sole purpose for existing is to contain something. That’s why it was made.

God, the divine Potter, created us human beings as vessels to contain Him. We exist to contain God Himself.

The Bible shows us that God wants a relationship with human beings that is subjective and intimate. He gains this by coming into them and being joined with them. From the very beginning, God’s intention was for mankind to have His divine life and enjoy all that He is. Through this, we would live a life that expresses Him.

No longer empty vessels

If a vessel is empty, the purpose for which it was made remains unfulfilled. This explains why before we were saved we felt so empty and purposeless. Without the life of God in us, our reason for our existence was unrealized.

But when we believed in Christ, the purpose of our existence as vessels was fulfilled: we received Christ as the life-giving Spirit into our spirit! He came into us, and now He’s living in us as our content. Praise God, we’re no longer empty vessels!

Not what is done but who is doing it

Sometimes, however, even though we have Christ living in us, we forget about Him and live as though He’s not there. For example, we may decide to do a particular thing because when we consider it, it seems like a good thing to do. This is actually doing things by ourselves and according to our own judgment, rather than living by Christ in us.

In contrast to this, take a look at 2 Corinthians 4:7:

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of us.”

Footnote 2 in the Recovery Version explains, “This treasure, the indwelling Christ, in us, the earthen vessels, is the divine source of the supply of the Christian life.”

Christ died and resurrected not only to redeem us, but also to indwell us to be the divine source of our Christian life. He is now united and joined to us in a very personal, subjective way. Since He lives in us, He doesn’t want us to serve Him according to our well-meaning intentions, good ideas, and natural energy. When we do, we’re apart from Him. Instead, He wants us to serve according to Him, the Christ who lives in us. When we serve that way, the excellency of the power is truly of God and not of us.

To see this means we realize it’s not so much what is being done for God but who is doing it that’s important. Christ wants to be the One doing things with us and through us.

Our tendency is to pray, “Lord, what do you want me to do for You?” But what would make Him happier is if we were to pray, “Lord, what are You doing? What do You want to do in me and through me? I don’t want to do good things that are for You, yet do them apart from You. I want to be one with You. Lord, be my source in all my serving.”

How can we experience Him as our divine source?

Our initial receiving of Christ as our content was once and for all. Thank the Lord, nothing can undo or change this fact! We are saved eternally and can never lose the treasure of Christ in us.

But, for Christ to be the source of our living and doing in actuality, we need to enjoy Him as the treasure every day. Then we’ll be one with Him in our living and serving.

Staying open to receive

The most crucial thing for a vessel is to be open. If it’s covered with a lid or closed up, it can’t receive anything. To receive and enjoy more of Christ freshly every day, we vessels have to be uncovered and open.

Sins, for example, can become like a lid, covering us and keeping us from receiving and enjoying more of Christ. To get rid of this lid, we can simply confess our sins to Him and be cleansed with His precious blood. Then, we will again have a free way to enjoy the wonderful treasure in us.

At other times, our hearts may become cold toward the Lord. We get preoccupied with things other than the Lord, our hearts turn away from Him, and we become closed to Him. But we can turn back to Him by simply calling upon His dear name. As we call, our hearts are warmed up and opened to Him again, and we can receive more of Christ as our content.

Sometimes we intentionally close our heart to Him when He touches a specific matter in our heart that we don’t want Him to touch. Instead of remaining in a closed state, unable to receive or enjoy the Lord, we can pray a simple prayer to Him like this: “Lord, I open to You again. I open my heart to You. I don’t want any part of my heart to be closed to You. I want to receive You and enjoy You as my life.” As we pray this way, we experience His grace with us, and we receive more of Him.

Taking time daily to receive freshly

By taking time daily to receive and enjoy Christ in His Word and by prayer, we give Him the proper place in our lives as our source. When we pay attention to Christ in us, letting Him speak to us and lead us concerning what He wants to do in and through us, our serving will be in oneness with Him. He will be the one serving in us and through us.

Then our serving will be pleasing to God, whether it’s preaching the gospel, caring for younger believers, ministering to the needy, leading a Bible study, praying for others, or anything else.

God is happy when we serve Him by being one with the Christ who lives in us. And, as vessels fulfilling our purpose, we are too.

“Thank You, Lord Jesus, for creating me as a vessel to contain You as my treasure. Lord, thank You for coming into me and wanting me to be one with You. Thank You, Lord, that I can open to You to receive more of You and enjoy You as my content. Keep me in oneness with You so my life will issue in something pleasing to You. I give myself to be open to You to receive your fresh filling each day.”