Thursday

Related Verses
Psa. 119:140
140 Your word is very pure, And Your servant loves it.

Col. 2:19
19 And not holding the Head, out from whom all the Body, being richly supplied and knit together by means of the joints and sinews, grows with the growth of God.

1 Tim. 4:15
15 Practice these things; be in them, that your progress may be manifest to all.

Col. 2:19
19 And not holding the Head, out from whom all the Body, being richly supplied and knit together by means of the joints and sinews, grows with the growth of God.

Prov. 4:23
23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, For from it are the issues of life.

Matt. 4:17
17 From that time Jesus began to proclaim and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.

Psa. 12:6
6 The words of Jehovah are pure words, Silver refined in a furnace on the earth, Purified seven times.

John 17:17
17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.

Related Reading
The world is very mixed. But God’s word of reality sanctifies us and makes us pure…The more a person is in the word of God, the purer he becomes. A man who is not in God’s word but is in the world is complicated and impure…However, if we have God’s word within, this word with God’s reality will do a sanctifying work within us to separate us unto God, thus making us pure…The word of reality sanctifies us and delivers us from the mixed-up world, turning us back to the purity in God. (CWWL, 1990, vol. 2, “The Oneness and the One Accord according to the Lord’s Aspiration and the Body Life and Service according to His Pleasure,” pp. 71-72) 

—

Spiritual progress is the increase of the element of God in us…If we have made any progress in spiritual matters, then the element of God has increased in us. 

God’s goal is for man to become His vessel. As long as we are occupied by something other than God, and as long as we do not yield the proper place to God, we are fallen. 

Whether or not something is occupying God’s place in you is judged by whether you love God. Therefore, it is very easy to find the meaning of spiritual progress and the ways and means to spiritual progress. We have mentioned the positive aspect of spiritual progress, which is the increase of the element of God in us. Now let us look at the negative aspect of spiritual progress. Spiritual progress on the negative side is the shedding of certain things from us, that is, from our inner being. As soon as something is shed from us, we have spiritual progress. When something that usurps God’s place is shed from us, we have spiritual progress. 

The Lord said to the disciples, “Everyone of you who does not forsake all his own possessions cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:33). Some people forsake all things, only to pick them up again shortly. When the Lord Jesus spoke of forsaking all, He meant for it to be accomplished by the Spirit in us. Consequently, the work of the cross can only be executed by the Holy Spirit in us, and only then will things drop off…As long as our heart is open toward the Lord, the Spirit will execute the work of the cross in us. On the cross the Lord Jesus stripped away everything for us already. 

The extent of this decrease depends on the degree to which our heart is turned toward God. How we wish that something would be removed from us daily! This is dying daily. (CWWN, vol. 37, pp. 141-145) 

Though [Solomon] asked only for wisdom, God gave him, in addition to wisdom, also a large heart. First Kings 4:29 says, “God gave Solomon wisdom and very much understanding and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore.” It says that largeness of heart is like the sand on the seashore. A Chinese proverb speaks of the heart being as large as the capacity of the sea, but here the heart is as large as the sand on the seashore. The seashore encloses the sea. The Scriptures say that God has “set the sand as a boundary for the sea” (Jer. 5:22). Therefore, Solomon’s heart was larger than the sea. 

At the time when God gave Solomon wisdom, He also gave him a large heart. We have to know that all wise ones have large hearts, and everyone with a narrow heart is a foolish person. If you want to be a foolish person, let me teach you a way: simply make your heart small. In the same principle, if you enlarge your heart, you will become the wisest person. (CWWL, 1960, vol. 2, “The Elders’ Management of the Church,” p. 157) 

Further Reading: CWWL, 1960, vol. 2, “The Elders’ Management of the Church,” ch. 3