THE LORD’S FILLING REQUIRING OUR COOPERATION

God created us in His own image so that we would be His expression (Gen. 1:26). We are God’s vessels to contain Him so that He may be expressed through us (Rom. 9:23). God chose us and predestinated us before the foundation of the world so that we would be conformed to the image of His Son (Eph. 1:4-5; Rom. 8:29). At a certain point in time the Lord called us. Then we believed, began to call on His name, and prayed, “Lord, I am a sinner. Thank You for dying for me on the cross. O Lord! I am weak, and I need You to rescue me.” Whether we called on Him or prayed, the Lord Jesus entered into us. When the Lord came into us, He filled us in our human spirit.

After being saved, the filling of the Holy Spirit involves the Lord’s filling every part of our being. Since we are vessels of God, the Lord desires to fill us completely. On the day that we first called on His name, the day we were saved, His desire was to enter into us in order to fill us completely. However, we were not ready for such a complete filling, because there were many other things that filled us. The Lord Jesus, however, is very accommodating. He will fill whatever space we are willing to give to Him. He will occupy whatever part of our being that we give to Him. If we do not want to open to Him, there is not much that He can do, because He depends on us. His desire is to occupy us, but we are reluctant to cooperate with Him. It therefore takes a long time for Him to fill every part of our being. He desires to enter into us and occupy our whole being; [167] hence, we were created to be His vessels. However, this requires our cooperation. This cooperation is our consecration.

REMOVING THREE LAYERS THAT OCCUPY US

Without our cooperation, the Lord has no way to occupy us, because there are too many things within us. Some of the things within us are filthy, evil, or corrupt thoughts and covetous intentions. We all have such thoughts and intentions; no one is absolutely without them. Some people have more evil thoughts and intentions, and others have less. This is the first category of things that occupy us. The second category of things that occupy us is not evil, but the things in this category usurp us. These things include our future, education, jobs, and relationships with others. Although these things cannot be considered evil, they usurp us and occupy us. We should be occupied by the Lord, but these other things continue to occupy us.

There is a third category of things that occupy us. This category consists of what we are: our person, personality, self, old man, and ego. If we can still say that we want this or do not want that, our consecration is not thorough. We are still filled with the “I”; we are still the person. These three layers usurp us: sinful things, the world, and the self.

Once we believe in the Lord, we are saved, and the Lord enters into us. However, the Lord has not yet filled our inner being because of these three layers of things within us. The first layer consists of sins, the second layer consists of things other than the Lord, and the third layer is the self. In other words, these things fill us up; we are filled with sins, the world, and the self. Consecration is our willingness to give ourselves to the Lord and tell Him that we are willing to cooperate with Him to deal with our sins, to remove the things of the world, and to deal with our self, that is, that we want Him to be our person. This will enable the Lord to fill us.

HAVING DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES AFTER CONSECRATION

The experience of every believer after consecration differs. Some believers experience indescribable joy that causes them to be beside themselves. There is no need for others to encourage them to praise; they spontaneously praise the Lord. Other believers do not sense any change in themselves. The different experiences are not important. [168] What is important is whether or not we are consecrated. As long as we are, this is sufficient. After consecrating themselves to the Lord, some believers immediately experience an outpouring of the Holy Spirit; they are so full of joy that they can dance and praise the Lord with Hallelujahs. However, after a few months they may become cold and backslidden. Other believers do not have any such experiences after their consecration. But still the divine life begins to grow in a steady way within them.

PURSUING THE NORMAL GROWTH IN LIFE

Growth in life is not coincidental; it requires time. Suppose you plant carnation seeds in your garden. After two weeks the seeds will begin to sprout. If you look at the sprouts every day, you may not notice any growth. It would be unusual for a carnation seed that was planted today to blossom tomorrow. Life grows at a normal pace.

The growth of a child is similar. A child has a small stature when he is six or seven years old. However, after ten years he will grow to be a tall young man. This is not strange or miraculous, because he has been growing every day for ten years. He did not grow taller in one day. May we be willing to be the kind of Christian who grows normally every day according to life instead of growing miraculously overnight into husky men.

In my early years I appreciated it when believers became “crazy” after they consecrated themselves. Later, as I grew in life, I became cautious of such experiences, because they do not last long. They can be likened to going through a thunderstorm every day; they are difficult to endure. We need drizzle, not thunderstorms. Whenever necessary, the Lord will send us a timely “drizzle.” If it drizzles every day, the earth will flourish with green plants. I do not like to see “typhoon” or “thunderstorm” experiences of being revived. Thunderstorms do not last long, and they bring much damage and loss to the church. They are a problem for the elders. I hope that after our consecration, we will not become thunderstorms blowing in our localities. This would cause the churches to suffer a great loss.

I am not saying that we should not be beside ourselves. We would prefer that the saints be beside themselves rather than be dead. However, our being beside ourselves should not be like a thunderstorm. It should be from within. Our activities should be weighty, genuine, and serious; this should be the issue of a spiritual [169] reality. Our experience of the Lord can be likened to the rain. Sometimes His watering us is like showers of rain, like drizzling rain. Our precious experiences of the Lord will not be our experience of Him as thunderstorms but our experience of Him as showers of rain. This means that even though we may not feel different from day to day, the life within us is growing every day. This is precious.

BEING FILLED WITH THE LORD 
BY OBEYING HIS SPEAKING

To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to let the Lord occupy our whole being. It is also to fully open to the Lord. As a result, we are not the person; He is our person. The Lord is living in us; hence, He can touch something unclean in us. When He does, we should ask for His blood to cleanse us. We should say Amen to whatever He touches, even if it is not unclean. This is the way the Lord fills us. Sometimes, however, we are not obedient, and as a result, we do not experience the Lord’s filling. At other times we do not want to hear the Lord’s speaking. When He says that something is unclean, we are slow to obey, and we pretend that we have not heard Him.

This can be compared to a child who pretends that he does not hear what his mother is saying, because he does not want to obey her. We may even have a “spiritual” reason for not obeying the Lord. For example, rather than obeying Him to clear up a matter, we tell the Lord that we need to preach the gospel or pray.

When the Lord touches something, we should not question Him. We often question Him when we do not want to cooperate with Him. When He says that something is unclean, it is unclean. Nevertheless, we still ask Him why it is unclean. In reality, our asking is only our purposeful delaying.