Understand How Our Spirit Works: Will, Mind And Feelings

Series 15

Episode 5

Prologue

Brothers and sisters, we will continue with the message series on “Understand how our spirit works and be heart to heart with the Lord continuously.” Today’s topic is “Understand how our spirit works: will, mind and feelings.” We have a spirit, soul and body. In our spirit, there is will, mind, feelings, etc. Satan uses what we see with our eyes, and what we hear with our ears, to lure us away from the Lord. This includes using the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of this life. We need to use our will to choose the Lord. For example, we can choose to behold the Lord, to draw close to Him, to worship Him and to have fellowship with Him etc. More importantly, we need to guard our mind, because when we do so, we will improve, be transformed and uplifted.

Message

We need to understand ourselves; we have a spirit, soul and body. Of course we also need to know God, because that will help us to know ourselves as well. Understanding how our spirit works is very important because there is a battle between you and the enemy. In addition to relying on the Lord, you also need to understand how your body works, and how to use it properly. For instance, you could walk with your hands, but that might not be the smartest way to use your body.

You have free will in your spirit—an ability to make decisions freely. You are very clear of your choices. Moreover, our reasoning is in our mind, and I’m not going to discuss this in detail today. Besides, you also have feelings, senses and affection. You are not a person without feelings and affection, only sensing black and white. How should we make use of these? If we misuse these, we’ll surely be affected. Since God has given us our mind with all these qualities, we should use them appropriately. Moreover, this affects our spirit, too. You can also see how the enemy disturbs you.

Do you still remember what I shared before? In the Complete Plan diagram, on top is the cloud; in the middle, there is a triangle with “faith” “thought” and “action.” I’m not saying that love is unimportant. Love is extremely important, and it is the greatest. In this diagram, “love” is included in “action,” and there is a special function to express “love” via “action.” In addition, “hope” is included in “faith.” Hope is looking ahead with faith. Now that I’ve explained it and made it more comprehensive, I hope you can understand better. “Action” in fact is love. Love involves your mind and free will to choose. All these affect your feelings.

He says, “Seek.” Therefore, we need to cooperate. You want to overcome the desires of the flesh, but without actions, it’s impossible to succeed. You can’t just let the enemy beat you down; we are conquerors. Why should we let Satan defeat us? It doesn’t make sense. Satan is the loser and we are the conquerors. However, we cannot fight a battle in pajamas. The Bible tells us to put on the whole armour of God. (Ephesians 6:11) One of the items in the armour is faith: “…take up the shield of faith to extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.” (Ephesians 6:16)

Satan uses many poisonous schemes to attack your mind, such as filthy thoughts and many other fast approaching bad thoughts. Those thoughts do not come from you, but from the enemy. The Lord was once tempted: Satan even tried to persuade the Lord to worship him. Of course, this thought never crossed the Lord’s mind. Therefore, when the bad thoughts come to you, don’t think that they are your own. You can reject and ignore them. Those thoughts are not from you, because you dislike them, yet they continue to appear. When the Lord was on earth, He was also tempted by desires of the flesh and desires of the eyes. Satan asked the Lord to throw Himself down from a high place, so He could be seen. He was tempted in every aspect as we are, yet without sin.

Temptations are bad thoughts that try to lead you astray. Satan usually uses many worldly things, evil doctrines, and the flesh to arouse your desires. He does so through our mind. Why are there so many advertisements? They are to arouse your desires when you see the ads. For example, you see an ad about certain food, then there might be other thoughts to stir up your desire to eat that food. Satan uses these to arouse your desires of the flesh. This is where these thoughts come from. Sometimes, the thoughts might seem to come from nowhere. They might appear from something you saw in the past. Through your memory and past experience in the flesh, Satan stirs up your thoughts, and tempts you with those thoughts.

Let’s say you are in normal and good condition: you have the eyes of faith to count on the Lord, you are before Him, enjoying His provision, being heart to heart with Him. In this normal condition, you think of what pleases Him, you rely on Him, and walk out His words because you love Him. However, Satan can throw thoughts at you, like throwing darts. Through many worldly things and your memory, Satan can throw you off the normal state and attack you. The Holy Spirit constantly helps us to turn to the Lord, focus on Him, and reject these thoughts. He wants you to be attracted by the Lord and His precious love, so that you would live with Him.

Therefore you should use your will to choose what Paul told us to choose: the things that are above, things concerning the Lord, who is our center. I often remind you to behold the Lord. Having said that, I don’t mean you should just look at Him a few times a day and that’s it. Instead, you should get used to living with the Lord. If you are facing Him continuously, there’s no need to remind yourself to look at Him, because you are already heart to heart with Him, living before Him; you have not forgotten Him nor left Him. This is very good. Of course, there are times when you fully attend to Him: to have a date with Him, to practice anchor points, to sing and worship, and to read the Bible. These are special moments that you have fellowship with Him.

I wanted to direct your attention to two points. First is mind. We ought to guard and elevate our mind. Romans chapter 12 says, “But be transformed by the renewal of your mind…” (Romans 12:2) This is how you will be transformed. When your mind is filled with God’s words, and they replace the wrong concepts, you will be transformed. You will improve and experience glory upon glory when you are willing to accept, enter into, enjoy, and believe in God’s word. There is no other way to win if you don’t guard your mind. Be realistic! Will you be in good condition when you mind the things that are filthy, things God doesn’t want you to think, or things that affect your spirit negatively? Absolutely impossible! Next, we need to turn our eyes. A psalmist says, “Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things…” (Psalm 119:37) We have “windows,” which are our five senses, in particular, our eyes and ears. What you see and hear will greatly affect you, because they can evolve into tempting thoughts. I’m not saying that you can’t look at anything, as some of them are useful. For example, seeing God’s creation will help you. Psalm 121 says, “I lift up my eyes to the hills.” (Psalm 121:1) The Psalmist saw the Lord’s creation, which in turn affected his mind. We ought to make good use of His creation. You know what is good for your spirit, because the Holy Spirit will teach us everything. His anointing will guide us. (1 John 2:27) 

Series 15

Understand How Our Spirit Works And Be Heart To Heart With The Lord Continuously

Message Date: 2020-03-13

Faith is to “want” and to “rely on.” Only by faith can we enjoy God Himself. Nothing is more important than to abide in the Lord. When we abide in the Lord, we will surely experience that His word abides in us. The Lord is living in our hearts, and we live with Him; our spirits need continuous provision from Him. Therefore, we must be heart to heart with Him, rely on Him, and let Him be our life; and we must mind the things above. Also, we ought to know how our spirit works, including our will, mind, feelings and other aspects. Then, we will be able to overcome Satan’s disturbances, cooperate with the Holy Spirit, be attracted by the Lord and the truths, and live a life that is heart to heart with the Lord. Episode 1 We can only enjoy God by Faith Episode 2 His words abide in us Episode 3 Live with the Lord Episode 4 Seek the things that are above Episode 5 Understanding how our spirit works: will, mind and feelings Episode 6 Guard and uplift our mind Episode 7 Enjoy Christ who is our life Episode 8 Live according to the Holy Spirit, and He gives us life Episode 9 Understand how our spirit works and be heart to heart with the Lord continuously
1

We Can Only Enjoy God By Faith

2

His Words Abide In Us

3

Live With The Lord

4

Seek The Things That Are Above

5

Understand How Our Spirit Works: Will, Mind And Feelings

6

Guard And Uplift Our Mind

7

Enjoy Christ Who Is Our Life

8

Live According To The Holy Spirit, And He Gives Us Life

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Introduction

01 Introduction of Treasures for the Soul

Series 1: Being Heart to Heart with the Lord

1.1 The Most Blessed Generation
1.2 Message from John the Baptist
1.3 Abide in the Lord Always
1.4 Abide in the Lord’s Love at All Times
1.5 The Lord Speaks to Us and Helps Us in Our Hearts

Series 2: Being Heart to Heart with the Lord Throughout this Year

2.1 God’s Greatest Work Starts in Our Hearts
2.2 To Be Heart to Heart with the Lord Throughout the Year
2.3 Our Spirits can Feel God and Have Fellowship with Him
2.4 The Importance of Peace
2.5 Our Spirits Need the Words of God
2.6 Give the Lord Time and Space to Speak in Our Hearts

Series 3: Let Our Hearts be Influenced

3.1 The World Needs People Who Deeply Experience God
3.2 Just as His Anointing 
Has Taught You, 
Abide in the Lord
3.3 Be Influenced 
by the Lord Throughout 
this Year

Series 4: The Importance of Peace

4.1 Enjoying God’s Peace in Your heart
4.2 Let Not Your Hearts be Troubled, Neither Let Them be Afraid.
4.3 How Should Our Spirit Respond to the Lord?

Series 5: Our Spirit Being Able to Enjoy the Lord

5.1 Our Spirit is Satisfied Only When We Worship God and Deeply Experience Him
5.2 How to Worship God with Our Spirit
5.3 Looking at the Lord with our Inner Eyes
5.4 Our Spirit Needs to Enjoy the Lord Himself
5.5 The Song of Solomon Often Mentions About “Eyes”
5.6 Realize Being Heart to Heart with the Lord in Singing and Worship

Series 6: Live out the Life of being Heart to Heart with the Lord

6.1 Living a life of union with the Lord in a stable pattern every day
6.2 Enjoying the Lord and not being disturbed
6.3 The Importance of Seeing Him with Our Spiritual Eyes

Series 7

7.1 Learn to Protect Our Spirits From Virus Prevention
7.2 Our Spirit Can Hear, Think, and See
7.3 How to Live a Life of Faith
7.4 The Importance of the Mind
7.5 David’s Eyes Beheld the Lord Always

Series 8: During the last supper, the Lord spoke about the essence of the blessings of the new covenant.

8.1 The Lord established with us the eternal love covenant by His blood
8.2 The Lord Treasures the New Covenant and Break-Bread Meeting the Most
8.3 Love Encounters
8.4 Before His Crucifixion, the Lord clearly explained the essence of the blessings of the new covenant: the fourth blessing
8.5 Before His Crucifixion, the Lord clearly explained the essence of the blessings of the new covenant: the first blessing (1)
8.6 Before His Crucifixion, the Lord clearly explained the essence of the blessings of the new covenant: the first blessing (2)

Series 16: We Have Come to Mount Zion and the Heavenly Jerusalem

16.1 See that the Lord is at the right hand of the Father
16.2 Coming to Mount Zion (1): the meaning of Mount Sinai
16.3 Coming to Mount Zion (2): the difficulty in forgiveness of sins
16.4 Coming to Mount Zion (3): to Live in Grace
16.5 Having Come to the Heavenly Jerusalem
16.6 What is in the heavenly Jerusalem (1)?

Series 9: Being Heart to Heart with the Father

9.1 Being Heart to Heart with Abba (Part 1)
9.2 Being Heart to Heart with Abba (Part 2)

Series 10

10.1 The Love Desire in the Depths of Abba and the Lord’s hearts
10.2 Fruit of the Lord’s Crucifixion: Eternal Life
10.3 The Lord Came to Manifest the Father’s Name
10.4 The Father Sent His Only Begotten Son
10.5 Reminders on enjoying heart to heart with the Father
10.6 The Father’s Desire for Me is Forever Steadfast

Series 11

11.1 The preciousness of the Letter to Philemon
11.2 The most profitable; the most accepted.
11.3 Charge That to My Account
11.4 The Father made the Lord our eternal High Priest by an oath (1)
11.5 The Father made the Lord our eternal High Priest by an oath (2)
11.6 We are the Lord’s darling love

Series 12

12.1 The Lord’s Words at the Last Supper
12.2 Apart from the Lord, we can do nothing.
12.3 What is true faith?
12.4 Look upon the Lord in glory
11.5 Trust and Peace (1)
12.6 Trust and Peace (2)

Series 13: The Lord’s Gentleness and Humility

13.3 The Lord’s Gentleness and Humility (Part 2)

Series 14: Manifold evidence

14.1 How does the infinite Lord see us?
14.2 We are the ultimate and final love of the Lord
14.3 The Lord is forever a Man; He once died for us
14.4 The Lord’s manifold love evidence (Part 1)
14.5 The Lord’s manifold love evidence Part 2

Series 15: Understand How Our Spirit Works And Be Heart To Heart With The Lord Continuously

15.1 We Can Only Enjoy God By Faith
15.2 His Words Abide In Us
15.3 Live With The Lord
15.4 Seek The Things That Are Above
15.5 Understand How Our Spirit Works: Will, Mind And Feelings
15.6 Guard And Uplift Our Mind

Series 17: Know that the Church is the Firstborn

17.1 Know that the church is the firstborn
17.2 The Blessing of the Firstborn (Part 1)
17.3 The Blessing of the Firstborn (Part 2)
17.4 The Lord redeemed us to be the firstborn (Part 1)
17.5 The Lord redeemed us to be the firstborn (Part 2)

Series 18: The Blessings to be the First Born

18.1 Israel is God’s Firstborn Son (Part 1)
18.2 Israel is God’s Firstborn Son (Part 2)
18.3 To be united with the Lord and become the Firstborn
18.4 The Lord is the Firstborn
18.5 The Blessing of the Firstborn: Kingship
18.6 The Blessing of the Firstborn: a Double Portion of the Blessings

Series 19: Coming to Mount Zion to Appear Before God

19.1 The Lord is the way, and the truth, and the life
19.2 Live in Grace. Enjoy the Father and the Lord
19.3 Mind the things that are above (1)
19.4 Mind the things that are above (2)
19.5 Appear before God in Mount Zion

Series 20: The final destination of our spirit and eternity is the heavenly Jerusalem

20.1 The Lord Desires Most for Us to Draw Near to Him (1)
20.2 The Lord Desires Most for Us to Draw Near to Him (2)
20.3 The Lord Becomes the Way so that We can Come Before God with Confidence
20.4 The Heavenly Jerusalem, Destination of Our Spirits and Eternity (1)
20.5 The Heavenly Jerusalem, Destination of Our Spirits and Eternity (2)

Series 21: Live Out the Life of the Firstborn: Be A Priest

21.1 The Father made the Lord the High Priest
21.2 Priesthood: One of the Blessings of the Firstborn
21.4 The Precedents of Priests in the Bible (2)

Series 22: When Believers Die, They Will Go to the Heavenly Jerusalem

22.1 The Heavenly Jerusalem is paradise (1)
The Heavenly Jerusalem is paradise (2)
The Spirits of the Righteous Made Perfect

Series 23: New Jerusalem is a real city

God has prepared a heavenly home for us
Is the heavenly new Jerusalem a real city?
Satan causes man not to be clear and assured about the things in heaven
Are physical substances not spiritual?
New Jerusalem is a real city (1)
New Jerusalem is a real city (2)

Series 24: God prepares for us

Genesis 22: Father and Son went together
Genesis 22: For us, the Father gave His only Son
Genesis 22: The Lord will provide
24.4 God’s preparation for us

Series 25: The Father and Son Affection

25.1 The Lord Came to Make Known the Father
25.2 The Father and Son Affection (Part 1)
25.3 The Father and Son Affection (Part 2)

Series 26: We are a royal priesthood

26.1 God who alone does wondrous things
26.2 The Lord is the High Priest
26.3 We are a royal priesthood (1)
26.4 We are a royal priesthood (2)
26.5 The life of a priest

Series 27: Who are you in the infinite one’s loving heart?

27.1 Meditate on who you are in the infinite Lord’s loving heart
27.2 Meditate on who you are in the infinite Lord’s loving heart (2)
27.3 Meditate on the infinite Lord’s words at the last supper

Series 28: The conclusion and climax of the book of Hebrews

28.1 Sing praises at Easter (1): The defeat of death
28.2 Sing praises at Easter (2): The risen Lord has swallowed up death
28.3 The important purpose of Hebrews and the help we get from it
28.4 Confirming the importance of drawing near to God

Series 29: How to behold

29.1 Behold the Father
29.2 See that God meets me in His steadfast love 
and exults over me with loud singing (1)
29.3 See that God meets me in His steadfast love and exults over me with loud singing (2)
29.4 See how the Lord loves us (1)
29.5 See how the Lord loves us (2)