Spiritual judgment (2)
Exercising the spirit
Date:September 30, 1948
In the last chapter we saw the importance of judgment. In this chapter we will consider the importance of exercising our spiritual senses. In contacting others, we have to give them a chance to speak, and we have to learn to discern with our spirit. If a man does not open his mouth, it is hard to know him. It is rare that one can know others without first listening to them. Perhaps he can get an idea of the general nature of their spirit, but he will not be able to comprehend anything with understanding. Sometimes we know a person’s spirit is wrong, but we cannot say how it is wrong. In The Character of the Lord’s Worker, we pointed out that a worker must learn to listen; he must develop a habit before the Lord of listening to others. Even when others are pretending or drifting aimlessly, he still has to listen. If he does not develop a habit of listening to others, he cuts off all means of knowing them. We can know others only through listening to their words. We cannot force them to open their mouth, but once they do, God will provide us the opportunity to know them. The more talkative a person is, the easier it is to know him.
When others speak, we have to touch their spirit with our spirit. In the last chapter we spoke of five principles in judgment. Based on these five principles, we have to sense and know men by our spirit. A man’s spirit is expressed through his speaking. His speaking can never hide his spirit. As soon as he opens his mouth, his spirit comes out. When a man speaks, we have to listen to him on the one hand and touch him with our spirit on the other hand. The way a man speaks tells us about his spirit, and a man’s spirit tells us what kind of person he is. This is a fact. Therefore, when others speak, our spirit must be unoccupied, open, and pliable so that we can have a proper impression of others. In listening to others and in touching their spirit with our spirit, we have to pay attention to a few conditions.
Seven conditions of man
A proper spirit
When we listen to others and try to sense their spirit, we first have to find out whether or not they have a proper spirit. If our spirit is open, we will easily form an impression of them. Based on this impression, we will know within whether or not their spirit is proper. Some people are proper in words and wrong in motive. Some people are full of love in their speaking yet full of hatred in their spirit. Some people talk about gentleness with their mouth yet demonstrate nothing but stubbornness in their spirit. A man’s motive can be different from his words, yet his spirit will always become manifest when his words are released. Please remember that the Lord said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt. 12:34). A man’s words cannot be bridled by his will absolutely; sooner or later they will betray his spirit. A man’s own words will always betray his true condition. His words cannot hide his spirit. Sooner or later his “speech” will betray him. A Galilean can hide his identity if he does not open his mouth. But as soon as he opens his mouth, his speech will betray him, and others will recognize him (Mark 14:70). A man cannot suppress and lock up his spirit forever. Some are proud, jealous, or bitter at heart. Their spirit is abnormal. We should not listen just to their words and overlook their spirit. We should not believe the things they say during those moments when their will is in control. The words that they utter when their will is in control do not represent the true picture; they do not represent their very person. Only their spirit can represent their very person. This is very basic knowledge. The real condition of a man is the condition that is expressed when his spirit is released; it is not judged by the words he says when his will is in control. Many people are often deceived because they cannot distinguish words from the spirit. No matter what others say about a man’s motive, we have to check his spirit. Absalom was right in the things he said, but his spirit was wrong. His spirit was a rebellious spirit. We have to learn to touch others’ spirit. This is the only way to know men, and this is the only way to test the trustworthiness of their word.
Man’s strong spot
When a man opens his mouth, his spirit is exposed; others will know whether or not he has a right spirit. When the spirit is exposed, the inner condition of a man is also exposed. In listening to someone, the first thing we have to find is his strong spot. We have to ask, “What kind of impression do I have of this man? What part of him is the strongest?” If our spirit is open and pliable before the Lord, it will be sensitive and will detect any conspicuous spots. Once a man opens his mouth, his spirit is exposed. In fact, his whole person is exposed. Those who are strong in their mind will touch others with their mind. Those who are subjective and stubborn will expose their stubbornness as soon as they open their mouth; they immediately will give others this impression. James 3:17 speaks of those who are peaceable and forbearing. It is easy to ask such ones to do something. But others will not yield even when others plead with them for hours. It is hard to ask a subjective and strong-willed person for anything. Then there are those who are very strong in their emotion. Others can sense this as well. A person who is strong in his emotion is easily influenced by others. When he speaks about love, he is not necessarily speaking about what is truly love. If our spirit is pure and meek, we will easily touch others’ conspicuous spots. These conspicuous spots are actually the trouble spots; they are the areas that need to be dealt with. We must not only touch others’ spirit with our spirit, but we must touch the conspicuous spots with our spirit. We have to know the kind of people with whom we are dealing.
A closed spirit
Generally speaking, when we speak to a brother, we can touch his spirit. But sometimes a man’s spirit will not come out. We may speak to him for a long time, but we cannot sense his spirit. His real person is hidden, and we do not know what is happening within him. His real person is so deeply hidden that we cannot tell his true condition. Such a one has great problems. God’s children should be very approachable. We should live according to the principle of “amen.” When a person does something or says something, our inner being should be able to respond with an “amen.” This is right. But some people are always hidden behind or within their outer man; they cannot produce an “amen” in others. They are very secretive. No one knows them, and they have fellowship with no one. This is a dangerous position to be in. These ones are so individualistic that others cannot touch their genuine person. As a result they are cut off from the fellowship of the Body. Christians should be deep, but at the same time, they have to be genuine in their expression. They have to allow others to touch their spirit. Those who do not allow others to touch their spirit are cut off from the fellowship. They have not learned the proper lessons of the Body and know nothing about fellowship. Some people have been Christians for eight or ten years, yet others cannot touch their spirit at all. Their spirit is a closed spirit. We have to test whether a man’s spirit can be touched by others. If it cannot be touched, something is wrong with that person. In the world, a person can be as subtle as possible. Christians, however, should not be this way; their spirit should be open and free to fellowship with others.
An abnormal person
When a person speaks, we should listen carefully. The words may tell us whether the speaker has a strong spirit, a conspicuous mind, or a subjective disposition. Although some are particularly strong in some areas, on the whole they still may be proper persons. Some are particularly strong in their emotion. This is not uncommon. However, there are those who are not only exceptionally strong in their mind and emotion but different to the point of being abnormal. When we contact such ones, we cannot deal with them according to ordinary means. They are distorted, peculiar, and extreme in their mentality. Their psychology is different from that of ordinary men. They are warped. Such ones are not few in number. Among a hundred persons, one always can find a few who are altogether abnormal. Their thoughts and behavior are completely different from ordinary men, and their will is always at odds with others. Such ones become a problem to others. They cannot be tackled in the usual way. They must be dealt with severely by special means. The very constitution of their being is warped. If we employ ordinary means and try to exhort them twenty times, they will come back and disappoint us twenty times. They are set in their character already. Our eyes should be opened to such odd personalities.
Pretension
In judging a man, we have to know whether there is any kind of pretension in him. It is difficult for a pretentious person to grow in the Lord. He needs to experience a double breaking from the Lord. An ordinary man has the flesh within him. A pretentious man not only is corrupted in the flesh but also has a false façade. An ordinary man only needs to deal with his flesh. A pretentious man needs to deal not only with his flesh but with his pretentious shell as well, including his false goodness, false godliness, false humility, false meekness, or scholarly façade. It takes twice as much effort to deliver such a one out of his condition. God must first break down his pretension, performance, unnaturalness, and untruthfulness before He can break down his flesh. When we contact a brother, we have to know whether he is acting naturally or pretentiously. We have to know whether he has a façade around him or whether he has been dealt with by God. We have to identify any hypocrisy in him. He may smile in front of us, but this smile may not be genuine; it may only be an outward façade. Some are very attractive in the way they speak and act, but as soon as an experienced brother spends a little time with them, their fallen state is exposed. If we desire to walk properly as a child of God, we have to learn to identify pretension. Some of us are deceived in this matter because we are pretentious and dishonest ourselves. If we want to deal with others in this area, we must first learn to judge all of our own falsehood. Everything consisting of just outward performance, being void of an inward reality of the heart, must be removed completely. Once we have dealt with all of our own pretensions, our spirit will become very sensitive and pure, and we will detect falsehood in others immediately. Once falsehood is detected, our spirit will react; it will feel uneasy or even angry because it has been defiled.
The condition of the spirit
When our spirit reaches out to touch others, we have to be as sensitive as possible. We have to touch the condition of others’ spirit. Some are a little shy and afraid to expose themselves. If our spirit is clean, we will feel this shyness. When we talk with such ones, we can encourage them a little. Some spirits are wounded — perhaps these ones have had family problems or have received unjust treatment or harsh words from others. Once we identify their condition, we have to know how we can best help them. We may have to apply wine or oil to their wound. We have to be certain of our help. With some, we have to inflict some additional hurt to their wound because this is the only way they will receive any benefit. Others may die as soon as we add anything to their wound. Some wounds are only skin deep, and we should hit such ones harder. In dealing with men, we have to be certain of what we are doing. Some people need oil; others need wine. Still others need to be stripped of these things instead. Some should be comforted with the Lord’s word. Others should be rebuked with severe admonishment. Some spirits are apparently asleep and must be awakened. We must first know the true condition of a person. Then we should deal with him either harshly or lightly. Some spirits are dozing; others are pressed or squelched. Some people are very indifferent to spiritual things. The condition of men varies. In order to deal with men, we have to know the condition of their spirit and the cause of their condition. These things must be clear to us; we must not be ignorant of them. As workers, we should always be objective. We should always know men’s spirit. Some try to render help to others with their natural mind and mental knowledge. This help has no spiritual value whatsoever. It is useless to learn a speech and pass it on to others. We must first go through the dealings ourselves before we can render help to others.
An unidentifiable spirit
The above six conditions are more common in the course of our dealing with people. In addition to these six, there is another phenomenon: Some spirits are unidentifiable; they are murky. We cannot identify the source of the problem. When we listen to their words or testimony, we know that they are sick, but we do not know what they are sick of. This phenomenon sometimes presents itself to the brothers who are quite knowledgeable in the matter of spiritual judgment. Some people simply do not fit into any category; we cannot pinpoint the source of their problem. We think that they are sick, they appear to be sick, and yet they act as if they are not sick. In most cases this condition points to the presence of unnamed or hidden sin. It may even point to something more serious than sin, like works of the devil or attacks from Satan. Sometimes a person sins accidentally, and the devil seizes the opportunity and works within him. Experienced ones should be able to detect such special conditions. We have to learn to exercise our spirit to sense this subtle malady. If we are able to identify these seven conditions in the brothers and sisters during our contact with them, we can pinpoint most of their problems. This word applies only to those who are experienced in this work.
How to judge with the spirit
Let us turn our attention now to a basic question: How do we touch others’ spirit with our spirit, and how do we judge men with our spirit? In order for us to be able to judge men, our outer man must be broken. There is no shortcut in this matter. We must be dealt with by God. We must learn the lessons. Our outer man must be broken. When this happens, our spirit will become useful. If the outer man is not broken, the spirit cannot become useful. Our spirit is not useful when it is surrounded and affected by the outer man. When the outer man is too strong, the spirit cannot be released. Our spirit can be bound by either the mind, emotion, or will. God’s children have imprisoned their spirits because their outer man is too strong. This is the reason the outer shell must be broken. The spirit will be released only when the outer shell is broken. Something stands between us and other men — our outer man. In order for our spirit to touch others’ spirits, the outer man must be broken. Only then will we know others’ spirits. A grain of wheat must be broken before the life within can be released. If we are not broken, our spirit cannot become useful; we will lack the basic organ for diagnosing men. All spirits are similar in nature, and it should be an easy task for a person to release his spirit and to render help to others. But our spirit can be in close fellowship with others’ spirits only when the outer man is broken, and we can be in close fellowship with God only to the extent that the outer man is broken. Only those whose outer man has been broken can exercise their spirit to sense and judge others.
The first thing we should do as we listen to others is to exercise our spirit. During the course of listening to the conversation of the brothers and sisters, our whole being should be calm. (This does not mean that we should be passive.) Every faculty of our being should be in high alert, listening attentively to what is being said. The first thing we should exercise is our spirit, not our mind. Our mind should only be considered as a supplementary organ. If our spirit is clean, meek, and pliable, their words will touch our spirit. Our spirit will receive an impression from their spirit. We will know whether their spirit is defiled or clean, hard or soft. Our spirit will sense any subjectivity, emotion, or thoughts in others. In contacting others, our spirit must be absolutely calm, gentle, and pure before we can touch their spirit. We should not try conjecturing with our mind; we should try to touch others with our spirit. This is a more certain way of knowing a person than listening to a report about him for two hours. This is the spiritual way. We have to humble ourselves and learn this way slowly. In time we will learn our lessons well. I do not expect us to finish our learning within a short time. We have to spend at least three to five years on this. Our natural mind is not the chief means of knowing men. We put no trust in human mentality. If we think we can work with our natural mind alone, we are very far from the truth. We have to learn, and we have to observe the brothers and sisters. When we do this, we will realize that many brothers and sisters are on the wrong track. This learning is not for the purpose of increasing our own knowledge. It is not for finding fault or criticizing. It is for the purpose of edifying, helping, and ministering to others. It is not for tearing others down or for finding faults in others. If we know how to exercise our spirit and if we increasingly contact others in the spirit, we will render them much help.