THE SECOND PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

The Epistles of Paul to Timothy and Titus

Message Four
The Renewing of the Holy Spirit

Scripture Reading: 1 Tim. 3:15-16; 2 Tim. 3:15-17; Titus 3:4-7; Rom. 6:3-5; Eph. 4:22, 24; Col. 3:9-11

I. In 1 Timothy the church is stressed, in 2 Timothy the Scripture, and in Titus the Holy Spirit—1 Tim. 3:15-16; 2 Tim. 3:15-17; Titus 3:4-7:

A. The church is the house of the living God, expressing God in the flesh, and is the pillar and base of the truth, the divine reality of the great mystery—God manifested in the flesh—1 Tim. 3:15-16.

B. The Scripture is the breath of God, containing and conveying His divine essence for our nourishing and equipping to make us perfect and complete for His use—2 Tim. 3:15-16.

C. The Holy Spirit is the divine person, washing and renewing us in the divine element to make us a new creation with the divine nature, that we might be heirs of God in His eternal life, inheriting all the riches of the Triune God—Titus 3:4-7.

II. “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”—vv. 5; Rom. 6:3-5; Eph. 4:22, 24; Col. 3:9-11:

A. The Greek word for regeneration here refers to a change from one state to another; being born again is the commencing of this change—cf. Matt. 19:28.

1. The washing of regeneration begins with our being born again and continues with the renewing of the Holy Spirit as the process of God’s new creation, a process that makes us a new man; it is a kind of reconditioning, remaking, or remodeling, with life.

2. Baptism, the putting off of the old man, the putting on of the new man, and transformation by the renewing of the mind are all related to this wonderful process—vv. 3-5; Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:9-11; Rom. 12:2.

B. The washing of regeneration purges away all the things of the old nature of our old man, and the renewing of the Holy Spirit imparts something new—the divine essence of the new man—into our being—Titus 3:5; 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15:

1. In this is a passing from our old state into a wholly new one, from the old creation into the status of a new creation—Titus 3:5.

2. Hence, both the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit are working in us continually throughout our life until the completion of the new creation—2 Cor. 5:17.

C. Regeneration is a washing in God’s salvation, and this washing is a great renewing of the believers by God’s salvation to enable them to get rid of all that is of their natural life and the old creation and become God’s new creation—Titus 3:5; 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15.

III. We are in the process of being renewed day by day with the divine element by the renewing of the Holy Spirit through sufferings to become the New Jerusalem—2 Cor. 4:16-18; Rev. 21:2:

A. God is newness and newness is God; the old creation has nothing of God in it, but the new creation is constituted with God—2 Cor. 5:17; Ezek. 36:26; Matt. 9:17; Eph. 2:15; 2 Cor. 3:6; Rev. 21:2:

1. In order to be renewed day by day through the renewing of the Holy Spirit mingled with our spirit, we need to walk according to the spirit in newness of life and serve in newness of spirit—Rom. 6:3; 7:6:

a. Everything related to our regenerated spirit is new, and everything that comes out of our spirit is new; our regenerated spirit is a source of newness because the Lord, the life of God, and the Holy Spirit are there—2 Tim. 4:22; Rom. 8:10, 16.

b. Whatever we are, whatever we do, and whatever we have must be in spirit; everything that God is to us is in our spirit—Rom. 1:9; 2:28-29.

2. Through regeneration, our spirit has become a part of God’s new creation, but not our soul; we need to be renewed in the spirit of our mind (the leading part of our soul) by allowing our mingled spirit to spread into our mind to make our soul a part of the new creation—Eph. 4:23.

B. We need to be renewed by having God’s ever-new essence dispensed into us to replace our old element—5:26-27; Rom. 12:2a:

1. The Spirit of God renews the believers by infusing their inward parts with God’s attributes, which are forever new, can never become old, and are everlasting and unfading—Titus 3:5b; Rom. 12:2a; Eph. 5:26-27.

2. The Spirit of God renews the believers by causing them to pass through the death of Christ on the cross, the discipline of the Spirit of God in the environment, and the metabolic dispensing of the Spirit as life, that they may be renewed day by day by putting off the oldness of the old creation and living out the newness of life of the new creation—2 Cor. 4:16; Rom. 6:4; cf. Prov. 4:18.

C. God’s purpose in dealing with His people is that He wants His people to gain Him, partake of Him, possess Him, and enjoy Him more and more, rather than all things, until their enjoyment reaches the fullest extent, as the divine revelation ultimately unveils in the New Testament, that His people may ultimately become the New Jerusalem—Phil. 3:7-14; 2 Cor. 4:16-17; Rev. 21:2.

D. God’s intention is to tear down every aspect of our natural man and to rebuild us with Himself to make us a new man, a part of God’s new creation, to fulfill God’s eternal economy for God’s expression—2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15:

1. God’s appearing to Job implied that He wanted to help Job to know that he was in the wrong realm, the realm of building up himself as a man in the old creation in his perfection, uprightness, and integrity—Job 1:1; 42:5-6.

2. Job glorified himself in these things, but God considered them frustrations to be stripped away so that Job might receive God in His nature, life, element, and essence and be metabolically transformed to be a God-man, a man in the new creation, expressing God and dispensing Him into others—3:1; 19:9; 2 Cor. 4:16; 3:6.

3. Job’s hope had been to build up the “tree” of his integrity, but God would not allow such a tree to grow within Job; rather, God had plucked up this tree, this hope; although God was stripping Job, He surely was not angry with him; neither did God consider Job his adversary but His intimate friend—Job 19:10-11; Ezek. 14:14, 20; James 5:11; Job 10:13; cf. Eph. 3:9.

E. While we are in the midst of suffering, we need to receive the renewing; otherwise the suffering we pass through means nothing to us; we need to be thoroughly and absolutely renewed day by day through the renewing of the Holy Spirit to be as new as the New Jerusalem—Rev. 21:2; 2 Cor. 4:16.

 

Ministry Excerpts:

THE HOLY SPIRIT BEING STRESSED IN TITUS

In 1 Timothy the church is stressed (3:15-16), in 2 Timothy the Scripture (3:15-16), and in Titus the Holy Spirit. The church is the house of the living God, expressing God in the flesh, and the pillar and base of the truth, the divine reality of the great mystery — God manifested in the flesh. The Scripture is the breath of God, containing and conveying His divine essence for our nourishment and equipment to make us perfect and complete for His use. The Holy Spirit is the divine Person, washing and renewing us in the divine element to make us a new creation with the divine nature to be heirs of God in His eternal life, inheriting all the riches of the Triune God. (Life-study of Titus, msg. 5)

Titus is actually a continuation of 1 and 2 Timothy. In Titus, for our present need, I would cover only one crucial point in 3:4-7—“When the kindness and the love to man of our Savior God appeared, 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, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, in order that having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” The washing of regeneration, the renewing of the Holy Spirit, the grace, the heirs, and the hope of eternal life all compose a crucial point. (CWWL, 1985, vol. 3, “Elders’ Training, Book 6: The Crucial Points of the Truth in Paul’s Epistles”, ch. 9)

THE WASHING OF REGENERATION

In verse 5 Paul says, “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.” Works in righteousness refer to works of righteousness done in the element and sphere of righteousness, denoting genuine works of righteousness. Even such genuine works of righteousness are not sufficient to be the basis and condition of our salvation. Only the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, brought to us by God’s mercy, are sufficient to cause us to be saved. (Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 366)

Verse 5 says that God saved us. Whenever we talk about God’s salvation, we generally would not think of the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. We do not have this kind of idea or concept. The basic concept of God’s New Testament economy is to make us a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), and the way that God makes us a new creation is to work Himself into our being by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. (CWWL, 1985, vol. 3, “Elders’ Training, Book 6: The Crucial Points of the Truth in Paul’s Epistles”, ch. 9)

Regeneration Referring to a Change from One State to Another

The Greek word for regeneration here is different from that for regenerated in 1 Peter 1:23. The only other place the word is used is Matthew 19:28, where it is used for the restoration in the millennium. Here it refers to a change from one state to another. Being born again is the commencing of this change. The washing of regeneration begins with our being born again and continues with the renewing of the Holy Spirit as the process of God’s new creation, a process that makes us a new man. It is a kind of reconditioning, remaking, or remodeling, with life. Baptism (Rom. 6:3-5), the putting off of the old man, the putting on of the new man (Eph. 4:22, 24; Col. 3:9-11), and transformation by the renewing of the mind (Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23) are all related to this wonderful process.

The Washing of Regeneration Purging Away the Old Nature of Our Old Man, the Renewing of the Holy Spirit Imparting the Divine Essence of the New Man

The washing of regeneration purges away all the things of the old nature of our old man, and the renewing of the Holy Spirit imparts something new—the divine essence of the new man—into our being. In this is a passing from our old state into a wholly new one, from the old creation into the status of a new creation. Hence, both the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit are working in us continually throughout our life until the completion of the new creation.

Eliminating the Old Creation and Becoming God’s New Creation

Regeneration is a washing in God’s salvation. This washing is a great renewing of the believers by God’s salvation to enable them to eliminate all that is of their natural life and the old creation and to become God’s new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15). The washing of regeneration begins with our regeneration and continues with the renewing of the Spirit, both of which are the aspects of the organic salvation and are matters of life. In the washing of regeneration there is the renewing of the Holy Spirit. Following the washing of regeneration, the Holy Spirit continues to work within us to recreate us that we may become a new creation, thus renewing us. (Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 366)

BEING RENEWED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT THROUGH SUFFERINGS TO BECOME THE NEW JERUSALEM

The Renewing of the Holy Spirit Being the Continuation of the Washing of the Restoration

Regeneration in Titus 3:5 is not the same Greek word as in 1 Peter 1:23. John 3 tells us the fact of regeneration, but the word regeneration is not used there. The word regeneration is used in the real sense of being born of God by Peter in his first Epistle. He tells us that we have been regenerated through the incorruptible seed, which is the living word of God. The word translated “having been regenerated” in 1 Peter 1:23 means “having been born again.” This second birth is not merely to have an outward change but a change by life, with life, and in life. Regeneration is altogether a matter of life and always brings in a kind of washing.

Then this washing does some kind of restoring work, but this restoring work does not transpire in the physical part of our being. When we were regenerated, something divine was imparted into our spirit to make our spirit alive. This is surely a kind of restoration, but this restoration is altogether unrelated to our physical body. It is altogether a matter that transpires in our spirit to make our dead spirit alive by the divine life imparted into it. The very imparted divine life was the factor to enliven our dead spirit. The regeneration in our spirit brought in a washing by the divine life as the washing water. The divine life coming into our spirit to make our dead spirit alive washes away the dead things, the dead elements. This restores our dead spirit but has nothing to do with our physical being.

After this washing, something continues to go on—the renewing of the Holy Spirit. The renewing of the Holy Spirit is the continuation of the washing of the restoration in our spirit. This is the way through which God saved us. God has saved us, yet this saving is still going on because it is a saving through the washing, which is continued by the renewing. The washing is the restoration in our spirit, and the renewing is by the Holy Spirit continuously. (CWWL, 1985, vol. 3, “Elders’ Training, Book 6: The Crucial Points of the Truth in Paul’s Epistles”, ch. 9)

We need not only the judicial washing by the Lord’s redeeming blood to cleanse us from every sin (Heb. 1:3; 1 John 1:7) but also the organic washing, the washing of regeneration, which begins with our being born again and continues with the renewing of the Holy Spirit. We receive an organic washing by daily experiencing God’s organic salvation. The washing of regeneration washes away the old elements, the old nature, and the old things that are within us; the renewing of the Holy Spirit imparts new elements, a new essence, and new things into us. Both the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit are working in us continually throughout our life until the completion of the new creation so that we may be built up in God’s organic salvation.

Our God Being Newness Itself

Such a washing, such a renewing, in God’s organic salvation is being carried out continually in us by the renewing Spirit spreading into our mind, by our walking in newness of the divine life, and by our being consumed by the environmental sufferings. The renewing in God’s organic salvation is by the renewing Spirit mingling with our regenerated spirit as one spirit to spread into our mind (Eph. 4:22-24) and infuse our inward parts with God’s attributes, which are forever new and never become old, thereby renewing our entire being (5:26-27; Rom. 12:2a). Our God is newness itself. In the entire universe, God alone is new and everything else is old. This God, who is forever new and who never becomes old, infuses His ever-new essence into us to renew our entire being.

Walking in the Newness of the Divine Life

The renewing in God’s organic salvation is also by our walking in the newness of the divine life in the resurrection of Christ (Rom. 6:4). In order to walk in newness of life, we need, on the one hand, to put off the old man, and on the other hand, to put on the new man (Eph. 4:22, 24). To put off the old man is to deny and renounce our old self and to apply the cross to the self. Furthermore, we need to put on the new man, that is, to apply what Christ has accomplished in creating the new man, by living and magnifying Christ through the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19-21). This is what it means to walk in newness of life. All these matters are for the renewing Spirit to renew us by imparting the new essence and new element into us that we may be renewed day by day. (Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 366)

Being Transformed by the Renewing of the Mind

Ephesians 4:23 says, “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” Formerly we did not have the spirit in our mind, but now we have the spirit in our mind. Hence, this verse mentions the spirit of our mind. The regenerated spirit of the believers, which is mingled with the indwelling Spirit of God, spreads into the mind, becoming the spirit of the mind. The Lord, as the life-giving Spirit mingled with our spirit, permeates and saturates our mind, transforming our mind.

After we are saved, the Lord works within us to transform us gradually. He is continually doing the work of transformation to gain ground in our mind, emotion, and will. He intends to gain all the ground in every part of our being. As He gains ground in a certain part in us, He permeates that part, and it is transformed. When He has transformed every part of our being, we become the same as He is. For example, when we pour some orange juice into a cup of water, the orange juice permeates the water. As we continue pouring orange juice into the water, the water eventually has the same color as orange juice. The water has been transformed into the “image” of orange juice.

Likewise, the Lord is permeating us and transforming us until He transforms us into His image. When we are transformed, our thoughts will have the Lord’s flavor, and our likes or dislikes will have the Lord’s flavor. Our decisions and plans will also have the Lord’s flavor. The Lord will be in every part of our mind, emotion, and will; every part of our being will be saturated with the Lord. As a result, in our daily walk our mind, emotion, and will—our thoughts, feelings, and discerning ability—will have the Lord’s flavor and bear His image. Moreover, we will be inwardly saturated with the Lord. This is the Lord’s transforming work within us. (CWWL, 1965, vol. 4, “The Goal of God’s Economy”, ch. 5)

The Spirit of God Infusing the Believers with God’s Attributes, which Are Forever New, Can Never Become Old, and Are Everlasting and Unfading

The union of the Spirit of God and the spirit of man is also seen in the renewing of the believers (Titus 3:5b; Rom. 12:2a). The Spirit of God renews the believers by infusing the inward parts of the believers with God’s attributes, which are forever new, can never become old, and are everlasting and unfading. God has many attributes, such as love, light, holiness, and righteousness. Besides these, God’s attributes also include His being forever new, never becoming old, and being everlasting and unfading. We all know that in the old creation, anything, even if it is not used, will become old and decrepit after a period of time. Hence, we who are in the old creation need to be renewed by allowing God to infuse into us His attributes, which are forever new, can never become old, and are everlasting and unfading, in order to transform our old creation into the new creation. All the experienced ones know that in our fellowship with God, there is always an infusion taking place within us, that is, the attributes of God are being infused into our nature, which belongs to the old creation, to renew it.

The Spirit of God renews the believers by causing them to pass through the death of Christ on the cross, the discipline of the Spirit of God in the environment, and the metabolic dispensing of the Spirit as life, that they may be renewed day by day (2 Cor. 4:16) by putting off the oldness of the old creation and living out the newness of life of the new creation (Rom. 6:4). We live out the newness of life by being renewed. The Spirit of God infuses into us the divine attributes, which are forever new, never become old, and are everlasting and unfading, that we may pass through the death of Christ on the cross and the discipline of the Spirit of God in the environment, plus the metabolic dispensing of the Spirit as life, to be renewed day by day by putting off the oldness of the old creation and living out the newness of life of the new creation. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, “The Issue of the Union of the Consummated Spirit of the Triune God and the Regenerated Spirit of the Believers”, msg. 3)

TRANSFORMING US INTO HIS IMAGE FROM GLORY TO GLORY

Our Maturity in Life Being Our Glorification

Titus 3:7 tells us, “In order that having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs.” Thus far we have not become heirs yet. At the most we have become children of God. In ancient Rome a child had to grow up to a certain age, probably twenty-one, so that he would be qualified and equipped to be the heir. In Romans 8 we are told that we are children, then heirs (v. 17). At our regeneration we became God’s children, but we have not become heirs yet. We are on the renewing way to becoming heirs.

We become heirs according to the hope of eternal life, which we have gained and by which we became children of God. This eternal life we are enjoying brings in a hope to inherit the divine inheritance. When you are enrolled in graduate school, your being enrolled brings you a hope to graduate from graduate school. In like manner, when you were regenerated, you received eternal life, and this eternal life brings you a hope that you may become an heir.

Your enrolling in graduate school brings you a hope to graduate. Your graduation is not a certainty, and you may fail. The hope of your enrolling is graduation. Enrolling is not the hope, but enrolling brings in the hope. Our spiritual graduation is our maturity in life, and our maturity in life is our glorification. This is fully mentioned and defined in Romans 8 (vv. 17, 30). Glorification will be our graduation, and this means that we have to be renewed, which is another term for being transformed. The renewing of the Holy Spirit is the transforming work of the Spirit to transform us into His image from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18). Transformation is the way to enter into glorification. Although many Christians love the world and are indulging in worldly pleasures, they think that they will be glorified automatically. When the Lord returns, however, many Christians will be judged at the judgment seat of Christ (5:10) and assigned by the Lord with a certain amount of discipline, or dispensational punishment (Matt. 25:30).

Being Brought into Glorification by Renewing

When we were regenerated, we were restored in our spirit, and God put Himself within us as the renewing Spirit. This Spirit continues, or follows, the washing of regeneration to renew us bit by bit every day, every morning, every evening, and minute by minute in every aspect of our daily life. In everything, everywhere, and at every time He is renewing us. By this renewing we are being gradually brought from one degree of glory to another into glorification. Glorification, which is like the blossom of a carnation, is our graduation. In that graduation we will surely be heirs. We have been born sons, but we will be heirs through the long procedure of being renewed unto glorification. When we are completely renewed unto glorification, that will be our graduation. By that time we will have become heirs to inherit what God promised as a reward in the coming kingdom. This is the right understanding of the Bible concerning our salvation. God saved us, and yet His saving is still going on by the renewing, the transforming work, of the Spirit. God’s saving will be completed by the last step of glorification. (CWWL, 1985, vol. 3, “Elders’ Training, Book 6: The Crucial Points of the Truth in Paul’s Epistles”, ch. 9)

GOD’S PURPOSE IN DEALING WITH HIS PEOPLE BEING THAT HE WANTS HIS PEOPLE TO POSSESS AND ENJOY HIM

Job 42:7 tells us that God condemned Job’s three friends for not speaking concerning Him that which was right, as His servant Job had. Job was right in saying that his sufferings were not a matter of God’s judgment. Job felt that, according to his conscience, he had not done anything that required God to come in to judge him or to punish him. Nevertheless, he was suffering and he wanted to investigate his situation with God. Job’s three friends, however, insisted that Job’s sufferings were a proof that he had done something wrong and was being judged by God. Thus, God came in to condemn the three friends and to vindicate Job to a certain extent.

Job was right because his concept in general was not based on the principle of good and evil. However, he was groping in relation to the purpose for which God deals with His people. On the negative side, he was right; on the positive side, he was devoid of the divine revelation, not knowing that God’s purpose in dealing with His people is that He wants His people to gain Him, to partake of Him, to possess Him, and to enjoy Him more and more, rather than all things, until their enjoyment reaches the fullest extent, as the divine revelation ultimately unveils in the New Testament, that His people may ultimately become the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is the enlargement of God. We all will become parts of the New Jerusalem. (Life-study of Job, msg. 30)

God’s Intention Being to Rebuild Us with Himself

We need to see that the entire Bible is a book on God’s eternal economy. In His economy God’s intention is to dispense Himself into us to be our life and our nature that we may be the same as He is in life and nature in order to express Him. What, then, about the stripping and the consuming? God’s stripping and God’s consuming are to tear us down. We are fallen and natural men. As such men, we need to be torn down. God must tear us down. Then God can have a base, a way, to build us up again.

Many Christians think that fallen man needs help so that he can be made whole. However, in His economy God’s intention is not to make fallen man whole. Rather, God’s intention is to tear us down and rebuild us with Himself as our life and our nature that we may be persons who are absolutely one with Him. (Life-study of Job, msg. 5)

Job was in the realm of building up something that was wrong. He was building up himself in his perfection, uprightness, and integrity. He thought that he was absolutely right. He was proud of what he had built up, and he trusted in that and glorified himself in that. That was his robe to cover his entire being, and that was his crown to be his glory.

Actually, Job was wrong. God in His eternal economy has no desire to build up these things. Rather, He considers all these things as frustrations and intends to strip them away from us, consuming them bit by bit. When everything is stripped away, then you will see God, and He will attract you to receive Him. Then you will have God’s nature, life, element, essence, and even His being. This will cause a metabolic change within you to transform you from the present form of your human being to another form, the form of the divine being. As a result of this transformation, you will be a person reflecting God, that is, expressing Him and dispensing Him to others.

This was God’s intention with Job, and this is His intention with us today. Now you and God may be in two different realms. But God wants to transfer you from your present realm into His realm, not only to make you one with Him but even to make you a part of Him. (Life-study of Job, msg. 31)

God’s Renewing Us Being Accomplished through the Consuming by the Outward Environmental Sufferings

The renewing in God’s organic salvation is also by our being consumed by the environmental sufferings for the killing of our outer man and the renewing of our inner man day by day (2 Cor. 4:16). God’s renewing us is accomplished through the consuming by the outward environmental sufferings. Our sufferings are for us to be renewed. Although our outer man is decaying, our inner man is being renewed day by day. In order to renew us, God has arranged all kinds of environments to come to us for a positive purpose, that is, to dispense God’s new essence and new element into us. We should have such a daily subjective experience of our outer man decaying and our inner man being renewed day by day. Through such a renewing we are built up in God’s organic salvation to ultimately become as new as the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2). We are in the process of being renewed day by day with the divine element by the renewing of the Holy Spirit through sufferings to become the New Jerusalem. (Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 366)

Many times when we are suffering, we are questioning, “Why am I suffering? What is the reason?” Many Christian teachers tell people that if they are careful to obey the Lord, they will have less suffering, but the experiences of many spiritual people throughout the history of the church have been just the opposite. While we are in the midst of suffering, we need to receive the renewing. Otherwise, the suffering we pass through means nothing to us. Within us there is a refuge. This refuge is our spirit. We need to turn from our mind to our spirit. Then we are safeguarded, hidden, and concealed from any attacks. It is in our spirit that we will be renewed. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 2, “Being Renewed Day by Day”, ch. 1)

God’s Intention Being for Us to be Renewed Day by Day

We may be good saints in the church who have been kept and preserved by the Lord, but have we been renewed with the divine element? Is there some renewing going on with us, or are we remaining the same day by day and year after year? It would be tragic if we would pass through many sufferings and still remain the same. In order to consummate His renewing work in us and with us, God becomes our life and nature within. In addition to this, God as the sovereign Lord controls the entire universe in order to renew us. God uses the environment in order to work His life and nature into us. Without the environment, we could never be renewed. We would remain the same.

Sometimes God may allow the church to pass through a “storm.” God may allow this “storm” to occur because He wants us to be renewed. The tragic thing is that while we are suffering in the “storm,” we would remain the same with no renewing. I hope that we will consider this matter. We have to pray, “Lord, I don’t want to remain the same. I do not want to remain the same this year as I was last year. I want to be renewed day by day.” God’s intention is for us to be renewed day by day. In order to be renewed, we need the new addition of God into us daily. Daily we need to contact God, open ourselves up to Him, and let Him come into us to be a new addition into us day by day. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 2, “Being Renewed Day by Day”, ch. 2)