Truth Lesson: The Renewing of the Mind

Through the fellowship of a brother on the matter of the renewing of the mind, I read the book online and extracted some key points for my learning. The words of brother Watchman Nee were very rich already, I can simply quote them as they were.

THE RENEWING OF THE MIND by Watchmna Nee

If we cannot overcome our thoughts, we are in the hands of Satan, and we have no way to overcome the enemy. ..if we cannot manage our own thoughts, we are not very useful in the hands of God.

The knowledge of one's self comes from God's light; only after he receives God's light will he know himself.

We should not secretly compare ourselves to others, no matter who it is. Every time a believer looks at himself he will have no progress.

The nous is composed of the power of apprehension and the thoughts. 

A believer needs to have a renewed nous to guide him through his days on earth. Otherwise, he will suffer loss and damage in his life. He will think wrongly of others. He will not be able to understand God's will. He will also think wrongly of himself. He will not be able to properly live his life. This is why everyone needs to seek after the renewing of the nous in a specific way.

If your nous is renewed, you can understand God, and you can know everything of God. The person beside you may be the most intelligent and wise person, but he cannot understand; only you can understand. Therefore, you should specifically ask God to give you a renewed nous. Otherwise, you will have no way to go on. Once again I stress that you must go to God in a specific way to seek after this.

Most people have sin in their hearts. Once the sin in the heart is dealt with, everything else will be taken care of properly. If a believer's heart is proper, he will be able to understand God's will. Every believer who does not understand God's will is in this condition because his heart was improper in the first place.

The most precious thing about a renewed nous is that it can open as well as close one's thoughts. A renewed nous, with respect to God, is able to know His will; with respect to the self, it is able to control one's own mind and clarify his thoughts; and with respect to others, it can discern, receive, and understand the words of others.

...we cannot learn truths from a man's preaching, but we can learn from the truth he practices.

If you yield to sin the first time, you will lose the feeling about sin the second and third time. If you call sin by the right name and acknowledge sin as sin the first time, if you have the right view and right attitude toward sin, and if you deal with sin the right way the first time, you will be able to deal with sin the next time. If you do not consider sin as sin the first time and deal with it, but rather consider losing your temper as a common thing for a Christian, you will commit the same sin the next time. Whoever does not know sin will not know holiness. What is holiness? Holiness is having the knowledge of sin. Adam and Eve were only ignorant and innocent before they sinned; they were not holy. Only those who know sin know the meaning of holiness.

Therefore, the nous is related to our living before God. Whenever we yield to sin, we become unrighteous. We are not able to fellowship with God, and our nous is darkened. Therefore, we should put off uncleanness, improper motives, and unrighteousness on the negative side and put on the new man on the positive side. 

If our nous is renewed and our understanding is quick, we can understand God's will, God's desire, and the Bible.

PUTTING OFF THE OLD MAN AS REGARDS THE FORMER MANNER  OF LIFE

Ephesians 4: 22-23 say, "That you put off, as regards your former manner of life, the old man, which is being corrupted according to the lusts of the deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your nous." Notice the phrase "the spirit of your nous."

There is a special relationship between the nous and the spirit. If we want the spirit of our nous to be renewed, we must put off the old man. If we do not put off the old man in our experience, we will not be able to experience the renewing of our mind.

This passage shows us that if we want our understanding and mind to be renewed, we must specifically put off our old man. If we want to be renewed continuously, we must put off continuously. Just as we exercise our will to take off our clothes and cast them aside when we undress, we should exercise our will to specifically put off the old man and cast it aside. Everything that belongs to the old man, whether it is our speech, thoughts, or behavior, should be specifically cast aside; we should reject everything sinful, unclean, or of the self. At the same time, we must seek the Lord single-heartedly and trust in the Holy Spirit to renew our nous. This renewing work belongs to the Holy Spirit. If we remove the obstacles and trust in Him to do the renewing work, He will renew our nous gradually.

If a person's nous is closed, his spirit must also be closed. Since the spirit expresses itself through the nous, the spirit will have no outlet if the nous is closed.

CONSECRATION AND THE RENEWING OF THE NOUS

Romans 12:1-2 says, "I exhort you therefore, brothers, through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect."

CONTROLLING THE MIND

The most important thing is that a renewed mind is under a person's own control; he can stop when he wants to stop, and he can think when he wants to think. One should be able to control himself in a spontaneous way. After the mind is renewed, one should not allow outside thoughts to control him.