I.　Among us in the Lord's recovery, there is an urgent need of the growth of life; if we lack the growth of life, there will be no way for the recovery to go on, and eventually we will drift back into the situation of Christianity and become a repetition of the sad history of Christianity—Eph. 4:11-16; Matt. 13:31-33; 2 Tim. 3:1-4.

II.　The most significant thing with life is growth—Eph. 4:13, 15-16:

A.　If there is no growth, it either means that there is no life or that there is some-thing wrong; we need to grow in life—1 Cor. 3:6; 14:20; 16:13.

B.　The best way to solve the problems among saints in a local church is to turn their attention to the growth of life—John 6:57; 1 Pet. 2:2-3.

C.　The growth of life is the primary matter in the practice of the church life; hence, we should pay attention to the growth of life—Eph. 4:13, 15-16.

III.　We need to know what the growth of life is:

A.　The growth of life is the increase of the element of God within us until we are filled unto all the fullness of God—3:19.

B.　The growth of life is the increase of the measure of the stature of Christ; the more we love Christ and pursue Christ, allowing Christ to live in us and to gain us, the more the measure of the stature of Christ will increase within us; this is the real growth of life—Gal. 2:20; 4:19; Eph. 3:17; 4:13.

C.　The growth of life is the expanding of the ground of the Holy Spirit within us; when we pursue the working of the Holy Spirit within us and obey the teach-ing of the Holy Spirit within us as the anointing, the Holy Spirit can expand His ground extensively, and thus the divine life within us will grow to a great extent—Rom. 8:11; Eph. 5:18; 1 John 2:20, 27.

D.　The growth of life is the decrease of the human element, that is, the decrease of the flavor of man and the increase of the flavor of God—Matt. 16:25; John 12:25.

E.　The growth of life is the breaking of the natural life, that is, the breaking of our skills, ability, and capacity; if we desire to grow in life, our gifts must be stripped by God, and our shell of godliness and piety must be broken by God— 2 Cor. 4:16-17.

F.　The growth of life is the subduing of every part of the soul; the more our soul is subdued, the more life grows; and the more our soul decreases, the more life increases—John 12:24-25.

IV.　The proper growth of life comes only from direct, personal contact with theLord—2Cor. 3:18:

A.　The growth of life comes from His living enlightenment and from His instant pointing out of things within our being—1 John 1:5:

1.　Then in His presence we will respond, "Lord, I love You. Lord, I take You according to Your enlightenment. I take You according to Your instant, present shining."

2.　This kind of prayer will cause the growth of life, and we will take a great step in the growth of life—1 Cor. 3:6; Eph. 4:15.

B.　We all need to go to the Lord and have direct contact with Him purposely and particularly concerning the growth of life; if we do this, something within us will be killed and eliminated, and the growth of life will come—Psa. 36:9.

V.　We grow in life by dealing with the heart—Matt. 5:8; James 4:8; Eph. 3:17:

A.　After we receive Christ into our spirit, we need to be pure in heart because our heart is the field where Christ can grow and spread—1 Cor. 6:17; Matt. 5:3, 8:

1.　Christ has been sown into our spirit in order to grow and spread in our heart; the growth of life is the spreading of Christ in our heart—Eph. 3:17.

2.　Christ desires to make His home in our heart and to take possession of every part of our inner being—v. 17.

3.　The problem that limits the growth of many believers is in their heart— Matt. 6:21; 12:34-35; 13:15; 15:8; 22:37.

4.　If we have a problem with our heart or if our heart is wrong, the Lord will have no way to spread in us—15:8:

a.　In the parable of the sower in Matthew 13:3-8 and 18-23, the Lord made it clear that the seed was unable to grow in the first three kinds of hearts because they had no room for the seed to grow and spread.

b.　If we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that we have withheld room in our heart from the Lord.

c.　If Christ as the seed of life is to grow in our heart, we need to have a pure and unoccupied heart, a heart in which every inch is given to Christ so that He can spread within us; His spreading is the growth of life—5:8; Eph. 3:17.

B.　"Purify your hearts, you doubled-souled!"—James 4:8:

1.　To purify our heart is to make our heart single, having only one goal; when we have more than one goal, our heart is impure and we are double-souled— Matt. 5:8.

2.　In order for our heart to be single and pure, we need to have a unique goal—God Himself—v. 8; Mark 12:30.

3.　To purify our heart, we need grace; we need to receive the Lord's grace to deal with our heart continually—Heb. 13:9; 1 Cor. 15:10.

4.　We need to see the condition of our heart and deal with our heart so that the Lord will have the way to spread within us—Matt. 6:21; 15:8.

C.　Our dealing with our heart is according to the Lord's shining, and His shining is gradual; He progressively intensifies His shining as we deal with the items that He brings to light, so that each time our heart is more thoroughly exam-ined and purified—2 Cor. 4:6; 1 John 1:5; Rev. 4:5.

D.　"The heart is deceitful above all things, / And it is incurable; / Who can know it?"—Jer. 17:9:

1.　It is difficult to deal with our heart because our heart is deceitful.

2.　Part of the deceitfulness of our heart is manifested in our self-pity and self-love; because we love ourselves and sympathize with ourselves so much, it is difficult for the Lord to spread within us—2 Tim. 3:2.

3.　The Lord may have been in our spirit for a long time, but because our heart is complicated, mixed, confused, and deceitful, He may not have had the opportunity to spread from our spirit into our heart—4:22; Jer. 17:9; Eph. 3:17.

E.　The genuine growth of life is not our growth but Christ's growth in us—Col. 2:19:

1.　Because such growth depends on our heart, we need to deal with our heart so that Christ will have a way to grow within us—James 4:8; Matt. 5:8; Eph. 3:17.

2.　The Lord as the life-giving Spirit has entered into our spirit, and He is presently waiting in our spirit for the opportunity to spread Himself into our heart—John 3:6; 1 Cor. 6:17; Eph. 3:17; 1 Thes. 3:13.

3.　This spreading is His growth in us, and His growth in us is our genuine growth in life—Col. 2:19; Eph. 4:15.