God does not promise that He will improve our nature or that He will mend our broken hearts. No — the promise is that He will give us new hearts and right spirits. Human nature is too far gone ever to be repaired.
It is not a house that is just a little run-down. No — it is rotten throughout. The very foundation has been undermined. God does not attempt to patch it up. He does not prop up the walls and repaint the door. He determines that the old house shall be entirely demolished, and that He will build a new one.
✦ Not Repaired — Replaced
Spurgeon is unsparing. No patching. No propping up. No repainting. The old house is demolished. The old machine is scrapped. God does not fix the old nature. He gives a new one.
Every attempt at self-improvement begins with the assumption that the material is worth saving. Spurgeon says it is not. Not one lever that is not snapped, not one axle that is not bent. The diagnosis is total — and therefore the remedy is total. Not renovation but replacement. Not repair but re-creation. Ezekiel 36:26 — I will give you a new heart. Not mend the old one. Give a new one. 🙏
If only a wheel or two of that great machine called "humanity" were broken, then He who made us might put the whole thing right. But no — the whole of it is broken down.
"The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores" (Isaiah 1:5–6).
The Lord, therefore, does not attempt the repair of this thing, but says, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you."
✦ The Demolition and the Building
Guyon's concise view of the interior way — day thirty-four — mapped the same process: active seeking, passive enjoyment, the exile of the heart, and finally Perfect Love. The interior way is the demolition of the old house and the building of the new. The stripping Guyon described — the beast skins, the poverty of spirit, the nothing as the proper place — is the demolition. And what rises in its place is not the old house repaired. It is the new heart — given, not earned.
Spurgeon's image of the house and Guyon's image of the soul arrive at the same truth: God does not improve us. He replaces us. The self that was too far gone is demolished. The new creation that rises is His work entirely. 🙏
"Put on the new human being who was created according to God in righteousness and the holiness of truth" (Ephesians 4:24).
Daily ask the Holy Spirit to help put on the new human being. I am glad He does — He is faithful. 🙏
✦ Given Once — Put On Daily
Le brings the daily dimension that Spurgeon's picture needs. The new heart is given once. But it is put on every morning. Like clothing. The new human being — created according to God in righteousness and holiness of truth — is there. It exists. It has been given. But each day the soul must choose to put it on. And each day, the Holy Spirit helps.
Daily ask the Holy Spirit to help. This is the daily suppleness Guyon taught on day twenty-one — not the dramatic event but the daily practice. The ship is unmoored once. But the sails are set every morning. The new heart is given once. But the putting on is daily. And the Spirit who helps is faithful.
I am glad He does — He is faithful. The gladness and the faithfulness — held together. The gladness is Le's. The faithfulness is God's. And the daily asking is the meeting point where the gladness receives the faithfulness, morning after morning. 🙏
"Daily ask the Holy Spirit to help put on the new human being. He is faithful."
Le · Ephesians 4:24 · Given once — put on dailyNot Repaired — Replaced
The old house demolished. The old machine scrapped. Not one timber sound. God does not patch — He builds new. Ezekiel 36:26. A new heart, not a mended one.
Put On Daily
The new human being is given once and put on every morning. Like clothing. Ephesians 4:24. The daily practice. The sails set each morning. The Spirit helps — faithfully.
The Daily Ask
Ask the Holy Spirit to help. Each day the soul chooses to put on the new. The gladness is Le's. The faithfulness is God's. The asking is where they meet.
Spurgeon's fifteenth day. And today the old house comes down — and the new one rises.
Guyon's day twenty-nine — substitution: "God substitutes self with an enlarged heart." And Spurgeon today: God does not repair — He replaces. Guyon called it substitution. Spurgeon calls it demolition. Both see the same God refusing to patch the old and insisting on the new.
Guyon's day twenty-one — daily suppleness: "All is accomplished by the suppleness of your will — by the state of infancy." And Le today: daily ask the Holy Spirit to help put on the new human being. The suppleness and the daily putting on are the same practice. The new heart is given in a moment. The living in it takes a lifetime of mornings.
The 500 denari soul — the old house demolished: Father Joe James. Midnight. Lubbock. The old house came down that night. The new heart was given. And every morning since — years of mornings before dawn — Le has been putting it on. Not because the gift faded. Because the putting on is the daily response to the gift.
Le's faithfulness testimony: I am glad He does — He is faithful. After all the mentors, all the readings, all the entries — this is where the journal always lands: He is faithful. The Holy Spirit helps daily. The new human being is put on daily. The gladness is daily. And the faithfulness that sustains it all — daily, unbroken, sufficient. 🙏