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Now we need to spend some time to see how to experience life in the spirit. The experience of life is absolutely a matter in the two spirits: the divine Spirit and the human spirit. The Spirit is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and the life-giving Spirit. He is the Spirit of life as the breath and the Spirit of power as the wind. This Spirit is both God and Christ. God, Christ, and the Spirit are one. They are not three Gods. They are the Triune God, one God in three mysterious and wonderful persons. The Triune God became a man. He died on the cross, was buried, and resurrected, and then He ascended to the heavens where He was enthroned and crowned with glory and honor. After all these accomplishments and attainments, He came down as the Spirit of power, the all-inclusive, mighty, living Spirit.
From that time He began to work and to move to gain His chosen people. His people were all chosen before the foundation of the world in eternity (Eph. 1:4). After He accomplished all things for His economy, He came down as the all-inclusive Spirit. He is the breath and the wind. He is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Jesus Christ. He is the Spirit who gives life and the Spirit of power. As such a Spirit He picks up all His chosen people and puts them into Himself to make them one Body. In one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body (1 Cor. 12:13). By this baptism the Body was produced, and the new man was born. Now our life today is the wonderful, all-inclusive Spirit in our spirit.
Our spirit is the central part of our being. When we live in our body, we are a very shallow person who lives in the flesh. When we live in our soul, we are deeper but still not so deep. We need to live in our spirit, the deepest part of our being. We may be sincere in our soul, but this sincerity is not the deepest sincerity. Our sincerity should be in our spirit. Our spirit is the deepest part of our being.
When we called on the Lord Jesus for the first time, we were saved. At that time the Lord Jesus as the divine Spirit, the Spirit of life and power, the life-giving Spirit as the all-inclusive Spirit, came into our spirit, and we were regenerated. That which is born of the divine Spirit is our human spirit (John 3:6b). Our human spirit was regenerated by the divine Spirit, who is the realization of Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God. He came into our spirit and remains here to be our life. In our spirit we have the divine person as our life.
Before we were saved, we did not have a life in our spirit. But now that we are saved, the divine person, the divine Spirit, who is Christ Himself, is in our spirit to remain here and be our life. The divine Spirit is with our spirit, and these two spirits have become one spirit. This is why 1 Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” We are one spirit with the Lord. Our oneness with Him is not in our flesh or in our soul but in our spirit. Today Christ as the divine Spirit lives and stays in our spirit. Second Timothy 4:22 says, “The Lord be with your spirit.”
Romans 8:16 says that the Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God. When we consider how poor we are, we may wonder how we can be children of God. This is a doubt from our mental consideration. But when we turn to our spirit, we have the witness and the assurance that we are children of God. If we were not children of God, we would not call God “Abba, Father” (v. 15). The mind may doubt, but the spirit cries, “Abba, Father!” We have the assurance that we are children of God, not in our mind but in our spirit. We have to learn the lesson of rejecting the doubts in our mind and praising the Father from our spirit.
The Triune God is the all-inclusive Spirit within our spirit as our life. He stays here, dwells here, lives here, moves here, and acts here. The center of God’s salvation is that this all-inclusive Spirit, who is Christ and God, is dwelling, living, moving, and acting in our spirit as our life. We are one with Him in our spirit.
We have to learn to discern our spirit from our soul. Hebrews 4:12 says that the word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit. Just as we illustrated before, our mind as a part of our soul may doubt that we are a child of God, but our spirit still has the assurance that we are a child of God. Our mind is doubting, but our spirit is praising.
When we consider a certain brother in our mind, we may be unhappy with him, but deep within us, in the spirit, we would say that he is a good brother. Thus, we can see the difference between the soul and the spirit. The question is always, “Would we go along with our soul or with our spirit?” Many times we go along with the soul. We do not care for our spirit. When we go along with our spirit, we are one with all the brothers.
When a sister goes shopping, she may feel good in her soul about buying something, but there is a “no” deep within her spirit. Many times we are clear about the difference between our soul and our spirit, but we are short of grace. We would not go along with the sense in our spirit. Instead, we go along with our soul, and we are deadened by our unwillingness to follow the spirit.
Many times in our soul we like to talk and tell others certain things, but deep within our spirit we have the sense not to say much. At this time do we go along with our soul or with our spirit? Many times we go along with our soul to talk, and the more we talk, the more we are deadened. This again shows us the difference between the soul and the spirit.
Doctrinally, it is hard to discern the difference between the soul and the spirit, but practically, it is somewhat easy. We need to look to the Lord for His mercy that we could have the grace to go along with our spirit. The best way to take grace at such a juncture is to say, “O Lord.” When we are in the department store, there might be a struggle between our soul and our spirit. If we call, “O Lord” repeatedly, this will bring us the grace to make us strong in the spirit. The grace will strengthen us to go along with the spirit. If we exercise our spirit in this way, a habit will be built up in us. Whenever there is a struggle between our soul and our spirit, we should always say, “O Lord, O Lord.” When we say, “O Lord,” we are in the spirit. When we open up our mouth to call on the name of the Lord, Satan will be chased away. This is the simple way to turn ourselves to the spirit.
Galatians 5 tells us that we have to walk by the Spirit (vv. 16, 25), but how do we do this? Today we know the secret. It is by calling on the name of the Lord. In our family life it is rather hard to walk by the spirit. Before we talk to our children or to our spouse, we had better say, “O Lord Jesus,” first. Then we will see the difference. We should not consider this as some kind of superstition. Calling on the name of the Lord is spiritual breathing. Breathing is not superstitious. In doing everything, you just breathe. If you do not breathe, you stop living.
The Bible says to pray unceasingly (1 Thes. 5:17), but how can we do this? Praying unceasingly is like breathing unceasingly. We can pray unceasingly by continually calling on the Lord. In doing everything, we need to say, “O Lord.” We have to call on the name of the Lord Jesus without ceasing. To call on the name of the Lord by saying, “O Lord,” will keep us in the spirit all the time. This is the secret of walking and living in the spirit.
Learn to breathe the Lord continually by calling on His name. If you do not call on the name of the Lord, whatever you have read or studied concerning spiritual things is mere knowledge in your mind. You may know that you have been crucified with Christ, but that is mere knowledge. If you call on the Lord’s name by saying, “O Lord,” this brings you into the spirit, and the death of Christ will be effective in your being through the spirit. All the truths you read and know must be realized by a living spirit. When you say, “O Lord,” you keep yourself in a living spirit. Then all the knowledge from the Bible will be prevailing to you. It will become your reality. Regardless of how much you know, as long as it is the mere letter, it does not help. Instead, your knowledge kills you. The letter kills (2 Cor. 3:6). You need to turn from the letter to the spirit. You need to turn from your mind to the spirit by saying, “O Lord.”
When you call on the Lord, you should not do it lightly or loosely. You should sincerely mean business with Him. Then when you call, you are connected with Him to enjoy Him as the heavenly electricity. Right away you have the inward transmission of the reality of the all-inclusive Spirit. You have to contact the living Lord, not by using your mind but by using your spirit. The best and simplest way to use your spirit is to say, “O Lord.” If you open up yourself by using your spirit to call on the name of the Lord Jesus, you will get into the spirit and be in the spirit. Whenever you call on Him, you are refreshed and empowered.
Romans 8:6 says that the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace. The main part of the soul is the mind. The mind is between the spirit and the flesh. There are two places for us to set our mind. When we exercise our mind to think apart from the spirit, we are setting our mind on the flesh. When we call on the name of the Lord, we are setting our mind on the spirit. To say, “O Lord,” is not a small thing. Whenever we say, “O Lord,” right away we turn our mind to the spirit. By continually calling on His name, we set our mind on the spirit, and that is life and peace. But when we turn our mind to the flesh, right away that is death.
Praise the Lord that by His mercy He has shown us the secret. It is so marvelous, real, and effective to call on the name of the Lord in every place (1 Cor. 1:2). When we say, “O Lord,” we set our mind on our spirit, and we have the inner sensation of life and peace. The New Testament tells us that we have to walk in and according to our spirit (Rom. 8:4b). The way to do this is by calling on the name of the Lord all the time. Then we are really one with the Lord. Saying “O Lord” continually keeps us in the spirit so that we can walk and live in and according to our spirit.
Ephesians 2:22 says that we are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit. The issue of such a living is the church life where God has a dwelling place among us. Our living in the spirit is not only the victorious Christian life but also the marvelous, wondrous church life. I am looking to the Lord that you all would take this and put it into practice. Then you will see that the Christian life and the proper church life are altogether a matter of life in and by the spirit.
