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Scripture Reading: 1 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 10:19-20; Rom. 8:26-27; Jude 20
In the previous chapter we considered the four steps God took to become our enjoyment. In the first step He created us with a spirit. Our spirit is the organ for us to receive God. In the second step God became flesh in the fullness of time; He was mingled with humanity. This man was the Lord Jesus. In the third step the Lord Jesus was crucified on the cross at the appointed time. On the cross He shed His blood to remove everything that was incompatible with God. At the same time He crucified and dealt with the old creation and the self. In the fourth step He rose from the dead and became the Spirit. His death and resurrection brought man into God. Humanity is now fully in the Spirit. The items in the Spirit are very rich. They include God’s entrance into man, the death of the cross, resurrection, and man’s entrance into God. These riches are now in the Spirit.
Here is a simple example. When sugar, grape juice, and other ingredients are added to a glass of water, it is still a glass of water in a general sense. But if we analyze it, we will see that it contains other ingredients. Sugar has been added to the water. Grape juice has been added. If the glass is placed on a burner and heat is applied to it, the element of heat has been added to it. Other ingredients may also be added. It is no longer just a glass of water; it now contains water with many rich ingredients. Whoever drinks from this glass will receive all the rich ingredients.
In the same way, when the Spirit descended on the day of Pentecost, He was not just “water”; rather, He was a “drink” that included many rich elements. The elements of incarnation, crucifixion, the shedding of His blood, His termination of the old creation, His resurrection from the dead, and His bringing of humanity into divinity were all included in the Spirit that descended on the day of Pentecost. Whenever a person receives the Spirit, all the rich elements in the Spirit enter into him. Whether or not he is aware of it, all these elements are in him. This is like drinking a glass of water with many ingredients. Whether or not we realize it, all the ingredients in the water enter into us. Today when a person receives the Spirit, the functions of all the elements contained in the Spirit, such as God’s mingling with man, man’s mingling with God, the cleansing of sins, and the termination of the self are activated. As we practice living in this Spirit, we will gradually experience all these elements that God has accomplished for us. The steps or ways for us to enjoy God are based on the four steps He has accomplished. Hence, there are now four steps for us to enjoy God.
The first step for us to enjoy God is to exercise our God-created spirit. Whenever we want to contact God and enjoy Him, we must first learn to exercise our spirit. What does it mean to exercise our spirit? When I hit Brother Hwang, I exercise my fist. When I speak, I exercise my voice. When I look at others, I exercise my eyes. When others listen to me, they exercise their ears. In order for us to contact God and enjoy Him, we must exercise our spirit.
In order to exercise our spirit when we come to God, we should pray according to the feeling deep within our being. We should forget about our thoughts and not be concerned with what we should say. We should simply turn and pray according to the inner feeling. The feeling deep within us is the feeling of the spirit. When we pray according to this feeling, we are exercising our spirit in prayer.
Regrettably, many brothers and sisters do not pray this way. We may pray for many matters according to our mind but never touch God. Hence, even though we pray, we are dry within. I believe that many of us have experienced this. Especially a new believer prays with his mind. He may consider how he should pray. He may consider whether he should pray for his father, his mother, himself, his finances, or his studies. When a wife prepares to pray, she may consider, “Should I pray for my husband and for his business, or should I pray that my children do not get into a car accident?” This is not the exercise of the spirit; instead, it is the exercise of the mind. It is right for us to exercise our mind when we are at school, but it is altogether wrong to exercise our mind in this way when we pray. The more we consider, the more God disappears. The more we exercise our mind, the farther God “runs from us.” In reality God does not disappear and does not run away. We are simply using the wrong organ. We cannot use our eyes to hear or our ears to identify colors. If someone speaks of a dark red cup, the dark red will “disappear” if we try to see the cup with our ears. Or if some brothers try to hear a loud voice with their eyes, the voice will “disappear.” Actually, the voice is still there, but the wrong organ is being used to substantiate it. In the same way, we cannot pray to God with our mind. God is not in our mind; He is in our spirit.
Let me say a further word to help us understand. In English we have the word substance, which means “matter” or “reality.” From this noun we have the verb substantiate, which means “to make real” or “to materialize something.” Sound is an example of a substance. It is something real, something substantial. However, if we do not have ears or if we are deaf, we will not realize that there is such a substance as sound; in other words, we will be unable to substantiate sound. The same is true with color. Although it is something real and substantial, if we do not have eyes or if we are blind, we will be unable to see this substance. In other words, we will be unable to substantiate color. We should remember that God is Spirit and therefore is “substance.” Even though God is a “substance,” and our spirit is a “substance,” as long as we exercise our mind instead of exercising our spirit, we will be unable to substantiate God. If we exercise our spirit, however, we will immediately realize that God exists. We will substantiate God.
When we come to God, we should forget our considerations and pray with our spirit. Provided we use our spirit, we will immediately touch God, sense His presence, and receive Him. Once a believer learns this lesson, instead of exercising his mind, he will learn to pray from his spirit. The moment he kneels down, he will exercise his spirit instead of wandering in his mind with different thoughts. When he is convicted in his spirit of being full of the self, loving himself rather than God, he will cry out to God, saying, “I am full of the self. I only love myself. I do not love You at all.” Such a simple prayer will immediately bring him in touch with God. Those who have some experience in this matter understand what I am saying. The more we pray from our spirit, the more we touch God, take Him in, and are filled with Him. After praying, we are persons filled with God. We are satisfied, refreshed, freed, comforted, cheered, and enlightened. This is a prayer of fellowship, a prayer that touches God, a prayer that involves the exercise of the spirit, and a prayer that counts.
Our mind, however, is often quite troublesome. While we are praying with an exercised spirit, a thought may suddenly come to us concerning our work or our family. Once we are interrupted by such thoughts, we turn from our spirit to our mind. These thoughts cut off our fellowship with God and draw us out of the spirit. Then it is difficult to return to our spirit. This shows that contacting God through prayer is entirely a matter in the spirit. Whenever we are in the mind instead of the spirit, our fellowship with God is terminated immediately. We cannot fellowship with God in our mind. God meets with us in our spirit, and we meet with Him in our spirit. The Lord Jesus said that God is Spirit and that we must worship Him in spirit (John 4:24). To worship God is to fellowship with Him and to contact Him. May we learn to follow the steps that God has taken in the work He has accomplished in order for us to contact Him. His first step was to create us with a spirit. Hence, in contacting Him, our first step must be to exercise our spirit.
Dear brothers and sisters, we must set aside our troublesome and hindering thoughts whenever we pray. When we draw near to God in prayer, we must learn to set aside our thoughts. We must learn to reject and deny our thoughts. When we come to God, we must learn to turn to our spirit and to pray from our spirit. This is what it means to contact God by exercising our spirit.
The second step that God took is incarnation, in which God is mingled with man. This is the great mystery of godliness. The second step that we take to contact God must be related to the manifestation of God in the flesh. This word may not be easy to understand initially. In order to understand how God’s manifestation is related to contacting Him, we must clearly see the principle that God’s will and fundamental desire are for us to provide Him with opportunities to mingle Himself with us. According to the common religious concept, God is far away in the heavens, and man on earth needs to worship Him. But this is not God’s desire. According to the Bible, God’s desire is entirely different from this concept. His unique desire is to enter into man and to be mingled with man. He has no desire to remain far away on His throne in heaven and receive man’s worship from earth. This is absolutely not His intention. His sole intention is to come down from heaven to earth, enter into man, dwell inside of man, and mingle Himself with man.
God’s desire can be seen in the New Testament and in the Old Testament. Although God dwells in His sanctuary in the highest and no one can touch Him, He desires to dwell with the contrite (Isa. 57:15; 66:1-2). While God desires that we praise Him, He does not desire one-sided praise. He is pleased with praise that comes from His being mingled with us. God wants us to worship Him, but He is not happy when we are the source alone. God desires worship in which He is mingled with us, and He worships through and with us.
The Christian life must be a life of two natures. Worship and service that has only one nature, the human nature, will not please God. Our worship must be mingled with God, and our service must also be mingled with God. Even our prayer must be mingled with God. If we are the only ones praying, and God is not mingled in our prayer, praying together with us, our prayer has only one nature. Such prayer will never be acceptable to God. Every prayer that is acceptable to God involves two natures. Outwardly, we are the ones praying, but inwardly, God is praying through us. This prayer is the mingling of divinity with humanity.
Every prayer of worth that touches God, that touches the throne, is a prayer in which God is mingled with man. Outwardly, we are praying, but inwardly, He is praying. Andrew Murray once said that every prayer of true worth is a prayer in which the Christ within us prays to the Christ on the throne. This is a mystery. The God within us prays to the God on the throne. In such prayer God prays through us in our prayer. This prayer touches His throne and causes Him to respond. God never hears prayers that involve only one nature. All prayers that do not have the element of God’s mingling are prayers that miss His heart’s desire.
I believe many saints have experienced this. Sometimes when we go to God, we are the ones praying. Such prayers are absolutely our own prayers, originating from our own thoughts. In the example of a sister who thinks about her husband and children when she prays, the prayer was with the mind. In her prayer her spirit is not motivated, and the Holy Spirit is not invoked. Similarly, some people often pray according to their own choices and preferences. If they want to go and study in America, they pray, “Lord, be gracious to me and bless this endeavor.” They never ask God His desire. This prayer is absolutely from the self. The Holy Spirit cannot move within such persons. The more they pray, the drier they will become, the farther they will be from God, and the harder it will be for them to sense God’s presence.
This is not proper prayer. In proper prayer, either before or during our prayer, the Holy Spirit will initiate something within our spirit. He will operate first within our spirit. For example, many saints prayed for this meeting during the day. While they were busy with their work, the Holy Spirit was operating within them. Although they had many obligations in the world, there was a prompting in their spirit to pray for the meeting. When the Holy Spirit prompts us in our spirit, we must stop what we are doing and come to the Lord to pray, not according to our feeling or our thoughts but according to the moving within our spirit. Our outward prayer is the result of the inward moving of the Holy Spirit in us. I cannot enter into Brother Hwang and push him from within, but I can stand behind him and push him. When I push him once, he moves forward one step. As long as I push him, he will move forward. Although it appears as if he is walking by himself, I am actually pushing him forward. This is the way we should pray. We pray by the Holy Spirit pushing us from within. When the Holy Spirit pushes, we pray, “Lord, remember tonight’s meeting.” When the Holy Spirit pushes us again, we will pray further, “Lord, open our eyes to see that You are enjoyable.” It seems as if we are the ones uttering these words, but actually the Holy Spirit is prompting us inwardly to utter these words.
This is the principle of incarnation. This is the Holy Spirit moving within us to the point that we pray outwardly. This is the great mystery of godliness. This is God manifested in the flesh. Whenever a brother or a sister truly prays this way, God is manifested in the flesh. God moves within them, and such moving is manifested in their speaking. I can testify that I once visited a brother who was praying in his room. Even though I did not see his face, I heard his prayer, and his prayer gave me the sensation that God was being manifested in the flesh. He was praying, yet I heard God’s voice in his prayer. I heard God’s sighing and God’s yearning, and God’s heart was fully revealed through such a prayer. This brother was God’s mouthpiece and God’s expression. God was manifested through his prayers.
This does not apply only to individual prayers. When the church comes together in the bread-breaking meeting, a fellowship meeting, or the prayer meeting, some brothers and sisters pray these kinds of prayers; their prayers are the result of the moving of the Holy Spirit. Their prayers do not involve merely one nature but two. Their prayers are prompted by the moving of the Holy Spirit within them. These saints are the mouthpiece of the Holy Spirit. When they pray, there is a sense that God is being manifested. Their prayers are an expression of God, a revelation of God, and a manifestation of God. These prayers are in the reality of the principle of incarnation, of God manifested in the flesh. A man in the flesh is praying, but he fully expresses God. God is manifested. God’s desire, wish, and yearnings are expressed through man. It is difficult to say whether a man or God is praying. We can say that a man is praying, but we can also say that God is praying. In fact, God is praying in man and through man. Praying this kind of prayer is the way to touch God.
Whenever we draw near to God in prayer, we should first exercise our spirit. Second, we should learn not to pray by ourselves. Rather than praying simply by ourselves, we should let God move us in our prayer. When He wants to pray within us, we should pray with Him. I would like to offer a shameful testimony. Many times the Lord wants to pray, but I do not want to pray. It seems as if He is saying, “I want to pray now. Do you want to pray?” At times I reject Him, and He has to wait. At other times I immediately respond by praying, and the result is very sweet. At still other times I do not want to pray but quickly regret this and say, “Lord, please forgive me. I am ready to pray now.” At such a time it is not unusual for Him to indicate His displeasure, seeming to say, “You are ready; I am not ready.” Do not think that I am exaggerating. Those who have had intimate fellowship with the Lord have experienced this. Sometimes we can take the initiative and say, “Lord, I am ready to pray. Can we please pray?” We can inquire of Him, and God likes us to inquire of Him. If we sense that He does not want to pray, it is mainly because our condition is not that proper. If our condition is proper, He will respond, “Yes, I want to pray with you. I have been waiting to pray with you. I have been hoping that you could be My prayer partner.” If we touch this key, we will realize the value of prayer. We will no longer utter vain prayers, uttering a mouthful of words that do not touch His heart. Such prayers are neither the Lord joining our prayer, nor our joining His prayer. These prayers involve only one nature. They are not prayers in the principle of God manifested in the flesh.
In matters great or small, the entire Christian life is altogether a story of God mingling with man. If I am the only one speaking, and God is not speaking in me, even this message is empty. It will not minister a spiritual supply to the brothers and sisters. God must be pushing and motivating me while I speak. Every word I speak must be one that He has already spoken within me. His speaking within me should constrain me to speak. Such words involve two natures; they are words uttered as a result of God being mingled with man. You may forget the words that are spoken, but something within the words will touch your inner being, and you will have no choice but to turn to God and draw near to Him. It is not the words themselves that convict us, but it is the very element of God, the element of the Spirit, behind the words that touches our inner being. This principle must govern every aspect of our Christian life. Whenever we draw near to God, we must seize the principle of incarnation. We must allow God to mingle Himself with us before we can enjoy Him in a practical way.
The third step in enjoying God is to trust in the blood and the death of the cross. The blood deals with our sins, and the death of the cross deals with our person. When we come to God, exercise our spirit, and learn to cooperate and be mingled with Him, we will discover that we have two problems. We have the problem of sins outwardly and the problem of our person inwardly. There is the outward transgression and the inward self, the outward mistakes and the inward old creation. Those who have touched God’s presence realize these two levels of frustrations.
Our lack of feeling that we are sinful and lack of realization that we are a problem are strong proofs that we have not touched God sufficiently; we are not living according to His countenance. Whenever we touch God and live in His countenance, we will see that we are dirty and full of sins. We will also realize that our person, which is of the old creation, is a big frustration to God. At such times we will immediately apply the blood and say, “Lord, cleanse me with the blood. Cleanse me with the blood.” The more we go to God and exercise our spirit to cooperate with Him, the more we will be mingled with God and sense the need for the blood.
Every part of our being, from the circumference to the center, is full of defilement. The lack of the sense that we are defiled and filthy proves that we are not living in God’s countenance. If we are living in His countenance, we cannot utter one word of prayer without pleading for His blood. Before the prophet Isaiah touched God’s countenance, he could boast in himself. But as soon as he saw God’s glory and came before His face, he cried, “Woe is me, for I am finished! / For I am a man of unclean lips, / And in the midst of a people of unclean lips I dwell” (Isa. 6:5). He was not able to stand before the Lord of glory. He needed the cleansing of the blood. Whenever we touch our spirit, and whenever we touch God and sense His presence and mingling, we will realize that we are unclean. Even if we spend one hour praying for cleansing, we will still need the cleansing of the blood in the next hour. Only when we touch God can we discover, realize, and see our filthiness. A believer once said, “Even my tears of repentance require the cleansing of the blood.” We need to repent even for our repentance for sins.
How unclean are our inward parts! Our motives and thoughts are impure, and they are mixed with acts of the self and of self-interest. Our thoughts, views, words, and attitudes cannot withstand God’s searching under His light. Even if we proclaim to be the cleanest of believers, we will find that we are in fact the most defiled once God shines on our inward and outward conditions. It is under this light that we find the cleansing of the blood most necessary.
Without the blood God will not accept us. Without the blood even our conscience will not approve us (Heb. 10:19; Rom. 2:15). An enlightened and cleansed conscience will always condemn us as being filthy; it will rebuke us. We may think that we said something in love, but our motive was impure. We may think that we love the brothers, but pride and self-glorification are hidden within our love. Our condemning of others for not having as much love as we have shows that our love is mixed with the expression and manifestation of the self. When the Lord shines on us, we will realize that what we consider to be a most holy love is altogether filthy and needs the thorough cleansing of the blood. For a long period of time I would spend thirty out of forty minutes of my prayer time confessing my sins. Only a few minutes were left for intercession. I can testify that the more one touches God’s presence and His countenance, and the more one mingles with God and cooperates with Him, the more he feels a need for the cleansing of the blood.
In the morning we should each touch the Lord’s presence, turn to our spirit, and pray by being mingled with Him. If we would do this, we will no longer be as free and careless as we have been in the past. Once we touch God and cooperate with Him, light will shine in us, and we will see that we are defiled in this item and wrong in that item. If we are wrong in our attitude toward our husband and in our thoughts concerning our children, we will confess, “Lord, cleanse me with Your blood.” Before we finish this confession, another thought may come concerning how we wronged our parents. While we confess this, a third thought may come to us related to pride in our demeanor when we spoke with a brother. We may respond, “Lord, forgive me. Cleanse me with Your precious blood.” As soon as we make this confession, another thought may come revealing that our prayer at the Lord’s table was full of self-boasting and glorification. Immediately, we should pray, “Lord, forgive me. Cleanse me again.” As soon as we utter these words, another thought may come that we were improper in our behavior toward our household help. After confessing this, still another thought may come. Such feelings of condemnation touch one point after another. As we realize that we are full of problems, there is almost no way to proceed with our intercession. The entire time of prayer may be taken up with confession and prayer for forgiveness and cleansing. If this is our condition, we are blessed. We have touched God. We have met the Lord.
Our prayer is most likely outside of God if, without any consciousness of sins and mistakes, it is easy to pray for this or that matter as soon as we kneel down. We have not touched God. We should read Daniel 9 again and consider his prayer. In effect, in his entire prayer, he said, “Our fathers have sinned against You. We have sinned against You, and I have sinned against You. If You do not grant us mercy, we have no way to proceed.” Daniel was a man under the light. He knew himself, realized his corruption, and confessed and grieved at length. He made confession over and over again and prayed for forgiveness. After confessing, he simply made a short intercession at the end: “God, remember Your holy habitation and Your holy city for Your own sake” (cf. v. 19). Over ninety percent of that long prayer was confession; only the last part was intercession, but this was enough to touch God’s heart.
Suppose a brother comes to God and prays in spirit by cooperating with God. He touches God and senses His presence, and God’s light shines on him, exposing all his failures and hidden thoughts. At such a time he is aware of his evil doings and sins, and he trusts in the blood. He sees that the blood of the cross is not only for saving him from hell but also for maintaining his fellowship with God. When he draws near to God in this way, he enjoys the efficacy of the blood. He can point to specific incidents and say, “Lord, I apply the blood to this matter and to that matter.” The more he prays this way, the more his conscience is purged, his spirit is revived, his heart is set at rest, and his inner being is filled with God’s presence. Perhaps his entire prayer is simply a long confession, and he does not ask for much in his prayer. But after praying, he is inwardly filled with God’s presence and is overflowing with God Himself. He has enjoyed God and has tasted God.
We need not pray for so many miscellaneous items. The Lord’s Word says that we should seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to us (Matt. 6:33). The heathen pray exclusively for these things because they do not know God. As those who know God, we should not pray in this way. We should touch God’s presence in our spirit and pray by cooperating with Him. When we discover any sin in us, we should confess, ask for the cleansing of the blood, and enjoy the redemption that comes through the cross.
When we touch God, we will see not only the outward sins but also the inward self. We will see that our entire being is full of the self. The self is even the center of all our relationships. It is the center of our relationship with our husband, our wife, our children, our parents, and the church. Consequently, God cannot mingle Himself deeply with us because we are full of the hidden self. In everything our consideration is the self. We are number one. We are number two. We are number three. We are number four. We are the first, we are the last, and we are everything in between. The Holy Spirit will show that we are not only full of sin but also full of the self and the old creation. Then the Holy Spirit will lead us to the death of the cross. When the Spirit points out our sins, we receive the cleansing of the blood. In the same principle, when the Spirit exposes the self, we have no choice but to accept the death of the cross. We will condemn ourselves, abhor ourselves, reject ourselves, deny ourselves, and apply the death of the cross through the Spirit who abides in us. We will enjoy the death of the cross. Then the crucifixion of the old creation will no longer be doctrine to us; it will be our practical experience. In our fellowship with God in His presence we will experience the death of Christ in a very real and practical way. Through the Spirit who abides in us, the self will be put to death. On the one hand, we will experience the cleansing of the blood; on the other hand, we will experience the death of the cross.
As we experience the first three steps, we spontaneously will experience the fourth step, which is to be in resurrection. As cleansed, redeemed, and crucified persons, we will immediately be brought into resurrection and ascension. We will be in the Holy Spirit and be free and transcendent. The Holy Spirit will fill us, pour Himself upon us, nourish us, and mingle Himself with us. We will have the Spirit’s presence in everything. Our sins will be cleansed, the self will be crucified, and our entire being will be in the Spirit of resurrection. We will be brought into the realm of resurrection, the realm of heaven, that is, the realm of God. We will be persons in God, enjoying God, filled with Him, and knowing how to apply Him in everything. God will not only be mingled with us; we will also be brought into the very being of God.
In such a realm of resurrection and ascension we will be sanctified, shining, and victorious. In such a realm God becomes our presence and our guidance. When we stand up to speak, God is our speaking, our message, and our eloquence. When we preach the gospel, God is our gospel and our power. In such a realm God is our all in all. He becomes whatever we need. Not only are we in God, but also He is in us. In addition to contacting Him with our spirit and cooperating with Him in prayer, we will be cleansed and crucified, becoming persons who experientially enjoy the Lord’s redemption and the crucifixion of His cross. In this redemption we are put to death, and the Spirit of resurrection brings us into the realm of resurrection. Our entire being is in God. We are fully in God, that is, in the spirit, in heaven, in resurrection, in life, and in the new creation. We are persons in the new creation, in life, in resurrection, in heaven, in the spirit, and in God. Moreover, our inner being is God Himself, and our outward expression is His expression. Every part of our being will be God, and we will be persons who fully enjoy God.
However, this is not a once-for-all experience; neither can a person reach this peak with one attempt. We need continual experiences of this. At a certain time we may feel that we have reached the peak. However, we will later realize that it was not the peak and that there is still a need to go deeper and higher. Although we may experience much grace when we touch the Lord’s presence again, we will also sense our sins again and need the cleansing of the blood again. Under this shining we will discover more of our hidden self and realize our need to embrace a deeper death. Going through those experiences repeatedly, we will enter into a deeper resurrection and touch, absorb, enjoy, and appropriate God in a deeper way. This is the way to grace and blessing. May the Lord have mercy on us all and bring us into this realm!
