Search
We are all covered by a thick veil. This veil is our natural constitution and includes our natural concept that stems from our natural constitution. We are not the second generation of mankind born after Adam. Rather, we were born nearly six thousand years after Adam. Hence, our problem is more complicated than Cain’s problem. The saints from China should ask themselves whether they have put off the Chinese tradition, history, and philosophy. It is difficult to put off one’s ancestry, ethnicity, customs, culture, sentiments, and background. The Chinese are profoundly cultured, not only by our Chinese ancestry but also by the influence of Western culture. These elements constitute our inward being and have become veils that hinder us from understanding the Bible. Because we always read the Bible with these “tinted glasses,” we cannot see the true color of the Bible. Even though we have spoken about these problems in the past, we seem unable to drop them.
For example, our fallen nature influences us to study things for knowledge. Before a person is saved, he does not care about the Bible. However, as soon as he is saved and loves the Lord, he may immediately fall into the trap of thinking that he has to study the Bible. Some believers may even study church history, biographies of believers, and other spiritual writings. This is not bad, but we need to know that everything has its pros and cons. The Lord Jesus said to the Jewish religionists, “You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that testify concerning Me. Yet you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40). Therefore, searching the Scriptures was like poison to the Jewish religionists.
Many Christians cite Acts 17:10 and 11 and argue that the Bereans were noble in that they examined the Scriptures daily. This indeed is a compliment to the Bereans. However, examining the Scriptures should not be done without coming to the Lord to receive life. A person who examines the Scriptures without receiving life may not grow, even if he is saved. Of course, we must examine the Scriptures to know the truth. Nevertheless, if we use only our mind to examine the Scriptures, our growth in life will be hindered. Everything has its measure. We are benefited when we stay within the appropriate measure; however, we will suffer when we go beyond our measure.
It is not necessarily profitable to study the Bible every day. We should spend more time praying. Our problem is that we know the Bible, but we are short of prayer, short of the breath of life, and short of the Spirit. The believers in the Lord’s recovery possess much Bible knowledge. Although few among us are Doctors of Divinity, in some aspects our understanding of the Bible surpasses that of the Doctors of Divinity. They may know Hebrew and Greek, Bible history and geography, and biblical names and biographies, but their understanding of the Bible is different from our understanding. If asked concerning life and the spirit, the soul, and the body, they may say that they have never read anything concerning these items. Their study is in one realm, but our training is in another realm. They are in the realm of knowledge, but we are in the realm of life.
Regrettably, our knowledge of life has turned into knowledge. Some have studied and even memorized the fourteen points in The Knowledge of Life and the nineteen items in The Experience of Life. This, however, should be done with prayer. We should pray over the fourteen points in The Knowledge of Life so that they can get into our spirit. Each of the nineteen items in The Experience of Life requires thorough prayer. Because we are short of prayer and the breath of life, for many years we have been unable to come out of the snare of studying but instead have fought battles over doctrine.
It is difficult for Christians to be one concerning doctrine. Suppose there are one hundred thirty people here. This means that there are one hundred thirty minds, and each mind is as different as one face is from another face. The divisions in Christianity are divisions in the mind. If the Christians who love and pursue the Lord would care for the spirit and practice living in the spirit instead of caring for the mind, there would be no divisions.
My burden is for us to see that our basic need is the breath of life, which is the Spirit, and that prayer is the only way to meet this need. We need spiritual sight to see that if our spirit is not strong and living, our effort and struggle will be in vain. If we do not pray, we will turn our attention to self-improvement. Some people are naturally inclined to asceticism and self-improvement, but this is not spiritual. The Confucianists in China focus on self-improvement and may be advanced in this area. However, just as we cannot bring the indulgence of the flesh into the church, so we cannot bring the concept of self-improvement into the church.
Every matter in the church is dependent on the Spirit. If we see this, we will spontaneously be willing to spend time to pray, pray-read, and call on the name of the Lord. We need to live out the reality of being joined to the Lord. He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). We need to experience being one spirit with the Lord when we talk to our spouse so that our talking will be the Lord’s talking. This is precious. In the past our spiritual pursuit was focused on reading the Bible, studying spiritual books, and exploring various practices, but not much time was spent on prayer. This lack of prayer has caused us to suffer. Now we must drop our “studying” and instead pursue being one spirit with the Lord. We need to practically experience being one spirit with the Lord in all things, whether they be great or small.
When I speak of prayer, some people may think that I am referring to not doing anything without prayer. This is not what I am referring to. When I speak of prayer, I am referring to being one spirit with the Lord. We must always turn to our spirit in order to have genuine prayer. This is spiritual breathing. Even when a brother speaks to his relatives or friends, he should continue to pray in his spirit. He does not need to say, “Lord, give me the appropriate words to say to my relatives and friends,” nor does he need to say, “Lord, keep me from losing my temper.” These are religious prayers. He only needs to pray, “Lord, be one spirit with me. Lead me in the spirit. May I breathe You in and experience You. Lord, keep me from turning away from You. Enable me to do things according to the Spirit.” There is no need to be concerned with what he should say or about losing his temper. Such items are Confucian in nature. We should let these things go. The Bible requires us only to be according to the spirit and to abide in the Lord (Rom. 8:4; John 15:4). We do not need to do anything, nor do we need to ask the Lord to do anything for us.
Perhaps some may be confused. We have been doing things for a long time. Now we simply need to stop. However, even our stopping can become an activity. Our effort to stop ourselves can become a method. It is no wonder that the Lord did not tell us what to do. He only said, “Abide in Me and I in you” (v. 4). We only need to abide in the Lord, because He is responsible for the outcome.
In John 14:10 the Lord said, “I am in the Father and the Father is in Me,” and He also said, “The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who abides in Me does His works.” In verses 16 and 17 the Lord said, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever, even the Spirit of reality;...but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you.” In verse 20 the Lord said, “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” These verses concern the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. In verse 23 the Lord said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him.” This verse mentions the mutual abode of the Triune God and the believers.
In chapter 15 the Lord said, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman” (v. 1). The Son is the vine, and the Spirit is the reality of this vine. The Lord wants us to abide in Him, because we are branches grafted into Him. As believers, we have already been grafted into the Lord; hence, there should not be any separation between us and the Lord. If we abide in Him, He will abide in us (v. 4). In chapter 17 the Lord prayed, “That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us” (v. 21). This refers to our being joined as one spirit to the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit in our spirit. This is abiding in the Lord. When we are joined to the Spirit, we abide in the Lord, and the Lord abides in us.
When we live in our spirit and allow the Spirit to live in us, the flesh, the self, and the natural constitution will lose their ground in us. We are thankful to the Lord for His grace and mercy to us, but we have to admit that there is still discord among the serving ones in the churches. The only way to kill such discord is to live in the spirit. When we live in the spirit, all the problems disappear. We do not care whether others are right or wrong, good or bad. We only care to live in the spirit. Living in the spirit is the cure to heal people and to swallow up the death in the church. Everyone thinks that someone else is wrong, because when we are not in the spirit, we are in the realm of right and wrong.
We do not need judges among us; we only need those who live in the spirit. When we live in the spirit, there will be no problems. We blame and criticize others because no person is good. Which elder is good? Which local church is good? No one is good, because we are all descendants of Adam. If we are in the spirit, however, we will not pay attention to whether others are good or bad. If we are not in the spirit, we will always complain about the faults of the elders and the church, no matter where we may be. It might be true that the elders and the church are not good, but focusing on this shows that we are in our natural constitution, not in the spirit. If we are in the spirit, we will overflow with life instead of speaking negatively.
Our present need is prayer. We should not pray only for others and the churches; we need to pray for ourselves. This means that we need to pray ourselves into the spirit so that we would be joined to the Lord as one spirit and remain in the spirit. We need to serve in the spirit and pray in the spirit without considering the result or what to do next. The present need of the church is for the saints to live in the spirit. There is only one reason for the problems in the church: the saints do not live in the spirit. As soon as the saints begin living in the spirit, the problems will disappear. Therefore, we must live in the spirit and remain in the spirit through prayer.
After many years we are finally realizing that although it might be effective to make arrangements or to deal with the problems in the church, the solution is for the saints to live in the spirit. If we will live in the spirit, we will not need to deal with things or make arrangements, because the problems in the church will spontaneously be resolved. May we know and practice living in the spirit and bringing others into the spirit. This is the only way for the spiritual reality to increase among us. If we do not practice living in the Spirit, we will not have the reality of the Spirit within us, even if we understand the Bible. We are short of the reality of the Spirit because we do not live in the spirit. Our problem is a lack of prayer; we do not spend enough time in prayer; hence, our living is a living without prayer. We like to do many things, but we are not willing to pray more. The urgent need in the churches is more prayer. Prayer will cause us to live in the spirit, that is, to abide in the Spirit and abide in the Lord.
