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Although we have seen many things concerning the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, I have the burden in this chapter to help you realize that this Spirit has been wrought into us and that we have also been put into this Spirit. First, I need to say a further word regarding God’s economy.
God’s economy, or dispensation, is absolutely not a religion. Christianity has been utilized by the subtle one to the extent that it has become a religion. According to the human concept, religion is a good thing. Religion teaches people to worship God, to behave in a way that is pleasing to God, to do things for God, and to glorify God so that they may have a good future, and it encourages them to do all these things. Apparently, this is very good; actually, it is against God’s economy in a subtle way. This kind of religion has been a thick veil covering God’s chosen people. Today’s Christianity is a heavy veil covering many Christians. After reading the past seven chapters on the life-giving Spirit, you can see the difference between the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit and religion. What a difference there is! The Spirit is genuine; religion is a counterfeit. The Spirit is the reality; religion is vanity.
In His economy God has processed Himself in order that He may become the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. The word processed sounds strange to religious ears. Nevertheless, in His economy God has processed Himself. One day the very God became incarnated. Although He was God, He came into man and became a man, He lived a human life on earth for thirty-three and a half years, and He passed through much suffering. Eventually, He was arrested, judged, and put to death by being crucified on the cross. He was buried and remained in the grave for three days. Then He came out of the grave in His resurrection. Are not all these events part of a process? Yes, they are. The word process is not used in the Bible, but all these events are certainly part of a process. Our God has passed through a long, meaningful, and profitable process, beginning with the incarnation, continuing through human living and crucifixion, and concluding with resurrection and ascension. Today He is the One who has ascended to the heavens, having passed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. Now, having passed through such a process, what He is, is different from what He was before the incarnation. Before the incarnation He was merely God. But after having passed through this long process, He is not only God but God with man. In fact, He is a God-man. With this God-man there is incarnation, human living, the all-inclusive crucifixion, the resurrection, and the ascension.
At this point we need to see the difference between life and resurrection. Life is something that has never passed through death. Resurrection, on the contrary, is not only life but life that has passed through death. Death cannot retain such a life; rather, this life overcomes death and even swallows it up. This is resurrection. Thus, to some extent at least, the word resurrection implies a process.
Today God is the processed God with divinity, humanity, incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. This processed God of ours is now the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. We call Him the all-inclusive Spirit because within Him we have God as well as the redeemed, uplifted, and resurrected humanity. Moreover, within Him there is the incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Everything is included in Him. It is possible to make a list of many of the items included in the all-inclusive Spirit: life, light, wisdom, power, holiness, righteousness, humility, kindness, honor, glory. All the divine attributes and all the human virtues are included in this Spirit. Hence, He is all-inclusive.
This has never been more clear than it is today. Only in the church life, in the Lord’s recovery, have you heard anything like this. If you would consult the books in Christian bookstores and libraries, you would be unable to find a sentence telling you that today our God is such an all-inclusive life-giving Spirit.
In God’s economy this processed God, this all-inclusive Spirit, must be born into us, and we must be born of Him. Our first relationship with this Spirit is that of birth. This is not an insignificant matter. This wonderful Spirit has been born into our being, and our being has been born of Him. John 3:6 says, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” In this verse we see two kinds of spirit, one indicated by the capital letter S and the other by the small letter s. No doubt the Spirit refers to this wonderful Spirit, and the spirit denotes our inward being. What is born of the Spirit is our spirit. Before we were saved, we were flesh. To be saved means not only to have our sins forgiven, to be redeemed, to be justified, and to be reconciled to God. The meaning of salvation is deeper and more profound than this. Ultimately, to be saved means to be born of this wonderful Spirit. Today we are no longer flesh—we are spirit.
When some of you hear this, you may say, “Brother Lee, you shouldn’t boast for all of us. Even now, I still feel like I am flesh.” In a sense, I agree with you. I like to hear you say this, for to realize that you are still flesh is an indication that you are under God’s mercy. Only one who is under God’s mercy would say that he is flesh. Anyone else would claim to be better than an angel. But in God’s mercy you admit that you are poor. Especially you confess that you are ugly in the eyes of your wife or husband. However, although you realize that you are still flesh, do you not also have another sense within? Do you not sense that you are wonderful, glorious, marvelous, and mysterious? Within this flesh there is something divine; there is at least a small amount of gold. Do you not have at least an ounce of gold within you? Outwardly we may still be flesh, but inwardly we have gold. We need to learn to stand with God’s grace and forget what we are outwardly. We need to say, “Flesh, go away. I don’t care for you or appreciate you. There’s gold in me.” If you say this, you will immediately be glorious. The more you speak this way, the more the gold within you will increase. This is not a matter of mushrooming growth; it is a matter of faith. We need to say, “Flesh, go! I like gold! Hallelujah for the gold! I like to live with this gold and by this gold.” The more you praise the Lord for the gold within you, the more the gold will gradually increase from one ounce to several ounces.
That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. This is a very important matter. Do you realize that you have been born of the Spirit and that the Spirit has been born into you? This is not a matter of religion, teaching, or any type of practice; it is a matter of birth.
The worship of God is absolutely a matter of the spirit. God is Spirit, and we who worship Him must worship Him in spirit (4:24). We worship God the Spirit by our spirit. This is crucial. Many Christians understand this, but in their practice they have little realization that they are worshipping God exclusively by their spirit. Your spirit is different from your mind, emotion, or any other part of your inward being. We all need to restrict ourselves to the spirit. Whenever we contact God or fellowship with Him, we must be restricted to our spirit, remembering that we have been born of the Spirit in our spirit. We must worship the Spirit only by means of our reborn spirit, not by any other part of our being.
Some may ask what the difference is between worshipping God in spirit and worshipping Him by some other means. Although it is difficult to analyze this doctrinally, I can point out the difference in a practical way. Suppose after coming into the meeting you scrutinize the old ones and then the young ones. If you do this, you are surely not in the spirit. Then suppose you say to yourself, “Tonight, Brother Lee will speak. What will he talk about? He has spoken so much about the Spirit. Does he still have something more to say about the Spirit?” All these thoughts are like bugs that fly into your mind and occupy it. If you are occupied in this way, you are definitely not in the spirit. What then does it mean to be in the spirit? It means that you realize that you have been born of the Spirit in your spirit and that you come to the meeting to contact God the Spirit in your spirit. You forget your thinking and restrict yourself to your spirit. You may praise the Lord and say, “Amen! Hallelujah! O Lord Jesus! Oh, the seven Spirits, the seven lamps, and the seven eyes! Amen! Oh, the seven eyes on the stone and the seven eyes of the Lamb! Praise the Lord!” Eventually, when a brother stands up to speak, you may even forget his name. You will simply be enjoying the Lord.
Some believers are very active in their thinking, feeling, and analyzing, but they do not exercise their spirit. When you come to the meeting, you must forget yourself and exercise your spirit. Whenever I am about to speak, I try my best to forget the heavens, the earth, and even my family. But sometimes the enemy sends thoughts about my wife, children, and grandchildren to distract me. All these thoughts are like bugs. Nevertheless, I care only for my spirit. When I speak, I determine to speak from my spirit. This is the secret of impact in speaking and the secret of the Lord’s speaking. We need to restrict ourselves to our spirit.
Romans 8:16 says that the Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God, and 1 Corinthians 6:17 says that he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. Is this a doctrine or a fact? What about your experience? In experience are you one spirit with the Lord? This must not merely be true doctrinally or positionally but experientially. Hallelujah, I am one spirit with the Lord! This is a tremendous matter. This is not self-improvement or any type of behavior. This is not a matter of doing better, of loving, and of being holy. Do you dare say that right now you are one spirit with the Lord? I am bold to say this. Whenever I speak for Him, with Him, and in Him, I have the assurance that I am one spirit with Him. I have the assurance that while I am speaking He is working, because I am one spirit with Him and know that He is one spirit with me. This is not religion or ethics, philosophy or logic. It is the divine economy. The believers in Christ can be one spirit with the Lord. Here we have power, life, light, and everything we need. As long as we are one spirit with the Lord, all the pests are exterminated. The best pest control is to say, “O Lord Jesus, I am one spirit with You.” When we say this, we have not only power but also authority. When we are one spirit with the Lord, who can touch us?
Second Timothy 4:22 says, “The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.” Galatians 6:18 and Philemon 25 both speak of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ being with our spirit. Right now the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is in our spirit, and grace, the full enjoyment of the riches of the Lord, is also in our spirit. We are inwardly strengthened just by saying these words. If you do not believe it, I ask you to try it. As you are about to lose your temper, say, “Grace be with my spirit.” This grace will kill your temper. Grace is the life-giving Spirit, the all-inclusive Spirit Himself. Many of us are still very much under the influence of the religion of Christianity. We have heard so many teachings about various things. But I have learned one thing—to be a good eater. Because I have excellent metabolism, I do not gain weight, although I eat very well. My point here is this. Do not tell me to do certain things, for I only need to eat the proper food. Forget those religious teachings about doing this and that. Instead, eat Jesus and enjoy grace. Do not try to deal with your temper. One word is sufficient: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” To this, we all must say Amen! If you practice this, you will know wonderful victory. We all need to say, “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with my spirit. Amen.”
Two things are very real. The first is grace, and the second is the spirit. There is something in the universe called grace, and there is something within us called the spirit. The Bible says that grace is with our spirit. In the universe there is grace; and within us there is the spirit. Hallelujah, this grace is now in our spirit! If this were not such a wonderful matter, why would the apostle Paul repeat it again and again, saying that grace is with our spirit, or that grace is with us? This is not vain talk or vain words. I was in Christianity for years, but no one ever told me such a thing. Rather, they taught me to honor my parents, and I did my best to do it. No one told me that there is something in the universe called grace and something within me called my spirit. But after many years I learned through experience that grace is with my spirit. This grace that is with our spirit is simply the all-inclusive Spirit. The all-inclusive Spirit has been born into our spirit, and we have been born of Him. This is grace. Now we are one spirit with Him, and He is within us as grace. The supply, the support, and the enjoyment are all with our spirit.
In every chapter of the book of Ephesians there is a verse concerning the spirit. Our spirit is wonderful because it is indwelt by the Spirit and is one with the Spirit. Hence, it is the mingled spirit, our spirit joined to the Spirit. According to Ephesians 1:17, this spirit is the spirit of wisdom and revelation. If we would know the book of Ephesians, we need such a spirit of wisdom and revelation. Ephesians 2:22 indicates that today God’s habitation, the church, is in our spirit, and Ephesians 3:5 says that the revelation of the mystery hidden in God can be revealed to us only in our spirit. Ephesians 4:23 says that we must be renewed in the spirit of our mind. According to this verse, our spirit spreads into our mind and becomes the spirit of our mind. By this spirit we are being renewed. In Ephesians 5:18 we are told to be filled in our spirit. Our physical body may be filled with wine, but we do not desire this kind of filling. Instead, we need to be filled in our spirit with the wonderful, all-inclusive Spirit. Finally, Ephesians 6:18 says that we must pray at every time in spirit. If we put all these verses together, we shall see what the real Christian life is. It is to recognize that our spirit is indwelt by the all-inclusive Spirit. We must restrict ourselves to the spirit and do everything from the spirit. The life-giving Spirit indwells our spirit to be our Christian life.
Romans 8:4 reveals that we need to walk according to this wonderful Spirit. Eventually, the New Testament charges us to do just one thing—to walk, behave, speak, do things, and have our being according to the mingled spirit. Romans 8:6 tells us to set our mind upon the spirit. There is no need for me to try to explain this, for the more I explain it, the more confused you will be. You simply need to realize that you have such a spirit within you and that you should do everything according to your spirit. Are you about to lose your temper? Behave according to the spirit. Are you about to exchange words with your wife or husband? Speak according to the spirit. Have your being according to the spirit. Talk according to spirit, fellowship according to spirit, do everything according to spirit. Be simple. Do not think about so many things. Do not think that your wife or husband is good or bad. Instead, set your mind upon the spirit. When you are thinking about your wife or husband, set your mind upon the spirit. When you are tempted to think about a sale coming up tomorrow, set your mind upon the spirit. Instead of considering what style of shoes to buy or what color they should be, set your mind upon the spirit. Many of you have heard that you should set your mind upon the spirit, but do you actually practice it? We need to set our mind upon the spirit.
In our life-study of Genesis we came up with a new proverb: Bind your donkey to the vine. (See Life-study of Genesis, Message 100, p. 1279.) Setting the mind upon the spirit is somewhat like binding the donkey to the vine. When you are thinking about the past or about how your wife is treating you, bind your donkey to the vine and set your mind upon the spirit. Do not care about heaven or earth, or about your wife or husband. Instead, set your mind upon the spirit, and bind your donkey to the vine. Hallelujah, my donkey is tied to the vine! Everything is involved with the vine, which is Christ. Do not argue, reason, or consider. Simply bind your donkey to the vine and set your mind upon the spirit. If you do this, you will be happy and rejoicing and praising. The more you praise, the more you will be in the spirit. The more you praise, the more you will restrict yourself to the spirit and concentrate on the spirit. Hallelujah, it is here in the spirit that we enjoy Him and experience all the riches of Christ! This is wonderful.
