A WALK ACCORDING TO SPIRIT
Rather than imagining what might happen later, stay in fellowship with the Lord. “Lord, You are the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. You are living in my spirit. You and I have become one spirit. I would just abide here in my spirit with You.” Go home in peace. Do not wonder what you will do if such-and-such happens. Simply follow the Spirit. There is no reason to ask anyone what you should do. Praise the Lord that He is within you and that you are one spirit with Him. Keep talking to Him in this way. When you get home, if your husband confronts you at the door and asks, “Where have you been? How come you don’t want to take care of the house?” still do not react. Keep saying, “Lord, I am one spirit with You. You are the life-giving Spirit.” He may say, “Oh, you are so spiritual! Is the Lord in your spirit and not in mine?” Just keep thanking the Lord that He is within you, giving life to you. If your husband then proposes, “How about fixing something for us to eat?” keep walking according to the Spirit. I believe the Spirit will constrain you to go into the kitchen and cook for him. As you are working there, say, “Lord, You are the life-giving Spirit within my spirit. Hallelujah!”
If you will live in this way, you will be walking according to Spirit. You do not need to know what the standard is for a good husband or wife. You do not need to think about honoring your parents. You do not need to consider how to love people or how not to lose your temper. All your being is toward this One who is the life-giving Spirit indwelling your spirit.
This is a glorious way to live. Practice it! You will be out of the realm of religion, morality, and the law. There will be only Christ. You will be in the good of God’s intention. It is His heart’s desire to live in you as your life and your person. What I am proposing is not superstition or empty doctrine. Surely you have already had some experience of this. Think back to a time when you prayed yourself into the spirit. It made you forget heaven and earth. You and the Lord were one, and it seemed there was nothing else. “O Lord! O Lord! It’s so good to be here with You!”
LIVING IN AN ATMOSPHERE OF PRAYER
This spirit of prayer must be the realm in which we live. Bring this atmosphere into your daily life. Pray without ceasing. This does not mean to keep praying for all different matters all the time. To pray without ceasing means to breathe in the Lord and enjoy Him constantly. It means to stay in the realm of the Spirit where the Lord is with you and you are with Him. Do not quench this Spirit.
If you are willing to practice this, the element of the Lord will increase in you from day to day. A sanctifying process will take place. Things that others do will no longer appeal to you. What you formerly enjoyed you will no longer have any interest in doing. Your smart remarks will not be forthcoming. Your taste in clothing will be different. These changes will be the result of the Lord’s increase in you, not of an effort at outward conformity. Because you are one spirit with the Lord and walk according to this spirit, the result will be that you are transformed and made holy. Without any intention, you will be an overcomer.
Pray daily. “Lord, I love You. Attract me, that I may love You more. Rekindle my love for You this very day. Every day I want my love for You to be fresh and sweet. Come and make Your home in my heart. You are the One I desire.”
To thus declare your love for the Lord and to invite Him to make His home in your heart is not an insignificant matter. Suppose you expressed your love to someone of your acquaintance and your longing that that one come and live with you. How deeply moved that person would be! This One whom you are inviting is the Lord of heaven, the Creator, the incarnated, crucified One who is now the Spirit. In Him are the power of the resurrection and the riches of the ascension.
He is pleased to come when you invite Him! He Himself 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” (John 14:23). The Father and Son will live in you!
Is this mere fanciful talk? Is the Lord Jesus real? Is it true that He now is the all-inclusive Spirit? Praise the Lord, it is real! When you say, “Lord, I am here. Come and live in me,” He will come. You will enjoy His presence, sweetness, comfort, and supply from within. This will be your experience, even though you cannot describe it precisely. Unbelievers will wonder what kind of person you are and what makes you that way.
IN SPIRIT
In the last book of the Bible there was one who said, “I was in spirit on the Lord’s day” (Rev. 1:10). May this be true of all of us. “Lord, make me one who is in spirit. May all my days on earth be the Lord’s day. I want to be one who is in spirit.” With all of us so exercised to be in spirit, enjoying God and man mingled together, we have the church life today. Tomorrow we shall have the New Jerusalem. This is the eternal purpose of God, His heart’s desire, and His greatest pleasure.
Nothing pleases Him more than your being one spirit with Him and walking according to that spirit. Do you love the Lord? Then enjoy this mingling with Him! Do not worry about the criticisms of others. Do not have rules to follow. Do not have secondary considerations. Simply love Him, walk in spirit, be mingled with Him, and fellowship with Him in spirit. “Lord, I love You. You and I have become one spirit. I am living in You. You are living in me. I want my walk to be in You and according to spirit.” Here is overcoming life, light, power, riches, spirituality, holiness—the church life!
Do you see how different it is to walk in spirit than to be in religion? The Triune God has become the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. He is now living in your spirit, so that He and you are one mingled spirit. In this one spirit pray, fellowship with Him, and be joined with Him. Walk according to this one spirit!
(Life Messages, Vol. 2 (#42-75), Chapter 23, by Witness Lee)
