III. BUILT TOGETHER IN SPIRIT
[The matter of seeing the church is in the spirit, and the building up of the church is also in the spirit. In Ephesians 2:22 Paul says that "you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit." As long as we stay outside of the spirit, we are divided, and we are also divisive. As long as we are not in the spirit, we are individualistic. It is not at all hard to be divisive or to be individualistic. Simply by staying away from our spirit, simply by lingering in our mind to consider or by lingering in our emotion, we are divisive, we are individualistic, and we are not willing to be tempered. We have our likes and dislikes, our tastes and preferences, our opinions about the brothers and sisters, and we would rather stay at home than be in the meetings with the saints. As long as we stay away from our spirit, we see no need to be tempered together, and we feel it is necessary for each of us to maintain a distinctiveness from others, to take care of our individual personality created by God, and to hold on to our own prestige. It is impossible for us to be tempered together as long as we stay outside the spirit with such concepts. However, if we would turn ourselves to the spirit, right away we would see that we need to be tempered, we would be willing to be tempered, and we would even cry out to the Lord for His mercy that He would temper us together.]
IV. STRENGTHENED IN THE INNER MAN
[Furthermore, we need to be strengthened in the inner man, in our regenerated human spirit. In chapter three of Ephesians Paul prayed, "That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man" (v. 16). Not only is the seeing of the Body in the spirit, not only is the building up together of the Body in the spirit, but the strengthening in the inner man is also in the spirit. In order to be strengthened in the inner man we need to be in the spirit. We are too strong in the emotion, in the will, and in the mind, but we are not strong enough in the inner man, in the spirit. We need to be strengthened in the inner man. The strengthening of God is in our spirit.]
V. RENEWED IN THE SPIRIT OF THE MIND
[Then in chapter four of Ephesians, after the strengthening in the inner man, there is the renewing of the spirit of the mind (v. 23). Every part of your mind needs to be completely renewed, renewed in the spirit that takes over, occupies, and possesses your mind and becomes the spirit of your mind. You may not realize how much your mind controls your spirit and even controls the Holy Spirit. Without the cooperation of your mind, the Holy Spirit could not get through in you. In this sense, the Holy Spirit is under the control of your mind. However, this is not the proper order. Both the Holy Spirit and our human spirit should be over our mind and should take full control of our mind. The mind should be set upon the spirit (Rom. 8:6), and the mind should be governed, possessed, occupied, taken over, controlled, and subdued by the spirit. Then this spirit is the renewing spirit.
All of us need to be renewed again and again, daily, hourly, moment by moment, all the time, in, with, and by such a renewing spirit. If such is the case, the local church life will be real and precious to you, and you will realize that there is no other way for you to go on, no other way for you to take.]
VI. FILLED IN SPIRIT
[In the first four chapters of Ephesians there is the seeing in the spirit (1:17), building up in the spirit (2:22), being strengthened in the spirit (3:16), and being renewed in the spirit (4:23). In chapter five Paul indicates that we need to be filled in spirit. According to 3:19, to be filled in spirit means to be filled unto all the fullness of the Godhead. When Christ makes His home in our heart, and when we are strong to apprehend with all the saints the dimensions of Christ and to know by experience His knowledge-surpassing love, we shall be filled unto all the fullness of God. All this fullness dwells in Christ (Col. 1:19; 2:9). Through His indwelling, Christ imparts what God is into our being. We can be filled with God to such a measure and standard, even unto all the fullness of God.]
[It seems that we often are full in our mind, but empty in the spirit. Our spirit seems somewhat like a flat tire, but our mind and emotion are both filled up. We need to pray that we would be emptied in the mind and emptied in the emotion, but filled unto the fullness of God in our spirit. Then the church life will be very valuable to us. We will treasure the church life.]
(Lesson Book, Level 3: Two Spirits—Two Spirits - the Divine Spirit and the Human Spirit, Chapter 23, by Witness Lee)
