NEEDING TO EXERCISE AND PRACTICE LIVING WITH THE LORD
This is an exceedingly simple way. The Lord became flesh and made redemption for our sins. Then He resurrected and became the life-giving Spirit to be received by us. When we use our spirit to receive Him, He immediately comes into our spirit to regenerate us. Furthermore, in our spirit He also becomes our life, our life supply, and even our person. He and we have one life, one living, one move, and one action. We just live by Him. We do not know what it is to love the world and what it is to not love the world. We do not know what it is to hate others and what it is to love others. We do not know what it is to be proud and what it is to be humble. We just live by Him. This is what God intends to recover in this age. For many centuries this is what He has been after but has not been able to obtain. If you speak to people about redemption, victory, holiness, the cross, and breaking, they can understand. However, when you speak to them about living in the spirit, having one life and one living with the Lord twenty-four hours a day, it seems that they understand yet do not care. After understanding, no one exercises and practices it. After reading this message, how many of us will exercise in this matter? Tomorrow morning when a situation arises, we may forget this message and try again to endure, to love our wife, or to submit to our husband. There is no effect in us, and we do not have any response because we do not have this matter in us.
In the Bible there is one book, the Gospel of John, which specifically shows us this matter. God became flesh to be the Lamb of God who accomplished redemption. Furthermore, after His death and resurrection, He became the breath of life and breathed Himself into us. When He gets into man, the Father also gets into man. When He gets into man, the Son also gets into man. He is in man as life, as bread, as living water, as spiritual air, and as a person. Man has one life and one living with Him, thereby living Him out. This is the story of God’s relationship with man. This matter has been spoken a hundred times, even a thousand times, yet in our daily living, most of us do not practice it. We have heard many other teachings in the past, and we were willing to exercise and practice them. The only exception is the vision in the Gospel of John. It has been spoken, and we have heard it, but it has had no effect on us.
We in the church need a vision. We all need to see that it is not a matter of being holy or being victorious nor a matter of this or that. Today everything hinges on the fact that the Triune God as the all-inclusive Spirit is in our spirit to be our life and our all. We live by Him, and He and we are one—one in life and one in living. He is us, and we are Him. The vine is not only Him but also us, because we are branches of the vine. If you could go and ask a branch, “What are you doing?”, it would reply, “I do not know anything. I only know to live and remain in the vine, growing leaves when it is time to grow leaves, blossoming when it is time to blossom, and bearing fruit when it is time to bear fruit. Everything depends on the natural law of life. As a branch, I just need to abide in the vine. It is that simple.”
We, however, have been so confused and mixed up because we have accumulated so many things within, such as human culture, religious concepts, ethical thoughts, and Christian doctrines. Some propose one thing while others suggest another thing. Some want to preach the gospel extensively, others desire to have more time to pray, and still others want to speak in tongues. We need to read the New Testament again. If we would read it in an unbiased way, we would bow our heads and say, “The fundamental thought, the central point, and the emphasis of the Bible is that God has become the life-giving Spirit, the all-inclusive Spirit.” He has accomplished everything. He is waiting for us to receive Him into us. We all have a spirit to receive Him, and we all can live by Him. This is not a doctrine, an exhortation, or a religious regulation. Rather, this is a living Spirit, a living Person, living in us, and we are living by Him. Everything is here. If we have this, we have everything.
(Living in the Spirit, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee)
