RESTRICTED TO THE SPIRIT
Regarding the worship of God, worship is absolutely a matter of the spirit. God is Spirit, and we who worship Him must worship Him in spirit (John 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.
ONE SPIRIT WITH THE LORD
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?
(The Spirit and the Body, Chapter 9, by Witness Lee)
