SONS OF GOD ACCORDING TO GOD’S ECONOMY
According to God’s economy, Christ passed through the process of incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. By His all-inclusive death, He accomplished redemption and solved all our problems. Now, in resurrection, He is the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, ready for us to receive and enjoy (1 Cor. 15:45). The way to receive and enjoy Him is to believe in His name, to call on His name, and to open ourselves to Him so that He may have the full liberty to possess us. First Corinthians 6:17 says, "He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit." He is the Spirit of holiness, the Spirit of life, and the Spirit of sonship. As long as we are one with Him in our spirit, our whole being will be permeated with the Spirit of holiness, and we shall become separate, absolutely different, from everything other than God. We shall also be permeated with God’s living in us. God will be our life, not in a doctrinal way, but in a practical way. There will be no need for a brother to try to love his wife. Instead, love for his wife will spontaneously issue forth. All the divine attributes and human virtues will come out of him. Eventually, the Spirit of holiness, the Spirit of life, and the Spirit of sonship will become one with us. The Spirit will be one with us because he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. When the Spirit becomes one with us, we shall have holiness, life, and sonship. We shall be sons of God in reality and no longer behave like an unsaved person. We shall be the sons of God because this Spirit of holiness, life, and sonship will have saturated us thoroughly with what God is. This is holiness, this is victory, and this is glory.
The more this process takes place in you, the more you will be a proper member of the Body of Christ. For years you might have talked about being a member of the Body. But consider your behavior in the past. Were you a member of the Body in reality? Many of you were divisive and caused trouble. Because you were not one with the Spirit, for years you were not actually a member of the Body. You were not one with the Spirit of holiness, the Spirit of life, or the Spirit of sonship. Instead, you merely held on to certain doctrines or biblical concepts. This is not what you need today. You need the Spirit of holiness, the Spirit of life, and the Spirit of sonship. At this very moment, the Spirit is in your spirit. Forget your concepts, your understanding, and your knowledge, turn to your spirit, open to the Spirit who is in your spirit, and be one with Him. The Spirit witnesses with our spirit (Rom. 8:16). Hence, you need to turn to your spirit to be one with this Spirit, who is the Spirit of holiness, life, and sonship. When you do this, this wonderful Spirit will work in you. As a result, rivers will flow out of you (John 7:38-39). There is no need to struggle, strive, endeavor, or mistreat yourself. Drop your concepts, turn from your knowledge, turn to your spirit, and open your entire being to the Spirit of holiness, the Spirit of life, and the Spirit of sonship. The more you do this, the more you will be saturated and permeated with the Spirit. You will be one spirit with Him, and He, the Spirit, will be one with you. Then you will actually be a son of God and a member of the Body of Christ.
(The Spirit and the Body, Chapter 6, by Witness Lee)
