TAKING CARE OF OUR SPIRIT
Today, our spirit is the most important part of our entire being. The human spirit is the organ for receiving God as life. We are just like a radio. A radio has a receiver within it. When the receiver malfunctions, it cannot receive the radio waves. Man is like a radio, and the human spirit within him is like a receiver. However, due to man’s fall, very few people take care of the spirit within. Man cares only for the outward body and the soul. When we repented and were saved, our spirit was activated. In other words, our conscience was activated.
According to the record in the Bible, the conscience is the leading part of the spirit. The conscience is the “bright virtue” taught by Confucius and the “inherent goodness” or “the brightness of the human heart” taught by Wang Yang-ming. Now that you are saved, you need to take care of your spirit. In the past when you quarreled with your wife, you were never short of words to defend yourself, and the more you spoke, the more you were convinced that you were right. But after you heard the gospel, the Holy Spirit entered into you and touched your conscience, causing your spirit and conscience to function. Then you confessed your sins and repented. The more you confessed, the stronger the spirit became. The more you confessed your sins, the clearer and purer your spirit became. This means that God came in, the oil came into the lamp, and the lamp was lit. When you have light and revelation, that means God has come into you. However, after many of us have been saved, we put aside our lamp and do not care for the spirit. We are accustomed to using our mentality, our mind, but not our spirit. Although we know that as believers we should turn to our spirit and care for our spirit, yet we seldom do so.
LIVING IN SPIRIT TO BE A VESSEL OF GOD
Zechariah 12:1 says, “Jehovah, who stretches forth the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him.” In God’s eyes, man is of equal importance with heaven and earth. Moreover, heaven and earth are for man; so man is the center. Without the earth, man could not live. Without heaven, the earth would be without rain and sunlight and thus would not be able to sustain all the living things. The animals could not live; the plants could not live; and even more, man could not live. The vast heaven is for the earth, and the earth is for man. Although heaven is great, it is for the earth; although the earth is big, it is for the small man; and although man is small, he is for God. God is Spirit, and the man who is for God must also have a spirit so that the two spirits can become one spirit. It is no wonder that the Chinese sages said that man is the “spirit of all things.” The heaven is for the earth, and the earth is for man and for the spirit within man, so that man could live in his spirit to be God’s vessel to receive, contain, express, and manifest God for God’s satisfaction.
Today, we Christians have God within us. We are not here merely to eat but to contain God, to express God, and to be God’s vessels. The Chinese have a saying, “Man’s life is a matter of three fillings and one falling.” Three fillings are the eating of three meals, whereas one falling refers to sleeping. Our Christian life is not for “three fillings and one falling.” We were created by God as a tripartite man with a spirit, a soul, and a body for us to contain, enjoy, and express God.
Perhaps you have not yet believed in the Lord. In this case, you must know that you are a vessel created for God. God wants you to be a vessel unto honor and glory to contain Him. Because God wants you to contain Him, He created a precious spirit in you. This spirit is for containing God. If you do not have God as Spirit in your spirit, your human life is vanity. If you have God as Spirit in you, your human life is substantial. If a radio is never turned on but is always laid aside, even though it has a receiver, it is still vanity. If it is laid aside for a day, it will be vanity for a day; if it is laid aside for a lifetime, it will be empty for a lifetime. You simply need to open your heart to the Lord to receive Him by calling on His name. Do not stay in your mind. You have a spirit within you. You must let your spirit function and let the conscience in your spirit function by speaking to you. You must follow the sense of your conscience and confess your sins to God. God will surely forgive your sins and even enter into you, and you will then be regenerated. When God comes in, the heavenly “music” also comes in. When God comes in, revelation comes in, light comes in, and life comes in.
Today, we should not use our mind to worship God; rather, we need to use our spirit to worship. Only that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Only the Spirit can beget the spirit; only the spirit can worship the Spirit. I hope that these words could unravel the mystery of man. Man is a mystery because he has a spirit in him that enables him to let God come in to be his life and meaning. Thus, God becomes the mystery of man. Thank and praise the Lord! God is not only the mystery and meaning of the universe; even more He is the mystery and meaning of man.
(Five Great Mysteries in the Bible, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee)
