In the previous chapter, we saw that the Lord’s recovery is the recovery of the Christ and the church. If we consider that this is the work of one man, we do not know what the recovery is. The young people must be the ones to carry out the recovery. Therefore, we need to know the practical way for the young people to do this. If we do not take the practical way, we will repeat the history of Christianity. We will merely be a congregation coming together to listen to a good speaker.
The practical way to carry out the Lord’s recovery is in and by the mingled spirit. We began by the Spirit (Gal. 3:3), and we should continue by the Spirit. In the New Testament the spirit is of two aspects, the Holy Spirit and our human spirit. These two spirits are mingled as one (Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor. 6:17). God is Spirit (John 4:24), Christ our Redeemer has become a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b), and the third of the Godhead for God to reach us is the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19). God does not reach us as the Father or as the Son but as the Spirit. Moreover, there is no other way for us to contact God, to contact Christ, to contact the Spirit, but by our human spirit (John 4:24). Therefore, the young people must concentrate their whole being on the divine Spirit and our human spirit mingled together as one spirit.
In the last chapter, we saw that the church must have the oneness. The real ground of oneness is our spirit. In the Old Testament, Jerusalem was the unique place where all the people of God had to come to worship. There was only one temple, and that temple was in Jerusalem. All God’s people had to go there because that was where God’s habitation was. In typology the place of oneness was Jerusalem, but today in actuality it is our spirit. The unique place in which we meet is our human spirit because God’s habitation today is in our spirit (Eph. 2:22). We do not merely meet at a certain address; we meet in our spirit. If I were not in my spirit, I would be separated from all the brothers and sisters. Christianity is divided because many Christians have been scattered away from their human spirit. Many do not meet in the real Jerusalem.
The way to carry out the Lord’s recovery is by the divine Spirit and the human spirit. The young people should come together in their groups to research the matter of the two spirits. They should know 1 Corinthians 15:45 and be able to explain how Christ became a life-giving Spirit and why Christ needed to become the Spirit. Our understanding concerning the divine Spirit and the human spirit is too general. We lack the basic building of a proper foundation.
The reason that many young people do not function in the meetings is that they have not been in their spirit. The way to get into the spirit is to pray. At First it may be difficult to pray by yourself. This is why the groups of five are needed. The five need to pray together. A group may even make the decision to fast and pray. They may meet for a long time to pray themselves into the spirit and to stir up their spirit. Our spirit is crucial. We must get into the spirit and learn to exercise and touch our spirit in every situation. When we have prayed ourselves into the spirit, it will be easy to function in the meetings. We do not need to seek a special experience. We just need to pray. When we pray to stir up our spirit and pray ourselves into our spirit, we will experience the baptism in the Holy Spirit. To pray in this way is the best way to experience the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Life is the Spirit, and life is in our spirit (Rom. 8:10). Holiness is the Spirit, victory is the Spirit, power is the Spirit, and the anointing is the Spirit. Even the church life and our function are a matter of the Spirit. Everything spiritual, divine, and heavenly is a matter of the Spirit. God, life, and light are the Spirit. Without the Spirit we have no reality; we have only terminology. The reality is the Spirit, so the Spirit is called the Spirit of reality (John 16:13). This Spirit can only be realized in our spirit, by our spirit, and with our spirit. This Spirit is even one with our spirit. First Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” We may know some of the verses on the spirit, but we may have never thoroughly researched this matter. The young people must lay a good and basic foundation in the life experiences. I am burdened that you would have a proper realization of the way to carry on the church life.
(Fellowship with the Young People, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee)