THE WAY TO RECEIVE AND TO ENJOY
THE BOUNTIFUL SUPPLY
OF THE SPIRIT OF JESUS CHRIST
If we want to receive and to enjoy the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, first we must love the Lord with all our hearts. We must fellowship with Him all the time and must abide in Him unceasingly (2 Cor. 5:14; 1 John 1:3; John 15:5). Actually, it is not we who love the Lord first. Rather, it is the Lord who first loved us. This love was manifested through His death for us on the cross. The love of Christ constrains us on all sides. It focuses us on one goal, that is, that we would no longer live to ourselves, but to Him. In such a condition we live in the fellowship of the eternal life of Christ and enjoy the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
How can we abide constantly in the Lord? Today, the Lord is not only in heaven but also in our spirit. When we set our mind on the spirit (Rom. 8:6b), we are abiding in the Lord. To set the mind on the spirit is actually to abide. Every day and every moment, we need to set our mind, which represents our whole person, on the spirit. The more we set our mind on the spirit, the more we will abide in the Lord, and the more the Lord will live Himself through us. First Corinthians 6:17 says, "But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit." We can abide in the Lord because of the fact that we are one spirit with Him.
At the same time, the Spirit with whom we have been joined as one is also the word. The Lord Jesus said in John 6:63, "The words which I have spoken unto you are spirit and are life." In the Christian experience, the word and the Spirit must forever be one. If we want to receive the Spirit, we must receive the word. Without receiving the word, it is impossible for us to have the Spirit. Since God is both the Spirit and the word, He created for us a mind to understand and also a spirit to receive. When we touch the Bible, we need to exercise our mind and our spirit. We need to read with our mind and pray with our spirit; that is, we need to pray-read the word of the Lord. We must pray-read daily at set times to receive the word of God, which is the embodiment of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17; John 6:63).
We not only need to pray with our spirit, but we also must pray at every time in spirit (Eph. 6:18) and must not quench the Spirit (1 Thes. 5:19), but must be filled in spirit by the Triune God (Eph. 5:18b).
Finally, if we desire to receive and enjoy the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, we must also walk only according to spirit (Rom. 8:4). Our walk, our speaking, our actions, and our attitudes must be conducted according to spirit and not according to flesh. In this way, we will daily receive and enjoy the dispensing of the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Under this dispensing, we will spontaneously receive the supply of Christ within and will live a life that expresses Christ.
(A message given by Brother Witness Lee in San Francisco, California, on August 26, 1990)
(The Economy and Dispensing of God, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee)
