Week 10 The Experience of Life
LESSON TEN
WALKING ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT
Hymn 594
Scripture Reading:
Gal. 5:25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
Christ as life causes us to have the sense of life, the anointing and moving of the Holy Spirit causes us to be taught by the Spirit, and our being mingled with the Spirit of the Lord’s life into one spirit causes us to walk in our spirit according to the sense of the Lord’s life, which comes from the moving of the Spirit of life.
THE SPIRIT BEING THE MINGLING OF TWO SPIRITS INTO ONE
The New Testament clearly and emphatically reveals to us that we, who are regenerated by the Holy Spirit to have God’s Spirit of life indwelling our regenerated sprit, are one spirit with the Lord. …(1 Cor. 6:17). …The Apostle Paul was full of the experiences of this mingled sprit. Thus, he told us to walk according to this mingled spirit. This is not merely to walk according to the Spirit of God but to walk by following our regenerated spirit, which is indwelt by the Spirit of God’s life.
THE LIVING AND WALK WHICH THE BELIEVERS SHOULD HAVE
According to the desire of the Triune God, who mingled Himself with us, our living as believers is not only a living that is scriptural, nor merely a living that is “sanctified” and “victorious,” but a living that is a walk according to the spirit in us, which spirit is the mingling of two spirits as one (Rom. 8:4). Such a living causes our flesh, our self, our soul, and our natural life to lose their position and function, and allows the processed Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, to gain the full ground in us in order that He may reach the goal of mingling Himself with our tripartite being, the spirit, the soul, and the body, that is, that we may be fully occupied by Him and filled and saturated with Him, taking Him as our life, our person, and our everything, that we may be completely one with Him to be His full expression.
LIVING AND WALKING ONLY ACCORDING TO SPIRIT
Since, as indicated previously, living and walking according to spirit is so crucial, we must not live and walk according to flesh but according to spirit. Actually, any living and walking that is according to things other than the spirit is a living and walking according to flesh. If we do not walk according to spirit but endeavor to walk according to the Bible, we are actually, if not apparently, walking according to flesh. This is because we are keeping the words of the Bible with our own strength, just as the Israelites kept the law with their own power. One who walks according to spirit does everything by the spirit and not by his own strength. In this way, our walk is not merely to do what pleases God according to His will but to carry out what God wants us to do by God Himself, who is the Holy Spirit mingled with our spirit (Life Lessons, vol. 3, pp. 73-76).
THE NEED FOR THE VISION THAT GOD IS WITHIN US AS LIFE
At times the Christian life is sunny, full of the Lord’s presence, yet sometimes it is cloudy, even stormy and dark. At such times we may ask ourselves questions such as these: Is God real or not? Is regeneration real or not? Is the sanctifying and transforming work of the Spirit of God within real or not? I believe that all of us have been in this kind of situation. But no matter what trials we went through, we discovered that there is something within us that cannot be annulled. We could not deny His existence. This morning all of us must see the vision that God is within us as life.
Second, we must see that as believers, the old man of our tripartite man has been crucified with Christ. Even before we were born, were crucified. Third, we must see that the Spirit of the consummated and completed Triune God has now made our spirit life. In other words, the Spirit of the Triune God is now within our spirit as our life, enabling us to enjoy God as our all. We have this life within our spirit as the enjoyment of the firstfruit.
FOUR IMPORTANT EXPERIENCES
After seeing this vision, we need the following experiences. First, we need to set our mind on the spirit (Rom. 8:6b) without any mixed thoughts. Do not think about trying to improve or refine yourself by your self-cultivation. The best way to set your mind on the spirit is to pray and praise. This will make your mind life. Second, you must walk according to the mingled spirit (Rom. 8:4). Third, you must experience the Spirit of the Triune God, who passed through death and resurrection, giving life not only to your spirit and your mind, but also to your mortal body (Rom. 8:11). By these experiences, there is life in your spirit, in your soul, and even in your mortal body. The three parts of your being, the spirit, the soul, and the body, will have life.
Lastly, by the Spirit we must put to death the practices of the body (Rom. 8:13), which are the practices of the entire person. We live by putting ourselves to death. Concerning this point Paul’s words are very mysterious, deep, and complete. He says that we put to death the practices of the body by the Spirit within us. The body wants to go to the movies, to lose its temper, to joke, to love, to hate, to do good, or to do evil. All these need to be put to death. If you put to death the practices of the body, you will live. The Christian life is one that lives by dying. Madame Guyon wrote a book about this entitled Life through Death. The way to put to death the practices of the body is to remain continuously in the Lord’s death. John 15 says that we should abide and remain in the Lord. If you are to abide in the Lord, you must abide and remain in the Lord’s death.
THE NEED TO BE WATCHFUL AND CAREFUL IN PRACTICE
Therefore, if we are to experience God as life, we must first see that the Triune God wants to be our life. For this, He terminated the old man of our tripartite man with Christ on the cross in order that He as the Spirit of the Triune God could come into our spirit, making our spirit life for us to enjoy Him. We should set our mind on the spirit so that the Spirit of the Triune God who is in our spirit may come into our mind and make our mind life. We also must live and move only according to the spirit. If we do these things, the Spirit of the Triune God, who passed through death and resurrection, will give life to our mortal body, thus making our whole being—spirit, soul, and body—life. Then, by the Spirit we have to put to death the practices of the body and live. In this way we enjoy God as our life. In practice we must be watchful and careful, fearing that in some point of our daily affairs, whether big or small, we are not according to the spirit, we are not proper. I hope that all of you will practice what has been presented in this chapter. (Words of Life, pp. 13-15)
References: Life Lessons, vol. 3, lsn. 34; Words of Life, ch. 1; CWWL, (1963) Vol. 4, Being Transformed for the Practice of the Church Life, ch. 6.
