The Completing Ministry of Paul, Message 4

My Great Delight in God's Word

The Completing Ministry of Paul, Message 4

The Spirit with Our Spirit

We have already explored the 3 main points of Paul's completing ministry, consisting of God as our content, Christ as God's mystery and the Church as Christ's mystery. Moreover, we have also learned a little bit about the amazing mystery of Christ dwelling in us, our the hope of glory. In this message, we are going to learn another bible-based truth regarding God's Spirit and our spirits, which were joined together at our regeneration.

We were united with the Lord through believing into Him.

Originally, God created us to have 3 main portions of life: the spirit, the soul and the body. Sadly, after the Fall of man in Genesis 3, our spirit, the organ for contacting God, became deadened in trespasses and sins. The disobedience of Adam and Eve resulted in spiritual death, which is separation from God. Man could not have fellowship with God anymore, as God is spirit and we need our spirits to contact Him.

Nevertheless, through the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus at the Cross, our spirit was quickened and made alive again at our new birth when we received the Lord as our Saviour. The fellowship with God was made possible again.

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1 NKJV)

Not only was this crucial God-contacting organ made alive, the Triune God Himself as the Spirit came into it and mingled with it. God's Spirit and our spirit became one spirit. We were organically united with the Lord.

But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. (1 Corinthians 6:17)

Brother Witness Lee specifically uses the word "mingling" to describe this phenomenon. God's Spirit and our spirit mingled into one spirit. They were mixed together with neither change in the substance and nature of the two nor generation of a new being. His Spirit still is divine Spirit, and our spirit remains human's spirit. And this mingling process does not annul the divinity of His Spirit or the humanity of our spirit. It truly is mystery, is it not? How could God's Spirit and our spirit mingle with each other without diminishing the divinity of His Spirit and humanity of our spirits?

Even though we cannot fully comprehend this, all of this has already happened at our regeneration when we subjectively believed into (or in) our Lord Jesus Christ.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in [or into] Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16 NKJV)

Please note that this regeneration and organic union with the Lord result form believing into Him, not believing Him. They sound quite similar, but they are absolutely different. Believing into Him is a subjective experience of receiving Him as life and the life supply, and being united with Him as one. On the contrary, believing Him is merely to acknowledge that He is true and real as a fact. Even evil spirits believe Him, acknowledging that He is the Son of God, but they never believe into Him (Matthew 8:29).

Brothers and sisters, what kind of experience do you have: believing into Him, by receiving Him as your life and your life supply, or just believing Him intellectually? They lead to totally opposite directions. The former results in eternal life with endless hope, while the other results in nothing better than eternal death with hopeless end. If you have not had experience of believing into Him, please respond to His calling and do it today! This is the only means whereby His Spirit and your spirit become one and God can express Himself through you, fulfilling His purpose for your life.

This is the start point of our Christian spiritual journey. This process is considered very important as mingled spirit is the focal point of God's economy. It is in this mingled spirit that we can experience Christ and receive Him as our life, our life supply and our everything. It is the basis that our spiritual life is based upon. In the next section, we are going to learn some points about how to practice this union in our life.

We need to practise the oneness with the Lord.

In our Christian spiritual journey towards Christ-likeness, we need to practise the oneness with the Lord. Let's learn about this practice in Romans 8:3-6.

³ For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,
⁴ that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
⁶ For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (Romans 8:3-6 NKJV)

Since our regeneration, our spirit has been made alive and united with the Spirit of the Lord. God's Spirit and our spirit are one spirit. We are now walking according to a different principle, and there are at least 2 things that we need to practise.

Firstly, we should no longer have our mind set on flesh, but on the Spirit. Our spirit now is one with the Lord's Spirit. If our mind is set on the flesh, there is going to be a discrepancy between our inner man (the mingled spirit) and our outer man (our flesh). This inevitably results in our separation from the enjoyment of God. Ultimately we will experience internal conflict and death (separation). In contrast, if our mind set is set on the Spirit, it will be perfectly in agreement with the mingled spirit, resulting in full enjoyment of the Lord. We will inevitably experience full life and peace.

Secondly, we would no longer walk and live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. It is not by our own effort to keep the law, because it is impossible for us to flawlessly obey the law through our outward endeavouring. We may be able to do it for a short while, but we will ultimately be exhausted and failure is inevitable. But the genuine spiritual walking and living are accomplished by the inward working of the Spirit of life. Our life will be automatically and spontaneously changed without any effort, as we walk and live according to the mingled spirit within us. The things you need to do are to admit that you are too weak to fulfil the righteous requirement of the law, ask God for help, and yield yourself to the Spirit within you.



O Lord Jesus, thank you that you have drawn us to Yourself, and through believing into You, we always have You as our life, our life supply and our everything. May You help us that we would always have our mind set on the Spirit and experience life and peace. By the power of the Spirit within us, may we live and walk according to the Spirit.

Further reading

• The Holy Word for Morning Revival: The Completing Ministry of Paul, week 4.

• The Mending Ministry of John, Chapter 8, Section 2, by Witness Lee (http://www.ministrybooks.org/books.cfm?xid=6V0JYFQ24C9WH)

• The Holy Bible Recovery Version, Footnotes of

  • John 3:16.

  • Romans 8:4, 6.

Thirayost Nimmanon (Tony)