Twelve Ways to Pay the Price to Buy the Spirit as the Golden Oil in our Experience

Every day we as believers in Christ need to be watchful by paying the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil so that we may supply the churches with the Spirit for the testimony of Jesus and be rewarded by the Lord to participate in the marriage dinner of the Lamb. Amen!

In Matt. 25:1-13 the Lord Jesus gave us the parable of the ten virgins, which represent us, the believers in Christ, who are like chaste virgins preparing themselves to meet the Bridegroom.

As we live our Christian life today, we love the Lord Jesus, we enjoy Him, and we spend time with Him; however, He is not here with us but rather, we are waiting for His imminent return.

As we are awaiting the Lord’s return, we are preparing ourselves; from the aspect of life, we seek to grow in life, be mature in life, and gain the oil – the Spirit – in our vessel, not just in our lamp.

The Lord still tarries in His coming, but we are actively preparing ourselves for His return, and we want to welcome Him.

However, even if we fall asleep, that is, if we die before He comes, and He comes at midnight, we must have an extra portion of oil in our vessel.

We have Christ as the Spirit in our spirit, and we daily exercise our spirit to contact the Lord and maintain the divine flame in our lamp.

How we thank and praise the Lord for the Spirit with our spirit, the mingled spirit, where we are burning in the Lord and He is burning in us!

What a miracle to see that we are one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17)!

This oneness, however, is for us to continue to live a Christian life to gain the extra portion of oil.

This means that we need to daily pay the price to gain more of Christ in our soul.

The Lord is in our spirit, but He wants to spread and saturate our mind, emotion, and will; He wants to transform our soul and conform it to His image.

Do we let Him do it? Whether or not we are rewarded by the Lord with entering the wedding feast and feasting with Him for a thousand years in the next age depends on whether or not we gain more of the Spirit in our inner being, in our vessel.

The prudent virgins had oil not only in their lamps but even more, in their vessels with their lamps.

We have a vessel. We are a vessel. We need to gain the Spirit as the golden oil in our vessel by opening our vessel to the Lord day by day.

In this article, we want to see twelve of the most wonderful ways that we can pay the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil.

Twelve Ways to Pay the Price to Buy the Spirit as the Golden Oil in our Experience

How can we practically pay the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil in our experience? The Bible does not leave us in the dark concerning this, for the New Testament shows us at least twelve wonderful ways to be applied in our experience.

We need to be watchful believers in Christ by paying the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil so that we not only have an extra portion of the Spirit in our vessel but also supply the churches with the Spirit for the shining testimony of Jesus (Matt. 25:9-10; Rev. 3:18; Zech. 4:6, 12-14; Judg. 9:9).

As we gain the oil and supply it to the churches, we will help intensify the shining of the golden lampstands, the churches as the testimony of Jesus.

If we do this faithfully, we will be rewarded by the Lord to participate in the marriage dinner of the Lamb. Amen!

1. We need to Love the Lord Above All, Seeing His Supreme Preciousness!

The Lord Jesus is our Beloved Bridegroom; as we spend time with Him, we love Him more and more.

One way for us to pay the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil in our experience is to love the Lord above all, having our eyes opened to see His supreme preciousness (Matt. 22:37; Phil. 3:8; 1 Pet. 2:4, 6-7; 1:19).

He is the most precious One. May our eyes be enlightened day by day to see how precious and priceless the Lord Jesus is.

May we see His inexhaustible value and His supreme preciousness. We need to love Him above all, even above our attainment, our position, our status, and our possessions.

We need to love the Lord Jesus even above our own health, our own life, and our own spouse.

We simply need to love the Lord and give ourselves to just love Him.

To love Him is to honor Him, to give Him the first place, and to give Him the preeminence in all things.

May we be those who pay the price to buy the Spirit by loving the Lord above all!

Lord Jesus, we love You! We give ourselves to You to just love You! Unveil us to see Your supreme preciousness. May we see how priceless You are. Oh Lord, You are supremely precious, and we love You above all! We love You more than we love our attainment, our position, and our status. Draw us, Lord, to love You more than ourselves. We give You the first place in all things. Have the preeminence in us. Oh Lord, we honor You and we love You!

2. We need to Count all things as Loss on Account of Christ so that we may Gain Him, be Found in Him, and Know Him

Paul was one who paid the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil even while in prison; he counted all things as loss on account of Christ so that he may gain Him, be found in Him, and know Him (Phil. 3:7-10).

This is one of the ways that we can buy the Spirit as the golden oil today: by seeing the Lord’s supreme preciousness and counting all things loss on account of Christ.

When we see the Lord’s utmost worth, we will count all things loss; all things that were profitable to us, gain to us, we count as loss on account of Christ.

Sometimes we think that for us to gain the oil, to gain Christ, we need to do a lot of things such as read the Bible, preach the gospel, gain more knowledge of the word, and do this and that for God.

But Paul said simply that he counted all things as loss on account of Christ.

May we see the Lord every day and touch Him in a fresh way so that we may count all things loss on account of Him!

And if we feel that the Lord is not more precious than all other things, may we open to Him and tell Him,

Lord Jesus, become more precious to us today. Show us Your utmost worth and supreme preciousness so that we may count all things as loss on account of Christ. Amen, Lord, draw us to Yourself and keep us in Your presence so that we may behold Your beauty and be filled with You! We want to pay the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil! Amen, Lord, we want to gain You! We want to be found in You! We want to know You in a deeper and more intimate way today!

3. We need to Enjoy the Lord in the Word every day Early in the Morning to have a New Start each Day

If we love someone, we love to be with that person first thing in the morning; as lovers of Christ, we seek His face early in the morning.

Many times, however, we love our bed more than we love the Lord, and we love our sleep more than we love spending time with the Lord.

Many times we cannot wake up a little earlier to spend time with the Lord because we went to bed so late the previous night.

We need to pay the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil by waking up a little earlier in the morning to spend time with the Lord in His word (Psa. 119:147-148).

This is a very practical way to gain more of Christ day by day.

Every morning we need to have a new beginning, a new start with the Lord, by contacting Him afresh and by enjoying Him in His word.

Before we go to work, before we start the daily routine, before we go to school or start the activities of the day, we need to spend time to enjoy the Lord in His word.

We need to call on the name of the Lord, pray, pray-read His word, and exercise ourselves to get into His word so that we may contact the Lord and enjoy Him.

Practically speaking, this means that we do not go to bed too late but rather, we go to bed on time so that we wake up early and enjoy the Lord.

Lord Jesus, we want to pay the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil by enjoying the Lord in the Word early in the morning! Amen, Lord, we want to have a new start each day by contacting You and enjoying You in a fresh, new way! We give ourselves to You, Lord, to seek Your face each morning. We want to have a new beginning with You every day. Before we start the daily activities, we want to spend time with You in the Word to be infused with You and to gain You!

4. We need to Deal with Sins Thoroughly

As the Lord shines on us in our fellowship with Him, He is faithful to expose our sins, trespasses, and mistakes.

We can pay the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil by confessing our sins and by dealing with our sins in a thorough way (1 John 1:7, 9).

Every morning we need to come to the Lord and let Him shine on us. He may shine on what we said the previous day, some mistakes we made, and some sins we have committed; we simply need to agree with His shining and confess.

Every morning we need to the altar, the burnt offering altar, and take Christ as our absoluteness; we confess our sins, we take Christ as our sin offering, and we deal with all our sins.

We cannot skip our time to confess our sins, for the first thing the Lord shines on is our sins.

We cannot bypass the matter of dealing with sin.

Sometimes we may be too loose to let go of the little sins, transgressions, and offenses; but when we come to the Lord, He shines on us and exposes them.

We cannot enter into the Holy of Holies to touch the Lord in a deeper way unless we first deal with sins thoroughly.

Lord Jesus, shine on us. Expose any sins, mistakes, and trespasses in us. We come to You today and let You shine on us. We agree with Your shining and confess our sins. We want to pay the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil by dealing with sins in a thorough way. Apply Your precious blood to our conscience and cleanse us from any sins and trespass. Amen, Lord, we want to remain under Your shining and deal with anything that You shine on today. Cleanse us thoroughly. Purge us of our sin.

5. We need to Abide in the Fellowship with the Lord daily and Hourly

It is good to have a time with the Lord in the morning, but this is not enough; we need to abide in the fellowship with the Lord daily and hourly (v. 6; 2 Cor. 13:14).

On one hand, we need to come to the Lord in the morning and let Him shine on us, and we need to contact Him in His word.

On the other hand, we need to walk in the light, even as He is in the light; we need to habitually walk in the light by remaining in fellowship with the Lord.

Daily and even hourly we need to pay the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil by abiding in the fellowship with the Lord.

We need to open to Him concerning all things.

No thing is too small or too great; we need to tell Him about all things and open to Him.

He is flowing in us as the Father, the Son and the Spirit – the love, the grace, and the fellowship, and we need to remain in this sweet flow of life.

To remain in the fellowship with the Lord, we need to exercise our spirit and remain in our spirit throughout the day.

Lord Jesus, we want to abide in the fellowship with You daily and even hourly. We love You, Lord, and we want to remain in fellowship with You throughout the day. Strengthen us into our inner man so that we may pay the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil by remaining in fellowship with the Lord! Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit to contact You right now. Keep us in fellowship with You. We want to open to You concerning all the things of our daily life, bringing You into our situation and allowing You to speak to us and supply us in all things!

6. We need to Redeem our Time and Spend our Energy to be Saturated and Soaked with God’s Holy Word

One practical way to pay the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil is to redeem our time and spend our energy to be in the Lord’s word (2 Tim. 3:16-17; Col. 3:16).

We need to read the Bible daily, but not just that; we need to spend time to be soaked and saturated with God’s holy word.

The Lord Jesus prayed that we would be sanctified in the truth, and we need to spend time with the Lord in His word.

This is more than just reading a few verses in the morning and praying over them, and it is more than us reading the morning revival.

We need to spend substantial time with the Lord in the Word every day; we cannot let the Word dwell in us richly simply by reading the Bible for five or ten minutes.

To be soaked and saturated with the holy word of God we need to spend at least thirty minutes to read the Bible, pray over the word, and be in the ministry.

If we think this is too much, just think how much time we spend mindlessly and carelessly scrolling on the phone or on the computer; such time is truly wasted time.

May we learn to redeem our time and spend our energy to be saturated and soaked with God’s holy word day by day.

This is the way for us to be constituted with the word and have the riches of Christ wrought into our being.

Lord Jesus, we want to pay the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil by being in the word! Amen, Lord, may we learn to redeem our time and spend our energy to be saturated and soaked with God’s holy Word! May the word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom! We come to You, dear Lord, to be in the Word of God. We give You our time. We want to pay the price to be in Your word in a solid way so that we may be saturated with Your holy element. Oh Lord, may we be those who spend much time with You in the word so that we may be sactified and saturated with Your holy element and gain more of Your riches!

7. We need to be Watchful, on the Alert, for our Prayer Life, Redeeming our Time to Pray

Along with reading the Word, we need to redeem our time by being watchful, on the alert, for our prayer life (Eph. 6:18; Dan. 6:10; Col. 4:2).

We need to redeem the time to pray. Our prayer life needs to be hidden before the Lord, and it needs much guarding and watching.

It is so easy for the enemy to steal our time and for us to miss our time of prayer before the Lord.

The degree to which we can grow in life and be one with the Lord depends on the amount of time we spend with Him in His word and in prayer.

We need to fight for our prayer life.

This means that we need to be watchful, and always on the alert, for our prayer life.

When we travel somewhere and have some time, we can simply take time to pray and open to the Lord.

Throughout the day we can redeem the time to pray.

We need to pay the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil by praying, even by having set times of prayer before the Lord and with the Lord.

It is important for us to have a prayer life for the kingdom life, for us to live in the reality of the kingdom.

It is in such times of prayer with the Lord that we can pray fighting prayers, prayers in ascension, and prayers of dealing with the enemy for the kingdom to come.

Lord Jesus, we want to pay the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil by being watchful for our prayer life! Amen, Lord, may we seek You in prayer throughout the day, even have set times of prayer with You! Oh, how important it is for us to pray in our kingdom life, in living the reality of the kingdom of God! Amen, Lord, we want to learn to redeem our time to pray. May we take every opportunity to pray and open to You, even to be infused with Your desire and intention. May we be those who pray unceasingly and pray without ceasing, always breathing You in and breathing ourselves out!

8. Redeem the Time to be Filled in Spirit by Speaking, Giving Thanks, and Being Subject to One Another

In Eph. 5:14- 21, we see some wonderful practical ways for us to pay the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil.

We need to redeem the time in these evil days to be filled in spirit by speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual sons.

We need to give thanks to the Lord at all times for all things, and we need to be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

When we are with the saints and even when we’re with unbelievers, we need to redeem the time by speaking to one another with the word of God, by ministering Christ to one another.

Whether we are shy or outgoing in our nature, it does not matter; we simply need to redeem the time to be filled in spirit by speaking.

May we not be foolish but rather, understand what the will of the Lord is.

May we not be drunk with wine but rather, be filled in spirit by speaking to one another, by giving thanks, and by being subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

We have to go against ourselves to exercise to speak with one another.

In the church life, we need to build up a habit of speaking for the Lord.

We need to develop this habit of ministering Christ to one another, give thanks to the Lord, and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

In this way, we redeem the time to be filled in spirit, and we can gain the Spirit as the golden oil in our vessel!

Lord Jesus, we do not want to be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is! May we wake up from any slumber and look carefully at how we walk, not as unwise, but as wise. Amen, Lord, we want to redeem the time, because the days are evil. Save us from being drunk with wine, in which is dissoluteness – may we rather be filled in spirit! Amen, Lord, we want to pay the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil by speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming with our heart to the Lord! Thank You, Lord, for all things! We want to gain more of You!

9. We should Not Grieve the Holy Spirit of God but Speak Words of Grace

One very practical way for us to pay the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil is in our speaking.

So many times we grieve the Spirit by speaking corrupt, rotten words (Eph. 4:29-30). Oh, Lord!

We may be loose in ourselves and speak loosely about a certain situation or about certain saints; we may pass on criticism or judgment on them in a loose way. Oh, Lord!

May we not grieve the Holy Spirit by speaking noxious, offensive, or worthless words but rather, speak words of grace to give grace to those who hear.

One other way we grieve the Spirit is by not listening to the Spirit when He wants us to do something, such as standing in the meeting and sharing our portion of the enjoyment of Christ.

Many times we grieve the Spirit simply by not going along with the Spirit’s inner leading.

When the Spirit within us is grieved, we also feel a sense of dissatisfaction.

We may have many good reasons in saying certain things or in not speaking for the Lord, but there’s a sense within us that the Spirit is grieved. Oh, Lord!

May we learn to pay the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil by speaking words of grace to give grace to those who hear, thus not grieving the Spirit!

Lord Jesus, we want to pay the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil by not grieving the Holy Spirit who is within us. Amen, Lord, may we not speak corrupt or rotten words but rather speak words of grace to give grace to those who hear. We give You our speaking in the meetings, our speaking toward our spouse, and our speaking toward those around us. May we be filled with the word of God so that we may speak words of grace to those who hear us. Amen, Lord, instead of grieving the Spirit we want to go along with the Spirit’s anointing and speak grace to others!

10. We should not Quench the Spirit; Instead, we should Always Rejoice, Unceasingly Pray, and in Everything Give Thanks

1 Thes. 5:16-19 is another very encouraging portion of the Word showing us some practical ways to gain the Spirit in our daily living.

We should not quench the Spirit but rather, we should always rejoice, unceasingly pray, and in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for us.

To quench the Spirit is to stop the Spirit from speaking to us or from encouraging us; it is to know that the Spirit wants us to do or speak something, but reject it. Oh, Lord!

The Spirit in us wants to always rejoice, unceasingly pray, and in everything give thanks!

There are many things happening around us and even in us, but when we exercise our spirit, we will always rejoice!

When we turn to our spirit, we will unceasingly pray and we will give thanks in everything.

Instead of quenching the Spirit, may we rather pay the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil by accumulating more of the Spirit in our inner being through always rejoicing, praying unceasingly, and giving thanks to the Lord in everything.

This is God’s will for us in Christ Jesus.

Lord Jesus, we do not want to quench the Spirit; rather, we want to be filled in spirit by always rejoicing, unceasingly praying, and giving thanks in everything! Amen, Lord, praise You for all things! Thank You for all that You are to us and for all that You have done for us. We exercise our spirit, Lord, and we want to go along with the Spirit’s leading to rejoice, pray, and give thanks in all things and for all things! Hallelujah, this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for us! Praise the Lord!

11. We need to Live, Act, Behave, do Things, and have our Being According to the Spirit

Rom. 8:4 tells us that our walking according to the spirit issues in the spontaneous and automatic fulfilling the righteous requirements of the law.

A very practical way for us to pay the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil is to live, act, behave, do things, and have our whole being according to the mingled spirit (1 Cor. 6:17).

We are one spirit with the Lord, and when we set our mind on our spirit and live according to the Spirit, we gain more of the Spirit in our being.

To walk according to the spirit encompasses everything of our daily living; it is to act, to behave, to do things, and even to have our being in this mingled spirit.

Our thinking, our speaking, our attitude, our expression, and everything about us should be according to the spirit.

For this, however, we need to pay a great price.

We need to cooperate with the Lord to stop our natural being and stop wasting our time doing so many useless things, things that are like a black hole, sucking up all our time.

May we learn to exercise our spirit and live according to the Spirit in all the details of our daily life.

May we learn to be in our spirit and do things in the mingled spirit.

If we sense that we are wasting our time, if we sense that this particular thing we’re doing and the conversation we’re in wastes our time, we need to learn to turn to our spirit and be in the spirit, walking according to the spirit.

Lord Jesus, we want to pay the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil by living according to the mingled spirit! Hallelujah, the Spirit is with our spirit and in our spirit we’re mingled with the Lord as one spirit! Amen, Lord, may we daily pay the price of not wasting our time but living in our spirit. May we learn to live, act, behave, do things, and have our entire being according to the spirit. May we be watchful, not letting our time go by but pray and watch unto prayer, redeeming the time! Amen, Lord, may we learn to redeem the time by denying ourselves and living according to the spirit!

12. We need to be Filled with the Bountiful Supply of the Spirit to Live Christ for His Magnification

Our paying the price to buy the Spirit is not something of our effort; we have in our spirit the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19).

When we exercise our spirit to contact the Lord and partake of His riches, we will be filled with the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ to live Christ for His magnification (vv. 11-21; Psa. 133; 1 Thes. 5:25). Amen!

The supply is in our mingled spirit. As long as we turn to our spirit, live in the spirit, and partake of the bountiful supply of the Spirit with our spirit, we can pay the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil in our vessel today.

We all need to live such a life of buying oil daily, even hourly. In the way we dress, shop, walk, talk, and live, we need to partake of and be filled with the bountiful supply of the Spirit to magnify Christ and to build up the church as the Body of Christ.

May we not let our time go by. May we not waste our time.

May we take every opportunity as a chance to buy the oil, to gain more of the Spirit.

Lord Jesus, we refuse to waste our time; we choose to redeem the time by being filled with the bountiful supply of the Spirit so that we may live Christ for His magnification! Hallelujah, the Spirit of Jesus Christ with His bountiful supply is in our spirit for us to live the Christian life and to gain the Spirit in our vessel! Amen, Lord, we want to be serious with You and daily buy the oil. From this moment on, we want to live a life in the enjoyment of Christ, a life of paying the price to gain more of Christ! We want to enter into the wedding feast of the Lamb! May we all rise up and pay the price to buy the oil all the time in all the matters of our daily life!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother James Lee in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1985, vol. 5, “The Way to Practice the Lord’s Present Move,” ch. 8, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living in the Reality of the Kingdom of God (2024 October ITERO), week 6, Being Watchful in Life and Faithful in Service.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Lord, help us to redeem these golden moments; / Our vessels fill with ointment from above; / Help us amen each trial and tribulation; / Increase in us; make us abound in love. / He’s coming soon—these moments are so precious. / The oil is here—Oh, let us buy the more. / Amen the trials and welcome tribulations— / The kingdom’s ours through these afflictions sore. (Hymns #1307 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – By reading I’m enlightened, filled, / By prayer my thirst is quenched indeed; / Thus Thou to me may be supplied, / And Thou through me may meet the need. / I long to have such fellowship / To read and pray and blend with Thee; / I long that Thou wouldst saturate / Till Thou may overflow from me. (Hymns #813 stanzas 10-11)
  – Pray to fellowship with Jesus, / Fully opened from within, / With thy face unveiled, beholding, / Single, pure, and genuine. / Pray to fellowship with Jesus, / Seeking Him in confidence; / Learn to touch Him as the Spirit, / Looking up in reverence. (Hymns #784 stanzas 2-3)