“The focus of God’s economy is the mingled spirit, the divine Spirit mingled with the human spirit (Rom. 8:4)” – this statement is of tremendous importance in our Christian life.
Many believers have missed the aim of God’s purpose for their life simply because they don’t see that all our experiences of God are in the mingled spirit. Many believers still live according to what the Bible says, doing their best to obey the teachings of the good book, and being fully immersed in teachings, rituals, theology, doctrines, gifts of the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, healing, prophecies, history, and so many things found in the Bible.
But the focus of God’s economy is nothing else but the Spirit with our spirit, the mingled spirit. As believers in Christ we are priests to God, and in order of us to live and serve as priests we need to KNOW (not only believe) that the Lord Jesus today is the Spirit indwelling our spirit, mingled with our spirit as one spirit (2 Cor. 3:17; 1 Cor. 15:45; 6:17).
According to the entire revelation of the Bible, God became a man, lived a perfect human life, died on the cross, resurrected, and ascended to the heavens, and in His resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit to come into man to regenerate his spirit and bring the divine life into man so that man would live out God and express God corporately as the priesthood.
The key to being a priest, the key to living a proper Christian life and church life, and the key to being a God-man is the mingled spirit. The divine Spirit and the human spirit are mingled as one within us so that we can live the life of a God-man – a life that is God yet man and man yet God (see Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:19-21).
Paul lived such a life: it was not merely him living but Christ living in him, and the life he lived in the flesh he lived in faith, the organic union with God in his spirit, so that Christ would be manifested in his body whether through life or through death. Hallelujah for our mingled spirit!
A Priest Lives the God-man Life by Living in the Mingled Spirit
In His resurrection Christ as the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45); now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Cor. 3:17). As the life-giving Spirit, Christ comes into our spirit through regeneration and starts the process of organic salvation, the salvation in life (Rom. 5:10, 17).
God’s intention in His organic salvation is to join our spirit with His spirit as one spirit – a mingled spirit; God’s organic salvation is focused on our mingled spirit and takes our spirit as its base of operation (1 Cor. 6:17).
This mingled spirit is the divine Spirit mingled with the human spirit; this means that when we’re in the mingled spirit we’re the same as God in life and nature but not in the Godhead. Through regeneration we as men became God-men, men with God’s life added to them, and we can live a God-man life by living in the mingled spirit.
A priest lives the God-man life by living in the mingled spirit (the divine Spirit mingled with the human spirit). The essence of what the New Testament teaches us is NOT being better people, being good followers of Christ, doing good, giving money to others, or coming together as the church; in essence, what the New Testament teaches us is simply to live in the spirit and walk according to the spirit.
How can we love our neighbor as ourselves? It is by living in the mingled spirit. How can we worship God, serve God, live God, and express God? It is by living in the mingled spirit. The Bible doesn’t say that we should “bear the cross and endure the pain, no matter how difficult it is”; rather, the Bible clearly tells us to live in the spirit.
If we don’t see the key of living in the spirit we will misunderstand and misapply many of the things in the Bible. If we don’t live in the spirit, prayer is a chore, reading the Bible is an outward practice, and bearing the cross is a pain.
But if we live in the mingled spirit we bear the cross (the cross is in the Spirit with our spirit), we love the brothers (the Spirit of love is mingled with our spirit), we express Christ (the Spirit makes Christ real to us), we understand the Bible (the Spirit guides us into all the reality), we pray without ceasing (the Spirit of prayer is mingled with our spirit), and we accomplish God’s purpose.
When we touch the Lord in our spirit, exercise our spirit to contact Him, and live in the spirit, we are filled with Him and saturated with Him, and we live a God-man life.
As God-men, we don’t live out a religious practice or scare others with “rays of glory” shining from us; as God-men, we are human beings that have God living in them and who are divinely-human.
The more we live in the spirit the more Jesusly-human we become; the more we become God in life and nature but not in the Godhead, the more Jesus is expressed through us in a normal way. A priest is a God-man, one who is approachable and contactable without being condescending or proud.
Lord Jesus, thank You for becoming a life-giving Spirit who now is mingled with our spirit to save us organically in the divine life. Lord, may we realize that as priests to God we are God-men, those who have God as life in them and live a God-man life. We want to have a God-man living by living in the mingled spirit, the divine Spirit mingled with our human spirit. Lord, may we know our spirit, live in our spirit, and live according to the mingled spirit so that we may be priests in reality, those living a God-man life in a Jesusly-human way!
Letting Christ Fill, Saturate, and Permeate our Being until He is Expressed through us
What does it mean to live in the mingled spirit? The secret of the Christian life and church life is to live in the spirit; living in the spirit is to engage in religious practices, services, worship, or work, but to let Christ fill and saturate us until He permeates our whole being and is thereby expressed through us.
God doesn’t want a group of “human robots who mindlessly obey Him and accomplish His purpose” (this sounds more like what Satan wants!); what God is after is men who just allow Him to fill them, saturate them, and permeate them until He is expressed through them.
Living in the spirit is the overcoming life of a Christian, the family life of a Christian, and the church life of a Christian; living in the spirit is the reality of the Christian life and the church life.
May the Lord save us from our opinions concerning how to live the Christian life, our feelings toward others and ourselves, and our intentions to do good and please God in our natural strength; may we be those who forget about all these things and turn to our spirit!
We need to turn to our spirit, pay attention to our spirit, and live in the spirit. We have paid too much attention to our mind, our opinions, our feelings, and our decisions; we need to turn to our spirit by calling on the name of the Lord, pray-reading His word, and praying to fellowship with the Lord, and we will spontaneously live in the spirit.
When we live in the spirit, Christ as the life-giving Spirit fills us and saturates us until He permeates our whole being and is thereby expressed through us (Eph. 2:22; 3:16-21).
We can be built up as the Body of Christ, the fulness of the One who fills all in all, by first being strengthened into our inner man with power by God through His Spirit and by allowing Christ to make His home in our heart, so that we may be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints the all-inclusiveness of Christ (Eph. 3:16-21).
We simply need to let Christ permeate us and saturate us. We need to choose to let Him do it by choosing to spend time with Him and turn to Him all throughout the day. Every day of being infused with God counts in His eyes.
We need to know that today the Lord Jesus as the embodiment of the Triune God is the Spirit indwelling our spirit and is mingled with our spirit as one spirit (2 Cor. 3:17; 1 Cor. 15:45; 6:17). We not only believe that Christ as the Spirit is with our spirit – we KNOW this in an experiential way. Hallelujah!
Lord Jesus, we consecrate ourselves to You today. Supply us with the portion of grace we need to grow in life today. Lord, we allow You to make Your home in us, saturate us, fill us, and permeate us to make us a priest in the priesthood with others to carry out Your economy. Lord Jesus, work Yourself into us, saturate us, permeate us, fill us, sonize us, and deify us for the Body of Christ! Keep us turning to our spirit to enjoy You more and be filled and saturated with God until we spontaneously express Him!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1975-1976, vol. 1, “Living in the Spirit,” pp. 463-464, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Recovery of the Priesthood or God’s Building, week 2 / msg 2, The Definition of a Priest.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
# Now we’re learning to turn to our spirit, / Now we’re learning to take Christ as life; / Now we’re learning to feed upon Jesus / And be freed from all struggling and strife. / Hallelujah for life in the Spirit, / Hallelujah for newness within. / When we turn from our mind to our spirit, / We enjoy all the riches of Him. (Hymns #1141)
# Let Your life within me saturate, / Let Your life within me permeate. / May all Your fulness be expressed through me / And my being be conformed to Thee. (Song on being saturated with God)
# Every time I say “Amen” to His Spirit / And walk by my spirit, / The kingdom seed grows and develops / Deep inside of me. / On the outside, it may seem that there’s / No change in me— / But I’m not the same, / ’Cause as the seed grows in me, / Inside I’m becoming God! (Song on living as a God-man)
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