For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace. Rom. 8:6
It is so wonderful that we can experience a foretaste of the New Jerusalem today in our Christian life and church life!
We can enjoy and experience the daily practical living in oneness with the Lord according to the sense of life so that we may be in the fellowship of life, thus experiencing a foretaste of the flow of the river of water of life with the tree of life on the golden street in the New Jerusalem, which all signify the fellowship of life.
How can we experience the fellowship of life? Where is this fellowship of life, and how can we enter into it and remain in it? In Rom. 8:6 we see that the mind set on the flesh is death but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.
The place where the fellowship of life is located and where it can take place is OUR MINGLED SPIRIT, our spirit mingled with the divine Spirit, and this fellowship is carried out by the Spirit in our spirit (see Phil. 2:1). The way we can sense, realize, enter into, and be preserved in the fellowship of life is by the sense of life.
The divine life we received at the time of our being born again has the highest consciousness, the highest sensitivity, which is “the sense of life“.
We as Christians have another life in addition to the human life – we have the divine life in us, a life that has a sense, a sensitivity, and a consciousness. When we feel inwardly dry, dead, or empty, this is a sign that we are not in the fellowship of life – we’d better turn to the Lord, exercise our spirit, and set our mind on the spirit.
But when we have the sense of joy, peace, comfort, and rest, we know we are enjoying the fellowship of life and are in the flow of the divine life. We need to pay attention to the sense of life within, and whenever we come together to fellowship with others we need to exercise our spirit.
The fellowship of life is only in the spirit, and we remain in this flow of life by minding our spirit and paying attention to the sense of life within.
Realizing the Fellowship of Life and Being Preserved in this Fellowship by the Sense of Life
The fellowship of the divine life as the flow of life in the Body of Christ and in the New Jerusalem can be realized by us by the sense of life.
This is similar to our human body – we sense whether there’s something wrong with us by our feeling of pain, discomfort, or uneasiness and if we pay attention to that feeling and see a doctor, the sense of peace and rest will return to us.
In our spiritual life we as believers in Christ have the divine life in our spirit, and this is a life that’s higher than any other created life, having the highest consciousness and the highest feeling. The way we are preserved and safeguarded in the fellowship of life is by the sense of the divine life within.
Whenever we set our mind on the spirit we have the sense of life and peace, and whenever our mind is set on the flesh we have the sense of death (Rom. 8:6).
Life and peace result from setting our mind on the spirit. When our mind is set on the spirit, our outward actions are in agreement with our inner man and there is no discrepancy between us and God. He and we are at peace, not at enmity (v. 7). The result is that we feel peaceful within. When our mind is set on the flesh and the things of the flesh, the result is death, which causes us to feel separated from the enjoyment of God. We feel uneasy and deadened instead of peaceful and living. When we are minding the flesh and setting our mind on the things of the flesh, the sense of death should serve as a warning to us, urging us to be delivered from the flesh and to live in the spirit. (Rom. 8:6, footnote 2, Recovery Version).
Sometimes in our Christian life we had a sense of uneasiness and unrest, and at other times we were restless when we either did something, spoke something, heard something, or were in a certain place; outwardly everything seemed to be fine, but inwardly we felt restless and uneasy. This is the sense of the divine life operating in us to help us realize we are not setting our mind on the spirit.
Whenever we exercise our spirit, set our mind on the spirit, and live in the fellowship of life, we feel strength, peace, satisfaction, peace, rest, release, watering, brightness, and comfort. This is the sense of life operating in us to keep us in the fellowship of life.
Outwardly everything may seem to go wrong, but when we set our mind on the spirit and are in the fellowship of life, inwardly we are at peace and we have rest.
The sense of life keeps us in the fellowship of life and safeguards us in the flow of life, preserving us in the fellowship of the divine life. At the same time, the sense of the divine life within us may cause us to feel uneasy, restless, dry, in darkness, and not comfortable whenever we live in our natural life, in our flesh, apart from being one with the Lord.
Sometimes we have the feeling that something just isn’t right about what we said or did, and we feel that we shouldn’t be in a particular place. If we go along with the sense of life, we will enjoy more fellowship of life.
As believers in Christ, we need to allow the sense of life, the consciousness of the divine life in our spirit, to guide us, govern us, control us, and direct us. When we live our Christian life and church life according to the inner sense of life, we enjoy the fellowship of the divine life and have a foretaste of the river of life flowing from the throne and bringing the tree of life for our supply.
The Fellowship of Life is Carried out by the Spirit in our Spirit – it is the Fellowship of Spirit
The fellowship of life is carried out by the Spirit in our regenerated spirit; it is called the “fellowship of spirit” (Phil. 2:1; 2 Cor. 13:14).
What is real fellowship and how can we make sure we are in the fellowship of life when we “have fellowship”? In Phil. 2:1 Paul encourages us to have “fellowship of spirit”, and in 2 Cor. 13:14 we see “the fellowship of the Holy Spirit”.
The location of the fellowship of life is our regenerated spirit. The only place where fellowship can take place is the mingled spirit.
Merely coming together to talk about the affairs of the church, the situation of the saints, the children and young people’s service, or practical matters to be taken care of in the church life is NOT the fellowship of life unless we exercise our spirit and have contact with one another in spirit.
Whenever we meet with the saints we need to exercise our spirit to touch the Lord, enjoy Him, and express Him. The means and the instrument that carries out the fellowship of life is the Holy Spirit (typified by the flowing river of water of life in the New Jerusalem).
If we don’t exercise our spirit when we come together, we have a “good and ethical social gathering”, and our contact is merely social and moral. But if we as children of God exercise our spirit, touch the Lord in our spirit, and contact one another in spirit, our contact becomes the fellowship of life.
Every genuine fellowship must involve the exercise of our mingled spirit. The mind may apprehend the fellowship, the emotions may be happy about it, and the will may choose to fellowship, but the fellowship of life is in the spirit.
In the church life in the Lord’s recovery, we need to pay much attention to the exercise of our spirit all throughout the day and whenever we meet. We are not here for a good social life, a comforting moral and ethical support group, or zealously taking care of the young ones to raise them up according to the Bible.
As God-men and Christians, Christ-men, we need to exercise our spirit, live in our spirit, walk according to the spirit, do everything in the spirit, and fellowship in spirit.
We fellowship with the Lord not by merely “understanding His words” but by exercising our spirit to eat His words. We fellowship with the brothers and sisters not by merely getting together and talking about things, but by exercising our spirit and fellowshipping in spirit.
May our talking to the saints be transformed into fellowship and may we remain in the fellowship of life all the days of our life until we become the New Jerusalem!
Lord Jesus, thank You for the sense of life and peace in our spirit. We choose to set our mind on the spirit and exercise our spirit to live in oneness with You today. We want to mind the spirit and pay attention to the sense of life within. Lord, keep us in the fellowship of life today. We treasure the sweet flow of the divine life. We want to be directed and governed by the sense of life so that we would be preserved and safeguarded in the fellowship of life. May we live by the sense of the divine life one spirit with You today!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. James Lee’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Basic Lessons on Life (lsn. 11), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Aspects of the Christian Life and Church Life Seen in the New Jerusalem, week 4 / msg 4, The Fellowship of Life.
- Further reading: recommending ch. 7 in, The Mending Ministry of John; ch. 5 in, The Knowledge of Life (by Witness Lee).
- Hymns on this topic:
# There is a certain sense of life / With life of every kind; / And in th’ eternal life in us / It is a sense divine. / The higher any life may be, / The better is its sense; / The life divine the highest is / And has the highest sense. (Hymns #738)
# Life eternal brings us / Fellowship of life, / Fellowship in Spirit, / Saving us from strife. / Life eternal gives us / Fellowship divine; / Thus the Lord as Spirit / May with us combine. (Hymns #737)
# I long for fellowship in spirit, / That mingled with the saints I’ll be, / Long to be saved from independence / And to be built with saints in Thee. (Hymns #847)
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