The law of the Spirit of life works automatically, spontaneously, and effortlessly in us as we contact the Lord; this law of life regulates our inner being, it imparts the divine element into every part and shapes us in the image of Christ to be conformed to the image of the Firstborn Son of God.
All we have to do is to “switch on” the law of life by turning to our spirit and remaining in the spirit, and the righteous requirement of the law will be fulfilled in us (Rom. 8:4).
In Rom. 7 we see Paul’s experience and struggle concerning sin and trying to overcome sin; he willed to do the good, but evil was present with him, and there was no way for him to overcome the law of sin and of death by his human will.
Our human will is strong, but the law of sin and of death is more powerful. However, there is a law that is even more powerful than the law of sin – it is the law of the Spirit of life, which spontaneously and automatically frees us from the law of sin and of death once we switch it on.
Paul’s conclusion at the end of Rom. 7 was, Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death?
And then in Rom. 8 he said, Thanks be to God…the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of the sin and of death! Hallelujah!
The law of the Spirit of life is like electricity, which has been installed in a building; we simply need to flip the switch, and the lights come on – similarly, we simply need to turn on the switch of the law of life, and it will operate!
Electricity is actually the movement of electricity, and there’s power there; the law of the Spirit of life is the current of the Triune God in our being, and all we have to do is switch it on, and it will operate in us powerfully!
This law of life has power – the power that enabled the Lord to rise from the dead and ascend in heaven, far above all! Hallelujah!
The law of life as the power of life can incline our heart toward God; when we exercise our spirit, touch the Lord, call on His name, the power of the law of the Spirit of life will incline our heart toward the Lord.
This law of life can make us submissive toward God; it is God who operates in us as a spontaneous life-law to work out the willing and the working (Phil. 2:13).
The law of life can cause us to do the good works which God prepared for us (Eph. 2:10); only God is good, and whatever works coming out of us have to be works that are God Himself dispensed into people.
Because of the law of life operating in us, we can labor for the Lord with all our heart and strength (1 Cor. 15:10; Col. 1:28-29).
The law of life can cause our service to be living and fresh (2 Cor. 3:5-6); we don’t want our service to be dead and stale, so when we switch on the law of life within us, our service becomes living and fresh.
The law of the Spirit of life has the power of an indestructible life and it regulates within us every day; this law is able to do superabundantly above all that we ask or think for the church (Eph. 3:20). Hallelujah!
Cease from our Struggling and Contact the Lord to Switch on the Law of Life
We all have the experience recorded in Rom. 7, in which we struggle and strive to overcome the law of sin in our members. However, if we have not seen that sin is a law and that our will can never overcome this law, we are trapped in Rom. 7 and we cannot arrive at Rom. 8.
Paul willed to overcome sin again and again, but the result was only repeated failure; the best that a man can do is to make resolutions (Rom. 7:18).
We may make New Year’s resolutions, or we may make resolutions to do better, overcome sin, overcome our temper, etc – our resolutions as a result of our will being exercised don’t work.
We simply need to exercise day by day to remain in touch with the Lord. When sin is dormant within us, it is merely sin, but when we exercise our will to overcome it and do the good, it becomes “the evil” (v. 21).
As soon as we determine to do the good, the evil is present with us, and we are defeated; instead of willing, we should simply set our mind on the spirit (Rom. 8:6) and walk according to the spirit (v. 4; Phil. 2:13).
Amen, we must simply cooperate with the indwelling, installed, automatic, and inner operating God as the law of the Spirit of life by prayer and by having a spirit of dependence; we need to cooperate with the law of the Spirit of life by calling on the Lord and pray-reading His word in order to maintain our fellowship with Him (Rom. 10:12-13; 1 Thes. 5:17; Eph. 6:17-18).
While we remain in touch with the Lord, staying in contact with Him, the law of life works automatically in us; when we cease from our struggling and just contact the Lord, the law of the Spirit of life operates in us spontaneously and effortlessly (Phil. 2:12-13; Rom. 8:2, 4, 6, 13-16, 23; 1 Thes. 5:16-18).
We just need to remain in touch with the Lord, even remain in the touch with the Lord, and this law of life will automatically work in us to remove all the negative things and add God’s element to our being.
As we do this and that, starting from the morning and all the way to the evening, we need to contact the Lord, remain in touch with Him, and set our mind on the spirit all the time.
We need to pay attention to our spirit; don’t pay attention to your opinions, your logic, or anything that the world wants to keep us busy with – pay attention to your spirit!
May we learn to cease from our own struggling and striving (Gal. 2:20; Rom. 7:15-20) and simply contact the Lord to switch on the law of the Spirit of life.
God in Christ as the Spirit came into our spirit and has been installed in our being as the law of the Spirit of life; as we contact the Lord by calling on His name and pray-reading His word, praying and fellowshipping with Him, we depend on Him, He operates as the law of life in us, and we are shaped in the image of Christ.
The secret of experiencing Christ as the law of life is to be in Him, in the One who empowers us to do all things; the secret of being in Christ is being in our spirit (Phil. 4:13, 23).
It is only when we contact the Lord and live in the spirit that we are able to do all things in Him, who empowers us; when we’re in Him, we’re able to do all things, and all things we do are Christ’s attributes expressed through our human virtues.
For us to live in our spirit, we must take time to behold the Lord, pray to fellowship with Jesus, bathe in His countenance, be saturated with His beauty, and radiate His excellence (2 Cor. 3:16; Matt. 14:23).
Lord, we cease from all our struggling and striving and we simply turn to You; we set our mind on the spirit so that the law of the Spirit of life may be switched on and operate in us. Amen, Lord, we want to remain in touch with You, staying in contact with the Lord so that the law of life may work in us automatically, spontaneously, and effortlessly. We give up in trying to exercise our will to overcome sin and do good; we just contact You, Lord, and we switch on the law of life! Amen, Lord, we want to cooperate with the indwelling, installed, automatic, and inner operating God as the law of life by having a life of prayer and a spirit of dependence on You! We give ourselves to just behold You and pray to fellowship with You so that we may bathe in Your countenance, be saturated with Your beauty, and radiate Your excellence!
As we Grow in Life and Cooperate with the Law of the Spirit of Life, we are Conformed to the Image of Christ to be His corporate expression
The function of the law of life requires the growth in life, for the law of life functions in us only as it grows (Mark 4:3, 14, 26-29).
So right now Christ on the throne intercedes for us to motivate the life seed in us, which He sowed at the time of His resurrection, to grow day by day (Heb. 7:25; Rom. 8:34).
Christ as the firstborn Son is interceding for us all so that the life He has sown into our spirit may be motivated to grow in us, develop in our being, and saturate all our inward parts until we are completely permeated with His glorified and uplifted being! Hallelujah!
Christ came as the only begotten Son of God, and He went through incarnation, death, and resurrection, to bring His humanity into His divinity and sonize it, making it divine; He was begotten in His resurrection to be the firstborn Son of God possessing both divinity and humanity, and we are the many sons of God possessing humanity and divinity.
As the divine life in us grows, the law of life automatically functions to shape us to the image of Christ.
The law of the Spirit of life operates in us to conform us to the image of Christ as the firstborn Son of God so that we may become His corporate expression (Rom. 8:2, 29).
On one hand, the law of life regulates us from within and imparts the divine element into us, and on the other, it regulates the shape of life.
As we grow in human life, we are being shaped in our being and way of thinking by our parents, our teachers, our friends, our school teachers, our university professors, and the society around us.
Our mind is shaped and fashioned according to the customs, actions, and thoughts of the world around us.
However, when we are regenerated and come into the church life, as we read and pray the Bible and enjoy the ministry that opens up the Bible in its essence to release its riches, our mind is renewed, and we have the thoughts of God in our mind.
The young people are being shaped by their professors, and we need to realize that many of the professors are darkened in their understanding; if we don’t have the law of life-shaping our mind, our understanding is darkened.
But praise the Lord, Christ is the indwelling prototype to automatically work in us as the law of life to conform us to His image, to “sonize” us; He spontaneously works in us to make us the same as Christ, the firstborn Son of God.
The Lord is working tirelessly and even desperately to make every one of His believers the same as Christ.
The way that God works to mass reproduce Christ as the prototype is to work Him into our entire being; if we cooperate with and open up to this wonderful prototype, He will spread outward from our spirit into our soul.
May we open to Him without any reservation, and may we not close up any part of our being to His operation within us as the law of the Spirit of life.
Hallelujah, Christ as the firstborn Son is the prototype, the standard model, for the mass reproduction of the many sons of God, who are the many brothers to constitute the Body of Christ as the new man for the corporate expression and reproduction of the standard model, the firstborn Son of God. Hallelujah!
And He does this by the law of life; the law of life doesn’t primarily function in the negative sense of telling us with to do and what not to do, but rather, as life grows, the law of life functions in the positive sense of shaping us and conforming us to the image of Christ!
Hallelujah, through the function of the law of life, all of us believers in Christ will become the mature sons of God, and God will have His universal, corporate expression.
Lord Jesus, we open our whole being to You without reservation. Grow in us, spread in us, and saturate all our inward parts until we are completely permeated with Your glorified and uplifted being. May the divine life in us grow and may the law of life function to shape us and conform us to the image of Christ so that we may become His corporate expression. Amen, Lord, make us the same as You are by means of the indwelling law of life. We open to life’s operating, shaping, and conforming us to the image of Christ, the firstborn Son of God, so that we may be mature sons of God, part of God’s universal, corporate expression! Amen, Lord, more conforming to Your image today!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1953, vol. 3, “The Knowledge of Life,” p. 104, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization Study of Jeremiah and Lamentations, week 12, Experiencing and Enjoying the Contents of the New Covenant according to Our Spiritual Experience for the Accomplishment of God’s Economy.
- Further reading: recommending, The Key to Overcoming – The Law of the Spirit of Life, via Affirmation and Critique (LSM, by Ed Marks).
- Hymns on this topic:
– Christ to me is so subjective, / Liberating pow’r is He, / By the law of life and power / As the Spirit setting free. / Christ to me is so subjective, / Regulating all the day; / He corrects and rules and guides me, / And adjusts in every way. (Hymns #537)
– O Lord, Thou art the Spirit now / That transforms us and saturates, / And to Thine image true conforms / And with Thy light illuminates. / O Lord, Thou art the Spirit now / Who in my spirit makes His home; / He mingles with my spirit too, / And both one spirit thus become. (Hymns #483)
– By law of life He liberates, / And frees us from the law of sin; / And with the nature all divine / He regulates us from within. / As Spirit of the life divine, / Thru us abundant fruit He bears; / Expressing God-like attributes, / To others Christ in life He shares. (Hymns #244)
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