We can be only in the spirit or in the flesh – there’s no neutral ground or a third location; when we are walking according to the spirit, we are in spirit, but when we don’t, we are in the flesh.
May the Lord continue to have mercy on us that we may see our lack of living Christ by walking according to the spirit. He has provided us everything – He came into us as the life-giving Spirit, even the Spirit of reality to guide us into all the reality.
But we are living in the flesh and in the self so much, and we don’t even realise that we don’t live in the spirit that much.
We may think we have a pretty good Christian life, for we may not argue with anyone, we may not upset others, we may not cause too much trouble, and we may not lose our temper or lie to others. We may even be kind to others, we may help them, and we may do many Christ-like things.
But how much of our daily life do we live Christ, and how much do we live out the flesh, even the good, spiritual, refined, ethical, cultural flesh?
We may even say that we follow the ministry of the age and we want to follow it closely, and we may have a genuine desire to follow the ministry. But to merely follow the truth is but half, the other half is that we need to practice what we have seen and heard.
Even brother Lee, who was faithful to the Lord to release what the Lord has shown to him, admitted that when it came to practicing to live Christ, he had a shortage, for many times he lived the good and ethical self but not Christ.
We need to see and admit our failure in living Christ by walking according to the spirit, and we need to give ourselves to the Lord in prayer again and again that we may no longer live in the flesh or the self but in the spirit.
For example, we may have a good and pleasant church life but we may not like certain ones, so we may stay away from them; we may avoid some people in our human life or church life, and we may have no way to be one with certain saints.
Furthermore, we may not have a life of preaching the gospel and shepherding others, and we may not feel the need to do this. Both the dealing with negative things and the practicing the positive things are a spontaneous issue of living Christ by walking according to the spirit.
When we walk according to the spirit, we don’t need to be told what to do, for the Spirit leads us, and the Spirit teaches us all things.
When we are habitually walking according to the spirit, we live a life of preaching the gospel, we shepherd the news ones and the saints, we express Christ, and we minister this kind of life to others so that they also may walk according to the spirit for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.
Living and Walking According to the Spirit and not According to the Flesh
According to Rom. 8:4-9, we can either be in the flesh or in the spirit, and we can either set our mind on the flesh or on the spirit. The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.
If we walk according to the flesh, we cannot please God, for no matter how good and “spiritual” the flesh and its efforts may be, God does not accept anything of the flesh; the flesh can never please God or be acceptable to God.
But praise the Lord, we are not in the flesh but in the spirit, for the Spirit of God dwells is us, and we belong to Him. When we walk according to the spirit, we spontaneously fulfill all the righteous requirements of the law, but when we walk according to the flesh, we are in death and are unacceptable to God.
We should not be deceived by the enemy to think that we are kind to others, we don’t lie but speak the truth, we are humble, and we are not that bad. Our outward behavior is not an indicator of whether we live in the spirit or not.
Our loving others and being kind to them can be an expression of the flesh unless we are walking according to the spirit.
Here we need to realise that God doesn’t look at our outward behavior but at who is living – does Christ live in us, or is it us who live and is being expressed? Is our loving others, speaking kindly to others, and even caring for others, the issue of our living in the flesh or in the spirit?
If we are not walking according to the spirit in our daily life, we are walking according to the flesh. Even in the matter of being led by the Spirit, we may listen to the Spirit’s leading and yet do what the Spirit says by the flesh and in the flesh.
Everything we do, say, and even think, needs to be as a result or issue of living according to the spirit. Moment by moment we need to live in the mingled spirit. There are only two sources and two conditions of our daily living – the spirit and the flesh.
Our primary concern shouldn’t be doing things for God or improving our behavior but realising that God wants a people who live Christ by walking according to the spirit.
The Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead lives in us and dwells in us, and we belong to the Lord. Our real person is our inner man, our genuine inner being is our mingled spirit, and we as believers in Christ need to pay attention to our spirit, exercise our spirit, live in our mingled spirit, and do everything in the mingled spirit.
We are not debtors to the flesh to live according to the flesh anymore; rather, we can put to death the practices of the body by the Spirit, and we will live – we will live Christ by walking according to the spirit (Rom. 8:12-13)!
Lord Jesus, we confess we don’t live You enough. We confess that we live too much in the flesh and too little in the mingled spirit. Oh Lord, we turn to You right now. You are the Spirit with our spirit, and we want to exercise our spirit to touch You, live You, and express You. We choose not to live in the flesh but to live in the mingled spirit by exercising our spirit and walking according to the spirit. Save us from being deceived by the enemy to pay more attention to our behavior and work rather than living Christ. Oh Lord, make us those who walk daily according to the spirit and not according to the flesh!
Preaching the Gospel and Shepherding Others should Issue out of our Walking according to the Spirit
Many times we may be encouraged by some speaking in the church life to rise up and preach the gospel or to shepherd the saints, and we may do this for a little while, but then we may stop.
There are many things that we need to do as believers, but all the works that we do should be an issue of our walking according to the spirit. The reason we cannot maintain a daily gospel preaching life, that is, the reason we cannot have a gospel living, is because we do not habitually walk according to the spirit.
It shouldn’t be us who preaches the gospel or cares for the saints, but it should be Christ in us who does this, that is, we should be persons in the mingled spirit all the time so that Christ in us may express God, speak the gospel, minister life to others, care for the saints, and build up the church.
We cannot live the Christian life and we shouldn’t even try to do this; we need to be shined on by the Lord to see the endeavors of our flesh to please God and obey His law, and we need to reject the efforts of the flesh and turn to our spirit.
It does NOT work to try to change ourselves or change others, and doing things in the way of a movement doesn’t work.
However, if we take the lead to walk according to the spirit and practice living in the mingled spirit, we will also minister this kind of life and living into the saints, and they will spontaneously do the same.
Our primary concern in the church life shouldn’t be how to do things or doing things; our primary focus should be living Christ by walking according to the spirit. If we walk according to the spirit, practicing to contact the Lord every day and remain in our mingled spirit, everything else will spontaneously issue forth.
Our gospel preaching, shepherding others, and caring for the new ones shouldn’t be merely activities but should be an issue of a daily life of walking according to the spirit.
When we daily practice walking according to the spirit, we will have something to overflow from our enjoyment of Christ in the meetings, and this will build up the church. But if we don’t live Christ in our daily life, we will not have a surplus of Christ to bring to the meetings.
We need to be clear that the Lord wants a group of people who walk according to the spirit, and such group will express Him spontaneously and automatically, without any self-effort.
The Lord’s desire is not primarily to have a proper order in the church life or for the saints to be involved in all the activities of the church; the Lord wants to gain our living of Christ by walking according to the Spirit. This should also be our primary focus in our daily life in the church life.
Lord Jesus, save us from focusing on improving our behavior, correcting others, or doing a work for You; may our real focus be Your focus, which is to live Christ by walking according to the spirit. May we realize the importance of walking according to the spirit, and may we pay the price to stop all the efforts of our flesh so that we may live in spirit and walk according tot he spirit. Lord Jesus, may our practice daily be one of walking according to the spirit so that Christ may be magnified in us!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message given by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1982, vol. 1, “The Importance of Living Christ by Walking according to the Spirit,” pp. 388-390, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Taking Christ as our Person and Living Him in and for the Church Life (2018 spring ITERO), week 3, Living Christ by Walking according to the Spirit for the Body Life.
- Hymns on this topic:
# For those who are according to the flesh, / They all mind the things of the flesh; / But those who are according to the spirit, / Mind the things of the Spirit. / For the mind set on the flesh is death, / But the mind set on the spirit is life. / So I will walk in the Spirit today, / Being filled with life and peace! (Song on, The Law of the Spirit of Life)
# Oh, what a thought! Oh, what a boast! / Christ shall in me be magnified. / In nothing shall I be ashamed, / For He in all shall be applied. / In woe or blessing, death or life, / Through me shall Christ be testified. (Hymns #499)
# I know Thee even less; / In doctrine, shallowly; / True revelation lack / Of Thy reality. / As for Thy life within, / In darkness I mistake – / If spirit or the flesh, / One for the other take. / Oh, may Thy living light, Lord, / Scatter all my night, Lord, / And everything make bright, Lord, / For this I pray to Thee. (Hymns #426)
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