In our Christian life and experience with the Lord Jesus we go on with Him by dealing with the negative things which He exposes and shines on in our being.
First of all we deal with our sins, our past, our conscience, etc, and then we go on to deal with our flesh, our self, our natural man, and our natural constitution. There are so many aspects of our being that are fallen and injected with the element of Satan, and we don’t know it until the Lord’s light shines on us.
Eventually, we see that we need to deal with our spirit by dealing with the passage ways of our spirit.
On the one hand, we need to exercise our spirit and cooperate with the breaking of the cross so that there would be an opening through our natural being for the spirit to flow out. On the other hand, we need to deal with the passage way of the spirit – the heart, the soul, and the flesh – so that the spirit would flow out in a pure way.
Even when we exercise our spirit to enjoy the Lord and flow Him out, we need to still check with the Lord whether what we speak or we do is tainted with our own purpose and goal, with the ambitious self, or with any other impurity.
We want the Lord to have a clear way to flow out in and with our spirit through our being and out of us for others to receive life; for this we need to deal with all the negative purposes of the heart, all the undesirable intentions, all the impure inclinations, the improper will, and the mixed emotion. Oh, may our spirit flow in a pure way!
What is the Passage of our Spirit?
Our spirit is the innermost part of our being, our inner man, into which we are strengthened by the Father through the Spirit so that Christ may make His home in our heart (Eph. 3:17). It is the hidden man of the heart (1 Pet. 3:4), and it is enveloped and wrapped up tightly and securely in our heart, soul, and flesh.
When there is a crack, an opening, through the Lord’s light and His cross operating in us, the spirit can flow out! But when the spirit flows out of our innermost being, it has to pass through the heart, the soul, and the flesh.
The passage of the spirit is the purpose, the motive, the aim, the intention, and the mood of the heart, together with the will and the flesh. These surround our spirit and, if they are not dealt with and purified, they will affect the release of our spirit.
If our motive is pure, the spirit will be pure when it is released; but if our intention is not clean, the spirit coming forth will also not be clean. For instance, someone may preach the gospel to others by releasing his spirit, but if there’s pride and ambition in his soul, what comes out is a showoff spirit, a proud spirit, and a boastful spirit.
In the church life we exercise our spirit a lot, but when we release our spirit what comes forth is tainted and defiled with what is in our soul, our flesh, and our heart.
This is why we need to deal with our spirit by dealing with the passage of the spirit, the exit of the spirit. It is good to check with the Lord before we speak or act,
Lord, is my intention clean when I say this? Lord, purify my heart. I open to You that my motive would be pure, and my aim would be wholly for God. Lord, save me from any selfish purpose behind my action. May there be no self-inclination or self-boasting. Lord Jesus, shine on me and purify my heart, my will, my intentions, my purpose, and all the passage of my spirit. I want my spirit to flow in a clear and pure way for others to receive life!
Dealing with the Spirit to Have a Sweet Oneness in Coordination
We need to deal with our spirit so that we may have a sweet oneness in the coordination with the other saints.
When we come together to fellowship and coordinate, some things may be said by someone which cause uneasiness and unpleasantness among the saints. Sometimes it is us who says something and then the sweetness is gone. There’s nothing wrong with what we said, but we said it with a wrong spirit.
We may have brought another suggestion or solution for a certain problem, but our spirit was “more superior” and “feeling better than others”, putting others down. We need to deal with our spirit by dealing with our heart, soul, and flesh, so that we may have a sweet one accord in the church life.
The sweetness comes from the genuine oneness, where all saints deal with their spirit and have a good spirit, a pure spirit. Because something may be undealt with in our being toward a certain person, the words you speak toward them may be good but the spirit may be that of hatred, pride, or anger.
We need to know our spirit to this level, seeing that it is the most genuine part of our being and that we need to deal with the passage of our spirit. When our spirit comes out, does it irritate others or does it cause them to be peaceful?
To take care of the oneness among the saints is to take care of our spirit. The brothers may not say anything, but they will detect something unpleasant. The key to being in one accord and have a sweet oneness among the saints we meet with is to deal with the passage of our spirit.
The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Pure Release of the Spirit
There are two problems then: first of all, we need know our spirit and we need to release our spirit (there needs to be a breaking for the spirit to be released), and secondly, our spirit needs to come out in a pure way by us dealing with the passage of our spirit.
Since our spirit comes out through our being, we need to deal with every aspect of our natural fallen being so that we may release our spirit in a good way.
We need to deal not only with our sins, our flesh, our self, and our natural constitution, but even more with all the negative purposes of our heart, the undesirable intentions and impure inclinations of our heart, our improper will and our mixed emotion.
On the one hand the Lord needs to break through in us and we need to open to Him for an opening to be made in our being for the spirit to flow forth. On the other hand, we need to actively cooperate with the Lord and deal with all the unclean and mixed elements in our being so that our spirit would come forth as a clean, pure, and upright spirit.
We need the Lord’s mercy so that He may continually shine on us and show us aspect after aspect of our flesh, self, fallen soul, and heart, so that we may cooperate with Him and deal with all the elements of the old and fallen creation for the spirit to flow forth in a pure and upright way.
“When all the elements of our old creation have been completely dealt with, then the Holy Spirit can possess and fill our whole being. (The Experience of Life, p. 289)”
Lord Jesus, have a way in us. We want to learn to cooperate with You to deal with the passage of our spirit. Lord, we don’t know our heart and our flesh, and we may not even be willing to deal with these things. Make us willing, Lord, by operating in us both the willing and the working according to Your good pleasure. We want to go on with You and deal with anything of our natural fallen being that our spirit may flow forth in a pure way. Lord, take us on. Go on in us. We love You!
References and Further Reading
- This sharing is inspired from brother James Lee’s speaking in this message and portions in, Experience of Life (ch. 13), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, ITERO spring 2013 “The Experience, Growth, and Ministry of Life for the Body“, week 4 entitled, Growing in Life by Dealing with the Spirit.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Oh, may my spirit flow, / Oh, may it flow! / Now I implore Thee, Lord, / Oh, may it flow! / No more self-satisfied, / No more in self-bound pride, / No more my spirit tied; / Oh, may it flow!
# Release my spirit! This is what I ask, / That self-confined or closed I may not be; / How deep within myself I long have been, / If Thou deliver not, I’ll ne’er be free.
# Freed from self and Adam’s nature, / Lord, I would be built by Thee / With the saints into Thy temple, / Where Thy glory we shall see. / From peculiar traits deliver, / From my independent ways, / That a dwelling place for Thee, Lord, / We will be thru all our days. - Pictures credit: the first one via 1 Pet. 3:4 and the second my instagram.
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