The law of the Spirit of life has been installed in us; now we need to cooperate with this law to “switch on” the spontaneous and automatic power of the installed and automatic God when we walk according to the spirit and we pray unceasingly.
This is the way for us to live in the reality of the Body of Christ. In our human body there are a few laws which work and operate spontaneously; for example, when we chew on something and swallow it, the digestive system with its law automatically operates to digest and distribute that food supply to all the members of the body.
In the Body of Christ there is a law, which is the law of the Spirit of life; as long as we fulfill the requirements for this law to operate, we can benefit of all that this law spontaneously does (Rom. 8:2).
What we need to do is to be in Christ Jesus; Christ is in our spirit, and when we pray unceasingly and walk according to the spirit, the law of the Spirit of life spontaneously operates in us.
When this law operates in us, we are automatically freed from the law of sin and of death, which is a law stronger than the law of good in our mind and the law of sin.
In our mind we have the law of good, which wants us to try to do the good and not do the evil; in our members we have the law of sin and of death, which operates spontaneously to defeat us whenever we try to do the good; and in our spirit we have the law of the Spirit of life.
The law of sin is stronger than the law of good, and as soon as we try to do the good, evil is present with us to defeat us.
But praise the Lord, as soon as we turn to our spirit, walk according to the spirit, set our mind on the spirit, and pray unceasingly, the righteous requirements of the law are spontaneously fulfilled in us (Rom. 8:4) and we are saved from the law of sin and of death.
When we speak of living Christ for the reality of the Body of Christ we do not “try to live Christ”, neither should we merely have a doctrine of what it means to live Christ.
Rather, we should learn to activate the law of the Spirit of life, cooperating with this installed and operating law, so that God would operate in us and fulfill His requirements in us. Hallelujah!
How can we activate the law of the Spirit of life and how can we live Christ for the reality of the Body of Christ? It is simply by walking according to the spirit and by praying unceasingly.
Cooperating with the Law of the Spirit of Life by Walking According to the Spirit
To switch on the law of the Spirit of life is to walk according to the mingled spirit. In Rom. 8:4 we are told of this wonderful key: when we walk according to the spirit, the righteous requirements of the law are spontaneously fulfilled in us.
In other words, when we set our mind on the spirit (v. 6), our mind becomes life and peace, being saturated with God’s life and remaining in His peace, and when we walk according to the spirit, we fulfill what God requires of us.
So this means that all we have to do is walk according to the spirit, and we are freed from the law of sin and of death (on the negative side) and we fulfill all the requirements God has from us (on the positive side).
It is God who operates in us both the willing and the working; we simply need to cooperate with the installed and operating law of the Spirit of life by “switching on” the spontaneous and automatic power of the installed and automatic God, the indwelling Spirit as the “current” of the Triune God.
It is futile for us to try anything else, no matter how great it is, to make the light bulbs and the electrical appliances to work – we simply need to turn on the switch, and the power of electricity will do the job.
Similarly, the Triune God has been installed in our spirit as the law of the Spirit of life, and when we “switch on” this law by walking according to the spirit, many wonderful things happen in us and through us.
To behave, act, move, and live in the mingled spirit, which is the law of the Spirit of life mingled with our spirit, is to behave, act, move, and live in the Body of Christ (Phil. 2:13).
We need to live and move and do everything according to the mingled spirit so that we may live in the reality of the Body of Christ.
In our spirit we have God’s presence, God’s speaking; here we meet with God, here we have God’s dispensing through His operation as the law of the Spirit of life to impart Himself into all our inward parts (Heb. 8:10).
The law of the Spirit of life frees us from the law of sin and of death, and on the positive side it imparts what God is as life into us; the unique work of this law is to dispense God into all our inward parts.
When we turn to our spirit and walk according to the spirit, the law of the Spirit of life operates in us to dispense God as life into all our inward parts and to conform us to the image of Christ, the firstborn Son of God.
The law of the Spirit of life operates to dispense the divine life into our spirit, to saturate our soul, and to permeate our entire body so that our whole being would be full of God and we would be conformed to the image of God, the firstborn Son of God.
This is all through the operation of the law of the Spirit of life in us, which works to conform us to the image of Christ.
Lord Jesus, we want to cooperate with the installed and operating law of the Spirit of life by “switching on” the spontaneous and automatic power of the installed and automatic God! Amen, Lord, we want to be those who walk according to the spirit and do everything in the mingled spirit so that we may activate the law of the Spirit of life and thus live Christ for the Body. Lord, may we behave, act, move, and live in the mingled spirit so that we may be in the reality of the Body of Christ today.
We Walk according to the Spirit by Praying Unceasingly and Watching unto This
All that God requires of us is that we walk according to the spirit; but what does it mean to walk according to the spirit, and how can we live in the mingled spirit all the time?
The key is seen in Eph. 6:18; in this short verse we are told that we need to pray at every time in spirit. To walk according to the spirit is to pray at every time in spirit and to watch unto this.
Christ as the life-giving Spirit is in our spirit, and the way for us to walk according to the spirit is to pray all day long, that is, pray unceasingly. We need to tell the Lord again and again, Lord, live in me. Lord, live out of me. I want to live Christ!
The way for us to practice living Christ for the Body is by praying all the time; we need to tell the Lord again and again to live in us, speak in us, and do everything in us.
This is not something doctrinal or of teaching; this should be our practice every day. When we are about to say something, we need to ask the Lord, Lord, You say it; I’m going to say something to this person – You say it, for You are my life.
As we do our laundry, clean the kitchen, cook, walk, at work, and in all things, we need to pray, Lord, live through me. Lord, live in me. Be lived out of me. We need to practice to live Christ by praying unceasingly.
The Lord Jesus was a pattern of such a One; He was a man of prayer. The prayer He prayed was not an ordinary prayer, for He was not an ordinary man praying ordinary prayers to God, not just a pious man or godly man praying to God in a religious and pious way, not just a God-seeking person praying for some spiritual attainments, and not just as a seeking person to obtain the riches of God.
Christ was a man in the flesh who lived in the divine and mystical realm praying to the mysterious God; He was one with God, He constantly lived in the presence of God, and under any kind of suffering and persecution He trusted in God and not in Himself.
In Christ the ruler of the world had no ground, no opportunity or hope, and no possibility in anything. We are like the Lord Jesus, God-men who live not by our human life but by the divine life, and we are learning to pray unceasingly by praying at every time in spirit.
Our unceasing, continual, living, and breathing prayer should be “Lord, live through me” (1 Thes. 5:17; Eph. 6:18).
According to the revelation in the book of Ephesians, we have to be persons who pray unceasingly in order to have the reality of the Body life (see Eph. 5:14; 6:17-18; Col. 4:2).
We need to pray and we need to be watchful, fully awakened, fighting against our sleeping nature and our sleeping being, not just physically but also psychologically and spiritually.
We may not be physically asleep, but our mind may be absent and our spirit may be dormant; we need to pray unceasingly and watch unto prayers. We need to exercise our spirit to rise up over our body and our psychology, taking heed to the Lord’s word to watch and pray, praying at every time in spirit and being watchful, on the alert, for the maintaining of our prayer life (Matt. 26:41).
For us to walk according to the spirit is for us to pray unceasingly, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this.
We must build up the habit of living Christ for the reality of the Body of Christ by building up the habit of prayer; we need to build up the habit of breathing in the pneumatic Christ unceasingly by calling on Him and conversing with Him.
Wherever we are and whatever we do, we need to call on the Lord, contact Him, converse with Him, and pray unceasingly.
Lord Jesus, we want to build up the habit of living Christ for the reality of the Body of Christ by praying unceasingly. Amen, Lord, remind us to pray and keep us in a spirit of prayer. May we learn to pray at every time in spirit and watch unto this in all perseverance, not being dormant in our body, soul, or spirit. Lord, we exercise our spirit to pray unceasingly so that we may live in the reality of the Body of Christ, and we exercise to be watchful, fully awakened, fighting against our sleeping nature and our sleeping being!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1980, vol. 1, “Perfecting Training,” chs. 13-14, 30-31, 36, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living in the Reality of the Body of Christ by Keeping the Principles of the Body (2019 ICSC), week 5, Living Christ for the Reality of the Body of Christ.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Live Thyself, Lord Jesus, through me, / For my very life art Thou; / Thee I take to all my problems / As the full solution now. / Live Thyself, Lord Jesus, through me, / In all things Thy will be done; / I but a transparent vessel / To make visible the Son. (Hymns #403)
# Each time when I dream of the goodness of life, / I pray Thee, dear Lord, that Thou in it may be; / O do not allow me to choose by myself, / Nor seek any pleasure that’s other than Thee. / Each night when alone in the stillness I lie, / I pray Thee, Lord Jesus, that Thou wilt be near; / Each morning ere dawn comes, while still in my sleep, / Then whispering call me and open my ear. (Hymns #389)
# I’m not of this world anymore. / To You, Lord, I am restored. / When I look into Your eyes, / My whole being’s fully satisfied. / With my hope now set on You, / There is nothing more to do. / Loving, living You this way, / Deep within my heart, O Lord, I’ll pray. / Lord, I just love You, / Fill my heart, renew, / Be my life so true, / Manifesting You. (Song on, I’m Not of This World Anymore)
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