When we live in the Mingled Spirit we are in the Reality of the Body of Christ

The key to living in the reality of the Body of Christ is the mingled spirit; the Body of Christ is in the mingled spirit, and to live in the reality of the Body, we need to live in the mingled spirit. Actually, everything that God requires of us is fulfilled spontaneously in our living when we live in the mingled spirit.

What is the reality of the Body of Christ? It is simply a group of believers, a group of God-men, who live not by themselves but by the divine life; they daily live a crucified life by the power of resurrection so that Christ may be lived out in them.

What God delights in is Christ; He wants Christ to be lived out and manifested in a group of people who have been worked on by Him, so that He may have a corporate expression.

The reality of the Body of Christ is a corporate living by the believers in Christ who have been perfected by God; they are genuine men who live not by their own life but by the life of the processed and consummated Triune God, whose attributes are expressed through their virtues.

All believers in Christ are members of the Body of Christ, and God desires that all His children would live in the reality of the Body of Christ, that is, live a crucified life by the power of resurrection so that Christ may be manifested in us.

When we realize that this is what God is after, we may desire to do it – and we may even promise the Lord that we will do it, but all that God wants is that we are open vessels who, under His redeeming blood, open to Him for Him to work Himself into us for the building up of the Body.

We shouldn’t seek “more experiences of the death of Christ”; rather, we should realize that the death of Christ is sweet, powerful, and fragrant, able to terminate any negative thing in our being, to touch the depths of our being, and deal with our disposition, self, and peculiarity, so that we may be shaped into the image of Christ, God’s firstborn Son.

When we see this, we will simply pray,

Lord, for the sake of Your Body, build Yourself into me, work Yourself into me, grow in me, and mingle Yourself with me! Make me willing to live a life of conformity to Your death by the power of Your resurrection so that You may be manifested in me! I don’t know where I am and what my spiritual stature is, but I give myself to You to live in the mingled spirit and walk according to the spirit, so that You may gain the reality of the Body of Christ.

Living in the Mingled Spirit under the Anointing to live in the Body Life

We believers in Christ are very mysterious yet wonderful persons, for Christ as the Spirit lives in our spirit. In a sense, according to 1 John 2:27, we don’t need anyone to teach us anything, for the Lord as the Spirit within us anoints us, and His anointing teaches us all things.

The Lord’s leading and teaching is not something outward but inward, by means of the Lord as the Spirit living and moving within our spirit.

The key is our mingled spirit: when we exercise our spirit, turn to the spirit, and live in the mingled spirit, we have the indwelling Spirit teaching us, leading us, and speaking to us by anointing us constantly.

Many believers, when they have a big decision to make – such as buying a house, moving somewhere, getting a job, finding a spouse – bring this to the Lord in prayer, and bring it to the saints also to pray.

In a very real sense, we believers in Christ simply need to live according to the inward anointing by living in the mingled spirit, and the Lord’s leading, His supply, and His speaking will be present with us.

Such a living according to the spirit is actually the Body life, for the Body of Christ is in the mingled spirit. When we live in the mingled spirit, we live according to the indwelling Christ, we are out of our self, we are out of our flesh, and we are out of our natural life – we are simply in the Body life, living in the reality of the Body.

When we get into the stage of acting and moving and behaving according to the mingled spirit, our human spirit indwelt by the divine Spirit, we live in the reality of the Body of Christ spontaneously.

When we live in the mingled spirit, the flesh is put to death, the self is denied, and the natural man is terminated.

It is not by us trying our best to deny the self, put our flesh to death, and terminate our old man that we please God; rather, it is by turning to the spirit, exercising the spirit, and living in the mingled spirit that all the righteous requirements of the law are fulfilled in us (Rom. 8:4).

When we live in the mingled spirit, we live in the reality of the Body of Christ; living in the spirit is not for us to be spiritual or unique in a peculiar and individualistic way, but it is for the Body, for the reality of the Body to come into existence today.

We need to know our mingled spirit, exercise our spirit, turn to our spirit, and practice living in the spirit and according to the Spirit, so that we may have the Lord’s instant leading, His anointing, and His speaking, and so that we may live in the reality of the Body of Christ.

Thank You Lord for dwelling in us as the Spirit to anoint us, speak to us, and lead us in all things. Keep us turning to You in spirit day by day. Keep us living in the mingled spirit so that we may have Your anointing with Your leading, Your speaking, and Your supply. Lord, we want to be those who live in the mingled spirit moment by moment, depending on You, looking to You, and doing everything in the mingled spirit, so that we may live in the reality of the Body of Christ practically in the church life!

When we live in the Mingled Spirit we are in the Reality of the Body of Christ

Where is the Body of Christ today? In a real and practical way, the Body of Christ is in the mingled spirit; we can be in the Body and function as members of the Body by being in the mingled spirit.

Everything of God, of Christ, of the Spirit, and of the Body is in the mingled spirit. Because the Body of Christ is in the mingled spirit, to be in the reality of the Body of Christ is to be in the mingled spirit (Rom. 8:4; 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 6:17; 12:12-13, 27).

Individually speaking, we are Christians, and corporately speaking, we are the Body-Christ, the Body of Christ; the Body of Christ is composed of Christ – the Head – with many members, the many believers in Christ.

Where can we see, touch, enjoy, and receive Christ? It is in the spirit, for Christ today is the Spirit. We don’t touch Him with our mind, emotion, or will, but with our spirit; Christ is real to us and Christ is living in us as the Spirit in our spirit.

Where can we see and touch and be in the Body of Christ? Again, it is in the mingled spirit. The Body of Christ, practically speaking is the mingled spirit. The mingled spirit is a universally vast realm where we have God, Christ, the Spirit, and the Body of Christ; when we live in the mingled spirit, we are in Christ and we are in the reality of the Body of Christ.

May the Lord open our eyes to realize that we need to enter into the stage of the mingled spirit, that is, live in the mingled spirit to live in the Body life in practicality.

We may still pray for this or for that, but what we actually need to do is set our mind on the spirit (Rom. 8:6), live in the mingled spirit, and walk according to the spirit (Gal. 5:25). When we live and walk according to the mingled spirit, we are simply living in the Body, in the reality of the Body; here we have life and peace, and here we have the leading of the Spirit step by step.

The way for us to be in the reality of the Body of Christ in Rom. 12:4-5 is by setting our mind on the spirit and living in the spirit as seen in Rom. 8:4, 6.

Living involves something spontaneous, daily, effortless, and far from deliberate; what the Lord wants to gain is our daily living, that we would live in the mingled spirit, so that He may be expressed through us, and we would live out the Body and be in the reality.

To be in the mingled spirit is to be in the Body of Christ actually and practically; in the mingled spirit we are one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17), and we are joined to the other members, drinking of the same Spirit in our spirit (1 Cor. 12:12-13, 17).

Being flexible in fellowship and coordination doesn’t mean that you’re the reality of the Body; being in the spirit and living in the mingled spirit is being in the reality of the Body.

Christ is the Spirit mingled with our spirit; when we live in the mingled spirit, we live Christ, and we live the Body of Christ; this is the reality of the Body of Christ.

Lord Jesus, have mercy upon us and bring us into the stage of living in the mingled spirit so that we may be in the reality of the Body of Christ! Show us that the practicality of Christ and of the Body of Christ is in the mingled spirit! We want to be those behaving, acting, moving, and living according to the mingled spirit, so that we may be actually moving, living, and behaving in the Body of Christ. Thank You Lord for our mingled spirit! Make us those who live in the mingled spirit to have Your leading and supply, and to live in the reality of the Body of Christ!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1980, vol. 1, “Perfecting Training,” ch. 30, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing Life and the Church, msg. 6 (week 6), Living in the Resurrection Life of Christ under the Unique Headship of Christ and Growing Up into the Head, Christ, in All Things for the Reality and Building Up of the Body of Christ.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Th’ anointing’s here! It teaches us in everything; / The sense of life we always have within. / Obey this sense, and you will know what you must do, / And live by Life—Yes, clear in everything. (Hymns #1118)
  # In the spirit Christ is life and all to me, / Strengthening and blessing all-inclusively; / Living in the spirit, holiness I prove, / And the triune God within my heart doth move. (Hymns #593)
  # It is not the outward action— / Pure behavior, conduct good, / Proper poise and perfect manners, / Doing what we think we should; / But it’s Christ, a living Person, / Mingled thus with us within, / Spreading into all our being, / So that we might live by Him. (Hymns #1136)