The desire of God’s heart is not only to be worshipped by man but to be one with man and make man one with Him.
The only way He can do this is by getting into man as life and being man’s life and person. God created man in His image and with His likeness, and He placed man in front of the tree of life – this clearly shows that God wants man to take Him as life and live by His life.
In the New Testament we see that God Himself became a man, mingling Himself with humanity and making God and man one. Christ as the first God-man lived a perfect human life on earth, died an all-inclusive death on the cross, and resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit.
Now as the life-giving Spirit God can enter into man through regeneration to enliven man’s spirit and be joined to man as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). It is so easy today, in the age of grace, to receive God as Spirit and be joined to Him to be one with Him.
After we receive the Lord as Spirit into our spirit, we now live a life in the organic union with God – we live a life in the Spirit with our spirit, the mingling of the two spirits. Never leave this process of mingling! Stay in the mingled spirit, in the process of God’s organic salvation, by practicing to be one spirit with the Lord!
In all the aspects of our daily life, we need to practice being one spirit with the Lord.
Lord Jesus, we love You! Keep us open to You today to receive the Spirit moment by moment for our continual daily organic salvation. Lord, keep us one spirit with You today, enjoying You and receiving Your supply!
The History of God’s Union with Man to be One Spirit with Us
In the Old Testament we see that God desired to have a people that would be joined to Him and even one with Him, expressing Him corporately on earth. He called Abraham and his seed, and the people of Israel were God’s people. But time and time again, they failed God, leaving Him for other idols, other sources, other “broken cisterns” (Jer. 2:13).
In those days God could be outside of man, with man, and upon man, but He could not get into man.
But in the Gospels we see how God became a man! What miracle, what mystery, that God and man have been joined, blended, and made one in the Lord Jesus! In Christ God was fully joined to man, and the divine nature entered into the human nature and mingled with the human nature.
The four Gospels are a story of the union of God with man in the Lord Jesus, the first God-man. From Acts to Revelation we see the story of the union of God and the believers, where man is doing his best to cooperate with God by being one spirit with Him and doing everything in this organic union.
Today we as believers in Christ are in the process of regeneration, sanctification, renewing, transformation, conformation, and glorification. As we practice living one spirit with the Lord, we are daily becoming more like Him, even becoming Christ living again on the earth.
This is what God desires: a corporate man, a new man, that lives Christ, expresses Christ, and manifests Christ by all the members practicing to be one spirit with the Lord. In such a new man Christ is all and in all! Eventually, the Body of Christ and the new man consummate in the New Jerusalem, which is the great issue of the union of the Spirit of God and the spirit of man!
Everything of God and of the Christian Life is Real in the Spirit with our Spirit
Apart from the Spirit with our spirit nothing about God is real, and nothing in the Christian life makes sense. The Bible is merely a teaching and a good doctrine to us if we don’t practice to live one spirit with the Lord (John 5:39).
How can Christ be real to us? It is by the Spirit with our spirit. How can Christ live in us? How can Christ be enjoyed by us in all the many aspects of His all-inclusive Person revealed in the New Testament? How can we see what the Bible really talks about? How can Christ be so real to us? It is only by the Spirit with our spirit.
Even more, the church life, the Body of Christ, the new man, the Bride of Christ, and the New Jerusalem – all these are real to us and even become our reality as we practice being one spirit with the Lord. The gospel of God is powerful (Rom. 1:16) because of us being one spirit with the Lord as we speak the gospel.
How can we be renewed, nourished, transformed, conformed, built up, and even glorified? It is all in the Spirit with our spirit. This is why Christ became the life-giving Spirit, so available and so near to us, so that He may be enjoyed, touched, received, and experienced by us day by day.
The Spirit with our spirit is the secret of God’s salvation in life, the secret of our Christian life, and the secret of the church life. We are now in this process of realizing this secret and practicing to live one spirit with the Lord day by day.
Stay in the Process: Take Care of Your Spirit!
The most neglected matter in the Christian life today by most Christians is the matter of their spirit. The most evil and wicked thing in God’s eyes is for us not to enjoy Christ in our spirit.
The genuine Christians are those who exercise their spirit to constantly receive the supply of the Spirit. But we can grieve the Spirit so easily by our murmuring, reasonings, and complaining (Eph. 4:30; Phil. 2:14). May we be those who are quick to repent, confess, and come back to this romantic organic union with the Lord.
Stay in this process: never leave the process of practicing to be one spirit with the Lord! As we turn to Him, call on His name, enjoy His presence, and exercise our spirit to enjoy all that He is to us, we go on in the daily moment-by-moment organic salvation until we are fully saved in life.
We should never graduate from calling on the name of the Lord: it is our spiritual breathing! Even when outward things may not be pleasant or positive, we can exult in the Lord! We need to always take care of our spirit by being one spirit with the Lord.
As we live one spirit with the Lord, Christ can live in us. As we live one spirit with the Lord, we are being made the same as God in life and nature but not in the Godhead for the building up of the Body of Christ, which is the eternal heart’s desire of the Triune God and His ultimate purpose (see Matt. 16:18; Eph. 1:9; 4:16).
Lord Jesus, keep us in our spirit today. Make us those who practice living one spirit with You. Thank You for being so available to us – You are so real and so near! You are intimately related to us, intimately connected to us, even one with us as one spirit. Dear Lord, keep us in the process of Your daily organic salvation by being in our spirit, so that we may enjoy all that You are, experience You, and have something to minister to others for the building up of the Body of Christ!
References and Further Reading
- Inspiration: A sharing by brother Dick Taylor and portions in, The Issue of the Union of the Consummated Spirit of the Triune God and the Regenerated Spirit of the Believers (chs. 3-4), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, “The Completing Ministry of Paul“, week 4 entitled, The Spirit with our spirit.
- Hymns on this topic:
# I am one with Thee, Lord Jesus, / One in spirit now with Thee; / All Thyself I now possess, Lord, / All Thou art now lives in me.
# From my spirit within flows a fountain of life— / The Triune God flowing in me; / God the Father’s the source, Christ the Son is the course, / And the Spirit imparts life to me.
# Now we’re learning to turn to our spirit, / Now we’re learning to take Christ as life; / Now we’re learning to feed upon Jesus / And be freed from all struggling and strife.
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how enjoyable
Amen! Lord, may we keep practicing being one spirit with You day by day, even moment by moment! We want to stay in the process of God's organic salvation!