Press on into our spirit: the Living and Operative Word Divides our Soul from Spirit

Whenever we believers in Christ read the Bible, it needs to be living, energizing, and sharp to divide our spirit from our soul and discern our thoughts and intentions; we need to be saved from staggering in the wandering of our soul and press on into our spirit to enjoy the heavenly Christ to whom we’re joined organically. Amen!

The good land of Canaan is the rest for God’s people; it is the Sabbath rest, a type of Christ as our real Sabbath rest.

If we want to understand the Sabbath rest in Hebrews in a proper way, we need to know what is the significance of the first mention of the Sabbath rest in the Bible.

The Sabbath rest is a principle from the very creation of man.

After God created the heavens and the earth with all things in them, He also created man, and He said, very good; then, He rested.

When God gains man in His image and likeness, a man that expresses Him and represents Him, God can rest.

The principle of the Sabbath rest, therefore, is that God does everything, accomplishes everything, and carries out everything, and man comes in to enter into God’s rest, being satisfied and in rest with God.

Then, after God and man enjoy rest and satisfaction together, man can work with God by being one with God.

According to the book of Revelation, God will gain this for eternity, for in eternity the New Jerusalem will be an eternal Sabbath rest for God and man.

Today in the church age, the Sabbath rest is Christ Himself as our rest, and He is rest to us in three stages: in this age, in the millennium, and for eternity.

Today we can come to the Lord and take Him as our rest; we can bring Him our toils and burdens, and we will find rest for our souls as we learn from Him, for He is meek and lowly in heart.

What a privilege for us to come to the Lord as we are, bring Him our troubles and anxieties, and enjoy Him as our rest!

As we rest with Him, we take His yoke upon us, and His yoke – the Father’s will – is easy and His burden is light. Amen!

This should be a sign for us as believers in Christ; we should bear the sign before the whole universe that we first rest with God and then we labour together with Him, one with Him.

We need to keep God’s Sabbaths, realizing that God wants first to supply us and fill us, and then we can work together with Him.

God is our strength, our energy, and our everything so that we may be able to work together with Him for the building up of the church. Amen!

And the most practical and enjoyable way for us to enter into the full enjoyment of the Sabbath rest, that is, for us to enjoy the all-inclusive Christ as the good land, our real rest, is by means of the living and operative word of God.

The word of God is living and operative, sharper than any two-edged sword, able to discern and divide the soul from the spirit.

The word in black-and-white letters needs to become living and operative in us.

Not Wandering in our Soul: Press on into our Spirit to enjoy and Partake of the Heavenly Christ

The writer of the book of Hebrews advised the Hebrew believers not to stagger in the wandering of their soul but to press on into their spirit to partake of and enjoy the heavenly Christ.

The Hebrew believers were like the children of Israel in the wilderness: they staggered by wandering in their soul.

So the writer encouraged them to come forward with boldness to the throne of grace so that they may receive mercy and find grace for timely help (Heb. 4:16).

We need to press on into our spirit to enjoy Christ and partake of His riches, even to enter into Him as our rest.

Hebrews chapter four is quite amazing. In it, we see that today we should not harden our hearts, as the children of Israel did in the day of provocation, but simply come to enjoy Christ (v. 8).

God has entered into rest, Christ leads us into rest, and there remains a Sabbath rest for us as people of God (vv. 9-10).

We need to enter into that rest. How can we enter into this rest? It is by the means of the living and operative word of God (v. 12).

And we have a High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, we hold fast the confession (v. 14).

For we don’t have a High Priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all respects like us, yet without sin (v. 15).

Let us, therefore, come forward with boldness to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help (v. 16).

The throne of grace is the throne of God, which is in heaven (Rev. 4:2); this is the throne of God and the Lamb (22:1).

How can we, human beings on earth, come to the throne of God in heaven?

The secret is our spirit, to which Heb. 4:12 refers; the Christ who is sitting on the throne in heaven (Rom. 8:34) is also now in us (v. 10), that is, He is in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22).

Our spirit is the habitation of God (Eph. 2:22), and we are joined to the Lord as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17).

Jacob saw the heavenly ladder joining the earth to heaven at Bethel, and called that place, The house of God (Gen. 28:12-17; John 1:51).

The reality of this heavenly ladder is in our spirit, for Christ as the ladder is in our spirit joining earth to heaven and bringing heaven to earth. Hallelujah!

Our spirit is the place of God’s habitation; our spirit is the gate of heaven, where Christ is the ladder that joins us to heaven and brings heaven to earth. Wow!

We can all testify that, when we press on into our spirit, we touch Christ, and we’re brought into a different realm – the heavenly realm.

Whenever we turn to our spirit, we enter through the gate of heaven and touch the throne of grace in heaven through Christ as the heavenly ladder.

Many times, however, we turn to our spirit accidentally, not knowing what happened.

We may call on the name of the Lord or be in fellowship with Him, or we may be in fellowship with the saints in a meeting, and we touch the throne of grace in our spirit.

But we need to know how to be those who do not stagger by wandering in our soul but are pressing on into our spirit to enjoy and partake of the heavenly Christ.

Many times we are like the Hebrew believers, wandering in our soul and neglecting our spirit; we need to take care of our spirit and turn to our spirit again and again (Rom. 8:16; 2 Tim. 4:22; Gal. 6:18).

The first thing we need to take care of in the morning is our spirit; even before washing our face and brushing our teeth, we need to turn to our spirit by calling on the name of the Lord.

We should not neglect our spirit in the morning.

We need to take care of our spirit both in the morning and throughout the day.

May we learn to come forward with boldness to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help.

Lord Jesus, we come forward with boldness to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace for timely help. Hallelujah, the throne of God is today the throne of grace in our spirit, for Christ’s habitation is in our spirit! Amen, Lord, we come forward to You today by exercising our spirit. We call on Your name and we open our being to You. We turn to our spirit and enter through the gate of heaven to touch the throne of grace in heaven through Christ as the heavenly ladder! Wow, Lord, there’s a heavenly ladder set up in our spirit, Christ Himself who joins us to heaven and who brings heaven down to earth! Hallelujah for our spirit, where the throne of grace is! Keep us turning to our spirit today, Lord Jesus! Keep us contacting You. We want to be those who take care of our spirit, take heed to our spirit, and live in the spirit so that we may enjoy of and partake of the heavenly Christ. Amen, Lord, save us from wandering in our soul. We want to press on into our spirit to enjoy You as our everything!

Mix the Word with Faith by means of All Prayer for the Word to be Living and Operative in us to Divide our Spirit from our Soul

We praise and thank the Lord that the heavenly ladder, the resurrected Christ, is in our spirit to join us to the heavens and to bring the heavens to us. Hallelujah!

A very practical way for us to enjoy Christ in our spirit is by means of the living and operative word of God.

Our soul with our wandering mind, our doubts, and our considering our own interests, needs to be broken by the living, operative, and piercing word of God so that our spirit might be divided from our soul (Heb. 4:12).

Our soul is very sticky; it is like flypaper, and it sticks to many things.

We may never hear about a particular thing before today, but if today we hear about it and love it, our soul clings to it.

Our soul is so strong, surrounding our spirit as the bone surrounds the marrow.

We may think we enjoy the Lord in spirit, but unless the soul is broken and pierced through by the living and operating word of God, we still have a mental or soulish enjoyment. Oh, Lord.

As the marrow is concealed deep in the joints, so the spirit is deep in the soul.

Just as the dividing of the marrow from the joints requires mainly the breaking of the joints, the dividing of the spirit from the soul requires the breaking of the soul (1 Pet. 3:4; Heb. 4:12).

The only way this is done is by our coming to the Lord’s word in a living way so that the word becomes living and operative in us.

Whenever we read the Bible, it must be living, energizing, and sharp enough to divide our soul from our spirit and discern our thoughts and intentions.

When the word of God becomes living and operative in us, it will reveal what things are of the self and which things are of God and for God.

How can the words in the Bible become the living and operative word of God?

Heb. 4:2 gives us an indication; the word we hear may not profit us unless it is mixed together with faith in us.

And the way we mix the Word with our faith is by exercising our spirit of faith; we have a spirit of faith (2 Cor. 4:13), and we need to exercise our spirit when we come to the Word of God.

We need to receive the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition (Eph. 6:17-18).

The word of God is so powerful that it can bring things into being out of nothing; God created everything by His word and He sustains all things by the word of His power.

Even more, Christ Himself is the Word of God, and His instant and living speaking – which is Himself as God’s living word – can give life, revive, enliven, and bring God’s life into us. Wow!

But this word of God needs to become living to us in our experience.

All Christians read the Bible, and all seeking believers read the word of God with much diligence; however, we need to even more mix the word of God with our faith by means of all prayer in spirit!

When we mix the word of God with faith by pray-reading the word of God in spirit, the word of God becomes living and operative in us.

The living word of God will pierce into our being and will deliver us from our wandering mind.

The living and operative word of God will save us from wandering in our soul and will bring us into Christ as the Sabbath rest in our spirit.

May we be those who no longer stagger in the wandering of our soul but deny the soul and press on into our spirit to partake of and enjoy the heavenly Christ!

Amen, may we be those who exercise our spirit to read and pray the word of God until the word becomes living and operative in us so that our soul may be divided from our spirit and we would press on into our spirit to enjoy Christ!

The living and operative word of God will pierce our mixture, divide our spirit from our soul, and bring us into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as the Sabbath rest in our spirit.

There has to be such a piercing and dividing of our soul from our spirit so that the soul and the spirit would not be mixed; this is done by means of the living and operative word of God.

So many times we are mixed; we are in our soul, but our spirit wants to follow the Lord yet our soul does not want to.

Though we’re clear about the Lord’s leading in our spirit, our mind begins to wonder, rationalize, doubt, and bring in reasons not to do it.

What we need is not more convincing – we need more mixing of the word of God with our faith so that the word becomes living and operative in us!

Lord Jesus, show us how much we need the dividing of our spirit from our soul. We do not want to remain in the wandering of our soul nor do we want to stagger by being in the mixture of the spirit and the soul. We come to Your word, Lord, and we say Amen to Your word. We mix Your word with our faith. May the word in the Bible be living, energizing, and sharp enough to divide our soul from our spirit! May Your living and operating word discern our thoughts and intentions to clearly show which are of and for the self and which are of and for God! Amen, Lord, we mix Your word with faith by means of all prayer in spirit so that Your word may become living and operative in us! May Your living word pierce into our being and deliver us from our wandering mind and wandering soul into Christ as our Sabbath rest in our spirit! Amen, Lord, we choose not to stagger in the wandering of our soul but deny the soul and press on into our spirit to partake of and enjoy the heavenly Christ so that we may participate in the kingdom rest of His reign in the millennium! Amen, Lord, gain this in us!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ed Marks in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Hebrews, second edition, pp. 263-265, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Laboring on the All-inclusive Christ Typified by the Good land for the Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ, for the Reality and the Manifestation of the Kingdom, and for the Bride to make Herself Ready for the Lord’s Coming (2023 Winter Training), week 6, entitled, Christ as Our Sabbath Rest, Typified by the Good Land of Canaan.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – My Experience of being Cared for by the Believers in the Local Churches, via, Living to Him.
  – Dividing the soul from the spirit, a portion from, Basic Principles of the Experience of Life, Chapter 8, by Witness Lee.
  – Reading Only the “Pure Word” – A Dangerous and Unbiblical Notion, via, Shepherding Words.
  – What Is the Difference between the Soul and the Spirit? More via, Bibles for America blog.
  – Receive the Word with Faith to Get Ready, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – The dividing of spirit and soul, a portion from, Spiritual Man, The (3 volume set), Chapter 16, by Watchman Nee.
  – What Is the Difference Between the Soul and Spirit? Via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – What is it to Exercise Our Spirit? More via, Radio Newsletters.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – We must redeem these golden days, / Eating the Word in prayer, / Amening every line and phrase, / And thus for Him prepare. / Oh, how the Word doth penetrate, / Spirit and soul divide, / Revealing every hidden weight / For us to lay aside. / Lord, how we thank Thee for Thy Word, / Living and operative. / Oh, for Thy coming, we are stirred / Ever by it to live! (Hymns #1310 stanzas 3-5)
  – Lord, teach us to discern the spirit / That we may be transformed in soul, / Till we’re conformed to Thine own image, / Till we’re matured and reach the goal. / Lord, teach us to discern the spirit, / To us Thy living Word so give / That soul from spirit be divided / And in the holiest place we’ll live. (Hymns #746 stanzas 6-7)
  – The spirit we must seek to know, / Discerning spirit from the soul, / And live within this holiest place, / To worship God and reach His goal. / The soul we ever must forsake, / Press on, God’s rest to enter in, / That Christ we may possess in full / And all God’s plan fulfill therein. (Hymns #747 stanzas 6-7)