According to the entire revelation in the Bible, God has an economy, a master plan, which is to work Himself into man by dispensing His riches into man so that He would gain a corporate man, the Body of Christ, to be His expression on the earth.
Paul told Timothy to charge certain ones not to teach different things which produce questionings rather than God’s economy, which is in faith (2 Tim. 1:4). Paul was entrusted by God with a stewardship so that he might be a minister of Christ to dispense the riches of Christ into man so that the church would be built up and God would have a corporate expression.
The mystery hidden throughout the ages in God, which no one in the Old Testament has seen but it has been revealed to the holy apostles and prophets in the New Testament in spirit, is God’s economy. But throughout the ages the matter of God’s economy has been lost and replaced with many other good and spiritual things, and because of this many believers today have no idea that God has an economy, do not know the mark of God’s economy, and don’t fight to accomplish the goal of God’s economy.
We must see the heavenly vision of God’s economy and walk in the truth of the vision of God’s economy, of the mark of God’s economy, and of the goal of God’s economy. We have seen what the economy of God is, and today we want to look into what is the mark of God’s economy.
We may know what God’s economy is, but what is the mark of God’s economy, and what kind of living and experience do we need to have in order not to miss the mark? Throughout the ages there have been many believers who have seen God’s economy, but they have missed the mark of God’s economy. In a nutshell, the mark of God’s economy is the indwelling Christ as the Spirit in our spirit, that is, our mingled spirit. Wow, hallelujah for our mingled spirit!
The Mark of God’s Economy is the Indwelling Christ as the Spirit with our Spirit
God’s economy is His plan to dispense Himself into His chosen, predestinated, and redeemed people as their life, life supply, and everything to produce, constitute, and build up the organic Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem.
The strategic and central point of God’s economy is the indwelling, subjective Christ as the Spirit in our spirit – our mingled spirit (see 2 Cor. 3:17; 2 Tim. 4:22; Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor. 6:17). The mark of God’s economy is the aim to fulfill the entire economy of God, and this is our mingled spirit.
We don’t want to miss the mark and thus not fulfill God’s economy. Hallelujah, the divine Spirit has come into our spirit to be mingled with our spirit as one spirit, and this is the mark of God’s economy! Whatever we do, we need to concentrate and pay attention to our mingled spirit. Only in the mingled spirit is God’s economy real to us.
When we are not in our spirit, God’s economy is merely a doctrine or good teaching from the Bible to us, but when we are in the mingled spirit everything of God’s economy is clear to us! Therefore, we need to be narrowed down and even zeroed in on the all-inclusive divine Spirit in our human spirit so that we may be kept from missing the mark of the divine economy!
We need to take heed to our spirit (Mal. 2:15-16), serve in spirit (Rom. 1:9), walk according to the spirit and not according to the flesh (Rom. 8:4; Gal. 5:25), have no confidence in the flesh but serve by the Spirit of God (Phil. 3:3), and enjoy the rest in our mingled spirit (2 Cor. 2:13).
If we don’t exercise our spirit and do everything in our mingled spirit we will misaim concerning the mark of God’s economy. In the “blueprint” of God’s original intention, man is the center of the entire universe, and the center of man is his spirit (see Gen. 2:7; Prov. 20:27).
According to Zech. 12:1 God stretched forth the heavens, laid the foundations of the earth, and formed the spirit of man within him; the heavens are for the earth, the earth is for man, and man has a spirit to contact God, receive God, worship God, live God, fulfill God’s purpose for God, and be one with God.
In His economy, God planned to have Christ as the centrality and universality of His move on earth, and for this man has a receiving organ – a human spirit – to contact Christ and receive Him and be filled with Him. God is Spirit, and if we want to worship Him we need to use our human spirit (John 4:24); the divine Spirit mingled with our human spirit is the mark of God’s economy.
Without God being the Spirit and without our having a spirit to contact God and be one with God, the whole universe is empty and we are nothing (see Eccl. 1:2; 3:11; Job 32:8; cf. Rom. 9:21, 23; 2 Cor. 4:7). Many in the world today live a vain and empty life because they don’t know that God is Spirit and that they have a human spirit to contact God the Spirit and thus be filled with reality and meaning.
We need to have our eyes opened by the Lord to see the heavenly vision and the inner revelation of this wonderful, living, indwelling, subjective Christ in our spirit as the mark of God’s economy! Hallelujah for our mingled spirit!
Lord Jesus, save us from missing the mark of God’s economy – our mingled spirit! We want to return to, abide in, and exercise our spirit to realize the Spirit of God and be filled with God! Lord, we must be narrowed down and even zeroed in to the all-inclusive divine Spirit in our human spirit so that we may stay on the mark of God’s economy! Amen! We exercise our spirit to touch You, contact You, receive You, live You, fulfill Your purpose, and be one with You. Lord, open our eyes to see the heavenly vision and the inner revelation of this living, indwelling, subjective Christ in our spirit as the mark of God’s economy!
In our Spirit Christ is Everything to us, we are One, and we Enjoy God as Grace!
Our mingled spirit is so wonderful! According to the Bible, when we live in our spirit and exercise our spirit we enjoy Christ as the life-giving Spirit as everything to us (Zech. 4:6; 12:1; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17). But when we don’t live in our spirit but in our soul or in our flesh, we live in the principle of antichrist (see John 2:18-19).
Christ to us is not merely the Person who died and rose again two thousand years ago but the One who is the Spirit in our spirit, and He is real and subjective to us. But when we live in the soul, we live against Christ and without Christ, that is, we live in the principle of antichrist. Oh Lord Jesus!
The Lord’s recovery is the recovery of the oneness in our spirit: God today wants His people to worship Him not “on this mountain” or “in that place” but in spirit and truthfulness (John 4:24). To be in our spirit is to be in the real and spiritual Jerusalem, the place of simplicity and oneness, whereas to be in our mind is to be in Babylon, the place of confusion and division (Eph. 2:22; Rom. 1:9; 2 Tim. 1:6-7).
The only way to be clear concerning how to go on with the Lord, how to build up the church, and how to serve the Lord in the church life is to exercise our spirit and live in spirit. Just as Jerusalem kept God’s people one by being the central location where all males would go up three times a year for the feasts, so our spirit is the place where we are one!
Whenever we exercise our spirit, we are one! Oneness is in the spirit, and our spirit is the Jerusalem of today. Our spirit is a wonderful place – it is the “country of grace”, the place where we enjoy God in Christ as our everything (see 2 Tim. 4:22).
Galatians 6:18 says that the Lord’s grace is with our spirit. When we get into our spirit, we enjoy the Lord as grace. When we begin to quarrel with our wife or husband, we must run back to the spirit….The mind is a quarreling country, but the spirit is a country of grace. It is not a matter of trying to overcome; it is a matter of being in the right country. The right country is in our spirit. (Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1973-1974, vol. 1, “The Indwelling Christ in the Canon of the New Testament,” p. 613)
Hallelujah, the Lord is with our spirit – grace is with our spirit! When we are in our spirit we are in the country of grace, and this grace swallows up any outward distinction among us, making us one in Christ.
Grace swallows up race for the one new man whenever we exercise our spirit, but we quarrel and are divided whenever we are in our mind. The degradation of the church comes in when we do not enjoy the Lord as the Spirit being in our spirit as grace.
May we be saved from the current degradation of the general Christianity by enjoying the Lord as the Spirit with our spirit! Our highest enjoyment and experience are that our Lord is with our spirit and therefore grace is with us!
When we lose the enjoyment of Christ in our spirit, we are in degradation. But when we exercise our spirit, we are in the country of grace, and any race, distinction, or negative thing is swallowed up for the one new man!
Lord, we choose to live in our spirit and exercise our spirit so that we may enjoy Christ as the life-giving Spirit as everything to us! Save us from living in our soul, that is, from living in the principle of antichrist. Lord, keep us turning to You in our spirit, living in spirit, and walking according to the spirit so that we may enjoy the oneness in spirit! Lord, keep us in the country of grace where any race and distinction is swallowed up for the one new man! Hallelujah, the Lord is with our spirit – grace is with us!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, brother Andrew Yu’s sharing in the message for this week, and The Economy of God, ch. 24 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Crucial Points of the Major Items of the Lord’s Recovery Today (ITERO 2015 fall), week 1 / msg 1, The Recovery of the Economy of God.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
# Now the Triune God has come to dwell within / As the wonderful Spirit in us. / We are mingled with the Lord, we’re one with Him / As the life-giving Spirit in us. (Hymns #1113)
# Now within the Lord’s recov’ry, we’re so glad to find the way / To experience the Triune God and live by Him today— / Get into the mingled spirit, and within the spirit stay; / Yes, mingling is the way. (Hymns #1199)
# God by His dispensing, / God’s economy, / Will fulfill His purpose / In His trinity; / From the loving Father, / Through the Son as grace, / In the mingled Spirit, / Is His dwelling place. (Song on God’s economy)
About aGodMan
Paul said, “The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you” (2 Tim. 4:22). If we do not experience the Lord’s being with our spirit and therefore lose the presence of grace, that is the degradation of the church. We need to be careful about this. Our highest enjoyment and experience are that our Lord is with our spirit….To enjoy the Lord’s Spirit being in our spirit is to have grace with us. When this is lost, the degradation of the church is present. (Witness Lee, How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations, p. 45)