Seeing a Vision of the Mingled Spirit, the Focus of God’s Economy, for the Church Life

If we see that the church is the mingling of God and man, we will also realize that the mingled spirit is the focus of God’s economy, for it is when we live in the mingled spirit and walk in the spirit that we fulfil His purpose.

In order for us to live the church life, we need to see a vision of the mingled spirit – the divine Spirit mingled with our regenerated human spirit to become one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17).

The church in its nature is pure, divine, of God, of Christ, of resurrection, and of the heaven; we need to be faithful and watchful to preserve the nature of the church, otherwise we will become degraded.

It is of utmost importance to our Christian life and church life for us to realize that the church is not merely human neither is merely divine but divinely human and humanly divine, that is, the church is the mingling of God and man.

Before the incarnation of God, that is, before the Lord Jesus came, God didn’t have a dwelling place; He doesn’t dwell in the temple or tabernacle built by man – He dwells in man.

When Jesus came, He was the real temple and tabernacle of God, for in Him all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily. Through His death, this One redeemed us, and in His resurrection He was enlarged and expanded to include all His believers, the regenerated ones, to be His Body, the continuation of the mingling of God with man.

We believers in Christ are not merely people who love the Lord and read the Bible – we are God-men, men mingled with God, men who are daily living in the mingling of God with man. We are men, yet we have God in us; we have a human spirit, yet the divine Spirit is in our spirit, and these two spirits are one spirit.

Our Christian life is not a life according to a rule-book called “the Bible”; our Christian life should be a life in the mingled spirit, a life according to the Spirit, a life that expresses both God and the uplifted and resurrected man.

The church is the mingling of God and man; the will of God is the church, for the church is God being mingled with man. We as the Body of Christ are simply the enlargement of Christ; we are the enlargement of the One who is the mingling of God and man.

The Father is in the Son, the Son is in the Spirit, and the Spirit is in our spirit; Christ is in us, we are in Christ, and in Christ we are in God – this is a mingling and even an incorporation, for us as the Body of Christ to be fully one with God for the fulfilment of His purpose.

Seeing a Vision of the Spirit: the Bountiful, All-Inclusive, Sevenfold Intensified Spirit

In order for us to have a proper church life, we need to see a vision of the mingled spirit – the divine Spirit mingled with our regenerated human spirit.

Who is the divine Spirit, and what is this Spirit? According to the New Testament, the Son with the Father is realized in the Holy Spirit; the Lord Jesus said that the Spirit of reality is Himself coming to be with us, His disciples, as another Comforter (see John 15-16).

The Father is in the Son, the Son is the Spirit, and all that the Father has an is together with all that Christ the Son has accomplished is now in the Spirit. This Spirit became the Spirit of Jesus Christ as the life-giving Spirit.

God Himself together with all the riches of the Godhead are in the Spirit. Jesus Christ with all that He is, all He has gone through in His human life and living (including His forbearance, expressing God, speaking the word of God, living God, being one with God, seeking the glory of God, etc), His all-inclusive death on the cross, His resurrection with the resurrection power, and His ascension – all are included in the Spirit.

Jesus Himself today is in the Spirit; God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Spirit – all are realized and made available to us as the Spirit, which the New Testament calls “a life-giving Spirit” (1 Cor. 15:45) and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:21).

Christ’s humanity, His uplifted, perfect, resurrected, and divinized humanity is in the Spirit. Christ’s crucifixion, with the power to defeat the enemy and destroy Him, is in the Spirit. Christ’s resurrection with His life-giving power, His death-overcoming power, His Satan-repelling power, and His life-releasing is all in the Spirit.

Whatever God is – is in this Spirit. God went through a process in His economy to become “the Spirit” (John 7:39) which the Lord freely gives to those who just come to Him and believe into Him.

When we open to the Lord and repent, believe into Him, and receive Him, we receive the all-inclusive, bountiful, even sevenfold intensified Spirit. We need to see how rich, how bountiful, and how all-inclusive the Spirit is, for the Spirit with our spirit is the key to our Christian life.

We need to see a vision of the Spirit in the Bible, realizing that this Spirit as the consummation of the processed Triune God is all-inclusive, bountiful, and sevenfold intensified.

We need to see the Spirit as being such a One, and pray ourselves into the realization of this Spirit. We are not poor: we have the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. We can boldly tell the Lord,

Thank You Lord for becoming the all-inclusive, life-giving, bountiful Spirit of Jesus Christ to meet our every need to live the Christian life and the church life for the fulfillment of Your purpose. Thank You for being such a wonderful, bountiful, and all-inclusive supply to us whenever we turn to You in spirit. Lord, thank You for being the bountiful Spirit with our spirit to supply us constantly to live Christ, express Christ, and magnify Christ. Hallelujah for the Spirit with our spirit, the mingled spirit!

Seeing a Vision of the Mingled Spirit, the Divine Spirit Mingled with our Human Spirit

The divine Spirit is bountiful, wonderful, all-inclusive, and available; such a Spirit has come into our spirit to be mingled with our spirit as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17).

The Father is in the Son, the Son is in the Spirit, and the Spirit is now mingled with our spirit to be one mingled spirit (John 14:9-10, 16-18; 1 Cor. 15:45; 6:17; Rom. 8:16).

The union of God and man is a union of the two spirits, the Spirit of God and the spirit of man (1 Cor. 2:11-16); the union of these two spirits is the deepest mystery in the Bible.

God’s Spirit and our spirit are one: they have been united and mingled together to be one mingled spirit. This is the key to our Christian life and the focus of God’s economy.

How can God’s economy – the building up of the church to become the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem – be fulfilled? It is only by means of our mingled spirit.

The focus of God’s economy is the mingled spirit, the divine Spirit mingled with our human spirit. Whatever God wants to do or accomplish in man and with man is related to our mingled spirit (Eph. 3:9, 5; 1:17; 2:22; 4:23; 5:18; 6:18).

The divine Spirit and the human spirit are mingled together so much that, when the New Testament speaks of “the spirit” many times it is not easy to translate or discern whether it is the divine Spirit or the human spirit.

Paul says in Rom. 8:4 that the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. In Galatians he encourages us to walk by the spirit and live according to the Spirit.

The divine Spirit and the human spirit are not mingled somewhere in the heavens but in us, in our spirit. In order for us to realize and live according to the nature of the church, we need to know the mingled spirit and live in the mingled spirit.

For us to have certain basic spiritual experiences, we must have a clear understanding that the focus of God’s economy is the mingled spirit! How we need to see a vision of the mingled spirit, the divine Spirit mingled with our human spirit to be one spirit!

When we realize we have such a mingled spirit, we will no longer live according to our flesh or our natural man but, by exercising our spirit and minding our spirit, we will learn to live in spirit and according to the Spirit.

The people who live according to the flesh and the lusts of the flesh are the lowest type of people; those who live according to the mind and will are a bit higher, and those who live according to their conscience are the highest kind of people.

But we are even higher than this, for we live not merely according to our conscience but according to our mingled spirit.

The Christian life and the church life is a life according to the highest standard and on the highest level: it is a life in the mingled spirit, a life in the focus of God’s economy.

How can we be watchful and faithful to preserve the nature of the church? It is by living in the mingled spirit.

How can we be the church which God desires to obtain – the church which is of God, divine, Christly, resurrectionly, and heavenly? It is by living in the mingled spirit.

We need to see a vision of the mingled spirit – the divine Spirit mingled with our human spirit – and we need to exercise our spirit, live according to the Spirit, walk in the mingled spirit, and do everything in the spirit.

May the Lord bless us that in our personal life, our daily life, and our church life we would experience this mingling, and live in the mingled spirit all the time!

Lord, thank You for coming into us as the Spirit to be mingled with our spirit. Thank You Lord for our mingled spirit, the divine Spirit mingled with our human spirit! Hallelujah, we have a mingled spirit – in spirit we are one with the Lord, and the Lord as the Spirit is mingled with our spirit to be one spirit! What a mystery! What an amazing and glorious fact – we and God are mingled in spirit to be one spirit! Amen, Hallelujah! Lord, we want to exercise our spirit, live in the Spirit, walk according to the Spirit, and do everything in the mingled spirit, so that we may be the church that You desire!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Andrew Yu for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1978, vol. 1, “Basic Training,” ch. 5, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing Life and the Church, msg. 4 (week 4), The Nature of the Church.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # 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)
  # Lord, teach us to discern the spirit / From soul that we Thyself may know; / Thou art the Spirit in our spirit, / In oneness mingled with us so. (Hymns #746)
  # It’s by our mingled spirit, Lord, / That we can shine with Thee, / And be a golden lampstand now / For all the world to see. / It’s not by forms or rituals, / Mere Christianity; / It’s by our Christ enjoyed as life / We all can shine with Thee. (Hymns #1262)