If we give our attention to this all-inclusive Spirit, we will continually experience the working of these items within us. We may never have heard about the cross as the killing element within us, but when we experience the Spirit of Jesus Christ working in us, we sense that something is killing our natural, selfish character, our bad habits, our temper, and many other negative things. Perhaps we have had no teaching, but we have the actual effectiveness of Christ’s death in our experience. This is included in the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
As we have illustrated, this wonderful Spirit is just as a dose of medicine which contains many elements. Within the dose, there is one element which kills the germs. It does not matter whether we have been educated regarding it or not; as long as we take the dose, we will experience the killing element. There is no need for me to remember the messages about the cross. As long as I experience the Holy Spirit moving and working within me, I will sense the killing of my desires, my intentions, my habits, my character, etc. The more I am filled with the Holy Spirit, the more I will be killed, for within the Spirit of Jesus Christ is the effective killing element of Christ’s death.
Not long ago while visiting a certain place, I was invited to a brother’s home for dinner. There were four brothers present besides the host, and during the evening they spoke at length about the book of Romans and of a certain correspondence course dealing with this book. When they had finished their conversation I asked the host what light they had received from this book. He replied that they had really seen something in Romans 6 about reckoning oneself dead. I smiled and said, “It is good that you have seen this; but would you please tell me frankly and faithfully, are you really dead by your reckoning?” He said, “Oh, Brother Lee, the more I reckon that I am dead, the more I am alive!” Then by the help of the Lord, I pointed out to those brothers that it is not by reckoning. We must be in the Spirit. What is spoken in Romans 6 must be realized in Romans 8. If we only have Romans 6 without Romans 8, it is like having a book about electricity, but not the electricity itself. The electricity portrays the Spirit of life in Romans 8. This is the Spirit of Christ. If we experience the Spirit of Christ in Romans 8, we will have the reality of Romans 6. It is most important to know this living Spirit of Christ within us. We must be filled with Him. We must go along with Him in order to sense His presence and touch His reality.
For a number of years, I tried to reckon myself dead. The more I reckoned, the more it seemed that I was alive. One day the Lord opened my eyes to see I can never reckon myself dead. It is the Spirit of Jesus Christ that contains the effectiveness of death. In this all-inclusive dose is the killing power. We need to take the dose and forget about the formula, the teaching and the doctrine. The more we experience the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the more we will have the killing element. Our need is not the teaching nor the knowledge about Christ and His cross, but the experience of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit also works the resurrection power within us. Many times when we are in the Spirit we sense something within us so living, so energizing, so strengthening and so empowering. Nothing can suppress it. The more depression, suppression, and even oppression, the more something within us is energizing, living and rising up. This is the resurrection power. We may never have been taught that the resurrection power of Christ is within us, but when we experience the Spirit of Christ, we experience the element of resurrection.
Many times we sense that we are transcendent and not on this earth. The more the Spirit of Christ moves within us, the more we sense that we are in the heavenlies. We are far above all, and it seems that nothing can touch us. All things are under our feet. This is the transcendent One moving within us.
At other times when the Spirit of Christ is moving within us, we sense that the Lord is on the throne. We feel that we must prostrate ourselves before Him and enthrone Him as the Lord of lords. At the same time we sense the authority, the headship and the lordship of Christ. The more we have the Spirit of Christ moving within us, the more we are subdued by Christ. I am sure that all of us have experienced these realities at some time in our lives.
We also find that within this all-inclusive Spirit is the element of humanity. He works within us, not in a miraculous way, but in a very normal and human way. How can we apprehend this? If we look into the record of the four Gospels, we see a man taking God as His life. His life on this earth was absolutely human, absolutely normal. Of course, He performed many miracles to prove that He was the Son of God, the Almighty God, but apart from this, His life on earth was very normal. Sometimes He was thirsty. He even asked a certain woman for water to drink. Sometimes He wept. He was so human. Many Christians think that if we take Christ as our life, we will be like an angel. But this is wrong. The more we take Christ as life, the more human we will be. We will not be sinful, but human in an uplifted and pure way. A spiritual person is not a special person, but an ordinary person; he is one who is very human, very normal. To expect something extraordinary simply shows that we are not clear about the Lord’s way concerning life. The Lord’s way regarding life is so ordinary, so human.
Perhaps in the morning when we pray, we have a sense that we must give up certain things. It is just a little sense deep within us. We may wonder if it is of the Lord or of ourselves, but this is the way the Lord takes to work within us. He does not work in a miraculous way, but in a very human way. We may think it is just our own human thought, but it is really the Lord Spirit working within us.
I have seen some so-called spiritual persons who would never laugh and weep. They thought that if they were in Christ they should not laugh or weep, but be very solemn and strict. I am not encouraging emotionalism, but I must say that a person who is spiritual will be very human. The divine nature is mingled with the human nature.
We will also experience the suffering element in the Spirit of Jesus. While the Lord Jesus was on this earth, He suffered all the time. Today this suffering life is in the Spirit. The suffering element, the suffering strength, is now in the Spirit of Jesus. When we have this Spirit moving within us, we will frequently sense a suffering energy and a suffering capacity. Something within us energizes us to bear all hardships. Never think that when we are spiritual, we will have no trouble. The more spiritual we are, the more we will be troubled, but we will be filled with the Spirit of Jesus, who will enable us to suffer. Within this Spirit is the suffering element.
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