Romans 8 reveals that the law of the Spirit of life and the all-inclusive Spirit reside in our spirit. We need to see a vision of the scenery in Romans 8. There are at least four peaks in Romans 8—the law of the Spirit of life, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of the resurrecting One. We also need to see the way by which we can reach the peaks. This way is in verse 4, which says, “That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.” This verse does not say that we will observe or keep the law but indicates that the law will be spontaneously fulfilled in us when we walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit. We can reach the peaks in Romans 8 by walking according to the spirit.
In a sense, it is difficult to walk according to the spirit, because the spirit is mysterious and abstract. Like electricity, the spirit is real yet invisible and mysterious. Although it may be difficult to know what is the spirit, it is easy to know what is the flesh. The spirit is abstract, but the flesh is concrete. Everything that we do is either according to the flesh or according to the spirit. Therefore, as long as we are not walking according to the flesh, we are walking according to the spirit. In this way, we can know the spirit by knowing the flesh. We can walk according to the spirit simply by not walking according to the flesh.
Verse 5 says, “For those who are according to the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but those who are according to the spirit, the things of the Spirit.” Whereas verse 4 indicates that we need to walk according to the spirit, verse 5 says that we need to be according to the spirit. To be implies more than to walk. We may walk according to the spirit occasionally, but to be according to the spirit indicates a daily living. Paul’s intention is to help us to enter into a daily, continual practice.
If we do not exercise our spirit in our daily life at home, school, and work but only when we come to the meetings, this is not a daily practice or walk but a performance. No matter whether we are in a meeting or at home, in every place and at every time, we need to exercise our spirit. Exercising and releasing our spirit should not be an accident but our daily practice. We should live a life of exercising and releasing the spirit. Everything that we do and say should be done and said by exercising and releasing our spirit.
Exercising the spirit is like turning on a light switch when we need light. To exercise our spirit is simply to “switch on.” If we are in physical darkness in a house or building, it is only because we have not turned on the proper switch. Similarly, the reason we may lose our temper is that we are not exercising our spirit. Once electricity has been installed in a building, there is no need to petition the power plant to mercifully send light; this does not work. For light to appear when the proper switch is turned on is not miraculous but normal and even automatic. Many Christians today pray somewhat ignorantly, begging God to have mercy and send the help that they need. We can “switch on” anytime simply by exercising our spirit. The law of the Spirit of life, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and the resurrecting Spirit have been installed in every believer. In order to receive His supply, we need only to exercise our spirit.
The devil is afraid whenever we exercise our spirit, for he knows that he will be defeated. We are often bothered by our troublesome mind. Although our situation may not be very difficult, soon after we wake in the morning, thoughts come in that cause us to be anxious. Such thoughts, which may concern our job, family, or safety, come from Satan through our troublesome, unbridled mind. The way to deal with such thoughts is to recognize where they come from and then choose to exercise our spirit. This frightens Satan. From early morning we need to guard ourselves by exercising the spirit. However, we do not often do this. Usually, when one dark thought comes in, we accept it, and another soon follows. As a result, we do not have peace. After washing up and dressing, we may speak to our spouse loosely and in a natural way, neglecting our spirit. Soon we may become impatient and even lose our temper. This is not to walk according to the spirit. From the moment we wake up, we need to gird our spirit to guard ourselves. Before we accept any thought, we should exercise our spirit by calling on the Lord and worshipping, thanking, praising, and exalting Him. Doing this will drive away all the dark thoughts and gird our spirit to guard our entire being. If we practice this, we will not be loose, natural, or short-tempered, because our spirit will be on the alert.
If we exercise our spirit from the very beginning of the day, we will live this way all day long. As a result, when we exercise and release our spirit in the meetings, it will not be a performance but a continuation of our normal daily practice. If we practice this every day, after a few months we will have built up a spiritual habit. Because we have old habits, which have been built up for years, we often live in a loose, natural way. We sometimes live as if we do not have the law of the Spirit of life or the all-inclusive Spirit within us until we come to a meeting. We may not exercise our spirit even while we are driving to the meeting and parking our car. If we do not exercise our spirit or release our spirit until we step through the door of the meeting hall, this will be a kind of performance. We need to live a daily life with a spiritual habit to continually exercise and release our spirit so that we become a person who walks according to the spirit and is according to the spirit.