When we were saved, something of God was added into our spirit through regeneration. Our spirit has been enriched and uplifted by being born of God. Moreover, at the time of our regeneration God’s Spirit came into our spirit. Our regenerated human spirit is indwelt by the divine Spirit. Before regeneration, the conscience is the only functioning part of the human spirit. Without being regenerated, the best that men can do is to develop their conscience. But when we are saved, Christ regenerates us by giving us God’s divine life and nature. In addition, God the Spirit comes into our spirit. Thus, our spirit is mingled with God’s Spirit into one spirit. A glass of water may be enriched by having tea, honey, and milk added into it. Similarly, when we were regenerated, we received God’s life and nature, the effectiveness of Christ’s all-inclusive death, His resurrection power, and the Spirit. All these riches have been added into our spirit. We need to realize that we have all the riches of God in our spirit.
When God created man, He wanted to enter into man. However, man became fallen and sinful. Because of sin, man even became dead, and his heart became incurably corrupt. This was our condition before we were saved. Before the holy, righteous God could enter into such fallen beings, He needed to do many things. First, He became a man in incarnation. God put on the flesh of man and lived as a man on the earth for thirty-three and a half years. Then He willingly went to the cross to die on our behalf. God judged our sins on the cross, and Christ shed His blood to cleanse our sins. Furthermore, Christ’s death terminated our flesh, our self, the old creation, and Satan. Thus, Christ solved all the problems between God and man; the cross cleared up the entire universe. Then Christ was buried and rose after three days. Death could not hold Him, because He is the resurrection (John 11:25). As the resurrection, He overcame death and defeated the power of death. He took a tour of Hades and walked out. By resurrection He changed His form—He was transfigured, transformed from the flesh into the Spirit. Through His resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b).
The life-giving Spirit is an all-inclusive drink, which has had many ingredients added. The first ingredient was divinity. Then through incarnation the element of humanity was added. Furthermore, all the experiences of human life were added through Christ’s thirty-three and a half years on the earth. Finally, all the accomplishments of Christ’s death and the attainments of His resurrection were added. Thus, in resurrection Christ became the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. Divinity, humanity, Christ’s human living, His all-inclusive death, the effectiveness of His death, the power of His resurrection, and His resurrection life are all in the Spirit.
John 7:39 says, “This He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” The Spirit who was not yet is the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. The Spirit of God existed already, but the ingredients of Christ’s processes and accomplishments had not yet been added. After Christ’s death and resurrection, the Spirit was ready as an all-inclusive drink. Revelation 22:17 says, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come! And let him who hears say, Come! And let him who is thirsty come; let him who wills take the water of life freely.” When we drink the Spirit, we receive Christ’s divinity, humanity, human living, all-inclusive death, and resurrection power.
When we first repent and pray to receive the Lord, we feel like an eagle soaring high in the air. Sufferings and all of human life are no longer problems to us. We feel that everything, including the devil, sin, and the world, is under our feet. We feel this way because we have received the life-giving Spirit. Because we have the Spirit within us, we are not “flat tires” but are full of pneuma. Our spirit is one with the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. First Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” We are one spirit with the Lord. We have a mingled spirit.
Romans 8:4 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.” My burden is that we would realize that to be a proper Christian is to walk according to the mingled spirit. We need to walk, live, act, speak, and move according to the spirit. Instead of praying each morning to know the Lord’s will concerning where we should go and what we should do each day, we need to pray, “Lord, thank You for another day for me to live You. Wherever I go and whatever I do and say, I want to practice to be one spirit with You so that everything I do and say would be according to You.” When we realize that we are doing or speaking something that is not according to the Lord, we should stop and repent.
We must learn to practice living, moving, and speaking according to the spirit. The simple and effective secret of living a proper Christian life is practicing to be one spirit with the Lord and to walk according to the spirit. If we walk according to the spirit, we will be saved from many problems. If we speak to our spouse according to the spirit, we will not argue or lose our temper. If we shop according to the spirit, we may not buy certain things or even go to certain stores. The more we practice walking according to the mingled spirit, the more we will pray, sing, pray-read, and fellowship with the Lord. To walk according to the spirit is to live Christ. This is the way to live a victorious life.