Today, we the sinners need only to repent, believe in the Lord Jesus, and call on His name. The all-inclusive, compound, life-giving Spirit will enter into us to be our life, and there will be a wonderful change. By this, we will be regenerated. We will no longer be ourselves, but we will have the Lord Jesus within us. Before we are saved, we are just our own selves, Malaysian or Chinese. But after we are saved, though we may still look like the same persons, actually, within us, another One is added, who is the Lord Jesus. As far as our natural constitution goes, we are all different from one another. There are the Malaysians, the Chinese, and the Americans. But after we have believed in the Lord and been saved, as far as the inner man goes, we are all the same; we are all people with God within us. God is the Spirit, life, and also the law within us. Now, within every Christian there is a law, which is the law of the all-inclusive and life-giving Spirit produced through the Triune God passing through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, death, and resurrection. This law of the Spirit of life is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God (Rev. 22:17a).
We know that an airplane can fly smoothly because it has power that overcomes the force of gravity. If I am on an airplane and am seated properly with the safety belt fastened in place, would I not be a fool if I still hold onto the seat tightly and fear that I will fall down? In the same way, after we have believed in the Lord Jesus, it is wrong for us to try to do anything by our own effort. To believe in the Lord Jesus can be compared to riding on an airplane. All we have to do is to sit in our seats at ease. We do not need to try to fly, nor do we need to try to hold onto anything, because we are not the ones that are flying, but it is the airplane that is flying. The same is true with spiritual matters. Once we are on the airplane, who is Christ, we should not try to fly anymore. Instead, we should let Christ fly us away. We should abandon all the struggling and striving and allow Christ to be the Lord and everything to us.
In our daily life, we often pray to the Lord for victory and revival. This is like trying to fly by ourselves. We should pray to the Lord: “Lord, You are my revival. You are my victory. I cannot revive myself, nor can I be victorious.” Do not pray for victory anymore. Instead, you should be like Paul, praising and thanking the Lord. He said in 2 Corinthians 2:14, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in the Christ.” We must always remember that we have boarded Christ, our “airplane.” This airplane has its law, and once the law begins to operate, the airplane flies into the air. I am afraid that, doctrinally speaking, we are allowing Christ to fly for us. But actually, we are still trying to fly by ourselves. This is the reason we always fail.
The law of the Spirit of life in Romans 8 has a capacity which operates in us daily to revive us and to allow us to overcome. I have no intention to exhort you to be revived every morning or to overcome every day by yourselves. But I do want to remind you of the two simple words in the New Testament: “in Christ.” Today, Christ Himself is the law of the Spirit of life within us. We do not need to be revived and to overcome by ourselves, and we do not need to strive by ourselves to do good. All we need to say is, “Lord, I love You.” The first thing we should say every morning is, “Lord, I love You. I offer myself to You.” This matches the teaching of Romans. Romans 6:13 tells us to present ourselves to God, and to present our members as weapons of righteousness to God. If you truly present yourselves to God and cooperate with Him, in your daily life you will realize that you are in Christ, and that there is a law operating within you. This law has a natural life-capacity and a spontaneous life-power (Rom. 8:2).
It is very easy for us to be weak and sometimes to be confused. For this reason, we have to call on the Lord Jesus continually. Whenever you are weak or feel lacking, you should call, “O Lord Jesus.” As long as you would call softly from your heart and fellowship with Him, you will come alive within. This is our Christian life. In this message, I wish to give you an impression, which is that every saved person should be one who presents himself to the Lord. Hence, every morning when we wake up, we have to renew an exercise of saying, “Lord, I love You. I want to present myself to You.” You should do this in the morning and should continue this during the day. When you encounter difficulties or trials, you should especially learn to call from the depths of your being, “O Lord Jesus!” If you contact the Lord this way, you will come alive within and will be strengthened.
In our daily lives, it is difficult for us not to come into conflict with others or not to encounter unhappy incidences. How can we overcome in these circumstances? The way is not to make resolutions or to struggle, but to call on the Lord. Every morning when we wake up, we should call, “Lord, I love You. I give myself to You.” After this, we should open the Bible to pray-read two verses. In this way, even if there are things in our daily life that may stir up our temper, we will not be stirred up, and even if there are things that may cause anxiety, we will not be anxious. This is the Christian life. Do not think that this is too simple, and do not think that this is superstitious. Even more, do not think that this is a mental illusion. In the universe there is only one name. The more you call on it, the sweeter you will feel, and the more you will overcome. This is our Lord Jesus. If we call on Him a little, we will be overcomers. There is no need for us to beg or to ask the Lord for help. All we have to do is to present ourselves to the Lord and to cooperate with Him, allowing the law of the Spirit of life to have a chance to operate within us.
We were born in sin, and we grew up in death. The law of sin and of death is within us. But we have been delivered from it already. Thank the Lord, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and of death” (Rom. 8:2). We have been delivered from the sphere of Adam and have been transferred into the realm of Christ. In Christ there is not the law of sin and of death, but the law of the Spirit of life. Now, everything has become a matter of a law. We do not need to struggle or to strive. We only need to remain in Christ, to present ourselves to Him, to give Him the freedom, and to enjoy Him. In this way, He will gain our cooperation and will operate in us spontaneously and gently. By this, we will have peace, joy, and victory.
(A message given by Brother Witness Lee in Sib, Malaysia on October 26, 1990)
Home | First | Prev | Next