Although the Lord is in our spirit, our spirit is very much stuck to our soul. This is why the writer of Hebrews tells us that our spirit must be divided from our soul by the word of God (4:12). Just as marrow is encased within a bone and the bone must be broken before the marrow can be seen, so our spirit, where Christ dwells, is so much sealed within our soul that our soul must be broken before our spirit can be revealed. For this reason the Lord told us many times that we need to lose our soul and deny our self. In all four Gospels the Lord Jesus exhorts us to lose the soul, forfeit the soul, and deny the self. The soul must be denied because it has covered up the spirit. There is only one way to get to the marrow—by breaking and crushing the bones and the joints. The Lord is in our spirit, and His grace is in our spirit, but the way for us to contact Him is by crushing our soul day by day.
As we have already pointed out, the soul is simply the self. The self is the very center of the human being and is the human being. It is the self that must be crossed out. We should not cross out others and put others on the cross; rather, we should put our own soul on the cross. If any man intends to follow Christ, he must deny his soulish life and take up his cross daily. Not only yesterday or only today, but day by day, we need to apply the cross to our soul. When we contact many Christians, we touch nothing but their ego. From the first word to the last, with them it is always I...I...I. But the Christian life is “no longer I who live, but...Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). How can it be “no longer I but Christ”? By having the “I” crucified. I have been put on the cross, and the cross is now on me. I have been crossed out; thus, it is no longer I. Whenever I conversed with someone as a young Christian, I was in the habit of using the word I. But in these days I dare not use the word I, but instead, I always use we. The Christian life is not an individual life but a life that involves many others, including Christ.
If any man would follow Christ, he must do three things: deny the “I,” take up his cross daily, and follow Christ, who now is not only in heaven but also in us. It is easy to follow Christ when first we deny the self and apply the cross. To deny the self, that is, the soul, means that we turn from our self to our spirit. Then in our spirit we will meet Christ. Why do the four Gospels tell us negatively to deny our soul, whereas later all the Epistles tell us positively to live and do things in our spirit? The reason is that today the Lord Jesus is in our spirit, and His grace also is in our spirit (Gal. 6:18; Philem. 25). To follow Christ is a matter of dealing with our spirit, and this is the mark of God’s economy. How we need to stress again and again this mark of God’s economy! We all must be clear that God’s eternal plan is to dispense Himself into our spirit. He has done this already, for He is now in our spirit to be our life and our everything. All our needs are met in the wonderful Spirit who is in our spirit.
After we were saved, we were given too much religious teaching. We were taught many things: that God is the Creator and we are the creatures; that we need to fear God, serve Him, and please Him; that we must try our best to do good; and that we need to do something to glorify His name. These were the kinds of teachings we received. There is nothing wrong with these religious teachings; in a sense, they are good. But they are not related to the mark of God’s economy.
Many of us have also received ethical teachings. We were taught that we need to be good, humble, patient, nice, and loving, that we must not lose our temper, that we need to honor our parents, and that husbands must love their wives and wives must submit to their husbands. These are good, ethical teachings.
Instead of giving us religious and ethical teachings, the Lord told us to abide in Him. In John 15:4-5 He told us to abide in Him and that He would abide in us, that He is the vine and we are the branches, and that as the branches, we need to abide in Him. We must forget about religious and ethical teachings. We should remember one thing: we are branches of Christ. Thus, we need to abide in Him and allow Him to abide in us. However, in order to abide in Christ, we must know where Christ is. If we desire to abide in a certain house, we must first know where the house is located. Can we abide in Christ by abiding in our mind or in our emotion? No, we can abide in Christ only by abiding in our spirit. The Lord Himself and His grace are in our spirit. Thus, in order to abide in Christ, we must discern our spirit. When we abide in Christ in our spirit, He will have the opportunity to take possession of us. He will have the ground to fill and occupy us. All His riches will be wrought out through our spirit, and we will bear fruit to glorify Him. This is not a religious or ethical teaching; this is life in Christ.
The purpose of this book is not to give teachings or to cause us to be more religious and ethical. On the contrary, it is to help us realize God’s eternal purpose of dispensing Himself into us as our unique portion, as our life and as our everything. Let us henceforth live by Him and enjoy Him as our all. The key, that is, the mark, is in our spirit. Such a wonderful all-inclusive, unlimited God has limited Himself to dwell in our spirit. How small and how limited we are; yet God is within us, dwelling in our spirit. This is not a matter of teaching someone to be religious or ethical; it is a matter of the Triune God becoming everything to us in our spirit. Therefore, we must learn to discern our spirit, deny our soul constantly, and turn continually to our spirit. We must forget our surroundings and abide in Him and let Him abide in us. Then fruit will become the outward expression of the inner life, which is Christ Himself in our spirit.
The religious way for us to be a Christian is to rise up early in the morning and pray, “Lord, I thank You for this new day. Help me today to do what is right and not to do anything wrong. Help me today to glorify Your name and do Your will. Lord, You know that my temper is not good. Help me not to lose my temper. Lord, how good it is to be patient and humble. O Lord, help me to be patient and humble.” Perhaps we have never prayed exactly in this way, but in principle this is just the way we have prayed. This is not a spiritual prayer but a religious, ethical prayer. You may ask me, “How, then, should I pray in the morning?” I would suggest that you say, “Lord, I praise You. You are the wonderful One with the Father in the Spirit. How glorious it is that Your Spirit is in my spirit! Lord, I look to You; I behold You; I worship You. I thank You and praise You. I fellowship with You.” Forget about being religious and doing good. For the whole day you will be in the heavenlies. There is no need for you to think, “Be careful, don’t rush, don’t lose your temper.” You simply need to pray, “Lord, I do not know any temper, any humility, any patience, any this or that; I know only You, the glorious Christ, the all-inclusive Christ.” Fellowship with Him, praise Him, and sing Hallelujahs. If you do this, you will see the victory. When you come to the church meeting in the evening, you will be in the heavenlies. It will be very easy for you to release your spirit and release the spirit of others. This is the mark of God’s economy.
Make it your responsibility not to miss the mark. I have presented to you a map with clear instructions. There is no need for you to miss the way. Why should you stick to a “mule wagon” when today you have a “jet,” and not merely a “jet” but a “rocket”? I wish to tell you where the “rocket” is—it is in your spirit. When you turn to your spirit, it is much better than being in a new Ford. It is like being in a jet. And sometimes, in the morning, it is just like being in a rocket. You feel as if you are in the third heaven, transcendent over everything. This is not a joke. A real Christian should have such wonderful experiences of Christ as these. When you cannot endure a difficult situation and the suppression is beyond your strength, turn to your spirit and look unto Jesus. You will rise far above your situation and will be transcendent and victorious. Everything will be under your feet.
Many times I have been in trouble, not knowing what to do or what decision to make. The more I analyzed the situation, the more confused and complicated I became. Then I said, “Lord, I would forget all this. I would come back to my spirit and look to You.” When we do this, the enlightening is glorious. The all-inclusive One is in our spirit. “Abide in Me and I in you”—this is the secret. When we discern the spirit, we can abide in Him and find that He is the all-inclusive Triune God. He is the wonderful, all-inclusive, all-sufficient Spirit indwelling our spirit. Whenever we return to our spirit to contact Him, we are in the light, we are in the divine life, we are in the divine power, we are in the heavenlies, we are with the Triune God, and the Triune God is with us. How glorious! This is not merely a teaching but a genuine testimony of what I enjoy and experience again and again. We must learn to aim at the goal of God’s economy and never swerve away. We must always keep to this mark to fellowship with Him, look to Him, and behold and reflect Him day by day by denying our soul and exercising our spirit.