The release of the Spirit leads us to the outpouring of the Spirit. We need to pray by exercising our spirit for the release of the Holy Spirit. If we do not exercise our spirit, the Holy Spirit is locked and imprisoned inside our being. He has no way out because we have cheated Him. We believed in the Lord Jesus, we received the Spirit, and the Spirit came into us. But when the Spirit entered into us, He entered into a prison. We imprison Him all the time. Now we have to exercise our spirit to release Him. When we exercise our spirit, that means we unlock the Holy Spirit. Today the key is not with the Holy Spirit. The key is with us. With the Holy Spirit there is no problem. We need to pray by exercising our spirit so that the Holy Spirit may be released.
This is related to the participation in the outpouring of the Spirit of power. The Holy Spirit first is the essential Spirit, the Spirit of life. Second, the Holy Spirit is the outpoured Spirit as the economical Spirit of power. We need to participate in the outpouring of the Spirit of power as the power from on high and as the dynamic impact. The power from on high is the real dynamic impact, and this comes from exercising our spirit so that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of life, the essential Spirit, can be released. The release of the Holy Spirit will usher us into the participation in the outpouring of the Spirit of power. The outpouring of the Spirit of power as the power from on high and as the dynamic impact is for preaching the gospel and ministering Christ to others.
We have to see that the one divine Spirit is of two sides: the inner side and the outer side, the essential side and the economical side. The essential side refers to the indwelling Spirit as our spiritual essence, our spiritual life, and our spiritual person. The Triune God Himself as the Spirit is the very essence and base of our spiritual life. Based upon this, we can go on to participate in the outpouring of the Spirit of power, who is the economical Spirit for God’s economy. The Spirit within is for our essence; the Spirit without is for God’s economy. The Spirit without is with us based upon the fact that He is the essential Spirit of life within us. Since we are regenerated, we have the first aspect of the Spirit within us as a base. Based upon this, when we exercise our spirit, the essential Spirit will be released, and this will lead us to the enjoyment of the outpouring of the Spirit of power. This outpoured Spirit is the impact for our preaching and for our ministry.
Now that we have been regenerated, we need to realize that the Bible charges us to do one unique thing, that is, to pray. This is because to pray is to release the spirit. We may wonder what spirit we are releasing—the human spirit or the divine Spirit. My answer is this—when you release your human spirit, the divine Spirit is released, because these two spirits are no longer separate; they are one. “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit” (1 Cor. 6:17). The divine Spirit and the human spirit are now altogether mingled as one spirit.
Acts 1:14 reveals that the one hundred twenty continued steadfastly with one accord in prayer. This is not the private prayer, the individual prayer, but the corporate prayer. In our corporate prayer, we need the one accord.
Acts 2:42 tells us that the early church continued steadfastly in the teaching and the fellowship of the apostles, in the breaking of bread and the prayers. We should not think that prayer is the smallest item here since it is mentioned last. Actually, the last item is the conclusion, and the conclusion is the most important part. The prayer is more important than the teaching, than the fellowship, and than the breaking of bread. Without the prayer, we may have the teaching, the fellowship, and the breaking of bread, but we do not have a conclusion. In doing everything we need a conclusion. The prayer is the spiritual conclusion to our entire spiritual career. To our life, to our work, to everything within us, and to everything outside of us, the prayer is the conclusion. Thus, we have to continue steadfastly in this concluding prayer.
Acts 6:4 tells us that the apostles made the decision to continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word. Here prayer is mentioned first. In Acts 2:42 prayer is at the end. Therefore, the prayer is both the ending and the beginning. It is both the conclusion and the start. We have to continue steadfastly in prayer.