The Bible reveals that Christ wants to be our life (John 10:10). John said, “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life” (1 John 5:12), and Paul said, “Christ our life” (Col. 3:4). It is not easy to find the secret to taking Christ as our life. I sought in vain for this secret for many years. Eventually, as I experienced Christ and read the Bible, I discovered that the key, the secret, to taking Christ as our life is absolutely in the spirit.
Brother Nee once said that in order to experience Christ, we must enter into Romans 8, because this chapter speaks concerning the Spirit of life. The title the Spirit of life is used only once in the entire Bible, and that is in Romans 8:2. The Spirit of life is the Spirit of Christ in verse 9. Furthermore, verse 9 shows that the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of God. The Spirit of life is the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of God. In addition, this chapter also shows that the Spirit of Christ is Christ Himself (vv. 9-10).
When traditional Christian theology speaks of the Trinity, it emphasizes the aspect of three to avoid confusion by saying that God is the Holy heavenly Father, Christ is the Holy Son, and the Spirit is the Holy Spirit. This kind of traditional, theological teaching is harmful and has misled many people. For example, when I was young, I often heard people say that Christ is the Holy Son, and the Spirit of God is the Holy Spirit. They said that the Holy Spirit and the Holy Son should not be confused because they are two persons. This affected me and hindered me from finding the key to experiencing Christ as life.
Brother Nee helped us to see according to Romans 8 that the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ and that the Spirit of Christ, who is Christ Himself, is the Spirit of life. We saw that the Spirit of life is life.
In addition, according to 1 Corinthians 15:45, the last Adam, Christ our Savior, became flesh, died, and was resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit. The life-giving Spirit is the Spirit of life, and He can give us life because He is the Spirit of life. The life-giving Spirit is Christ.
As the Lamb of God, our rich Christ accomplished redemption for us on the cross to take away our sin (John 1:29), and He is now living in us to be our life (Col. 3:4). He is living in us, and He is also on the throne in the heavens as the Lord and Christ, the One who is all-inclusive and omnipresent. He is both in heaven and in us. He is the Spirit of life in us who gives us life. Therefore, we need to see that the Spirit within us is the secret to our enjoying Christ as life.
Second Timothy 4:22 says, “The Lord be with your spirit.” The Lord is the life-giving Spirit, and He abides in us in our spirit. The Lord as the life-giving Spirit abides in us. He has become one with our spirit, fellowshipping with our spirit and mingling with our spirit, so that His Spirit and our spirit become one spirit.
The fact that the Lord Jesus is our life means that He as the Spirit is our life. He is in our spirit as the Spirit. For this reason, 2 Timothy 4:22 says, “The Lord be with your spirit.” The Lord is in our spirit; hence, living in our spirit is the secret to receiving and enjoying the Lord as our life. What kind of spirit do we have? We have a mingled spirit, a spirit that is the mingling of the life-giving Spirit, who is the Lord Jesus, and our human spirit. This mingled spirit is in every one of us. The secret to enjoying the Lord as life is to live in our spirit.
In general, as long as people are not saying anything wrong or not saying something negative about other people, they speak whenever it pleases them. However, because we enjoy the Lord as life, we should return to our spirit and speak in our spirit whenever we speak. A person might lose his temper if his wife or a classmate makes him angry. If it would be embarrassing to lose his temper in a particular environment, he may exercise control but lose his temper later. What should we do if we are about to lose our temper, since we have Christ as life and enjoy Him as life? We should not lift up our eyes to heaven and say, “O Lord Jesus, if You want me to lose my temper, I will lose my temper, but if You do not want me to lose my temper, I will not lose my temper.” Instead, we should turn to our spirit and touch the feeling in our spirit by fellowshipping with the Lord, and say, “I am about to lose my temper, but what are You doing?” Stanza 1 of Hymns, #403 says, “Live Thyself, Lord Jesus, through me, / For my very life art Thou; / Thee I take to all my problems / As the full solution now.” Whether or not we lose our temper is not for us to decide; the Lord Jesus should be our answer. If after asking Him in this way He is silent within us, we will not have any temper to lose. We can even ask Him if He wants to lose His temper. If we fellowship with Him in this way, we will have no strength to lose our temper. This is not a joke. This is the testimony of many believers. This is the way for us to enjoy the Lord as life.
Let us use buying things as another example. Whether people are in Taiwan or the United States, they like to buy things. When people from Taiwan go to the United States, they like to buy things in the United States, and when people from the United States come to Taiwan, they like to buy things in Taiwan. When I want to buy something, I turn to my spirit and ask the Lord to buy it. If the Lord does not respond, I may again ask Him to buy it, but He may remain silent. It is a great blessing to take Christ as life in this way when we want to buy things. Should the sisters go window-shopping? When we enter a department store, we should take Christ as life and experience “it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” We should say, “O Lord Jesus, the department store is having a sale today. Can I buy something?” We should not ask the Lord in heaven; rather, we should ask the Lord in our spirit. He is the life-giving Spirit who abides in us. If we pray in this way, ninety-eight percent of the time we will not be able to buy anything. The Lord lives in our spirit; hence, we will have a feeling within.
These are negative examples. Let us now consider a positive example. Should we open our mouth and testify in a meeting? Some saints seem to be addicted to testifying in the meetings, just as some people are addicted to coffee. If such a believer can stop speaking in the meeting for three years, Christ will live in him and be his life. When he wants to speak, he should remember Hymns, #938: “Already dead! And buried too! / With the old man I am through!...No longer I! No longer I! / Christ in me I’ll testify!” When we testify, it should be Christ who testifies in us. If Christ does not testify, we should not testify. We should simply remain seated. This is how we take Christ as our life.
The new believers should not envy those who have been saved for many years, the so-called old-timers, because it is easy for people to rely on their seniority. I often remind myself of this, because I could also do this. Most of the elderly brothers and sisters rely on their seniority. Consequently, when they listen or speak in the meetings, they rely on their old age. The words that are spoken in the meetings should be sweet and fragrant to the new believers and should also be fresh to the saints who have been saved for many years. Therefore, we should all learn to live in our spirit and be in the newness of our spirit. Christ is our life, and it is no longer we who live, but it is Christ who lives in us. This should become our practical experience.