The Spirit is being supplied to the believers by the hearing of faith (Gal. 3:5). Whenever we are under the speaking of the New Testament ministry, we are hearing the faith. The more we hear the faith, the more we receive the supply of the Spirit. After we have been under the speaking of the ministry we all can declare, “Now I have more Spirit within me.” Also, when we review what we have seen when we were under the speaking of the ministry, that review will supply us with more Spirit. The Spirit is being supplied to the believers to make what they heard real.
The believers were born of the Spirit (Gal. 4:29). Galatians reminds us that we were born of the Spirit. We are sons born of God. We were born firstly of Adam, but we were reborn of God, of the Spirit, the consummation of the Triune God.
The Spirit, who is the consummation of the Triune God, is particularly the Spirit of the Son of God who makes the believers’ divine sonship real (Gal. 4:6). Today we are sons of God not only in name but also in life. In our practical daily life we are sons of God. Who makes us the real sons of God? The Spirit of the Son of God. The very divine Spirit within us today is the Spirit of the divine Son, so He is the reality of our divine sonship. When we walk and live by Him, we walk and live as a real son of God.
The believers should live and walk by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16-18, 22-25). We must be deeply impressed that the New Testament does not charge us to keep the letter of the Bible. Rather, the New Testament charges us to live and walk by the Spirit. Now we must ask what the difference is between living and walking. To live means to have life and it also means to exist. A Christian is a believer in Christ, born of God. He has the Spirit of sonship in his being. He has the life of this Spirit and he exists by this Spirit. To live by the Spirit is to have life and to exist by the Spirit. To walk means to move, to act, to speak, and to do things by the Spirit. All of our living and walking should be by the Spirit who is in us.
This Spirit is the consummation, the totality of the Triune God. He is living, real, practical, and present in you all the time. You do not need to seek after Him since He is right in you. You do not need to pray, “Lord, be with me the whole day.” In the past, I liked to pray such a prayer. I followed Moses to ask the Lord that His presence would go with me (Exo. 33:15). One day when I prayed this way, however, I became condemned. I said to myself, “Foolish man, the Lord is with you every day, and He says clearly that He will never leave you. But in your daily life, you still ask the Lord to be with you.” I also taught people that the Lord was within them and would never leave them. That day, though, the Spirit within asked me why I prayed that the Lord would be with me when He was with me all the time. As a result, I stopped praying in this kind of way.
We do not need to pray in this way. The Lord is here with us right now. Even if you would go to a movie, He is still within you. However, do not be encouraged by this word to go to a movie. He is within you and you need to walk by the Spirit. When you are going to a movie, He goes with you, but He goes with you indicating that you should not go further. You know this, but you may still say, “Let me go just for today and I will not go anymore.” The Spirit, though, is still within you telling you to turn and walk by Him. When He indicates within you that you should turn to Him and you respond by saying, “Lord Jesus, I will go by You,” you will not go to the movie theater, but to the church meeting. When we are going with the Lord and by the Lord, our mouth will be full of praise.
According to what I have observed, I have never seen a married couple who have never argued with each other. The real situation of every marriage life is that there is always the tendency and the temptation to exchange words with each other. I must confess that I wanted to exchange words with my wife many times. As soon as I began to speak something to her, the Lord was there indicating that I should stop. At that moment I did not try to stop, but I went with the Lord and I went by Him. That practice stopped my speaking. This is an example of walking by the Spirit. If we try to stop our bad habits by ourselves, we could never make it. We must walk by the Spirit.
Do not try to walk by the Spirit merely in great things, but walk by the Spirit in small things. Some of the saints may be trying to walk by the Spirit in great things. They may be praying, “Lord, You need a recovery in Athens, Greece. Should I go there or not? Lord, I’ve been praying for three months. I surely would like to go by the Spirit.” However, do not go by the Spirit in great things first, but go or walk by the Spirit in small things first, such as talking on the telephone. When many saints, especially the sisters, talk on the telephone, it seems as if they do not have the Lord Jesus or the Spirit within them. Quite often their talk on the telephone is vain talk or gossip. If we mean business to walk by the Spirit, we should firstly practice walking by the Spirit in the small things, such as talking on the telephone. If you try this, you will find out how rebellious and how stubborn you are. Maybe during one phone call the Lord Jesus would tell you to stop your talk many times but you would tell Him—“just one more sentence.” You would not stop your talk on the telephone. We should walk by the Spirit when we receive a phone call or when we make a phone call. Practice to walk by the Spirit in small things. Walk by the Spirit when you are going to buy a tie. You will see that you are not so obedient or so faithful to walk by the Spirit. The believers should live and walk by the Spirit.
Also, the believers should sow unto the Spirit that they may reap of the Spirit eternal life (Gal. 6:8). Paul says that if you sow unto the flesh you shall reap corruption of the flesh. The word “unto” means “with a view to” or “for.” To sow unto the flesh is to sow for the flesh, with the purpose of the flesh in view, fulfilling what the flesh covets. To sow unto the Spirit is to sow for the Spirit, with the aim of the Spirit, accomplishing what the Spirit desires. We must realize that whatever we do and whatever we say is a kind of sowing. With sowing there is always a result, a reaping. Whatever we say and do is a kind of sowing and some result will come out. When you do things and say things, you must have a proper view. Do not sow anything, do anything, say anything, unto the flesh, but unto the Spirit. Have this in your view. This will stop you from doing many things which you should not do. Sow everything with a view to the Spirit. Eventually, you will reap of the Spirit eternal life. When I talk to a brother, I should talk in view of the Spirit. I should not talk in view of the flesh. If I sow something unto the flesh, one day corruption will come. I will reap corruption. This is the last word in this book concerning the Spirit.
Hallelujah, we do have such a blessing within us! However, we must always live and walk by this living blessing, by this Spirit. Then whatever we do and whatever we say will be said and done in view of this Spirit. If we sow unto the Spirit, a reaping of eternal life would always be our portion. The eternal life in Galatians 6:8 does not refer to the eternal life in the future. If we sow unto the Spirit, we will reap of the Spirit eternal life today. Otherwise, a result of corruption will be our portion. This word should encourage us to live and walk by the Spirit. To live and walk by the Spirit is to enjoy the blessing of the gospel.