How is such a oneness actually and practically realized? Only by our being altogether in the Spirit and in our spirit. Christ was incarnated, crucified, resurrected, glorified, and enthroned; and after all this, such a Christ was made the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit. This wonderful Christ, this all-inclusive Spirit, has come to indwell our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22), and today He is one Spirit with our spirit. Whenever we say, “O Father,” He says, “O Father.” Whenever we say, “Hallelujah,” this is also His expression, this is also His Hallelujah. But we must be sure that we are in the spirit, that we are speaking in the spirit, that we are singing in the spirit. If we are not speaking and singing in the spirit, He is not speaking and singing. On one hand, we must give up all the formalities, the rituals, and the deadness; but on the other hand, we must be careful not to abuse our liberty, not to praise in a light way. We must be sure that whenever we say Hallelujah, we are in the spirit.
Revelation 14:2-3 tells us that the Apostle John heard a voice in the heavens singing a new song. This voice, he says, was as the voice of many waters. The voice of many waters indicates a great noise. Then he says that the voice is as the voice of mighty thunderings. What is this? To be like thunder means not only that there is a great noise, but that in this noise there is something majestic. Our praises, our Hallelujahs, must be a great noise, but with them there must also be something of majesty, something of weight. We should not give the sense of lightness or looseness in our praising. But this is not all: there is a third aspect. He says that this voice was as harpers harping with their harps. This means that the praising voice is musical, harmonious, and exceedingly pleasant. On one hand it is noiseful and majestic, and on the other hand it is full of music and harmony. Can you imagine such a thing? I do believe that if we follow the life-giving Spirit who dwells within our spirit, He will bring this forth. In our meetings, in a sense, we will be so noisy, but in another sense we will be so majestic, so full of the divine, heavenly majesty; and in a third sense our praise will be so pleasant to all the ears, just as harpers harping with their harps.
We do not desire to be either formal, fundamental, or pentecostal, but we do want to be really spiritual. We don’t care for the formal or fundamental practices, nor the so-called pentecostal manifestations. Now the Lord is recovering something genuine, something really spiritual. In the beginning, in the early church, it was not like today’s Christianity. At that time all the believers came together with an open heart and a released spirit, singing and praising in the spirit, being one with the Lord. How much we need to sing the praises in the spirit, and how much we need to be cultivated in the spirit. Many of us may have been released in our spirit, but we still must learn the lesson on the other side. We should not be bound; neither should we misuse our liberty. We must be released, but we must also be somewhat restricted; we have the freedom, but we should not abuse it. To make noise is easy, but to make noise with majesty and music is not so easy. If we all learn to be in the Spirit, not pentecostal, not fundamental, but just spiritual, our praising will be like that. This is an exercise not only for the meetings, but for all our daily lives. Every day we can practice the exercising of our spirit, we can practice singing praises to the Lord, not in an emotional way, but in a spiritual way, not to release our emotion but to release our spirit. By such an exercise we will know what it is to be emotional and what it is to be spiritual. We will know what it is to be released and what it is to abuse our liberty; we will know what is just noise, and what is noise with majesty and music. If we learn this lesson day by day, when we come together our praising will be marvelous.
Many of us in the local churches are just beginning to learn to meet. We are just learners. We have been released from the bondage of the old way, but we are still not adequately experienced and cultivated in the new way of meeting in the spirit. This requires more and more exercise. Do not withhold from praising the Lord, fearing that you may not be in the spirit. Shout your Hallelujahs. If you keep on crawling, you will eventually learn to walk. But do not be so self-confident that your walk is one hundred percent proper. On one hand you need to exercise, and on the other hand you must be open to learn the proper lessons. Crawl as much as you can, but do not be confident that you are walking properly. You still must be proved.
I do believe the Lord will bring us on and on until we reach a degree of maturity. I say again, we do not like to be formal, fundamental, or pentecostal; we just want to be so simple in the spirit. This requires much exercise, much grace, much humility and patience. For this we also need love for the Lord and for one another. Then we will all go on, and the day will come that whenever we meet together our praising will be so full of noise, yet with divine majesty and heavenly music. This is the proper way for us to meet.