This indwelling sin is the cause of death. Wherever sin is, there death is also. The death described in Romans 5 through 8 is not mainly the death that causes people to die physically, but the death that kills them today. This death is doing a deadening work upon us. The reason so many are weak in prayer and low in functioning in the meetings is the working of death. Some brothers and sisters are not one. This lack of oneness comes from death. If you cannot open your mouth to testify in a living way, it is because of the deadening, the working, of death. If you were not under death, you would be bubbling, praying, praising, functioning, and testifying all the time. Furthermore, you would be one with all the saints. As long as you are not like this, you are dead, even though you may be good, right, and scriptural.
As we have pointed out, Romans 8:6 says that the mind set on the flesh is death. The kind of death here is not that which causes people to die physically and to be buried; it is the death that deadens them all day long. In doing many things, you may be full of energy, but in praying you are low and lifeless. This means that the death in your body has spread its influence and deadening power into your mind and spirit.
Once while Brother Nee was speaking, he asked the sisters to tell him how many chapters there are in the Gospel of Matthew. They had difficulty giving the correct number. Immediately Brother Nee said, “You cannot tell me how many chapters there are in Matthew. But if I ask you how many long gowns you have, you are able to give me the exact number. Not only can you tell me the number, but also the color and the style.” Many Christians find it difficult to remember verses in the Bible, but they can easily remember so many details about their possessions. This indicates that their minds have been deadened. When the mind has been deadened, it is good for fleshly and worldly things, but not for spiritual things.
We need to allow the indwelling Christ to spread from our spirit to all the inward parts of our being. We should pray, “Lord Jesus, I will let You spread in me. I want You to have a free course within me.” If you do this, your mind will become sober and your memory keen. Spontaneously it will be easy for you to remember verses in the Bible.
Death is working in an inward direction from our body to our spirit, but life works in an outward direction from our spirit to our body. The direction of death’s work is from the circumference to the center, whereas the direction of life’s work is from the center to the circumference. Therefore, death and life work in opposite directions. As death works from the circumference to the center, it deadens our mind and spirit.
We have seen how to be freed from sin, from the law, and from the flesh. Now we must find out how to be freed from death. Death’s base in us is the flesh. The only way to escape from death and to be freed from it is to take refuge in our spirit. Our flesh is the base of death, and our spirit is our refuge. We need to flee into this refuge and escape from death. Death is versus life, and life is versus death. Death is in our flesh, and life is in our spirit. Nothing can chase death away or swallow it up, just as nothing can drive darkness away. However, when light comes, darkness vanishes. There is no need to expend effort to drive darkness away or to command it to disappear. Simply allow the light to come in. The more the light comes in, the more the darkness disappears. The same principle applies to the matter of life versus death. By our effort we cannot drive death away or swallow it up. Only life can swallow death, and life is in our spirit. Whenever life comes in, death vanishes.
Death is Satan and life is Christ. Do not let yourself be associated with Satan in the flesh, but always stay in your spirit with Christ as life. Then you will see that Christ, who is your life, will have a free course within you to spread into every part of your being. Eventually, He will saturate every part of you. This is the enlivening, the quickening, of life. Life will enliven your mind, emotion, and will and even be imparted into your mortal body. Thus, every part of your being will be life. The spirit is life, the mind will be life, and the body also will be life. When this happens, death, the last enemy, will be swallowed up.