The Triune God was incarnated, passed through human living, died on the cross to accomplish redemption, and entered into resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit. Today He enters into us to abide in our spirit with all that He has, all that He has gone through, all that He has accomplished, and all that He is. We must remember that He abides in us and that He very much desires that we abide in Him. Therefore, every day from morning to evening, in big things or in small things, in our home or outside our home, and in all our living and actions we must abide in Him. When we want to speak to others, unless we have the assurance that we are abiding in Him, we should not speak. We speak only when we have the assurance that we are abiding in Him. We speak from within Him, not outside of Him. Before we argue with others, we must examine to see if we are abiding in the Lord. We must first abide in the Lord and then argue. The Lord is already abiding in us; so before we do anything, we must first abide in the Lord. We act after we are abiding securely. It is easy to speak about abiding in the Lord, but it is not easy to live this out. Therefore, we must learn to practice abiding in the Lord in our daily life.
The secret to abiding in the Lord is first to see that our Lord was God and therefore had the stories of God. Then He became flesh to be the last Adam and thereby had the stories of the last Adam. After this, He accomplished redemption through death and resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit, so He has the stories of the life-giving Spirit. Today He is abiding in our spirit. At this time, He abides in us not only as God but also as man, as One who passed through all the experiences of human living and who died and resurrected. Not only so, He is also the Spirit. In this Spirit, there are the element of man, the element of God, and the elements of incarnation, human living, death, and resurrection. Now He wants us also to abide in Him. Before we do anything in our daily living and walk, we must first abide in Him. We abide and then live; we abide and then walk. All our living and our walk must be expressed in this abiding, in which all our problems are gone. In this abiding, He as the indwelling, all-inclusive Spirit solves all our problems, eliminates our preferences, and kills our lusts.
Prior to 1958 I preached very much about the cross and also about resurrection. Then in 1958 I saw further that although there is nothing wrong with preaching the cross, without the Spirit it is vain. Resurrection also is real, but without the Spirit, even the preaching of resurrection is vain. I am not saying that we do not want the preaching of the cross or that we do not want the cross; nor am I saying that we do not want the preaching of resurrection or that we do not want resurrection. Rather, I am saying that it is useless to preach the empty word of the cross. Many people know the word of the cross yet live a defeated life. They even lie and do harm to others. Where is the cross? Where is resurrection? Dear brothers and sisters, what we need is this all-inclusive Spirit, the One who has gone through death and resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit. In Him is God; in Him is our Savior; in Him is the killing effect of the cross; and, even more, in Him is the power of resurrection.
Hence, we must abide in this Spirit. This Spirit today is in your spirit, and in Him there are different elements, including the killing effect of the cross and the power of resurrection. Thus, when you abide in Him, He kills your natural being, your flesh, your lusts, and your desires. As an illustration, your hands are covered with germs, but you may have a bottle of antiseptic solution. If you put your hands in the solution and allow them to abide there for five minutes, your hands will be clean. The preaching of disinfectants cannot kill the germs, nor can you shake off the germs from your hands. Only one thing will work, which is to let your hands abide for a while in the antiseptic solution. Before you do anything, you must abide for a while in your spirit. After you abide there for half a minute, all the “poison” will be killed.
If you are not in the Spirit, the word of the cross and of resurrection will be useless. It is this all-inclusive Spirit that contains the all-killing effect of the cross. It is this powerful Spirit that contains the power of resurrection. You must abide in Him for a while. If you abide for half an hour, you will be soaked with the Lord. If you abide for half an hour and then go to reason with others, your reasoning will be gone. The power of the Lord’s resurrection and also the effect of His death will have killed your natural reasoning. Having been saturated with the power of resurrection, you will have the ability to humble yourself and apologize to others instead. This is the Lord’s salvation. This is what Philippians 1:19 says: “This will turn out to salvation through...the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” This is the bountiful supply of God as the all-inclusive Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ. When you abide in Him, you are soaked with Him. When you abide in Him, you give Him the condition to abide in you. Thus, you will enjoy all His riches.
In summary, first, you must know that today your Savior is this Spirit abiding in you. Second, before you do anything in your daily living and walk, you must abide in Him. The Lord said that He will abide in the one who abides in Him. If you abide in Him, you will enjoy His salvation and all of His riches.