In this message we want to touch a matter that is very delicate. Thus, we must not do a rough work but a delicate one. The electrician who installs the lights in a building drills holes, fastens screws, and runs wires. This kind of work is rough. The work to install the lights is rough, but inside a light bulb itself, there is a filament that is very delicate. This filament cannot be handled in a rough way. We may say that in this message we have come to the filament inside the light bulb.
Man can be likened to a light bulb. In fact, this is a very fitting comparison. The sole function of a light bulb is to express electricity—if a light bulb is not filled with electricity and does not shine, it is vain and useless. In the same way, if we do not have God and do not express God, we are vain and useless. Like light bulbs created to be filled with and to express electricity, we were created by God for Himself that we might be filled with Him and express Him.
The most important part of a light bulb is the filament. Similarly, our most important part is our spirit. We are like light bulbs, and our spirit is the “filament” within us. Any problem with our filament causes us to be insulated from God. Because our ancestor sinned, we were born in sin. Sin defiled our conscience, which is the most important part of our spirit, and as a result, our spirit became deadened. Thus, our filament was broken, and we were disconnected from God. Ephesians 4:18 reveals that we became “alienated from the life of God.” In electrical terms, we became insulated. When a light bulb’s filament burns out, the light bulb is insulated, disconnected, from its supply of electricity. As a result, it does not shine.
Every fallen sinner has a broken filament and is disconnected from God. However, the gospel is that the Lord Jesus came, died for us on the cross, and redeemed us from our sins. When we repent and believe into Him, His precious blood washes away our sins, and the Lord, who is the Spirit, contacts our spirit. On the one hand, He restores our spirit itself; on the other hand, He comes to live in our spirit, to be joined to our spirit, and to be mingled with our spirit as one. The Lord’s salvation is too great. Not only is our inward contact with the Lord restored, but also we are mingled with Him.
The meal offering in the Old Testament is made from fine flour mingled with oil (Lev. 2:1). The meal offering is a type of the Lord Jesus, who is a meal offering to God. The oil in the meal offering typifies the Holy Spirit, and the fine flour typifies the Lord’s human living. Therefore, the mingling of the oil with the flour typifies the mingling of the Holy Spirit with humanity. Through this mingling, the two—the oil and the flour—became one in the meal offering. Neither the oil nor the flour changed—the two remained the same—but the two were mingled together to become one.
Similar to the mingling of oil with fine flour, God has come into us and has been mingled with us to become one. God is the oil, and we are the fine flour. If fine flour is without oil, it is hard and dry, but if oil is added to flour and mingled with it, the flour becomes soft and moist. We can all testify that this picture matches our experience. Before we were saved, we were “hard” and “dry.” But after we were saved, we started to become “soft” and “moist” inwardly. Moreover, as we call, “O Lord, Amen,” more oil is added into us, we are mingled with the Lord more, and we become more moist and less dry within.
The salvation of the Lord is not to change us outwardly but to mingle Himself with us inwardly. He is the oil, and He wants to mingle with us in our spirit. Originally, our spirit was by itself, but now the Spirit has been added to our spirit, joined to our spirit, and mingled with our spirit. Therefore, we can say that our spirit is now a doubled or twofold spirit.
This twofold spirit, which is two spirits mingled to become one spirit, is often mentioned in the Bible. This is a problem for Bible translators, for they often cannot determine whether certain verses are referring to the human spirit or to the divine Spirit (cf. Rom. 8:4-6). Praise the Lord that these two spirits—the divine Spirit and the human spirit—have been mingled to become one spirit. The divine Spirit has been mingled with the human spirit, and our human spirit has been mingled with the divine Spirit. This is truly a mystery.
Please consider the following question—when you are praying, who is praying? If you are praying alone by yourself, then your prayer is too poor. Moreover, if this is the only kind of prayer you know, it may be that you are not yet saved. If you are saved, then the Lord as the Spirit lives in your spirit. Thus, when you pray with your spirit, on the one hand, you are praying; on the other hand, the Lord is praying within your spirit.
Hebrews 2:12 says, “I will declare Your name to My brothers; in the midst of the church I will sing hymns of praise to You.” This verse refers to what the Lord has been doing since His resurrection. However, have you ever seen the Lord Jesus singing hymns in the church? Surely, you have never seen this. Then how does the Lord Jesus do this? What does this verse mean? If we are genuinely in our spirit when we sing hymns, then the Lord Jesus is singing in our singing. Someone once asked me, “Should we or should we not shout and sing loudly?” I answered them, “The question is not whether we should or should not shout or sing loudly, but whether we have the confidence that the Lord is shouting when we are shouting and singing loudly when we are singing loudly. If you want to shout, but He does not want to shout, then you should not shout.”
If before you were saved, you liked to sing popular, worldly, music, try to sing this kind of music now that you have been saved and see if the Lord Jesus will sing with you. If you try to do this, you will feel uneasy within. When you sing worldly music, something will stir within you and discourage you from doing so. This inner stirring is the Lord’s disapproval of your singing. When you sing hymns of praise to the Lord, however, you will feel something encouraging you from within and motivating you to praise. This inner encouragement is the Lord’s delighting in your praise. In this case, when you are praising, the Lord is also praising, and when you are singing, the Lord is also singing.
According to the same principle, when we are praying in our spirit, the Lord is also praying. Andrew Murray was the most spiritual person at the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century. One time he said that the best and highest prayer is the Christ within us praying to the Christ sitting on the throne in the heavens. When we pray this kind of prayer, we are praying, and Christ is also praying. How is it possible for us and Christ to pray together in this way? This is possible because the Lord as the Spirit has been joined together with our spirit to become one spirit.