Do you really believe that the Lord is in your spirit? For quite a long period of time I have been trying to practice one thing. Nearly every day I pray not once but several times that I would practice the one spirit with the Lord. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). Brothers and sisters, you need to pick up this practice—to practice the one spirit with the Lord. Brother Lawrence practiced the presence of God, but we need to practice the one spirit with the Lord. To practice the presence of the Lord is somewhat of the Old Testament. The Old Testament, especially in the Psalms, tells us to seek the face of the Lord or to walk before the Lord. What is this? This is the practice of the presence of the Lord. This kind of word is not repeated in the New Testament. Rather, the New Testament says, “walk by the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16); it also says, “He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit” (1 Cor. 6:17). Now it is not a matter of the face or the presence of the Lord; now it is a matter that you and the Lord are one spirit. By this you can see that at the time Brother Lawrence lived, three hundred years ago, the light they had received was not so much of the New Testament. They used the Psalms very much, but the up-to-date light that we have received is not concerning the presence or the face of the Lord, but the Lord Himself as the Spirit being one with our spirit—even that these two spirits are now one. Now we have to practice to live this one spirit.
If you would bring this matter into your daily practice you will discover that this is the hardest thing to practice. Out of twenty-four hours, you may sleep eight, leaving sixteen hours in the day. If you could have one and one-half hour out of the sixteen hours that you practice strictly the one spirit with the Lord, I believe, you must be very holy and very spiritual. You may study the Bible, but in your studying of the Bible you are still not one spirit with the Lord. You are you and He is He. To say that we trust in the Lord is still somewhat of the Old Testament. The New Testament is not a matter of trusting but a matter of oneness. If you are one spirit with the Lord you don’t need to trust. When you need to trust, that means you are not one spirit with Him. You are separate from Him; He is He and you are you. So one needs to trust in the other. But when you and He are one, there is no need of trusting. Have you ever realized that much of your Christian understanding is altogether Old Testament? It is not up to the standard of the New Testament. Today Satan is blinding the Christians with all these Old Testament terms and practices from seeing the New Testament. In the past I have told you to go to the Lord three times a day and I have pointed out that David said we have to praise the Lord five times a day. But when you come to the New Testament, there is no mention of how many times a day. As long as we use the word times, that is Old Testament. The New Testament way is to pray unceasingly and to rejoice evermore. It is to pray continually and perseveringly. To count the number of times is Old Testament. Even in the book of Acts Peter and John were in a transitory period where they had a time of prayer. We must come to the New Testament. The Old Testament is not adequate to heal your opinion; you must be in the New Testament. The New Testament is a matter of being one spirit with the Lord.
According to my own experiences, whenever I was one spirit with the Lord, there was no opinion. Whenever I was not one spirit with the Lord, although I may have been nice and good and even somewhat spiritual, I was still full of opinion. If we are not one spirit with the Lord, we can have nothing within us but opinion. You may even pray, yet still not be one spirit with the Lord. Doctrinally it may be difficult for you to understand this word, but by your experiences you can understand. You may pray and yet not be one spirit with the Lord. Surely you are not one spirit with Him when you quarrel, but even when you study the Bible or pray, you still may not be one spirit with the Lord. At the time when you are not one spirit with the Lord, opinion is there. Your opinion may be good, it may be in the heavens, but still it is opinion. Opinion could only be healed by the one spirit with the Lord.
In Philippians 1:27 Paul pointed out that they needed not only to be in one spirit and to stand fast, but also that they needed with one soul to strive, to contend, for the gospel. Then in Philippians 2:2 Paul said that in order to make his joy full they needed to be joined in soul. To be one soul is one thing, to be joined in the soul is another. Furthermore, in Philippians 2:20 Paul said that he had no one like-souled who would genuinely care for what concerned the Philippians. Like-souled means to have the same soul. How could we be joined in soul and be like-souled? In Philippians 2 and 4 Paul even says we need to think the same thing and that we need to think the one thing, that is, Christ. According to these verses, to be with one soul, to be joined in soul, and to be like-souled, we need to have one goal or one object, that is, Christ. To have other goals means to have opinion. To have other objects than this means to have opinion. Today in the Lord’s recovery we need to see two things: first, we should have only one object, one goal; second, we need to practice the one spirit all the time. To have only one goal, one object and to practice the one spirit is the practical way to kill our opinions, to heal this disease. When you are not one, you are not in the spirit; you are in your soul, in your opinion. In your soul, you are not one.
In the past, when we realized there was a problem of oneness between two brothers, we did our best to help them sympathize with one another. We tried to help one see the other’s situation. Actually, this didn’t work so well. But today, because of my experiences, I wouldn’t waste my time in that way. Rather, I would simply fellowship with the brothers telling them that they have to practice the one spirit. They have to take Christ as the only object and the unique goal and practice the one spirit with the Lord. If the two brothers would simply practice the one spirit with the Lord for a few minutes they would be one. They don’t need to overcome anything. They don’t even need to overcome their opinion.
To practice the one spirit with the Lord is the medicine to heal the disease of opinion.
I have tried different ways. I have tried taking the cross, bearing the cross, and living a crucified life. I tried these things, but not one thing is so effective as practicing the one spirit with the Lord. Whether you consider yourself to be opinionated or you consider others to be opinionated, you can never stay away from opinions. We ourselves are just the embodiment of opinion. When we are off from the Lord and when we are away from the Lord, we are nothing but opinion. How can we heal this disease? It is only by practicing the one spirit with the Lord. If you practice you will discover that out of the sixteen hours, most of the hours you do not practice the one spirit with the Lord. You simply live by yourself. You may not do bad things; you may be doing good things, but by yourself. You pray by yourself; you study the Bible by yourself; you fellowship with others by yourself; you do many things by yourself. You do not practice the one spirit with the Lord, so whatever you say and whatever you do is altogether opinion.
When you are separate from the Lord, right away you are just opinion. I would ask you to go back and practice the one spirit with the Lord. Tell the Lord, “Lord, I just want to live the one spirit with You. I would like to practice the one spirit with You. I don’t care whether I’m praying or I’m not praying. I only care for the practice of the one spirit with You. I don’t care whether I’m talkative or I’m not talkative; I only care to practice the one spirit with You.” If you will do this, you will be one spirit with the Lord, and your opinion will be over.