When the Holy Spirit looks at a person, the lamps of the fire of God shine upon him, and when the lamps of fire shine upon him, the consuming fire of God burns within him. This consuming fire is both God Himself and the Spirit, because God Himself is both a consuming fire and the Spirit. Through this looking, shining, and burning, God who is in Christ, and Christ who is in the Holy Spirit are wrought into us. As a result, we receive the element of the Holy Spirit, the element of Christ, and the element of God. From that time on we have the element of God in addition to our human element. God is added into us. We are like a cup, and as such we are able to contain the Spirit of God, the fire of God, the life of God, and the nature of God. This is the way in which those who are saved have the element of God within them.
From the day that we are regenerated onward, God not only lives within us but also moves and works within us in many ways in order to bring our soul and body into God. The Holy Spirit who dwells in us will eventually bring every part of our soul—our mind, emotion, and will—into the Spirit.
When our mind, emotion, and will are gradually, step by step, brought into the Spirit, they will become the spiritual mind, the spiritual emotion, and the spiritual will. When this happens, we will become spiritual people. Today we are saved, and God who is the Spirit is in us. However, even though the Spirit is in us, our living may not be in the Spirit. Our mind, emotion, and will may not have entered the Spirit, may not submit to the ruling of the Spirit, and may not be directed by the Spirit. Our mind still may be the master, thinking whatever it pleases; our emotion still may be free to love and hate whatever it feels to; and, even more, our will still may be independent, choosing and determining as it wills. Although we have a spirit, and the Spirit of God is also in us, we may be living entirely by our soul—we may still make decisions and love, hate, and think by ourselves. We still may not care for the existence of our spirit or submit to the ruling of the Spirit of God. Hence, even though we are saved, we still may be soulish, fleshly, and of the self. In short, we still may not be spiritual.
The situation of a normal Christian should be that he is one who lives in the Spirit. His mind, emotion, and will should submit to the ruling of the Spirit and be directed by the Spirit. When the Spirit directs him to think a certain way, he should think that way; when the spirit directs him to love in a particular way, he should love in that way; and when the Spirit directs him to make a certain decision, he should make that decision. Such a person is not lacking a mind, emotion, or will. In fact, he has a strong mind, emotion, and will, yet his mind, emotion, and will are no longer in the first place but in the second place. They entirely submit to the ruling of the Spirit, allowing the Spirit to have the preeminence and be the Lord. His mind, his preferences, his opinions, and his decisions are ruled and directed by the Spirit, and as a result, he is spiritual. This kind of Christian living is the normal Christian living. In this kind of living not only does God enter into man, but man is also brought into God by the Spirit of God. A person who lives this way not only has God in him but is also in God.
After we were regenerated and saved, God entered into us. But the question remains, have we also entered into God? If we have entered into God, we will live in God. God has entered into us, but have we also entered into God? Have our mind, emotion, will, preferences, and opinions entered into God? Is our living under the ruling of the Holy Spirit and directed by God? This is a very serious matter. I am afraid that we still may not have entered into God. Our mind, emotion, and will are still independent of God, we still have not submitted to the Holy Spirit, and we still have not entered into the Holy Spirit. Although God is in us, we do not live in God and are still independent.
We should never take this speaking as a doctrine. If we check with ourselves based on this word, we may find that the inner condition of our mind, emotion, and will are truly independent of God. Even though we may pray and ask the Lord for His forgiveness, sometimes when faced with a situation, we still may secretly resolve in our heart that we will fellowship with the Lord only after first considering the matter on our own. Do not think that this is a joke. This truly may be our situation. It may be that only after we deem that we have adequately thought about a particular matter on our own, and only after we have taken what we deem to be the necessary actions on our own, do we come back to the Lord to seek Him.