According to the Bible, human beings were created by God with a spirit. Zechariah 12:1 says, “Thus declares Jehovah, who stretches forth the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him.” Job 32:8 says, “There is a spirit in man.” We are different from the animals because we have a spirit. No animal has ever worshipped something, but throughout human history every kind of people has worshipped something. Even atheistic governments have been unable to suppress the worship of God, because God created man with a spirit. Just as we have an appetite for physical food and grow hungry several times each day because we have a stomach, so we have a spiritual appetite and hunger for God because we have a spiritual stomach—our spirit.
The processed Triune God as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit is available to be received by man. Moreover, we have a spirit, which causes us to hunger after God and is our organ to receive Him. As the Spirit, the processed Triune God is omnipresent. He is on the throne in heaven, and He is also everywhere on earth. The Triune God is like the air, which is constantly present around us and comes into us anytime we breathe. Speaking of Christ, Romans 10:8 says, “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.” Calling on the Lord is our spiritual breathing. The processed Triune God as the Spirit comes into us when we simply say, “O Lord Jesus!” (v. 12).
Because the Spirit is always present and available, we should no longer live by the natural life or the self. God does not want us to live merely a good life. Good and bad both belong to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Instead, God wants us to live Him, to live as God-men. A married couple may decide to love and honor each other. However, even if they are successful for a time, they are living as good men, not as God-men. God wants His people to live Him. Instead of making up our mind to be good, we should simply pray, “Lord, thank You that You are the all-inclusive Spirit. Thank You for creating me with a spirit and for regenerating my spirit. As the all-inclusive Spirit, You are now in my spirit and are one spirit with me. I just want to live You.” If we pray sincerely in this way, we will spontaneously be good, not by our endeavoring or striving but by God.
The all-inclusive life-giving Spirit who indwells our spirit is rich. According to Romans 8:2, 9, and 11, He is the Spirit of life, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of the resurrecting One. The Spirit is not only rich but also living, active, and functioning. He is neither silent nor dormant in us. We need to see, open to, and enter into the function of the Spirit.
The spontaneous operating of the law of the Spirit of life is the first function of the all-inclusive Spirit (v. 2). A law is a natural power that works automatically. For example, if someone who is holding a book releases it, the law of gravity will immediately and spontaneously function to cause the book to fall to the ground. The all-inclusive Spirit in us is such a law, a spontaneous power that works automatically. When we call on the Lord, we “switch on” this law, and the Spirit is activated in us. When I was a teenager, the barbershop in my hometown in China did not have an air conditioner or electric fan to cool the customers in the summertime. Instead, they had a fan hanging from the ceiling that was operated by a boy who constantly pulled a string. When the boy was distracted or tired, he sometimes neglected his duty and would be chastised by the barber. After being admonished, the boy would make up his mind to pull the string regularly. However, when the barbershop eventually obtained an electric fan, there was no longer the need for a boy to make up his mind to carry out a required task. Instead, when the fan was needed, someone only had to switch it on. Today the Spirit within us is like an electric fan. Thus, we do not need to make up our mind to live properly and virtuously by our own effort, which does not work well anyway. Instead, we only need to switch on to activate the Spirit. The Triune God as the all-inclusive Spirit has been installed in our being, and this Spirit is a natural law, a power that works automatically.
As the Spirit of life, the all-inclusive Spirit continually supplies life to us (v. 2). He Himself is the life and the life supply. His function is to minister life into our being. As we are praying or calling on the name of the Lord, we sense deep within that life is flowing in to supply us. This supplying is the function of the all-inclusive Spirit. To try to do good, improve ourselves, or behave better is to be unbelieving. We must believe in the indwelling, all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. He is real, and He is within us, supplying us with life. We should not focus on ourselves; instead, we simply need to call on the name of the Lord and pray. The way to cause the all-inclusive Spirit to function in us is to pray continually by calling on the name of the Lord. When we call, we touch the Spirit and cause the Spirit to function. Then we receive the supply of life by the functioning of the indwelling Spirit.