The indwelling Spirit is also the Spirit of God and is God Himself (v. 9). As the Spirit of God, He ministers God into us. The great and all-inclusive God is the origin, the Originator, the Creator, the Administrator, and the Father. Such a God is ministered into our being by the Spirit. As soon as we switch on by calling on the Lord or by crying to the Father (v. 15), the indwelling Spirit supplies us with God.
The indwelling Spirit is also the Spirit of Christ (v. 9). Christ is God’s anointed One and God’s appointed One. He became incarnated, lived a human life on the earth, passed through many human sufferings, and died to redeem us, take away our sins, and terminate the old creation. Afterwards, He resurrected and is now in ascension, glorification, and enthronement. Christ and all that He has attained and obtained are included in the life-giving Spirit. As the Spirit of Christ, the indwelling Spirit functions to supply us with Christ.
As the Spirit of life, the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of Christ, the indwelling Spirit supplies us with life, God, and Christ. Furthermore, as the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead, this all-inclusive Spirit ministers the power of resurrection and the resurrection life into us (v. 11).
God does not want us to live by our nature. We should not try to excuse our disposition by saying, “I was born this way.” God also does not want us to live by our culture. We should not use our nationality as an excuse. Humanly speaking, to be ethical is very good, but God does not want us to live by ethics. Neither does God want us to live according to religion. Religion is to do something for God but without Christ. Instead of religion, God, who is Spirit, wants us live, serve, and worship Him in our spirit (John 4:24). Finally, God does not want us to live by our habit. Perhaps it is our habit to joke. Even many genuine seekers of the Lord still live mostly by habit. We should not be overly habitual in our daily walk. We should be aware of whether we are living by the spirit or by nature, culture, ethics, religion, or habit. We need to realize that the all-inclusive Spirit indwells us. God’s economy is for us to live Christ as the Spirit. We need to practice to live by the mingled spirit. To live by the mingled spirit is to live God, who is higher than nature, culture, ethics, religion, or habit.
In the church meetings we may see that we need to live God and breathe Him in as the Spirit, but we may forget this and return to our old way of living when we go home. In our daily life at home, work, or school, we may still live according to our old nature, culture, ethics, religion, and habits. We should not live two lives in this way. We need to exercise our spirit at home as well as in the meetings. If we do not, our functioning in the meetings will be a performance. The church meetings should not be a performance but a testimony and an exhibition of our daily life. We should live and meet in the same way. Our meeting life should be a continuation and issue of our daily life.
The goal of the Lord’s recovery is not to recover any particular doctrine or practice but to recover Christ as the Spirit in our spirit for the church life and every aspect of our daily life, including our family life, school life, and job life. Our entire living and daily walk, including any virtues such as humility, kindness, and love, must be the Triune God. We can live God because He is the Spirit in our spirit. The all-inclusive Spirit functions within us automatically as a spontaneous law and supplies us with life, God, Christ, and the life and power of resurrection. We need to cooperate with His operation by calling on the name of the Lord and crying, “Abba, Father!” As we pray continually in this way, we will keep ourselves in contact with the indwelling Spirit and live by the Spirit. To live by the mingled spirit is the Lord’s recovery, God’s up-to-date move, and the way to produce the testimony of Jesus as a bright, shining lampstand.