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We can cooperate with the installed and inner operating law of the Spirit of life by exercising our spirit to "switch on" this law so that we can enjoy Christ as the freedom and living of the jubilee (Phil. 2:12-13; Rom. 8:2, 4-6, 13-16, 23; 5:10, 17; 1 Tim. 4:7; 2 Tim. 4:22).
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Apart from the "switch" of our spirit, we have no way to apply the processed Triune God as the "heavenly electricity" in us, but praise the Lord that we have a switch and that we know where it is (Prov. 20:27; Zech. 12:1; Rom. 8:16)!
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The best way to switch on the divine and mystical "current" of the flowing Spirit in our spirit is to call on the name of the Lord Jesus (1 Cor. 12:3b; Rom. 10:12-13).
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When we contact the Spirit through the exercise of our spirit, we enjoy Christ as all the myriad and rich aspects of the jubilee (8:4).
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Paul was a person who switched on the law of the Spirit of life by serving God in his spirit out of his first love for the Lord (1:9; 5:5; 8:35-39; Rev. 2:4):
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To love the Lord with the first love is to give Him the first place in all things and in all matters, regarding Him as everything in our life (Col. 1:18b, 10).
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When God comes into us and comes out of us, that is our service to Him; we work together with Christ in the churches, where we render our first love to Him (S.S. 7:12; 2 Cor. 6:1a; Phil. 3:3; Mark 12:30).
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When we love the Lord with the first love, we do the first works—works that issue from and express the first love; only those works that are motivated by the first love are gold, silver, and precious stones (Rev. 2:4-5; 1 Cor. 3:12; 15:10, 58).
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Christ's love of affection constrains us to live to Him and to die to Him (2 Cor. 5:14-15; Rom. 14:7-9).
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By setting our mind on the spirit, we enjoy Christ as the jubilee— "the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace" (8:6).
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The jubilee in Romans 8 is the reality of the Body of Christ—the corporate living of the perfected God-men—displayed in Romans 12 through 16; this reality consummates in the New Jerusalem; thus, Romans 8 is the focus of the entire Bible and the center of the universe:
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God accomplishes His economy by dispensing Himself into us as the law of the Spirit of life (vv. 2, 6, 10-11; Rev. 22:1-2a).
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The law of the Spirit of life constitutes us to be the members of the Body of Christ, with all kinds of functions (Col. 2:19; Eph. 4:11, 16; Rom. 12:4-8).
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Through the spontaneous, automatic function of the law of the Spirit of life within us, we are enabled to know God, gain God, and thereby live God, causing us to be constituted with God that we may become His increase and His enlargement to be His fullness for His expression (Eph. 1:22-23; 3:19-21).
Morning Nourishment
Rom. 8:4 That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.
Apart from the Spirit as the current, the flow, there is no way for God to be applied to us. God is rich and all His riches are for us; but there is the need of the Spirit as the current for the application of the riches of God to our experience. This flow of the Spirit is the anointing, the moving, of the ointment within us....Now in our spirit we have the flowing of the divine current, the moving of the ointment. Within us there is something that is constantly in motion. This moving element includes divinity, humanity, Christ's human living, the effectiveness of His death, the power of His resurrection, the fragrance of His resurrection, His ascension, enthronement, headship, lordship, authority, and kingdom.
[We need to see] the importance of our spirit in applying the current of the Triune God. Our spirit is like a switch. By exercising our spirit, we switch on the heavenly electricity which has been installed into us. If we did not have a switch or did not know where the switch was, we would have no way of applying electricity. In the same principle, apart from the switch of our spirit, we have no way to apply the heavenly electricity. Praise the Lord that we have a switch and that we know where it is! The switch is in the inner chamber of our being, that is, in our spirit. The simplest way to switch on the current is to call on the name of the Lord Jesus. (Life-study of Romans, pp. 587-588)
Today's Reading
In Romans 1:9 Paul said, "For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of His Son." The place to serve God is not the mind; it is our spirit. People rarely say "my spirit." They speak of their heart, their soul, their mind, their emotion, and their will, but not of their spirit. However, Paul was a person who served God in his spirit. We need to develop the habit of saying "my spirit" or "our spirit." As 8:16 says, "The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God." We need to speak more about our spirit, turn to our spirit, and use our spirit in all things. (Life-study of Romans, p. 588)[Paul] says, "Work out your own salvation" (Phil. 2:12). Apparently, this is altogether against Martin Luther's teaching. Salvation should be by faith, not by works. Yet Paul says to work out your own salvation. What is this? This is just switching on. To work out your salvation is to switch on. God has installed something, and God is still operating something, but you need to switch on. Romans 8:2 says, "The law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death." But who is this "me"? It is the switching "me." It does not mean that the law of the Spirit of life frees every believer with no qualification. At least the one in Romans 7 was not freed; he was still struggling there. Until Paul reached chapter 8, the law had no way to work out something. The law had been set up, and the law was still under God's operation, yet it needed Paul's switching on. Over fifty years ago I heard messages and I read books on this verse concerning the matter of the law of the Spirit of life. But no one ever told me that this law does not work without certain activities on the believers' side. Actually, Romans 8 is a definition of how the law of the Spirit of life is working. The subject of Romans 8 is the freeing of the law of the Spirit of life. But just by verse 2, you do not know how the law of the Spirit of life works. So from verse 3 onward, nearly the entire chapter is a definition of how the law of the Spirit of life operates. The law of the Spirit of life does not free everyone. Many Christians today have not been freed. The law of the Spirit of life only frees the believers who fulfill all the doings in this chapter. (CWWL, 1980, vol. 1, "Perfecting Training," pp. 314-315)
Further Reading: Life-study of Romans, msg. 56; CWWL, 1980, vol. 1, "Perfecting Training," ch. 31