The Spirit as the Receiving Organ

The following is from a book by Witness Lee called The Economy of God:

". . . the Bible tells us that we were originally dead, but when we received the Lord Jesus, we were made alive. What does it mean that we were dead? When I was young, I could not understand. I said to myself, 'How can they say that I am dead when I am still alive?' Later on, of course, I learned that I was dead in my spirit. It was my spirit that was dead and out of function. The function of the spirit is to contact God, fellowship with God, and receive and worship God. But due to the fall, the spirit became dormant and could not function.

"When we received the Lord Jesus as our Savior, the Holy Spirit—and we must remind ourselves that when the title Holy Spirit is used, it means the all-inclusive Spirit—came into our spirit and touched our spirit. By such a touch, our spirit was quickened. The expression made alive means something like this: 'just by touching, life is ministered and imparted.'

"Perhaps this could be illustrated by electricity: when we touch electricity, something of electricity is transmitted into us. By a simple little touch electricity is transmitted. Similarly, the Holy Spirit came into our spirit to touch our spirit, and by that touch the very life which is the Lord Himself was imparted into us. Our dead, dormant spirit immediately became alive.

"This is something more than a miracle. Many times we have thought that it would be wonderful and miraculous if a dead person were resurrected. But we must realize that when the Holy Spirit quickens our dead spirit, it is even more miraculous. History records that thousands and even millions of people have been rapidly changed because their dead spirit became alive. In just one second a person dead in the spirit can be made alive. The Holy Spirit is much more powerful than electricity and much faster than its transmission.

"Colossians 2:13 and Ephesians 2:1 and 5 say that the spirit was dead and then made alive. We were dead in sins and then made alive with Christ. These two passages prove that we were originally dead in the spirit, but when we received the Lord Jesus as our Savior, our dead spirit was quickened and made alive.

"When our spirit was made alive, it was also regenerated. The prefix 're-' in regeneration means 'again.' This means that our spirit was not only made alive, but also that another life was added into our spirit. This other life is the divine and uncreated life of God. It is Christ Himself.

"When the Holy Spirit, based upon the redeeming work of Christ, came into us, He not only enlivened our dead spirit but also brought Christ into our spirit. This new life added into our spirit is something more than what God gave us at creation.

"Therefore, not only has our dead spirit been recovered and made alive, but a new substance has been added into our spirit. This additional new substance or essence is Christ Himself. This is the new birth, the regeneration.

"John 3:6 says, 'That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.' By the new birth, or regeneration, something other than what we originally had was added to us. We must say this again and again: something has been added. Not only has the old and the dead been renewed and made alive, but Christ Himself has been added into us as the very essence of divine life. This is regeneration and the new life. By all this we now have a new spirit (Ezek. 36:26).

"May I ask, 'Have you received Christ Himself as your new life?' If you answer yes, I would ask, 'Then why are you still so poor?' Christians need to know this Christ as a living reality . . . when you received Christ, something more powerful than atomic power was added into your spirit. If you believe this, you have to jump up and say 'Hallelujah!' You have to thank and praise Him that such a wonderful, all-inclusive, exhaustless, immeasurable Christ has actually been added into you. We simply do not have adequate words to describe the Christ who has come into us. Only eternity can tell the story.

"But, praise Him, this is not all. Our spirit is also indwelt by the all-inclusive Holy Spirit. When we were saved, God not only renewed our heart and our spirit, but He also put His own Spirit into us (Ezek. 36:26, 27; John 14:17). This wonderful Spirit dwells (Rom. 8:11) in our human spirit (v. 16).

"Our spirit is the very residence of the Holy Spirit. Consider how wonderful this Spirit is. From the time of our salvation, our dead spirit has become a spirit that is made alive, regenerated with Christ as the divine life, and indwelt by the all-inclusive Holy Spirit. We now have such a spirit.

"But even this is not all. Our spirit is now joined to the Lord as one spirit. Our spirit and the Lord Himself as the Spirit are joined together as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). No human words can exhaust this mystery.

"What is the purpose and function of the spirit? It is to contact the Lord, to receive Him, to worship God (John 4:24), and to fellowship with the divine persons of the Triune God. The heart is the loving organ, whereas the spirit is the contacting and receiving organ. We cannot love with our spirit. We must love with our heart. But the One whom our heart loves must be contacted and received by our spirit.

"I will never forget a sister who was bothered by this kind of message. She thought that if our heart loved the Lord, it was good enough, and there was no need to talk about the spirit. She thought the spirit and the heart were synonymous terms.

"Probably after hearing this kind of message, this sister did not sleep well that night, for the next morning while at breakfast, she asked, 'Isn’t it enough that our hearts love the Lord? Why is there a need for us to talk about the spirit?'

"I replied, 'Sister, here I have a nice Bible. Do you love it?' She answered, 'Of course, I love it.' Then I said, 'Take it!' When she stretched out her hand, I said, 'Don’t! Don’t exercise your hand. It is your heart that loves the Bible. As long as your heart loves the Bible, that is all right. There is no need to exercise your hand to take it.' The point is clear. We cannot say that as long as the heart loves the Lord, it is good enough. The spirit is necessary to take Christ.

"Suppose I love my breakfast. As long as my heart loves bacon, toast, milk, juice, etc., is that enough? Absolutely not! If this is enough, I am afraid that after some days I will be buried. To love is a matter of the heart; but in order to receive something, another organ must be exercised. The organ we need to exercise depends upon what we are going to receive.

"If we are going to receive food, of course, we have to exercise the mouth; if we are going to receive a voice, we have to exercise our ears. If we are going to receive colorful scenery, we must exercise our eyes. Now, since we love the Lord, what organ must we exercise in order to receive Him? Should we use the eyes? The more we look for the Lord, the more He will disappear.

"God purposely created only one organ to receive and contact Him. That is the spirit. The spirit within us has the same function spiritually as the stomach has physically. It was specifically created for the purpose of receiving God into us.

"But before we can receive something, we must have a love for it. No one receives anything if he does not love it first. If we do not love our breakfast, it is rather hard for us to receive it. This is why we must first have an appetite.

"When we love the Lord, we will then take Him, contact Him, commune with Him, and fellowship with Him. The heart is for us to love, but the spirit is for us to receive.

"By the renewing of the heart, we have a new interest and a new desire to love the Lord. By the renewing of the spirit, we have a new ability and a new capacity to receive the Lord. Therefore, after our spirit has been made alive and Christ as life has been added to it, after it has been indwelt by the Holy Spirit and joined to the Lord as one spirit, it then becomes a very keen organ to receive and contact the Lord."