As believers in Christ, we need to practice speaking by the spirit of faith for the building up of the Body of Christ; we need to speak one with the Lord and testify of our experience of Him with the exercise of our spirit to infuse faith into others also. Amen!
Faith is in our mingled spirit, and our spirit is a spirit of faith (2 Cor. 4:13).
We receive faith from God, who is the source of faith; when we hear the word of God, when the gospel is preached to us, there’s an inward apprehension of what God is and we simply believe.
Just as a photo camera captures the outward scenery and makes it real to the film or memory card within, so our spirit captures and apprehends the spiritual reality by faith, with the enlightening of the Holy Spirit, when we hear the preaching of the gospel.
Our God is living, and He infuses Himself into us by speaking.
He is a speaking God. Yes, He does operate in our environment, and He arranges all things to work out for good for our transformation and perfecting, because we love God (Rom. 8:28-29).
But even more, God is a speaking God, and He speaks and speaks and speaks. He spoke to the fathers in the prophets, and at the last of these days, He is speaking to us in the Son.
He spoke through the Lord Jesus, the embodied Word of God (John 1:1, 14) and He continued to speak through the apostles.
Even after the apostles died, God continued to speak through all the believers in Christ who love Him, pursue Him, and get into His word.
Today God is still speaking: He speaks to us, He speaks within us, and He wants to speak through us.
Speaking for God doesn’t mean merely speaking the words in the Bible; speaking for God is by the spirit of faith with the words of God.
We believers in Christ are the sons of the living, speaking God, and we express and represent God mainly by our speaking!
And our speaking should be not in and of ourselves; our speaking should not be for ourselves, for our benefit, or out of our knowledge and our own things.
Our speaking should be by the spirit of faith to infuse Christ into others for the building up of the Body of Christ.
May we all know our spirit of faith, and may we all learn to exercise our spirit of faith to be infused with God through His living word and to speak for God with the exercise of our spirit!
May we be good representatives of our living and speaking God not only by our living but also by our speaking!
And may we learn to speak and speak and speak, even as God speaks to us again and again, by the exercise of our mingled spirit of faith!
Living a Crucified Life in Resurrection and Speaking by the Spirit of Faith
In 2 Cor. 4:10-13 Paul testified of his experience of the death and resurrection of Christ in his environment, and he concluded that he spoke by the spirit of faith.
This is quite impressive, for, on one hand, he spoke of his experiences of suffering and, on the other hand, he said that he believe, therefore he spoke.
We need to live a crucified life in resurrection and speak by the spirit of faith.
2 Cor. 4:10-13 indicates that it is by the mingled spirit that the apostles lived a crucified life in resurrection for the carrying out of their ministry.
From the context of verse 13, which speaks of the spirit of faith, we know that Paul was talking about his experience concerning the Lord’s death and resurrection.
He testified concerning the putting to death of Jesus that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body (v. 10).
Then, in v. 11, he went on to say that we who are alive are always being delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake so that the resurrection life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
Death operated in the apostles in order that the resurrection life may be dispensed into others (v. 12).
Paul testified all these things in the spirit of faith.
This shows that Paul didn’t wait for the situation to get better or for things to change for his good before he spoke by faith.
Rather, in the midst of all those situations he was in, he still believed and spoke, for he realized that he lived a crucified life in resurrection for life to be ministered to others.
We should not wait for our situation to change for the better before we speak by the spirit of faith.
We need to be those living a crucified life in resurrection and speaking by the spirit of faith, testifying of our experience of Christ for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.
Even though many left Paul and his ministry, especially after he was imprisoned, he still spoke full of faith, and he exercised his spirit of faith to speak.
We need to be men full of faith who, no matter what we pass through, live crucified life in resurrection and speak by the spirit of faith one with the Lord.
![To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. Phil. 3:10 For I know that for me this will turn out to salvation through your petition and [the] bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, According to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I will be put to shame, but with all boldness, as always, even now Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Phil. 1:19-21](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/To-know-Him-and-the-power-of-His-resurrection-and-the-fellowship-of-His-sufferings-2.jpg?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. Phil. 3:10 For I know that for me this will turn out to salvation through your petition and [the] bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, According to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I will be put to shame, but with all boldness, as always, even now Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Phil. 1:19-21")
May we realize that doubts are in our mind but faith is in our spirit.
Whenever we doubt the Lord and His salvation, whenever we doubt whether the Lord is real or whether He is with us, we need to refuse to be in our mind and simply exercise our mingled spirit of faith!
It may be that death operates in us, but life is ministered to others as we exercise our spirit!
It may be that today we live a crucified life in resurrection, and it may seem that nothing changes in our situation, but we can exercise our mingled spirit of faith to believe God’s word and speak by the spirit of faith to others!
When we are speaking by the spirit of faith, we do not complain about our situation nor do we blame this or that for what is happening to us; instead, we realize that death operates in us for life to be ministered to others.
And we speak in faith, with the exercise of our spirit, to build up the church.
May we learn to turn to our spirit, exercise our spirit, remain in the word of God, and be those speaking by the spirit of faith concerning our experience of Christ in His death and resurrection for the building up of the church!
Lord Jesus, we choose to exercise our spirit and live in spirit today. Thank You for our mingled spirit, the divine Spirit mingled with our human spirit. Amen, Lord, may we live in spirit today so that we may live a crucified life in resurrection for the carrying out of our ministry. May we realize that the putting to death of Jesus operates in us so that the divine life may be ministered to others. Amen, Lord, make us those who are living a crucified life in resurrection and are speaking by the spirit of faith for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ! Hallelujah, we can speak by the spirit of faith to testify of our experience and enjoyment of Christ so that life may be ministered into others and so that faith may increase in them!
The Word produces Faith, Faith is the Spirit, and by this Spirit, we Speak the Word!
Our believing faith becomes the speaking faith when we turn to our spirit. Amen!
We should not wait for a feeling before we believe, nor should we wait to feel better or more spiritual before we speak; we should simply speak by the spirit of faith!
Sometimes we may doubt that the Lord is with us, for so many seemingly bad things happen to us, we may get sick, we may be in financial distress, and not many things may be going well for us.
But the word of God is there for us, and we can come to Heb. 13:8 to pray and read and believe saying, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes, even forever.
When we speak such a word with the exercise of our spirit, faith is infused into us.
![How then shall they call upon [Him] into whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe [into Him] of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without one who proclaims [Him?] Rom. 10:14](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/How-then-shall-they-call-upon-Him-into-whom-they-have-not-believed.jpg?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "How then shall they call upon [Him] into whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe [into Him] of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without one who proclaims [Him?] Rom. 10:14")
When it seems that the sea is roaring and mountains are slipping to the sea, we need to realize that God is in our midst, and He will help us in the dawn of the morning; we simply need to be still and know that He is God.
How? Not by “blind faith” or “mindless believing” but by the exercise of our spirit of faith!
Faith comes from hearing and hearing comes from the preaching of the Word of God (Rom. 10:14).
The source of faith is the Word; we need to get into the word of God and exercise to say Amen to God’s word (v. 17).
The more we get into the word of God in a living way, the more we will have faith. By the spirit of faith, we may speak the Word that is the source of our faith.
We see here a cycle: the word produces faith, faith is in our spirit and faith even is our spirit, and by this spirit, we can speak the word (2 Cor. 4:13).
There is no way around this: we must daily be in the word of God, not only taking two or three verses in the morning but setting time aside to spend with the Lord in His word.
Our morning revival time should not be a duty but a time to allow the Lord to breathe Himself into us, a time for us to have many transactions with us.
In our time with the Lord in His word we need to allow Him to convict us, correct us, and give us instruction in righteousness.
We need to let Him shine on us, give us the divine light and infuse us with life, and empower us with His divine life.
Then, here and there throughout the day, we need to be in the word of God and in the life-studies and ministry publications.
We need to pay the price to be in the healthy teaching of God’s word so that we may be constituted with Christ as the living word of God.
In this way, we build up the reserve supply, and we will have something to speak to others.
We also have the hymns in the hymnal, and there are so many new songs.
By enjoying the Lord in His word, in the ministry, and in the hymns, we learn the spiritual terminology, the spiritual phrases, the spiritual clauses, and the spiritual sentences.
We are slowly being reconstituted with God’s word and we think the same way He does.
Our mind is slowly but surely being renewed, and our inner being is filled with what God is.
May we place ourselves under the hearing of the faith day by day so that we may receive faith, have our faith increased, and be perfected in faith.
The word of God produces faith, faith is the spirit, and by this spirit, we speak the word.
When we are those speaking by the spirit of faith to testify of our experience of Christ, others will receive the word, and this word becomes faith in them.
When we speak to others, we shouldn’t try to convince them in their mind or prove anything to them; we simply need to bring them to touch their spirit!
The plain words we speak by the spirit of faith and in the Holy Spirit infuse faith into others, convict them, instruct them, and cause them to turn to the Lord to contact Him and repent.
By our speaking by the spirit of faith one with the Lord, we build up the church.
We all need to learn to speak in this way; we need to learn to speak by the spirit of faith in all kinds of situations.
When we are speaking by the spirit of faith, others are enlivened, renewed, and made happy and strong, for the Lord has a way to infuse Himself into them.
Such speaking will overcome any opposing environment, will eliminate gossip, and will infuse God into others.
We all need to become a witness of Christ, speaking by the spirit of faith concerning what we have seen of Him and experienced of Him!
We need to speak at home, on the street, while travelling to work, to our spouse, to our workmates, and to all men.
We need to speak to the saints, speak in the meetings, and exercise our spirit of faith to speak one with the Lord!
In the meetings there shouldn’t be any chairman or president: we all can speak in the Holy Spirit and by the spirit of faith, and such speaking builds up the church as the Body of Christ!
When we all exercise our spirit of faith to enjoy the Lord in His word, be infused with faith, and speak by the spirit of faith one with the Lord, He can be infused into man to become their faith, and this brings them into an organic union with the Lord.
Hallelujah, faith is in our spirit, and our spirit is mingled with the Holy Spirit to be the spirit of faith! Amen, Lord, we come to Your word with the exercise of our spirit to receive more of You, more of Your element, and have faith infused into us. Keep us eating You in Your word. May Your word dwell in us richly in all wisdom so that we may be infused with God as our faith. Lord Jesus, we exercise our spirit of faith to believe Your word and speak the word of God by faith! May our speaking by the spirit of faith infuse something of God into others to impart life to them and increase their faith. Amen, Lord, we want to learn to speak in the Holy Spirit and by the spirit of faith to build up the church as the Body of Christ!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1985, vol. 3, “The Divine Speaking,” pp. 302-304, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, God’s Economy in Faith (2022 spring ITERO), week 5, entitled, Speaking by the Spirit of Faith.
- Hymns on this topic:
– We have the Word! The written Word’s our daily food; / We mix this Word with faith and say “Amen!” / Then thro’ the day, the spoken Word will speak to us / And regulate our living from within. (Hymns #1287)
– It’s gospel time! Let us spread the gospel all around. / Yes, gospel time! We will never fear the people’s frown! / God’s done His work; / Let us not shirk; / We’re but pilgrims here, and we’ll not fear the people’s frown! (Hymns #1294)
– So many times I was in weakness; / I realize that was my blindness. / I’m beginning to see / All that the Triune God is to me. / Wasting my time looking at my poorness; / Now my heart’s eyes can behold His greatness. / I’m enlightened to see / All of the Triune God is to me. / I believe, so I speak. / I am strong, I have power. / I believe, Oh Lord, Amen! / I am strong, I have power. (Song on, I believe, so I speak)
About aGodMan
Prophesying, that is, speaking Jesus, speaking Christ, builds up the church. So Paul says, “I would rather speak five words with my mind… than ten thousand words in a tongue” (1 Cor. 14:19)… The plain words spoken by anyone by the spirit of faith and in the Holy Spirit build the church. Therefore, we all have to practice everywhere to speak. We speak on the street; we speak in the classroom; we speak in the office; we speak at home; we speak to everybody, to all kinds of persons; and, we especially speak in the meetings, even the more in the home meetings. Learn to speak this way. This kind of speaking enlivens, this kind of speaking refreshes, this kind of speaking makes people new, this kind of speaking makes people strong and happy, and this kind of speaking imparts life to others and dispenses the Triune God into the listeners. This kind of speaking will overcome any kind of opposing environment. We must speak—speak in the Holy Spirit and speak by the spirit of faith. If everyone would become a speaker, a speaking witness, the situation would be overturned. This kind of speaking is a strong testimony of the Lord’s recovery. We must not simply have a congregation with a speaker, hymns, a prayer, a speech, and so forth; we must be different. We must be revolutionized to have new meetings with everyone speaking. There should be no chairman, no one presiding. Everyone speaks everywhere, anytime, to anyone. We speak in the Holy Spirit and by the spirit of faith. (Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1985, vol. 3, “The Divine Speaking,” pp. 302-304)
Faith is in our spirit, which is mingled with the Holy Spirit, and doubts are in our mind.
We need to exercise our spirit of faith to be in the word of God, be infused with God as our faith, and speak by the spirit of faith to infuse God into others.
Yes, faith comes out of hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. We have the written word of the Bible, the living word of God (Christ), and the applied word of God (the Spirit).
The living word becomes the applied word through the Spirit.
Thus, the source of faith is God. If we have God in our being, He becomes our faith, the faith that annuls us and reveals Christ to us.
Thus, when we touch the Bible, immediately the Bible can become living & applied.
May we never permit the enemy to entice us away from the Bible, the very source of God.
Amen, we believe, therefore we speak!
Amen Lord do infuse us with more of your self, save us from hanging out in our minds today, make us walk by the spirit today.
Thank you for Sharing Brother. Whenever we turn to Him, the veil comes off!
And his light infuses us! Illuminating and bringing us in Spirit!
Amen! Faith is in our spirit!
Ameen!!!
Faith comes out of hearing and hearing through the word of God. The word of God is the source of faith.
Thank the Lord that His word was written. When we contact the Word but means of all prayer, the word we contact becomes the living word and the applied word as the word of the Spirit.
In this way we gain more of God and He becomes in us our faith.
With such faith, nothing is impossible just as with God nothing is impossible.