◄ Life in the Spirit ►

Author: T. Austin-Sparks

The words that I speak to you are Spirit, and they are Life. (John 6:63)

This Life is a very vast Life. It reaches into God's greatpurpose, and we are a part of it;we are "the called according to His purpose." We wantto know the purpose; we want to know our place in thepurpose; we want to know our faculties, our functions.How shall this be? Not by studying up what they are,but by being in Life. It may be very interesting to have ascientific knowledge of the workings of our humanbodies, but it is not necessary in order to live. Live, andthe thing happens. You never have to consider whetheryou will take your next breath, to sit down and make amental problem of it. You do it, and everything else isbound up with it, and follows in proper order. Breathingproperly has a great deal bound upwith it. Well then, live and everything else will follow.That is only saying, in other words: move, have your lifein the Holy Spirit, and all the plan and order of God willfollow. You are bound to come into it, you cannot helpyourself.

Thus the object is to get the Lord's people to a placewhere they walk with the Lord, and are so open to Himthat they are prepared for all that walking with Himmeans. Sometimes it will mean that they will have toleave a great deal that is of a secondary character;perhaps forsake many things, even religious things, theaccepted things, to walk with the Lord. There may be aprice attached to it; misunderstanding, and loneliness,and much besides; but if you are so open to the Lordthat nothing else matters, and you mean to walk withGod whatever the cost, no matter what people say youought to do as (in their thought) a part of a greatChristian order or religious machine, you will come intoall God's secret thought as naturally as a flower opens tothe sun, and you will be making discoveries and findingthat there is a vast realm of meaning and possibility andcapacity and power that you never dreamed of. The Lord is not going to stretch it out before us, and show us it. We shall discover it as we walk in the Spirit.

By T. Austin-Sparks from: Life in the Spirit - Chapter 6

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