Thursday

Related Verses
Matt. 12:28
28 But if I, by the Spirit of God, cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Heb. 9:14
14 How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

John 5:30
30 I can do nothing from Myself; as I hear, I judge, and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will but the will of Him who sent Me.

Mark 16:17
17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;

Gal. 5:25
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Ezek. 36:27
27 And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and My ordinances you shall keep and do.

Rom. 8:4-5
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.
5 For those who are according to the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but those who are according to the spirit, the things of the Spirit.

Phil. 1:19
19 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,

Related Reading
Within the Divine Trinity there are many divine excellencies, divine virtues, and divine attributes, such as oneness, humility, beauty, and harmony.

In Matthew 12:28 the Lord said, “If I [the Son], by the Spirit of God [the Triune God including the Father], cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God [the Triune God] has come upon you.”…Couldn’t the Lord Jesus have cast out these demons by Himself?…At that time He was among the Pharisees, who were proud, selfish, and individualistic. They would not work with anyone else. There was no humility among them, and they were full of self-seeking, selfishness. Now there was One, condemned by them and standing in front of them, telling them that He did something in a different way…He was not individualistic…He was doing something by the Spirit of God and for the kingdom of God. He never did anything by Himself or for Himself. Is this not beautiful? This shows us the excellency in the Divine Trinity. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, “Living in and with the Divine Trinity,” pp. 307-308)

—

This is surely a good pattern for our coordination. The Lord has produced a Body constituted with many members, so all the members should learn of Him. He was working by the Spirit of God for God the Father. He never did anything by Himself or for Himself…We should behave ourselves just like our Head. He behaved Himself in a way of neither doing anything by Himself nor doing anything for Himself. Today in the church life the Body of Christ has not been built up adequately because of the shortage of the proper coordination. If we want to be coordinated with all the members in the Body, we have to learn of Christ our Head, taking Him as our pattern…I may do something according to the will of God, but what I do should not be by myself but by some others. Furthermore, what I do should not be for myself but for the interest, the right, of God on the earth. This is a beauty, and this beauty is a real excellency, a real divine attribute, and an excellent virtue that we need to copy.

The Lord did not say that He cast out demons by Himself for His own kingdom. Instead, He said that He cast out demons by another One and for another One. His spirit was so humble, so selfless. He did nothing by Himself or for Himself. With Him there was no self, no element of selfishness. This is a beauty.

In Matthew 12 the Lord cast out demons by the Spirit of God. Hebrews 9:14 says He offered Himself through the eternal Spirit. Again, we need to ask why the Lord did not offer Himself to God by Himself…He was qualified, and He could if He would, but He would not. He offered Himself through a channel, through a means, that is, through the eternal Spirit.

We can see the humility and the selflessness of the Son…[and] the harmony in the Divine Trinity. The Son…did not trust in Himself but in another One. Whatever He did was not for Himself but for the Father, and whatever issued out of Him went to the Father. He was altogether not by Himself, for Himself, or to Himself.

This is a good pattern that our Head has set up for His Body, of which we all are members…When we do things, we should learn to do them not by ourselves. We are the doers, but we should not be the channel. We need someone else to be our channel through which we do things. Furthermore, we should not be the beneficiary of what we do. Someone else should be our beneficiary to receive the very benefit of our doing and of our being. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, “Living in and with the Divine Trinity,” pp. 308-310)

Further Reading: CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, “Living in and with the Divine Trinity,” ch. 5