Since God’s building is living, it is growing; the actual building up of the church as the house of God is by the believers’ growth in life, and we need to grow in life for the building and deal with any obstacle to the growth and release of the divine life. Amen!
Praise the Lord, He came into us as our life so that He may grow in us, transform us, and make us living stones for God’s building, and He is also building us up into a spiritual house, the dwelling place of God, the church!
We believers in Christ were born of our human parents initially, and we were therefore born in sin.
We are made of the dust of the ground to be vessels of clay.
How can we as such ones be part of God’s holy and glorious building? How can we be qualified to be part of the building of God?
It is only by the processes of regeneration, growth in life, transformation, and building up.
We need to first be regenerated. Only by having the life of God can we be part of the building of God, for the building of God, the church, issues out of His life.
After being regenerated, we need to grow in life. We need to grow in life unto maturity day by day.
We do this by coming to the Lord’s living word and drinking the guileless milk of the word through the exercise of our spirit.
As we drink the milk of the word, we grow by it unto salvation, for we have tasted that the Lord is good.
Our growth in life issues in our transformation, for as we allow the Lord to grow in us, He slowly changes us inwardly.
Transformation is an inward metabolic process of having our old element removed and the divine element added.
We see an illustration of this in the petrified wood; as water flows and the piece of wood remains in the flow of water, the element of wood is removed and discharged, and the stone element is added to the structure of the piece of wood.
What you have at the end is something that looks like wood but it is made of stone, for the element of stone in the flow of the water has replaced every element of wood.
When we are being transformed, others see us, but in reality, they see Christ in us, for our old man and our self with the flesh have been slowly discharged and removed, and the element of God has been slowly added to our being. Praise the Lord!
As we are being transformed by coming to the Lord as a living stone, we become living stones suitable for God’s building. Praise the Lord!
To Grow in Life for God’s Building we must Love the Lord, Take Heed to our Spirit, and Guard our Heart
![Whom having not seen, you love; into whom though not seeing [Him] at present, yet believing, you exult with joy [that is] unspeakable and full of glory. 1 Pet. 1:8](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Whom-having-not-seen-you-love-into-whom-though-not-seeing-Him-at-present-yet-believing-you-exult-with-joy-that-is-unspeakable-and-full-of-glory-1024x1024.jpg?resize=750%2C750&ssl=1 "Whom having not seen, you love; into whom though not seeing [Him] at present, yet believing, you exult with joy [that is] unspeakable and full of glory. 1 Pet. 1:8")
God’s building is a living building, and therefore it is growing; the actual building up of the church as the house of God is by our growth in life (Eph. 2:21).
God’s life grows in us; His life needs to grow in us little by little and day by day. It is good to daily ask the Lord to give us the portion of grace we need so that we may grow in life, even to ask Him to give us that day’s measure of the growth in life.
We need to pay attention to our growth in the divine life, for we need to grow in life for God’s building.
We need to give the Lord more ground for Him to grow in us.
![But the hidden man of the heart in the incorruptible [adornment] of a meek and quiet spirit, which is very costly in the sight of God. 1 Pet. 3:4](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/But-the-hidden-man-of-the-heart-in-the-incorruptible-adornment-of-a-meek-and-quiet-spirit-which-is-very-costly-in-the-sight-of-God-1-819x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C500&ssl=1 "But the hidden man of the heart in the incorruptible [adornment] of a meek and quiet spirit, which is very costly in the sight of God. 1 Pet. 3:4")
We don’t grow by trying harder to please God or to do what the Bible tells us to do; we need to cooperate with the Lord for Him to grow in us in a normal, daily way.
In order to grow in life for God’s building, we must love the Lord, take heed to our spirit, and guard our heart with all vigilance to stay on the pathway of life (1 Pet. 1:8; 2:2, 5; 3:4, 15; Prov. 4:18-23; Deut. 10:12; Mark 12:30).
There are at least three wonderful ways for us to cooperate with the Lord for our growth in the divine life for God’s building.
First, we must love the Lord. Loving the Lord is the beginning of all spiritual experiences of Christ. If we don’t love the Lord, we cannot grow in life.
If we want to grow in life for God’s building, we must first of all love the Lord.
How strong is our love for the Lord? We all may say that we love the Lord, but do we have a fervent love for Him, even the first love for Him?
We may like our love for the Lord to a wife loving her husband; we may not always feel like loving our spouse, but we need to learn to open to the Lord and allow His love in us to love our spouse according to Him.
We need to be the Lord Jesus, I love You – kind of people.
We stir up our love for the Lord by spending time with Him, sitting at His feet, and allowing Him to speak to us.
We shouldn’t rely on our emotions but rather, we should exercise our spirit to tell the Lord that we love Him.
Loving the Lord has nothing to do with how we feel and whether we’re up or down; rather, we need to exercise our spirit to love the Lord and tell Him we love Him!
When we no longer love the Lord with the first love, degradation comes in.
The church in Ephesus lost its first love; the leaving of the first love brings in decline and degradation in the church.
May we reverse the trend of leaving the first love by loving the Lord and being His crazy lovers so that we may grow in life for God’s building!
May we take every opportunity throughout the day to tell the Lord that we love Him.
As we travel to work by car or by public transport, being constrained by many things such as traffic, the people around us, and the delays, we need to simply tell the Lord that we love Him.
As we are about to argue with our spouse, we need to simply forget about our argument and tell the Lord that we love Him!
1 Pet. 1:8 says that we Christians love the One whom we have not seen.
We may even tell the Lord that it’s not easy for us to love Him for we have not seen Him, so we can ask Him to stir up our love for Him.
When we love Him, we enjoy Him and we can grow in life for God’s building.
Another way for us to grow in life for God’s building is to take heed to our spirit.
We need to exercise our spirit day by day.
One way we do this is by coming to the Lord and allowing Him to shine on us to expose any sins, problems, and shortcomings.
When we confess our sins in the Lord’s light, we exercise our spirit, and the sky between us and the Lord becomes clear.
The Lord will shine on our sins and trespasses, and we will simply confess our sins; the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse us of every sin (1 John 1:7, 9).
No matter how long we have been in the Lord, we still need to confess our sins under the Lord’s light and have a clearance of our sins and problems.
We may be offended by someone or someone may continually bother us, even the mere sight of this person causing us pain.
We need to not allow any offense or bitterness to take root in our heart but rather, come to the Lord’s light, confess our sins, and deal with any problem.
May we know our spirit and exercise our spirit.
Whenever we sense that we are in our flesh or that the self is expressed, we need to turn to our spirit and set our mind on our spirit (Rom. 8:6).
A third way to grow in life for God’s building is for us to guard our heart with all vigilance so that we may stay on the pathway of life (Prov. 4:18-23).
From our heart are the issues of life; we need to guard our heart.
This means that we need to come to the Lord again and again regarding our heart so that He may keep our heart.
We need to turn our heart to Him, telling Him that we love Him, and we simply need to open to Him.
When we open to the Lord day by day and allow Him to make His home deep down in our heart (Eph. 3:17), we will grow in life for God’s building.
Many times we realize that we cannot keep our heart, so we come to the Lord and allow Him the full ground to keep our heart and guard it.
Lord Jesus, we want to grow in life for God’s building today. We turn our heart to You. We love You, Lord! Rekindle our love for You. Save us from leaving our first love toward You. Oh Lord, whether we feel this or not, we exercise our spirit to tell You that we love You! Lord Jesus, we love You! We love You with our first love. We love You with our best love. We exercise our spirit to love You with our whole being! Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit and we remain under Your light so that You may shine on us and expose anything that doesn’t match You. We agree with Your light and we confess our sins. Oh Lord, we exercise our spirit to confess our sins, agreeing with what Your light shines on. We open to You concerning our mistakes, trespasses, sins, and failures. Wash us and cleanse us. We want to remain in the fellowship of life. Oh Lord, we want to guard our heart with all vigilance so that we may stay on the pathway of life today! Keep our heart, Lord Jesus!
Experience the Cross Dealing with any Obstacle so we can Grow in Life for God’s Building
If we believers in Christ want the life of Christ to be unhindered in us, we must experience the breaking of the cross so that any obstacle within us may be dealt with and removed (1 Pet. 1:11; 4:14; Psa. 139:23-24).
We need to experience the killing of the death of Christ in the all-inclusive Spirit of Christ as the Spirit of glory so that we may grow in life for God’s building.
May the Lord shine on us to expose any subjective obstacles in us so that we may allow the cross to deal with these for us to grow in life for our transformation for God’s building.
Being a Christian means not taking anything other than Christ as our aim; however, we may not know the pathway of life and not take Christ as our life, and this is a great obstacle to the Lord’s life growing in us (Matt. 7:13-14; Phil. 3:8-14; Col. 3:4; Rom. 8:28-29).
Being a Christian means that Christ is our aim and goal; He is the preeminent One in our life.
But the problem is that we often don’t take Him as our life and we don’t know the pathway of life. Rather, we live in our concepts and according to our concepts, and we’re in the darkness of our human concepts.
We do things not according to the Christ who lives in us but according to our concepts, and this seems reasonable to us.
Apart from Christ, however, all our concepts are darkness; they may be good or they may be evil, but they are darkness and death.
We hold to a concept because we think it is pretty good; we have an opinion about something and we think we’re right, and we make a strong argument to support it.
However, unless the Lord has the first place and He shines in this matter, we are in the darkness of the human concepts and we can’t grow in life for God’s building.
So many times in our family life and especially in the church life we express our opinions based on our concepts and darkness comes in. Oh, Lord!
We make decisions based not on contacting the living Christ and being on the pathway of life but based on how we feel and according to how we think.
![But moreover I also count all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count [them] as refuse that I may gain Christ And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is out of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is out of God [and] based on faith. Phil. 3:8-9](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/But-moreover-I-also-count-all-things-to-be-loss-on-account-of-the-excellency-of-the-knowledge-of-Christ-Jesus-my-Lord-on-account-of-whom-I-have-suffered-the-loss-of-all-things-and-count-them-as-819x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C500&ssl=1 "But moreover I also count all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count [them] as refuse that I may gain Christ And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is out of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is out of God [and] based on faith. Phil. 3:8-9")
May we learn to bring all things, all matters, all problems, and all situations to the Lord and open to Him so that He may shine on us and bring us on the pathway of life.
Only in this way can we grow in life for God’s building, and only in this way can the life of Christ flow unhindered in us.
We need to be on the pathway of life, checking with the Lord so that we don’t live according to the human concepts and human behavior.
The second obstacle to the Lord’s life in us is hypocrisy; a person’s spirituality is not determined by outward appearance but by how he takes care of Christ (Matt. 6:1-6; 15:7-8; John 5:44; 12:42-43; cf. Josh. 7:21).
The most genuine part of our being is our spirit.
When we’re in our spirit, we are saved from hypocrisy. But when we don’t exercise our spirit, we do not live Christ, and what issues from us is hypocrisy.
We may try to do this or that good thing and we may express our good concepts, but because we’re not in our spirit, the outward appearance does not match the inward reality.
A hypocrite is a stage actor; he impersonates someone or some emotion, but in reality he is not that person and does not have that feeling.
May we be saved from performance and pretense.
May we learn to cultivate and develop our inward, intimate relationship with the Lord so that we may be one with Him, be joined to Him, and cooperate with Him.
The Lord hates hypocrisy.
Sometimes we may be with some young ones and we want to help them in spiritual matters, so we behave in a particular way and speak certain things that do not match what we are inwardly.
May we not care for our righteousness before men to be gazed at by them but rather, may we have an inward, hidden, spiritual, and intimate life with the Lord so that we may grow in life for God’s building.
May we practice having hidden and secret time with our Father who sees in secret so that we may develop our hidden roots in Him, having a walk with Him, and grow in life for God’s building.
The third obstacle is rebellion; we may be very active and zealous in doing things but still imprison and disobey the living Christ within us by ignoring Him (Lev. 14:9, 14-18; 11:1-2, 46-47; Rom. 16:17; 1 Cor. 15:33).
We may think that we believers in Christ are not rebellious, for we believe in Jesus and we love Him.
However, we may be zealous in doing many things for the Lord or in His name, yet we still disobey the living Christ in us by ignoring Him.
He often tells us, No, don’t speak this to your wife, or No, don’t go there; yet we disobey Him.
We are rebellious by ignoring His gentle, quiet voice. We imprison the Lord in our being.
In many little things of our daily life such as the way we dress, the way we comb our hair, the way we speak, and the way we behave, we ignore the Lord and are rebellious toward Him, therefore not taking care of the living Christ in us. Oh, Lord!
May we develop a sensitivity in our spirit so that we would care for the living Christ in our spirit and do all things according to Him.
Also, may we not be discouraged when we realize the whole day passed by and we didn’t check with the Lord about anything; rather, may we begin right now.
May we spend time with the Lord, checking with Him concerning all things, and having many intimate conversations with Him.
Because we may be so active and zealous in doing things, even in the church life, but we may not check with Him, may we learn to care for the inner sense of life within.
May we always check with the Lord, Oh Lord, how do You feel about this?
![But a soulish man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he is not able to know [them] because they are discerned spiritually. But the spiritual man discerns all things, but he himself is discerned by no one. 1 Cor. 2:14-15](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/But-a-soulish-man-does-not-receive-the-things-of-the-Spirit-of-God-for-they-are-foolishness-to-him-and-he-is-not-able-to-know-them-because-they-are-discerned-spiritually-819x1024.jpg?resize=450%2C563&ssl=1 "But a soulish man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he is not able to know [them] because they are discerned spiritually. But the spiritual man discerns all things, but he himself is discerned by no one. 1 Cor. 2:14-15")
The fourth obstacle is our natural capabilities; if these natural capabilities remain unbroken in us, they will become a problem to Christ’s life (2:14-15; 3:12, 16-17; Jude 19; cf. Lev. 10:1-2).
We may be quite capable naturally speaking of doing this or that, and we may therefore be in darkness and hinder the growth of Christ in us.
We are so soulish and so natural, and even in the church life, we may live in our soul and in our natural man.
We learn what is good and what is not so good, we learn to behave in a certain way, and we live in a naturally good way, yet without the exercise of our spirit. Oh, Lord!
We may interact with others in a proper way, not saying things to offend them, yet we still may be in the natural man and do things according to our natural capability, not according to the spirit.
The soulish man cannot receive or discern the spiritual things; a spiritual man, however, discerns all things.
May we be those who spend much time with the Lord and deal with any obstacles to His life.
May we allow His cross to operate in us to deal with our natural capabilities so that His life may flow in us and we may grow in life for God’s building.
Lord Jesus, we want Your life to flow in us in an unhindered way. Grant us the experiences we need for us to have the breaking of the cross and have any obstacles removed and dealt with. Amen, Lord, may we experience the killing death of Christ in the all-inclusive Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of glory as we exercise our spirit today. We want to grow in life for God’s building in a normal way. We take You as our aim and we want to remain on the pathway of life. Oh Lord, You are our life and You are our goal. You are the preeminent One. We want to take care of the living Christ in us and not try to improve our outward appearance. Amen, Lord, save us from any hypocrisy. We want to pay attention to the living Christ within us and never imprison Him or disobey Him, thus being rebellious toward Him. Speak to us, Lord. We want to listen to Your voice. Break in us what needs to be broken and deal with our natural capabilities. May we be those who spend much time with the Lord in secret to enjoy Him, be dealt with by Him, and allow Him to flow freely in us. Amen, Lord, may we grow in life for God’s building today, dealing with all the obstacles to the growth of Christ in us!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ray Mulligan in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1953, vol. 1, “Knowing Life and the Church,” chs. 21-24, 27, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living a Christian Life and Church Life under the Government of God for the Economy of God (2024 Thanksgiving Blending Conference), week 3, Life and Building in Peter’s Epistles.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– In Christ Jesus We Are Being Built Together, via, New Jerusalem blog.
– God’s building by the growth in life, a portion from, The Experience of Christ as Life for the Building Up of the Church, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
– How Do I Consecrate Myself to the Lord? More via, Bibles for America blog.
– The growth in life issuing in the precious materials for God’s building and in the development of the gifts, a portion from, Elders’ Training, Book 09: The Eldership and the God-Ordained Way (1), Chapter 8, by Witness Lee.
– Matthew (Program #24) – The Decree of the Kingdom’s Constitution (12), via, Bible study radio.
– The church, God’s farm and God’s building, a portion from, Life-Study of 1 Corinthians, Chapter 22.
– Have You Eaten the Tree of Life Today? More via, Holding to Truth in Love.
– Christ as the seed of life sown into us to grow within us for God’s building, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique.
– Growth of the Divine Seed of the Kingdom in the Human Heart for God’s Building (2), via, Uni students.
– Our human spirit – a weighed spirit, a seeking spirit, and a contrite and lowly spirit, a portion from, Our Human Spirit, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee.
– A good conscience, short video via, CSOC Texas youtube channel. - Hymns on this topic:
– By the cross discern the spirit, / Through the living Word of God, / Separating soul from spirit, / That the right path may be trod. / By the cross discern the spirit, / With the mind by light renewed, / All emotion consecrated, / And the will in love subdued. (Hymns #748 stanzas 2-3)
– As for Thy way, O Lord, / I often am not clear; / I toward seclusion tend / And from the pathway veer. / As for Thy will for me, / I do not know it well; / I substitute my own / And often would rebel. / As for the church, I need / Thy revelation more, / The Body-life to know, / Thy wisdom to explore. (Hymns #426 stanzas 5-7)
– Lord Jesus, I love You / And I love Your dwelling. / You called me a “stone” / For Your building today. / God’s house is constructed / With stones that are living, / So building the church / Is our growing this way. / Oh God of all grace, / By Your ruling and breaking, / Do strengthen me into / My spirit today. / Keep guarding my heart, / With all vigilance taking / The pathway of life, / In Your building to stay. (New song inspired from this morning revival, stanza 1 and chorus)
About aGodMan![How sweet are Your words to my taste! / [Sweeter] than honey to my mouth! Psa. 119:103 If you have tasted that the Lord is good. 1 Pet. 2:3](https://i0.wp.com/agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/How-sweet-are-Your-words-to-my-taste-Sweeter-than-honey-to-my-mouth-Psa.jpg?fit=178%2C100&ssl=1)
![Who being reviled did not revile in return; suffering, He did not threaten but kept committing [all] to Him who judges righteously. 1 Pet. 2:23](https://i0.wp.com/agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Who-being-reviled-did-not-revile-in-return-suffering-He-did-not-threaten-but-kept-committing-all-to-Him-who-judges-righteously.jpg?fit=178%2C100&ssl=1)
Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1953, vol. 1, “Knowing Life and the Church,” pp. 136-140
May today be a day of normal growth in life for God’s building.
May we cooperate with the Lord to deal with any obstacles and care for the living Christ within us so that He may grow in us.
How much we need to be before the Lord concerning our hypocrisy, our rebellion, our natural capacities, and our not being on the pathway of life.
We need to allow the Lord to operate and move in us for His will to be made clear to us.
However our natural disposition, pulls us away from the Lord and can cause us to rebel against the Lord.
Thus we need to pass through the cross and be dealt with, so that we would not treasure our natural gifts and abilities, but instead Christ’s life would be lived out of us.
Aaaaameeen!
Brother I was touched this morning that we as living stones being fitted together and growing into a holy temple in the Lord should know the pathway of life and should take Christ as our life!
Lord save us from hypocrisy, our natural zeal capability and ability.
Amen, Lord we don’t want to remain the smooth stones which cannot be used for building. Lord shape us and hand cut us with sides and edges (death and resurrection) to build us with others. Amen
Life is God, life is Christ and life is the Holy Spirit. Regardless of how moral we are, we cannot have life without Christ.
Inside us, we can be ignoring what Christ wants us to do or our natural talents may be obstacles to Christ working in us.
We have to go through the cross and be broken to allow these obstacles to be dealt with.
We need to see that only Christ is the pathway of life and we should take Him as life.
Life is God, life is Christ, and life is the Holy Spirit.
We must despise our natural capabilities & aptitudes and allow the cross of Christ to break us and remove our attachment to our own abilities.
Eph. 2:21 In whom all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord.
Prov. 4:23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it are the issues of life.
Dear brother, the church is built by our growth in life.
However, this growth can be hindered by the obstacles in us:
For this, we need the breaking of the cross to allow such obstacles to be dealt with for Christ’s life to be lived out of us!
Listen to the audio version of this article via,
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4lohIpQF25lAFOqI3CwUEd?si=d7142e13c7854a13
Youtube:
https://youtu.be/YtXn2F_GHsQ
Rumble:
https://rumble.com/v6qgyqe-deal-with-all-the-obstacles-to-grow-in-life-for-gods-building.html
Aaaaaamen, yes Lord Jesus grow in us for God’s building.
I remember this young one in the church a number of years ago. I knew him well as I was close to his family. I even had the privilege to teach on his level a number of times over the years. He was a very smooth stone. If you had asked me at the time, I would have been very sure that this one was all for God. He was kind, gentle, polite, helpful, etc.
It is years later now and he is out in the world. I never see him at church and I understand he is living a seemingly godless life. And, most shockingly, he is no longer kind, gentle, polite etc. but utterly indifferent and unloving to his family. A smooth stone indeed.
The Lord showed me that though we may be saved, as is this young man, if we have kept the Lord locked up in a cell within our spirit and not allowed Him entrance into our soul, we are in a most terrible condition. And as such, we are vulnerable to the ways of the flesh, the world and the enemy. Oh Lord Jesus.
The Lord revealed to me that His, Jesus’ suffering continues. We tend to think it ended on the cross, but no, our Lord continues to suffer. He suffers our rejection, our not including Him, our disregard, our keeping Him imprisoned rather than allowing Him full reign in our lives. Oh Lord Jesus. Forgive me and all of us who claim your life and know your love. Help us to pray not judge, especially for others, like this young wayward brother. Remind me to throw open the cell door within my spirit so that the cell door in the prison I deserve, will be opened by You, unto eternity.
Ameen🙏🙏🙏.
Lord enlighten us to see the many obstacles there are in us that limit and restrict Your life in us.
How we need the breaking of the cross and experience the death of Christ putting away all malice and all guile and hypocrisies, envyings evil speakings, and all other obstacles.
Stir up our hearts to love You, to exercise and heed to our spirit and guard our hearts with all vigilance.
Lord keep us on the pathway of life. Cause us to desire the milk of the word and transform us to stones for Your building.. 🙏🙏🙏