Allow Christ to Defeat us as He Descends and Ascends Within us to make us Gifts to the Body

We need to allow Christ to defeat, subdue, conquer, and vanquish us as He descends and ascends within us so that He may fill us and constitute us into gifts for His Body.

Through His descending and ascending, Christ defeated Satan and death, He took us as His captives, and made us gifts to the Body; the more Christ descends and ascends within us, capturing and vanquishing us, the more He fills us with Himself to constitute us as gifts to His Body. Amen!

What a wonderful fact and reality that is so experiential!

Thank the Lord for all that He has done and is doing.

The intrinsic building up of the Body of Christ is by Christ giving the gifts, in His ascension.

He constitutes some as gifts to the Body so that they may perfect the saints unto the work of the ministry unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

May we be those who love the Lord in incorruptibility and remain joined to Him.

May we live in oneness with the Lord, not paying attention to the corruptible things but the incorruptible things, which are the things of Christ and the church for the building up of the Body of Christ.

As we live in the church life and find ourselves involved with various matters in the church life, we need to practice the way ordained by God to meet and to serve.

By preaching the gospel, shepherding the new ones in their homes, perfecting the saints in the group meetings, and prophesying to build up the church, we will love the Lord in incorruptibility.

In doing these things we will be kept in the experience of loving the Lord in incorruptibility, and we do all things for the building up of the Body.

The Body of Christ is an organism, and we love the Lord and the church, give Him our love in the church life, and do all things by exercising our spirit.

Difficulties and limitations may arise, and problems may come in both inwardly and outwardly; however, we want to remain one spirit with Him, remaining in the organic union with the Lord.

How do we overcome the difficulties that come our way as we live a life for the building up of the church?

It is by loving the Lord with the first love and living in the divine romance, loving Him with all that we are and have.

May we cleave to Him and hold to Him, augmenting our appreciation of Him.

May we be those who love the Lord more and more.

He loves us, He draws us to Himself, and we respond to His love by cleaving to Him and remaining in the organic union with Him to love Him more.

Our appreciation of His love for us lags far behind His appreciation of our love for Him.

Our meagre love for Him is appreciated by Him much more than our appreciation of His great love for us.

May we look away unto Jesus, remain in His word, and exercise our spirit with a turned heart toward the Lord so that we may love the Lord in incorruptibility and live a life that is for the building up of the organic Body of Christ.

Christ Gained the Victory over Satan, Took us as His Captives, and Made us Gifts to the Body for its Building up

Eph. 4:8-10 is a wonderful and mysterious portion in the Bible, for it connects to Psa. 68 and it applies it to our experience.

Paul saw that, when Christ was incarnated, He descended to the earth; then, when Christ died and went to Hades, He descended even further to the lowest part of the earth.

When He resurrected, He ascended to the earth, and when He ascended, He ascended even further to the third heavens, the highest place in the universe (John 3:13; Phil. 2:10; Eph. 1:21).

Through His death, Christ destroyed the devil; in His resurrection, He regenerated the many members of the Body of Christ, and in His ascension, He led us all as captives in a train of vanquished foes.

Christ conquered and overcame Satan, the one who captured us, the sinners. He led captive those taken captive, that is, He led a train of vanquished foes to the Father in the heavens.

In this train of vanquished foes, there may be Satan, his angels, and also us, the sinners; Christ gained full victory over Satan, sin, and death.

Praise the Lord!

And He celebrates His triumph over His vanquished foes by leading them as His captives in a triumphal procession in His move for His ministry to build up His Body. Wow.

After defeating Satan and taking us as His captives, Christ gave us as gifts to the Body.

The gifts in Eph. 4:8 do not refer to abilities or capacities for various services in the church life; rather, they refer to the gifted persons in v. 11.

Christ gave the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers to the Body as gifts so that they may perfect the saints and these perfected saints would function in their measure for the building up of the Body of Christ.

Hallelujah, Christ in His ascension made us, the rescued sinners, gifts by means of His resurrection life!

On one hand, we were taken captive by Christ through His universal travelling, for He defeated Satan and took his captives and led them in a train of vanquished foes to the Father.

On the other hand, He constitutes us as gifts to the Body of Christ by His resurrection life so that we may function in the Body as members for the building up of the Body of Christ.

We the redeemed saints had been taken captive by Satan before we were saved by Christ’s death and resurrection (Luke 4:18).

But praise the Lord, in His ascension, Christ led us captive – He rescued us from Satan’s captivity and took us to Himself (Psa. 68:18).

Now God is celebrating Christ’s triumph over us, His vanquished foes, and He is leading us as His captives in a triumphal procession in His move for His ministry to build up the Body of Christ (2 Cor. 2:14).

These gifts are, on one hand, the gifted persons who are constituted to be those who perfect the saints to function as they function and, on the other hand, we are these gifts, for we all are gifts given by Christ to His Body.

What an amazing view of the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, and what a wonderful fact it is that we all were given to the Body as gifts for its building up!

May we be those who function in the Body for the building up of the Body so that Christ may fulfil His purpose in and through the church!

Hallelujah for Christ, the One who ascended to the height, led captive those taken captive, and gave gifts to men! Praise the Lord, we who were taken captive by Satan before we were saved, we have been taken captive by Christ and made gifts to the Body of Christ! Hallelujah, in His ascension Christ led us captive after rescuing us from Satan’s captivity and taking us to Himself! We are no longer captives of Satan, death, and sin; we have been released from Satan’s captivity and have been brought into the Body of Christ! Amen, Lord, we praise You for what You have done! We give ourselves to You to be perfected by the gifted members so that we may function in the Body for its building up!

Allow Christ to Defeat us as He Descends and Ascends Within us to Fill us with Himself and Constitute us as Gifts to the Body

The universal travelling of Christ – His descending to the earth to be incarnated, His descending to Hades through death, His ascending to the earth through resurrection, and His ascending to the third heaven through ascension – has reached us.

Christ didn’t end His travelling when He ascended to the third heaven; after He ascended, He also descended into our spirit.

Whenever someone calls on the name of the Lord, Christ descends into them and continues His universal travelling, this time in a human being.

Christ is still travelling today: He is still descending and ascending.

He descends and ascends within us, capturing us and vanquishing us, and He fills us with Himself to constitute us as gifts to His Body.

In our experience, we may be up or down, and we may be happy or not happy with the Lord.

However, when we’re down, Christ comes down to where we are and brings us up to God.

We may be enjoying the Lord in the morning, but we may be quite busy during the day and may forget about the Lord.

When we simply call on His name and tell Him we love Him, He descends where we are and brings us up to where He is, in ascension.

We all can testify that this happens many times in us during the day.

He goes up and goes down; He reaches us where we are, and though we may be on earth, He descends to where we are to capture us and bring us to where He is.

Christ is not just in the heavens; He is also in us, with us, here on earth.

He is everywhere, for He travelled from heaven to earth to under the earth and then all the way back to the third heaven to fill all things (Eph. 4:9-10).

He wants to fill all things not only outwardly but even more inwardly; He fills all things by filling us with Himself.

Through Christ’s descending and ascending, He is filling us with Himself.

We need to allow Christ to defeat and subdue us as He descends and ascends within us so that we may be filled with Him and be constituted into gifts for His Body.

Through His descending and ascending, Christ constitutes us as gifts to the Body.

The more Christ descends and ascends within us, the more He captures us, vanquishes us, and constitutes us into gifts to the Body of Christ.

The more we experience Christ’s descending and ascending within us, the more we become useful gifts to the Body.

For us to function as useful gifts in the Body, we must be conquered and subdued by Christ continually.

Only when we’re willing to be captured by Christ does He have the ground and standing to make us gifts to the Body of Christ.

We need to yield to Him and surrender ourselves to Him.

We need to be thoroughly defeated, conquered, captured, gained, and taken over by Christ.

If we’re willing to be subdued by Him, we will give Him the ground to establish us as gifts to His Body.

May we be those experiencing Christ descending and ascending within us, and may we be willing to be subdued, captured, and vanquished by Him, so that He may have a way to fill us with Himself to constitute us as gifts to His Body!

Christ’s love for us and the Father’s love for us is shown in esteeming us as worthy to be gifts to the Body.

We need to let Him touch us and remain in the touch with Him.

We need to remain in the mingled spirit and allow the Lord to reach us even in our lowest points.

When we are so low, so out of it, He descends into us, He picks us up and turns us back to Him.

We may simply call on His name or groan from deep within, and He is right there with us.

He supplies us and nourishes us, and our inner being is subdued and captured by Him.

Then, He brings us to where He is – He causes us to ascend, rise up, and function in the Body in our measure for the building up of the Body of Christ.

May we be those who allow the Lord to descend and ascend in us; may we give Him the permission to capture and vanquish us, so that we may be constituted into gifts to the Body for the building up of the Body.

Lord Jesus, we open to You from the depths of our being. We just want to call on Your name. We need You. We allow You to descend and ascend in us. We allow You to capture us and vanquish us. Have Your way in our being. We simply surrender to You, dear Lord. We are defeated by You. You captured us, and we are Your vanquished foes. Come in and fill us with Yourself. Constitute us into gifts to the Body of Christ for its building up. We give ourselves to You, Lord, to live a life for the building up of the organic Body of Christ. Ascend and descend within us. Capture and vanquish us. Fill us with Yourself. Constitute us as gifts to the Body. Amen, Lord Jesus, have a way in us!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3413-3417, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Loving the Lord and loving one another for the organic building up of the church as the Body of Christ (2022 fall ITERO), week 4, entitled, The Organic Body of Christ Building itself up in Love.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Make me a captive, Lord. / And then I shall be free; / Force me to render up my sword, / And I shall conq’ror be. / I sink in life’s alarms / When by myself I stand, / Imprison me within Thine arms, / And strong shall be my hand. (Hymns #422, stanza 1)
  – The new covenant ministers / Are captives in a procession, / Defeated and subdued by Christ / For His victorious celebration. / Lord, make me Your captive. / Never let me win. / Defeat me all the time. / Lord, make home in me. (Song on, The new covenant ministers)
  – So in Christ, through His redemption / (Vanquished evil powers!) / Thou hast brought, in new creation, / Worshippers! / Glory be to God the Father, / And to Christ the Son, / Glory to the Holy Spirit— / Ever One. (Hymns #1, stanzas 5-6)