We need to allow the word of Christ to dwell in us and mingle this word with our prayer so that we may live Christ.
For us to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly means that we need to give the Word the first place in our being, allowing the Lord as the Word to make His home in our heart; the result is that we live Christ, for we are inwardly nourished with the living word of God and Christ lives in us.
Col. 3:16 is an amazing verse, for here Paul doesn’t tell us that we should read the Bible, memorise chapters in the Bible, or let the word become our memory in our mind; rather, he says that we should let the word dwell in us richly.
Only a person can dwell; for the word to dwell in us means that Christ as the word of God needs to dwell in us.
The word of Christ is nothing else but the very person of Christ Himself, for Christ is the Word.
In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God; this Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, full of grace and reality (John 1:1, 14).
Furthermore, the embodied Word of God, Christ Himself, went through death and entered into resurrection, and in resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45).
Now when we contact the Lord, open to His word, and read the word in a prayerful way by means of all prayer and petition, Christ as the Word of God comes into us and dwells in us.
First, we have Christ as our life, then we have His living word personified as His person dwelling in us; Christ is our life (Col. 3:4), and Christ as the word dwells in us richly (Col. 3:16).
What is this “word of Christ” whom we should allow to dwell in us? And what does it mean to “let” the word dwell in us?
The word of Christ includes the entire New Testament, both the Gospels (where we see the Lord’s speaking in His earthly ministry) and the Epistles and the book of Revelation (where we see the Lord’s speaking as the Head through the members of the Body).
The entire New Testament is the word of Christ, for in His New Testament economy God speaks in the Son (Heb. 1:1-2) and the Son speaks through His members in His Body.
So the word of Christ includes the entire New Testament, and we need to be filled with this word.
And we need to let this word dwell in us richly. What does it mean and what does it imply for us to “let” the word dwell in us richly? To let seems something passive; we don’t have to actively do something but simply let.
It is actually an active-passive thing – we take the initiative to be in the Word of God, pray over the word of God, and eat the Lord in His word, and by doing this we let the word of Christ dwell in us richly.
Then, what happens is that the word of Christ indwells is, saturates us, and becomes our very constituent, so that in our Christian life we would no longer live by ourselves but we live Christ as He lives in us.
Let the Word of Christ Dwell in us Richly by Giving it the First Place and Allowing it to make His Home in us
May we be those who let the word of Christ dwell in us richly and have the first place in our being (Col. 3:16).
This small word “let” is so important, for the word of Christ is always present, but we need to LET it, allow it, to operate within us.
How much the Word of Christ is able to indwell us and make its home in us depends on our willingness, our decision; we need to willingly allow the word to have the thoroughfare in our being.
This involves the possibility that we may not let the word dwell in us richly; we may close the door of our heart, as those in Laodicea did, and have the Lord outside the door, knocking and trying to get in.
First we need to pray and read the word of Christ, and then we need to allow this word to indwell us, to have the first place in us, giving it the first place and allowing it to operate in us freely.
For the Word of Christ to dwell in us richly means that it inhabits us, it indwells us, in a rich way.
The Greek word for “dwell” literally means “to be in a house”, “to indwell”, and “to inhabit”. This indicates that we as believers in Christ should allow the word of Christ to dwell in us, to inhabit us, and to make its home in us.
For someone to make his home in a certain place means that he must have the freedom to rearrange things, keep certain things and throw away other things, redecorate, move things around, tear things down and build things up, all according to his taste and preference.
If we give the word of Christ the freedom to operate in us, to remove certain things and build up other things, then we will have the word dwell in us richly. We may even tell the Lord,
Dear Lord, I offer my whole being to You and to Your word; I give You access to every part of my inner being. Lord, make my inner being a home for Yourself and Your word.
We have to confess, however, that many times when we read the word of God with prayer and consideration, we don’t give it adequate room in us.
The Lord is faithful to speak to us and expose so many things that He doesn’t agree with, but we may not give Him the freedom to make His home in us.
We may close certain areas of our being, we may fence off some aspects of our living, and we may close the door to particular inner rooms that the Lord wants to touch.
We need to give the Lord’s word the preeminence, allowing it to be first; it is not us who should be first, but the word of Christ.
May we not even secretly keep the first place for ourselves but rather, reserve this place for the Lord. Oh Lord Jesus!
As the Lord’s peace arbitrates in our heart to preserve us in oneness, the Lord can speak to us. Then, we need to give the word of Christ the first place, giving it the preeminence in our being.
May we not close our being to the Lord’s speaking but be open to Him in all things! Amen!
Many times, however, we act as if we give the Lord and His word the first place, but secretly we keep the first place for the self. Oh Lord!
May His word have the first place in us, and may the Lord as the word dwell in us richly.
Lord Jesus, we offer our whole being to You and Your word: have the first place in our being. We give You access to every part of our inner being. Lord, make our inner being a home for Yourself and Your word. Strengthen us into our inner man, Lord, so that we may no longer close our inner being to You and to Your speaking but we would allow You to expose us, shine into every part of our heart, and make Your home in our heart. Amen, Lord, may Christ and the word of Christ have a home in us. May the arbitrating peace of Christ preserve us in oneness so that we may have the Lord’s speaking, and may our inner being be a home for Christ and the word to dwell richly!
Mingling the Word with Prayer to Experience the Functions of the Word and to Live Christ
If we give the word of Christ the preeminence in us, we will experience the many wonderful functions of the word of God, for the word of God enlightens us, nourishes us, quenches our thirst, strengthens us, washes us, builds us up, perfects us, and edifies us.
Our Christ is so rich to us in His word!
The word of Christ is Christ Himself (John 1:1), the Spirit and life (John 6:63), light (Psa. 119:105), food (Matt. 4:4), the seed (1 Pet. 2:23), the rain and snow (Deut. 32:2; Isa. 55:10, 11), the dew (Deut. 32:2), a sharp sword (Heb. 4:12), a hammer and a fire (Jer. 23:29), milk (1 Pet. 2:2), God’s breath (2 Tim. 3:16), and medicine (Prov. 4:20, 22).
The word of God enlightens (Psa. 119:105, 130), nourishes (Matt. 4:4; 1 Tim. 4:6), and waters us to quench our thirst (Isa. 55:8-11).
The word of God strengthens (1 John 2:14; Prov. 4:20-22), washes (Eph. 5:26), and builds us up (Acts 20:32).
The word of God completes, perfects (2 Tim. 3:15-17), and edifies us by sanctifying us (John 17:17).
We don’t know how rich the word of God is until we habitually read it with much prayer, mingling the word with prayer, and then we experience the functions of the Word.
As we allow the word of Christ to inhabit us, we can become a God-man filled with Christ as the reality of the attributes of God (Col. 3:16-21; Phil. 4:5-8).
The word of Christ which we eat and allow to make its home in us enables us to live Christ.
If we don’t eat Christ in His word, we cannot live Christ; if we feed on the Lord daily, we can live Christ.
We are healthy spiritually when we eat, digest, and assimilate the Word of God, being nourished by it.
We are made by God to enjoy Christ and live Christ; we are destined to live Christ, and if we do this, we will be the most blessed people on earth.
The way for us to live Christ is not merely making up our mind to live Christ or asking Him to live in us; it is for to eat Christ in His word.
When we live Christ as a result of eating Him in His word, we will have joy, satisfaction, and every blessing.
So our eating Christ is very important; we eat Him not merely by reading His word but by mingling His word with our prayer, with singing, with psalming, and with calling on the name of the Lord.
When we open the word of God, we should be immersed in an atmosphere of prayer; we should read and pray the word, mixing the word with our faith so that the word of Christ would profit us.
As we read the Bible, we should converse with the Lord by means of the verses that we read; in this way we are infused, we’re nourished, our spirit is filled with the living word, and Christ can live in us.
We may be inspired and encouraged that we need to live Christ, and we may make up our mind to live Him, even asking the Lord to help us do this.
But this may not be effective unless we eat the Lord in His word constantly.
Humanly speaking, we can’t have a healthy complexion and live a healthy life unless we eat healthy food regularly.
Spiritually speaking, we can’t live Christ merely by making up our mind to do it – we need to mingle the word of Christ with our prayer, allow the word to make its home in our inner being, and then we will live Christ.
Lord Jesus, we let the word of Christ dwell in us so that we may experience the functions of the Word of God operating within us, ministering the riches of Christ into our inner being. Thank You Lord for Your word which enlightens us, nourishes us, and waters us. Your word strengthens us, washes us, builds us up, completes and perfects us, and it sanctifies us. We choose to allow the word of Christ to inhabit us so that we may be God-men filled with Christ as the reality of the attributes of God. Amen, Lord, we come to Your word and we mingle Your word with our prayer and faith so that You as the Word may make Your home in us and live in us. Hallelujah, only by eating the Word can we live Christ!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by James Lee for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Colossians, msg. 64 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization Study of Jeremiah and Lamentations, week 4, God’s Words — the Divine Supply as Food.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Feeding and drinking, Lord Jesus, of Thee, / Feeding by reading, and drinking by prayer; / Reading and praying, I eat and I drink, / Praying and reading-Lord, Thou art my fare. (Hymns #811)
– ’Tis only when our spirit acts / To take Thy Word and contact Thee, / We truly feed upon Thy Word / And touch Thyself most inwardly. / Lord, teach us how to exercise / Our spirit when Thy Word we read; / Then will our spirit nourished be / As thus upon Thyself we feed. (Hymns #814)
– We have found the way to live by Christ— / Pray His Word and call His name! / This — the eating, drinking — has sufficed / And its worth we now proclaim. (Hymns #1153)
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