As we bear the brands of Jesus and live a crucified life, we enjoy the grace of Christ as the supply of the life-giving Spirit in our spirit; it is this grace that accomplishes God’s purpose and consummates the New Jerusalem. Hallelujah!
Our Christian life is a life of enjoying God as grace, and we live in the Divine Trinity by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in our spirit.
The grace of the Lord is with our spirit and in our spirit (Gal. 6:18), and we can come forward to the throne of grace in our spirit to receive mercy and find grace for timely help (Heb. 4:16).
Where is the throne of grace, and how can we come to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace?
The throne of grace is in our spirit, for grace is with our spirit; when we come to the Lord to contact Him in spirit, when we enthrone the Lord in our being, grace as a river flows from the throne of grace.
In the Holiest Place in our spirit, we touch the throne of grace in our spirit, and grace as a river flows!
On His side, God went through a process and was consummated to be the life-dispensing Spirit in our spirit.
Through regeneration, He has been installed as the throne of grace in our spirit, and whenever we turn to our spirit, grace flows.
The Lord came to be grace to us; when He came, grace came, and when we contact the Lord, we receive grace upon grace.
Grace is not merely something outward that God does for us or gives us; grace is simply the Triune God Himself being our life, our life supply, and our enjoyment for us to live a life for the fulfilment of God’s purpose.
How can we receive grace and enjoy grace?
It is not by doing something in an outward way but by turning to our spirit, for grace is with our spirit.
We need to contact the Lord in spirit and enthrone Him, giving Him the preeminence, and we will have the flow of grace from the throne of grace.
As we enjoy grace after grace and allow grace to reign in us, grace will do everything in us.
Grace operates in us to reign in us and to enable us to reign in life.
When grace reigns in us, we reign in life by receiving the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness.
But if it is still us on the throne, if we dethrone the Lord and keep ourselves on the throne, grace is not our portion.
May we come to the Lord again and again and enthrone Him in our being so that we may enjoy the flow of grace and live a life for the fulfillment of God’s purpose by grace!
Bear the Brands of Jesus by Living a Crucified Life and Enjoy the Grace of Christ as our Bountiful Supply
In Gal. 6:16 Paul speaks of walking by the rule of the new creation to enjoy peace and grace; in v. 18 he concludes with the grace of the Lord being with our spirit, and in v. 17 he speaks of bearing in his body the brands of Jesus.
What is the connection between peace, the brands of Jesus, and grace with our spirit? As we bear the brands of Jesus, we enjoy the grace of Christ.
As Paul was writing about peace and grace, he had the inner realization that he enjoyed peace because he was bearing the brands of Jesus.
Through the enjoyment of grace, Paul was brought into a peaceful state, and he was maintained in this peace by bearing the brands of Jesus.
If we bear the brands of Jesus, we will be kept at peace, but if we refuse to bear these brands, our peace will disappear.
The word “brands” in Gal. 6:17 refers to the marks branded on slaves to indicate their owners.
Paul was a slave of Christ (Rom. 1:1) and he had physical brands as scars of his wounds received in his faithful service to the Lord Jesus, his Master (1 Cor. 11:23-27).
Spiritually, the brands of Jesus signify the characteristics of the life that he lived, a life that lived by the Lord Jesus when He was on this earth.
The Lord Jesus lived in a certain way and bore particular brands that marked Him as belonging to God and being one with God.
He lived a crucified life continually (John 12:24), He did the will of God (6:38), He didn’t seek His own glory but the glory of God (7:18), and He was submissive and obedient to God, even to the death of a cross (Phil. 2:8).
Paul followed the Lord’s pattern and bore the brands of Jesus; he was not only living a crucified life and sought God’s glory, but he also bore the wounds because of his faithfulness in service to Christ.
He said that five times he received forty stripes less one, three times he was beaten with rods, and more than once he was stoned by others (2 Cor. 11:24-25).
There were many scars on his body testifying of his years of service to Christ; these scars also may be considered the brands of Jesus.
We may not be persecuted and beaten physically for the Lord, but we need to live a crucified life in our daily life today so that we may bear the brands of Jesus.
When we bear the brands of Jesus by living a crucified life, we enjoy the grace of as our bountiful supply.
May we learn from the Lord Jesus and from Paul as our pattern to not defend ourselves but rather, live a crucified life and be willing to be despised, rejected, and even ridiculed for the Lord’s sake.
When we live a crucified life, we bear a brand to show that we belong to God.
Paul spoke of “the fellowship of His sufferings”; he lived in the fellowship of the Lord’s sufferings and bore the brands of Jesus as the sign that he lived a crucified life.
If we want to enjoy peace and continue enjoying the Lord as grace, our bountiful supply, we need to be willing to bear the brands of Jesus by living a crucified life.
This doesn’t mean that we should buffet our body physically to make it suffer, so that we may “feel the sufferings of Christ”; rather, it means that we need to exercise our spirit and live a crucified life to bear the brands of Jesus and enjoy the grace of Christ.
When we bear the brands of Jesus, we will enjoy the grace of Christ, and this grace is the bountiful supply of the life-giving Spirit.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is the all-inclusive enjoyment, the bountiful supply, of the life-giving Spirit.
If we are willing to exercise our spirit and live a crucified life, thus bearing the brands of Jesus, we will enjoy the bountiful supply of the Spirit.
What a rich and bountiful supply we enjoy in spirit!
May we not be discouraged or afraid of bearing the brands of Jesus, for as we bear these brands, we will enjoy the bountiful supply of the life-giving Spirit in our spirit!
Lord Jesus, we love You and we want to enjoy Your peace and grace today. Make us those who are willing to bear the brands of Jesus by living a crucified life so that we may enjoy the bountiful supply of the Spirit. Save us from trying to live a contented life without the enjoyment and experience of Christ. May we participate in the fellowship of the Lord’s sufferings by living a crucified life, and may we enjoy the bountiful supply of the Spirit in our spirit! Amen, Lord, keep us enjoying the grace of Christ and experiencing the bountiful supply of the Spirit!
The Grace of the Lord Jesus Dispensed into us Consummates in the New Jerusalem
The last verse in the Bible is Rev. 22:21 which says, The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints.
Many people may know the first verse of the Bible but not many may know the last verse.
Everything in the book of Revelation and everything in the Word of God will be accomplished by grace.
The grace of the Lord Jesus dispensed into us, His believers, consummates in the New Jerusalem.
The more we enjoy grace, experience grace, allow grace to reign in us, and live in grace, the more we are being produced to be the New Jerusalem.
Our whole living today is a living of grace and a living by grace.
As believers in Christ, we need to enjoy the Lord as grace day by day, stand in grace, experience grace, speak with grace, and even manifest grace among us.
The grace of the Lord Jesus is with all the saints, and this grace fulfills God’s purpose to consummate the New Jerusalem.
The key is our spirit, for grace is in our spirit; we need to have set times of prayer with the Lord to enjoy Christ as grace and be filled with Him to minister Him to others.
We need to call on the name of the Lord, cry out to Him, and remain in contact with the Lord; to do this, we need to have set times with the Lord, times in which we just enjoy Him as grace.
The book of Revelation begins and ends with the Word of God and the grace of God; in Rev. 1:4-5 John says, Grace to you and peace from the Triune God.
Grace begins God’s revelation and accomplishes His purpose, and grace will consummate the eternal purpose of God.
Everything in the word of God will be accomplished by grace.
Having received the Spirit through the hearing of faith, we should not try to do the works of the law but rather continue in grace and live by faith.
Grace will accomplish God’s economy, and grace is the way for us to live in and with the Divine Trinity so that He can get His heart’s desire.
It is not by our struggling and striving; it is not by ability or zeal; it is not by our willing or working; it is by the grace of God.
It is the grace that becomes our burden bearer, our inward supply, and our everything for us to live a life for the fulfilment of God’s purpose.
Grace and peace flow from the Triune God into us, and even as we bear the brands of Christ by living a crucified life, we live a life by grace, and the Triune God is expressed through us.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints!
May we remain in the enjoyment of Christ day by day and even minute by minute, coming to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace for timely help again and again.
Lord Jesus, keep us under the continual dispensing of the grace of the Lord Jesus into us so that we may be produced as the New Jerusalem! Hallelujah, the grace of the Lord Jesus is with all the saints to supply them for the fulfilment of God’s purpose! Amen, Lord, we do not trust in ourselves, our capacity, our zeal, or our ability; we trust in the grace of God. We come forward to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace. May grace become everything to us, and may we live by the grace of God, standing in grace, and allowing grace to reign in us and flow through us!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ricky Acosta, and portions from, Life-study of Galatians, pp. 272-276 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living In and With the Divine Trinity (2021 Thanksgiving Day Conference), week 3, entitled, Living in the Divine Trinity (2) – Living in the Divine Trinity by Enjoying Christ as Our Life Supply, by Living Christ for His Magnification, and by the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in Our Spirit.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Grace all the work shall crown / Through everlasting days; / It lays in love the topmost stone, / And well deserves the praise. / All sufficient grace! / Never powerless! / It is Christ who lives in me, / In His exhaustlessness. (Hymns #312)
– It is this grace-Christ as our inward strength- / Which with His all-sufficiency doth fill; / It is this grace which in our spirit is, / There energizing, working out God’s will. / This grace, which is the living Christ Himself, / Is what we need and must experience; / Lord, may we know this grace and by it live, / Thyself increasingly as grace to sense. (Hymns #497)
– In the holiest place, touch the throne of grace, / Grace as a river shall flow; / In the holiest place, touch the throne of grace, / Grace as a river shall flow. / Hallelujah! Hallelujah! / Grace as a river shall flow; / Hallelujah! Hallelujah! / Grace as a river shall flow. (Hymns #770)
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