The more we Grow in Life, the more we are Headed up in Christ by His Life and Light

The heading up in Christ in the church life is by life and light; first God comes into us as life to swallow any death, then the light of life shines in us to dispel the darkness, and we are headed up in Christ, being under the light as we grow in life. Wow!

It is all by His grace and because of His grace; God’s abounding grace will accomplish the heading up of all things in Christ! His grace is abounding toward us who believe, and this abounding grace is working on us so that all things might be headed up in Christ (Eph. 1:7-8, 10).

To be headed up is through God’s divine dispensing graciously, with grace, and in faith; it is not in the realm of the law, not in the realm of do’s and dont’s.

As we enjoy the Lord as grace, many things happen in us to work out the heading up; as we enjoy the Lord’s abounding grace, we as church people are being headed up in Christ, so that all things may be headed up in Christ through the church.

The more we, God’s inheritance, are saturated with the Spirit as the living seal (Eph. 1:11, 13), the more heading up there will be in the universe.

We were designated an inheritance in Christ, who is the Head, so that we may be inherited and enjoyed by God; being God’s inheritance is something that takes place in Christ’s headship.

Furthermore, the Spirit not only seals us to be His inheritance, but He is also a pledge to us, assuring us that God is our inheritance. The Spirit seals us, applying layer after layer of Himself into our being, filling us with Himself, and we are being headed up.

In the heading up, Christ as the Spirit comes in to seal us, confirming that we are God’s inheritance and that He is our inheritance, and making sure we enjoy God as our inheritance. We need the saturation of the Spirit by drinking Him and enjoying Him all the time; this is the way to be headed up by Him.

As God’s inheritance and possession, we have been predestinated and purchased; now we are in the process of being thoroughly saturated with the Spirit.

And when God’s possession has been wholly saturated with the Spirit as the living seal, the heading up of all things in Christ will be completed. Hallelujah!

When all things are headed up in Christ, everything will be in order in the universe – nothing will be out-of-place, there will be no more collapse, and the fall will be over. The heading up of all things in Christ depends on God’s possession, the church, being saturated with Himself.

We are Headed up in the Church Life by Life and Light: Life Swallows Death and Light Dispels Darkness!

After Satan rebelled against God, the earth became waste and void, and there was darkness everywhere; as a result of Satan’s rebellion, death and darkness came in.

Therefore, in Gen. 1 we are told that the first thing God came in to recover is to bring in light: He said, Let there be light! Then, through the bringing in of light, all forms of life were brought in. God addressed the rebellion of Satan directly by bringing in light.

Satan not only rebelled against God, but he also corrupted man, and to this corrupted man – who was to be God’s vessel to carry out His intention to head up all things in Christ – God comes in to be the life, and then light.

The fallen man partook of the factor of death, so in order for God to raise him up and head him up, He comes in firstly as life. When Christ came, in Him was life, and the life was the light of men (John 1:4).

In Genesis we have first light bringing in life, to address the rebellious situation with Satan; now with us, the fallen men, God gains us for Himself to head us up by first imparting life into Him, and that life brings forth light.

God’s way of recovery is Christ versus Satan, life versus death, light versus darkness, and order versus confusion. The collapse came from the factor of death, and our being headed up comes from the factor of life.

Sin brings in death, death brings in darkness, and darkness brings in confusion and disorder; today all around us we see darkness, confusion, and disorder, and people do what’s right in their own eyes.

But praise the Lord, even though Satan came in through sin and death to bring in darkness and confusion, Christ has come to us as life to enliven us, swallow up the factor of death, and bring in light to dispel all the darkness!

We see this in type with the dry bones in the valley in Ezek. 37:4-10; they were very dry, dead, and divided, but when the factor of life came into them, they rose up and became a great army, through the breathing of life.

We were dead in sins and offences, but God in Christ came to us as life, and this life is the light of men. God’s life is imparted into us, and this life swallows all our death; this life becomes our light, and this light dispels all the darkness, delivers us out of confusion, and brings us into order, harmony, and unity.

If we’re not filled with Christ as life, then – at least to some extent – we’re in darkness. As long as some part in our being is in darkness, there’s confusion, no order, and no harmony.

But when everyone is full of Christ, when we are filed with His life and light, there’s order, harmony, and we all walk in the light, full of life; we are all headed up, and spontaneously we all are controlled by this light of life.

Because of the fall, the oneness among God’s creation and between us and God has been lost; the way God recovers the oneness is to impart Himself in Christ into us as life (Rom. 8:6, 10-11, 19-21).

His life in us brings in light, and light issues in harmony and brings all things into oneness! Where life is, there is oneness and harmony, for the light of life is there; God’s way to head us up in the church life is by life and light.

Thank You Lord for coming into us as life to swallow our death and become the light that dispels all our darkness! Keep us under Your continual transmission and dispensing of life, so that we may grow in life and be headed up by life and light! Lord, rescue us and deliver us from the universal heap of collapse by Your life and light! Impart more of Your life into us, cause Your life to grow in us, and keep us walking in and being controlled by the light of life, so that You may have a way to recover the oneness among Your creation!

The more we Grow in Life, the more we are Headed up in Christ by His Life and Light

The way God heads us up in the church life is by life and light; in a practical way, for us to be delivered from the heap of collapse, we need to grow in the divine life.

The more we grow in life, the more we will be headed up and the more we will be rescued from the universal collapse (Eph. 4:15; Col. 2:19).

We participate in the heading up of all things in the church life by growing in life; the more we grow in life, the more we live under His light, and the more all things in our being, in our life, and in our living are being headed up in Christ.

Humanly speaking, we are being headed up more and more as we grow in the human life; first, a baby is horizontal, not being able even to sit by himself, then as he grows, he can sit, stand, walk, and, as he grows more and more, he’s being headed up more and more, for the factor of the human life in him heads him up.

Spiritually speaking, the more we grow in the divine life, the more the factor of the divine life in us heads us up in Christ.

How do we grow in life? It is by eating Jesus, drinking Jesus, breathing in Jesus, asking God to strengthen us into our inner man, and allowing Christ to make His home in our heart. The more Christ gains the room in our heart, the more growth in life we have.

Every day we must welcome Jesus in our being, eat Him, drink Him, and spend time to fellowship with Him.

We need to call on the name of the Lord, O Lord Jesus! – and we will have more of His life being infused into us. The more we call on the name of the Lord, the more we are being headed up, for we enthrone Him as Lord, and He as the Head is constantly transfusing and transmitting Himself into us to head us up.

As we call on the name of the Lord, we are connected in spirit with all the saints as fellow members of the Body under the transmission of the universal Head. As we call on the name of the Lord, eat Him in His word, drink Him, and enjoy Him, we have the boldness to stand one spirit with Him as members of His Body, under His headship!

When God comes into us as life, the light of life shines within us; He heads us up by His life and light – His life swallows death, and His light dispels the darkness (John 1:4; 8:12; Eph. 5:8-9).

When we are full of Christ as life, as we grow in the divine life day by day, we are under the divine light and we are controlled by the power of light.

Just as God is light, so we – the children of God – are children of light, and we are even light itself, because we are one with God in the Lord (see 1 John 1:5; John 12:36; Eph. 5:8; Matt. 5:14).

God is light, in Him there’s no darkness at all; we as children of God are children of light, and in Christ we become the light of the world – we become light itself, for we are in an organic union with Christ, who is light.

In the life and under the light, we are delivered out of confusion, brought into order, harmony, and oneness, and we are headed up under Christ (Eph. 1:10). This is what the world needs – to be headed up under Christ through His Body, the church.

It is not just Christ that heads up everything and everyone in the universe, but it is Christ through His Body, the church!

Christ the Head and the church as His Body take the responsibility for the heading up of all things; what happens in the church life today as we are being headed up in Christ by His life and light is more important than what’s happening in the house of the president and the prime minister, because we are one with Christ for the heading up of the whole universe!

Lord, may we grow in the divine life more and more so that we may be delivered from the heap of collapse in a practical way. Give us today’s portion of grace that we may grow in life so that we may be headed up in Christ and rescued from the universal collapse. O Lord Jesus, we enthrone You as our Lord, we take You as our life, we enjoy You as our food and drink, and we stand one spirit with You as members of Your Body, under the continual transmission of the Head! Lord, cause Your people to be headed up in You by life and light so that all the universe would be headed up in Christ through the church, His Body!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by James Lee for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Ephesians, msgs. 96, 16 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Genuine Church Life (2017 Thanksgiving Conference), week 2, The Church Life — a Life of Being Headed Up in Christ.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # We would be corporately, growing up steadily / Till we reach the stature of Your fullness; / Transforming and conforming us, Your / Manifested people. / Lord, grant me today’s supply of grace; / May Your divine life grow apace; / Little by little, day by day, to grow / More and more, into You. (Song on, Lord, grant me today’s supply of grace)
  # Owning Christ as Head and Center, / All will be in harmony; / Thru the shining of His Body / All will share His liberty. / No more darkness and corruption, / No more death and vanity; / All will be released from bondage / Throughout all eternity. (Hymns #981)
  # To the Head fast holding ever, / That we may together grow, / From the Head supplies incoming / Thru us to the Body flow. (Hymns #913)