Christ is Formed in us: we’re Saturated and Constituted with Him to Express His Image

To have Christ formed in us is to allow Him to saturate and permeate our inner being, make His home in our hearts, occupy every part of our inner being, and be mingled with our being so that we may be constituted with Christ and His image be expressed through us. Amen!

God in Christ wants to be intimately related with us; He wants to have an intimate relationship with us to the extent that His being is infused into us to become us, and we are one with Him to express Him corporately.

The New Testament uses some wonderful organic terms regarding our relationship with Christ, and in the book of Galatians, we see three such terms.

First, Christ is revealed in us; He is not just revealed to us but in us, in a subjective way, to become imprinted and infused into our being. Then, Christ lives in us; by faith in Christ, we are crucified with Christ and it is no longer we who live but it is Christ who lives in us.

First, Christ is revealed in us, then He lives in us, and finally, He is formed in us. Not only is Christ infused into us and not only does He live in us but even more, our very image is changed, our expression is uplifted, so that others see Christ in us, for we are conformed to His image.

What does it mean for Christ to be formed in us? Paul said in Gal. 4:19 that he laboured and travailed again in birth until Christ is formed in the Galatian believers.

Christ is not formed in us suddenly or overnight; there’s a long process involving the travail and labour of many saints so that Christ may be formed in us.

We can also enter into this travail over the saints, seeking not only to help them or visit them or invite them into our home but even more, minister Christ to them according to their need so that Christ may be formed in them. Christ needs to be formed in us.

For Christ to be formed in us means that He is fully grown in us (Eph. 4:13-16).

We need to arrive at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; then, Christ is fully formed in us. Little by little, day by day, Christ is being formed in us; as we grow in life, He is formed in us. It is very important for us to grow in the divine life day by day so that we may have Christ formed in us.

First, Christ was born into us at the time we repented and believed into Him, then He lives in us in our Christian life (Gal. 2:20), and finally, He will be formed in us at our maturity.

There’s a progression here, and we need to remain in the process of having Christ formed in us. We need to give the Lord the ground in our being for Him to do what He wants to do in us to conform us to the image of Christ.

To have Christ Formed in us is to Allow Him to Permeate our Being, Saturate our Inward Parts, and Make His Home in our Heart

In order for us believers in Christ to have Christ formed in us, we need to allow Him to permeate our whole being and saturate our inward parts (see Gal. 4:19; Eph. 3:17a; Col. 3:4, 10-11).

We need to open to Him and allow Him to saturate and permeate us with Himself. When Christ occupies our inner being in this way, He is formed in us (Psa. 51:6).

May we be those who daily open to the Lord in our situations, in all kinds of things, and related to all our problems and trials, and may we allow Him to saturate us.

May we allow Christ to saturate every part of our inner being so that He may occupy us and saturate our mind, emotion, and will (Phil. 2:5; Eph. 3:17).

God will never force Himself on us; He will never force us to open to Him so that He may work Himself into us. We need to actively allow Him.

Sometimes we may feel that the Lord is far away, and sometimes we may be in a situation where we come to the Lord and it seems that He is not there. He may not answer our prayer, and we may think He is not so available. All these are related to our feelings.

We need to forget about our feelings and our thoughts, which are very deceiving, and we simply exercise our spirit to come to the Lord. Don’t worry whether the Lord is there, whether He’s really listening, or whether He seems to answer our prayer; the Lord is there, He is listening, and He will answer our prayer.

However, this is not a matter of our sensation or feeling; it is a matter of faith, for we live not by sight or feeling but by faith. We simply need to exercise our spirit of faith and live a life of faith, spending time with the Lord in the morning and contacting Him throughout the day.

We may feel that, even though we read the Bible and call on the name of the Lord, we may not gain that much, or that not much remains in us after our time with the Lord. We should not trust our feelings or thoughts.

We simply need to be diligent to come to the Lord, for little by little, day by day, the Lord is working Himself into us. We need to stay on the pathway of life by opening to the Lord, exercising our spirit of faith, and spending time with the Lord diligently. Growth is not something that we can notice with the naked eye.

When you see someone after a year or so, you can notice the growth; however, if you see that person every day, you will not notice how they grow. Much growth happens beneath the soil, in secret, in our personal time with the Lord.

Just as plants send roots deep down in the soil to absorb the rich nutrients, and not much growth seems to happen above the soil, so we need to have much personal, secret, hidden time with the Lord to absorb Him and be filled with His riches.

Little by little, as we spend time with the Lord in the morning and open Him throughout the day, the Lord has a way to grow in us, and Christ is formed in us.

We simply need to tell the Lord, Lord, we open our being: infuse us with Yourself and saturate our inner being with Yourself! As we open, as we turn, His mind becomes our mind, and the mind which was in Christ will also be in us (Phil. 2:5).

He will make His home in our heart. However, if we are passive in our Christian life, we may end up like Lot – we may choose what is best for our interest, our family, and our possessions, and we may be in the world, among the people in the world, away from God and His people.

The Lord may not stop us when we choose to have our own way; He is not in the business of forcing us to follow Him, but rather, He wants to be pursued by us. He loves it when we, the believers in Christ, pursue Christ, seek Christ, and strive to know Him, exercising our spirit to contact Him.

As we exercise our spirit of faith day by day, Christ will permeate our whole being and will saturate our inward parts; in this way, Christ is formed in us (Gal. 4:19).

For Christ to make His home in our hearts, He needs to be able to settle down in us; this requires that we allow Christ to make His home in all the parts of our inner being and be formed in us (Eph. 3:17).

Christ makes His home in our hearts through faith. If we just give Him the ground, if we just open to Him, He will saturate and permeate us with Himself.

What a church life we will have if we all allow Christ to make His home in our hearts!

Many times we need to repent that we did not allow Christ to make His home in our hearts; we may have withheld some of the rooms and areas of our inner being from Him, limiting Him from spreading into every part of our heart.

May we learn to open to Him and give Him the thoroughfare in us so that He may settle down in us, making His home in every part of our being. May we have many short prayers to the Lord throughout the day, opening to Him and saying,

Lord Jesus, we want You to be formed in us. We open to You. We allow You to permeate our whole being with Yourself. Amen, Lord, saturate our inward parts with Yourself. May You make Your home in our mind, emotion, and will. We repent, Lord, for limiting You in many ways in our being. We open to You as wide as we can. We simply say, Yes, Lord, make Your home in our thinking, our decisions, our emotions, our feelings, and in every room of our heart. Saturate every part of our inner being with Yourself. Occupy us, Lord, fill us, and saturate us! We do not trust our feelings and we drop our concepts. We do not want to nurture our thoughts nor do we set our mind on the things of the flesh. We simply open to You! Lord, we come to You! Saturate us! Permeate us! Possess our entire being so that You may be formed in us! Make Your home deep down in our heart. Settle down in us. Amen, Lord, may Christ be formed in us! May Christ saturate us, permeate us, and fill us!

To have Christ Formed in us is to Allow the All-inclusive Spirit to Occupy every part of our Being and to have Christ Mingled with our Whole Being

To have Christ formed in us is to allow the all-inclusive Spirit to occupy every part of our inner being (Gal. 4:19; 3:2-3, 14). May we learn to just allow Him.

The Lord is a gentleman – He will not force us to do anything we don’t allow Him to do, so we simply need to open to Him and allow Him to occupy every part of our inner being.

Christ should not only spread into our mind, emotion, and will; he should actually become our mind, emotion, and will. This is why Paul said that we need to let the mind of Christ be in us (Phil. 2:5) and that we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16).

Christ was willing to lower Himself, humble Himself, and be obedient unto death, and that the death of a cross. We need to let this mind be in us.

Our mind needs to be renewed by the Spirit with our spirit spreading in our mind. Through the renewing of our mind, we can eventually have the mind of Christ. Imagine what a church life we would have if we allow the mind of Christ to become our mind!

When Christ occupies our mind, we are willing to honour one another, we are willing to fellowship, and we are willing to be limited by one another in our coordination in sweet harmony.

This is what the Lord wants to gain among us today – He wants to have Christ formed in us by our allowing the all-inclusive Spirit occupy every part of our being with Himself! This means that everything other than Christ must diminish, and Christ must become everything to us in our experience; this is to have Christ formed in us.

May we be willing to allow Christ to occupy and possess all the inward parts of our being so that He may be formed in us. There’s a price to pay, for we are what we are by nature, and by default, we think in a certain way, we have certain feelings, and we make decisions based on our preferences and desires.

But if we open to the Lord again and again, if we just open to Him and call on His name as we are about to do something, decide something, or say something, He has a way to spread in our inner being.

He wants to spread in our mind, emotion, and will until He becomes our mind, emotion, and will. The Lord wants to be formed in us to the extent that we have the mind of Christ, we have the tender feelings of Christ’s inner being, our will is in full harmony with His will.

May we pay the price day by day, in all situations and circumstances, to be one with the Lord in this way. To have Christ formed in us is to have Christ mingled with our whole being (1 Cor. 6:17).

In every part of our being, Christ should be mingled with us. He must saturate and permeate us to such an extent that He is completely blended with us; then He will be formed in us.

As we pay attention to Christ, contact Christ, and are one with Christ in all things, always checking with the Lord about all things, we are saturated with Him and He is formed in us.

As we contact the Lord by calling on His name again and again in all our situations, we decrease and He increases; everything other than Christ diminishes and He becomes everything to us in our experience.

Lord Jesus, we allow You to spread in our being and occupy every part of our inner being. We just open to You and we allow You to spread in us. Amen, Lord, spread in our mind with its thoughts, in our emotions with its feelings and desires, and in our will with its decisions. We just open. Keep us opening to You throughout the day. Occupy our mind, emotion, and will. Occupy every part of our inner being. May everything other than Christ diminish in us and may Christ become everything to us in our experience. Amen, Lord, we say Amen to Your saturating, permeating, and occupying all the parts of our inner being! May You spread in our mind, emotion, and will to the extent that You become our mind, emotion and will! Oh Lord, may we have the mind of Christ! May You mingle Yourself with our emotions so that we may have Your feelings and emotions. Subdue our will, dear Lord, so that our will may be in harmony with Your will!

Christ Formed in us means that we are Constituted with Christ and Transformed into His Image

Paul’s word about Christ being formed in us, the believers in Christ, implies that we are being constituted with Christ (Col. 1:27; 3:4, 10-11).

Christ is in us, Christ lives in us, Christ is being formed in us, and Christ is becoming our constitution. The Christian life is not primarily a matter of what we do; it is a matter of who we are. Being a Christian is matter not of what we do for God or in the church life; it is a matter of who we are and what we are by our very constitution.

We should not be distracted by outward activities, even by activities that are very necessary in the church life; may we rather pay attention to our inward constitution.

This doesn’t mean that we should try to discern whether something is religious or spiritual, and choose the spiritual thing. Rather, we simply need to enjoy the Lord and pay attention to Christ growing in us and spreading in us.

Christ is living in us, He is being formed in us, and He is becoming our very constitution; Christ is now living in us so that we may be constituted with Him organically.

What we are by nature is what matters. It is our very constitution, what we are in our inner being, that builds up the church. The New Testament pays more attention to what we are than to what we do.

This is why eventually, our whole being will be constituted with the element of Christ, for He will constitute every part of our soul so that we may have His form, His image, in every part of our being.

As we behold the Lord day by day with an unveiled face, we reflect Him like a mirror, and we are being transformed into the same image as Christ, from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18). To this God called us and foreknew us, and He predestinated us to be conformed to the image of Christ, the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:29).

This should be our focus today, that we would be a group of people cooperating with the Lord so that Christ is constituted into our being until Christ is formed in us and we’re transformed into His image.

The word “formed” in Galatians 4:19 corresponds to the word “image” in 2 Corinthians 3:18. Christ is formed in us means that we are transformed into His image.

Christ with His element is working within us organically so that we may have His form and express His image. Each one of us, the believers in Christ, have been predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ, and we are now in the process of being transformed so that Christ may be formed in us.

May we give Him more ground in our being for this process to take place. We are being transformed into His image, He is being formed in us, and we are being conformed to His image. Christ’s being formed in us depends on our being transformed into His image.

Our being transformed into His image and His being formed in us cause us to be conformed to His image. Our being conformed to the image of Christ is the issue of His being formed in us.

Hallelujah, we all will be conformed to the image of Christ so that not only inwardly Christ is formed in us but also outwardly we look like Him, expressing His glorious image!

Lord Jesus, we open to You: constitute us with Yourself. May we pay attention much more to what we are than to what we can do for You. May we focus more on what we are intrinsically in our constitution than to what we do outwardly for God. Oh Lord, be formed in us by being constituted into our being. Hallelujah, Christ is living in us, Christ is being formed in us, and Christ is becoming our constitution! Amen, Lord, live in us today so that we may be constituted with You organically! Praise the Lord, eventually our whole being will be constituted with the element of Christ! We just open, Lord, and we allow You to constitute every part of our soul so that we may have Your form, Your image, in every part of our being! Keep us beholding You with an unveiled face so that we may reflect You and be transformed into the same image! Amen, Lord, conform us to Your image more today! Keep us in the process of being transformed into the image of Christ so that we may bear His image outwardly!

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, The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3311-3313 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (2) (2024 December Training), week 19 (msg. 7), The One Who Is Formed in the Believers.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Christ is formed in us, a portion from, Concerning the Lord’s Recovery, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
  – The Proper Way to Deal with Problems in the Church, via, Shepherding Words.
  – What is the New Man? More via, The Hearing of Faith.
  – Spiritual Transformation (2 Corinthians 3:18), via, CSOC UT Austin: Christian Students on Campus.
  – The way to receive and enjoy such a full salvation of God, a portion from, Life-Study of Isaiah, Chapter 47.
  – What Is Transformation in the Bible? More via, Bibles for America blog.
  – The Need for Christ to Be Formed in the Heirs of Promise, via, LSM Radio.
  – The Renewing of the Mind, via, Living to Him.
  – Is Christ being formed in you? More via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – Philippians (Program #50) -To Obtain Christ By Experiencing the Power of His Resurrection, via, Bible study radio.
  – Christ is being formed in us, a portion from, The Crucified Christ, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee.
  – Transformed & Filled with Christ’s Riches, via, New Jerusalem blog.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – It is God’s intent and pleasure / That His Christ be formed in me; / Not the outward forms to follow, / But Christ growing inwardly. / It is God’s intent and pleasure / That His Christ make home in me; / Not just outwardly to serve Him, / But Christ dwelling inwardly. (Hymns #538 stanzas 3-4)
  – In spirit while gazing on Thee, / As a glass reflecting Thy glory, / Like to Thyself transformed I’ll be, / That Thou might be expressed thru me. / In no other way could we be / Sanctified and share Thy vict’ry; / Thus only spiritual we’ll be / And touch the life of glory. (Hymns #501 stanzas 5-6)
  – ’Tis for this the Spirit groaneth, / That to Christ we be conformed; / All things also work together, / That in life we be transformed. / God will bring us into glory, / We will then be glorified; / Fully saturated with Him, / We’ll be wholly sanctified. (Hymns #970 stanzas 4-5)