Christ is our Pattern for Living the Life of a God-man by Living according to the Spirit

We all need to follow the pattern of the Lord Jesus, the first God-man, to live a God-man life; in the Gospels, we have many details concerning the God-man living of the Lord Jesus, and as such a One He is in us to live the life of a God-man in us.

God needs a corporate people to be raised up by His grace through the high peak of the divine revelation to live the life of a God-man; when He gains the corporate God-man living, there will be a new revival, even a revival that will bring Him back.

How can we live the life of a God-man? How can we, human beings, live as the Lord Jesus did?

We need to take the Lord as our pattern not in an outward way for us to copy Him and imitate what He has done outwardly; we need to take Him as our pattern inwardly by enjoying Him, even eating Him to live because of Him.

The Lord Jesus had a secret in His life of expressing the Father: He depended on the Father in everything, He took the Father’s words and ate them, and these words supplied Him to live a God-man life.

What we need to do today is to practice living the life of a God-man by enjoying the Lord, eating His word, and allowing Him to live in us.

Our experience shows us, however, that many times we fail in expressing God; we still live in ourselves and we express ourselves, but we need to keep practicing.

The new revival is the successful practice of the vision of God’s eternal economy, the corporate living of the many God-men who have seen the high peak of the divine revelation, is revolutionized by it, and live the life of a God-man in Christ.

1 Pet. 2:21 tells us that the Lord Jesus has set His life as a pattern before us for us to follow in His steps; we trace His steps and follow in His steps not by asking ourselves, “What Would Jesus Do?” but rather, by eating the Lord, living in spirit, and allowing HIm to live in us.

We can never express God in and by our own efforts; at best, we can imitate the Lord Jesus like a monkey imitates a man.

All we have to do is eat the Lord, eat His humanity, take in His pattern, and be supplied with what He is; then, we need to practice living the life of a God-man so that we may be part of the reproduction of Christ.

Jesus Christ is the first God-man, and He has set His life and living before us as a pattern, even as a mold; when we received Him, we were put into Him so that we may learn Christ as the reality is in Jesus.

Reality, the real and genuine humanity and human living is in Jesus; this Jesus is in us as our life and life supply, and He is also the mold into whom we have been put to learn Him and live the same kind of life that He lived.

May our life be a copy, a reproduction, of the model of the life of Christ, the first God-man!

May we give up our striving and trying to imitate Christ outwardly, and may we simply take Him as our life and life supply, and may we practice living the life of a God-man to be His reproduction and duplication.

Taking Christ as our Pattern for Living the Life of a God-man and Living Christ today

The Lord Jesus has set His human life and excellent human living before us in the Gospels so that we as His followers, His disciples, would imitate Him, copying Him, and have the same kind of life today.

He told us that we need to learn from Him, for He is our pattern, and He is meek and lowly in heart (Matt. 11:29).

There are many details related to the Lord’s life of expressing God, His God-man living, and in this article, we will touch upon some of them only.

At the commencement of His ministry, the Lord Jesus was baptized to fulfill all righteousness (Matt. 3:15-16); even though He was perfect and sinless, He recognized that according to His flesh (His humanity – John 1:14; Rom. 1:3; 8:3), He was good for nothing but death and burial.

John the Baptist tried to stop Him from being baptized, thinking that he was supposed to be baptized by Him, but the Lord Jesus did not permit it.

Christ realized that, in the eyes of God, He was a man in the flesh, and His flesh had to be buried; this is the way of righteousness, not the way of the law or religion.

We need to realize that, as men in the flesh, there’s nothing we can do or have to please God; we need to be identified with Christ in His death and burial so that we may be pleasing to God and satisfy His righteousness.

In Matt. 14, the Lord had a large crowd following Him and wanted to feed them; though all He had was five loaves and two fish, He took the food, looked up to heaven, blessed them, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.

The whole crowd ate and was satisfied, and twelve baskets full of remains were gathered.

Then, the Lord sent the crowds away and sent the disciples also, and He went privately to pray to the Father.

In the miracle of feeding five thousand people with five loaves and two fish, He looked up to heaven to bless the food (Matt. 14:19); this indicates that he took the Father as the source of blessing, for the Father was the sending One, and He was the sent One (John 10:30; 5:19, 30; 7:6, 8, 18).

We are not the sender – we are the sent ones; we need to take God Himself as the source of our blessing, looking up to Him for His blessing, and not trusting in ourselves.

Regardless of how much we can do, we should realize that the blessing comes from God and not from us; we are merely sent ones, and the blessing comes from God – we are merely channels passing it on to the benefited ones.

After the Lord performed the miracle of feeding the five thousand, He didn’t remain in the issue of this miracle neither did He bask in the glory of what just happened; rather, He went away from them to be with the Father privately on the mountain in prayer (Matt. 14:22-23; Luke 6:12).

We may have remained there and praised God for this miracle, and we may have enjoyed the issue of this miracle, but the Lord as the first God-man did not do this.

Rather, He sent the crowds away, He sent the disciples also, and He went away to pray privately to the Father.

If we would have some success in a certain place as we serve the Lord, would we remain in the success to enjoy it, or would we retreat to pray privately to the Father?

This is the pattern of the Lord Jesus as the first God-man; He treasured the Father, He loved spending time with the Father, He took the Father as the source, and He lived and worked for the Father, not for man’s appreciation and glory.

We need to follow the pattern of the Lord Jesus, spending much time privately to pray to our God and Father, and the Father, who sees in secret, will reward us in secret.

We need to be with the Father in prayer, in our private room, looking to Him and trusting in Him, not in ourselves.

The way for us to live the life of a God-man is to spend time with the Lord frequently, trust in the Lord, and not remain in any success that we just had in our work but always coming back to the Lord to privately spend time with Him in prayer.

The Lord Jesus lived a life of contacting God (Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16; 6:12; 9:28; Heb. 7:25), living in the presence of God without ceasing (Acts 10:38c; John 8:29; 16:32), and of contacting people, ministering God into them to bring them into the jubilee of God’s New Testament economy (Luke 4:18-19; Heb. 8:2; cf. Gen. 14:18; Acts 6:4).

He didn’t just contact God when He needed Him; He lived a life of contacting God, and He lived in God’s presence continually. He also contacted people, bringing God to man and ministering God into man to release them from their sins and bring them into the enjoyment of God.

What a mold He is! What a model He has left us to live! We need to be conformed to this life, learning to live the life of a God-man intrinsically and organically.

Paul followed in the Lord’s steps and said, To me to live is Christ (Phil. 1:21); he was successful in living the life of a God-man, and we can make it too!

The Lord Jesus was a man in whom Satan – the ruler of this world – had nothing; in Him, Satan had no ground, no chance, no hope, no possibility in anything (see John 14:30b, cf. v. 20; 2 Cor. 12:2a; Col. 1:27; 2 Tim. 4:22; John 3:6b; 4:23-24; 1 John 5:4, 18).

Such a One lives in us, and when we live Christ, in us the ruler of this world has nothing!

Lord Jesus, we want to follow Your pattern of living the life of a God-man to express God. We acknowledge that, as men in the flesh, we are good for nothing except death and burial, for our flesh and natural man is not pleasing to God nor suitable to fulfill God’s purpose. We come to You, Lord, and we take You as the source of blessing. We look to You, we trust in You, we do not rely on ourselves, and we as sent ones seek the blessing of the Sender. Amen, Lord, we come to You, again and again, to spend much time with You privately to pray. We treasure our private, personal, and spiritual intimate time with You. We just want to follow in Your steps, living the same kind of life that You lived by denying ourselves and living in the mingled spirit. Amen, Lord, live in us the life of a God-man to express God!

We can Live the Life of a God-man according to the Lord’s Pattern by Living in Spirit

There is only one way for us to live the life of a God-man according to the pattern of the Lord Jesus as the first God-man: we need to live in the mingled spirit.

The Lord’s pattern is set before us: He lived a God-man life when He was on earth, and He wants us to live the same way that He did.

The only way for us to live the life of a God-man according to the Lord’s model is to set our entire being on the mingled spirit, walking, living, and having our being according to the mingled spirit (Rom. 8:2, 4, 10, 6, 11, 16; 1 Cor. 6:17; Rom. 10:12; Gal. 5:25; Eph. 6:17-18; 1 Thes. 5:16-20; 1 Tim. 4:6-7; 2 Tim. 1:6-7).

Christ today is not only in the heavens but also in our spirit; we are joined to the Lord as one spirit, and the Lord as the Spirit is with our spirit (1 Cor. 6:17; 2 Tim. 4:22).

If we are to live the life of a God-man to express God, we need to turn to our spirit; we need to simply set our mind on our spirit, live and walk by the Spirit, serve in our spirit, and do everything in the mingled spirit.

When by the Spirit we put to death the practices of the body, we will live, and the entire Bible is fulfilled in us.

By default, our being is set on our flesh or our self; we need to turn and turn and turn, turning to the mingled spirit and doing everything in the spirit.

We should all declare that we want to live the life of a God-man, realizing that these God-men will be the victors, the overcomers, the Zion within Jerusalem.

When we live the life of a God-man by living according to the spirit, a new revival will be brought in, a revival which has never been seen in history, and this will end this age.

The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God; when we turn to our spirit and call on the name of the Lord, He is rich to us – He is bountifully supplying us to live a God-man life.

There are many ways for us to contact the Lord and turn to our spirit, and we need to practice turning to Him.

We need to pray, contact the Lord, and pray over the word of God, contacting the Lord in His word by means of all prayer and petition. We can turn to our spirit and live in spirit by always rejoicing, unceasingly praying, and in everything giving thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for us.

May we be those who fan into flame the gift of God, that is, our spirit; may we not leave our spirit dormant but rather, fan it into flame, being burning in spirit, serving the Lord.

May we be in the Word of God, being nourished with the words of the faith and of the good teaching which we closely follow (1 Tim. 4:6).

When we practice these things, we will live the life of a God-man to express Christ. Living a God-man life is not a miracle but a living, a daily living, a practice of the vision that God has given to us, and the whole world is waiting to see this today.

Lord Jesus, we desire to live the life of a God-man according to the Lord’s model so that we may express Christ and bring in a new revival! Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit to contact You and to pray over Your word, being nourished with the words of the faith and of the good teaching which we closely follow. We call on Your name to enjoy all Your riches and to be bountifully supplied with all that You are. We just want to eat You and live because of You; may our daily living be the living of a God-man because of our eating, digesting, and assimilating Jesus. Amen, Lord Jesus, gain us as those who live the life of a God-man, the overcomers of today, who will bring in a new revival that will end this age! Do it in us, Lord!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The God-man Living,” chs. 1, 4-6, 8, 10, 13-14, 16, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Vital Factors for the Lord’s Recovery of the Church Life (2021 ITERO), week 1, The Factor of Cooperating with the Lord to Bring In a New Revival That Will End This Age.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – “Consider Him,” let Christ thy pattern be, / And know that He hath apprehended thee / To share His very life, His pow’r divine, / And in the likeness of thy Lord to shine. (Hymns #656)
  – Teach me to pray, Lord, teach me to pray; / Thou art my pattern day unto day; / Thou art my surety, now and for aye; / Teach me to pray, Lord, teach me to pray. (Hymns #766)
  – Minding just the spirit, we the cross will know, / And His resurrection pow’r thru us will flow; / Minding just the spirit, Christ will live thru me, / And His life within will reach maturity. / In the spirit Christ is life and all to me, / Strengthening and blessing all-inclusively; / Living in the spirit, holiness I prove, / And the triune God within my heart doth move. (Hymns #593)