Christ Produces Himself in us as we Enjoy the Lord and Maintain our Fellowship with Him

As believers in Christ, we need to labour on Christ as the land to produce Christ, realizing that Christ produces Himself in us through our labour as we contact the Lord every morning and fellowship with Him throughout the day. Amen!

Our Christ is not just our Savior, our Lord, and our King; He is also our good land, and each believer in Christ has been allotted a portion of Christ to enjoy, labour on, partake of, and produce Christ.

The children of Israel with their history in the Old Testament were a type of our experience of Christ in and for the church life.

When the children of Israel entered into the good land, they did not have any more manna, for the manna stopped; they had to labour on the land to enjoy its riches.

But if someone did not labour on the land, if they were not diligent to sow the seed, water the plants, remove the weeds, and do many things for the plants to grow and bring forth fruit, they had no food to live, and they had nothing to bring to God with the fellow Jewish people at the feasts.

This is a type of us as believers in Christ who have been allotted a portion of Christ for us to enjoy, live in, and grow Christ, cultivate Christ, and labour on Christ.

How do we do this, and what does it mean for us to labour on Christ?

Paul tells us that we are rooted and grounded in Christ; He is the very soil in which we grow.

On one hand, He as the seed of life has been sown into our hearts, and we need to deal with our heart so that the seed would grow and bear much fruit.

On the other hand, we have been planted in Christ, the rich soil, and we need to absorb His rich nutrients and enjoy the wonderful sunshine and refreshing rain, so that we may grow in Christ and be a crop for His satisfaction.

We labour on Christ as the good land so that we plant the seed, water the plants, and take care of the crop by not only having time with the Lord in the morning but also contacting Him throughout the day.

Daily we need to enjoy and experience Christ. Daily we need to keep in fellowship with Him and partake of Him. As we enjoy Him, He grows in us, and we produce Christ.

Actually, Christ produces Himself in us as we enjoy Him and experience Him.

May we all learn to daily contact the Lord and remain in fellowship with Him so that He may grow in us, bear fruit in us, and produce Himself in us.

If we do this every day, we will have a rich crop of Christ to bring to the meeting with the saints to present to the Lord for His satisfaction and to the saints for their enjoyment.

Labour on Christ as the Land to Produce Christ, Realizing that Christ Produces Himself in us Through our Labor

Although we as believers in Christ need to labour on Christ as the good land in order to produce Christ, we need to realize that it’s not us who produce Christ but He produces Himself in us through our labour.

This means that, as we allow the Lord to make His home in our hearts, He grows in us; yes, we do grow in Christ, but it is Christ who grows in us, and we grow with the growth of God (Eph. 3:17).

As we learn to fellowship with the Lord not only in the morning but also throughout the day, turning our heart to Him and opening to Him to enjoy Him, we labour on Christ as the land, and Christ produces Himself in us through our labour.

It is God who operates in us both the willing and the working (Phil. 2:13); we simply cooperate by opening to Him and contacting Him.

The more we contact the Lord throughout the day, the more Christ produces Himself in us through our labour.

We are labouring, and Christ is producing Himself.

We may not even realize what is happening in our being, but as we fellowship with the Lord, abide in Him, and experience Him throughout the day, Christ grows in us, and He produces Himself in us.

And from time to time we may realize that the Lord has made His home in our heart a little more, for there are some aspects of our daily life and even parts of our disposition that are now different, as a result of the Lord’s working within us to produce Himself in us.

Then, when we come together with the saints, we have something of Christ that we have produced – that He produced of Himself in us – and we can share it with the saints for the building up of the church.

God invites all His people to come together and eat with Him, but He does not cook.

God didn’t cook the food, but He gives the food already, for He sends the sunshine, the air, and the rain all year round.

On our side, we need to cooperate with Him and labour on Christ by enjoying and experiencing Christ so that Christ may produce Himself in us.

When we come together, there must be something of Christ that we have produced and that we bring to the meetings of the church.

However, how much Christ we bring to the meeting depends on how much Christ we produce, that is, how much Christ we have grown, and how much we cooperated with Him to experience and enjoy Him so that He may produce Himself in us (Col. 3:15-16).

May we come to the Lord again and again to fellowship with Him, bringing to Him all the aspects of our daily living, so that He may work Himself into us and dispense what He is into our being.

May we learn to open to Him all the inner chambers of our being, and may we say Amen to His inner speaking so that He may produce Himself in us.

We all need to labour on Christ and let Christ give us much produce; then, we will have rich experiences of Christ (Eph. 3:8; Phil. 4:19).

We just labour, and He gives Himself to us.

We just open to Him and fellowship with Him, and He works Himself into us, producing Himself in us.

We just cooperate, and He operates. The harvest of Christ is the Christ on whom we have laboured and have reaped to be our harvest (3:10).

May we all labour on Christ and let Christ give us much produce so that we may have a rich portion of Christ for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

Lord Jesus, thank You for giving Yourself to us for us to enjoy and experience as the good land. Keep us enjoying You today. We want to be those who labour on Christ as the good land to produce something of Christ to bring to the meetings of the church for the building up of the church. Thank You, Lord, it is God who operates in us both the willing and the working. We simply want to cooperate with Your operation. Operate in us today and we will cooperate. Make Your home in all our hearts. Produce Yourself in us. May we gain something of Christ today, and may Christ be produced in us. Grant us rich experiences of Christ today so that we may have something of Christ to bring to the meetings of the church for the saints’ encouragement and the worship of the Father!

Enjoying the Lord in the Morning, and Maintaining our Fellowship with the Lord throughout the Day to Labour on Christ

A good farmer wakes up in the morning to labour on the field; many times the farmer has done much work before most of us have breakfast at home.

Similarly, we as believers in Christ need to pay the price to wake up a little earlier in the morning to enjoy the Lord, thus labouring on Christ.

We need to come to the Lord early in the morning and just enjoy Him.

We do not come to Him to firstly work for Him or do something for Him; we just come to Him to enjoy Him.

Every morning we need to consecrate ourselves to the Lord for the simple purpose of enjoying and experiencing Him.

We may not even be fully awake when we contact the Lord, so we need to ask Him to cause us to turn our hearts to Him and enjoy Him.

We need to ask the Lord for the grace to be in His presence and enjoy Him.

Every morning we need to pray, asking the Lord for the day’s portion of grace and consecrating ourselves to the Lord for the purpose of experiencing and enjoying Him by labouring on Him (Rom. 12:1-2; 15:16).

We may open to Him while we are shaving or taking a shower; as we do the things we need to do early in the morning, we need to open to the Lord to just enjoy Him.

Then, throughout the day we need to maintain our fellowship with the Lord and thereby contact Him, labour on Him, apply Him, experience Him, and enjoy Him (John 15:4-5, 11; 16:22; 1 Pet. 1:8).

Our time with the Lord in the morning is very important, but we cannot have just this one time. We need to continue to contact the Lord during the day.

We need to learn to maintain our fellowship with Him throughout the day.

We may be so busy taking care of so many things at work, at home, in the church, and around the house, but as we do this, we need to keep contacting the Lord in spirit.

This is a learning process, and none of us have arrived at this; when we remain fully in our spirit, one with the Lord, we are rapture-ready.

May we even tell the Lord to keep us in fellowship with Him.

May we ask Him to show us what it means to till the ground, sow the seed, and water the plants of the Lord so that Christ may produce Himself in us for the building up of the church.

And throughout the day, we need to apply Christ and enjoy Him. In this way, our “farm” will be fruitful, and much Christ will be produced.

Then, when the Lord’s Day comes and we go to the Lord’s Table Meeting, we can bring something of the Christ we have enjoyed and experienced to the meeting of the church.

We will have the attitude that we are going to see our God and worship our Lord, and we will have our hands full of Christ.

We will have a surplus of Christ, something of Christ that we have enjoyed and experienced, and we have reserved for Him.

So when the meeting begins, we have something of Christ to offer to the Father and to the saints for their supply and the Father’s satisfaction.

This is because we have reaped enough of Christ for ourselves, for the needy ones, and for the Lord.

In this way, we have a good deposit of Christ in our being for the future days and for the fellowship with the Lord and with the saints.

May the Lord gain this in us and among us today in the church life.

May we be those who labour on Christ so that Christ may produce Himself in us as we enjoy the Lord in the morning and maintain our fellowship with Him throughout the day.

Lord Jesus, we love You. We give ourselves to You. We want to just enjoy You. We consecrate ourselves to You for the simple purpose of enjoying and experiencing Christ today. Grant us to apply You in every situation. Lord, we don’t ask for tomorrow: we only ask for today, that we would enjoy You! Show us how to till the ground in our hearts, sow the seed, and water the plants of the Lord. Keep us in touch with You today in all things. We want to contact the Lord early in the morning and maintain our fellowship with Him throughout the day. Amen, Lord, may there be a rich produce of Christ in us day by day as we allow Christ to work Himself into every part of our being. We want to have a rich portion of Christ to bring to the meetings of the church for the saints’ enjoyment and supply and for the Father’s satisfaction!

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 the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1961-1962, vol. 4, “The All-inclusive Christ,” pp. 345-346, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing, Experiencing, and Living the All-inclusive Christ for the Genuine Church Life (2023 spring ITERO), week 7, entitled, Laboring on the all-inclusive Christ – “a Land flowing with Milk and Honey” – and Bringing the Surplus of the Riches of Christ to the Meetings of the Church for an Exhibition of Christ and the Corporate Worship of God.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – As the Israelites did offer / From the surplus of their land, / Thus some produce reaped of Jesus / Must be in our serving hand. / We on Christ, as land, must labor, / Harvest Him for all our fare; / Tasting Him to overflowing, / Christ with others we may share. (Hymns #912 stanzas 2-3)
  – In Christ we live, by Christ we fight, / On Christ we labor day and night, / And with His surplus we unite / To thus exhibit Christ. / Our life and all we are and do / Is Christ Himself, the substance true, / That every time we meet anew / We may exhibit Christ. (Hymns #864 stanzas 2-3)
  – Laboring on Jesus, the good land so real, / Plowing and planting and watering the field. / He yields the produce of reality, / God reaps a harvest of Jesus in me. / O Jesus! You’re God’s good land / For me to labor on! / I’ll bit by bit possess You / Until the whole is won! / With Canaan is God’s purpose, / The labor He will bless; / Lord Jesus, here I gain Yourself, / Your Person to possess. (Hymns #1168 stanza 1 and chorus)