For the living of the one new man we need to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly so that we have God’s speaking. When the peace of Christ arbitrates in us and keeps us in a situation full of oneness and harmony, we become the place of God’s speaking, His oracle (Col. 3:15-16; Rev. 2:1, 7).
First, for us to have God’s speaking and let His word dwell in us richly we need to allow the peace of Christ arbitrate in our hearts, enthroning this peace and doing everything according to the word of the inward referee.
If we practice to allow the enthroned peace of Christ arbitrate in our hearts, what will happen is that all the inward turmoils and outward disputes will be solved, and the friction between the saints will disappear.
The church life is preserved in sweetness and the new man is maintained in a practical way when we all allow the peace of Christ arbitrate in our hearts day by day.
Christ came into us as peace, and He wants to rule, work, and decide things in us; we simply need to turn to our spirit again and again, and we will be supplied with the heavenly transmission from the throne; then, we will allow the peace of Christ to arbitrate in our hearts.
May we let the Lord have the last word and make the final decision. May we enthrone the Prince of peace in our heart, and experience His peace to which there’s no end (Isa. 9:6-7). May we stay daily under the enthroned peace of Christ, and may we allow His grace to supply us.
When the peace of Christ arbitrates in our hearts, we will not say or do something that would offend or damage others but rather, by the Lord’s grace and with His peace, we will minister life to others.
Our focus should not be right vs wrong or good vs evil; our focus is should be the enthroned peace of Christ in our heart to allow this peace to rule in us, keep our being in peace, make peace between us and the saints, and join us with the saints in oneness for us to have God’s speaking in a rich way.
To have the living of the one new man, the first condition is to enthrone the peace of Christ so that it may arbitrate in us and bring us into genuine oneness. We need to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.
The peace of Christ which rules in us and arbitrates in our being also binds us and knits us together with the saints so that we may be one in the Spirit; in such a situation of harmony and peace God can speak to us and the word of Christ can dwell in us richly.
Peace and oneness are the prerequisites for God’s speaking and for us to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly. May we live habitually in such a situation of peace and oneness in the church life so that God’s speaking would be rich and would not diminish among us!
When the Peace of Christ Arbitrates in our Heart, we have God’s Speaking and His Word Dwells in us Richly
First, we need to let the peace of Christ arbitrate in our hearts, and then we need to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly.
We do have some experience of the peace of Christ arbitrating our heart and of the word of Christ dwelling in us richly, but for the living of the one new man these experiences need to be deepened and increased so that the one new man may be maintained and manifested among us.
We have the word of God, the words of the Lord Jesus, and the words of the apostles. However, it is possible for us to read the Bible regularly yet not allow the word of Christ to dwell in us richly.
When the peace of Christ arbitrates in us and keeps us in a situation full of oneness and harmony, we become the place of God’s speaking, His oracle (Col. 3:15-16; Rev. 2:1, 7).
The prerequisite for God’s speaking is peace and harmony among His people. If we don’t have peace and harmony, God cannot speak to us in a rich way.
The place of God’s speaking is the place of the oneness of God’s people, for where there’s the oneness and harmony maintained by the arbitrating peace of Christ, there we have the speaking of Christ.
God’s speaking requires oneness, and division causes God’s speaking to diminish, even to cease altogether.
In the Old Testament God spoke to His people in the tent of meeting, the tabernacle, and the temple, for His people were in oneness and had this unique place of God’s speaking.
When we are truly one with the other members of the Body of Christ, we have God’s speaking and to speak God’s word. However, if we are not one with the saints but we are filled with murmuring, complaining, and gossiping about others, we will not be able to speak the word of God, neither will we have God’s speaking.
May we allow the peace of Christ arbitrate in our heart and keep us in a situation full of oneness and harmony so that we become the place of God’s speaking, His oracle. Since oneness is a necessary condition for God’s speaking, we need to let the peace of Christ arbitrate in our hearts.
If we are quarreling or arguing, what we hear is not God’s speaking but the voice of man. But if we are in a condition of peace, we don’t have a human speaking but the Lord’s speaking – we have only the voice of God.
Oneness is the prerequisite for God’s speaking.
We thank the Lord that in His recovery He is speaking to us, and by His speaking we can go on with Him. We want to have God’s speaking in a rich way; for this we need to let the peace of Christ arbitrate in our hearts, and we need to be in the word of God, allowing His word to dwell in us and inhabit us richly.
Lord Jesus, may Your peace arbitrate in our hearts so that we may have God’s speaking, His oracle. We want to be kept in a situation of peace and harmony, being in true oneness with the other members of the Body, so that we may have God’s speaking and be able to speak God’s word. Amen, Lord, may Your peace rule and arbitrate in our heart so that any murmuring or complaining may be removed and the church life may be maintained in oneness and harmony. Lord, we treasure Your speaking!
Letting the Word of Christ Dwell in us Richly by Giving Him Adequate Room to Saturate us
What does it mean for the word of Christ to dwell in us richly? It is possible for us to read the word of God and even pray-read the word, yet this word does not fully dwell in us in a rich way.
The word of God is like a person, inhabiting and settling down in our being as in a home, so that He would have full ground and liberty in us.
We need to let the word of Christ dwell in us in a rich way; we must let His word occupy us, subdue us, and have the full ground in us.
For this reason we need to read the word, pray-read the word, and let the word dwell in us until it renews us and changes our mind.
The renewing of the mind is not just in the spirit of the mind but also by the word of Christ; we need to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly to change our mind and cleanse our mentality.
We need to have a deeper experience of the word of Christ by letting this word dwell in us richly.
When we receive the word of Christ in us and allow it to dwell in us, it becomes the Spirit in us; this word is a living word, a timely word, a fresh word, a word that always fills us and dwells in us.
For the word of Christ to dwell in us richly means that it has adequate room in us to permeate and saturate our whole being; it is crucial for us to let the word of Christ enter into us, dwell in us, prevail in us, and replace our concepts, opinions, and philosophies (Psa. 119:130; cf. Rev. 21:23; 22:5).
We need to give the word of Christ adequate room in our being until it saturates and permeates us.
We are still saturated and permeated, fully constituted, with our culture, our opinions, our background, and our habits; we may even have ordinances, religions, and philosophy with its logic, and all these cause us to have differing viewpoints, separating us from others.
For us to have the reality of the one new man among us, we must have the peace of Christ arbitrate in us and let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, having God’s speaking in a fresh way throughout the day.
The word of Christ includes the entire New Testament; we need to be filled with the word of Christ and let this word inhabit us and make home in us.
To dwell means to be in a house, to inhabit; the word of the Lord must have adequate room in our inward being so that it may operate in us and minister the riches of Christ to all the parts of our being.
The riches of Christ are in His word (Eph. 3:8), and when we pray over God’s word and let this word dwell in us richly, we have God’s speaking, and we are supplied with the riches of Christ.
The word of Christ many times is the word of the inward arbitration; He settles the disputes in our being by speaking a word. We need to allow the peace of Christ to arbitrate in our hearts and the word of Christ to dwell in us richly; then, we have God’s speaking and we will be filled with singing and giving of thanks.
Lord, may Your word dwell in us richly. We are willing to let go of our concepts. We want Your word to have ground in our being. We are willing to forget our opinions, concepts, and philosophy, so that Your word replace our word and prevail in us to be the ruler in our being. May Your peace arbitrate in our hearts and may Your word dwell in us richly. Speak to us, Lord, renew our mind, and may Your word dwell in us richly. We love God’s speaking, we treasure His words, and we want these words to dwell in us richly!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message given by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Colossians, msgs. 47, 52, 58 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Goal of the Lord’s Recovery – to Bring Forth the One New Man (2018 ICSC), week 5, Allowing the Peace of Christ to Arbitrate in Our Hearts, Letting the Word of Christ Dwell in Us Richly, and Persevering in Prayer for the One New Man.
- Hymns on this topic:
# We have the Word! The written Word’s our daily food; / We mix this Word with faith and say “Amen!” / Then thro’ the day, the spoken Word will speak to us / And regulate our living from within. (Hymns #1287)
# May the Word of Christ dwell richly / In my heart from hour to hour, / So that all may see I triumph / Only through His pow’r. (Hymns #401)
# Let the word of Christ dwell in you / Richly, in all wisdom / Teaching and admonishing one another / In psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, / Singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord / And whatever you do, in word or in work / Do all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, / Do all in the name of our Lord. (Scripture song)
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Amen…speak in us now Lord…we treasure Your word..and we want these words dwell in us richly..
Wow! If we let the arbitrating peace of Christ preserve us in oneness, then the Lord will speak to us. Then if we give the Lord’s word the first place we will experience all the functions of the Word….enlightening, nourishing, quenching our thirst, strengthening, washing, building, perfecting, and edifying. Hallelujah this is all for the one new man. Lord have mercy on us make this our real experience day by day. Amen.
Amen praise the Lord
Hallelujah the word dwells in us richly!!!
Amen Praise the Lord!
Amin Aleluia !!!
Amen praise the Lord.
Amen brother. I also enjoyed the fact that the peace of Christ first brings us to oneness and then we can receive the speaking, the word of God. We see the picture in the old testament when God spoke to His people in the tent of meeting. Praise the Lord for His wisdom! Without oneness there cannot be the speaking of God. Lord make us really one through the arbitration of the peace of Christ! We want to receive Your word!
Amen Lord keep the oneness in the Body for the building up of the One New Man.
Amen. God’s speaking necessitates that we are under the condition of peace and our inward being is in peace. Then we secure God’s speaking and become His oracle.
Amen! Yes Lord may Your peace arbitrate in our hearts, may Your word dwell in us richly!
Brother I enjoyed that for the Lord to rule in us and dissolve the disagreements and complaints in our being, for Him to speak the final word…we need His word dwelling in us richly. The more His word dwells in us the more the Lord can arbitrate peace in our hearts. The more a situation of peace is maintained for God to speak among His people and for God’s people to speak for God’s word. Amazing!
The last 3 messages in the Leviticus training was on Christ as the peace offering, the last message this week is on Christ arbitrating peace in our hearts. The Lord is speaking richly to us. The One New Man is ONE and must have the oneness which is maintained by Christ as the peace offering and by Christ arbitrating peace in our hearts.
In us Christ is the supplying grace and the arbitrating peace….If we allow the enthroned peace of Christ to arbitrate in our hearts, our married life, family life, and church life will all be preserved in oneness.
Praise You Lord Jesus!
Immediately after speaking about the peace of Christ arbitrating in us [in Colossians 3:15], Paul goes on to tell us to let the word of Christ dwell in us [v. 16]. Why does Paul mention the peace of Christ before the word of Christ? The answer to this question is related to the basic principle revealed in the Bible that God’s speaking requires oneness. Whenever God’s people are divided, His word becomes rare. God does not speak where there is division. Division causes God’s speaking to diminish, even to cease altogether.
When the children of Israel were in the wilderness, God spoke in the Tent of Meeting. The Tent of Meeting was a sign of the oneness of God’s people. The twelve tribes were arranged around the Tent of Meeting, and God spoke to the people from within the Tent of Meeting. Any Israelite at that time who wanted God’s speaking had to come to the Tent of Meeting, the place of oneness….The temple built in Jerusalem was the continuation of the Tent of Meeting….God’s speaking through the priests came out of the Holy of Holies, the center both of the tabernacle and of the temple. (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 567-568, by Witness Lee)