The church as the Body of Christ is the unique means for God to fulfill His purpose and settle all His problems, and for us to live a life for the fulfilment of His purpose, we need to know and do the will of God; God’s will is to mingle Himself with us to obtain the church, the fullness of Christ. Amen!
The Bible reveals that God has an eternal purpose, which is according to the desire of His heart; this eternal purpose of God is to have the church to be the organic Body of Christ so that He may manifest His multifarious wisdom.
God is a wise God, and He wants to obtain a corporate expression for Himself, a group of people through whom He can be expressed and represented on the earth. Amen!
However, man fell, and God had to come in and go through the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, death, resurrection, and ascension in order to make a way for man not only to be redeemed and brought back to God but even more, to be one with God.
From the very beginning, God wanted man to be one with Him. He wanted man to be mingled with God; hence, He put man in front of the tree of life so that man would partake of God and life and live by God as life.
Today we as believers in Christ are being saved in the life of God to be part of the expression of God corporately.
The desire of His heart is for Him to gain the church, the Body of Christ, a corporate group of people filled with His life and mingled with God to such an extent that they corporately express God to the universe and they represent Him with His dominion to deal with God’s enemy.
This is the desire of His heart, and today we want His desire to become our desire.
We want to be one with the Lord to such an extent that the desire of His heart becomes the desire of our heart.
The Lord is making His home in our heart to the extent that His desire becomes our desire. He is rearranging our inner being as we open to Him in coming to His word and throughout the day, so that He may infuse us with what He is and make us the same as He is.
However, we do not focus on our personal development but on the desire of God’s heart, for Him to gain the church as the Body of Christ.
Little by little, day by day, we pray to the Lord not only for Him to make His home in our heart but even more, to gain the church as the Body of Christ by His making His home in our heart.
We need to be strengthened with power into the inner man to have Christ make His home in our heart for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.
May we see that the church is the means used by God to fulfill His purpose and settle all His problems – image and dominion.
The Church as the Body of Christ is the Means used by God to Fulfill His purpose and Settle all His Problems
In Gen. 1:26 we see that God made man in His image and according to His likeness with a twofold purpose: that man would express God and represent God.
Man, however, fell and is now unable to fulfill God’s purpose; therefore, God came in through incarnation and redeemed man, bringing man to the original purpose of God.
Sadly, today Christianity tells people that man is poor, sinful, and will perish, unless they receive God’s mercy and grace, repent, and believe into Jesus so that they may be saved from hell and go to heaven as the church as God’s beloved ones. Such a gospel is very low and incomplete.
According to what the Bible says, God’s purpose and intention in creating man was to make these human beings into a Body as a vessel to contain God so that He may dwell in them and be manifested through them by mingling Himself with them; this is on the positive side.
![And He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him [to be] Head over all things to the church, Which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all. Eph. 1:22-23 In order that now to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies the multifarious wisdom of God might be made known through the church. Eph. 3:10](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/And-He-subjected-all-things-under-His-feet-and-gave-Him-to-be-Head-over-all-things-to-the-church-Which-is-His-Body-the-fullness-of-the-One-who-fills-all-in-all-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "And He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him [to be] Head over all things to the church, Which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all. Eph. 1:22-23 In order that now to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies the multifarious wisdom of God might be made known through the church. Eph. 3:10")
On the negative side, because God has a problem – His enemy, Satan, is operating on earth – man is to represent God with His dominion to deal with him and subdue him.
This is what the church is today: the church is the Body of Christ to be the means for God to fulfill His purpose and settle all His problems.
This means that we need to know the Body, live in the Body, and care for the Body in all our daily living.
Even when we’re going through suffering, hardships, and painful things, all our experiences are in the Body and for the Body.
Without the Body of Christ, we cannot survive; without the Body, we cannot live.
When the Body is built up organically, the new man is manifested in maturity, and the bride has made herself ready.
On the negative side, because Satan is here, there is darkness and death, and there is so much confusion.
Satan brings in death, and where death is, there is darkness, and all things are in confusion.
Thank the Lord, He has transferred us out of the authority of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, even into the kingdom of light, for us to live in the light, walk in the light, and be people full of light, even the light of the world.
As the church, we are the Body of Christ to be the expression, the glory of God the Father in the divine sonship with the Father’s life and nature (Eph. 1:4-5; John 17:22-24).
God is our Father, and we are His sons. We have the sonship.
Christ is leading us as the many sons of God into glory, and together we are expressing God in His glory.
The more we open to the Lord day by day to enjoy Him, the more we are mingled with the Triune God and we become part of His corporate expression on the earth.
The church is God’s greatest boast in making known to the angelic rulers and authorities His multifarious wisdom for the shame and defeat of the enemy to bring in His kingdom (Eph. 3:10; Rom. 16:20).
The church as the Body of Christ is the means used by God to fulfill His purpose and also to settle all His problems.
When the Lord gains the built-up church, He can declare to the evil powers in the air that His multifarious wisdom has been displayed, and they are put to shame.
The enemy is defeated when the church as the Body of Christ is built up, and the Lord is expressed gloriously through the church.
![And the glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as We are one; I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me. Father, [concerning] that which You have given Me, I desire that they also may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory, which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. John 17:22-24 Now the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. Rom. 16:20](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/And-the-glory-which-You-have-given-Me-I-have-given-to-them-that-they-may-be-one-even-as-We-are-one-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "And the glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as We are one; I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me. Father, [concerning] that which You have given Me, I desire that they also may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory, which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. John 17:22-24 Now the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. Rom. 16:20")
The church is for the heading up of all things in Christ through the working of Himself into us as life and light (Eph. 1:10, 22-23).
Today in the church life the Lord is heading us up; He is heading us up both individually and corporately.
As He is working Himself into us, He is heading us up; He is rescuing us from the universal heap of collapse and He is making Christ our center, our life, our everything, and our Head.
The Lord’s economy is to head up all things in Christ through the church.
When the church takes the lead to be headed up in Christ, God can head up all things in Christ through the church.
The Christ who is working Himself into us is light and life.
We walk in the light and have fellowship with one another (1 John 1:7).
As we walk in the light, the Lord shines on us and exposes any darkness; we confess our sins and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from every sin.
And we walk in the light more and more, until we become light in the Lord.
When we are enlightened by God as the light, His light penetrates every part of our being, and He removes all the darkness.
We simply need to not fight with the light but allow Him to shine in every part of our inner being. Then, He can shine through us. Amen!
Thank You, Lord, for regenerating us to be children of God and members of the Body of Christ to be the church today! Hallelujah, the church as the Body of Christ is the unique means used by God to fulfill His purpose and settle all His problems! Amen, Lord, we give ourselves to You to be mingled more with You to be the church as the Body of Christ. Gain the church as Your expression for the glory of the Father in the divine sonship with the Father’s life and nature! Hallelujah, we have God’s life and God’s nature, and we are becoming the glorious expression of the Triune God in His life and nature! Amen, Lord, gain the church as the greatest boast of God in the universe! May God have a way through the church to make known to the angelic rulers and authorities His multifarious wisdom for the shame and defeat of the enemy to bring in His kingdom! Amen, Lord, have a way to head up all things in Christ through the working of Yourself into us as life and light so that You may head up all things in Christ through the church!
Live a Life for the Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by Knowing and Doing the Will of God – the Mingling of God and Man
![Therefore we also, since the day we heard of [it,] do not cease praying and asking on your behalf that you may be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Col. 1:9](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Therefore-we-also-since-the-day-we-heard-of-it-do-not-cease-praying-and-asking-on-your-behalf-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "Therefore we also, since the day we heard of [it,] do not cease praying and asking on your behalf that you may be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Col. 1:9")
In order for us as believers in Christ to live a life for the fulfilment of God’s eternal purpose, we must know and do the will of God (Col. 1:9; Matt. 7:21).
Our God is a God of purpose; He has a will of His own pleasure, and He created all things for His will (Rev. 4:11) so that He might accomplish and fulfil His purpose (Eph. 3:9-11; Col. 1:9).
God has a will; the will of God in relation to us can be either His perfect will or His permissive will.
We know what is God’s perfect will, but many times we seek to have His permissive will.
We want God to allow us to do this, go to that place, or take that job; in His mercy, He allows us to do certain things in His permissive will.
However, His perfect will is what He desires to accomplish in us and with us.
In the church life also, the Lord has His perfect will and His permissive will.
The saints who are more mature may come to the Lord concerning certain matters in the church life which take place, even with the knowledge of the leading brothers, and they realize that the Lord allows these things to happen and for the church to do certain things in His permissive will, but His perfect will is not carried out in that instance. Oh, Lord!
We need to know God’s will. God has a purpose, and He has a will of HIs own pleasure; He does everything according to His will and for the fulfilment of His purpose.
God’s will is His heart’s desire, His mingling with man, and the fulfilment of His eternal purpose (Eph. 1:5, 9, 22; 5:17).
Even though man fell and the entire creation is subjected to vanity and is under the slavery of corruption, God still has a purpose to fulfill, and He will carry out His will on the earth.
God will fulfill His purpose and He will deal with His enemy, and He will do it through the church.
What God is doing today according to His purpose is to work Himself into man and mingle Himself with us so that we may be holy, absolutely sanctified by God, in God, and with God.
He is rescuing us from the fall by working Himself into us and by saturating us with all that He is.
Every bit of our human nature will be mingled and saturated with the divine nature.
Just as the boards of the tabernacle in the Old Testament were overlaid with gold so that nothing of the wood is seen but the gold was visible, so we will be saturated and permeated with the divine life and nature until God is seen through us.
God is mingling Himself with us and He is working Himself into us so that we may be brought into full sonship.
What is the sonship? According to the teaching of the New Testament, sonship first means that we’re born of God to have God as our life and nature.
Then, we grow up with God and in God, and we are absolutely mingled with God.
God doesn’t want to only come into our spirit to dwell in our spirit; He wants to spread into our mind to mingle Himself with our mind, and He wants to spread into our emotion and will to mingle Himself with every part of our being.
He wants to mingle Himself with us to such an extent that we’re completely and absolutely sanctified, holy, and divine. This is sonship.
When we’re mingled with God we are absolutely and thoroughly sanctified by Him, with Him, and in Him.
We are made divine within and without. God’s purpose is to sanctify us to such an extent so that He may gain the church as the Body of Christ, the corporate expression of God. Amen!
May we open to the Lord to allow Him to mingle Himself with us more and more each day.
May we be those who know and do the will of God today.
The will of God is to obtain a Body for Christ to be His fullness, His expression (Rom. 12:2, 5; Eph. 1:5, 9, 11, 22-23). Hallelujah!
Lord Jesus, we want to know the will of God and do the will of God so that we may live a life for the fulfilment of God’s eternal purpose. We open to You. We want to grow in life unto maturity and have God wrought into our being little by little, day by day. Amen, Lord, bring us into full sonship! Mingle Yourself with us a little more today. Cause us to grow in life with the growth of God day by day. May every part of our being be permeated and saturated with God. Sanctify us, Lord, by adding Yourself to us and by mingling Yourself with us. Amen, Lord, bring us on to maturity so that we may absolutely mingled with God and inherit all that God is and all that He has done! Praise the Lord for the divine sonship! Bring us all on to maturity, Lord, and mingle Yourself with us day by day so that You may gain the Body of Christ, the corporate expression of God, the fullness of God! Hallelujah, we are being sanctified by God, with God, and in God so that within and without we are made holy and divine! Praise the Lord!
Read this article in the Romanian language – citiți acest articol în limba română la următorul link, Biserica este mijlocul folosit de Dumnezeu pentru a-Și împlini scopul și a-Și rezolva problemele.
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, 1965, vol. 1, “The Vision, Practice, and Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ,” pp. 51-53, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Being a Vessel unto Honor, a Fully Equipped Man of God, by being Empowered in the Grace which is in Christ Jesus to Fully Accomplish our Ministry in the Unique Ministry of God’s Economy (2024 April ITERO), week 2, God Calling Us according to His Own Purpose.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– The church being the Body, and the Body being the fullness, a portion from, One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee.
– What Does It Mean to Walk According to the Spirit in Romans 8? More via, Bibles for America blog.
– A Christian’s Attitude toward Reforming Society, via, Shepherding Words.
– The Purpose of the Life of God, via, Living to Him.
– Knowing the church, a portion from, Four Crucial Elements of the Bible, The—Christ, the Spirit, Life, and the Church, Chapter 9, by Witness Lee.
– The eternal purpose of God as revealed in Ephesians 1, article by Ron Kangas in, Affirmation and Critique.
– Image and Dominion, Genesis to Revelation, via, New Jerusalem blog.
– Being replaced with Christ by enjoying Christ to fulfill the dream of God’s eternal purpose, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique.
– The purpose of God, a portion from, Christ and the Church Revealed and Typified in the Psalms, Chapter 24, by Witness Lee.
– Life’s Purpose—to Build the House of God, free booklet.
– Why Read the Bible? To Slay God’s Adversary! More via, Holding to Truth in Love. - Hymns on this topic:
– Now the Triune God has come to dwell within / As the wonderful Spirit in us. / We are mingled with the Lord, we’re one with Him / As the life-giving Spirit in us. / Oh, He’s the wonderful Spirit in us, / He’s the wonderful Spirit in us! / God is in the Son, the Son’s the Spirit now— / He’s the wonderful Spirit in us! (Hymns #1113 stanza 1 and chorus)
– Now within the Lord’s recov’ry, we’re so glad to find the way / To experience the Triune God and live by Him today— / Get into the mingled spirit, and within the spirit stay; / Yes, mingling is the way. (Hymns #1199 stanza 3)
– In His life’s rich flowing / Man will be transformed / Into precious substance / And to Him conformed. / Thus will man be builded / As His counterpart, / Thus to be His dwelling, / Satisfy His heart. / ’Tis the holy city, / New Jerusalem; / With His saints God mingles, / Makes His home with them. / He becomes their content, / His expression they; / They shall share His glory, / One with Him for aye. (Hymns #971 stanzas 3-4)
About aGodMan
Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1965, vol. 1, “The Vision, Practice, and Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ,” pp. 51-52
we have been predestinated by God unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will!
Because of the fall, the whole creation is under darkness and death, but we have been saved and we’re in the process of being mingled with the Triune God so that we may be sanctified and made His sons in full!
May we grow in Christ, be mingled with God, and have every part of our being saturated and permeated with God until we’re absolutely sanctified, holy, and divine!
Amen, brother, may we cooperate with the Lord, and give ourselves wholly to Him so that He may have His way to fulfill His heart’s desires.
Amen Lord for Your purpose!
Death followed Satan and, where death is, there’s darkness.
Following darkness there’s confusion. This is the dire situation that humanity found itself in.
However, thank the Lord that He has a solution!
First, He is making the humans that Satan so hates into His many sons by infusing into them His life & nature.
Second, He is operating in His many sons so that they grow up with Him and in Him.
Third, we’re being absolutely mingled with God.
Fourth, we are being qualified to inherit all that God is, has, and has purposed.
Fifth, eventually we will be totally sanctified, holy & divine.
These 5 steps are the 1st aspect of our God’s purpose.
His second aspect is to subdue & defeat His enemy through the church.
His 3rd aspect is to head up all things in Christ through the church.
How wonderful is God’s great purpose for which He has called us…
Our God will achieve His purpose.
We simply need to cooperate with His purpose, and we will crush Satan under our feet.
Amen 🙏
Mingle Mingle Hallelujah!
Glory Glory Hallelujah!
God’s eternal purpose in creating man according to His will, His good pleasure was to have the church as a Body, a vessel to express Him and then as the means to show His multifarious wisdom through the church to defeat Satan, His enemy who brought in death, darkness, corruption and confusion. We were predestinated unto sonship to be born sons of God, to grow up with and in God, and to be absolutely mingled with Him in Him for this purpose.
Amen
Dear brother, may we as your church fulfill your purpose that our lives count in this age…
Praise the Lord! 😃🙌🙋🏼
The church is the means and the vessel God uses today to fulfill His purpose and solve all His problems.
God’s purpose is to have the church mingled with Him absolutely and thoroughly sanctified by Him, with Him, and in Him; within and without.
The second aspect of God’s purpose is to subdue and defeat His enemy by displaying His multifarious wisdom through the church.
Thank the Lord we have been predestinated unto sonship (Eph 1:5) today is another day to be permeated, saturated, overlaid, and absolutely mingled with God”
07/31/24 God Calling Us according to His Own Purpose (Week 2, Day 3)
According to the New Testament, the church is the unique means used by God to fulfill His purpose and settle all His problems. Based on the book of Ephesians, there are three aspects of God’s purpose concerning the church:
1.) To produce sonship through the church (Eph 1:5).
2.) To subdue and defeat God’s enemy by displaying His multifarious wisdom through the church (Eph 3:10-11)
3.) To head up all things in Christ through the church (Eph 1:10).
Ephesians 1:5 says, “Predestinating us unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,” Unto sonship in Ephesians 1:5 means to become sons with the sonship. Being sons is a matter of life; obtaining the sonship is a matter of inheritance. Life enables us to gain God; inheritance enables us to enjoy God and everything that God has. This is what God determined to accomplish in His eternal plan.
In the original Greek, the emphasis of unto sonship is not on being a son but on becoming sons (a group) who inherit the position and status associated with sonship. God’s plan concerning the church is to gain a group of people to be His sons with His sonship.
The Bible emphasizes two aspects of being sons: the aspect of life and the aspect of inheritance. Life makes a person a son, but a son might not inherit the birthright. Esau is an example. He was Isaac’s son, but he did not inherit the birthright (Heb. 12:16). According to His plan, God wants a group of people not only to be His sons with His life but also to have His sonship in order to inherit everything that He is.
Sadly, God has an enemy, Satan, who has been usurping God’s plan for man, such that, he has brought many problems to God to prevent Him from accomplishing His purpose in man ~ death, darkness, confusion, corruption, slavery, and vanity in God’s creation. Because of Satan’s temptation, man had fallen into sin, which brought in death, darkness corruption, and vanity in man. Because of such a great damage, God must do something for His creatures, who had become helpless in Satan’s usurpation.
Through God’s multifarious wisdom, God is now accomplishing His original purpose in man through the church, a group of His believers. The church is the means and the vessel for God to fulfill His purpose in man and to solve all His problems concerning man’s helpless condition. Through the church, God will raise up a group of believers to become mature in the divine life. By being fully mingled with God as life into their tripartite being, they will thus be brought into full sonship.
According to the teaching of the New Testament, sonship means:
a.) we are born of God to have God as our life and nature;
b.) we grow up with God and in God;
c.) we are absolutely mingled with God, that is, every part of our being will be permeated, saturated, overpaid and absolutely mingled with God;
d.) we are qualified to inherit all that God us, all that God has, and all that God has purposed,
e.) we eventually are absolutely sanctified, holy, and divine.
This is the proper meaning of sonship. Sonship will be the fulfillment of God’s purpose in man. Having become mature, that is, being fully saturated with God’s life and nature, have grown unto sonship, who ultimately, will express God in His divine life and nature, but not in the Godhead.
Sonship implies a birthright, qualifying us to enjoy God by being mingled with Him. HWMR – W2D3
Listen to the audio version of this article via,
Youtube:
https://youtu.be/Lt4xVUMk3Oo
Rumble:
https://rumble.com/v596al9-the-church-is-the-means-used-by-god-to-fulfill-his-purpose.html
Amen!
May the Lord gain us all in our sanctification, in our expressing Him in our living, as we remain in Him as He nourishes us to bear fruits for Him and by Him.
Let’s lose no hope, but trust in His words, that we have been called by His purpose, not by our works.
“He is rescuing us from the universal heap of collapse” …!!
I just enjoyed that phrase…the universal heap of collapse. Exactly what this world is, from the penthouses of Park Avenue, to the slums of inner cities, it is all part of the universal heap heading to destruction.
And what counters this, offsets this dreadful truth, this inevitable reality for all that we see? Why of course, it is the Church. Hallelujah that God in His mercy has plucked us out of this universal heap of collapse and lovingly placed us into His beloved building, His body, the Church.
Hallelujah! Lord let your will be done, permeate and saturates every parts of our being.
[Excerpt from HWMR-Wk. 2 Day 3]