According to the teaching of the Bible and our spiritual experience, there is something called the consciousness of the Body of Christ issuing from our enjoyment of Christ as the Head; the consciousness of the Body is the sense of Christ’s life within us, and this sense of the Body is universal.
Lord Jesus, thank You for making us members of the Body of Christ. Hallelujah, we are not only believers in Christ but also members of the Body of Christ, having God’s life and nature within us and being intimately connected to Christ the Head and to the fellow members of the Body! Amen, Lord, may we live in the reality of the Body and may we have the consciousness of the Body of Christ. Keep us enjoying You as the Head and allowing You to grow in us to give us the inner sense for the Body! Amen!
This week we have been prayerfully considering the matter of ministering life for the Body. We want to focus not only on ministering life but even more, ministering life for the building up of the Body of Christ.
We believers in Christ not only have eternal life and enjoy it but even more, we can minister this life to other members of the Body. We can enjoy Christ as life, experience Christ as life, and minister Christ as life.
When we see a brother sinning a sin not unto death, we can ask and give life to him. We abide in the Lord; He abides in us, and we ask and give life to the brother. The ministry of life is to minister as life the Christ whom we have experienced.
This means that, if we would minister life, we need to know, experience, and gain God as the God of resurrection.
We need to allow the killing of the cross to terminate our natural man so that the putting to death of Jesus may destroy the outer man and the inner man would be developed, be renewed, and flow out with the fresh supply of the resurrection life.
We need to know the Body in life; the Body of Christ is formed by Christ as life in us, for this life mingles us to become the Body of Christ. When we know the Body in life, we will experience life and have spiritual growth in life.
As we know the Body in life, our individualism is dealt with, we discern those who are not in the Body, and we recognise the authority of Christ as the Head revealed in the order of the Body.
We need to know the Body in practice, realising that there is one universal Body of Christ and all the local churches are the local representation of the one Body of Christ.
When we know the Body in life and in practice, we will do one work, the work of God’s economy to build up the Body of Christ.
The Consciousness of the Body of Christ comes from the Enjoyment of Christ and is the Sense of Christ’s Life Within us
We need to not only know the Body in life and in practice but even more, we need to have the consciousness of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:26-27; 2 Cor. 11:28-29).
We are members of the Body, we learn to minister life to the Body, and we minister life in resurrection, having the consciousness of the Body of Christ as we minister life.
We need to pray that the Lord will give us a feeling, a consciousness of the Body of Christ.
When Paul wrote Romans chapter 16, he was full of feeling for all the saints and also for all the churches. He didn’t just care for the work he was doing, for the church he raised up, or for the saints he knew; he was concerned for all the saints, all the churches, and all the situations.
He greeted both the homes of the saints and individual saints who were serving or living in Rome. If we read Paul’s epistles, we see that he was full of consciousness of the churches and he both rejoiced with them and wept with them, depending on the need.
Where does this consciousness of the Body of Christ come from? How can we have the consciousness of the Body of Christ? The consciousness of the Body of Christ comes from the enjoyment of Christ (Col. 2:16-19).
When we eat Christ, drink Christ, and enjoy Christ, we are filled with Christ, and we have a consciousness of the Body of Christ. The dear and precious Christ we enjoy as our food, drink, and breath is the Head of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 10:3-4; John 20:22; Col. 1:18; 2:19).
We not only eat Christ as the living bread and drink Him as living water; He is the Head of the Body, and as He infuses us with Himself, we are filled with a feeling and consciousness of the Body.
We are enjoying not only our Saviour and Redeemer; we enjoy the One who is the Head of the Body.
He fills us not only with the spiritual supply we need for our daily Christian life but also with a feeling for the Body.
What we enjoy is actually something of Christ as the Head; thus, when we enjoy Christ, that causes Him to be our Head subjectively and experientially (Eph. 3:8, 17; 4:15).
If we say we enjoy the Lord but we do not want to fellowship with the fellow believers in the Body, our enjoyment of Christ is not that genuine.
We are not enjoying an individual Christ; we are enjoying a Christ who is the Head, and He brings us into His feeling for all the members.
When we enjoy Christ, He as the Head causes us to become conscious of the Body (Col. 2:19).
It is not merely us thinking about the Body or seeing the needs in the Body but Christ Himself, the Head of the Body whom we enjoy; He fills us with a consciousness of the Body of Christ. The consciousness of the Body of Christ comes spontaneously as we enjoy Christ.
The consciousness of the Body of Christ is the sense of Christ’s life within us (3:4, 15; Rom. 8:2, 6, 10-11; 12:4-5).
The divine life we have in our spirit is the life of Christ, which is a corporate life, the life of the Body of Christ. This life has a particular sense, a consciousness, which is the consciousness of the Body of Christ.
The Body of Christ is formed by Christ as life in each one of us, mingled with us (Col. 3:4; 2:19).
Concerning the consciousness of the Body of Christ, we need to begin with the sense of the divine life within us.
As Romans 8:6 says, the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace. Day by day we need to pay attention to the inner sense of life and peace.
The life of God within us is full of feelings, very tender, and full of consciousness. When we set our mind on the spirit, the Spirit gives us a feeling of what to do, where to go, whether to go, and what to speak.
We need to follow the sense of life and peace in our spirit day by day; this is the most basic matter. This is where we start.
May we open to the Lord in this matter and let Him give us such a sense.
Lord Jesus, grant us to have the consciousness of the Body of Christ. We come to You to enjoy You. We take You as our food, our drink, and our breath. Amen, Lord, we want to eat, drink and breathe You in! Fill us with Yourself. Fill us with a consciousness of the Body of Christ! Hallelujah, what we enjoy of Christ is actually something of Christ as the Head! Amen, Lord, may we enjoy You to such an extent that we become conscious of the Body of Christ. Amen, Lord, may we enjoy You and take You as our Head subjectively and experientially. We turn to You. We set our mind on our spirit. Hallelujah, the mind set on our spirit is life and peace. Amen, Lord, mingle Yourself with us more today. We want to pay attention to the sense of life and peace within us. May we do all things according to the inner sense so that we may have the consciousness of the Body of Christ! We love You, Lord, and we love the Body of Christ! We want to do all things for the building up of the Body of Christ!
The Sense of the Body is Universal: we need to have the Consciousness of the Body and a Feeling of the Body
The Body of Christ is universal, the divine life within us is universal, and the sense of the Body is universal (1 Cor. 12:26-27; 2 Cor. 11:28-29).
We live in the local churches, but we should have the consciousness of the Body and a feeling for the Body, and our sense of the Body should be universal.
If we have the sense of the Body, whenever any member in the Body of Christ suffers, we suffer with it, and when a member of the Body is blessed, we are happy for it.
When a local church is blessed, we rejoice with it, and when there is suffering in a church, we feel with it and weep together with it.
May we grow in life unto maturity and allow the divine life in us to grow until we have a rich sense toward the Body.
We shouldn’t just have a sense for the local church but also for the Body of Christ, and even live in the local church with the consciousness of the Body of Christ. If we can bring the universal riches to the Body of Christ, our usefulness to the Body is universal.
We need to learn to minister life in the Body and for the Body, and this ministering of life is for the building up of the universal Body of Christ.
Once the divine life and the Spirit enter into us, we should have a universal sense – the consciousness of the Body (see Rom. 8:2, 10-11; 12:4-5, 15).
This is what the New Testament shows us, and this is what the apostle Paul expressed in all his epistles. He had the consciousness of the Body, he had the sense of the Body, and he had a feeling for the Body.
There was no preference for this or that church, nor was there animosity toward any of the local church.
The sense of the Body is a universal matter, but this sense has been restricted in us because of our own feelings and views (Prov. 14:10; 2 Cor. 6:11-13).
Because we have our own feelings and express them, because we have our own views and opinions and are not afraid to express them, we are restricted in having the sense of the Body.
But if we exercise our spirit, we realise that the Spirit with our spirit is universally vast! Our mingled spirit is universally spacious, including all the saints across time and space.
This means that, as we exercise our spirit and fellowship with the saints, when one of the saints suffers, we suffer with them, and when one rejoices, we rejoice with him.
It is in our spirit that we know the Body and have the consciousness of the Body.
May we be like Paul today, saying, Who is weak and I am not weak? Who is stumbled and I myself do not burn? (2 Cor. 11:29).
We feel this way because we are concerned for the saints, we have an anxious concern for the saints and for all the churches (v. 28).
We submit to Christ, the Head, in all things, and we are one with Him as the Head.
As we submit to Christ the Head again and again, we are filled with a feeling for the Body, and we live together with all the members.
We don’t take our own spirituality, holiness, or victory as the center; rather, we do all things in the Body and for the Body.
We long after the saints in the inward parts of Christ Jesus (Phil. 1:8), taking Christ’s inward parts as our inward parts and yearning for the saints, even seeking to minister life to the saints.
May we all learn to be like Paul in this respect, taking the feeling of the Head as our own feeling and learning to deny our own feelings and views.
May we all as members have the same care for one another in the Body (1 Cor. 12:25-26).
The more we experience the Lord’s breaking and are delivered from ourselves, the more we will discover that the sense of the Body is universal (11:28-29).
If we do this, we will take the Body as the rule in our mind, thoughts, words, and actions, and we deny ourselves, identifying ourselves with the Body.
Thus, there’s no separation between us and the Body, and we are not disconnected from the fellowship in the Body.
This will cause us to live the Body life, and the Lord will gain the expression of His Body.
Lord Jesus, thank You for coming into us as the Spirit and as life to be our life. Hallelujah, we have the divine life in our spirit, and we have a sense of the Body of Christ when we turn to our spirit! Unveil us, Lord, to see that just as the Body of Christ is universal and the divine life in us is universal so the sense of the Body is universal. May we live the church life and minister life to the saints in the local church for the building up of the Body of Christ. Amen, Lord, may we live our Christian life with the consciousness of the Body. Break through in us and have a way to deal with our own feelings and views so that we may no longer be restricted in our consciousness of the Body! May we rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Amen, Lord, may we be conscious of the Body and care for the Body! May we be those who take the Body as the rule in our thoughts and actions! Amen, may this be our reality in our daily living, not focusing on our own spirituality or victory but on the Body of Christ!
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 on this topic, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1956, vol. 1, “The Church as the Body of Christ,” pp. 181-182, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Ministry of the Word and God’s Dispensing for God’s Economy (2026 March ITERO), week 3, “Ministering Life for the Body” – day 6.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Not the individual Christians, / but a corporate entity— / God must have it for His full expression now; / Not just individual churches but the Body corporately— / Hallelujah, we are in the Body now! / Hallelujah for the Body! / Satan trembles at the Body! / We’re victorious in the Body! / Hallelujah, we are in the Body now! (Hymns #1226 stanza 2 and chorus)
– In the Body, by the Headship, / Sitting in the heavenlies, / Struggle with the wicked spirits / And the principalities. / As a member of the Body, / With the brethren stand for God; / Praying always in the Spirit, / Claim the vict’ry through the Blood. (Hymns #885 stanzas 4-5)
– Limit, Lord, my independence, / Let me to Thy Body turn; / Not just seeking light from heaven, / But the church’s sense to learn. / May we be the stones for building / Not the formless, useless clay, / Gain in us Thy heart’s desire / Corporately Thyself display. (Hymns #1225 stanza 4)
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