Our Christian life, just like our physical life, is being maintained / sustained by our continual supply – we need to daily eat, drink, and breathe in Christ. Christ is our real food, Christ is our real drink (John 6:55; John 6:30-35); He is the manna, He as the Spirit is the living water (John 7:38-39); Christ is the Tree of Life (John 15:1).
Even more, as the Spirit, He is “pneumatic” – just like the air, He is everywhere – He can be contacted and received at any time (Rom. 10:8-10)! We can breathe Him in by calling on His name and by praying unceasingly!
Actually, this is the church life: eating Jesus, drinking Jesus, and breathing Jesus! As we do this, organically, we are being built up as the Body of Christ (1 Pet. 1:1-3)!
The way the human body is being built (besides the physical exercises which also are necessary) is by us eating and drinking, and continually breathing! By growing, our body is being built up!
In the same way, when we spend time with the Lord to enjoy Him, there is a metabolic process of spiritual digestion going on within us (2 Cor. 3:18). The old constitution, the old element, the old man, is being discharged and eliminated, and Christ becomes our constitution organically! This is how we are being constituted with Christ, and this is how He builds Himself into our being!
The way the Lord builds up His Body (as He promised in Matt. 16:18) is by continually supplying us, the members of His Body, with spiritual drink and by feeding us with spiritual food, which are uniquely Christ Himself as the Spirit. In this way, the more we enjoy Christ, the more the Body is being built up!
The Body of Christ is the spiritual organism of the Triune God, constituted with the divine element and the human element. We are human and, the more we eat, drink, and breathe in Christ in our personal contact with Him, the more the divine element is being added to us, making us living members of His Body (2 Peter 1:4)!
When we exercise our spirit, we absorb the divine substance contained in the Spirit into our constitution – we are being filled and reconstituted with God!
The way to build up the body of Christ is eating and drinking…