We need to see and realize inwardly that God doesn’t want anything other than Christ Himself; His goal is to recover Christ as everything to us, and this Christ needs to be subjective to us as the Spirit.
Like the apostle Paul, we need to pursue Christ, seek to know Him, enjoy Him, and be found in Him.
Paul pursued Christ first in a negative way by persecuting Him and those who followed Him.
Then, he was converted to Christ, for he met Christ and Christ infused him with what He is; after his conversion, Paul pursued Christ in a positive way.
He had many attainments and achievements in the old religion, but he considered them all as dung on account of Christ. We need to pursue Christ to enjoy Him and gain Him.
This pursuit is not passive but very active; we run after Him, we aggressively follow Him, and we are desperate to enjoy Him.
We need to consider what kind of pursuit we are having.
Are we here pursuing Christ or do we just read the Bible to know more about the Lord?
Are we earnest in our pursuing Christ? Are we really zealous in our pursuit? Or is it just that we read the Bible every day, attend the meetings, and say that we pursue Christ?
May we all have a new kind of pursuit of Christ these days, laying hold of Him who has laid hold of us.
To lay hold of Christ is not in the sense of going to the supermarket and laying hold of our food, drink, etc.
Rather, it is like a football player who runs and makes sure he catches the ball; he stretches his whole being not to miss the mark, and he either passes the ball or scores (football reference).
We need to be those who stretch, forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, to lay hold of Christ.
Our church life should be a life of stretching forward to gain Christ.
Paul did not consider that he gained and that he obtained; even to the last breath he was exercised to gain a little more of Christ, to reach further into the riches of Christ.
May the Lord grant us a renewed pursuit of Christ day by day.
May we freshly forget what is behind us and stretch forward to gain more of Christ.
May we lay hold of Him who has laid hold of us so that we may gain and obtain more of Christ.
He is our prize. He is our heavenly reward.
Only Christ is what we need, we want, we pursue, and we desire. May the Lord save us from the love of other things and may we focus only on Christ.
We want to gain the reward, which is the fullest enjoyment and experience of Christ in the coming age.
May we pursue Him, seek to know Him, gain Him, and obtain Him as our prize.
As the Spirit, Christ is our Life and Everything in our Daily Experience
May the Lord cause us to realize inwardly that God wants nothing else but Christ; His goal in everything He does in us is to make sure that Christ is our life and our everything.
We were called by God into the fellowship of His Son (1 Cor. 1:9); we are now joined to Christ, and Christ is everything to us.
When Christ entered into us at the time of our regeneration, He came as our life; we received Him as life, and we were regenerated to become children of God (John 3:6; 1:12).
But He doesn’t want to just be our life but also our life supply and everything.
This is why in the Gospel of John we see that Christ is the breath of life (John 20:22), the water of life (4:14; 7:37-39), the bread of life (6:35, 48), the light of life (1:4; 8:12), and abode of life (14:23; 15:1, 4-5).
![And when He had said this, He breathed into [them] and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. John 20:22 But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall by no means thirst forever; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life. John 4:14 I am the bread of life. John 6:48 Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall by no means walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. John 8:12 I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing. John 15:5](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/And-when-He-had-said-this-He-breathed-into-them-and-said-to-them-Receive-the-Holy-Spirit-jpg.webp?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "And when He had said this, He breathed into [them] and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. John 20:22 But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall by no means thirst forever; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life. John 4:14 I am the bread of life. John 6:48 Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall by no means walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. John 8:12 I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing. John 15:5")
He is our life within and He is also everything we need for the sustenance and maintenance of life.
On one hand, Christ is our life (Col. 3:4); on the other hand, He is our life supply for us to enjoy and grow in the divine life.
We need to realize that Christ is our everything.
We may be sitting on a chair – Christ is the reality of the chair we rest on.
We may eat breakfast or lunch – Christ is the reality of everything we eat.
We are breathing day by day, even moment by moment – Christ is our real breath of life.
The real Oxygen is Christ; He is the real spiritual air we breathe.
Day by day we need to enjoy Christ as our life and everything, enjoying Him and experiencing Him as everything we need.
We must walk worthily of the Lord to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work by living Christ, growing Christ, expressing Christ, and propagating Christ in every respect (Col. 1:9-10).
As we eat the Lord, enjoy Him, and partake of Him, we will have a certain kind of walk, a walk that pleases Him in all things.
We will grow in Christ and Christ will grow in us, we will live by Christ and Christ will live in us, and we will bear fruit as Christ bears fruit in us in our daily living.
We must allow God to work Christ into us to such an extent that He is everything to us – our exceeding joy and our exceedingly great reward (Eph. 3:16-19; Psa. 43:4a; Gen. 15:1; John 15:11; Rom. 14:17; Phil. 3:14).
Day by day we can tell the Lord, Lord, I allow You to work Yourself into me a little more today until You become my everything.
He is our life and He wants to become our everything. We need to give Him the full permission all day long in our lives, in every aspect of our living.
When we let Him do it, when we remain open to His divine dispensing, we will be Christians filled with joy, for we enjoy Him as our exceedingly great reward.
The greatest need for us today is to see that Christ is the Spirit indwelling our spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17—4:1; 2 Tim. 4:22; 1 Cor. 6:17; John 4:24).
The way we enjoy and experience Christ as our life and everything is by exercising our spirit to enjoy Him in spirit.
If we do not see that Christ is the Spirit indwelling our spirit, everything of Christ is just something objective, intangible, and doctrine to us.
God is Spirit, and we need to worship Him in spirit.
The Lord today is the Spirit, and when our heart turns to Him, the veil is taken away, and we are transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.
We are joined to the Lord as one spirit, and the Lord is with our spirit.
We can know Christ, enjoy Christ, and experience Christ as the Spirit indwelling us.
Furthermore, Christ is also the Word; when we contact the Lord’s word with our spirit, His words become spirit to be life to us (John 6:63).
When the Lord’s words become spirit, the Spirit enters into us so that we can be completely occupied by Him, transformed by Him, and mingled with Him to satisfy the desire of God’s heart (Eph. 6:17-18; John 5:39-40).
May we let the word of Christ dwell in us richly by means of our prayerful reading and musing on the word of God.
By means of our prayer, we receive the word of God into us, and the word becomes our life and life supply.
The words that the Lord speaks to us are spirit and are life; we can take His words into us and enjoy spirit and life, and in this way, Christ becomes our life and everything.
Lord Jesus, grant us to see and realize inwardly that God doesn’t want anything other than Christ Himself! Amen, Lord, recover Christ as everything to us in our daily life! We want to enjoy Christ as our life and everything by exercising our spirit. We take You as our life today. We take You as our breath of life, our water of life, our bread of life, our light of life, and our abode of life. Amen, Lord, may we enjoy You as our life and everything so that we may walk worthily of the Lord to please Him in all things! We open to You, dear Lord, and we allow You to work Yourself into us to such an extent that You are everything to us. We exercise our spirit to enjoy and experience Christ as the Spirit as our life and everything. We exercise our spirit to read the word and receive spirit and life to be supplied, occupied with the Lord, transformed by Him, and mingled with Him! Amen, Lord, mingle Yourself more with us today!
See the All-Inclusive Christ and Learn the Secret of Enjoying Him by Exercising our Spirit
![Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. Acts 26:19 But as it is written, "Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and [which] have not come up in man's heart; things which God has prepared for those who love Him." But to us God has revealed [them] through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 1 Cor. 2:9-10](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Therefore-King-Agrippa-I-was-not-disobedient-to-the-heavenly-vision-jpg.webp?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. Acts 26:19 But as it is written, \"Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and [which] have not come up in man's heart; things which God has prepared for those who love Him.\" But to us God has revealed [them] through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 1 Cor. 2:9-10")
We thank and praise the Lord that He has unveiled us to see that Christ is all-inclusive and He is our portion today.
When we have seen the all-inclusive Christ and have learned the secret of enjoying Him, we will be faithful to the Lord’s recovery, for in the Lord’s recovery we enjoy Christ as our life and everything (Mark 9:7-8; Acts 26:19, 22; 1 Cor. 1:2, 9-10; 2:9-10; 2 Cor. 2:10; 2 Tim. 4:9-18; Phil. 1:19-21a).
On one hand, we need to see that Christ is our life and everything and that He is all-inclusive.
On the other hand, we need to enjoy and experience Christ as our life and everything in our daily life, learning the secret of enjoying Him day by day.
If we do this day by day, we will be faithful to the Lord in our Christian life and church life. So many things can come in to become replacements for Christ.
So many good things, practices, and doctrines can come in to replace Christ as our life and everything.
Even things of the self, which are intimately related to us and we may even think they are us, can come in to distract us from enjoying Christ.
May we see the all-inclusive Christ and learn the secret of enjoying Him as our life and everything.
We should concentrate on Christ and not on any persons, things, or matters other than Christ (1 Cor. 1:9; Rev. 2:4-5; Col. 1:17-18).
We should focus only on Christ as our unique center appointed by God so that all the problems among the believers may be solved.
The unique solution to all our problems is Christ Himself.
We may have many problems in our church life and in our family life; the solution is not more doctrines or more perfecting but Christ Himself.
We do need to take care of our souls and do this and that to make sure we are healthy, but the only solution is Christ.
We need to focus on Christ, take Him as our unique center, and enjoy Him.
When Christ is the center of our church life, all the problems will be solved.
But if we do not enjoy Christ as our life and everything, we are prone to even leave the church life.
For a person to leave the Lord’s recovery means that he has never seen what the recovery is.
Whether or not we are secure in the Lord’s recovery and protected from divisiveness depends on the vision we have seen.
The only way to be saved from division is to focus on Christ.
He keeps us in oneness, He is our center, and He keeps us in the church life.
May we come back to enjoying Christ as our life and everything daily.
May we leave any divisive thoughts, any offenses, and any other things aside and just focus on Christ.
![But I have [one thing] against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore where you have fallen from and repent and do the first works; but if not, I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent. Rev. 2:4-5 And He is before all things, and all things cohere in Him; And He is the Head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that He Himself might have the first place in all things. Col. 1:17-18](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/But-I-have-one-thing-against-you-that-you-have-left-your-first-love-jpg.webp?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "But I have [one thing] against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore where you have fallen from and repent and do the first works; but if not, I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent. Rev. 2:4-5 And He is before all things, and all things cohere in Him; And He is the Head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that He Himself might have the first place in all things. Col. 1:17-18")
May we care only for Christ as our unique center, choice, preference, taste, and enjoyment.
When we focus only on Christ and enjoy Him as our life and everything, we will be preserved in the church in the Lord’s recovery until He comes back.
Otherwise, we will be disappointed and distracted, and we will forsake the Lord’s recovery.
It is the Lord’s mercy that we are still here, enjoying the Lord as our life and everything and meeting with the saints on the ground of oneness.
So we need to return to the Lord again and again, focusing not on practices or doctrines but on Christ Himself and the enjoyment and experience of Christ as our life and everything.
When Christ becomes everything to us, we will not seek to have other things.
But when we secretly want to gain something other than Christ in the church life, we will be disappointed and distracted. Oh Lord.
The Lord’s recovery is His recovery, and there is nothing here for the self or for the natural man; all we have here is the all-inclusive Christ to be enjoyed and experienced by us.
When we lose our focus and concentration of Christ, we will begin to seek other things, and we will imediately not be in a secure place.
May the Lord be merciful to us today in this matter.
Lord Jesus, we want to see the all-inclusive Christ and learn the secret of enjoying Him! Oh, what a wonderful, all-inclusive, vast Christ we have! We come to You, dear Lord, to enjoy and experience You day by day as our life and everything. We want to learn the secret of enjoying Christ. We focus not on a doctrine or practice but on Christ. Amen, Lord, You are our center and unique focus. We do not look at persons, things, or matters other than You. You are our unique center appointed by God so that all the problems among us may be solved! Oh Lord, we love You! We care only for You. You are our unique center, choice, preference, taste, and enjoyment. Preserve us in the enjoyment of Christ as our life and everything in the church life. May nothing distract us from the enjoyment of Christ with the saints on the ground of oneness!
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 brother Minoru Chen in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 Corinthians, msgs. 3-4, 6 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing, Experiencing, and Enjoying Christ as Revealed in Philippians (2023 Memorial Day Weekend Conference), week 1, entitled, Taking Christ as our Everything to Gain Him by Denying our Self and Turning to our Spirit.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– The Centrality and Universality of Christ, via, Living to Him.
– Experiencing Christ by exercising our spirit, a portion from, The Ground of the Church and the Meetings of the Church, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee.
– Do You Know How to Exercise Your Spirit? Read more at, Bibles for America blog.
– The key to experiencing Christ – the human spirit, a portion from, The Key to Experiencing Christ–the Human Spirit, Chapter 1.
– The second “becoming” of Christ – and how we can experience Him, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique. - Hymns on this topic:
– It is God’s intent and pleasure / To have Christ revealed in me, / Nothing outward as religion, / But His Christ within to be. / It is God’s intent and pleasure / That His Christ be wrought in me; / Nothing outwardly performing, / But His Christ my all to be. (Hymns #538 stanza 1 and chorus)
– Christ is our real God, our real Lord, / Christ is our real life, our real light; / Christ is our real food, our real drink, / Our real clothing, and our real might. / Christ also is the one reality / Of all our doctrine and theology; / And all our scriptural knowledge without Him / Is just in letter and is vanity. (Hymns #496 stanzas 4-5)
– Remove the veils, Lord, from my heart; / True revelation grant to me; / A vision clear, O Lord, impart / Of Thy recovery. / By revelation I perceive / The power that raised Christ from the dead; / When I by faith this power receive, / I to the church am led. (Hymns #1220 stanzas 1-2)
About aGodMan
Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1967, vol. 1, p. 184
The Lord wants to recover Christ as our life and everything in our experience.
He is not just our life within but also our breath, food, drink, clothing, and abode, for He is our rich life supply as the Spirit.
May we exercise our spirit to enjoy Christ as our life and everything so that we may remain in the church life, focusing only on Christ.
Aaaaameeen! Lord fill our daily living, we would experience You in everything and all things!
The greatest need for us today brother is to see that Christ is the Spirit indwelling our spirit. Hallelujah.
Amen! Lord teach us to exercise our spirit to keep on enjoying You in our daily living for Your expression.
Yes, Christ is not a one time gain or supply of Him, but a sustaining expression of Himself throughout our walk of life.
God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 Cor. 1:9
Amen brother.
Our greatest need is to see that Jesus is the Spirit and to allow Him to become our unique centre.
When we enjoy & embrace Christ as our everything, our way of thinking & speaking is changed.
We must learn not to have any choice, preference or taste other than Christ.
The Lord Himself should be our unique choice, preference, taste & enjoyment.
Christ is the desire of God’s heart and we must follow Paul’s pattern to take Christ as everything.
Praise the Lord! 😃🙋🏽🙏.
Ameeen!!!
Our greatest need is to see that Christ who is the desire of God’s heart, the reality of all the positive things in the universe, our life, and everything, is now the Spirit. This is the key to our spiritual growth and service. If we see and experience this, our way of thinking and speaking will be changed. We’ll become pure and simple. We’ll never give up the church life. We’ll be faithful and secure in His recovery.