Enjoy and Express Christ as Grace in the Midst of Sufferings to have Grace with God

If we believers in Christ, while doing good and suffering, we endure, this is grace with God; grace with God refers to the motivation of the divine life within us and its expression in our living, which becomes in our behaviour gracious and acceptable in the eyes of both man and God, for we become a reproduction of Christ. Amen!

Praise the Lord for God in Christ as the Spirit coming to us as grace to be everything to us, do everything in us and supply us with all we need so we can fulfill God’s purpose!

When Christ came, grace came. Grace is not something apart from Christ; grace is not merely something God gives to us or does for us.

Rather, grace is Christ Himself who today is the life-giving Spirit coming into us to mingle Himself with us and supply us with everything we need for us to express Christ and have a gracious living before God and man.

As we enjoy the Lord day by day as grace, we live by grace, we stand in grace, and we labour by the grace of God who is within us.

Hallelujah, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is with our spirit, for Christ Himself is with our spirit!

Grace is not something done or given but Christ Himself, our person and our portion glorious!

As we live our Christian life today, especially as we live a life under the government of God, we need to come to the Lord to enjoy Him as our daily portion of grace.

Without His grace, we cannot stand. Without His grace being our portion daily, we cannot live the Christian life.

May we daily be open vessels toward the Lord so that we may be continual receivers of grace and set our hope wholly and perfectly on this grace.

Today we can and should enjoy grace as our portion.

As we partake of grace, are filled with grace, and do all things in and by the grace of God, grace will reign in us, grace will flow through us, and grace will be manifested in us.

Daily may we enjoy grace and also set our hope perfectly on the grace to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Grace is not only for today but also for the future, for when the Lord Jesus is unveiled, at His second coming, we will receive an extra portion of grace!

Oh, what a grace it is to receive the salvation of our soul when the Lord Jesus returns!

This is what we set our hope on: the grace being brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Today we enjoy Christ as grace and keep our being open to Him to be continual receivers of grace.

This is hiddenly, secretly, and not outwardly, for those around us cannot see how much we enjoy Christ.

However, one day this will become openly manifested, and we will see the Lord face to face to become His manifestation, and all will see the manifestation of the grace!

Grace with God is the Motivation of the Divine Life within us and its Expression in our Living

In 1 Pet. 2:19-20 we see a particular aspect of grace – grace with God.

Grace with God in this portion refers to the motivation of the divine life within us and its expression in our living.

The Greek word for grace here is charis, referring to the wonderful inner motivation and outward expression of the divine life, as we live by this life even in the midst of sufferings, which becomes in our behaviour gracious and acceptable in the eyes of both man and God.

For this is grace, if anyone, because of a consciousness of God, bears sorrows by suffering unjustly.

For what glory is it if, while sinning and being buffeted, we endure? But if, while doing good and suffering, this is grace with God. Wow!

There is a particular kind of grace that we enjoy and partake of when we suffer because of a consciousness of God.

If while doing good, we endure, we have grace with God.

What is this consciousness of God? It can also be rendered as, For conscience with God, and it is the consciousness in our relation with God.

It indicates that we as believers in Christ are living in an intimate fellowship with God, and we have a conscience toward God that is both good and pure, and we also maintain such a conscience.

Others may mistreat us because we are Christians, and we may get much persecution and suffering because we do good, but we have grace with God.

In this particular context, Peter is speaking of unjust suffering, which refers to the mistreatment inflicted by the unbelieving masters.

In those days, the unbelieving masters would oppose and persecute their servants because of their Christian testimony (see 1 Pet. 3:14-18; 4:12-16).

So Peter encouraged the Christians who were slaves under unbelieving masters to enjoy grace with God by having a consciousness of God and enduring under persecution when doing good.

Grace with God. What a wonderful matter!

Grace as the processed Triune God for our enjoyment becomes our inward motivation and outward expression in our intimate fellowship with God and our consciousness of God.

As we fellowship with God, as we maintain a pure conscience before Him and a good conscience in all things, we have an inward motivation of the divine life and an outward expression of this life in our daily living, which is gracious and acceptable before man and God.

We all need to learn how to have grace, which is to take grace, possess grace, use grace, and apply grace (Heb. 12:28).

May we have grace with God in our daily living.

Others may give us a hard time, we may suffer because of doing good, and even in our family life we may have many hardships because of differences in opinions, backgrounds, and ways of living.

In all these things, we need to remain in fellowship with the Lord and maintain a good conscience before Him.

We need to enjoy Him as grace, partaking of the riches of the Triune God as our enjoyment so that we may have the inward motivation and outward expression of the divine life, having a gracious and acceptable living before man and God.

Grace is being offered to us all the time. We just need to take grace.

As we enjoy God in Christ as the Spirit as grace, we express Him, and He is manifested in our daily living.

As we enjoy, receive, and express the processed Triune God as grace, He is visibly expressed for others to see both in our holy living and in the church meetings (1 Pet. 1:15; 2 Pet. 3:11; Acts 11:23).

When Barnabas went to visit a particular church, he saw the grace of God.

We can have grace with God as we suffer unjustly, and when others see us, they see a holy living and the grace of God in our church meetings.

May we daily enjoy Christ as grace until He is expressed through us in our daily living and in the church meetings!

Lord Jesus, we want to enjoy You as grace day by day. Grant us today’s portion of grace. May there be the inner motivation of the divine life within us and its expression in our daily living so that we may have a behavior that is gracious and acceptable in the eyes of both God and man. Amen, Lord Jesus, we want to enjoy You today and remain in an intimate fellowship with You in all things. We exercise our spirit and want to have a pure conscience and a good conscience in all things. Amen, Lord Jesus, may we enjoy You as grace and may we express You as grace in our daily living! Hallelujah, the processed Triune God as grace received and enjoyed by us becomes visibly expressed for others to see in our holy living and church meetings! Amen, Lord, be expressed through us as grace! May we have grace with God as we suffer unjustly for doing good and for having a consciousness of God. We come to You, dear Lord, to have grace by taking grace, possessing grace, using grace, and applying grace in our daily living!

Enjoy Christ and Express Christ as Grace in the Midst of Sufferings to become His Reproduction

Our Christian life is not a matter of us improving our behaviour or trying to be better; however, when others see us, they observe our behaviour. They expect a certain kind of living in us, the living of Christ as grace.

We believers in Christ should not try to improve our behaviour or perfect ourselves to be better in this or that respect; rather, we should have grace with God by enjoying and expressing Christ as grace in the midst of suffering to become His reproduction.

Right after Peter speaks of having grace with God as we endure while doing good and suffering, he says, Because Christ also suffered on your behalf, leaving you a model so that you may follow in His steps (1 Pet. 1:21).

The Lord Jesus lived this way; when He came, grace came, and He was full of grace and reality in His living.

Those around Him persecuted Him, misunderstood Him, reviled Him, and eventually killed Him, but He never retaliated, took revenge, or spoke evil things back at them.

Rather, He suffered on our behalf, living a life under the government of God by the grace of God, and He left us a model for us to follow in His steps.

The Lord Jesus was reviled, but He did not revile in return. He helped people and miraculously healed them, yet He was evil spoken of and persecuted by others.

Today we live a a Christian life under the government of God, and we may want to defend ourselves as we do good and suffer, for we have a good conscience.

However, we do not need to defend ourselves or vindicate ourselves.

Others look down on us, though we do good. Suffering and unjust treatment are our portion.

However, this should not trouble us nor should it surprise us. Rather, we should enjoy Christ as grace and express Him as grace even in the midst of suffering; this is grace with God.

For example, in the married life, the husband and wife have differences between them regarding their temper, disposition, habit, background, and understanding.

The husband views things in his way while the wife views things differently.

The husband has a particular disposition and certain habits, and the wife has her own disposition and habits.

It is easy for them to quarrel and argue when they do not live by the divine life.

When they quarrel and argue in this way because of these differences, they do not have grace with God, and their living is not gracious and acceptable to man and God.

If someone visits at this time or sees them on the street quarrelling, this is not the living of grace nor is it grace with God. Oh, Lord Jesus!

But if both husband and wife have the divine life and enjoy Christ as grace, living according to the divine life and not according to their disposition, habits, views, and understanding or background, Christ as grace will be made visible through them.

They become a reproduction of Christ, even though they may suffer because of doing good (1 Pet. 3:9, 16). Oh, Lord Jesus!

May we take Christ as our model and may we enjoy Him as grace in our daily living.

May we partake of grace, enjoy grace, and be filled with grace so that we may have grace with God, becoming a reproduction of Christ in our daily living.

If we enjoy and express Christ as grace even in the midst of unjust suffering, we have grace with God and we become a reproduction of Christ. This is grace with God; this is a reproduction of Christ.

To this we were called, to become a reproduction of Christ by enjoying Christ as grace and expressing Him in our daily living, even while we suffer.

The manner of life that we have expresses the Triune God as grace, and we become a reproduction of Christ.

May we open to the Lord about this matter and ask Him to give us our daily portion of grace so that we may live out Christ.

May we turn to our spirit and enjoy the motivation of the divine life inwardly and become an expression of Christ outwardly.

We Christians have been called to enjoy and express Christ as grace in the midst of suffering so that we may become a reproduction, a xerox copy, of Christ as our model, according to His God-man living (1 Pet. 2:20-21).

We have been called to this. We are given the supply for this. Grace is with our spirit.

In the midst of suffering and unjust treatment, we can have grace with God by enjoying and expressing Christ as grace so that we may become a reproduction of Christ.

Lord Jesus, thank You for calling us to enjoy and express Christ as grace in the midst of sufferings so that we may become Your reproduction today! Amen, Lord, we want to follow Your model today. We want to live the same way that You lived. We open to You. We exercise our spirit to take You as grace. We do not want to live in our natural man or in the flesh; we exercise to deny the self and live one spirit with You! Amen, Lord, live in us today! May we enjoy and express Christ as grace today. We give You our daily living and our behaviour in all things. May we not defend ourselves when we’re unjustly treated but rather, have grace with God. Oh Lord, may we be those who endure when we’re persecuted or unjustly treated because of a consciousness of God so that we may have grace with God. Even as You suffered, may we also have a mind to suffer today. Even as You lived, so we also want to live today, not in and by ourselves but by having grace with God in our daily living!

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 Ricky Acosta in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 Peter, msgs. 19-20, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living a Christian Life and Church Life under the Government of God for the Economy of God (2024 Thanksgiving Blending Conference), week 5, Grace in Peter’s Epistles.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Christian life and its sufferings (4) – a portion from, Life-Study of 1 Peter, Chapter 22.
  – Grace, the Supply and Glory, the Expression (4), via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – The Ministry Produced through Revelation and Suffering, Part Two: Suffering (2), via, Shepherding Words.
  – The way to enjoy Christ as grace, a portion from, Autobiography of a Person in the Spirit, An, Chapter 10, by Witness Lee.
  – Avoiding the Influence of Judaism in the Church Today (4) – The Earthly Promises, via, Living to Him.
  – The grace of God in the economy of God, article via, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Realizing the sufficient grace of the Lord, a portion from, Enjoying the Riches of Christ for the Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ, Chapter 10, by Witness Lee.
  – 1 Peter (Program #17) -Christian Life and Its Sufferings (4 & 5), via, Bible study radio.
  – Why Does God Allow Suffering in Our Christian Life? More via, Bibles for America blog.
  – Grace being God gained and experienced by us, a portion from, Messages Given During the Resumption of Watchman Nee’s Ministry (2 volume set), Chapter 22, by Watchman Nee/Witness Lee.
  – The intrinsic significance of the experience of Christ, via, Church in Regina.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Grace taught my heart to pray, / And made my eyes o’erflow; / ’Tis grace which kept me to this day, / And will not let me go. / Grace all the work shall crown / Through everlasting days; / It lays in love the topmost stone, / And well deserves the praise. (Hymns #312 stanzas 4-5)
  – My gracious Lord has giv’n much grace, / Exceeding e’en a friend my place; / I fain would be His bride. / I’d share His life and suffer loss, / Accepting willingly the cross, / With Him identified. (Hymns #471 stanza 4)
  – He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater, / He sendeth more strength when the labors increase, / To added affliction He addeth His mercy, / To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace. / When we have exhausted our store of endurance, / When our strength has failed ere the day is half-done, / When we reach the end of our hoarded resources, / Our Father’s full giving is only begun. (Hymns #723 stanzas 1-2)