Enjoying Christ to Absorb His Riches and Grow with the Growth of God for the Body

As we enjoy Christ and hold Him as the Head, we are brought into the heavenlies in ascension, and we absorb the riches of the all-inclusive, extensive Christ, to the extent that there’s an increase – Christ grows in us and we grow with the growth of God for the building up of the Body. Amen!

The very Christ who is the reality of all positive things – and whom we enjoy, apply, and experience in our daily life – is the Head of the Body; for us to hold the Head is simply to enjoy Christ as the reality of all positive things.

In Col. 2:17 we see that Christ is the body of all the shadows, the reality of all positive things; in v. 19 we need to hold to the Head, Christ, out from whom all the Body is built up and grows up with the growth of God.

When we take Christ and experience Him as the reality of all positive things, we hold Him as the Head; He then becomes preeminent in our personal universe, and we absorb all the riches coming out from Him as the Head.

As we hold Christ as the Head, He supplies us, He infuses us with Himself, and as we enjoy Him, we become Body-conscious – we have a feeling for and a consciousness of the other members of the Body.

As we hold the Head, Christ, we are supplied by Him, and we see the other members of the Body as being lovely and lovable; we will seek to fellowship with them, care for them, and be built up with them.

The genuine enjoyment of Christ results in our having a consciousness of the Body, for the enjoyment of Christ is not an individualistic matter but a Body matter.

When we enjoy the riches of Christ, we receive a commission from the Lord – His riches are to me for you, that is, to us for all the saints to also enjoy.

As we hold to reality in love, we grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head (Eph. 4:15-16). Amen, may no one judge us in eating or drinking, and may no one defraud us of our prize, which is the enjoyment of Christ!

Paul considered the full enjoyment and experience of Christ as his prize, and we also need to take Christ as the reality of all positive things so that we may arrive at this prize, the ultimate, subjective experience of Christ.

We should not doubt saying, Can we really experience Christ that extensively, and can He be experienced that finely and comprehensively?

Rather, may we all pursue Christ and experience Christ, and may we take Him and apply Him as the reality of all the positive things in our daily life, so that we may hold Him as the Head, grow up into Him with the element that comes from Him, and be built up together in the Body.

Our Enjoyment of Christ as the Life-giving Spirit in our spirit brings us into the Heavenlies in Ascension

Praise the Lord, we were raised together with Christ, so we should now seek the things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God (Col. 3:1)!

Amen, we as believers in Christ can set our mind on the things which are above, not on the things which are on the earth, for our life is hidden with Christ in God (v. 2).

When we enjoy Christ, we are brought into resurrection and into ascension; the more we enjoy the Lord as the reality of all the positive things, the more we are in the heavenlies experientially.

This means that, when we enjoy Christ, we become heavenly; we are no longer natural and also no longer earthly, for the enjoyment of Christ causes us to be in resurrection and in ascension.

The more we enjoy Christ, He as the ascended Head brings us into ascension. To hold Christ as the Head is to be in the heavens in our experience, and to be in heavens is to hold Him as the Head.

However, many times in our experience we temporarily abandon Christ and do not continue to hold Him as the Head, so we are not heavenly but earthly and natural.

In many small matters, in our daily living, and in what we do, we need to hold Christ as the Head by enjoying Him as the reality of all positive things; then, we live a heavenly life on earth, and we set our mind on the things which are above.

But if we don’t hold Christ as the Head in the matter of our shopping, for example, we temporarily “give up the Head” and become earthly.

When a husband and a wife are exchanging words or criticize one another, they are certainly not in the heavenlies in their experience; when we argue, we are not holding Christ as the Head. Oh Lord Jesus!

In our married life and our family life we need to learn to take Christ as our Head and hold Him, and He will bring us in ascension.

Even more, we need to consistently enjoy Christ as the reality of all positive things, and our enjoyment of Christ as the life-giving Spirit in our spirit will bring us in the heavenlies in ascension!

When we are in ascension in the heavenlies by enjoying Christ, by holding Him as the Head, we will be heavenly people, and nothing will be able to pull us down.

However, we all have to admit that many times an unpleasant look, a remark, or even the fact that someone doesn’t respond to you when you ask them something takes us out of our spirit and causes us to fall from the heavens to the earth.

Oh Lord, how quickly in our daily living we may cease from holding the Head! May we learn to enjoy Christ and even continue to enjoy Christ, the Head, as the life-giving Spirit in our spirit.

Our Christ is, on one hand, in the heavens as the enthroned One, the Head of the Body; on the other hand, He is the life-giving Spirit in our spirit – and the two are one!

So in the heavens Christ is the Head, and in our spirit He’s the Spirit; for us to hold Christ as the Head is to enjoy Him as the life-giving Spirit in our spirit.

As we take Christ as the reality of all positive things, we hold Him as the Head, which brings us into resurrection and makes us one with Him in His ascension; here, in such a state, we set our mind on the things which are above.

This great matter of taking Christ as the reality of all positive things is related to setting our mind on the things which are above, where Christ is our peace, He’s the indwelling Word, He’s the interceding One, and He enables us to have proper relationships with others – all these become our experience.

If we enjoy Christ as the reality of all the positive things in our married life, nothing will be able to pull us from the heaven to the earth.

However, if our family life seems earthly, we need to exercise our spirit more to take Christ as the reality of all positive things so that we may hold Him as the Head; then, we will have a married life in ascension, and here we enjoy the vast realm of the dwellable, expansive, all-inclusive, consummated, life-giving Spirit!

Lord Jesus, we want to enjoy You consistently in our daily life so that we may experientially be in the heavens as we take You as the Head! Keep us turning to You as the life-giving Spirit in our spirit to enjoy You and be one with You! Amen, Lord Jesus, we take You as the reality of all positive things; we set our mind on the things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God! Hallelujah, our life is hidden with Christ in God, and Christ is everything to us! May we have our daily life with all its activities in the realm of this wonderful all-inclusive life-giving Spirit with our spirit!

Hold Christ as the Head, Absorb His Riches, and Grow with the Growth of God for the Building up of the Body

Col. 2:19 tells us that something happens when we hold Christ as the Head: something issues out from Him – the riches of Christ are being transmitted from the Head to all the members of the Body, and we absorb these riches!

When we enjoy Christ and hold Him as the Head, we absorb His riches; something of Him is being dispensed into us to cause us as the Body to grow with the growth of God.

When we enjoy Christ in the heavens who is also the life-giving Spirit in our spirit, we hold the Head and we absorb His riches; then, something comes out from Him as the Head to produce the growth of God in us.

God in Himself doesn’t need to grow, for He is complete and perfect; however, He needs to grow in man, and this takes place as we hold Christ as the Head.

As we hold Christ as the Head, the element of God is added to our being for our growth with the growth of God in us, and this growth is the building up of the Body.

It all hinges on our holding Christ as the Head; when we do this, when we take Christ as the reality of all positive things and thus hold Him as the head, we grow with the growth of God for the building up of the Body of Christ.

We cannot make ourselves grow; we need to hold the Head, and as we enjoy Christ, something of Him is infused into us to cause the growth in us.

As we enjoy Christ and hold Him as the Head, we absorb the riches of this all-inclusive, extensive Christ (Col. 2:9, 6-7); then, these riches become in us the increase of God by which the Body grows for its building up (Eph. 4:16).

As we are holding Christ as the Head by taking Him as the reality of all positive things, the supply from the Head (which is the supply we absorb from Christ, the rich soil into whom we’re rooted) causes us to grow with the growth of God, and this growth is unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

So we need to have these root hairs, tender roots that we send into Christ our rich soil to absorb Him as the minerals of the good land; that is, we need to take Him as the reality of all the positive things and thus hold Him as the Head.

Hallelujah, when we hold the Head, we are supplied, we absorb His riches, and we grow with the growth of God for the building up of the Body of Christ!

May this be not mere doctrine to us but be our daily experience.

May we live moment by moment and even breath by breath by contacting the Lord, by having intimate and sweet transactions with Him, so that our daily life and living and even our whole being would be wrapped up in pursuing Him and enjoying Him.

As we pursue Christ and enjoy Him as the reality of all positive things, our experience of Him is expanding and increasing, for there’s no limit to His extensiveness and His all-inclusiveness!

When we take Christ as the reality of all positive things in the universe, in His word, in the typology of God’s Old Testament people, and in everything around us, we can experience Him more and more until He is enlarged in our experience, we grow with the growth of God, and He is enlarged through us before others.

May we pray over this and remind one another concerning the enjoyment and experience of Christ as the reality of all positive things, until we all become Christ – until Christ is all and in all in the church as the one new man!

Lord Jesus, we hold You as the Head by enjoying You as the reality of all positive things so that we may absorb the riches of the all-inclusive, extensive Christ! Amen, Lord Jesus, we want to send roots deep down into the rich soil of the good land until we absorb all the riches of Christ and grow with the growth of God for the building up of the Body of Christ! Lord, may You be enlarged in our experience as we take You and experience You as the reality of all positive things so that we may live Christ as the good land and He would be magnified in us and through us!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Rick Scatterday for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Colossians, msgs. 55-56 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing and Experiencing the All-inclusive, Extensive Christ (2019 Thanksgiving Conference), week 4 on the topic of, Knowing and Experiencing the All-inclusive, Extensive Christ as the Reality of All Positive Things.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – All things are but a shadow / Which unto us reveal / Thyself, in whom we’re rooted, / The only One that’s real. / Enjoying all Thy riches, / Thy fulness we will be; / We’ll hold Thee, as Thy Body, / And grow with God in Thee. (Hymns #189)
  – Christ, the reality of time and space, / Christ, the reality of every stage; / Christ is the one reality of all / Thru all eternity from age to age. (Hymns #496)
  – ’Tis by serving in the Body / Riches of the Head we share; / ’Tis by functioning as members / Christ’s full measure we will bear. / To the Head fast holding ever, / That we may together grow, / From the Head supplies incoming / Thru us to the Body flow. (Hymns #913)