Enjoying Christ as Peace and Living a Life full of Forbearance but without Anxiety

The Christian life is a life full of forbearance but without anxiety. When we enjoy and experience Christ as our peace offering, we will have the virtues of Christ and the expression of a life that lives Christ as peace, and our forbearance will be made known to all.

Christ is the peace between God and His people for their co-enjoyment in fellowship. We as believers in Christ need to lay our hands on Christ and be identified with Him, and in this organic union with Him we will experience Him as peace; in our organic union with Christ, what He is becomes ours, and all we are becomes His.

We need to learn the secret of enjoying Christ as our peace offering, so that the peace of God – which surpasses every man’s understanding – may guard our hearts and thoughts in Christ Jesus.

Paul learned this secret, and even when he was in prison he was rejoicing and encouraging believers to rejoice in the Lord again and again.

We must learn the secret of how to take Christ as life, how to live Christ, how to magnify Christ, and how to gain Christ in any environment and in any matter. How do we do this? It is by letting our requests be made known to God, talking to God, an conferring with Him in everything.

We need to talk to the Lord all the time and about all things. It may seem that it is impossible to live Christ and magnify Christ, but when we talk to the Lord and check with Him in everything, living Christ will be something spontaneous.

On one hand we trust in the Lord, and on the other, we pour out our heart to Him. We do trust in the Lord for everything that relates to our human life and spiritual life, but at the same time we open to Him, we tell Him everything, and we spend much time to simply talk to Him about all things.

Instead of speaking to people first when we have problems, we should speak to the Lord, and open to Him about our problems until we get through; then, the peace of Christ will guard our heart, and we will live a life of full forbearance and without any anxiety.

But when we don’t open to the Lord and we don’t spend time to speak with Him about everything, Christian life seems impossible to live.

The psalmist also had the same dilemma, he saw the wicked men prospering while he, a righteous one, was being afflicted, and he saw the evil men accumulating things and being happy, while he was in suffering. All these seemed to be impossible to understand, until he entered into the sanctuary of Jehovah, and there he received the divine revelation of the whole situation (see Psa. 73).

We may be puzzled and even perplexed with some of the things happening to us or to those around us, but when we enter into the sanctuary of God, that is, when we contact the Lord in our mingled spirit and we are in the meetings of the church, God will give us divine revelation and explanation to our problems.

The secret to living the Christian life, that is, the secret of living Christ, is practicing speaking with the Lord constantly, and spontaneously we will live Christ, and we will have a life full of forbearance but without anxiety.

The Result of Practicing Fellowship with God in Prayer is that Christ as Peace is Infused into us so that He as our Forbearance is Lived out of us

As we fellowship with the Lord in prayer by speaking with Him in all things and about all things, Christ as peace is infused into us, and this peace is the counterpoise to troubles and the antidote to anxiety.

The Lord gives us His peace, that is, God Himself as peace is infused into us in our fellowship with Him by prayer, and even though we may still have the poison of anxiety in our being, we now have the antidote – the peace of God, which has been transfused into our being.

The result of enjoying the peace of Christ – God Himself as our peace – is that Christ as our forbearance can be known to all men, for we will live a life full of forbearance but without anxiety.

Through our fellowship with God in prayer, we enjoy the Lord as a river of peace and as a comforting mother (Isa. 66:12-13; cf. Gal. 4:26).

The Lord wants to flow in our being as a river of peace, and when we open to Him and fellowship with Him, He comforts us just a mother would comfort her children, He bounces us on the knee, and He makes us feel comfortable in peace.

On the one hand, Christ is ruling as a King (Isa. 32:1), but on the other, He as a Man protects us, covers us, supplies us, and overshadows us, and under Him there’s righteousness, protection, and enjoyment.

He is like a refuge from the wind and a covering from the tempest, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shadow of a massive rock in a wasted land (Isa. 32:2). Hallelujah for our Christ!

Lord Jesus, keep us in fellowship with You in prayer to enjoy You as a river of peace flowing in us until You as our forbearance is lived out of us. Lord, we love to fellowship with You, for You are a refuge from the wind to us, like streams of water in a dry place, and like the shadow of a massive rock in a wasted land. Lord, You are like a comforting mother to us, and You make us happy whenever we contact You and talk to You about anything.

Living the Christian Life as a Life Full of Forbearance but Without Anxiety

The virtues of Christ for our experience in Phil. 4:5-9 are the expression of a life that lives Christ as peace (see Phil. 1:19-21a; 2:5-13; 3:8-10).

Paul considers forbearance and the lack of anxiety as the first two aspects of the expression of a life that lives Christ. The Christian life is a life full of forbearance but without anxiety.

The first aspect of the expression of a life that lives Christ is forbearance; Paul says in Phil. 4:5, Let your forbearance be known to all men. The second aspect is that the Christian life, a life that is the living of Christ in us, is a life without anxiety.

Anxiety comes from Satan; Satan causes all men to be anxious, and the sum total of human life is anxiety, disturbing the believers’ living of Christ. Forbearance comes from God, and it is the sum total of a life that lives Christ.

The Christian life is a life of living Christ; a life that lives Christ is calm, tranquil, peaceful, and quiet, while a life of turmoil is a life that lives Satan.

What is forbearance? Forbearance is reasonableness and consideration in dealing with others, and it is to deal with others without strictness of legal right. To have a life full of forbearance but without anxiety is to readily agree with others and follow them, and trust in the Lord in all things, having no anxiety.

Forbearance also includes peacefulness, mildness, and gentleness. However, merely being peaceful, mild, or gentle doesn’t mean you have a life of forbearance, for the Christian life is a life of living Christ, and when we live Christ as our forbearance, we have the real human virtues filled with the divine attributes.

When we lack Christ as our forbearance, we will be exacting and demanding of others, but when we are forbearing, we are satisfied even with less than our due. When we are anxious, this is from Satan; God never gives us anxiety, and He never causes us to worry.

Whenever we feel anxious, we need to turn this into our forbearance by speaking with the Lord, opening to Him, and talking to Him about everything and in everything. When we have constant conversations with the Lord, keeping short accounts with Him, and opening to Him about all things, we will live a life full of forbearance but without anxiety.

We need to let our forbearance be known to all men, for the Lord is near (Phil. 4:5); He is near time-wise and space-wise – He is coming again soon, and He is near because He lives in us.

We need to open to the Lord, confer with Him, tell Him everything, and stay in His presence until we break through, and the peace of Christ will be infused into us to guard our heart. The result is a life full of forbearance but without anxiety, which is the expression of a life of living Christ, a normal Christian life.

The central focus of our Christian life is Christ – He is our center, He is our everything, and we want to know Him, enjoy Him, experience Him, gain Him, and live Him. But in a practical way, the focus of our Christian life is forbearance, which is an all-inclusive Christian virtue.

Forbearance includes love, patience, kindness, humility, compassion, considerateness, and submissiveness (a willingness to yield). If we have such an all-inclusive virtue, we shall also have righteousness and holiness. This is our Christian life – a life full of forbearance but without anxiety.

Only when we have forbearance can we have a life without anxiety, for our whole being is filled with forbearance to the point that there’s no room for anxiety. Forbearance is an all-inclusive virtue of a Christian life that lives Christ.

May we be those who are in a constant conversation with the Lord, telling Him everything and letting Him speak to us, so we may be transfused with His peace, we would experience Him as our peace offering, and we would live a life full of forbearance and without anxiety.

May we just be normal Christians who live Christ, who cast all their cares and anxieties on Him, and who learn to turn the anxious thoughts from Satan into forbearance by speaking with the Lord, so that our Christian life would be anxiety-free and full of forbearance.

Lord Jesus, make us normal Christians who live Christ. May our Christian life be a life full of forbearance and without anxiety. May we learn to turn any anxiety into prayer and conversation with the Lord, so that we may be full of forbearance and any anxiety would be cast out. Amen, Lord, may our forbearance be known to all men, for the Lord is near! May this all-inclusive virtue of forbearance be lived out in us as we live Christ daily in our Christian life and the church life!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Philippians, msgs. 28, 57-58 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Leviticus (1), week 10, Christ as the Peace between God and God’s People for Their Co-enjoyment in Fellowship to Have the Vital-group Church Life and to Consummate in the New Jerusalem as the Ultimate Peace Offering.
• Further material on this topic of a life full of forbearance but without anxiety:
  – See the video introducing this wonderful topic by Bibles for America via youtube or vimeo.
  – Read Life-study of Philippians msg. 61 entitled, A Life full of Forbearance but Without Anxiety (here and here).
  – Read, The Experience and Growth in Life, Chapter 13, by Witness Lee (excerpt on, Taking Christ as our Forbearance).
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Bless me, Lord, with days and nights / Of talks alone with Thee, / With hours and minutes, moments too / That I would thus know Thee. / Bless me with Thy presence sweet, / For I have naught but Thee; / Yea, nothing left but Thee Thyself, / Lord, give Thyself to me. / Bless me with Thy shining light / And deal with every part. / That I would unreserved be / A channel of Thine heart. (Song on, Bless me, Lord, with days and nights)
  – The Christian life is a life, / A life of living Christ / For the constitution and building up / Of the Body of Christ; / The Christian life is a life of living Christ. / The Christian life is a life, / A life full of Christ / As forbearance but without anxiety; / The Christian life is a life full of Christ. (Song on, The Christian life)
  – Lord, help me to live a God-man life / At home, with the saints, or wherever I would be; / Taking Christ, living Christ as my life / Exercising forbearance without anxiety. (Song on, Our history)