We need to exercise ourselves unto godliness by exercising our spirit to pray and receive the divine dispensing; for this, we need to build up the habit of exercising our spirit, even forcing ourselves to exercise our spirit, for this exercise does not happen in a normal or default way.
On God’s side, He has an economy; in His economy, He is dispensing all that He is, has, and has done into us for us to enjoy, partake of, and experience.
When we open to Him through the exercise of our spirit and by turning our heart to Him, we receive His divine dispensing, and the result will be that we live a life of godliness.
Godliness doesn’t mean only piety or being pious; godliness is not something outward but the result, the issue, of our inner life.
The more we live in our mingled spirit, the more we exercise our spirit to contact the Lord in all the details of our daily life, and the more we live a particular kind of life.
Inwardly, we contact the Lord, we touch Him, and we remain in the organic union with Him.
Outwardly, we live a godly life, a life that is CHristlike, a life that expresses God.
We do not try to express God.
We do not ask ourselves what would Jesus do in that moment and in that situation.
We simply remain in the organic union with the Lord by the exercise of our spirit, and the spontaneous result is that we live a life of godliness, a life that expresses God.
Therefore, we need to day by day allow God to come in and also go out in us.
First, He comes in by means of His divine dispensing, as we contact Him and remain open to Him.
Then, He goes out by means of us living a life that is Christlike, a godly life.
If we all do this, if we believers in Christ live Christ and express Him, the church becomes the mystery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:15-16).
God desires to gain this ultimate mystery today; He wants to gain a corporate manifestation of Himself in the flesh.
May we live in our spirit day by day so that we may have a proper church life for the corporate manifestation of God in the flesh.
May we learn to lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness, not seeking to have big events and supernatural things happening to us.
May we turn to the Lord again and again, in all the big and small things, even in our daily life and in our family life, so that we may live a life of godliness before God and before man.
We need to Exercise Ourselves unto Godliness by Exercising our Spirit to Receive the Divine Dispensing
1 Tim. 4:7b says, Exercise yourself unto godliness.
The way we should conduct ourselves in the church life is to exercise ourselves unto godliness.
We should not do or say anything that is not expressing God, that is, we should not do anything that isn’t a proper testimony of godliness to others.
When we do something, we need to check with the Lord; we don’t have a set of rules with “do this” and “do not do this” in the church life, but we have the Lord in our spirit.
If some saints say that we have no rules in the church life, so they go to a bar and drink beer and have no problem with it, then we need to realize that they do not exercise themselves unto godliness.
This is not the freedom we are talking about. We need to exercise our spirit so that we may exercise ourselves unto godliness.
Bodily exercise is profitable for a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the present life and of that which is to come.
God’s desire and purpose in His heart is to gain a corporate man who has His image and exercises His authority to deal with His enemy; this is so that He may obtain His eternal rest.
How can God’s purpose be accomplished? It is not by our improving ourselves or perfecting ourselves; it is by God’s own life.
We need to receive God’s life, enjoy God’s life, live by God’s life, and express God’s life; this is for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ so that God may gain His corporate expression.
It is not by our gifts, ability, or knowledge; it is by the life of God that His economy is carried out.
Life is not so simple, for life is mysterious.
May we not assume that we know what it means to exercise ourselves unto godliness; may we open to the Lord and allow Him to shine on us so that He may bring us into a genuine experience of Himself for us to live a life of godliness.
The way to conduct ourselves in the church life is to exercise ourselves unto godliness (1 Tim. 3:15; 4:7; 2:2).
As we live in this age of the degradation of the church, we need to learn how we ought to conduct ourselves in the church as the house of God; the way is to exercise ourselves unto godliness by the exercise of our spirit.
We all have to exercise our spirit because the mystery of God is with our spirit (Eph. 1:9; 3:3-4, 9; 5:32; Col. 1:26-27; 2:2; 2 Tim. 4:22).
The key that unlocks the experience of godliness is the exercise of our spirit.
The mystery of God, Christ, is with our spirit.
Our Christian life is a life of godliness, which comes out of God’s dispensing of Himself into us; this, however, depends on us being those who exercise their spirit (2 Cor. 13:14; 2 Tim. 4:22; Philem. 25).
We exercise ourselves unto godliness not by trying harder to express God or obey His word but by exercising our spirit to contact the Lord.
Similar to physical exercise, the exercise unto godliness is not something easy, something that we do by default.
Exercising our spirit takes forcing ourselves to exercise to contact the Lord in all things, in all situations, and concerning all matters.
A godly life issues from the dispensing of God into us as we exercise our spirit.
When we exercise our spirit to contact the Lord in prayer, the Lord dispenses more of Himself into us.
This will cause us to spontaneously live a life of godliness.
The key to all this is the exercise of our spirit.
![And to enlighten all [that they may see] what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things. Eph. 3:9 The mystery which has been hidden from the ages and from the generations but now has been manifested to His saints; To whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Col. 1:26-27](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/And-to-enlighten-all-that-they-may-see-what-the-economy-of-the-mystery-is-which-throughout-the-ages-has-been-hidden-in-God-683x1024.webp?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "And to enlighten all [that they may see] what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things. Eph. 3:9 The mystery which has been hidden from the ages and from the generations but now has been manifested to His saints; To whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Col. 1:26-27")
Our spirit is not only the organ by which we receive, retain, and contact God; it is also the opening for God’s dispensing.
We need to open our spirit wide, exercise to contact the Lord, and allow God to impart Himself into us.
On His side, God dispenses Himself into us; on our side, we exercise our spirit to receive His dispensing.
The way we coordinate with God’s dispensing is by exercising our spirit to receive and enjoy Him, and this issues in living a life of godliness.
We need to build up the habit of exercising our spirit (1 Tim. 4:7b; 1 Cor. 6:17; Eph. 2:22).
As we grow in the human life, it is easy to accumulate knowledge and skills, and it is easy for us to think we know how to do this and that.
But we need to build up the habit of exercising our spirit to depend on the Lord in all things.
It is not only the things we say and do, but even our attitude in saying and doing things that matters.
May we be those who exercise ourselves unto godliness by exercising our spirit day by day and in all things to receive and enjoy the divine dispensing.
Lord Jesus, we want to exercise ourselves unto godliness today. Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit to contact You and receive Your divine dispensing. Thank You for releasing us from the bondage of sin and of the law. We just come to You freely to contact You, receive You, enjoy You, and partake of You. We want to build up a habit of exercising our spirit so that we may receive Your divine dispensing day by day. Amen, Lord, dispense Yourself into us! Remind us to exercise our spirit in all situations and concerning all things! May our spirit open wide to You so that we may receive and enjoy Your divine dispensing. Dispense Yourself into us a little more today so that we may live a life of godliness, a life that expresses You in all things! Hallelujah, godliness is the issue of the divine dispensing, and we can exercise our spirit to receive the divine dispensing moment by moment!
Learning to Force Ourselves to Exercise our Spirit in Prayer to Contact God, Receive His Dispensing, and Express God
In the church life we speak a lot concerning the matter of exercising our spirit because this is very important.
Living a godly life, a life that expresses God, issues from God’s dispensing, and receiving God’s dispensing depends upon the exercise of our spirit (1 Tim. 4:7; John 4:23-24).
The Lord is with our spirit, but if we do not exercise our spirit, He has no way to live in us.
Exercising our spirit, however, does not happen by itself.
Just as we need to pick up the physical exercise and continue exercising, even though we feel tired and want to give up, so we need to force ourselves to exercise our spirit in prayer to contact God.
When it comes to doing physical exercise, many of us may not do it regularly, for it requires us to force ourselves, get out of our comfort zone, and actually exercise day by day.
Exercising our spirit always produces godliness; to exercise ourselves unto godliness is to exercise our spirit all the time and in all things.
If we do not exercise our spirit strongly to cooperate with the Lord, God cannot dispense Himself into us (2 Cor. 6:17; Rom. 8:4, 9).
This word, exercise, implies forcing. To exercise is always a forced matter.
For example, for someone to compete in the Olympics requires exercise. They cannot be relaxed.
They cannot exercise when they feel like it, and if they are tired, they skip the exercise for a while.
In sports, people do a lot of exercise in order to prepare for the game and win the crown or the cup.
We believers in Christ need to build up the habit of exercising our spirit by learning to force ourselves to exercise our spirit in prayer.
Whenever we are in a hard situation, we have to force ourselves to exercise our spirit.
If we Christians want to be strong and grow in the Lord, we must force ourselves to use our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22; 17:3; 21:10; Rom. 8:16).
If we have a problem in the family life between the husband and the wife, the way to take care of it is not by asking both parties to calm down and think about it before talking; it is by each one of them exercising their spirit.
If we don’t exercise our spirit when we’re about to argue with our spouse, the soul may become stronger and take over our being, and we may lose our temper.
Oh Lord Jesus, so many times our testimony is that we were just relaxed in the matter of exercising our spirit and therefore we did not exercise ourselves into godliness, and failure ensued.
To exercise ourselves unto godliness is to exercise our spirit to live Christ in our daily life.
In our daily life with all its activities and aspects, we need to exercise our spirit.
When we wake up in the morning, we need to call on the name of the Lord.
We should not just wake up and have a coffee or take a shower; before doing all things and as we do anything in the morning, we need to exercise our spirit to call on the name of the Lord.
If we believers in Christ want to be strong and grow in the Lord in a normal way, we must force ourselves to use our spirit.
This is not a regulation or a rule in the church life; this is something that we all have to discover and practice for ourselves in our daily life.
May the Lord save us from having a routine Christian life and a routine church life.
May we be saved from being nominal Christians who merely read their Bible and attend the meetings of the church but do not exercise their spirit to contact the Lord.
May we do this ourselves and may we be a pattern to others in the matter of exercising our spirit.
We should not force others to exercise their spirit but rather, infuse something of Christ into them and be a pattern to them in exercising our spirit in all things.
May the Lord gain this among us today.
May the church life be filled with the saints who exercise themselves into godliness by exercising their spirit to contact the Lord in all things so that they may live Christ and manifest God.
Lord Jesus, we want to live a godly life to express You by exercising our spirit in all things. Amen, Lord, we exercise ourselves unto godliness by exercising our spirit to live Christ in our daily life. We give You our daily life, our daily living, and all the things related to us. Save us from being relaxed in the matter of exercising our spirit. May we learn to force ourselves to exercise our spirit in all things. Amen, Lord Jesus, we want to exercise our spirit strongly to cooperate with You so that You may dispense Yourself into us. Even in hard situations, we want to force ourselves to exercise our spirit. Hallelujah, God in Christ as the Spirit is with our spirit, and He is joined to us as one spirit! Amen, Lord, we want to contact You in our mingled spirit so that we may be strong and grow in the Lord and so that You may be manifested and lived out in us!
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 the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1979, vol. 1, “Basic Lessons on Life,” lsns. 17-18, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living and Serving According to God’s Economy Concerning the Church (2023 fall ITERO), week 5, entitled, How to Conduct Ourselves in the House of God— Exercising Ourselves unto Godliness.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– The key to experiencing Christ – the human spirit, a portion from, The Key to Experiencing Christ–the Human Spirit, Chapter 1.
– The Daily Exercise of a Believer—Exercising the Mingled Spirit to Breathe in the Lord, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
– Exercising The Spirit, outline via, Church in Hong Kong.
– Do You Know How to Exercise Your Spirit? Read more via, Bibles for America blog.
– Exercising ourselves unto godliness, a portion from, Basic Lessons on Life, Chapter 18, by Witness Lee.
– The working of the law of the Spirit of life to dispense the life of the Triune God into the tripartite man, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique.
– Exercise unto godliness – calling on His name, a portion from, The Two Great Mysteries in God’s Economy, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee.
– What is it to Exercise Our Spirit? Read more via, Radio Newsletters – the hearing of faith. - Hymns on this topic:
– God intends that all His being / Be my full supply; / With Him I must be united, / In spirit nigh. / All God’s being, all His riches / In the Spirit flow; / I must exercise my spirit / Him to know. (Hymns #612 stanza 1 and chorus)
– Exercise the spirit! / All the forms forsake; / Share with one another, / Each of Christ partake. / Exercise the spirit! / Natural sense renounce; / Serve with one another, / Christ the Lord announce. / Exercise the spirit! / Soulish life deny; / Helping one another, / On the Lord rely. (Hymns #866 stanzas 2-4)
– The faith is the economy, the economy of God / The household administration, the dispensing of our God / The truth is the contents, the reality of the faith, / According to God’s economy. / Godliness is a living that expresses / The divine reality, / An expression of God in all His riches / Full of all gravity. (Song on, The faith is the economy, stanza 1 and chorus)
About aGodMan
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Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1979, vol. 1, “Basic Lessons on Life,” p. 599
We need to exercise ourselves unto godliness by exercising our spirit in all things to live Christ.
Exercising our spirit implies us forcing ourselves to exercise our spirit and contact the Lord in all things, both big and small, both hard situations and not-so-hard situations.
When we exercise our spirit, we receive the divine dispensing, and the spontaneous result is that we live a godly life.
Amen !!
Thank you for life Lord and a spirit to contact you!
Thank you for supplying us with Grace!
I enjoyed 1 Tim 1. That by His mercy we have the sufficient Grace for all circumstances in the day. And the life of God through our Lord for our enjoyment and participation.
Thank you for the church life Lord!
We love you and need you.
Amen. We need to rise up and exercise our spirit.
We need to build a habit of saying Oh Lord!
For us to express a life of godliness, we need to fully exercise our spirit.
Amen!
The goal of the Christian life is to become a different person.
This requires us to force ourselves to exercise our spirit strongly to touch God, to contact God and to worship God.
God’s dispensing is intended to make us godly, those who manifest Christ in the flesh.
This depends upon our coordination, and our coordination is the exercise of our spirit.
We don’t need to consider so much whether or not something is legal/right but whether it’s God manifested in the flesh.
We must force ourselves to use our spirit so that we allow the Lord to make us those who live Christ in our daily life.
Praise the Lord! 🙋🏽😃
Amen dear brother!
May we pray to touch the throne of God by calling on your name and opening our spirit to recieve more of your dispensing Spirit and walking and living by this.
Hallelujah!😀
The way for us to conduct ourselves in the church life is to exercise our spirit!
This is a forced matter.
If we are to exercise our spirit we must call “O Lord!” and pray ourselves into our spirit.
We must realise our church life and Christian life depend on God dispensing Himself into us and for this we need to exercise ourselves to coordinate with the Triune God to receive His divine dispensing. O Lord Jesus!
We need to exercise ourselves unto godliness, so that we are not living according to any legality, nor our taste, preference or choice, but we would manifest God in whatever we do or wherever we go for His testimony!
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1 Tim. 4:7, footnote 4 on “exercise yourself”, Recovery Version Bible
Dear brother, the way to conduct ourselves in the church life is to exercise ourselves unto godliness.
We do not need to consider whether or not something is legal or right but whether it is an expression of God.
So, in whatever we do, say, even the places we go, we need to consider whether is God being or is God able to be expressed or manifested.
Oh brother, whenever we are in a hard situation, we have to force ourselves to exercise our spirit. To force ourselves to exercise, or to use, our spirit makes us a different person.”
Bodily exercise is profitable for a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the present life and of that which is to come.
Praise You Lord.
Amen. Lord love in us a life of godliness For God’s expression.
So here is a question: if we use a stationary bicycle for a half hour, that is exercise. But if we go for a ride on a real bicycle, with a friend, for enjoyment and companionship and fresh air and sunshine, is that not exercise? Yes, the first is more forced, indeed, the latter more otherwise motivated. But both are exercise. Perhaps we can agree on a better word than “force” regarding the exercising of our Spirit.
Our Spirit (aka the Lord) is ever ready and willing to take our hand, to lead us. What we need to do is take a moment to stop our automatic pilot and allow Him. Is it a forced stop, a hard stop….? Maybe sometimes. But in my experience it is more often a gentle shift, like a parent putting his hand over his child’s to show him how to play a chord or groom a horse or steer a boat. The Spirit doesn’t strike us like lightening, generally, but begins a warm glow within us allowing us to let go of our self and let Him gently nudge us in the right direction. We then just smile at our irked spouse, bless our hostile neighbor, forgive our dismissive colleagues and issue the love and long-suffering only available through Him. WE do not overcome. We ARE overcome. And this is achieved by us stopping, just briefly, to hand Him the reigns.
What can we call it? When we “exercise” our right to vote we are accessing it, not forcing it. We need to access our Spirit, tap into it, be aware of it, acknowledge its presence, and then follow it. Maybe we need to grit our teeth sometimes, it is true, but more often than not, we simply need to adjust our gaze.
In His love dear saints.