We Exercise our Spirit to be Built up in the Church as the Dwelling Place of God

The church is the house of God and the household of God – the church is the dwelling place of God, the place where He finds rest, puts His trust, and expresses Himself; we need to exercise our spirit to eat the Lord in His word to grow in life for the building up of the church. Amen!

We need to see that the church is the house of God and the household of God.

In physical terms, a house is different from the people who dwell in that house; that is, a house and the household are different.

But in the spiritual reality, God has a house – which is the church, and God has a household, which is also the church; the spiritual house of God is the same as the spiritual household of God.

And praise the Lord, we are God’s house and also His household!

This house is a living house, for our God is living. Our God is a living God, and we as the church are the house of the living God.

The church is not a physical building.

The church is not only the gathering of God’s called-out ones, as the Greek word for church expresses. Even more, the church is the house of the living God.

As the household of the living God, the church has the living God in it; each member of God’s household has the living God in them. Praise the Lord!

This means that we as believers in Christ need to have a daily contact with the Lord as the living One so that we as the living church would be one with the living God in everything we do, say, and express.

We need to be revived every morning, contacting the Lord in our mingled spirit and in the Word, and we need to live an overcoming life every day so that the living God would be living to us and in us.

Like the apostle Paul, we need to realize that our old man has been crucified with Christ and it is now Christ who lives in us; the life we live in the flesh is in faith, in the organic union with the Lord, to express Him and not ourselves.

May the Lord bring the local church where we are to the standard of the church that He has in mind and in His word.

May we be those who are living and vital in the Lord and with the Lord, and may we be built up together into God’s living dwelling place in spirit.

As we enjoy the Lord day by day, experience Him in big and in small things, and open to Him again and again, we grow in life by Him growing in us.

This growth is for the building up of the church as the household of God and as the Body of Christ.

May there be much growth in us today so that the church as the dwelling place of God, the household of God, may be built up!

The Church is the Dwelling Place of God, the place where He finds Rest and Expresses Himself

As the house of God, the church is the dwelling place of God; the church is the place where God can have His rest, the place where He puts His trust, and the place where He expresses Himself (Eph. 2:22).

The church is God’s home, the dwelling place of God; it is His household and His house.

The house of God and the household of God are one thing – the church, the assembly composed of the believers in Christ (Eph. 2:19; Heb. 3:6).

As the house of God, the church is the dwelling place of God in spirit.

We are built up in Christ into a dwelling place of God in spirit.

On one hand, the church is universal as the Body of Christ, the house of God; on the other hand, the church is expressed locally as the many local churches, one church in each locality, to express God locally.

The church is the dwelling place of God; it is in the church that He dwells.

Here, in the church, God can have His res and put His trust.

Every one of us has a home or desires to have a home; when we have a home, we find rest, and it is there that we put our trust.

In our home we express ourselves; if someone comes to visit us, they see who we are and what we like simply by looking at our home.

We may go to visit someone and they may invite us to feel at home in their home, but others’ home can never be our home.

We may go somewhere for a conference or a visit and we may stay in a nice hotel, but that is not our home.

We always come back home, the place where we find rest and we put our trust.

God finds His rest in us and He puts His trust in us, in the church.

It is in the church that God expresses Himself to the uttermost.

If you want to see who God is, what God is, and what God does, come to the church.

This is the reason that 1 Tim. 3:16 says that the church is God’s manifestation in the flesh; when you come to the church and live in the church, you see God being expressed.

In the church, God practices His New Testament economy and speaks forth His desire.

In the church as the dwelling place of God, God manifests His glory and expresses Himself.

Therefore, we need to know how to conduct ourselves in the church as the house of God, the dwelling place of God.

We cannot conduct ourselves the way we feel like or think; we need to be one with the Lord and express Him in the church as the dwelling place of God.

The church as the house of God is the Father’s house, and as such, the church is the enlarged, universal, divine-human incorporation as the issue of Christ’s being glorified by the Father with the divine glory (John 12:23; 13:31-32; 14:20).

Wow, what a high view and definition of what the church is!

On one hand, the church is the dwelling place of God; on the other hand, the church is an enlarged divine-human incorporation, which issued from Christ being glorified by the Father with the divine glory.

When Christ was incarnated, the divine glory was concealed, but through death and resurrection, the divine glory was released and imparted into us to include us into the divine-human incorporation, the Father’s house. Wow, praise the Lord!

In this glorification of Christ, the Triune God was ultimately consummated to be the life-giving Spirit to be mingled with us, the regenerated, tripartite people of God to be an enlarged divine-human incorporation.

May we know how to conduct ourselves in the house of God today, realizing that the church is the dwelling place of God and the enlarged divine-human incorporation for God’s corporate expression.

Lord Jesus, thank You for coming to dwell in us, in our spirit, to make us the church as the dwelling place of God! Hallelujah, the church is the dwelling place of God, the home of God, the place where He finds rest! Amen, Lord, we open to You and we want to be Your dwelling place. May it please You to dwell in us and among us. May You be at home in us. May You find Your rest and put Your trust in the church as God’s dwelling place. Oh Lord, we love You and we want to enjoy You in Your dwelling place, the church as the house of God! May You have a full way to practice Your New Testament economy in the church! Have the freedom to speak forth Your desire and to manifest Your glory in the church! Amen, Lord, may the church become in reality the enlarged divine-human incorporation as the issue of the glorification of Christ by the Father! Praise the Lord for the church, the dwelling place of God in our spirit!

Exercise our Spirit and Live in Spirit to be Built up as God’s Dwelling Place in Spirit

The church is the dwelling place of God in spirit (Eph. 2:21-22).

On one hand, God dwells in us; on the other hand, the specific location or place where God dwells is our spirit.

God doesn’t dwell or live in our heart; He dwells in our spirit. The dwelling place of God is in spirit.

This spirit refers to our regenerated human spirit indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit.

Through regeneration, we were begotten of God to be children of God; we were born of the Spirit in our spirit to be sons of God (John 3:6).

Our spirit is the place where God dwells; God’s habitation is in our spirit.

We need to clearly see that God’s dwelling place is in our spirit, not in our mind or in our heart.

We may think that we understand the word of God and we feel love for the Lord, so He dwells in our mind and heart, but the Lord dwells in our spirit.

Therefore, we need to exercise our spirit.

If we realize that we have a spirit and that God’s dwelling place is in our spirit, we will realize that we need to exercise our spirit and live in the mingled spirit.

If we do not exercise our spirit, it will be impossible for us to understand anything concerning the house of God, for the dwelling place of God is in our spirit.

Since the dwelling place of God is in the believers’ spirit, we need to exercise our spirit and live in spirit to be in the church as God’s dwelling place in reality.

1 Pet. 2:5 says that we’re being built up as the spiritual house of God in spirit; the word spiritual denotes that the divine life in us grows and lives in our spirit, and it is in our spirit that we’re the house of God.

The reality of the church as the house of God, the dwelling place of God, is in our spirit; therefore, we need to live and act in our spirit so that God may be manifested in us and through us.

Our spirit is of crucial importance to us in our Christian life.

We cannot contact God with our mind or our heart; God is Spirit, and we contact Him, enjoy Him, and are His dwelling place when we’re in our spirit.

Regarding our soul, it needs to be transformed; on the one hand, we are God’s dwelling place in our spirit, and on the other hand, we’re being transformed in our soul to be built up as God’s spiritual house.

Thank the Lord, we are living stones being built together into God’s dwelling place in spirit.

We are not merely stones that are living and are piled together or scattered; we are living stones, living members of the Body of Christ, being built up together in spirit to be God’s habitation, His dwelling place.

The way we are transformed to be built up together is by drinking Christ in His word; when we feed on Christ by the nourishing milk in the word of God (vv. 2-3), we grow in life and are built up together.

This is why we need to read the Bible with the exercise of our spirit so that we may contact the Lord and receive more of His element into us.

The nourishing milk of the word is for the soul through the mind, but it eventually nourishes our spirit.

When we eat and drink the Lord in His word, we are transformed from being soulish persons to being spiritual persons, those who are suitable for building up a spiritual house for God.

May we remain in the Lord’s word and enjoy Him in the word day by day with the exercise of our spirit so that our soul would be renewed and transformed and our spirit would be nourished.

As we eat and drink the Lord in this way, we grow in life, and our growth is the growth of the Body and the building up of the Body.

Our growth in life by eating and drinking God’s word is for the building up of the church as the house of God, the dwelling place of God in spirit.

The church as the dwelling place of God is the holy temple of God, a living temple, a living entity that grows.

Wow, we are growing in the Lord and our growth is for God’s building so that God may have a dwelling place that grace.

The entire building of God’s house is His temple, His sanctuary, is in Christ the Lord.

Our being built up by growing in the Lord is both in our spirit and in the Lord, for in our spirit and in the Lord we are built up together to be God’s dwelling place of God in our mingled spirit.

Lord Jesus, we exercise our spirit to contact You and drink the milk of the word so that we may grow in life for God’s building. We come to You in Your word, dear Lord, to drink the guileless milk of the word and be nourished with what You are. Feed us, Lord Jesus, and give us to drink as we exercise our spirit to contact You. Cause us to grow in life for the building up of the church as the house of God. May we grow and be transformed for the building up of God’s spiritual house. May we not be scattered or just piled up together but even more, built up together in the Lord. Oh Lord, keep us in our spirit today. Keep us contacting You in spirit and living in the mingled spirit so that we may be the dwelling place of God in spirit! Hallelujah for our spirit, the place where God dwells! Praise the Lord, we can be the church in reality as God’s dwelling place by exercising our spirit and by living in the spirit!

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, The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 2229-2231 (by Witness Lee), 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 8, entitled, The Function of the Church (1) The House of the Living God and the Pillar and Base of the Truth.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The church as the dwelling place of God in Ephesians, article via, Affirmation and Critique.
  – New Jerusalem: a Dwelling Place of God in Spirit, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Christ strengthening our spirit for the building up of God’s habitation, a portion from, The Flesh and the Spirit, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
  – Do You Know How to Exercise Your Spirit? Read more via, Bibles for America blog.
  – God’s dwelling place, a portion from, The Genuine Ground of Oneness, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
  – Being Safeguarded by the Discernment in the Body, article via, Shepherding Words.
  – The church as the household of God in Ephesians, article in, Affirmation and Critque.
  – 21 Key Bible Verses Showing the Importance of Our Spirit, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – The Church is Christ’s own Body, / The Father’s dwelling-place, / The gathering of the called ones, / God blended with man’s race; / Elect before creation, / Redeemed by Calv’ry’s death, / Her character and standing / Of heaven, not of earth. / New man of new creation, / Born through her risen Lord, / Baptized in God the Spirit, / Made holy by His Word. (Hymns #824 stanzas 1 and part of 2)
  – Exercise the spirit! / Human thought reject; / Meet with one another, / Body life respect. / 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. (Hymns #866 stanzas 1-3)
  – Thou art the food and the water of life, / Thou canst revive me, my spirit upbear; / I long to eat and to drink here of Thee, / Thyself enjoy through my reading and prayer. / Thou art the Word with God’s fulness in Thee, / Thou too the Spirit that God my life be; / Thee in the Word I enjoy as my food, / Thou as the Spirit art water to me. (Hymns #811 stanzas 2-3)