Labor on Christ by Consecrating ourselves to Enjoy Him and Maintaining our Fellowship with Him

In order for us to have a surplus of Christ to bring to the meetings of the church for the building up of the church, we need to labor on Christ and gain a harvest of Christ, a rich produce of Christ, by consecrating ourselves to enjoy the Lord and maintaining our fellowship with Him to experience Him.

How much of Christ did we experience today, and how much of Christ did we gain today? Did we experience Christ in any of His rich aspects this last week?

We shouldn’t be introspective or subjective, but we should bring this matter to the Lord in our fellowship with Him.

Spiritually speaking, we need to consider where we are, in the light of the history of the children of Israel – are we in Egypt eating the Passover lamb, in the wilderness eating the manna, or in the good land laboring on Christ and eating the rich produce of Christ?

These are stages of our experience of Christ; we may be in the world, toiling and laboring hard under Pharaoh, and we may eat Christ as the Passover lamb, experiencing being passed over by God’s judgment.

But there needs to be an exodus from the world and a clear separation through baptism, and there needs to be an advance in our enjoyment and experience of Christ.

In the wilderness the children of Israel ate the manna; the only thing they had to do to get it is wake up before sunrise and collect it, and then cook it.

This didn’t require a lot of labor, but they still had to work a little for it. We may be in this stage: the Lord is “raining food” on us every morning, as long as we wake up a bit earlier to seek Him and spend time with Him.

But we may not labor on the rich Christ and we may not enjoy the riches of this all-inclusive Christ. We need to advance in our enjoyment and experience of Christ.

We need to go on, as the children of Israel did, to enter into the good land; once they entered in the good land, the manna stopped.

When the manna stopped, they had to eat something, so they ate what the land produced, and then they had to labor on the land to gain a rich harvest, so that they may have food to eat.

We need to advance in our enjoyment and experience of Christ until we arrive into this realm where we are in Christ, the good land, and we labor on Christ to gain a rich produce of Christ which we can bring to the church meetings for the building up of the church.

We may not be familiar with this realm, and we all are learning how to do this, but we need to advance until we cooperate with the Lord to labor on the land.

Even though we are the ones outwardly laboring, however, Christ will produce Himself in us; it’s not how much we labor, for God gives the growth, and Christ increases Himself in us.

A farmer is one who is strong and labors day and night, for if he doesn’t labor on the land, there’s nothing for him to eat.

Similarly, in our spiritual life and in the church life, there has to be some who diligently labor on the all-inclusive Christ in their experience of Christ so that Christ may produce Himself richly in them, and they would have a rich surplus for them to bring to the meetings of the church to offer to the Father for His satisfaction and to share with the saints for their enjoyment.

We Labor on Christ for Christ and Let Christ give us much Produce to have a Harvest of Christ

How much Christ we have in our experience and how much Christ we have to bring to the meetings of the church depends on how much we labor on Christ to produce Christ.

It all depends on how much of Christ we experience and how much we let Christ increase Himself in us.

When we come together, each one has (1 Cor. 14:26); this means that each one has a certain portion of Christ that he has enjoyed and experienced to obtain a harvest of Christ, and he brings that surplus of Christ to the meetings of the church.

However, although we need to labor on Christ as the land to produce Christ, we need to realize that it is not we who produce Christ but Christ produces Himself in us through our labor (Phil. 2:13; Eph. 3:17; Col. 3:15-16).

It is God who operates in us both the willing and the working for His good pleasure, and it is Christ who is housing Himself, making His home deep down in our heart so that we may be filled with the rich experiences of Christ for the building up of the church.

As long as we let the word of Christ dwell in us richly and let the peace of Christ arbitrate in our heart, Christ is producing Himself in us, He grows in us, and He increases Himself in our being.

The Christ who is within us knows us in detail; He’s the Shepherd of our soul, and He knows what we really need.

Christ knows where we are, and He knows that He needs and wants to dispense into us a certain rich portion, a portion of His riches.

Some of us may need forbearance, others may need courage and strength, and others still need joy; Christ as the indwelling One knows what we need, and as long as we cooperate with Him to enjoy and experience Him, He gives us a rich produce of Himself.

There is no routine for this, and there’s no formula for this – we simply need to open to the Lord and cooperate with Him.

Many times we realize and become conscious of what the Lord is doing in us for the last several days, and we enjoy Him in a way that we have not done before.

We do the labor, Christ does the producing.

We all need to labor on Christ and let Christ give us more produce; then, we will have rich experiences of Christ (Eph. 3:8; Phil. 4:19).

We respond to Him, we obey Him, and we let Him do what He wants to do in us today.

We shouldn’t judge ourselves, nor should we examine ourselves in an introspective way; rather, we need to be honest with Him and ask Him to give us the experiences we need for us to gain a rich produce of Christ and have a harvest of Christ for the building up of the church.

The harvest of Christ is actually the Christ on whom we have labored and have reaped to be our harvest.

Paul said, To know Him and the power of His resurrection, being conformed to His death (Phil. 3:10); this was his aspiration and experience of Christ for Christ to be produced in him, and today we are enjoying an overflow of Christ from his experience of Christ.

It is sad, however, that many times the believers in Christ come together empty-handed, for they do not have a rich experience and enjoyment of Christ.

How much of Christ we bring to the meeting depends on how much Christ we labor on to produce; we need to have a rich harvest of Christ so that there would be a surplus of Christ to bring to the meetings of the church for the Father’s satisfaction and for the saints’ supply.

Lord Jesus, give us the experiences we need for us to gain a rich produce of Christ in our experience. We give ourselves to You to labor on Christ, reap a harvest of Christ and have a surplus of Christ to bring to the church and offer to God. Amen, Lord, we open to You; make Your home deep down in our heart. May the peace of Christ arbitrate in our heart and may the word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom. May we really know in an experiential way what it means to experience the riches of Christ. May there be an increase of Christ in our being day by day, and may we gain a surplus of Christ for the building up of the church!

Consecrating ourselves to Experience and Enjoy Him and Maintaining our Fellowship with Him

When some believers hear of “laboring on Christ” they may wonder what does this mean; do we need to physically do something, or is there a mental exercise, or some spiritual routine, etc.

To labor on Christ is for us to consecrate ourselves to Him to enjoy and experience Him every morning, and to maintain our fellowship with Him so that we may experience Him throughout the day.

Every morning we need to pray, asking the Lord for the day’s portion of grace and consecrating ourselves to the Lord for the purpose of experiencing and enjoying Him by laboring on Him (Rom. 12:1-2; 15:16).

This is how we begin, early in the morning, by opening to the Lord and giving ourselves to Him not to work for Him or do this or that for Him but simply to enjoy Him and experience Him.

Even while we do our hygiene and take a shower, we can pray and give ourselves to the Lord, asking Him for the grace for that day.

There is no set routine or formality – there is only the opening of our heart to Him, exercising our spirit to contact Him, and allowing Him to wash us, cleanse us, and supply us.

We can just tell Him,

Lord Jesus, I consecrate myself to You not to work for You but to enjoy You. Grant me today’s portion of grace for today. I cannot live without Your grace; please supply me with the grace I will need today. Lord, I consecrate this day to You. I give myself to You to enjoy and experience You by laboring on You so that You may increase in me and there would be a rich harvest of Christ! Train me, dear Lord, to enjoy You today in all the actual situations and circumstances of my daily life. I really want to experience You and to be able to bring a portion of Christ to the Lord’s table meeting to offer to God for His satisfaction! Amen, Lord, grant me a rich experience of Christ today for the building up of the Body of Christ!

We need to ask the Lord to give us the grace we need to labor on Him day by day.

We may not know what to do and how to experience Him, but we can open to Him and ask Him to show us how to enjoy Him, how to till the ground, and how to water the plants of the Lord.

Then, throughout the day we need to maintain our fellowship with the Lord and thereby contact Him, labor on Him, apply Him, experience Him and enjoy Him (John 15:4-5, 11; 16:22; 1 Pet. 1:8). We simply need to abide in Him by contacting Him again and again.

We may even ask Him to keep us in contact with Him, and we may have to return to Him again and again, for it is so easy to leave our abiding in Him.

We all have to learn a lot in this matter, for throughout the day there are many things that distract us from the Lord, and many times we do not contact Him nor do we keep in fellowship with Him.

Our fellowship with the Lord is in spirit, for He dwells in our spirit; throughout the day, we need to inwardly fellowship with the Lord.

However, our spirit is surrounded by our soul, which is surrounded by the body, the flesh; for us to maintain our fellowship with the Lord, there has to be the breaking of the outer man so that the inner man may be released and flow and be expressed.

There has to be the dividing of our soul and spirit so that the inner man would be strengthened and supplied, and the outer man may be divided and consumed, and so that we may live in spirit while we daily take care of our responsibilities.

The spirit needs to be divided from the soul so that, as we live our daily life and take care of things outwardly, we inwardly remain in fellowship with the Lord and abide in Him.

As the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, separates the spirit from the soul (Heb. 4:12), we live in two realms at the same time: outwardly we do things in the physical realm, and inwardly we live in the divine and mystical realm by abiding in the Lord.

As we do this, as we daily remain in fellowship with the Lord, we labor on Him and He produces Himself in us, with the result that we have a rich harvest of Christ to bring to the church.

When we come together, we bring something of Christ, a surplus of the experience of Christ, for others to enjoy of Him.

When the meeting begins, we are prepared to offer our prayers and praises to the Lord, for we have a reserve of Him ready to pour out.

If we daily labor on Christ and reap enough Christ for ourselves, for the needy ones, and for the Lord, we will have a considerable portion that will stand us in good stead in future days.

May we maintain our fellowship with the Lord and thereby contact Him, labor on Him, apply Him, and experience and enjoy Him in our daily life.

Lord Jesus, keep us abiding in You today. May Your living word divide our spirit from our soul so that we may live not in the self but in the spirit. We want to live one spirit with You today. We give ourselves to You to abide in fellowship with the Lord by contacting Him, laboring on Him, applying Him, experiencing Him, and enjoying Him. Amen, dear Lord Jesus, grant us to experience and apply You in every situation. Grant us the grace to enjoy You today. Show us how to till the ground in our heart, sow the seed of life, and water the plants of the Lord. Amen, Lord, we want to have a rich harvest of Christ to bring to the church meeting for the Father’s satisfaction and the saints’ supply.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a message given by Ron Kangas on this topic, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1961-1962, vol. 4, “The All-inclusive Christ,” pp. 345-346, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Meeting God’s Need and Present needs in the Lord’s Recovery, week 5, entitled, Our Need to Walk in Newness of Life, to Serve in Newness of Spirit, and to Be Renewed in Our Inner Man Day by Day.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – By the cross discern the spirit / And within the spirit move; / As good land, on Christ e’er labor, / And His riches thou wilt prove. (Hymns #748)
  – Labor on Jesus to have Him increased! / Then seek God’s dwelling and come to the feast! / There bring and offer your surplus to God, / There eat the riches, rejoice in the Lord! (Hymns #1168)
  – Laboring on the good land, laboring in the morning, / Laboring through the noontime to the early eve, / Laboring for a harvest, reaping all the produce, / Coming to the meeting, bringing in the sheaves. / Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, / Here we are rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves! / Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, / Here we are rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves! (Hymns #1167)