For us to experience Christ, we need to learn the secret of being in Christ as the empowering One; just as Paul did, we need to learn the secret of experiencing Christ in everything and in every place, so that we may accumulate more of Christ and have a rich church life.
For us to learn the secret of being in Christ as the empowering One is for us to learn the secret of abiding in Christ; to abide in Christ is to dwell in Him, to remain in fellowship with Him, so that we may experience and enjoy His abiding in us.
When Paul wrote the epistle to the Philippians, it was approx. 26 years after his conversion, yet in reading this book we see that Paul was not a contented believer – he wasn’t contented with where he was, but he was stretching forward to experience and pursue Christ.
He had a pursuing spirit, seeking to gain Christ and be found in Christ, not considering that he has arrived but always stretching forward to more of Christ.
This is similar in the spiritual realm as we see in the physical realm in Deut. 34:7, where Moses was 120 years old when he died, and his eye was not dim, and his freshness had not left him. In the spiritual sense we need to have a pure heart so that our eye may be single and our whole being would be full of light.
May our eye would not grow dim, and we would be fresh and new and living with the Lord, not being stale Christians but always pursuing to gain more of Christ.
We don’t want to be old or lukewarm Christians; we want to be believers in the Lord’s recovery, members of the Body, who are full of freshness.
We need to always be fresh and new with the Lord, enjoy His presence as our freshness.
If we were to have an encapsulating view of the book of Philippians, in ch. 1 we see that Christ is the life for us to live, in ch. 2 Christ is the pattern for us to follow, in ch. 3 Christ is the goal and the prize for us to pursue, and in ch. 4 Christ is the secret and the power for us to enjoy.
Paul said in Phil. 4:12-13 that he learned the secret in all things; he knew how to be abased and how to abound, how to be filled and hunger, how to abound and to lack. He was able to do all things in Him who empowered him.
This is the secret of being in Christ as the empowering One; we need to learn this secret, the secret of experiencing and enjoying Christ in every kind of environment so that we may live Him and magnify Him.
Amen, may we all learn this secret and practice it in our daily life and in the church life!
Realising that we are in Christ and Christ is in us, and Enjoying Life in Christ
In Phil. 4:12-13 Paul learned the secret; he viewed himself as a disciple of the Lord, a learner, so that he may learn the secret and be able to do all things in Him who empowered him.
When we were regenerated, when Christ as life and as Spirit came into our spirit, God put us into Christ. It is of God that we are in Christ Jesus (1 Cor. 1:30); positionally, we are in Christ Jesus, but we need to also be in Him experientially as seen in Phil. 4:13.
Although we are in Christ factually, doctrinally, and positionally, we want to be in Him subjectively and experientially, moment by moment and day by day.
We need to learn the secret of being in Christ as the empowering One; for this, we need to abide in Him. To abide in the Lord is to remain in the Lord, dwell in Him, and take Him as our everything.
Even though we are in Christ, most of us don’t know how to apply this fact to our experience. Being in Christ is like being in a car when going to the meeting; we simply sit in the car and let someone else drive.
When we’re being driven to the meeting, it would be terrible to try to get out of the car or to give our opinion which way to go – as if we know better than the driver.
On the day we were saved, God put us in Christ, into the “best heavenly car in the universe”; we were put in Christ, and we need to daily exercise to be in Christ in a practical way.
We need to learn the secret of being in Christ, not exercising our effort to do many things on our own but rather simply rest and be in peace in Christ. If we realise we are in Christ, we will be at rest, not endeavoring to overcome such negative things as our temper or anger.
We need to learn in our experience to be in Christ. When we are in the car and the driver takes us where we need to go, the driver knows where we are going and he doesn’t necessarily need our back-seat driving ideas; we simply need to enjoy a pleasant time of sightseeing.
May we realise that we are of God in Christ Jesus, and may we have a spirit of wisdom and revelation to see the secret of experiencing Christ by being in Him.
We need to learn to be quiet in Christ, not offering our suggestions for Him to do this or that but rather knowing that He takes the best care of us.
Sometimes we may think that the “route” the Lord took with us is the wrong one, that He made a mistake; but actually, He is taking a different route that may seem longer so that we may enjoy more sight-seeing of Christ and learn more lessons in our Christian life.
On one hand Christ lives in us and He is in us; on the other hand, we are in Christ and we should do all things in Him, enjoying His salvation day by day. Because Christ is in us and we are in Christ, we should simply enjoy the life in Christ and do all things in Him.
Thank You Lord for not only coming into us to be our life and everything but also putting us in Christ. Hallelujah, it is of God that we are in Christ Jesus, and He is everything to us. We want to learn the secret of being in Christ as the empowering One, learning how to live in Christ, be in Christ, enjoy Christ, and do everything in Christ. Amen, Lord, may we remain in rest and in peace knowing that Christ knows where we are, where we have to go, and what we need; He takes care of all our needs, and we simply need to enjoy Him and live one spirit with Him!
Learning the Secret of being in Christ as the Empowering One in our Experience
In Philippians 4:12-13 Paul says, “I know also how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in everything and in all things I have learned the secret both to be filled and to hunger, both to abound and to lack. I am able to do all things in Him who empowers me”.
This phrase “learned the secret” indicates that Paul had come into a new situation, a new environment, and he had to learn a new thing, which is the secret of being in Christ as the empowering One.
Whenever we are put in a new environment, we need to learn the secret of living in that environment.
For example, if we were to go to Taiwan and live there, we need to “learn the secret” of eating with chopsticks and get accustomed with Taiwanese food; this is a secret to learn and practice if we want to live in Taiwan.
“I have learned the secret” literally means “I have been initiated”; this metaphor here refers to a person’s being initiated into a secret society with instruction in its rudimentary principles.
As believers in Christ we are a mystery; our contacting the Lord is a mystery, our meeting is a mystery, the church is a mystery, and as the Body we are “a secret society” into which we are being initiated.
After Paul was converted to Christ, he was initiated into Christ and into the Body of Christ.
He had to learn the secret of how to take Christ as life, how to live Christ, how to magnify Christ, how to gain Christ, and how to have the church life; all these things are the rudimentary principles.
In everything and in all things, Paul learned the secret of being in Christ as the empowering One; in everything means in each matter, and in all things means in matters.
In all the things of our human life we need to learn the secret of being in Christ to experience Him.
We need to learn the secret of experiencing Christ in everything and in every place; this is also the secret of having more of Christ accumulated within us.
We need to learn the secret of being able to do all things in Christ who empowers us; we are in Him and He is in us, and because we are in Him, He empowers us to do all things.
In Christ we can do all things; we can do all things in Him, and this is a great secret. We need to practice this secret; we need to practice having Christ live in us and we live in Christ.
For this, we must deny our flesh and the natural man, counting all things as loss and not treasuring or appreciating anything of our natural man. Even the good points, attributes, and virtues in our being need to be counted as loss so that we may gain Christ, live in Christ, and express Christ.
We shouldn’t have any confidence in anything other than Christ, and we shouldn’t do anything of ourselves or by ourselves, but in Christ and with Christ. We have another Person living in us – Christ lives in us, and we are in Him to live in Him.
May we all practice learning the secret of being in Christ as the empowering One in our experience, realising that He is in us and we are in Him, and living in Christ for His expression and magnification!
Lord, we want to learn the secret of being in Christ as the empowering One in our daily experience. May we practice this secret in our living daily by realising that Christ lives in us, denying the flesh and the natural man, having no confidence in anything else but Christ, and doing nothing by ourselves but in Christ and with Christ. Lord, we want to learn the secret of how to take Christ as life, live Christ, magnify Christ, gain Christ, and live the church life. May we learn the secret of experiencing Christ in everything and in every place so that He may live in us and we would have more Christ accumulated within us!
This article can also be read in the Romanian language / Citiți acest articol în limba română vizitând următorul link, Să învățăm secretul faptului de a fi în Cristos în calitate de Cel care întărește în experiența noastră zilnică.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Philippians, msg. 29 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Experience of Christ (2019 Memorial Day Conference), week 4, Abiding in Christ as the Empowering One—the Secret of Experiencing Christ.
- Hymns on this topic:
# I have learned the wondrous secret / Of abiding in the Lord; / I have tasted life’s pure fountain, / I am drinking of His word; / I have found the strength and sweetness / Of abiding ’neath the blood; / I have lost myself in Jesus, / I am sinking into God. (Hymns #564)
# We’ve found the secret of living, / We’ve seen the vision divine: / We are of God in Christ Jesus, / We’re abiding, abiding in the vine. (Hymns #1162)
# I know how to be abased, / And I know how to abound, / To be filled, to hunger or lack, / In all things and in everything / I’ve learned the secret. (Song on, Secret to be content)
