Let God Build Himself into us and Minister the Building and Builded God into Others

If we believers in Christ realize that God desires to work Himself into His chosen people and His unique work is to build Himself in Christ into our being, then the goal of our work will be to minister the building and builded God into others so that the Triune God may build Himself into their being. Amen!

The prophecy in 2 Sam. 7:12-14 is not only the Lord’s promise to David that his son, Solomon, will rule and build the house of God but it is something much more.

It is a prophecy concerning Christ, the real Seed of David, who came many years later from Mary as a man but was the Son of God.

He built the real house of God, the church, and He spoke the word of wisdom.

This Christ, the embodiment of the Triune God, went through the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, death, and resurrection to become a life-giving Spirit.

Now Christ is the Spirit, and as the Spirit He comes into His believers to indwell them, live in them, and make His home in their heart.

The Lord uttered a great prophecy in Matt. 16:18 when He said that He will build His church.

This church is the real building of God, and Christ is the One who builds His church.

How does He build His church? It is by building Himself into our being as He makes His home in our heart through faith (Eph. 3:17).

When we ask the Father to strengthen us through His Spirit into the inner man so that Christ may make His home in our heart, we realize the building up of the church.

When we allow Christ to make His home deep down in our heart through faith, as the Father strengthens us through the Spirit according to the riches of His glory, the church is built up.

Then, as Christ makes His home deep down in our hearts, we will be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what are the universally vast dimensions of Christ, and we will be filled unto all the fullness of God.

It all hinges on us allowing Christ to make His home in our heart through faith.

As He settles down in our heart, we’re rooted and grounded in love for God’s farm and for His building.

We can testify that, as Christ is making His home in our hearts, we get to know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ so that we may be filled unto all the fullness of God for His corporate expression in the church.

May we take Eph. 3:16-19 and pray it every day again and again so that we may afford the Lord the cooperation He needs in order to make His home in our hearts through faith for the building up of the church as the organic Body of Christ.

God’s Desire and Our Need is for God to Build Himself into Us

2 Sam. 7:12-14 prophesies that, somehow, God will work Himself into man so that the seed of a man becomes the Son of God.

The son of David will become the Son of God.

And this is in the context of God’s building.

This means that, in order for us who love God to build the church as the house of God, we first need God to build Himself into us, and then something of us will rise up to build up the church.

David, however, did not have God built into him, so he had some great failures.

God prophesied to David that he needed God to be wrought into him, otherwise, he would not be able to build the house of God, but at that time David had no way to have God built into his being.

We need to realize that, no matter how much we may be a man after God’s heart and how zealous we are for the Lord, nothing that comes out of our natural man is adequate for the building up of the church as the house of God.

We may be according to God’s heart but still be empty, being devoid of Christ; if Christ is not wrought into our being, we are not adequate for the building.

David’s failure shows this; because David did not have God wrought into his very being, he was capable of great failures.

Though he loved God, wanted to build a house for God, and was a man after God’s heart, because David did not have God built into his being, he committed murder and adultery, just like any other human being would have done.

This should be a warning to us.

We may have a lot of “wood, grass, and stubble” – the things that come out of our natural being, but these are not suitable for God’s building (1 Cor. 3:9).

We may have a heart for God and we may earnestly desire to build up the church, but unless we build the church with gold, silver, and precious stones, we mar God’s building rather than build it.

May the Lord save us from trying to build up the church or bring into the church the attainments that come from our natural background or the natural way of living.

May we rather build the church with Christ, the One who has been built into us, instead of using anything natural to build up the church.

God’s desire is to build Himself into us so that He may build up the church with Himself and with something of us as the material.

Our need is for God to build Himself into us so that we may have something of Christ wrought into our being for the building up of the church.

May the Lord save us from the presumptuousness of trying to bring our natural attainments, the efforts of our flesh, and our good and spiritual fleshly endeavours into the church life, which rather mar God’s building than further it.

May we just open to the Lord day by day, in our fellowship with Him and in our walk with the Lord, to let Him build Himself into our being.

We may even tell the Lord that, without Him building Himself into us, we cannot build up the church.

His heart’s desire is not that we do this or that for Him, not even that we would do our best to further God’s kingdom and build His church; He desires to build Himself into us.

It is only when God builds Himself into man that He obtains a mutual dwelling place, the church as the house of God, where He can be expressed and man can be at home in God and God in man.

Lord Jesus, we open to You. We open our whole being to You so that You may build Yourself into us. Work Yourself into our being. We don’t want just to be a man according to God’s heart but a man who has God built into them. We need You to build Yourself into us so that we may become the same as You are in life and nature for the building up of the church. Amen, Lord, build up Your church today. Build up Your church by building Yourself into our being. Without You building Yourself into us, we cannot build up the church. Without You working Yourself into us, we are capable of sinning even as those who are around us, the unbelievers. Oh Lord, we desperately need You to build Yourself into us little by little, day by day! Save us from trying to build up the church with the natural attainments or the fleshly efforts coming out of our zeal for God and His house. May we build up the church with the Christ that has been built into our being!

The Goal of our Work is to Minister the Building and Builded God into others so that God may build Himself into their Being

If the Lord has mercy on us and shows us that His desire is to work Himself into His chosen people, then the goal of our work will be to minister the building and builded God into others so that the Triune God may build Himself into their being (Eph. 3:17).

Paul realized that this is God’s desire, and he fervently prayed, even by bowing his knees unto the Father, that the Triune God would build Himself into the being of the saints so that the saints may be built together to be the fullness of God.

This should be the goal of our work today.

We should not seek to merely save many souls and edify the saints so that they may grow in life; our goal in our work should be to minister God to people.

We need to save sinners and feed the saints, but in all that we do, the goal should be to minister the building and builded God into others.

To minister God to others doesn’t mean that we merely quote verses from the Bible or from the ministry.

It means that we first let God build Himself into our being, and then we minister the building and builded God into others.

Anything that is not of God has no place in the building of God, and if we fail to minister God to others, our work will be wood, grass, and stubble (1 Cor. 3:12).

May we reconsider the work we’re doing for the Lord, for even if it seems that something great is accomplished outwardly for Him through us, unless God is ministered to others, it is all in vain.

How much of Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God has been wrought into those whom we brought to God?

How much of Christ was ministered and built into those whom we care for their growth in life?

If we are honest with the Lord, we will humble ourselves before Him and we will confess that not very much of Christ has been wrought into those we care for.

May we practice this one thing: minister the building God (the God who builds Himself into us) and the builded God (the God who is built into our being) into others for the building up of the church.

First, we need to let God build Himself into our being.

He came into us as the Spirit to be mingled with our spirit and dwell in our spirit (Rom. 8:16; Col. 3:4; 1:27).

Now, from our spirit He wants to spread into our heart to build Himself into us. God is building Himself into us to produce a house with Himself as the element and also with something of our redeemed and uplifted humanity.

This house is the church, the Body of Christ, the expansion and enlargement of Christ.

As we live the church life and carry out the way ordained by God to live, serve, and practice the church life, our work must be to minister God into others so that God would build Himself into them for the church.

Personally, we need to let God build Himself into us, and corporately, we need to learn to minister the building and builded God into others so that the Triune God may build Himself into their being for the building up of the church.

Our natural attainments and our natural zeal for the Lord does not matter much in the building up of the church; our ministering Christ to others is the building.

When we build the church with the processed and consummated Triune God, it’s not actually us who is building but it is God in Christ who is building Himself into us and building the church through us.

The crucial matter in our work in the Lord’s recovery is to minister the building and builded God (Matt. 16:18; Eph. 2:21-22; 3:17).

We should reconsider the work we are doing for the Lord and be before Him so that we may minister not what we are in our natural man or fleshly zeal but something of the Triune God that has been wrought into our being (Gal. 4:19; Col. 1:28).

May we practice this one thing – ministering the processed and consummated Triune God into others so that He may build Himself into their inner man (2 Cor. 13:14; 1 Cor. 3:9a, 10, 12).

May we pray that the Lord will teach us to work in this way.

When we build the church with the processed and consummated Triune God, it is not actually we who are building; rather, God is building through us, using us as a means to dispense and transmit Himself into others (Acts 9:15; 1 Cor. 14:4b; 2 Cor. 3:3-6).

Christ builds the church in us and through us; we simply open to Him and let Him build Himself into us, and we cooperate with Him to minister Christ to others for the building of the church.

Lord Jesus, teach us to minister the processed and consummated Triune God into others so that He may build Himself into their inner man! We open to You, dear Lord; build Yourself into our being a little more today. Do a building work in us by adding more of Your element into our intrinsic constitution. Cause us to realize that You desire to work Yourself into Your chosen people so that You may obtain the church, the house of God and the Body of Christ. May the goal of our work be to minister the building and builded God into others so that the Triune God may build Himself into their being. Amen, Lord, build Yourself into us and build Yourself into others through us. We want to cooperate with You for Your building work. May our work for the Lord have the goal of building God into man and man into God!

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 brother Minoru Chen in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1&2 Samuel, msg. 30 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, An Overview of the Central Burden and Present Truth of the Lord’s Recovery Before His Appearing (2023 July Semiannual Training), week 3, entitled, God Building Himself in Christ into Our Being.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Our need for God to work Himself in Christ into us as our life, nature, and constitution, a portion from, Life-Study of 1 & 2 Samuel, Chapter 25, by Witness Lee.
  – Plugging into the Power Supply for Our Christian Life, via, Bibles for Europe blog.
  – Life-study of the Bible with Witness Lee — 1 & 2 Samuel Program 27: God’s Intention to Build Himself in Christ into Us, watch/listen to it via YouTube.
  – God’s building in the New Testament – the church – also having the mingling of God and man as its center, a portion from, The Building Work of God, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee.
  – How to Practice Prophesying that Builds the Church, article via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – What is the House of God? Read more via, Radio Newsletters.
  – Ministering the Building and Builded God for the Intrinsic Constitution of the Building of God, message via, Living to Him.
  – Becoming God, article by Ron Kangas in, Affirmation and Critique.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – To the lost world minister Christ, / By daily walk making Him known; / Imparting Christ by whom you live, / Share with all men what you own. / To the lost world minister Christ, / The precious One you possess, / Imparting Christ to those you love / As all their gain and success. (Hymns #922 stanza 2 and chorus)
  – Within those whom You’d call / Put such a restless caring / For building to give all— / These times are for preparing; / The gates of hell cannot prevail / Against the builded Church! / The hours are few, the builders too— / Lord, build, O build in us! (Hymns #1248 stanza 4)
  – Christ to minister is service / Both to God and others too, / Christ, the surplus, e’er supplying, / Off’ring Him as service true. (Hymns #912 chorus)