Living Christ Habitually by Letting Him Live in us and having One Living with Him

We all need to humble ourselves and realise that in our daily living there is not much living of Christ, for even though we have Christ in our spirit, we are not living Christ habitually in our daily life.

We may love the Lord, read and pray over His word, meet with the saints, and live a good Christian life, but how much are we living Christ habitually? How much is Christ living in us, and how much do we still live in the self?

The central work of God is to work Himself into us to become our very constituent so that Christ may live in us for the building up of the church as the Body or Christ. How much do we cooperate with God’s central work, and how much of God’s central work is being lived out in us?

We may be happy that we do not sin or lose our temper, and at the end of the day we may be satisfied with a living that was not for the world, not stained with sin, and we didn’t upset anyone. But what about our living Christ in our daily life?

The focus of our living should be to be the Lord’s testimony on earth by living Christ for the building up of Body of Christ, but this focus has dimmed; we still live in our old man and in the self, and Christ still doesn’t live in us habitually.

We may have the right ground, the proper and genuine ground of oneness; we may have the best and highest teaching, but are all these backed up by our living of Christ? Is the church life a corporate living of God-men who are blended together and who live Christ in their daily life by living in their spirit?

When we look at the matter of living Christ we need to not just understand the concept and agree with this truth but come in the Lord’s shining light in prayer and ask Him what is our real situation and condition.

Our need is to live Christ in and for the church life. The highest point, the climax, of the divine revelation in the entire Bible is to live Christ for the church we the Body of Christ. This means that we should take Christ as our person and we should be one person with Him.

He and us must be one in a practical way so that, when Christ lives, we also live, and our living is Christ’s living, for it is Christ who lives in us.

Living Christ requires that we love Him to the uttermost. We need to give ourselves to love the Lord, appreciate Him, and enjoy Him, and out of love for Him we will bring all things to Him in prayer.

This unceasing prayer will keep us in our spirit, in the organic union with the Lord, so that we may spontaneously live Christ. If we don’t love the Lord, we cannot live Him.

We need to tell the Lord again and again that we love Him, and we need to open to Him continually in prayer, so that we may live Christ and Christ may live in us.

Living Christ Habitually by Eating Him and Letting Him Live in us to have one Living with Him

In the New Testament there are four main verses that speak of living Christ: John 6:57, John 14:19, Gal. 2:20, and Phil. 1:21.

In John 6:57 the Lord Jesus said, As the living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me.

The Lord Jesus as the first God-man lived by the Father, with the Father, and lived out the Father, and the secret was that He was always feeding on the Father, taking the Father as His source and supply.

Therefore, since Christ the Son took the Father as His source and supply and lived because of the Father, so we can live Christ by eating Christ. For us to eat the Lord Jesus is for us to receive Him into us that He may be assimilated by the regenerated new man in the way of life. Then, we live by Him whom we have received.

It is by this that He, the resurrected One, lives in us (John 14:19-20). The secret of living Christ is eating Christ so that He would become our inner constitution to fill us, saturate us, and be expressed through us.

In John 14:19 the Lord Jesus said, Yet a little while and the world beholds Me no longer, but you behold Me; because I live, you also shall live.

Christ passed through death and entered into resurrection, and now because He lives in resurrection, we can also live. We live Christ because He lives in us. This means that, when Christ lives, we live.

We cannot live without Christ, and apart from Christ we cannot live Christ, for living Christ habitually is actually Christ living in us. But when Christ lives and we are intimately joined to Him in spirit, we also live. We live in Christ’s living and He lives in our living.

This is something wonderful yet so mysterious, for somehow we live yet our living is Christ’s living, and Christ lives but His living is in our living. This is because of the organic union we have with Him in spirit. When we live, He lives, and when He lives, we live.

This is a mingled living of two lives joined and mingled together.

In Gal. 2:20 Paul said, I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Who is it that lives, Paul or Christ? Who should be the one habitually living in us, our self or Christ? If we see that we have been crucified with Christ, then we will apply the death of Christ to our old man, the self, and the flesh, and we will allow Christ to live in us.

This is by unceasingly praying and telling the Lord, Lord Jesus, live in me today. I am crucified with You, Lord, and it shouldn’t be me who lives but Christ should be the One living in me. Amen, Lord Jesus, live in me today.

In Phil. 1:21 Paul said, For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Paul lived Christ because Christ lived in him (Gal. 2:20). He was one with Christ in both life and living. He and Christ had one life and one living.

They lived together as one person. Christ lived within Paul as Paul’s life, and Paul lived Christ without as Christ’s living. The normal experience of Christ is to live Him, and to live Him is to magnify Him always, regardless of the circumstances.

This should be our daily experience – we need to be those living Christ habitually by letting Him live in us.

Lord Jesus, we want to be those living Christ habitually in our daily living. May our living be Your living, and may You live in us to be expressed through us. Keep us joined to You in our spirit, Lord, so that we may enjoy You, eat You, take You as our supply, and be strengthened and nourished to let You live in us. Lord Jesus, live in us today. We take You Lord as our supply, our food and drink, and as our everything so that we may live because of You. May we have a mingled living: God living in man and man living in God for the corporate expression of God!

Seeing our Shortage of Living Christ, Growing in Life, and Learning to Live Christ Habitually

We all need to see our shortage of living Christ; we need to humble ourselves to realize that there’s a shortage in our daily life of a practical living according to the vision God showed us in His word.

We may enjoy the Lord so much, be filled and constituted with the truth in the word of God and in the ministry, and see the high peak of the divine revelation, but our living is still not Christ living, and we are not living Christ habitually.

If we check with the Lord concerning how much do we live Christ in our daily life, we will see our shortage of living Christ. We may be very busy doing outward things for the Lord in the church life, and these necessary works may distract us from the goal of living Christ.

Actually, many of the problems in the church life are mainly due to a lack of living Christ.

Our daily walk doesn’t adequately correspond to the vision the Lord showed us concerning the central lane of Paul’s completing ministry. We shouldn’t be satisfied merely with knowing the truth; we need to pray and seek to experience it.

What the Lord wants is not many outward works or many meeting halls for the local churches – He wants our living of Christ.

God wants Christ – He wants Him wrought into our being to be our very constitution, and He wants Christ to be lived out of us corporately for His glory.

For this, we need to grow in life day by day, and we need to walk according to the spirit (Rom. 8:4). We need to learn to live Christ habitually in our daily life by living according to the mingled spirit.

We do have some growth in life and we do have a certain amount of living of Christ, but we need to grow in life further unto maturity, and we need to be those living Christ habitually, not only from time to time.

Our growth in life is for us to live Christ, and as we live Christ habitually, we grow in the divine life. Our growth may be helped or frustrated by our living; we need to grow in life and live Christ in our daily life.

Our living should not remain the same, neither should we merely try to improve it or correct it; we need to live Christ by growing in life, eating the Lord, and living according to the spirit, so that Christ would live in us, and our living would be His living.

As we grow in life and desire to be one with the Lord for His move, we need to live Christ by walking according to the spirit so that we may be the corporate Jesus living again on earth.

Lord Jesus, we repent for not living Christ habitually in our daily life. We repent for our lack of living according to the spirit. Lord, have mercy on us. Save us from being distracted by outward things or even working for God. May we know the truth and experience it; may we know Christ and live Christ in our daily life. Lord Jesus, make us those who walk according to the spirit to live Christ habitually. Grow in us, Lord, and live in us day by day. Oh Lord Jesus, live in us today!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message given by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1989, vol. 3, “The Experience and Growth in Life,” chs. 3, 5-6, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Taking Christ as our Person and Living Him in and for the Church Life (2018 spring ITERO), week 3, Living Christ by Walking according to the Spirit for the Body Life.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # I am crucified with Jesus, / And He lives and dwells with me; / I have ceased from all my struggling, / ’Tis no longer I, but He. / All my will is yielding to Him, / And His Spirit reigns within; / And His precious blood each moment / Keeps me cleansed and free from sin. (Hymns #564)
  # We eat this feast and take God in, / And as we eat we live by Him, / For all the elements within / This feast are God Himself. (Hymns #1145)
  # Lord, I do thank You for another day / To practice living You, in You to stay, / Lord, grant me the grace, Your life mine to replace / Two lives one, oh what a sweet embrace. (Song on, Lord, I do thank You for another day)