Living a Life of Enjoying Christ as Life and Enjoying the Top Portion in the Meetings

Hallelujah, the Christian life is a life of enjoying Christ as the tree of life, and we can enjoy the top portion of Christ in the meetings of the church!

God’s intention is to give Himself to man as the tree of life for man to enjoy, for God wants man not to do things for Him but to enjoy Him, even to feast on Him in the meetings on the ground of oneness to partake of the top portion of Christ! Hallelujah!

May we be those who eat the Lord all the time and in many ways.

As we come to the word of God and contact the Lord, we are infused with the pattern of Christ, and He in us has a way to live the same kind of life in our daily living.

Our Christian life is not one of imitating Christ outwardly but one of eating Christ as the pattern inwardly. As we eat the Lord, He lives in us.

As we partake of His humanity, He lives in us and is expressed through us.

When we come to the Lord and eat Him, we realize that He didn’t do anything of Himself, didn’t speak anything of HImself, and didn’t seek His own glory.

Rather, He spoke what He heard from the Father, He did the Father’s work, and sought the Father’s glory.

And now He is in resurrection as the life-giving Spirit to live in us the same kind of life that Christ lived on earth.

He is the Spirit of reality guiding us in all the reality of what Christ is and has done.

As we absorb Him in our prayerful consideration of the word of God, we can simply confess our inability to do what He has done, and we allow Him to live in us in this way.

We can take the word of God and make it into our prayer, and we can converse with the word of God, confess with God’s word, worship God with His word, and let the word separate our soul from our spirit.

In this way, we learn Christ as the reality is in Jesus, and the Lord has a way to conform us to the image of Christ.

Through our faith in Christ, we have been put into Him as the mold, and daily we are being conformed to the image of Christ by our enjoyment and experience of Him.

God made us for His glory, and the highest service we can render God is to express His glory.

Whether at home or abroad, whether at work or at school, and whether at the church meetings or on the street, we can serve God in the highest way by enjoying Him, partaking of Him, and expressing His glory.

If we eat Christ as the pattern, He in us becomes the bountiful supply for us to express Him.

Whether we eat or drink, we need to do all things to the glory of God, for we have been bought with a price, and we need to glorify God in our body.

Eat Jesus by Feasting on Him in the Meetings on the Ground of Oneness and Enjoying the Top Portion of Christ

As believers in Christ, we can eat Jesus in two main ways: individually and corporately. Just as the children of Israel could enjoy the produce of the land in a common way or in a corporate way at the place appointed by God, so can we enjoy Christ in this way.

The children of Israel could enjoy the produce of the good land in two ways: the common, private way was to enjoy it as a common portion at any time, in any place, and with anyone (Deut. 12:15).

The special way, the corporate way, was to enjoy the top portion, the firstfruits and the firstlings, with all the Israelites at the appointed feasts and in the unique place chosen by God (vv. 5-7, 17-18).

We all can testify that the Lord is so sweet, so wonderful, so dear, and so near to us when we contact Him personally.

In our personal time with the Lord, when we truly touch Him, He is so wonderful and so enjoyable.

But there’s another portion of Christ that we can enjoy, the portion with all the saints, the top portion.

The tithe of the grain and of the wine and of the other things, as seen in Deuteronomy, cannot be eaten within the gates of the people of Israel, but they should be brought to the place where God chose to put His name.

There are some things, the Lord preserves some top enjoyment and supply, that we can enjoy only in the church meetings.

We shouldn’t think that we can enjoy everything of the Lord by ourselves.

Our enjoyment of Christ in the New Testament is of two aspects: the common, private aspect of enjoying Christ at any time and at any place, and the special, corporate aspect of enjoying the top portion of Christ in the meetings of the proper church life on the unique ground of oneness, the place chosen by God.

This is why we need to be in the meetings of the church. It is not enough for us to enjoy Christ at home.

Even though we are still learning to meet again together, and there is some legitimate health concerns for some saints, we need to never leave our assembly together, even as we see the day drawing near.

The enemy takes advantage of so many saints in this matter, deceiving them to think that because of convenience or some weakness, they don’t have to be physically in the meetings. Oh, Lord.

May we never be defrauded by the enemy in the matter of enjoying the top portion of Christ!

When we come together as the church, we are the ekklesia, the gathering of the called-out ones, and here we get together to enjoy the top portion of Christ.

We can enjoy Christ when we’re by ourselves; when we drive to work, when we’re on the train or on the bus as we travel, we can turn to the Lord and enjoy Him.

He is so rich and so sweet to us! Although Christ always remains the same, He nevertheless has a choice portion and a common portion.

Even if we were to fast, pray, and call on the Lord for three days and three nights alone at home, we would still not be able to enjoy the choice portion of Christ.

The enjoyment of Christ in our private life can never replace the enjoyment of Christ in our public life, in our church life.

We need to enjoy Christ personally, contacting Him and partaking of Him, and we also need to come to the meetings of the church to enjoy the top portion of Christ with the saints in God’s presence on the ground of oneness.

There’s no comparison between our enjoyment of Christ personally and corporately; our enjoyment of the top portion of Christ with the saints is much sweeter and more wonderful than our personal enjoyment of Christ.

This doesn’t mean we should not enjoy Christ personally; rather, we need to enjoy Him personally and privately, and we need to come together to enjoy Him with the saints, enjoying the top portion of Christ with the saints on the ground of oneness!

Lord Jesus, keep us enjoying You both personally and corporately in the church life. Amen, Lord, we love to spend time with You and enjoy You in the most intimate way, in the chambers of our spirit. How sweet, wonderful, and rich You are to us as we come to touch You in Your word in our time with You! Amen, Lord, we love to come to the meetings of the church to enjoy the top portion of Christ with the saints! Thank You for bringing us to the place chosen by God, the proper church life in the Lord’s recovery on the ground of oneness, where we can enjoy You with the saints in God’s presence. Save us from our convenience of staying home and not going to the meetings of the church. Recover our assembly together in the meetings on the ground of oneness to enjoy the top portion of Christ with the saints and with God!

The Christian Life is a matter of Enjoying Christ as the Tree of Life: God just wants us to Enjoy Him!

From the beginning of the Bible, we see that God’s intention for man was to give Himself as the tree of life to man for him to enjoy. Amen!

God didn’t tell man to do this or that, to work this or that, or to labor for God or even to worship Him. God doesn’t seem to want us to do anything for Him except eat Him as the tree of life.

This means that our Christian life is a matter of enjoying Christ as the tree of life! Amen!

We need to have our concept changed from doing things for God, working for God, or obeying God’s law, to enjoying God!

When our concept is changed, it will be easy for us to live a life of enjoying God. When we see this, it will be easy for us to overcome.

If we see the vision of God wanting man to just enjoy Him, it will be easy for the Lord to produce us as an overcomer, for we will cooperate with Him to eat Him as the tree of life.

Our salvation is for us to enjoy God, and our spiritual growth depends on our enjoyment of God. Even our service to God and labor for the Lord depend on our enjoyment of God.

Our Christian life is a matter of enjoying Christ as the tree of life. Everything in our Christian life issues out of this enjoyment of Christ.

God doesn’t intend that we work for Him or do something for Him; He only wants us to enjoy Him.

And He is not outside of us, somewhere we need to go to enjoy Him – He is right inside of us, even in our spirit!

God in Christ as the Spirit came into us to be our enjoyment as our food and drink.

If we realize that all God wants us to do is to enjoy Him and that He doesn’t want to do anything for Him, we will give ourselves to the Lord to eat Him, enjoy Him, absorb Him and assimilate Him.

It will be easy to live a life of enjoying God.

However, if we don’t see this vision, if we don’t have this view in the church life, we may outwardly do many things for God but we may waste our time.

In God’s eyes, if we do things for Him and choose good instead of evil, all this is a waste of time and not much is accomplished.

May we pray that the Lord would have a way in us and change our concept in a drastic way.

May we learn early in our Christian life to enjoy Christ as the tree of life.

If we see some older saints expressing Christ, we shouldn’t try to imitate that; we should simply contact the Lord as the tree of life.

Spontaneously, we will love the Lord and love His word, and Christ will have a way to abide in us and we abide in Him.

The result will be that we will live Christ not by outwardly imitating Him but by inwardly being supplied and constituted with the tree of life to express Him spontaneously.

We all need help in this matter. We all need to be turned from merely doing things for the Lord or outwardly trying to imitate the Lord to enjoying Christ.

May the Lord shine on us and remove any veils and preconceptions so that we may live a Christian life by enjoying Christ as the tree of life!

May our concept be changed so that we may spontaneously live a life of enjoying Christ!

And may we come together with the saints to enjoy the top portion of Christ in God’s presence and on the ground of oneness!

Hallelujah, our Christian life is a life of enjoying Christ as the tree of life, not a life of doing things for God!

Lord Jesus, change our concept from doing things for God to eating God! May we see that God’s intention for man is to give Himself as the tree of life to us for us to enjoy! Amen, Lord, we come to You to enjoy You both personally and corporately! Save us from trying to do things for God without enjoying God! May our Christian life be a matter of enjoying Christ as the tree of life! Amen, Lord, may our concept be changed so that we may live a life of enjoying God! Make us Your overcomers, those who eat Christ and enjoy Him as the tree of life in their daily life!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ricky Acosta in the message, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1975-1976, vol. 3, “Young People’s Training,” pp. 453-456, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Taking the Way of Enjoying Christ as the Tree of Life (2022 Memorial Day Weekend Conference), week 5, entitled, The Secret of Living the Christian Life to be an Overcomer – Taking the Way of Eating and Enjoying Christ as the Tree of Life.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – ’Twas God that brought me to the tree, / With Christ Himself as meat; / How precious did that tree become / When I began to eat. / The Lord Himself is food to me, / He is my life supply; / He will my pure enjoyment be, / None else can satisfy. (Hymns #1143)
  – I’m so happy in this lovely place, / In the garden growing in His grace! / There is no finer pleasure / Than to eat the living tree / And to get the living water into me. (Hymns #1237)
  – How may we express such oneness, / be divine and shining too? / Hallelujah, eating Jesus is the way! / He’s the tree of life, the manna, / and the feast that’s ever new— / Hallelujah, we may eat Him every day! / We are one by eating Jesus! / We’re divine by eating Jesus! / How we shine by eating Jesus! / Hallelujah, eating Jesus is the way! (Hymns #1226)