Being One in soul by Being one with Christ in His Inward Parts for the Body of Christ

In order for us to be one in soul, we need to be one with Christ in His emotions, His inward parts; we need to put on the inward parts of Christ, His inward affection, tender mercy, and sympathy.

To be one in soul, first we need to think the one thing; our mind needs to be focused on nothing else but Christ Himself.

When we all think Christ, considering first and foremost that we want to enjoy and experience Christ for the building up of the church, we will be one in soul.

When we are one in soul, we can enjoy and experience Christ, and we can build up the church as the one Body of Christ.

But if we think something other than Christ, the one thing that we should focus on, we rebel against the economy of God. Oh, Lord Jesus!

May we be saved from rebelling against God’s economy and may we focus only on Christ, setting our mind on Him, and having our thoughts focused on Him.

Our thinking needs to be focused on the experience and enjoyment of Christ for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

If we think that we are something when we are nothing, we deceive ourselves.

Sometimes we deceive ourselves, thinking we are something, when we actually are nothing.

But when we set our mind on the things of God, when we think the one thing, we are one with the Lord and one with the saints not only in spirit for the experience of Christ but also in soul for the enjoyment of Christ.

May we learn to focus only on Christ and the enjoyment of Christ, and may we practice helping one another to think this one thing.

We may have some problems both in our being and among us in the church life; the solution to all the problems is the enjoyment and experience of Christ with His cross.

When we focus on Christ as our unique center appointed by God, all our problems are solved.

His cross operates in us to put to death anything that does not match His holy, righteous, and glorious nature, and Christ is working Himself into us to make us more like Him.

If two brothers have some problems with one another, instead of trying to help them solve their problems, it is good to first help them shift their focus.

The focus needs to be shifted from the problem to the enjoyment and experience of Christ for the church life.

The focus is not dealing with the problems; the focus is the enjoyment and experience of Christ. God really wants to recover Christ as our center and as our everything.

And today we need to cooperate with the Lord in our daily life and in the church life to just turn to Him, partake of Him, and enjoy Him.

Being One with Christ in His Inward Parts so that we may be One in Soul

Christ wants to make His home in our hearts, which includes our emotions.

We need to have Christ dispensed not only in our mind by setting our mind on our spirit and thinking the one thing, but also in our emotions.

In order for us to be one in soul, we need to be one with Christ in His emotions, His inward parts.

The inward parts of Christ are His inward affection, tender mercy, and sympathy (Phil. 1:8).

We thank the Lord for His inward affection toward us, His tender mercy toward us, and His sympathy toward us.

We may think that no one understands us, and this may be true; when we come to the Lord, however, we realize that He understands us, He sympathizes with us, and He has tender mercies toward us.

Sympathy is the act of power of sharing and entering into the feeling of another.

The Lord is full of sympathy; He is the Lord of sympathy.

He has the power of sharing and entering into our feeling.

We may feel sorrowful, sad, disappointed, or depressed; we may even be like Paul, despairing even of living.

The Lord is right there with us, sharing in our feelings.

As we open to Him, we can enjoy Him in His inward parts, and His inward parts can be infused into us.

As a man, Christ’s experiences in His inward parts included His love, desire, delight, and feeling (Psa. 16:3, 7).

In Psa. 16 we see a wonderful revelation of Christ as the God-man; this psalm speaks of Christ’s incarnation, His human living, death, resurrection, and ascension as a man.

In this psalm we are told that the saints who are on the earth are the excellent ones; all our delight is in them.

Christ looks at us and thinks we are excellent, and He delights in us.

He thinks we’re noble, majestic, and excellent; He treasures us, loves us, and has inward affection for us.

We need to be one with Christ in His inward parts to see the saints as the most excellent ones and have our delight in them.

We need to contact the Lord, allow Him to counsel us and instruct us, and let Him instruct us in our inward parts.

He wants His inward parts to become our inward parts.

We who have believed into the Lord and received Him as our life, are joined to Him and are one with Him, and in this organic union, His inward parts became our inward parts.

We can now be one with Christ in His inward parts as we live the Christian life and the church life.

We can put on the inward parts of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and long-suffering.

This is what Paul did; he did not live in his natural being but lived a life in the inward parts of Christ.

If we want to be those who experientially are in Christ, we must be in His inward parts, in His tender and delicate feelings (Col. 3:12).

His compassion needs to become our compassion, His tender mercies need to be ours, and His sympathy needs to be our sympathy.

We need to have the feeling of the Head toward the Body; the Head cares for the Body, loves the Body, and does everything for the Body, so we need to do the same.

We need to take the feeling of Christ, the Head, as our own feeling; this is most necessary for our living the Body life.

This means that we need to deny ourselves and identify ourselves with the Body.

We should not live in an individualistic way but be fully in the Body, one with the Body.

In this way, the Lord will gain the expression of His Body, for we will be one with Christ in His inward parts and therefore we will be one in soul.

In Phil. 1:8 Paul said that he longed after all the saints in Philippi in the inward parts of Christ Jesus.

He didn’t just miss the saints; he longed after them, and his longing was in oneness with the Lord, even in the Lord’s inward parts.

He was so one with the Lord that the Lord’s inward parts became his inward parts, and when he thought of the saints, he longed for them in the inward parts of Christ.

We need to enjoy and experience Christ to such an extent that His inward parts become our inward parts.

We need to open our inner being to Him and allow Him to infuse us with what He is in His inward parts.

We need to enjoy the Lord’s inward parts and be one with Him in His inward parts for the saints; in this way, we will be one in soul, and the Lord will have a way in us and among us.

Lord Jesus, we want to be one with You in Your inward parts today. We open to You, dear Lord, and we want to enjoy Your love, desire, delight, and feelings; make Your inward parts become our inward parts. We want to be one with You in Your emotions, Your inward parts, so that we may be one in soul. Amen, Lord, we want to know and experience You in Your inward affection, tender mercy, and sympathy. Infuse what You are into us, and make us one with You in Your inward parts toward the saints. We do not want to live in ourselves or by ourselves; we want to take the feeling of the Head for the Body and live in the Body. Amen, Lord, may we not live in our natural inner being but live a life in the inward parts of Christ. We want to be those who are experientially in Christ by being in His inward parts, in His tender and delicate feelings!

A Picture of the Body Life Lived in the Inward Parts of Christ Jesus – Paul, Onesimus, and Philemon

In the book of Philemon we have a picture of the Body life lived in the inward parts of Christ Jesus (Phil. 1:7, 10-12, 20).

Onesimus was a slave who ran away from his master Philemon.

According to the law, Onesimus as a slave had no rights; even worse, by running from his master, he could be punished by death.

In Rome, Onesimus was imprisoned, and Paul was there with him.

While Onesimus was in prison in Rome with Paul, he was saved through Paul; Paul even referred to him as his child, whom he had begotten in his bonds (v. 10).

Though Onesimus ran away from his master, committing a crime which could bring the death penalty, Paul sent him back to his master Philemon, who was also a brother in Christ, and he sent a letter with him.

Paul told Philemon that Onesimus’ running away from him was useless, not of service, profitless, but that now he has been converted and was willing to return to Philemon.

So Paul said that he sent Onesimus to Philemon, even sending his heart back to him (v. 12).

Wow, Paul considered Onesimus not only his spiritual child in the Lord but even his own heart!

Paul lived in the inward parts of Christ Jesus, and he sent his own heart, Onesimus, to his dear brother, Philemon.

What a tender and sweet situation we see here!

Paul’s inward affection and compassions went with Onesimus to Philemon.

Sometimes today some parents may not care for their children that much; they think they are entrusted with their children to properly raise them up, but their heart is not in this.

Naturally speaking, however, the children are the heart of the mother and the father, and the parents love their children as their own heart.

This is what Paul did also; he did not leave Onesimus after he was saved; he cared for him, shepherded him, and found out about his situation.

Then, Paul sent a letter with Onesimus to his master, Philemon, and in this letter we see how Paul lived a life in the inward parts of Jesus Christ.

If we are one with Christ in His inward parts, we will consider the saints as our own heart; we will treasure them, care for them, and be intimately concerned for them.

This is not merely because we are a caring person or that we are attached to the saints and naturally love them; this is because we are one with Christ in His inward parts.

We will have inward affection and compassion for the saints, and we will have tenderheartedness toward them, for this is what Christ has toward the saints.

May we live in the reality of the Body of Christ by taking Christ’s feeling as our own feeling.

The feeling of Christ for His Body needs to become our feeling for the Body; this is most necessary for us to live the Body life (2 Cor. 12:15). Paul was a pattern in this matter.

He loved the saints, and sometimes the saints thought that he was taking advantage of them, therefore rejecting him and having impure thoughts about him.

Even though they loved him less, he loved them even more, because he lived a life in the inward parts of Christ Jesus.

He spent his material possessions and even his whole being for the saints, for he had inward affections, compassions, and tenderheartedness in his organic union with the Lord.

If we deny ourselves and identify ourselves with the Body, there will be no separation or disconnection from the Body; rather, the life we live will fully be the Body life, and the Lord will gain the expression of His Body on earth today (Matt. 16:24; Eph. 4:16).

May we live a life in the inward parts of Christ Jesus so that we may have a greater consciousness of the Body of Christ and a stronger feeling for the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:26-27; Rom. 12:15).

May we be one with Christ in His inward parts day by day and live in the inward parts of Christ Jesus, allowing His inward parts to become our inward parts for the Body of Christ.

When we do this, we will suffer with the members that suffer and rejoice with the members that are glorified.

We will not be jealous of others’ success or joy nor will we despise others’ failures and weaknesses.

May the Lord take us on with Him in the enjoyment and experience of Christ so that we may live fully in the Body life for Him to gain the expression of His Body on earth today.

Lord Jesus, we want to live a life in the inward parts of Christ Jesus. Infuse us with what You are in Your inward parts so that Your inward parts become our inward parts. Oh Lord, we deny ourselves and identify ourselves with the Body so that there would be no separation or disconnection from the Body. We want to live fully in the Body life so that You may gain the expression of Your Body on earth today. Amen, Lord Jesus, we just want to be one with Christ in His inward parts in our living today. May we even live in the inward parts of Christ Jesus so that we may have a greater consciousness of the Body of Christ and a stronger feeling for the Body of Christ. May we be those who rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep, being one with Christ in His inward parts for the Body!

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 Ed Marks in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Philemon, pp. 3-6 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing, Experiencing, and Enjoying Christ as Revealed in Philippians (2023 Memorial Day Weekend Conference), week 3, entitled, Being One in Soul to Enjoy Christ by Thinking the One Thing, by Being One with Christ in His Inward Parts, and by Allowing God to Operate in Us the Willing and the Working for His Good Pleasure.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The believers’ union with the Triune God in His organic salvation, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Christ Being Formed in Us, via, Living to Him.
  – Our heart to be established blameless in holiness, a portion via, Life-Study of 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 21.
  – The 3 Parts of Man—Spirit, Soul, and Body, article via, Bibles for America blog.
  – The transformation of our inward parts, a portion from, The Life and Way for the Practice of the Church Life, Chapter 9, by Witness Lee.
  – The 3 Parts of Man—Spirit, Soul, and Body, article via, Bibles for Europe blog.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – God hath us regenerated / In our spirit with His life; / But He must transform us further- / In our soul by His own life. / Spreading outward from our spirit / Doth the Lord transform our soul, / By the inward parts renewing, / Till within His full control. (Hymns #750 stanzas 2-3)
  – I must tell Jesus all of my troubles; / He is a kind, compassionate Friend; / If I but ask Him, He will deliver, / And in my griefs with me He will blend. / Tempted and tried I need a great Savior, / One who can help my burdens to bear; / I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus; / He all my cares and sorrows will share. (Hymns #787 stanzas 2-3)
  – O to be like Thee! full of compassion, / Loving, forgiving, tender and kind, / Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting, / Seeking the wand’ring sinners to find. / O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit, / Holy and harmless, patient and brave; / Meekly enduring cruel reproaches, / Willing to suffer, others to save. (Hymns #398 stanzas 2-3)