Pursue Godliness and Lead a Life in all Godliness for God to be Manifested in us

As believers in Christ, we should pursue godliness so that we may live a daily life that manifests God; our Christian life should be a life that expresses God and bears His likeness in all things.

We all need to learn how to conduct ourselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, by exercising ourselves unto godliness.

Godliness is the expression of God. In the church as the house of God, we need to learn to express God and not ourselves.

As we live the church life, we need to deny the self and put the flesh aside through the exercise of our spirit so that we no longer live in the self or by the flesh but in the spirit.

It is only when we live in our mingled spirit that we express God. We believers in Christ are different from the people around us.

We are not just men; we are God-men, for through regeneration Christ has come into us to be our life, the Spirit has regenerated us to be the children of God, and we are now the sons of God (John 3:6).

Now as children of God and members of the Body of Christ, we are learning to live a life not in and by ourselves but in spirit and by the divine life.

Our whole Christian life is a learning process, a process of learning how to live in the spirit, by the Spirit, and according to the Spirit with our spirit.

When we live not in and by ourselves but in and by the Spirit in our spirit, God can be manifested in us as the living God.

Our God is living. He is not a doctrine, a teaching, a set of rules or spiritual principles, or a religion; our God is living, and the church is of the living God.

Not only is our God living: He is living now in us! He wants to be expressed through us.

As Paul said in Gal. 2:20, we have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us.

When we received the Lord Jesus into us as our life, we were infused with something of Him.

As we spend time with the Lord in His word and in fellowship with Him and with the saints, more of Christ is infused into us.

The Christ who is infused into our being is being constituted into us to become the One who lives in us.

We all can testify that, in so many situations and things, the Lord within us is displeased with some of the things we do, some of the words we say, some of the places we go to, and with some of our actions.

The Lord within us gives us a sense of whether He is happy or not with what we say, do, own, and express.

May we keep turning to our spirit to contact the Lord and remain in the organic union with Him so that spontaneously, Christ may live in us and be expressed through us.

We need to Pursue Godliness so that God may be Manifested in our Daily Living

We believers in Christ are the church of the living God (1 Tim. 3:15).

Our God is living; idols are dead, but God is living.

The living God needs a living church to match Him and be His corporate expression on earth (v. 16).

The living God lives in the church, being subjective to the church, to be expressed through the church.

He lives, acts, moves, and works in us, His living temple.

The church is living, and the church should express and manifest God so that the living God and the living church would live, move, and work together.

God wants to gain His manifestation in the flesh in a corporate way.

For this, we need to pursue godliness, the expression of God in all our daily living.

Godliness is godlikeness, being like God, expressing God (Col. 1:15; 3:10).

Many believers know that they have to express God, so they ask themselves, “What Would Jesus Do?”

This is not what we are talking about when we speak of godliness.

Godliness is not merely something outward, an outward behaviour that we put on in front of others.

The fact that God is manifested in the flesh indicates that godliness is an inward life that has an outward expression (1 Tim. 3:15).

Godliness is not a matter of our piety or being religious or solemn; godliness has to do with our inward condition, an inner life that produces the expression of God in our daily living.

As believers in Christ, we should pursue godliness (1 Tim. 6:11); to pursue godliness is to live a daily life that manifests God.

When we go to school or university, we need to pursue not just getting the best education and the highest grades; we need to pursue godliness so that God may be manifested in our daily living.

When we go to the office or work from home, when we’re on the site doing our work or in the car driving around, we need to pursue godliness.

In order for God to be manifested in the flesh, godliness needs to be expressed in our whole living (1 John 3:2; 2:28).

As children of God, we are becoming the same as Christ, and we don’t know what we will be; however, we know that if He is manifested, we will be like Him because we will see Him even as He is.

This is our glorious destiny, to be like Him.

Today we are practicing to be like Him not by outwardly imitating the Lord or speaking words from the Bible so that we give the appearance that we’re like Him, but by turning to Him.

We have the Triune God dispensed into our being, and the Lord is with our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22).

He within us gives us a sense of whether He’s happy with what we do, say, and express; we live our daily life according to the inner sense of the Lord in our spirit.

God’s economy is God coming to us, and godliness is God going out of us (1 Tim. 1:4; 3:16).

God’s economy is for Him to dispense Himself with all that He is into us to be our life and everything.

Godliness is the issue, the manifestation, of our enjoyment of God in His economy; if we drink Him, eat Him, and partake of Him, He will be manifested in us and through us.

Our Christian life is simply God coming in and God going out (John 4:14; 7:29).

If there is no intake of God, if there’s no receiving of the divine dispensing day by day, moment by moment, it will be hard for us to manifest God.

May we pursue godliness by opening to the Lord again and again to receive and enjoy His divine dispensing, and then letting Him be lived out of us in our daily life.

Our church life, our daily life, and even our family life need to be God coming in and God going out all day (2 Cor. 13:14; 3:18).

In all the details of our daily living, we need to enjoy the Lord and contact Him so that we may pursue godliness for God to be manifested in our daily living.

Lord Jesus, we come to You to just enjoy You. Dispense Yourself into us a little more today. Keep us open to Your divine dispensing. Work Yourself into all the parts of our being. We just open to You, dear Lord. May God come into us more and more day by day. We want to pursue godliness by living a daily life that manifests God. Amen, Lord, we give You our daily living. Keep us contacting You day by day. Live in us day by day. Be expressed through us. We want to pursue godliness so that we may live a daily life that manifests God. Amen, Lord, be manifested through us in all things. Whether we’re at work, at home, or in the meetings of the church, may God be manifested in us and through us. Gain Your manifestation in the church. Save us from trying to perfect our behaviour or outwardly imitate You; we just want to enjoy You, digest You, be filled with You, and manifest You!

We need to Lead a Life in All Godliness to Express God and Bear His Likeness in All Things

1 Tim. 2:2 says that we need to lead a quiet and tranquil life in all godliness and gravity. Godliness is the expression of God; our Christian life should be a life that expresses God and bears His likeness in all things.

For example, in our daily life at home, we need to express God and lead a life in all godliness. In our bedrooms, the pictures we hang on the wall may indicate whether or not we care for godliness in our private life.

No one may see them except us, but do these posters or pictures express God?

We may try to pray, but we cannot, simply because there are these pictures on the wall.

There is no regulation in the Bible or in the church life concerning this, but the Lord within us may give us a certain sense concerning this matter.

The Triune God has been dispensed into each and every one of us, and He gives us a clear sense of whether He’s happy or not with the way we decorate our house, even our private bedroom.

For example, if we go to a bar in the evening, it will be difficult the next morning to pray, because the Triune God in us may not agree with our going to that bar.

There’s no outward rule or regulation concerning going to the bar; however, as children of God, we have the inner sense of life and peace that expresses God in us, and this sweet sense lets us know concerning all things.

Regardless of our age and status, we all have the reality of the Triune God within us.

We may be in a meeting and may want to speak something for the Lord, but the tie we wear may be quite showy, something that distracts the saints from our speaking.

It will not be easy for the saints to focus on our speaking when we wear such a tie, and we ourselves may lose the anointing of the Spirit within.

We may think that this is a small thing, but in all things – both big and small – we need to lead a life in all godliness so that God may be manifested in us.

In the church life, we do not have regulations concerning the length of the hair for the brothers or sisters, the length of the dress for the sisters, or any such things; however, each one of us has the Triune God living in them, and we need to lead a life in all godliness.

We need to lead a life in all godliness in the way we speak; the words we speak should give others the impression of God being manifested in the flesh.

If we gossip and have loose talk, others will get the impression that we are just like them, and that God is not manifested through us.

May we exercise our spirit and reject gossip and anything that doesn’t bear the manifestation of God.

The shoes we buy, the clothes we wear, and the way we walk and do things, all things need to manifest God. Our primary objective in buying a pair of shoes or a shirt is not whether we like the style or not but whether God can be manifested through us when we buy them.

The house we have and live in needs to not only be nice, warm, welcoming, and not showy; it has to bear the manifestation of God, so that others may see and feel that a child of God lives there.

Godliness is not merely something outward; it is the result and issue of the life within.

The divine life within us grows and spreads in us and, as it saturates our inner being, we start to remove certain things from our house, put aside certain pieces of clothing that the Lord does not agree with, and discard certain items that He is not pleased with.

The Lord is living and real, and as we enjoy Him and partake of His riches, He gives us a clear inner sense concerning all things.

Even in small things, we need to lead a life in all godliness, everywhere and in everything.

Whatever we do, whatever we say, and whatever we wear should give an impression of God being manifested in us.

We need to practice leading a life in all godliness in all things.

We may not go to certain places, we may not attend certain events, and we may not watch certain things simply because we lead a life in all godliness for God to be manifested in us.

The church of the living God is the ultimate mystery of godliness because the proper church life is the corporate manifestation of God in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:15-16; Col. 1:15).

As we personally pursue godliness and lead a life in all godliness for God to be manifested in us in all things, whether big or small, together we will become the corporate manifestation of God in the flesh, the great mystery of godliness.

Lord Jesus, we want to lead a life in all godliness so that God may be manifested in us and through us. We give You our daily living, all the things we have, and everything we say and do; be manifested in us. What about our clothes, Lord? We give You the way we dress, the things we wear, and the way we live. May there be an outward expression of the inner life; may God be expressed through us. May we all learn to lead a quiet and tranquil life in all godliness. Amen, Lord, even in the small things, we want to lead a life in all godliness so that You may be expressed. May the inward life we enjoy with You have an outward expression in all godliness. May whatever we do, whatever we express, and whatever we say give others an impression of God being manifested in us. Oh Lord Jesus, gain Your corporate manifestation in the church, the great mystery of godliness!

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 the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1978, vol. 3, “Crucial Elements of God’s Economy,” pp. 133-135, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living and Serving According to God’s Economy Concerning the Church (2023 fall ITERO), week 5, entitled, How to Conduct Ourselves in the House of God— Exercising Ourselves unto Godliness.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Being Overcomers with a Vision, Not Idealists with a Dream, article via, Shepherding Words.
  – Crystallzation: The great mystery of Christ and the church, via, Affirmation and Critique.
  – The Daily Exercise of a Believer—Exercising the Mingled Spirit to Breathe in the Lord, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – God’s economy – a portion from, Basic Lessons on Life, Chapter 18, by Witness Lee.
  – How to Conduct Ourselves in the House of God—Exercising Ourselves unto Godliness, prophesying reference via, Church in Chennai.
  – Crystallization: divine economy – divine mysteries, via, Affirmation and Critique.
  – My Sweet Experience of Growing up in the Church Life, article via, Living to Him.
  – God manifested in the flesh, a portion from, The Subjective Truths in the Holy Scriptures, Chapter 8, by Witness Lee.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – The Spirit of life causes Thee / By Thy Word to transfer to me. / Thy Spirit touched, Thy word received, / Thy life in me is thus conceived. / In spirit while gazing on Thee, / As a glass reflecting Thy glory, / Like to Thyself transformed I’ll be, / That Thou might be expressed thru me. (Hymns #501 stanzas 4-5)
  – ’Tis not a movement borne of man, / But by His power moving; / ’Tis not the deeds done outwardly, / But inward action proving. / ’Tis not the work of enterprise, / But ’tis His life confessing; / ’Tis not to toil for our success, / But ’tis Himself expressing. (Hymns #910 stanza 3)
  – O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit, / Holy and harmless, patient and brave; / Meekly enduring cruel reproaches, / Willing to suffer, others to save. / O to be like Thee! Lord, I am coming, / Now to receive th’ anointing divine; / All that I am and have I am bringing; / Lord, from this moment all shall be Thine. (Hymns #398 stanzas 3-4)