Put on the Lord Jesus to Live Christ, Magnify Him, and be full of Joy and Rejoicing

Regardless of our circumstances, we need to enjoy Christ, experience Christ, and put on Christ for His expression and magnification, being filled with joy and rejoicing in the Lord, magnifying Christ for His corporate expression in the genuine church life. Amen!

May the Lord make us such ones. May the Lord bring us to a point where we no longer look at our environment and situations and we no longer want to change things, people, or situations but simply take Christ as our life and person to live Christ and magnify Him.

Paul was such a person. He magnified Christ even when he was in prison. Christ is unlimited, inexhaustible, and very rich, but in the eyes of those around Paul, He was small and even non-existent.

So Paul put a magnifying glass on Christ through his living and being, so that even those in the house of Cesar heard the gospel and believed into the Lord. Wow!

This little man, Paul, who was in prison, did not only not complain or seek to be released from prison but rather, took the opportunity even there, in that confinement and imprisonment, to magnify Christ and express Him to those around him.

He did not merely preach the gospel; he lived the gospel, he expressed Christ, and Christ was enlarged through him.

May we take Paul as our pattern in spirit and seek to enjoy and experience Christ day by day, even moment by moment, receiving and enjoying the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ so that all things would turn out to salvation.

For us to magnify Christ under any circumstances, we need to experience Him with the topmost enjoyment. We experience Christ in our spirit, but we enjoy Him in our soul.

On one hand, we need to exercise our spirit to experience Christ in all situations; on the other hand, we need to turn our heart to the Lord and enjoy Him in our souls, making our souls happy in Him.

When we exercise our spirit to experience Christ and turn our heart to the Lord so that He becomes the delight of our soul, we will simply magnify Christ.

Our vessel will become transparent to exhibit and even enlarge the treasure we contain within.

We have such a wonderful treasure within our being, and when we allow the Lord to deal with the outer man and exercise our spirit to contact Him, the treasure within us will be seen to others, for our vessel becomes transparent.

May our living and work be a magnification of Christ, and may we enlarge Him to make Him visible and great in front of others.

May we be saved from self-likeness and from focusing on our self and may we be turned to the Lord so that He would be magnified in us and through us for all to see!

Enjoy and Experience Christ in all Circumstances to be Full of Joy and Rejoicing in the Lord

If any person had reasons to complain and be bitter about his situation and circumstances, Paul was such a one, for not only was he in prison, but he was in prison for a long time, and nothing seemed to be happening related to his case being heard or him being released.

It seemed that, as time went on, he was simply left in prison, and it became clear that martyrdom would wait for him rather than a fair trial.

What would we do in such a situation? Regardless of the circumstances, Paul was full of joy and rejoicing in the Lord (Acts 16:23-26).

Even though his situation was not that clear, even though he knew that martyrdom awaits him rather than being released after a fair trial, he still enjoyed Christ and partook of the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

If we today allow the bountiful supply of the Spirit to work in us, our daily living will be changed.

We will no longer complain or be unhappy with our situation, our condition, our spouse, our job, and the things around us, but we will enjoy and experience Christ to magnify Him.

When we enjoy the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, we will be burdened to magnify Christ always and with all boldness.

We will realize that, even though the outward situation may not change and we may not have things going our way, we have Christ as our life and person, and we will simply magnify Him.

Through our magnifying Christ, others will see His greatness and His unlimitedness.

This means that we live Christ for His magnifications, and others will not see us doing our best to live a good Christian life but they will see Christ living in us, and He is magnified through our being and our living.

The apostle Paul is a pattern to us in the matter of enjoying and experiencing Christ in all circumstances, even being full of joy and rejoicing in the Lord.

When he wrote the book of Philippians, he was an elderly person.

Those around him expected that he would be exhausted and even depressed by his imprisonment. But this is not what they saw in Paul; rather, they saw a person who was full of joy and rejoicing in the Lord.

Paul was shining forth Christ – he expressed Christ even in his imprisonment.

In ourselves, we can be exhausted, tired, and worn out by the situations we’re in, but Christ can never be exhausted or worn out – He is full of life, even full of joy and rejoicing.

The book of Philippians is concerned with the experience and enjoyment of Christ, which issue in joy; therefore, though this book was written by someone from prison, it is filled with joy and rejoicing (see Phil. 1:4, 18, 25; 2:2, 17-18, 28-29; 3:1; 4:1, 4).

Paul rejoiced and was full of joy, and he exhorted the believers to also rejoice and be full of joy.

His happiness did not diminish over time; rather, in his joy and rejoicing, he could show forth the immeasurable Christ he experienced and enjoyed.

He was not offended by jailers nor did he offend them; rather, he was a living witness of Christ, testifying of Christ’s power, ability, patience, love, and wisdom, all of which were without measure.

This brings to mind one of the last things that we know from Brother Watchman Nee who was imprisoned in China; he wrote to one of his relatives, I have maintained my joy. What a testimony.

Even in prison, in such a confined situation and limiting circumstances, Brother Nee maintained his joy.

Like the apostle Paul, he did not consider this as being unfair, he did not want to fight for his rights but rather, he wanted to maintain his joy.

We need to learn from these dear brothers to enjoy and experience Christ in whatever situation we’re in, and simply magnify Christ; then, we will be filled with joy and rejoicing in the Lord.

Paul’s shining forth and expressing Christ in his joy were a declaration of the unlimited greatness of Christ and a declaration that Christ is inexhaustible (Eph. 3:8).

Man can be exhausted, but Christ cannot be exhausted.

We should not trust in our power to endure but come to the Lord to enjoy Him, partake of His bountiful supply, and magnify Him; then, we will be filled with joy and rejoicing in the Lord.

Lord Jesus, we want to enjoy and experience Christ in all our situations so that our life may be full of joy and rejoicing in the Lord! Amen, Lord, keep us in the process of enjoying and experiencing Christ so that He would be expressed through us in His unlimited greatness! Keep us contacting You, partaking of Your riches, and receiving the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ in all things and at all time. Dear Lord Jesus, we love You and we open to You. We give You all our situations, our condition, the people around us, and all matters and things. We look to You for Your supply. Fill us with Yourself. We do not look at our situations for comfort, joy, and supply – we look to You! We want to enjoy and experience Christ day by day so that we may shine Him forth and express Him! May our living be full of joy and rejoicing. May our expressing Christ and shining Him forth be a declaration of the unlimited greatness of Christ! Hallelujah for our inexhaustible Christ!

Put on the Lord Jesus to Live Christ and Magnify Him for His Corporate Expression in the Genuine Church Life

When we look at Paul’s life and work, we realize that they were not for expressing himself or for displaying his knowledge, ability, or merits and strong points.

Rather, what Paul was and what he did were for expressing Christ, even for magnifying Christ (Phil. 1:20; 3:3-10; 4:22; 2 Cor. 4:5).

He was in prison, yet he magnified Christ; what others saw in him was not a smart man or someone knowledgeable in God’s word but Christ enlarged, Christ magnified.

We need to learn from his example and simply put on the Lord Jesus in our daily living, making no provision for the flesh to fulfil its lusts (Rom. 13:14).

When we put on the Lord Jesus, we live by Christ and we live out Christ, thus magnifying Him for His corporate expression in the genuine church life.

No matter what circumstances we’re in, even if it feels that we’re in a prison, we need to put on the Lord Jesus to live Christ and magnify Him.

We have been baptized into Christ and we’re already in Christ (Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3:27), but we still need to put Him on.

When we put on the Lord Jesus, we live by Christ (Gal. 2:20), we live out Christ (Phil. 1:21), and we, therefore, magnify Christ (Phil. 1:20).

Putting on the Lord Jesus to magnify Him for His corporate expression is similar to the priests putting on the priestly garments to express God (Exo. 28:2).

The priestly garments were mainly for glory and beauty; they signify the expression of Christ’s divine glory and human beauty.

In His divinity, Christ had divine attributes (John 1:14; Heb. 1:3; John 17:22; 2 Cor. 3:18), and He was full of glory.

In His humanity, Christ had human virtues, and He was full of beauty (Luke 24:19; Acts 16:7; Psa. 27:4).

The gold of the priestly garments typify Christ’s divinity for glory, and the blue, purple, and scarlet strands and the fine linen typify His humanity for beauty.

As priests of God, we need to put on the Lord Jesus to live Christ and magnify Him, having a life filled with the divine glory and the human beauty.

We need to be rich in the experience and enjoyment of Christ, and our daily living and activities should be not for expressing ourselves or displaying what we know and have, but for the expressing of Christ, even for magnifying of Christ.

Christ needs to be the One who is displayed, expressed, manifested, and magnified through us.

The expression of Christ, signified by the priestly garments, qualifies us to serve as priests and sanctifies us unto God for His unique purpose; the expression of Christ as our “holy garments” is for glory and beauty (Exo. 28:2-4; 1 Pet. 2:5).

We need to put on the holy garments of our priesthood for glory and beauty to express Christ and magnify Him.

If we wear our own clothes, no matter how nice they may be and how hard we tried to improve them, we are disqualified from expressing God.

We need to put on the Lord Jesus as our priestly garments to express Him.

In order for us to serve God, we need to have a certain kind of expression, something that qualifies us to serve the Lord.

If we are nice, gentle, and patient, but we do not put on the Lord Jesus as our priestly garments, we are not qualified to express God.

Our service to the Lord and our expressing Christ before man has nothing to do with what we can do or what we know; it has to do with our expression, that is, with expressing Christ for His magnification.

Whenever we express the divine glory blended with the beauty of human virtues, we are built up together as the priesthood (1 Pet. 2:5).

The divine glory is intermixed and blended with the human beauty; they are woven together, joined together, to become the particular textile to make up our priestly garment.

When people look at us, they see something divine, yet they also see something so human.

They see God, and they see man; they see the divine attributes, but these are expressed in the aromatic human virtues; this is the qualification for our service, our priesthood.

May we be those who do all to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31) so that we can glorify God in our body (6:20).

To glorify God in our body is to allow God, who dwells in us (1 John 4:13) to occupy and saturate our body and express Himself through our body.

This means that we allow the Lord to saturate, permeate, and occupy our whole being with Himself so that He can be expressed and magnified through us.

This is to put on the Lord Jesus as our priestly garments so that we may live Christ to magnify Him for His corporate expression in the genuine church life.

Lord, we want to put on the Lord Jesus as our priestly garments so that we may express Christ and magnify Him in our daily living. Amen, Lord, we put on the Lord Jesus to live by Christ and live out Christ, thus magnifying Christ for His corporate expression in the genuine church life. May Christ be expressed through us in our daily life. We put on Christ as our holy garments for glory and beauty. May Your divine attributes be expressed through our uplifted, strengthened, and resurrected human virtues so that we may express the divine glory blended with the beauty of human virtues. Amen, Lord Jesus, we want to do all things to the glory of God so that we glorify God in our body. We allow You, Lord, to occupy and saturate our body and express Yourself through our body. May Christ be magnified in us and through us!

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, Life-study of Philippians, pp. 49-50, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing, Experiencing, and Living the All-inclusive Christ for the Genuine Church Life (2023 spring ITERO), week 4, entitled, Taking Christ as our Living for His Magnification and Dealing with the Self for our Oneness in the Divine Glory in the Genuine Church Life.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The personal and intimate experience of Christ, article by Ed Marks in Affirmation and Critique.
  – Sufferings and Transformation for New Jerusalem (2), via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Living Christ to magnify Him through the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, a portion from, A General Outline of God’s Economy and the Proper Living of a God-Man, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
  – What Does the Bible Say about How to Be Content? Article at, Bibles for America blog.
  – What should our response be in the midst of turmoil? Article at, Living to Him.
  – Magnifying Christ by living Him, a portion from, Life-Study of Philippians, Chapter 6.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Live Thyself, Lord Jesus, through me, / For my very life art Thou; / Thee I take to all my problems / As the full solution now. / Live Thyself, Lord Jesus, through me, / In all things Thy will be done; / I but a transparent vessel / To make visible the Son. (Hymns #403 stanza 1)
  – Not I, but Christ my every need supplying, / Not I, but Christ my strength and health to be; / Christ, only Christ, for spirit, soul, and body, / Christ, only Christ, live then Thy life in me. / Oh, to be saved from myself, dear Lord, / Oh, to be lost in Thee, / Oh, that it may be no more I, / But Christ that lives in me. (Hymns #591 stanza 4 and chorus)
  – Our plans, our aims, our energy / We must abandon wholly, / That He may work His plan thru us, / His aim and object solely. / Ourselves, with all we are and have, / To death we must surrender, / That Christ may live Himself thru us / With riches and with splendor. (Hymns #910 stanza 4)