taking God as our dwelling place by abiding in Christ and being in Christ

In Psalms 90-92 we see the saints’ deeper experience of God in the identification with Christ by taking God as their dwelling place.

On the one hand we eat Christ, enjoy Christ, drink Christ, and take Him as so many things – He meets all our needs. On the other hand, we need to dwell in God, that is, take God as our dwelling place.

We don’t just take “things of God” and enjoy them – we need to enjoy God in a complete and full way by taking Him as our dwelling place – everything we do and are and say are in Him and of Him!

The highest and fullest experience of God

To take God as our habitation, to take God as our dwelling place, is actually the highest and the fullest experience of God.

Everything we are and do is in our dwelling place and for our dwelling place – it is here we live, we eat, we drink, we rest, we have our being, and it is this place that we beautify, we improve, and we love.

It is the same with God – in God as our dwelling place we eat God, enjoy God, drink God, and we have our living with all the details of our daily experience IN GOD! We take God as our dwelling place in a practical way by being identified with Christ!

This is fresh new light for me – we don’t just “enjoy Christ”, “eat Jesus”, “drink the Spirit”, as things in themselves, but as part of living in God as our dwelling place. As we eat Christ, we dwell in God; as we drink the Spirit, we dwell in God, and as we enjoy Jesus, we should dwell in God.

Our eating, drinking, enjoying, and breathing Christ are for our dwelling in God, for our abiding in Christ, in our organic union with the Lord! Moses took God as his dwelling place (Psa. 90), and the Lord Jesus took God as His habitation and He remained in God all His life on earth. This is the fullest and highest experience of God.

Dwelling in God by being identified with Christ

How can we dwell in God? Actually, can we really dwell in God? Can we dwell in God in and of ourselves?

The only way we can dwell in God and take God as our habitation daily is by abiding in Christ and being identified with Christ. Christ is in the bosom of the Father, and He is the Father’s delight – He dwells in God continually, taking God as His habitation.

By abiding in Christ as branches in the vine (John 15:5) we dwell in God, taking Him as our everything. By virtue of abiding in Christ and Christ being in God, we also dwell in God by being in Christ!

We need to be identified with Christ not only in His death (as sister Jessie Penn-Lewis emphasized in her writings), in His resurrection (as Brother T. Austin-Sparks wrote), and in His ascension (as Brother Watchman Nee wrote many times), but also in our abiding in him to dwell in Him and take Him as our everything.

This is what God wants – He wants us to be IN CHRIST, to abide in Christ, and be identified with Christ in everything we are and we do. We need to go on and experience Christ to such an extent in which every part of our daily living would be in Christ!

Dwelling in God for His purpose

Furthermore, even our dwelling in God by being in Christ is not only for our personal enjoyment or our individual progress in our Christian life.

This higher and fuller experience of God is for God’s purpose to recover the earth.

As we experience God in the identification with Christ, God has a way to recover His title and right over the earth!

As we take God as our dwelling place, as we abide in the Lord daily and even continually, God has a way to fulfill His purpose to recover the earth and bring in His kingdom! Hallelujah!

Lord, You are our dwelling place! Thank You that we can dwell in You – we can eat You, drink You, and take You in as we dwell in God! Keep us abiding in You as branches in the vine. Lord, we just want to dwell in You and take You as our all-inclusive wonderful habitation. Thank You for grafting us into Christ as the vine – we want to abide here, make our home here in Christ, and live daily in Christ for God’s purpose!

References and Further Reading

• Sharing inspired from the Life-study of the Psalms, msg. 35, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on the Crystallization-Study of Psalms (2), week 16,
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Abiding in the vine! Abiding in the vine! All the riches of God’s life are mine! Hymns #1162;
  #  Zion is God’s habitation. / Sing praises in Zion, / The city of our King. / Zion, the place of His choosing / Where saints are rejoicing. / Here God is their salvation.
• Picture source: Abiding in the vine.