As members of the Body of Christ, we cannot live without the supply of the Body; therefore, we must constantly avail ourselves of the fellowship of the Body and remain in the Body so that we may receive light and supply.
Sometimes we may feel dry and unable to go on, and nothing works; we may try to exercise our spirit and read the Bible with calling on the name of the Lord, but we still cannot get the supply. What we need to do is simply contact the Body, that is, have other brothers and sisters intercede for us, and we will get through.
We may even have a sickness and not get well, though we pray, take the right medicine, and do all things necessary; even in such a situation we must remain in the Body and allow the Body to minister to us.
We may feel low and we may not be able to get out of a difficult situation; we simply need to contact the corporate Christ by being in fellowship with other members of the Body, and we will receive the supply.
Paul, such a great apostle, asked the young Thessalonian believers in 1 Thes. 5:25 to pray for him and those with him, for he realised that he depends on the Body and his supply comes in the Body.
We need to contact the Lord and pray ourselves into God to receive the life-giving Spirit as our supply, and as we are supplied, we need to feed on the Lord and also feed others with the riches of Christ.
Sometimes we may come to the Lord for the supply and He gives us the Spirit, but we do not have an outflow; then, the supply may dry up. But if we let the Lord flow into us and flow out of us, if we feed on the bountiful supply of the Spirit and flow out the Spirit to those in need, we function in the Body in a normal way, and we are richly supplied.
Just as the Lord Jesus lived on earth by having a secret prayer life with the Father, so we need to seek God in secret, have many conversations with Him, and receive His answers to our questions and dilemmas.
When we pray, we should seek His interest, His kingdom, and His will, and we should simply ask for our daily supply and for us to be kept from the hand of the evil one.
If we pray and shamelessly persist before the Lord in prayer, He will bountifully supply us with the Spirit, and we will be richly fed and will also flow out the Spirit to others for their supply in the Body.
We Cannot Live without the Supply of the Body – we must Avail ourselves of the Fellowship of the Body
In 1 Thes. 3:8 Paul said that he lives if the saints stand firm in the Lord. This means that he was a member of the Body who realised his dependence of the other members of the Body.
We do not only depend on the Lord as the Head of the Body but also on the other members as the Body of Christ.
Sometimes we seem to have lost the joy of salvation and the vitality which we once had, and the reason may be that we lived in ourselves for too long – we simply need to get into the Body life.
For a member of the Body to live a normal life, he must receive the supply from the other members. As members of the Body, we cannot live without the supply of the Body; therefore, we must avail ourselves of the fellowship of the Body.
But if we as members do not live in the Body of Christ, we will not receive the supply of the Body.
If we think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, and if we think that others are inferior to us, we separate ourselves from the Body (Rom. 12:3).
Peter was such a one; he thought that all the other disciples will fail and deny the Lord, but not him! However, when the test came, he failed just the same as everyone else. If we think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, thus despising the other members in the Body, we will end in trouble sooner or later.
We are nothing more than a member of the Body, and we are nothing less than a member of the Body; we need Christ, and we also need the Body of Christ.
Actually, our dependence of Christ is made practical and expressed through our dependence on the Body of Christ. The eyes, ears, hands, feet, legs, etc of the Body of Christ are nothing else but Christ; Christ is the Head, and Christ is all the members in the Body.
Each member of the Body of Christ is a part of the life of Christ. If we refuse the help of a member of the Body, we refuse the help from Christ; if we do not minister life to some of the members because we despise them, we refuse to be related to Christ.
We may think that we depend on Christ and Christ alone, for He is the Head; however, just as we cannot we be independent from the Head, so we cannot be independent from the Body.
God hates individualism, for it causes the members of the Body to separate themselves from the supply of the Body.
We need to realise that what we do not know, another member of the Body will know; what we do not see, another member of the Body will see, and what we cannot do, another member of the Body will do.
We cannot live without the supply of the Body, so we must avail ourselves of the fellowship of the Body of Christ. We must constantly avail ourselves of the fellowship of the Body, for it is our very life.
In the Old Testament one of the most severe punishments upon the children of Israel when they sinned or broke God’s law was that they were to be removed from the fellowship of the people of God.
They “shall be cut off from his people” – this is very serious, for being and living in an individualistic way is not a blessing but a punishment from God. God’s intention is not for us to live as individuals but as members of the Body of Christ, those who cannot live without the supply of the Body.
Lord Jesus, we cannot live without the supply of the Body; therefore, we want to constantly avail ourselves of the fellowship of the Body. Thank You Lord, we are members of the Body of Christ, and we depend on Christ, the Head, and on the fellow members in the Body. Show us our need for the Body and for the fellowship of the Body. Cause us to realise, Lord, that we cannot live without the supply of the Body just as we cannot live without Christ, the Head. Hallelujah, Christ is the Head of the Body, we are the many members of the Body, and we can live in the fellowship of the Body!
Living in the Body to Receive the Supply of the Body and see God’s Light in the Sanctuary
As long as the members of our human body remain in the body, they receive the supply of the Body, no matter what their condition is. As long as we, the members of the Body of Christ, live in the Body, we will receive the supply of the Body, no matter what our condition is.
Our condition may be high or low, for we may enjoy and experience Christ or we may not really be open to enjoy Him; however, as long as we remain connected to the Body, being in the fellowship of the Body, we will receive the supply of the Body.
We may not see things clearly, we may not understand everything, and we may not even agree with everything, but as long as we avail ourselves of the fellowship of the Body, we will be richly supplied in the Body.
If we want to see light, we have to enter the church, the sanctuary of God (see Psa. 73:16-17). Many times we are like the psalmist in Psa. 73, puzzled and even perplexed concerning how the evil people can prosper while we suffer while living in righteousness….so we need to enter into the sanctuary of God.
The sanctuary of God is our mingled spirit and the church; when we exercise our spirit and are in the meetings of the church, we see things clearly – we see things the way God sees them.
Sometimes it is so dark that we cannot see the road in front of us; as long as we enter into the Body, we have the light. In the Old Testament the lampstand was in the tabernacle, so for a man to see the divine light, he had to enter into the sanctuary.
For men to see light, they have to enter into the church; in the church meetings and in the fellowship among the brothers and the sisters, God’s light is much stronger than in individuals.
Hallelujah, God’s light shines in the church, and His supply is available to us in the Body! Everything Christ is and has is in His Body; it is foolish for us to claim that we can be a believer by ourselves, in an individualistic way. Sooner or later, all individualistic Christians will dry up; however, if we live in the Body, we will receive the supply of the Body, no matter what our condition is.
We need to receive the portion of our fellow members in the Body and learn to treasure the supply of the Body, treasuring every member of the Body in the Lord. We must all learn to live in the Body, that is, we must learn to live in the supply of the Body.
In Matt. 5:14 the church is a city situated upon a mountain – the church today is the light of the world, because God as light shines in the church and through the church. Furthermore, the believers in Christ as the members of the Body are the messengers in the churches, the stars in the Lord’s hand.
When we enter into the church and avail ourselves of the fellowship of the Body, we receive life and light – we receive the supply of the Body.
Lord Jesus, we want to live in the Body to receive the supply of the Body. May we never be individualistic; may we never consider that we can live the Christian life and church life by ourselves. Cause us to realise that we are members of the Body and that our fellow members of the Body are precious and necessary in the Body. Amen, Lord, may we realise that, as long as we live in the Body, we will receive the supply of the Body. May Your light shine upon us as we live the church life and open to You in the Body concerning our problems, our questions, and our difficulties.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by the brothers for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 44, “The Mystery of Christ,” ch. 99, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living in the Reality of the Body of Christ by Keeping the Principles of the Body (2019 ICSC), week 4, The Supply of the Body, the Members of the Body, and the Limitation of the Body.
- Hymns on this topic:
# I’m thankful that God has placed me / With you to build up His Body. / Christ in you is the hope for me! / You also need Christ lived in me. / I live, if you stand firm in the Lord. / You live, if I stand firm in the Lord. / My going on is for you, / Your going on is for me, / Not sep’rate entities, / I need you saints desp’rately! (Song on, I’m thankful that God has placed me)
# Limit, Lord, my independence, / Let me to Thy Body turn; / Not just seeking light from heaven, / But the church’s sense to learn. / May we be the stones for building / Not the formless, useless clay, / Gain in us Thy heart’s desire / Corporately Thyself display. (Hymns #1225)
# Lord, Your riches are so unsearchable. / I can never comprehend. / But with all the saints in such a corporate church life / Your dimensions apprehend. [Eph. 3:8, 18-19] / By Your mercy, keep me in Your Body, / Taking the rich supply. / Through each member’s function in their measure / All the Body edify. [Eph. 4:16] (Song on, Our Condition to God’s Heart’s Desire)
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