In order for us to grow with the growth of God, we need to drink from the guileless milk of the word, eat the solid food in the word of God, and give the Lord more room in our being to grow in life for the church. Amen!
All genuine believers in Christ, those who have been regenerated by the divine life, are members of the Body of Christ, and they need to grow in life by allowing God as life to grow in them.
Col. 2:19 tells us that, as we hold Christ the Head, we grow with the growth of God; on one hand we grow by eating and enjoying the Lord personally, and on the other hand, we are watered and nourished by the gifted members in the Body.
Our Christian life is not an individualistic life, that is, we cannot grow and live by ourselves – we need to live in the Body and allow Christ to grow in us for the Body.
Actually, the growth and building up of the Body of Christ depends on our growth in life, and our growth in the divine life depends on the element of God increasing and growing in us.
We have received the divine life at the time of our regeneration, but this life needs to grow, increase, and spread in all our inner being.
God needs to grow in us; in Himself, God cannot grow, for He is perfect and complete, but in us, He needs to grow. God needs to grow in all the members of the Body of Christ.
Our growth in the divine life is not of ourselves; it is not of him who wills or who runs, but it is of God.
God gives the growth. We need to come to God, again and again, contact God, enjoy God, spend time with God, and remain in the word of God, so that we may give Him more ground in our being for Him to grow.
The more we remain under the divine dispensing, the more we receive the growth from God, and this is the growth of God in us for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.
The more that God is added to us, the more growth He gives to us; the way that God gives us the growth in life is by adding Himself to us.
The addition of the element of God means that our old, natural element is being discharged, and the new element of God is added to us.
As we turn our heart to the Lord and exercise our spirit when we come to the word of God, we receive the infusion of the element of God into us; when we say Amen to God’s word and abide in His Word, the element of God is spreading in our mind to renew our mind and transform us in our inner being.
We Grow in Life for the Church by Feeding on the Word and by being Watered by the Gifted Members in the Meetings of the Church
How does give growth in life? How does He increase in us?
In a very practical way, He gives us the growth when we put ourselves under the hearing of the word of God, for faith comes by hearing the word of God.
1 Pet. 2:2 says that, as newborn babes, we need to long for the guileless milk of the word, so that by it we may grow unto salvation.
The way for us to grow unto salvation for the building up of the church is to drink the milk of the word of God by exercising our spirit to enjoy the Lord in His word.
Furthermore, we need to not only drink milk but also eat the solid food for our full growth; we need to not only drink the guileless milk of the word but also eat solid food in the word of God.
Heb. 5:13-14 tells us that we need to eat solid food for our full growth in the divine life; this solid food is the word of righteousness and the word concerning the kingdom of God and His economy.
Both individually and corporately, both as individual believers and together with the saints, we need to drink the milk of the word and eat the solid food in the word so that we may grow in life and be full growth.
We need the word of God as the guileless milk for the newborn babes and as the solid food for the full-grown.
Our eating of the word of God causes us to grow in a strong way, for the word is full of food.
When we come to the word of God, we should not merely come to get knowledge or doctrines but rather, take Christ as our real food.
Every page of the Bible is a description of our rich, all-inclusive Christ, and when we come to Him as we come to the Word of God, His word becomes spirit and life.
May we have a seeking heart as we come to the word of God, praying to the Lord and turning our whole being to Him so that we would care not merely for teachings but for the increase of the element of God in us.
In this way we grow in life for the building up of the church.
The second way we can grow in life for the building up of the church is by receiving the watering of the gifted members of the Body; in 1 Cor. 3:6 we see that Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.
We need the planting and watering of the gifted members in the Body, so we need to be in the meetings of the church.
When we are meeting with the saints and enjoying the Lord together, we receive the watering.
Before coming to the meeting, we need to pray and seek to be one with the Lord so that whatever we speak, we would speak in Him; then, we can water others.
We need to bring something of Christ to the meeting and minister Christ to others for their watering. In the meetings of the church, we are watered and we are watering others also.
The gifted members water us, and we grow in life with the growth which God gives.
Nothing can replace our meeting with the saints to be watered and to grow in life.
We may think that we can enjoy the Lord by ourselves at home, and we can read the Bible to grow in life; however, if we don’t meet with the saints to receive the sprinkling and watering, we cannot enjoy the Lord in a rich way.
On one hand, we have the word of God as the milk and solid food, and on the other hand, we have the meetings of the church where there’s much watering.
When we read the word of God with much prayer and prayerful consideration, we are fed and nourished; when we get under the speaking of the Word of God, we receive the watering. Then, God gives the growth.
The more we read the word of God with much prayer personally, and the more we meet with the saints and are open to the watering, the more the element of God can increase in us for the building up of the church.
The growth in life is God Himself growing in us (Col. 2:19).
As we are feeding on the Word of God and as we are being watered by the gifted ones in the meetings of the church, God is moving and growing in us, and our growth in life is for the building up of the church.
Lord Jesus, we come to You in Your word to feed on You. We long for the guileless milk in the word so that by it we may grow unto salvation. We exercise our spirit and turn our heart to You as we read and pray Your word, dear Lord, so that we may feed on the solid food in Your word and reach full growth in life. Amen, Lord, we want to grow in life by feeding on Your word as milk and as solid food! Grow in us more! Keep us under the hearing of faith in the meetings of the church. We open to the watering of the gifted members, and we pray that You would give us the growth. Amen, Lord, we want to be watered and also to water others, and we look to You for the growth in life for the building up of the church!
How much God Grows within us Depends on how much Room we Give Him to Grow: Let Him Grow in You!
On one hand, it is God who gives the growth; on the other hand, how much grows within us depends on how much room we give Him to grow.
Christ came as the Spirit in our spirit, and in spirit, we are joined to the Lord as one; we are one spirit with the Lord, and the Lord is with our spirit (1 Cor. 6:17; Eph. 4:22).
However, the Lord doesn’t want to merely remain in our spirit – He wants to spread in all the inward parts of our being, especially our heart.
Christ wants to make His home in our heart through faith; for this, we need to be strengthened with power by God through the Spirit so that Christ may make His home in our heart.
Christ desires to expand, increase, and spread in all the inward parts of our being, in all our heart.
Our heart is like a great house with many rooms, and Christ wants to spread and make His home in all the rooms of our heart.
However, we may be so full with the things of the world, with ourselves, our own interests, and the things of this life; how much God grows within us depends on how much room we give Him to grow in us.
We need to open to Him again and again, and we need not be afraid of opening our feelings, our thoughts, our desires, and our plans to Him, for He is for us, and He only wants to do us good.
The more we open to the Lord, the more rooms of our being we open up to Him, the more He can spread there and fill us with Himself, making Himself at home in our heart.
But if we hold back, fearing what happens, not being sure if we can take it, and being afraid of what will happen if we happen this feeling or that hope, the Lord is delayed in growing in us.
Eventually, however, we realize that we don’t want to waste another day – we just open to Him without any reservation, and as soon as He shines on a particular aspect or thing in our being, we just open to Him and His dispensing so that He may grow in us.
The more we read the Bible and learn to turn our heart to Him, the word of the Bible slowly gets infused into us and replaces some part of our worldliness, some part of our self-interest, and some part of our love for things other than God Himself.
The more we open to the Lord and read His word prayerfully, the more we put ourselves under the hearing of faith in the church meeting, the more room in our being is given to God.
As we open to the Lord room after room in our being, He grows and expands and increases in us.
When we give God room in us, He expands and increases within us; this increase is His growth in us.
As we feed on the word of God and are watered by the gifted members, the negative things within us are removed, and there’s more room in our being for Christ to spread, increase, and grow.
Actually, God’s growth in us becomes our growth, for He and we are one; we are one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17), and His growth in us is our growth in Him.
This is for the intrinsic growth of the church.
May we learn to open our inward parts to Him and free up more room for Christ to grow until we actively think what the Lord thinks, love what He loves, and desire and work out things according to His operation within us for His good pleasure.
The more He expands and increases in our being, the more the church grows and is built up, and the growth of the church as the Body of Christ is the growth of God in the church.
When the church is growing, that is God being added to the church.
May we give the Lord more room in our being to grow, and may we cooperate with Him by feeding on His word and being watered in the meetings of the church, so that our old and natural elements may be removed and God would be added to us.
Father, strengthen us into our inner man according to the riches of Your glory through the Spirit so that Christ may make His home in our heart through faith! We open to You, Lord, and we allow You to grow in us and expand in our heart. We say Amen to Your shining, Your spreading, and Your increasing in our inner being. Strengthen us to open more rooms of our heart to You for You to expand in our heart and grow in us for the building up of the church. Amen, Lord, keep us feeding on Your word and receiving the watering from the gifted members so that the old natural element may be removed and the element of God would be added to us. Gain more room in us to grow and spread. Grow in us, Lord, and expand in our inner being for the growth of the church as the Body of Christ!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by the brothers for this week, and portions from, The Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ to be the Organism of the Processed and Dispensing Triune God, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Intrinsic and Organic Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ (2021 International Chinese-Speaking Conference), week 2, The Intrinsic Growth of the Church for Its Organic Increase.
- Hymns on this topic:
– But there’s a Person in my spirit now, / Born as a babe so small, so weak, so low; / Who by the Word’s pure milk will grow to be / The overcoming inner man in me / To gain my heart. (Hymns #1179)
– Lord, deeper make Thy home in me / ’Til ev’ry room belong to Thee, / That Thou might fully make me Thee / And so full rest Thou have in me. (Song on, Lord, Deeper Make Thy Home in Me)
– Growing, growing, in us He is growing, / More and more each day. / Into all our living He is flowing— / This is now His way. / For growth, O Lord, we pray; / Increase in us each day. / It’s not enough to know; / Now Thy life in us must grow. (Hymns #1240)
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