We Receive the Supply of the Spirit by the Intercession and Fellowship of the Members

We receive the supply of the Spirit by the intercession and fellowship of the members of the Body of Christ. When we remain in the Body and are properly related to the fellow members in the Body, we receive the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

According to Psalm 133, the inestimable goodness and incalculable pleasantness of brothers dwelling together in oneness is likened to the compound precious ointment.

When we dwell together with the saints in oneness, realising that we are members of the Body who need the other members for their going on in the Lord and in the Body, we enjoy the bountiful supply of the Spirit.

Simply by calling on the name of the Lord or saying Amen to His word, we are supplied, for we are in the Body, as a member, and the supply comes from the Head through all the members. In the Body of Christ there’s the supply of the Body, which is nothing else but the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

What is this bountiful supply? In the Old Testament it was typified by the holy anointing oil, the compound ointment that was used to anoint the tabernacle with all its utensils and the priesthood.

This bountiful supply is really everything that we need and in a bountiful way, overflowing with goodness and supply. We don’t really know what we need, but many times the Lord exposes our real need; what we need is nothing else but God Himself.

God went through a process – He became a man, He lived a perfect human life, He died an all-inclusive and all-terminating death on the cross, He resurrected, and He was ascended.

All the processes the Lord went through together with their effectiveness and power are compounded together into the Spirit of Jesus Christ with His bountiful supply for all the members of the Body to enjoy.

The only condition is that we remain in the Body and serve the Lord as priests, part of the priesthood; when we are properly related and built up with the fellow members of the Body and we function in our measure as priests, we enjoy the anointing of the compound Spirit.

Everything we need is in the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and this Spirit is on the Body and on those who serve God as priests to build up the Body of Christ.

We Receive the Supply of the Spirit by the Intercession and Fellowship of the Members

We may come to the Lord again and again concerning a particular matter in which we cannot break through, and we may want Him to help us and take us through, but many times He may not do it.

This is because we receive the supply of the Spirit by the intercession and fellowship of the members. When we are dry and we have no way to go on, we need the other brothers and sisters to intercede for us before we can get through (see Phil. 1:19; 1 Thes. 5:25; Job 42:8-10).

Brother Watchman Nee once was sick for one hundred seventy-six days, and he prayed for his sickness daily with no avail; then, when he became exhausted, he asked a brother of whom he didn’t think too highly of to pray for him, and his condition became better in a short period of time.

We need to realise that the supply of the Body is a reality; we may not be able to get through in many things no matter how much we struggle, but once we give these matters to the Body, the problems are solved.

As members in the Body of Christ, we receive the supply of the Spirit by the intercession, prayer, and fellowship of the fellow members of the Body; therefore, it is foolish for us to try to separate ourselves from the other members in the Body.

In 1 Thes. 5:25, at the conclusion of his epistle, Paul asks the saints to pray also for them. This church was a new church, young in the Lord, and yet Paul asks them to pray for them, realising that he needs the supply of the Spirit by the intercession and prayer of the saints.

Paul knew the Body, and he knew that the supply of the Body is in the petition and prayers of the saints.

Similarly, in Job 42:8-10, after many chapters of the three friends of Job and Job speaking many things to complain and argue, God appeared, and Job repented; then, God asked Job to pray for his friends and He will forgive them.

We may have some unvital companions in the church life, and we may speak all kinds of things….but when we see God, when we realise we’re members in the Body, we will pray and intercede for one another, and the bountiful supply of the Spirit will be dispensed into others.

The more we look at our own poor situation and try to improve it, the more we become pitiful; when we pray for others, when we stand as members in the Body and pray for our fellow members, we receive the supply of the Spirit and the others are also supplied.

As members of the Body, if we don’t have the other members and don’t depend on and are supplied by the other members, we will not survive. All the members of the Body must be joined together and related to one another, for they cannot survive when they are separated from one another.

Between the members of the Body there must be a mutual supply and a mutual relatedness; only then can we as members survive. If we live an independent life, sooner or later we will weaken and dry up.

For us to go on with the Lord, we must recognise His supply for us in the Body, and we must avail ourselves of it; we must receive the supply of the Spirit by the intercession and fellowship of the members of the Body.

It is through the interdependence among the members that the Body of Christ is built up, so we need to open to the other members, ask for their prayer and intercession, and receive the supply of the Spirit in the Body.

Lord, may we realise that we are members of the Body and we need the supply of the Spirit not only from God but even more from the fellow members in the Body. Amen, Lord, we receive the supply of the Spirit by the intercession and fellowship of the members. Lord, we need You and we need the fellow members of the Body. May we learn to open up to the Body and ask for prayer in the Body so that we may get through and we may receive the supply of the Spirit! Amen, Lord Jesus, keep us in the Body, receiving the supply!

Praying ourselves into God to receive the Life-giving Spirit as our Supply to Feed Others Also

In Luke 11:1-13 we have what many Christians call, The Lord’s prayer; here we see how, as the disciples saw the Lord praying, they asked Him to teach them how to pray.

The Lord’s prayer here is not merely “the Lord’s prayer” but it is the way we should pray so that we my get ourselves into God. We need to pray ourselves into God to receive the life-giving Spirit as our supply to feed ourselves and to feed those under our care for the building up of the Body of Christ.

If we read this prayer again and again with the exercise of our spirit, we will pray ourselves into God.

When we honestly open up to the Lord and say, Father, Your name be sanctified; Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one… – when we pray in such a way, we will pray ourselves into God.

Here we receive the supply of the Spirit and are filled with the Lord’s riches to be supplied ourselves and to also supply those under our care.

We may feel that we are sinful and cannot be forgiven, for we fail again and again; so we simply need to pray ourselves into God, and we will spontaneously receive the divine forgiveness, and we will also be able to forgive those who have wronged us, thus being saved from the temptation of Satan.

Right after the Lord’s teaching His disciples to pray there’s the story of three friends: one friend came to visit another friend at night time, and this second friend didn’t have any food to give him, so he went to his other friend to ask for food; this third friend seemed to reject him at first, for he was in bed and everyone was asleep, but because of his shameless persistence, he got up to give him what he needs.

Then the Lord applied this by saying, If you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father who is from heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him (see Luke 1:13).

So this third friend is actually God Himself; we may think that in shepherding others we have nothing, and God “closed shop” on us; but if we seek and ask and knock, having a shameless persistence, He will give us the supply we need to be supplied ourselves and to supply others also.

Bread signifies the riches of the land, eggs – the riches of the air, and fish – the riches of the sea; our heavenly Father gives us all the riches in the Spirit if we ask Him!

We need to be shamelessly persistent in asking Him, and we will receive the supply of the Spirit for us to be nourished and for us to feed others also.

On the one hand we need to pray ourselves into God so that we may be filled with Him and empowered to forgive others and be saved from temptation; on the other hand, we need to persistently ask the Lord for the supply, and He will supply us with the Spirit for others also to be supplied.

As we pray ourselves into God, we receive the life-giving Spirit as our supply, we enjoy His riches, and we can also feed those under our care.

Lord, teach us how to pray ourselves into God so that we may receive the life-giving Spirit as our supply to feed ourselves and also to feed those under our care for the building up of the Body. Make us those who are shamelessly persistent in praying ourselves into God and asking God for the supply of the Spirit for ourselves and for those under our care and shepherding. Amen, Lord, we open to receive the supply of the Spirit from the Head and through the members of the Body for the building up of the Body of Christ!

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, Life-study of Luke, msg. 27 (by Witness Lee), 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:
  # In my knowledge and experience / I would not exalted be, / But submitting and accepting / Let the Body balance me; / Holding fast the Head, and growing / With His increase, in His way, / By the joints and bands supplying, / Knit together day by day. (Hymns #840)
  # Lord, grant me today’s supply of grace; / May Your divine life grow apace; / Little by little, day by day, to grow / More and more, into You. / Lord, grant me a heavenly, corporate view; / That all of my growth and prayers to You, / Little by little, day by day, / Would cause building up into the New Jerusalem. (Song on, Lord, grant me today’s supply of grace)
  # All the saints of Christ are / Members every one; / All coordinating / Into oneness come. / Each fulfills his duty, / Shows his usefulness, / Fervent in the spirit, / Girt with faithfulness. / Knitting and supplying, / Bearing much in grace; / Not a trace of discord, / Christ is giv’n His place. (Hymns #854)