the living and service in the Body of Christ – depends on the capacity of the law of life in us!

The Body of Christ as the organism of the Triune God has a living and a service which is organic and corporate – all the members of the Body of Christ live together by taking Christ as life(Col. 3:3-4), and also all the members care for one another(1 Cor. 12:25-27). What I realize more and more concerning the Christian life and the church life in the Body is that the Body life is a LIFE – it is not a performance, it is not something we put on when we are with other believers, and it is not something we do on Sundays. No, the Christian life and the Body life is our daily life, our daily living – we daily need to be mingled with the Triune God so that we may take Christ as our life and let Him live in us! How can God live in us – in so many believers everywhere in the world? When God in Christ as the Spirit comes into our spirit, He brings the divine life into us. This divine life is mysterious, hidden, and not very tangible; but this life has a law – the law of the Spirit of life(Rom. 8:2). Continue reading this portion via,

the key to our living and service in the Body of Christ depends on the law of the Spirit of life

becoming genuine parts of the New Jerusalem by walking according to the golden divine nature in us

Before we were saved, we were “our own ruler”, and we did our best to live our life as we saw it fit or as we wanted to. But when we met the Lord Jesus, He as the King came into us with the divine kingdom! When we were under our own rule, we were a mess – actually, we were without any rule. But now that we repented and came into the kingdom of God, we are under God’s rule. Even more specifically, we are under His administration, under His throne. Through the gospel, God came into us and brought us into His kingdom – He is the king on the throne! As we daily we call on His name, we enthrone Him in our being – and out of the throne there’s a street – the golden street – on which we walk! We don’t walk and do things as we pleased to do / as we used to, now we walk and do things according to the divine nature in us! We “walk on the golden street” of the divine nature in us – this street is God’s administration in us. The more we enjoy the Lord, the more we grow in life, the more we walk on the golden street of the divine nature in us!

We have to live such a life in which we do everything according to God’s nature. Here is what 2 Peter 1:4 says about this,

Through which He has granted to us precious and exceedingly great promises that through these you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world by lust.

We are partakers of the divine nature and we are escapers of the corruption in the world! Others may live in corruption and immorality, but we walk and live according to the divine nature in us. We no longer speak any corrupt word(Eph. 4:29) or walk according to our “dusty nature” in ourselves – we are adjusted and regulated by the golden nature of God in all that we do. In all the little things of our daily life, the trivial common daily routine things we need to take care of, we learn to do everything according not to ourselves or the way we used to do things, but according to the divine nature in us. NO, we are not those who ask themselves: WWJD / What Would Jesus Do? – this is a self-effort to improve the self according to some moralistic / biblical ideas. No, what we do is simply enjoy the Lord and then allow Him to speak to us by being in a constant contact with Him in everything. The Lord has so much to speak to us – He has feelings and thoughts/opinions about the things we do, the things we go through, etc. We enjoy Christ and we enthrone Him in our being – and there’s a street we walk on, the golden street, the divine nature!

Even our fellowship with one another needs to be according to the divine nature. It is relatively easy to talk to one another, but are we having real fellowship? It is easy to have preferences even in the church life, to prefer to talk to certain people – but are our relationships and our fellowships based on the divine nature of God within us? Whether we have real fellowship or not is determined by whether or not it is based on the golden nature of God within us. We don’t just contact saints / new ones: we walk according to the divine nature in fellowship with the Lord – and out of this, we fellowship with one another.

These are some practical ways for us to experience and apply the divine nature of God – as we do this day by day, we become golden / divine in more and more things – we become genuine parts of the New Jerusalem. As we walk according to the divine nature in us by paying attention to the sense of life and peace within, we are walking on the golden street of the New Jerusalem and we are becoming the golden street of the New Jerusalem! Our inward nature is being changed – we become golden, constituted with God’s golden nature – and we walk, live, and do everything based on God’s nature within us. [enjoyment from, The Application of the Interpretation of the New Jerusalem to the Seeking Believers, by bro. Witness Lee]

Thank You Lord – we are partakers of the divine nature! We are escapers of the corruption which is in the world by lust, and we are partaking of the divine nature in us! We want to do everything according to You in us, Lord! May we do nothing apart from You – but everything according to the divine nature in us! Thank You for being in us as a living Person speaking to us, living in us, and transforming us! Make us genuine parts of the New Jerusalem – as we walk on the golden street!

we need to be born of God with the divine life in order for us to be part of the kingdom of God

It is not by our doing, our striving, or our behavior that we become part of the kingdom of God, and neither is it by our being affiliated to any of the “churches” that are out there. The only way we can become part of the kingdom of God or even see the kingdom of God is by being born into the kingdom of God! Unless we are born again, born of the Spirit, we cannot see or enter into the kingdom of God! It is only the life of God, the divine life, that qualifies us to be in the kingdom of God. Not even knowing a lot about the kingdom of God or knowing about God – no Bible knowledge apart from being regenerated can transfer us and place us into the kingdom of God! Just as you become a human being part of the mankind by being born as a man and thus are part of the kingdom of man, so you become a God-man by being begotten of God and thus being a part of the kingdom of God! Hallelujah, it is only the divine life that can qualify us to enter into the divine realm! Here’s what John 3:3 and 5 say,

v. 3 … Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God…
v. 5 … Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God…

Actually, even if we were not sinful – even if Adam would have NOT partaken of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – we still need the divine life to come into us in order for us to be part of the kingdom of God! The human life – as high and perfect and clean as it would be – is not adequate for us to be in the kingdom of God! This is why we need to treasure our regeneration: when we believe into the Lord Jesus(John 3:16) we receive the divine life of God and enter into the kingdom of God! Just as a MAN begets a MAN, a cat begets a cat, etc – so God begets someone His own kind: God begets “gods”! When we are born of God, we become a God-man! We as believers are no longer ONLY human, but also divine; we no longer belong only to the human species, but we are also part of the divine species – we are God-kind! Now we have the divine life within growing, developing, and transforming us until we become the same as our Prototype / our Forerunner Jesus Christ. We have the reality of the divine life within us and at the same time this divine life transforms us and conforms us to the Lord’s image in our entire being.

As the ones living in the kingdom of God, we are now learning to live no longer by the human life / our self, but we deny ourselves, our natural man, our natural life, and live by another life – the divine life within! The more we live by the divine life in us by allowing this divine life to live in us freely, the more we are living in reality in the kingdom of God! The reality of the kingdom of God as a realm of life is our living by the divine life today! This living of the divine life and by the divine life is the expression and the practicality of the divine life – this is the kingdom of God in reality! It is here, in this kingdom, in our living by the divine life, that God can be freely expressed, He can reign, and He can accomplish His will and His purpose. Today in the church life we are those who enjoy the divine life and live by the divine life more and more, until we are “swallowed up in life” and we become persons of life! We are children of God in the divine and mystical realm of the divine species, living and moving – doing everything and having our being – by the divine life, in our mingled spirit! [inspired by the morning revival on the Crystallization-study of Isaiah(1)]

O, Lord, Amen, we want to be in the reality of the kingdom today! Save us from being just men – we want to be God-men living by the divine life within! Thank You Lord for showing us the kingdom of God and for making us part of Your kingdom! Lord, we need You to grow in us more today and even be expressed in us and through us!

receiving all the believers just as God and Christ receives them

This is possible only if / when we are under the ruling of the divine life! This morning I really enjoyed the fact that the peak in Romans is Reigning in Life – and this means to be under the ruling of the divine life! When we set our mind on our spirit(Rom. 8:6), our mingled spirit spreads into our mind and our mind is more under the ruling of the divine life! This is how we reign in life – by being under the restriction and limitation of the divine life in us!

The Lord Jesus was all the time under the Father’s ruling: He didn’t do anything on His own, unto His glory, or even by His own power. Even though He had a perfect and sinless humanity, He rejected Himself and lived a human life under the restriction of the divine life of His heavenly Father. In one sense, He was very limited and restricted: on the whole earth, He was the only One who didn’t do what He wanted, but what Someone Else wanted(His Heavenly Father). But yet in a very real sense, Christ was reigning in life and had God’s authority by being fully under the reigning of His Father. The more we live under the rule of the heavenly life, the more we can reign in life – for the Body life!

The way to live the Body life in the normal church life – as depicted in Romans 14-16 – is by us reigning in life in Rom. 5:17! The only way for us to receive all the believers, just like God and the Lord Jesus receives them, is by us reigning in life. We must learn the practical lessons of receiving all the believers, so that the church life may be all inclusive, able to include all kinds of genuine Christians. For this to happen, we need to be under the reigning of the divine life! Today there is a great need that all the believers – who received the divine life of God – would allow God’s life in them to rule and reign by enjoying God’s life all the time! We need to practice the restriction and limitation in the divine life, allowing the divine life to spread in us, limit us, even supply us and govern us. This is to practically live the Christian life, receiving all the believers, reigning in life, and living the Body life in the normal church life. Lord, may Your life reign in us!