First Corinthians 12 unveils to us the manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit. After this, Paul shows us in chapter thirteen that love is the most excellent way to exercise the gifts. If we pay attention only to the outward gifts and do not have love, the gifts will be empty and without life. But if we have love, and we add to it faith and hope, we have something that abides. Actually, faith is the Triune God. Hope also is the Triune God, and love also is the Triune God. God is love. We are not love. Our love is in the flesh, and it fluctuates constantly. Christ is faith. We do not have faith. We are saved in the faith of Christ, and we receive Him into us also in the faith of Christ. Christ is also our hope of glory. We should fellowship with Christ, abide in Him, eat, drink, and enjoy Him, and allow Him to do the transmitting work in us, communicating into us His divine element. Then, if we need love, hope, or faith, Christ as our supply will spontaneously be expressed from us as love, hope, and faith.

When we come to 1 Corinthians 14, Paul begins by saying, "Pursue love, and desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy." To pursue love is to pursue the growth in life so that we may develop the gifts in life. Hence, the pursuing of love must be accompanied by an earnest desire for the most profitable gift, the gift of prophecy. Hence, prophecy does not come merely from teaching, but from God being in man and man cooperating with God. Without God there is no prophesying, but neither can there be prophesying if there is only God without man. Prophesying is words spoken as a result of a cooperation and coordination between God and man. It is God's speaking in and through man.

This is what the book of 1 Corinthians shows us. Today Christ has come into us and has become our life and eternal portion. He is our everything and has become our constituent. Now we are joined to Him as one spirit. By this, the capacity of His life is manifested in us and becomes the gifts in our meetings and service. Nothing we do is done by ourselves; everything is done by faith. The result of everything we do is hope. We do not do anything that is not in hope. The result of everything we do is also love. In such a situation, we will spontaneously be able to prophesy, to speak for the Lord, to speak forth the Lord, and to speak the Lord into others. These are the factors of our meetings and service as described in 1 Corinthians. When we come to the meetings or to serve, we do not come alone or empty-handed. Rather, we come with Christ. Christ is the content of our meetings. Whether we sing, pray, or speak, we are full of Christ. Christ is also the content of our service. Whatever we do in the church must have Christ as its element.

When we enjoy this all-inclusive Christ every day, He will become our inward supply in everything. He will become the dispensing within us. Eventually, He will be manifested in our meetings and service, in our gifts, and in all our activities. This is the dispensing of God as our supply in our meetings and service.