In order to eat the Lord, we have to open our mouth. Perhaps early in the morning we have some prayer and fellowship with the Lord. Many of us in our morning time offer a prayer to the Lord asking Him to help us to do this and to do that. We may pray, “Lord, today is a new day. I give this day to You. Lord, help me to do this and that.” Strictly speaking, this may not be wrong. However, if the Lord opens our eyes, we will realize that when we go to the Lord early in the morning each day, we should not go to Him to ask Him to help us to do many things. Rather, we must go to the Lord to contact Him and to receive Him. We have to absorb something of the Lord into us again and again. We have to feed on Him and drink of Him repeatedly. We must go to the Lord as we would go to a big breakfast. After we have contacted the Lord for a period of time, we will be filled with Him. We will be satisfied and refreshed. The proper way to be a Christian is not to ask the Lord to help us to do things. The proper way to be a Christian is to take the Lord moment by moment as our fullness and our life supply. This is something we have to learn. In the past we learned many things improperly. The best way for us to be normal Christians is to be simple, taking Christ as our life day by day.
It would be very easy for me merely to speak many things to you from the Scriptures. I could have a Bible study about Genesis or the Psalms or the book of Revelation. But I have no confidence that I can convince you to be simple Christians. We know so much according to our mentality, but we experience Christ so little in spirit. Therefore, it is rather difficult to convince someone to be a simple Christian. A simple Christian is just like a child. Children do not care for much knowledge; they simply come to the table and eat something. I have been eating for nearly sixty years. Although I still do not know what vitamin A, vitamin B, and vitamin C are, I live very well because I eat well. Every morning I take two eggs, one cup of milk, two pieces of toast, and one bowl of cereal. If you ask me what this food contains, I would say that I do not know. I do not know what the ingredients are, but I know that they are good for eating. I do not believe that there is a dietitian who knows everything about food. It is too mysterious.
As to the matters of the divine life, they are also very mysterious. It is not an easy thing to understand the Scriptures. This book has been in my hands for forty years. I have studied it, read it, and meditated in it day after day. Even up to today I do not fully understand this book. Thirty-five years ago I thought that I understood the types and prophecies. I understood that of the seventy weeks mentioned in Daniel 9, there were the first sixty-two, then seven weeks more, and then the last week, which is divided into two parts. The last half of the last week lasts for three and a half years, which is equal to forty-two months or one thousand two hundred sixty days. I thought that at that time I understood these figures. However, today I would tell you that I do not thoroughly understand the Scriptures. Yet day by day I select something out of them to eat and enjoy for my satisfaction. Day by day it is so sweet, so fresh, and so refreshing. Although I do not thoroughly understand it, I eat a lot.
One day a sister came to me and asked, “Brother Lee, would you tell me how to be a good wife?” I said, “Sister, you have come to the wrong person. I don’t know what to say. I think you had better go to Confucius. He would know the best way for you to be a proper wife.” She said, “Brother Lee, I know that you are a teacher among the Lord’s children.” I said, “No, I am not a teacher. I am a minister. The difference between a teacher and a minister is that a teacher instructs you how to do things, such as how to be a good wife, but a minister ministers Christ into others.” The sister said, “Brother Lee, please minister something to me.” I said, “Sister, this is much better. If you ask me to teach you how to be a good wife, I don’t have a heart for this. But if you ask me to minister something of Christ, this is right. However, although I can minister Christ to you, you have to enjoy Christ yourself. I can serve breakfast to you, but I cannot eat breakfast for you. No one can eat for anyone else. A mother cannot eat for her children. Even a babe has to drink milk for himself.” Then I said, “Sister, Christ is now within you as your life. Learn to contact Christ in your spirit, not by your mind. Learn to call yourself back into your spirit day by day and moment by moment. Come back to your spirit to meet Christ there. Learn how to exercise your spirit to contact Christ.”
This sister then asked me, “Brother Lee, when I contact Christ in such a way, what should I say?” I replied, “Sister, there is no need for you to prepare anything to say. Every moment simply call your whole being back into your spirit. Just contact the Lord and meet Him there. Simply tell Him how you feel. You can tell Him, ‘Lord, I need to be a good wife, but I feel I am too weak to be a good wife. Lord, I want to be patient, but I have no patience. I cannot do this.’ Just speak something to the Lord. Tell Him everything that you feel and what burdens you. Besides this there is nothing you need to do. What happens next is not my business. That is the Lord’s business. I am not your prophet. I am simply ministering Christ to you, instructing you how to contact Christ.”
After a few days this sister came to a meeting. When she saw me, she smiled brightly and said, “Oh, Brother Lee, it is wonderful! Let me tell you what happened.” During the meeting there was a time for fellowship and testimonies. She stood up and gave a very living testimony, telling the saints how much the Lord meant to her after she contacted Him. She had found the secret.
The way is not to learn many doctrines, to listen to many teachings, or even to read much from the Scriptures merely by our mentality. All of this does not work. We have to realize that now the Lord is the Spirit. He is life to us, and now He is within us as the Spirit. Our need is to contact Him in our spirit day by day and moment by moment. We should always keep ourselves in contact with this living person, Christ Himself.
Why do we need to read the Bible? It is because the Scriptures are the means through which and by which we can contact Christ in our spirit. We must learn this very matter. Not only early in the morning but also all day long we have to continually stay in contact with the Lord. The more we stay in contact with the Lord, the more the Lord will occupy our whole being and the more the Lord will be our life supply. If we need wisdom, the Lord will be our wisdom. If we need strength, the Lord will be our strength. Whatever we need, such as light or love, the Lord will be to us.
The simplest way is to contact the Lord in our spirit. If we practice this, we will experience the Lord as everything. He will be our patience and our humility. If we allow Christ to live within us, we will be the most humble and patient people. All the items such as power, strength, patience, and love are nothing but Christ Himself. We should not try by our own efforts to be humble or patient, to love others or to be a good husband or wife. The only thing we must learn and experience is to keep in contact with Christ. If we do, Christ will be life to us and energize us to be a good husband or wife. Sometimes we are too clever, which makes us the most foolish persons. If we remain in contact with Christ, there is no need for us to be clever. Christ will be our wisdom, our life, our strength, our joy, our peace, and our comfort. Everything we need is in Him. If we contact Christ all the time, we will be wonderful, glorious persons in Christ, having Christ living within us. This is the simple yet proper way to be a Christian.
The issue of these experiences is that Christ is formed in us (Gal. 4:19). When we help children put on a glove, we have to help them to put their fingers into the glove gradually one by one. Then their hand will be properly formed in the glove. Christ is now within us, but He may be within us in an unformed way, like a hand inserted into a glove improperly. There may be no way for Christ to occupy our whole being, to expand Himself into all the inward parts of our being. However, if we stay in contact with Christ, day by day and moment by moment Christ will expand into all our inward parts and occupy us completely. Then Christ will be formed within us. We will have the mind of Christ, the emotion of Christ, and the will of Christ. Christ will become everything to us in our whole being. Christ will be formed in us, and we will be conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). This means that we will be matured in the life of Christ.
Let us be very simple. Let us give up the way of knowledge and take the way of life. Here are two trees—the tree of life and the tree of knowledge. God’s intention is that we partake of the tree of life, not the tree of knowledge. Regrettably, most Christians take the way of knowledge instead of the way of life. Therefore, today we have to change our way by being Christians. We must be Christians not in the way of knowledge but in the way of life. Forget about more knowledge and teachings. Simply stay in contact with Christ, the more the better. Then you will enjoy Christ and apply Christ in all of your daily living. You will experience Christ in a very practical way. I believe that this is the urgent need today for all Christians. Therefore, let us pray much. Pray and ask the Lord that His children would be helped to change their way of being a Christian. They must turn from knowledge to life. They need to give up the way of knowledge and simply take the way of life, to stay in contact with Christ all the time. He is life and everything to us. We should do nothing but take Him, enjoy Him, and apply Him day by day in a very practical way.