Many Christians realize that at the time of their regeneration they received forgiveness, peace, joy, rest, and satisfaction. However, very few believers have the central concept that in addition to these things, we have received God Himself as life. As those who have been regenerated by God, we have God Himself as life living in us. I am afraid that although many of you enjoy peace, joy, rest, and satisfaction, you do not know that God, who is life, is now living within you. Even if you know this fact, I doubt whether you know how to experience God as life or live by Him. This is a great problem among the Lord’s children today.
We all know that Christ is the bread of life to us (John 6:48). We also know that the Lord said, “He who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me” (v. 57b). But who knows the way to eat Christ? Although we know that Christ is the bread of life, many of us do not know how to eat Christ. God is life to us in Christ as the Spirit. But what is the way for us to live by Christ? What is the proper way for us to experience the inner life which is Christ Himself? I wish to challenge you with these questions. You may say that the proper way to experience Christ as life is by experiencing the Body, but I in turn would ask you by what way we can experience the Body. Again, you may answer that we experience Christ as life by prayer or by contacting the Holy Spirit. Although both prayer and contacting the Holy Spirit are good, these answers are somewhat vague. This matter of experiencing Christ practically as life is a real problem among Christians today. In Christianity today very little is ministered concerning Christ as life to man. Although there is an abundance of lectures, sermons, messages, teachings, doctrines, and talks that are delivered in Christianity, very few of them take Christ as life as their topic. On occasion, Christian teachers will speak something concerning Christ as life, but it is very difficult to find a message that tells us the actual way to experience this inner life. Throughout the past year, in which I have been speaking much about Christ as life, I have come to find out that many saints do not know the way to experience the inner life.
So I would ask the question again: What is the way for us to experience Christ as our inner life? Perhaps you would again attempt to answer this question, saying that in every situation in life, we must recognize that first He is our life and that second we must contact Him in our spirit and draw our strength from Him. Then in every situation, instead of our acting by ourselves, Christ will act through us. This, you may continue, is Christ flowing Himself through us to minister Himself, instead of our trying to minister in ourselves. This would be an excellent answer, but it is still not specific enough.
It is very difficult to be clear on this matter. Although many of us may have insight into this question, it is very difficult to answer with clarity and specificity. I have been perplexed very much about the lack of clarity among the saints concerning the proper way to experience the inner life and have spent considerable time before the Lord considering our situation. Although you may be clear in a limited way, you are not clear to the extent that you can make yourself understood to others concerning the proper way to experience Christ as life. Hence, I would repeat the question once more: What exactly is the proper way for us to experience the inner life?
My burden is not to give you many messages; my burden is simply to help you to be clear about one secret. This secret is worth more than one million dollars, but I would like to give it to you freely as a gift. Secrets are always very simple—for if something is not simple, it is not a secret. This secret is like a key that gives simple access to something that is otherwise difficult to penetrate. If we have the key, the door is open to us. If, on the other hand, we do not have the key, even if we do many things, the door will remain closed to us. The secret I would like to share with you in these chapters is the key whereby we can enter into the practical experience of Christ as the inner life.
Before I give you the key, however, we have to be clear concerning four matters. First John 1:2 says, “And the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and report to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us.” This verse speaks of the eternal life. The apostle John tells us that he saw, handled, and declared that life to us so that we may have fellowship. If we want to know the proper way to experience the inner life, we must know the fellowship of life. John 1:4 says, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” In this verse we have the light of life. Then in Romans 8:2 we have two additional matters of life: the law of life and the Spirit of life. Hebrews 8:10-11, 10:16, and Jeremiah 31:32-34 all speak of the Lord imparting a law into us and writing this law upon us. The law spoken of here is the law of life. Hence, we have four matters: the fellowship of life, the light of life, the law of life, and the Spirit of life. These four matters, taken together, are the key of the inner life. If we are to know the proper way to experience the inner life, we must know these four matters. If we do not know them, we do not have the key to experience the inner life. I am concerned that many of you do not know these matters and consequently do not have the key. I am furthermore concerned that even if some of you do have this key, you do not know how to use it.
In the following chapters, we will begin to see something concerning the fellowship of life, the light of life, the law of life, and the Spirit of life. These matters, taken together, are called the law of the Spirit of life. This is a line of ministry that requires much prayer and fellowship on our part. I beg of you to read the above portions of the Word carefully and pray concerning these matters desperately. If you do this, you will have a foundation upon which you will be able to take in the fellowship in the following chapters. I believe that once we become clear concerning these four matters, we will have the key to the inner life and become clear concerning the proper way to experience Christ as life.