When you have the flow of life, you will have joy. When I see you with a long face instead of a shining face, I know that you have lost the inward flow. If you have the inward flow, regardless of your situation, you will be full of joy. Indeed, your having joy means that you are in the flow, in the fellowship of the divine life.
Christians, as a rule, must be joyful persons; they must be persons who are full of joy at all times. Sometimes we are so full of joy that we feel we will burst unless we shout “Hallelujah!” “Praise the Lord!” or “Amen!” Sometimes we are so full of joy that our silence must cease and we must bubble over by speaking. As Christians, we should not be so silent. Because we are so full of the current, flowing, and bubbling of the divine life within us, instead of being quiet, we must shout and speak. You will find that the more you express what is flowing within, the more the fellowship of life will flow within you. This is what it is to be a Christian in the fellowship of the divine life.
We should never quench the fire that is burning within us (1 Thes. 5:19; Rom. 12:11). In other words, we should not smother the flow of the fellowship of life within us. Let us say that we have a fire burning in our fireplace. If we close the flue on the chimney and close all the doors and windows, the fire will go out. If we want the fire to burn, we must give the fire ventilation by opening the chimney’s flue and throwing open the doors and windows. When we let the air come in and ventilate the fire, the fire will burn brightly, even to the point of consuming our entire house! If we allow the fellowship of the divine life to flow in us, that is, if we allow the “fire” to “burn” in us, this proves that we are living in Christ and taking Christ as our life practically. This is what it is to experience the flow, the fellowship, of life.
As a person who is not especially emotional, I do not like to be too emotional. However, many times when I pray, I find that I must call, “O Lord! Hallelujah!” If you are careful not to quench the Holy Spirit and if you allow the Spirit to flow, you will most certainly do the same thing. On the one hand, we must be careful not to do this too often in the meetings lest it disturb others. On the other hand, if sometimes the saints do this in the meetings, we should not be disturbed, for this is something in the spirit. Second Corinthians 5:13 says, “For whether we were beside ourselves, it was to God; or whether we are sober-minded, it is for you.” For others’ sake we must be sober. However, before God we very often have to be beside ourselves.
If you are a Christian and yet have never been beside yourself, you are not a normal Christian. You have to be a Christian to such an extent that, because there is a current within you, you are beside yourself. I believe that some of the brothers and sisters may have this experience from time to time. However, we must all have these experiences with greater frequency. We have to be in the fellowship, in the current. When we are in the flow of life, we will be full of joy and full of an inward, energizing power. When we are in the flow, it will be very easy for us to experience the Lord’s presence and know His mind and will.
This is the simple secret to which I was referring in the previous chapter and the answer to the question that I posed in it. By what way can we practically experience Christ as life? We experience Christ as life by maintaining the inward current of life within us all the time. If anything, anyone, or any place causes us to lose the inward flow, that is a sign that we are wrong. Whenever we have some struggle, quarrel, or strife with the Lord, the inward current stops. Even if we only struggle a little bit or argue with Him briefly, the flow ceases. The flow is not stopped only by disobedience toward the Lord; it is stopped even by the slightest argument or struggle with Him. When the flow abates, we must realize that we are wrong, and we must stop whatever it is that we are doing and cry out to the Lord.
Today if you ask me how I know that I am living by Christ, I will tell you that the answer is simple: I have the flow. I have the current flowing within me. This is very practical and very real. Any time that we do not have the flow within us, we are not living by Christ. In these days, we need to spend time to realize this matter and enter into this kind of practical experience. We have to be in the flow. We have to possess the inward current of the divine life flowing within us all the time.