Our functioning in the meetings is the issue of our eating Christ. The leading ones in the churches may be very anxious about all the saints functioning in the meetings. They may even tell the saints to raise their hands and promise that they will function in the meetings. This is the wrong way to help the saints function. If we charge people to function and ask them to promise us to function, eventually they still will not function. They do not function, because they have nothing with which to function. Asking the saints to function is like saying, "Promise me that in the next meeting you will spend two hundred dollars." In the next meeting they cannot do this, because they have only a nickel. How could they spend two hundred dollars? The leading brothers in the local churches do not need to charge the saints to do anything. Just feed them. If you feed the saints throughout the week and help them to eat Christ, they will be filled with the riches of Christ. Then everyone will come to the meeting with a thousand dollars. The church life is not a matter of endeavoring to function but a matter of eating. Why is the church meeting poor? Because all the attendants are starved to death. We all have to help one another to eat.

First, we have to realize that Christ, the heavenly food, is in our spirit. He is not here to teach and instruct us. He wants us to come and dine. Eventually, we find out what we should do by the One whom we eat. Learn to eat Jesus. Do not try to do anything. Do not try to improve yourself. We are not doers; we are eaters. We are not mourners; we are eaters. We are not performers; we are eaters. Only a good eater of Jesus can be the best wife or husband. In every situation, never try to do anything. Whatever transpires, just go to eat Jesus, who is in your spirit. We can turn from the flesh to Jesus in our spirit. He is always available for us to enjoy.

If we eat Jesus in the mornings, we will have plenty to offer to the saints in the meeting in the evenings. In the ancient times, the Israelites labored on the good land day by day. Then they had a lot to bring to God for their worship. They brought all the riches of the good land to offer to God, and they mutually enjoyed these riches in the presence of God (Deut. 14:23). Their worship was a worship of eating the riches of the good land, which are a type of the riches of Christ. Today if we eat Jesus throughout the week, we will have plenty of the riches of Christ to offer to others in the meetings. When we pray or speak something in the meetings, that will be an overflow of the riches we have inwardly enjoyed. This should be our worship in the church meetings.

Whatever happens to us, we should not be troubled, bothered, or disappointed. No matter what happens or what your situation is, try to eat Jesus. Learn to eat. We eat by exercising our spirit to contact the indwelling Christ who is one with us in our spirit. We should not be bothered by any trouble that comes to us. Simply go to eat the Lord. We can say, "Lord, You know that this trouble has come to me. Now is the time for me to eat You more." Often when we have a good situation, we do not eat. Our bad situations cause us to eat Jesus more. Learn to take Jesus in all your situations.

If we want to minister the word to the saints in the meetings, we need to eat Jesus. Are you going to speak? Before you speak, eat Jesus. What we need is to eat Him. God's intention is to work Christ into you, to add Christ into you, day by day for your growth in life. Our growth in life is inadequate. We all need more growth. Otherwise, the Lord's recovery will become a movement. We do not want to have a movement of work, activity, programs, and schedules without life. We hate that. We like to see all the dear saints in the Lord's recovery taking Christ, digesting Christ, experiencing Christ, and growing with Christ.

The church life is not a testimony of behavior, but a testimony of what we are, and what we are comes from what we eat. If we eat Jesus, we are Jesus, and we become the real testimony of Jesus. This testimony is the Lord's recovery. We all have to pray, to look to the Lord, that He would open our eyes that we may see what He really wants and what we really need. We need to eat Him.

We have seen that we have the bothering flesh, but this flesh helps us to turn to Christ in our spirit. The Lord Jesus today is the life-giving Spirit in our spirit. We are one spirit with Him and can never exhaust the supply of such a bountiful store of grace. Now we must spend our time and concentrate ourselves on eating Jesus. Then we will grow with Him, and our growth is building. First, the building will be revealed in our family. Second, this building will be revealed among the brothers and sisters. Eventually, this building will be fully revealed in the church life. We all are one in the growth of life, and this growth of life is simply Christ assimilated and added into our being. This is real. It is not a mere doctrine or an ethical teaching. Christ is the life-giving Spirit in our spirit for us to enjoy as our supply day by day.