On the day of Pentecost the church was fully built up. Inwardly the believers were filled with the Spirit of life and outwardly they were immersed into the Spirit. They were absolutely in the Spirit. As a result, they became a prevailing church. This was not a matter of organization or formality. It was a matter of a group of believers being filled with the Spirit within and immersed into the Spirit without. They were in the Spirit, the Spirit was in them, and thus they were one with the Triune God. Immediately, they became a prevailing church. That church was the kingdom of heaven; it had the authority of God and was able to overcome the power of Satan. This was the church on the day of Pentecost, and this is the church the Lord is building up in His recovery today. In order for this to take place, we all must be filled with the Spirit of life and immersed into the Spirit of power.
First Corinthians 12:13 says, “For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit” (Gk.). How does the church come into being? It is not by human organization, but by immersing the believers into the Triune God. By being filled with the Spirit of life and by being immersed into the Spirit of power, we become one with the Triune God, and the Triune God becomes one with us. Eventually, we are one in the Triune God. This is the way we become the one Body, the church.
May the Lord grant us all a clear vision that the church is neither an organization, nor merely a group of people; it is the disciples who are filled with the Spirit of life and immersed into the Spirit of power. When we are permeated and filled with the Spirit both within and without, we are the church. Those in the church are extraordinary. They are filled with the Spirit, immersed into the Spirit, permeated with the Spirit, and one with the Spirit. These are the people of the church, the people of the kingdom, those who have the power and authority of God to overcome the power of Satan.
Ephesians 3:8 reveals that the Apostle Paul preached the unsearchable riches of Christ. All the believers have received these unsearchable riches. In these messages we have seen and received the riches of Christ. However, we still need to pray that these riches would be applied to us and become our enjoyment. For this we need to pray, as Paul did, for the strengthening of our inner man (Eph. 3:16). Here Paul seemed to be saying, “O Father, strengthen the believers in their inner man. Do not strengthen them in their mentality or in their physical bodies, but in their inner man.” The inner man is our spirit. Although we all need to be strengthened in our spirit, in our inner man, the natural strength of our mind needs to be reduced. Many Christians are strong in their mentality. They have a large head, but a very small spirit. Their mind is filled with thoughts and imaginations. While they are sitting in a meeting listening to a message, their thoughts may travel around the world. Furthermore, they find it very easy to talk. However, if you ask them to pray, they will immediately be quiet. Prayer requires the exercise of the spirit, but talking comes out of the exercise of the mind. Those with a large mentality find it easy to talk, but difficult to pray. This proves that their inner man, their spirit, is weak. Thus, they need to be strengthened in the inner man and reduced in their mentality. If this takes place, their head will become smaller, and their spirit will become larger. As a result, they will like to pray more and talk less. They will begin to say, “Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Jesus is Lord!” They will enjoy saying this because their spirit will have been strengthened and expanded. We all need to pray, “Lord Jesus, strengthen my spirit and restrict my mind.”
We also need to pray, “O Lord, strengthen my spirit so that Christ may make His home in my heart.” When we were saved, the Lord Jesus came into our spirit. How much of Christ do you have in your spirit? If you sense that you have little of Him in your spirit, you should pray that He would strengthen your inner man. If you learn to call on the Lord, your spirit will be filled with Christ as the life-giving Spirit. This is the way to be strengthened in the inner man. The more you say, “O Lord Jesus,” the more Christ will come into you, spread into your heart, and take it over. As Christ spreads in you, He makes your heart His home (Eph. 3:17). Although all Christians have Christ in their spirit, few have Christ in their mind, emotion, and will, which are the different rooms of our heart. Christ desires to fill all these rooms and to make our heart His home.
According to Ephesians 3:19, eventually, we shall “be filled with all the fulness of God.” This means that we shall not simply have Christ in our spirit, but that He will make His home in our heart and take over our entire being. As a result, we shall inwardly be filled with all the fullness of God. When we are filled with all the fullness of God, we become the practical and prevailing church. This church is the kingdom of heaven with the authority of God to overcome the power of Satan. By this we see that the building of the church does not come by outward organization, but by the inner life, that is, by having Christ fill us, saturate us, and permeate us until we are filled with the fullness of God. This is Christ’s way to build His church.