When Christ came into us, He brought His wonderful nature into our being. The function of this nature is the working of the law of life. Christ is also in us as the ointment which constantly anoints us. This anointing gives us a comfortable, soothing sense. Whenever the Lord Jesus teaches us from within, His teaching is that of His anointing which gives us this comfortable, soothing sense. As Christians, we all have the automatic, spontaneous, constant, and instant working of the law of life, the law which works according to Christ’s wonderful nature, and we have the anointing which moves in us according to Christ’s Person.
Let us use the illustration of shopping once again. Going shopping is like going to hell. After not going shopping for more than two years, I recently had to shop for a lamp. In the store I saw some very fancy lamps, but my wonderful nature did not like them. Those lamps were bitter to my taste. Some of the other lamps were like garlic to my inner taste, and my inner sense could not tolerate them. When the sisters are in a department store, many times their inner taste forbids them to purchase a particular item. This taste comes from the wonderful nature within them. Fifty years ago, I might have been able to purchase a fancy lamp. But if I did this today, I would be unable to sleep at night because of the function of the nature of life. We all have this nature with its automatic function. If you try to suppress this function, it will spring up all the more, for the more it is suppressed, the higher it rises. We all have experienced this working of the law of life.
As we have seen, we not only have this nature within us, but also a Person. Whether I should go shopping today does not depend upon the working of the nature; it depends upon the teaching of the anointing. A living Person is constantly living and moving within us. This living and moving is His teaching. If we are about to go shopping, we should open ourselves to the Lord, saying, “Lord, I’m one with You, and I know that You are one with me. Lord, do You want to go shopping this morning?” When we do this, we shall sense the anointing within. This is the moving of the living One within us. As this lovable One works in us, we sense the comforting and the soothing. How pleasant this is! Whether or not we go shopping is secondary. The primary thing is that as we look to Him and fellowship with Him, we enjoy His anointing. Whenever we are under His anointing, we know what to do. If we take a step which He does not want to take, the anointing will stop, and the soothing, comforting sense will diminish. By this we know that we should not do that particular thing. At such a time we should say, “Lord, I’m one with You. If You don’t want to go, I won’t go either.” If we do this, the anointing and its comforting sense will return.
The living and moving of the anointing is Christ’s inward teaching. We have a living Person in us teaching us all the time. Sometimes in our fellowship with the saints we may sense that the inner anointing has stopped. When we have this sense, we should stop talking. You might have spoken half a sentence, but, sensing that the anointing has ceased, you should not speak the remainder of that sentence. Simply be one with the inner anointing. Many times, however, we disregard the anointing and do whatever we want. When I was young, I told the Lord a number of times, “Lord, please forgive me and let me do this just one more time.” Later I said to Him, “Lord, let me do it just once more.” Many of the young people have done the same thing. Some sisters might have said, “Lord, I know that You don’t want me to go shopping, but let me go this one time.” Whenever you do this, you kill yourself, and it may be several days before you are living again.
What we are talking about here is neither a matter of teaching nor of miracles. It is the normal living of this wonderful One. I live absolutely according to the law of life, and I move, act, and behave according to the anointing. I do not need anyone to teach me. The wonderful nature of the life of Christ and the very anointing of the Person of Christ are more than adequate for us to live a normal Christian life. Here we have fellowship and here we grow in life. Here we have the spreading of the indwelling Christ into every part of our being and we undergo the process of God’s transformation. Here we also have the church life and the real building up. And here we prepare ourselves for the Lord’s coming back.