Question: How can we apply Christ as you have described?
Answer: Applying Christ is very simple. We can compare it to turning the lights on by turning a switch on. Before the lights in a building can be switched on, electricity must be installed in the building. Then whenever we need light, we can simply turn the switch on. We have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit with Christ, which means that Christ has been installed in us. Now He is within us, and the only thing we need to do is to switch on.
Question: What if we “blow a fuse”?
Answer: Sometimes we lose our temper, and as a result, we “blow a fuse.” When this happens, we must confess our sin and get connected again. We must confess our weakness and be cleansed by the blood of the Lord Jesus. According to 1 John 1:1-9, when we receive the divine life, the eternal life, we also have the fellowship of the divine life. This fellowship may be likened to the current of electricity. There is a current of the divine life, and this current is the fellowship. Christ Himself is the electricity, and the fellowship is the current. When we confess our sins, the blood of Jesus the Son of God cleanses us from all defilement and recovers the lost fellowship (vv. 7, 9). Then, once again we are in the current of the divine life.
Question: Should we hope for a mighty work of the Spirit in these days before the Lord returns?
Answer: This is a traditional Jewish concept. Judaism has always told people that one day the late rain will come (Hosea 6:3), in other words, that there will be a great revival. However, although for many centuries people have been talking about the late rain, the anticipated revival has still not come. Nevertheless, from the past centuries up to the present the Lord has done many things not in the way of a revival but in the way of life.
Consider, for example, a farm with its crops. Although there is no revival, all the plants that bear fruits and vegetables are quietly producing day by day. This is the power of life, and this is what we need. I have witnessed many meetings in which people shouted, cried, and even claimed to have a holy laughter. However, it was difficult to find any evidence of genuine power among them. Genuine power is certainly not in shouting, rolling, laughing, or jumping; rather, it is in Christ. When we experience Christ, even silently, we are full of power, because the real power is Christ Himself. The apostle Paul told the Corinthians, “For indeed Jews require signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified.” To those who are called by God, this crucified Christ is “the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:22-24). Signs are miracles, manifestations of power, which the Jews sought after. But the apostles did not preach miracles and signs, nor did they preach wisdom and knowledge. Rather, they preached Christ crucified. The crucified Christ is both the power of God and the wisdom of God. Thank the Lord that in century after century there has been the current of life, that is, the current of Christ, and many people have been brought to God through the saving power of Christ as life. The experience of Christ in our daily life is something divinely powerful. Christ as life is real power, but He must be daily experienced by us as our portion and enjoyment (Col. 1:12).
Question: How are the inner sense and the working of Christ related?
Answer: If we would enjoy and experience Christ, first we must be very simple. Teachings and doctrines complicate our experience of Christ. Then we must realize that Christ the Lord is within us (Rom. 8:10; 2 Cor. 13:5), and He lives, acts, moves, and works in us unceasingly. Thus, there is always a certain kind of sense, feeling, or consciousness within us, and we must simply go along with that sense. We should not decide to please God. We can never please Him, because we are good for nothing except to be buried. Since we are in the tomb, why should we come out of the tomb and try to please God? Neither should we attempt to work for God. In the Gospel of John the Lord Jesus said, “Abide in Me and I in you...I am the vine; you are the branches...Apart from Me you can do nothing” (15:4-5). There is no need for us to do anything good. We should simply abide in Christ according to the inner, living sense of the divine life within us. We should go along with that sense and should abide in Christ according to that sense. Then Christ will energize and strengthen us to do many things, and it will not be we who do those things; it will be Christ who does them in us (Phil. 4:13). In this matter we must beware of the enemy Satan’s strategy. At a certain time we may not love the Lord and may frequently lose our temper. When we return to the Lord and begin to love Him again, immediately the enemy will come in and tempt us to make the decision never to lose our temper again. Eventually, however, we will discover that the more we endeavor to control our temper, the more we will lose it. Therefore, we must change our concept from trying to please God to gaining Christ (3:8). Christ is real, and He is living within us. Therefore, we need to be simple and apply Him.
Question: I know that for you this concept has become a reality, but to me it is still only a theory. Is this something that develops with the Lord over several years?
Answer: To analyze our experience in this way is to be too much in the realm of mental consideration. We need to learn to give up our mentality and simply be in the spirit. For example, I can know a great deal about electricity, but if I do not turn the switch on, I will still not have electricity. Similarly, there is a great difference between a menu and the meal itself. Even to have a meal set before us is not the same as actually eating it. Christ is within us; He is real and living. The Lord Jesus said, “He who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me” (John 6:57). To eat Christ day by day is to apply Christ to our daily living. Christianity and even Christian teachings are not the same thing as Christ. Christ Himself is what counts. We are not concerned with a religion of dead letters or even with Christian teaching, but rather with Christ Himself as the living reality. The most urgent need among the Lord’s people today is not more teachings; it is the real application and the living realization of Christ.
Question: Should we learn part of the Word and then act on it so that it becomes part of us?
Answer: We must convert our knowledge of Christ into prayer. In this way we transfer our knowledge from the mind to the spirit, and then the knowledge of the Word becomes living food to us. Among Christians today there is too much knowledge, too much exercising to read, study, hear, and listen; in other words, there is too much exercise of the mind and very little exercise of the spirit.
Question: When we see something of Christ in another believer, can that pattern communicate Christ to us?
Answer: Whether or not we receive Christ through the pattern of another believer depends on our prayer. To pray is to contact the Lord. If we are truly influenced by the patience of Christ expressed in a certain brother, we must go to the Lord and say, “Lord, I praise You that here is such a brother who is full of Yourself. Lord, I would like to be filled with You, as he is.” When we pray in this way, we will touch the current of the spiritual life within us. This is the real fellowship and prayer. As we are living and working in the Lord, we can talk to the Lord. Whether or not we receive an answer to our prayer is secondary; contacting the Lord is the primary matter. Real prayer is not to ask the Lord Jesus to do something for us; real prayer is to contact the Lord and absorb Him. Then we will live a life that is spiritual, sanctified, and victorious.