We truly need to live our spiritual life by following the sense of the Spirit of life within because the answers to all our problems are in this Spirit. When we turn to our spirit and stay on this line of life, not only will we not criticize, but rather we will pray for the elders and other brothers and sisters, and we will remember those members who are in need. In this way we will have the practicality of the church life, and the reality of the church will be among us. How can we be like this? It is by the line—the life-giving Spirit—who is pulling us from within. Some left the church and were lost, wandering outside, yet after a while, they came back. It was the line of life that drew them back.
Whenever I hear that a certain church has some problems, I thank and praise the Lord, saying, “Now the opportunity has come. I pray that You would cause the brothers there to be transformed through these problems.” Let them debate, murmur, and reason. I know they will reason to the extent that they become empty within, and then they will turn. When they have enough of their reasonings, they will repent. Thus, they will turn to their spirit. When they have no more opinions and reasonings and turn from their soul to their spirit, the reality of the church will be manifested. This is because at this time everyone’s soul is falling and everyone’s spirit is rising. When the brothers and sisters come to the meetings, they all live in their spirit, joyfully shouting hallelujah. As a result, they do not remember anything; rather, they have forgotten everything. They all live in the spirit, walk according to the spirit, serve in coordination in the spirit, and express Christ in the spirit. Thus, what Christ is becomes their all. This is the church. For this reason throughout the ages the church has never been defeated by any circumstance. This is because the church is joined to heaven and to God. We have Christ’s redemptive work on the cross and the saving effect of Christ’s resurrection and ascension upon us; we also have the line of life pulling us from within to prevent us from being scattered. Our only responsibility today is to call upon the name of the Lord all the time, pray-read the Word, and be filled with the Spirit of life in our spirit for our daily transformation and renewing.
First Corinthians 12:13 says, “For also in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit.” To be baptized is to be immersed in water; to drink is to let the water come into us. We have all been baptized in the Spirit, but now we also need to drink the one Spirit. When we drink this one Spirit, we will be transformed. The meetings of the church, calling on the name of the Lord, pray-reading the Word, and the mutual fellowship among the saints for receiving the life-supply—all these help us to be transformed. If we call on the name of the Lord every day, pray-read the Word, and drink of the one Spirit, we will be filled with the Holy Spirit within. Thus, we will experience the unlimited supply of the power of the Spirit, and we will be strong and living in spirit. Then Christ will possess our entire being, make His home in our heart, and transform our whole being. Thus, we all will be members of one another in spirit and become one Body in oneness. This Body is Christ.
Christ is the Head of the new man, and Christ is also the Body of the new man. The entire new man is Christ (Col. 3:10-11). Therefore, Christ is everything in the new man. Christ came into us first as the Head and then as life. Eventually, a transformed and renewed new man is produced. Originally, we were not new but old. However, through the continuous transforming of the Spirit we are being transformed into the same image as the Lord to be His glorious Body. We are still in the process of being transformed today. When the Lord comes back, we will all be transformed into the Lord’s glorious image, and we will be exactly the same as He is. What we are today is only a miniature, but in that day we will be the full manifestation of the Body of Christ.
Our Christ is both God and man; He is the Redeemer and the Savior; He is life and resurrection; He is the life-giving Spirit; He is the Head of the church and the life to the church; and He is everything to the church as the new man. In the new man there is only Christ; He is all the members and in all the members. In the new man, there are no differences among nationalities, such as Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, and Koreans; nor are there distinctions among people of different continents, such as those of the Americas, of Asia, of Europe, of Australia, and of Africa. There is only Christ who is all the members and in all the members. He is the life in each member, and He is also each member. He is all and of all, and He is all and in all. This is the wonderful being of Christ. May we see this vision. This is what God wants, and this is the goal that He will attain to—one Body, one universal new man.