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Have you ever felt like God seemed far away and out of reach, even after you were saved?
Over the course of our Christian life, we sometimes experience the Lord’s presence with us in a clear and definite way. Maybe we’re in a difficult situation and when we pray to the Lord, He feels so near. But after the crisis passes, it seems like that experience of His presence was a mysterious, even accidental occurrence—like we were stumbling around in a dark room, inadvertently hit a light switch, and the lights came on.
As believers in Jesus, we long to know Him and be close to Him. Here’s the good news: the Lord wants that too. He wants us to experience Him intentionally, not accidentally. He wants us to enjoy His presence every day, not just occasionally or only when we have a pressing need. But how can we regularly and consistently experience Him if we feel like He’s so far away?
In this post, we’ll get some help by reading a few excerpts from the book The Economy of God by Witness Lee, which you can download for free here.
Actually, for believers, the Lord Jesus is not distant at all. He’s closer to us than anyone else ever could be.
When we believed in Jesus, some wonderful things happened: we were redeemed through His death on the cross, our sins were forgiven, and we were saved from eternal judgment.
But this isn’t all. Redemption solved the problem of our sins before God, but God’s full salvation includes more than this. According to His eternal purpose, God wants to live in us so we can have His life and know and experience Him subjectively.
So after dying for us, 1 Corinthians 15:45 tells us that in resurrection, “the last Adam [Christ] became a life-giving Spirit.” And when we believed in Christ, He as the Spirit entered into us.
In The Economy of God, Witness Lee devotes chapter 3, titled “The Residence of the Divine Spirit,” to the wonderful fact that the Spirit is now living in us.
Let’s read this excerpt on page 27. Here, Lee begins by pointing out three verses in the Bible that show us the Holy Spirit and the human spirit together:
“In John 3:6 we read, ‘That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.’ This verse speaks of two distinct spirits—one is capitalized, and the other is not. The first occurrence of the word refers to the Holy Spirit of God, and the second, to the human spirit of man. That which is born of the Holy Spirit is the human spirit. Another verse showing these two spirits is John 4:24: ‘God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit.’ Again, the first Spirit is capitalized, and the second is not. We must worship God, who is the Spirit, in our human spirit. Romans 8:16 further confirms the existence of two spirits: ‘The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.’ The pronoun our definitely designates the human spirit and removes any ground to doubt the reality of both the divine Spirit and the human spirit.”
Notice that all three of these verses mention the divine Spirit and the human spirit. All of us need to know, understand, and appreciate these three crucial verses: John 3:6, John 4:24, and Romans 8:16. They’re worth remembering, and even memorizing.
In the following paragraph on page 27, Lee explains why we must know the human spirit in addition to the Holy Spirit:
“Why do we point this out? It is because Christians have very little knowledge about man’s spirit. Much attention is given to the Holy Spirit, but the human spirit, the residence and dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, is almost entirely neglected.”
We might know something about the divine Spirit of God, but we may not have known that we have a human spirit and that the divine Spirit resides in our spirit. Without knowing this, we can’t intentionally experience Christ because we wouldn’t know where to locate Him.
Lee continues:
“Suppose someone wants to visit me. He must first find where I live. If he cannot locate my home, he will have to forfeit his visit.”
This illustration drives the point home.
If we don’t know the Lord’s “address” other than a vague “He lives in me,” no matter how much we want to be close to the Lord Jesus and enjoy His companionship, He will continue to seem far away.
But once we know that Christ lives in our human spirit, we know where to find Him! This is the secret to experiencing Him every day. We can turn to Him in our spirit to contact Him any time and enjoy fellowship with Him. We can consistently experience Him personally and subjectively. We no longer need to hope that somehow, we’ll experience Him; we know where He is and can “visit” Him anytime!
Thank the Lord that His Word is specific and clear about this. The three important verses pointed out in the first excerpt we read show the wonderful relationship of the Holy Spirit and our human spirit.
We also have 2 Timothy 4:22:
“The Lord be with your spirit.”
This verse underlines the fact that our spirit is where we need to go to meet Him and experience Him! That’s why striving to think about the Lord more or depending on our feelings doesn’t help us experience Him. We need to go to Him in our spirit.
By turning to our spirit, our deepest part, we can contact the Lord Jesus and enjoy Him. And this is something we can do anywhere, anytime, under any circumstance, in good times and bad times. We can experience Him in all the situations of our life.
A few simple ways we can practice turning to our spirit include calling on the name of the Lord, praying to fellowship with Him, and praying with the Word of God. By turning to our spirit, we’ll realize that the Lord is so near and available to us all the time.
Seeing that the Lord Jesus lives in our spirit will revolutionize our Christian life. We’ll know exactly where to go to find Him at any moment. As we learn to live according to our spirit, contacting the Lord and talking to Him throughout the day, we’ll enjoy His dear presence more and more. Our human spirit is truly the secret to experiencing Him.
We encourage you to download a free copy of The Economy of God here to read chapter 3 in its entirety, along with all its included scriptural references. And if you live in the US, you can order a free New Testament Recovery Version here and read the insightful notes that accompany the verses mentioned in this post.
God truly loves us. The Bible tells us that He took some tremendous steps in order to save us. As God’s children, we experience His help when we have difficulties and can come to Him with all our cares.
But knowing this, it’s possible for all our prayers to revolve around ourselves. We ask God for things we need, and even when it comes to God’s will, our prayer is usually, “God, what is Your will for me?” Somehow, we always end up at the center.
If we stop to consider that God is the One who created the heavens and earth and all mankind, we have to wonder why He did it. Could God have a goal in mind beyond simply caring for the details of our personal welfare?
The idea that God might want something for Himself may never have crossed our minds. After all, God is Almighty; He doesn’t lack anything.
Have you ever thought to ask God, “Is there something You want for Yourself?” In this post, we’ll read some key verses from Ephesians together with notes in the New Testament Recovery Version to help us find the answer to this question.
First, let’s just consider ourselves. We human beings seek joy, and we make plans and take steps to get what we desire. No one had to teach us to feel or think that way. You could say our desire for joy and satisfaction is a reflection of God’s desire for joy and satisfaction. This shouldn’t surprise us, since Genesis 1:26 tells us God made us in His own image. So this should be a clear indicator to us that God also has a desire, something that will bring Him joy.
But most importantly, the Bible tells us directly that God does indeed want something for Himself, that He has a desire in His heart that must be fulfilled.
Ephesians 1:9 says:
“Making known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself.”
In this verse, we read the words will, good pleasure, and purposed. These words show us that God has something in His heart that He wants. The word pleasure refers to a feeling of happy satisfaction and enjoyment. God has a good pleasure, something that will make Him happy and satisfy His heart. He purposed this good pleasure in Himself, and His will is according to that good pleasure.
Now let’s read Ephesians 1:5, another verse where good pleasure appears:
“Predestinating us unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.”
This verse reveals that God’s good pleasure has something to do with our sonship. But what does this mean?
Let’s read the first part of note 2 from the New Testament Recovery Version:
“God’s marking us out beforehand was to destine us unto sonship. We were predestinated to be sons of God even before we were created. Hence, as God’s creatures we need to be regenerated by Him that we may participate in His life to be His sons. Sonship implies having not only the life but also the position of a son.”
God marked us out and predestinated us unto sonship. This means our destiny is sonship. And our sonship isn’t just for our benefit; it’s so God can obtain His good pleasure and heart’s desire!
We received the life of God when we were born again, making us His sons. Now by sharing His divine life, we can participate in and grow in His life. The more we grow in His life—eventually becoming full-grown sons—the more God gains His expression in us. This is why He redeemed us, regenerated us, and is working in us day by day.
And there’s more: God doesn’t want just individual sons. God wants all His sons together to be a living entity, full of His life, that can express Him to the entire universe. What is this living entity?
This living entity that God wants is the church.
The apostle Paul ends Ephesians chapter 1 with writing about the church in verses 22 and 23.
Verse 22 says:
“And He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church.”
Note 4 on church explains:
“Here this book uses the term church for the first time, pointing out the main subject of this book. The Greek word for church is ekklesia, meaning the called-out congregation. This indicates that the church is a gathering of those who have been called out of the world by God. As such, the church is composed of all the believers in Christ.”
In a book that speaks of God’s good pleasure and purpose, the main subject is the church. This shows us that the church is the desire of God’s heart.
What is the church? According to the Bible, the church isn’t a physical building or a religious organization; the church is the called-out congregation. This congregation is composed of all the believers in Christ who are regenerated sons of God. Together, these sons of God are the church that can satisfy God’s heart’s desire.
So the church revealed in the Bible is a living entity composed of all the believers who have God’s life! The church is God’s good pleasure.
Paul continued in Ephesians 1:23:
“[the church,] which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.”
This verse shows us that the church isn’t just the called-out congregation; the church is the Body of Christ, who is the Head.
Now let’s read note 1 on Body in verse 23:
“The Body of Christ is not an organization but an organism constituted of all the regenerated believers for the expression and activities of the Head. The Body of Christ is the issue of the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ, who has come into the church. By means of the ascended Christ’s heavenly transmission, we are made one with Him, and thus His Body is produced.”
Just as our physical body is an organism, a living entity, and not a lifeless organization, the church is the Body of Christ. Christ is the living Head, and all He is and has is transmitted to the church, which is His living Body.
[[Free Study Bible]]
Verse 23 further reveals that the church, the Body, is the fullness of the One who fills all in all. What does that mean?
Note 2 on fullness explains:
“The Body of Christ is His fullness. The fullness of Christ issues from the enjoyment of the riches of Christ (3:8). Through the enjoyment of Christ’s riches, we become His fullness to express Him.”
The more we enjoy Christ and His riches, the more we as His Body become His fullness.
Then the first paragraph of note 3 on the word fills explains:
“Christ, who is the infinite God without any limitation, is so great that He fills all things in all things. Such a great Christ needs the church to be His fullness for His complete expression.”
No wonder God longs to have the church. It’s through the church that He can be fully expressed! And His plan for gaining the church includes each one of us. God created us, saved us, and regenerated us for this. Today He’s mingling Himself more with us and working Himself into us for this.
We’ve seen that the book of Ephesians reveals God has a heart’s desire that He purposed in Himself. Our sonship is part of this desire, and ultimately, God wants a full expression of Himself through the church, the Body of Christ.
In future posts we’ll delve further into the matter of the church. The church as revealed in the Bible, and especially in the book of Ephesians, is what God wants. For now, let’s prayerfully consider before the Lord the verses cited in this post to see that God’s desire is the church. We can pray something like this:
“Lord, open my eyes and give me revelation to see the church is Your heart’s desire. Show me what the church is according to Your Word.”
Ephesians chapter 1 is incredibly profound; it reveals that the desire of God’s heart is the church, the Body of Christ. We could only touch on this matter briefly in this post. If you live in the US, we encourage you to order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here so you can read all the verses with their notes in this marvelous chapter. In addition, The Glorious Church is a wonderful book that provides an overview of God’s plan as it relates to the church. You can download it for free here from anywhere in the world.
Have you ever felt discouraged after you experienced a failure in your Christian life? Maybe you wondered why God let you fail, especially since He could have prevented you from making that mistake. After all, doesn’t God want us to have a good testimony as Christians?
In this post, we’ll explore why God sometimes lets us fail, and how our failures can actually help us grow in our Christian life.
First, it’s helpful to understand what happened when we were saved and how that affects the rest of our Christian life. We know we were forgiven of our sins and saved from eternal judgment; the Lord’s marvelous salvation took care of our past and assured our future.
But what’s more, we were born again, and Christ came to live in us. This Christ who lives in us is now our life. Colossians 3:4 says:
“When Christ our life is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory.”
In the New Testament Recovery Version, note 1 on Christ in this verse explains:
“That Christ is our life is a strong indication that we are to take Him as life and live by Him, that we are to live Him in our daily life in order to experience the universally extensive Christ revealed in this book [Colossians], so that all He is and has attained and obtained will not remain objective but will become our subjective experience.”
This note helps us realize the Lord isn’t focused on whether we’re perfect and make no mistakes. He’s focused on whether we take Him as our life and live by Him. He wants us not just to know that He lives in us but to subjectively experience Him as our life.
Now that Christ is our life, He wants us to take Him as our life and live by Him in all the circumstances of our daily life. When we live this way, we experience and enjoy Him. Then spontaneously, we express Him to everyone around us. This is the Christian life.
If we don’t realize this, we’ll spend our time trying—and failing—to live what we think is a God-pleasing life by our own effort. Even if we were to somehow succeed, this isn’t what the Lord wants. He’s our life, so He wants us to live by Him.
[[Free Study Bible]]
This is where failures come in. It’s not that the Lord wants us to fail. But He knows our failures can help us realize what our real need is.
For this reason, the Lord faithfully provides the perfect environment to uncover our inadequacies. We may think we’re spiritually strong, but He arranges the necessary circumstances to show us how weak we really are, and how much we need Him.
For instance, we might think we’re loving, kind, and patient. But then the Lord brings someone into our life that taxes our love, making it evident it’s not that deep or lasting. Given the right circumstances, we’re not even that kind. And on top of it, this person strains our patience. Before we know it, we blow up in anger.
This failure shows us we’re not the “good Christian” we thought we were. But this isn’t a negative thing! It helps us realize again that Jesus Christ is the only One who can live a proper Christian life. It reminds us that He came into us to be our life, and that we need to live by Him.
Through our failures, the Lord is able to shine on us to expose our real inner situation before Him. His light reduces the high estimation we have of ourselves. He shines so we can recognize how short we are of living by Christ in our experience. This causes us to turn to Him, to call on Him, and to even cry out to Him in prayer. It’s when we fall that we begin to grasp our need to take Christ as our life and truly experience Him with every person and matter in our lives.
Under the Lord’s light we’re humbled, our self-assurance is broken, and we become fearful of relying on ourselves. Consequently, we’re much more open to Him than when we thought we were doing fine. The Lord needs this kind of openness in order to grow in us.
Furthermore, when our shortcomings are laid bare by the Lord’s light, we aren’t quite so trusting in our own ability or goodness. We see that our goodness means nothing, and we’re more willing to let Christ live in us and through us. All of the Lord’s shining on us when we fail makes us more willing to turn to Him and behold Him, and to be refreshed in our love for Him.
None of this means we should deliberately fail or think it’s okay to be careless with sin. To maintain our relationship with the Lord, we need to care for the condition of our heart and heed the voice of our conscience. And when the Lord makes us aware of sins we’ve committed, we need to confess those sins to Him to receive His forgiveness and cleansing. These are all healthy and necessary spiritual practices we need to take care of to have a normal Christian life.
But we will fail, and when we do, we can view these failures as helpful and necessary instead of being discouraged. Through our failures, Christ has the opportunity to shine on us and cause us to turn and open to Him. We’re reminded that Christ is our life, and we must live by Him.
If we have this understanding, we won’t be overcome by discouragement and disappointment when we fail. Instead, we’ll turn more quickly to Christ and even thank Him for His wisdom in dealing with us. We’ll open to Him in a deeper way so that we can learn to truly take Him as our life.
In this post, we only quoted note 1 of Colossians 3:4; note 2 sheds more light on Christ being our life and points out how Colossians reveals the riches of Christ for our experience and enjoyment. If you live in the US, we encourage you to order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here to read these and other notes that will help you enter into a deeper experience of Christ.
