PARENTHOOD
a divine stewardship
Volume 2 Issue 9
September 1997
THE NEED FOR THE PROPER CAPACITY
These verses in 1 Corinthians 6 are the only verses in the New Testament which tell us that our bodies are members of Christ, that we are one spirit with the Lord, and that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. When we read these verses, however, we may take them for granted and may not spend adequate time to study them and the important matters revealed in them. How much time have you spent on verse 15, which says that our bodies are members of Christ? Very few believers have paid the proper attention to this verse. Yes, messages have been given on verse 19, messages on the believers' body as a temple of the Holy Spirit. But before you came into the Lord's recovery, did you ever hear a message on being one spirit with the Lord? Did you ever hear a message on being joined to the Lord as one spirit? These three matters deserve thorough study. I do not mean merely the study of the black and white letters of the Word, but a study in the light of experience.
| To glorify God in our body means to let God who dwells in us (1 John 4:13) occupy and saturate our body and express Himself through our body as His temple, especially in the two matters of eating and marriage |
Rarely do Christians today practice being one spirit with the Lord. Do you know of a book, or even a message entitled "One Spirit with the Lord"? Due to the influence of traditional theology and practice, most Christians are not able to digest a verse like 6:17. There seems to be no room in them for the vital matter of being one spirit with the Lord.…Furthermore, should you speak to them of the vision of God's economy, they would not be able to understand what you are saying. Do you think it is possible for such persons to know the Word of God? No, they cannot know the Word, for there is no room in them for the crucial matters of God's revelation.
The situation of many Christians today is similar to that of the disciples of the Lord Jesus who did not have the capacity to take in the Lord's word regarding the bread of life. The Lord said that He was the bread of life, that He came down from heaven to give life, that His flesh was edible and His blood drinkable, and that whoever ate Him would live by Him (John 6:33, 35, 55, 57). Those who could not receive the Lord's word said, "This is a hard word; who can hear it?" (John 6:60).
We also may be very limited in our capacity to receive God's revelation. Due to the drugging influence of religion and tradition, we may not be able to take in Paul's word about being one spirit with the Lord, or his word about our bodies being the members of Christ….
A GREAT MYSTERY
We the believers are joined to the Lord as one spirit. This is a great mystery, perhaps the most mysterious matter revealed in the Bible. Who can explain such a mystery? Can you explain how it is possible for us to be one spirit with the Lord? Although we cannot explain it, we can surely experience it. Often I pray in the morning, "Lord, thank You for another day in which to practice being one spirit with You." What a wonder that sinners such as we can be one spirit with the Lord! The more we consider this matter, the more we realize how wonderful it is.
In 6:17 Paul plainly declares the fact that we are one spirit with the Lord. But few of us have paid adequate attention to this. We need much time to study this verse and explore it in an experiential way. We need to experiment and learn how to be one spirit with the Lord in our speaking and in all that we do. As we do various things, we need to consider whether or not we are one spirit with the Lord.
Because I have seen the vision of being one spirit with the Lord according to 6:17, I have come to realize that what Brother Lawrence practiced was altogether an Old Testament matter. He exercised to be in the presence of God, but he did not practice being one spirit with the Lord. There is a great difference between being in the presence of God and being one spirit with the Lord.
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