Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:22-23; 3:16-17a, 19b; 4:16; Phil. 1:8

DAY 1 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 2 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 3 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 4 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 5 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 6 Outline　MorningRevival

«　WEEK 5　DAY 1　»

　　Eph. 3:16-17 That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, that Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love.

　　In order for Christ to make His home in our heart, we need to take Him not only as our life but also as our person. Because the church is not only the Body with Christ as life but also the new man with Christ as the person, Paul in Ephesians 3:17 emphasizes the importance of Christ's making His home in our heart. Paul prayed that the believers would take Christ as their person by allowing Him to make His home in their heart. When Christ is in our spirit, He is our life, but when Christ spreads into our heart, He becomes our person. We need to take Christ not only as life in our spirit but also as the person in our heart. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 3390)

　　The genuine church life is the issue of Christ personally making His home in our heart to occupy every corner of our inner being. The content of the church is the Christ whom we take as our person, the Christ who is wrought into our being. In order for Christ's word in Matthew 16:18 concerning the building up of the church to be fulfilled, the church must enter into a state where many saints allow Christ to make His home in their heart, possessing, occupying, and saturating their entire inner being. The more Christ occupies our inner being, the more we will be able to be built up with others in the Body (Eph. 2:21-22; 4:16). The reality of the Body life is such an inner experience of the indwelling Christ. The Body of Christ is the consummation of our enjoyment of the unsearchable riches of Christ and the consummation of the experience of the unlimited Christ making His home in our entire inward being. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate issue of Christ making His home in our heart. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 3391)

　　David wanted to build God a house of cedar, but God wanted to build Himself in Christ into David. What God would build into David would be both God's house and David's house. This mutual abode is also unveiled in John 14:23: "If anyone loves Me, ...My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him." This abode will be not only for the Triune God but also for us. What God builds up in us is both God's habitation and our habitation.

　　We need to realize that God will have a habitation not by our doing or working but by His building. Christ builds the church (Matt. 16:18) by coming into our spirit and spreading Himself from our spirit into our mind, emotion, and will to occupy our entire soul. This church will become His habitation and our habitation. This is what we need, and our burden is to emphasize this one thing. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel, p. 169)

　　The key factor of how the church will be built up is the inner experience of the indwelling Christ. The gifted persons do not minister gifts to the saints; they only minister the unsearchable riches of Christ, which they have experienced, that the saints might be perfected in Christ and grow up into Him. If we read Ephesians 3 and 4 carefully and pray-read them before the Lord, I believe He will give us the vision to see that this is the only way for the church to be built up.

　　I must repeat again that the church is not built up by knowledge and gifts. The more knowledge we have, the more divisions we will have; and the more gifts we have, the more trouble we will have. It is only by the inner experience of Christ as life that we can have the reality of the church life. The inner man must be strengthened so that Christ will make His home in our hearts and we will grow up into Him in all things. Then we will be filled unto all the fullness of God, by whom we will be built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit. (The Way to Build Up the Church, p. 20)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1983, vol. 1, "The Subjective Experience of the Indwelling Christ," ch. 4; The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 338

«　WEEK 5　DAY 2　»

　　Phil. 1:8 For God is my witness how I long after you all in the inward parts of Christ Jesus.

　　Eph. 4:16 Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.

　　Whenever a person moves into a new house, it takes him a while to become settled in that house. His getting settled is his making his home in the house. This is what Paul means by Christ making His home in our hearts. Christ wants to become settled in every part of our heart. Paul realized that the believers in Ephesus had Christ in them but that they did not have Christ making His home, getting Himself settled, in every part of their heart. This is why Paul prayed such a prayer. Our emotion, mind, will, and conscience must be touched by Christ and gained by Christ. The indwelling, occupying Christ needs to take over our emotion, our mind, our will, and our conscience until He gets Himself fully settled in all the inner rooms of our inner being. This is carried out in a coordinated way by the Divine Trinity. The three coordinate together in a beautiful way so that Christ, the embodiment of the Triune God, can become fully settled in our inner being. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, "Living in and with the Divine Trinity," pp. 321-322)

　　[The] overflow [of a cup filled up with water] is the fullness, and the fullness is the very expression of what is contained within the cup. When we experience Christ in such a deep way, this will issue in the fullness of the Triune God. This fullness is the church, the Body of Christ, as the very expression of the Triune God. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, "Living in and with the Divine Trinity," p. 322)

　　[In Philippians 1:8 inward parts means] "bowels"; signifying inward affection, then, tender mercy and sympathy. In longing after the saints, the apostle was one with Christ even in the bowels, the tender inward parts, of Christ. This indicates that for Paul to enjoy Christ meant that he was one with Christ's inward parts, in which he enjoyed Christ as the supply of grace. (Phil. 1:8, footnote 1)

　　As a man, Christ had the human inward parts with their various functions. Christ's experience in His inward parts is His experience in His mind, emotion, will, soul, heart, and spirit, including His love, desire, feeling, thought, decision, motive, and intention.

　　A number of verses reveal Christ's experience in His inward parts. According to Luke 2:49, when the Lord Jesus was twelve He said, "Did you not know that I must be in the things of My Father?" This can also be translated, "I must mind My Father's business."...His mind was occupied with the Father's business. Here we have the function of the Lord's mind, and we see how much He was inwardly for the Father. John 2:17 speaks of the Lord's zeal....Zeal is a matter of the emotion. The zeal within the Lord Jesus was on fire, was burning, for God's temple. Here we see the exercise of the Lord's emotion. In Matthew 26:39 the Lord Jesus prayed, "Yet not as I will, but as You will." This was His prayer in Gethsemane when He was about to be arrested and brought to the slaughter. He took the Father's will, for His own will was subdued to the Father's will. This was a matter of the function of the Lord's will.

　　Isaiah 53:12 prophesied concerning the Lord Jesus in His death on the cross: "He poured out His life unto death." The Lord Jesus lost His soul-life, voluntarily pouring out His soul unto death. This, of course, was a function of His soul. Isaiah 42:4 says, "He will not faint, nor will He be discouraged." This speaks about the condition of the Lord's heart. He was never disheartened; He was never discouraged in heart.

　　Mark 2:8 says, "Jesus, knowing fully in His spirit." The Lord Jesus used His spirit, and He knew things in His spirit. In whatever situation He was, He knew that situation by exercising His spirit. He used His spirit for God and for making Himself a burnt offering. (Life-study of Leviticus, pp. 68-69)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Leviticus, msgs. 7, 9

«　WEEK 5　DAY 3　»

　　Phil. 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

　　1 Cor. 16:24 My love in Christ Jesus be with you all.

　　Christ's inward parts denote all the inward parts of His being, including His mind, emotion, will, and heart with all their functions.

　　The leading part...of our inner being...is the mind....The mind which was in Christ should be in us today [cf. Phil. 2:5]. This means that we should take His mind as our mind. We should be those not with our own, natural mind but with the mind of Christ.

　　In 1 Corinthians 2:16b Paul says, "We have the mind of Christ." Because we are organically one with Christ, we have all the faculties He has. The mind is the intelligence faculty, the understanding organ. We have such an organ of Christ so we can know what He knows. Therefore, we may have not only the life but also the mind of Christ. Christ must saturate our mind from our spirit, making our mind one with His. (Life-study of Leviticus, p. 84)

　　In Romans 8:6 Paul speaks of setting the mind on the spirit. This word is not as strong as his word concerning the mind of Christ. We should not merely set our mind on the spirit but have the very mind of Christ.

　　"I long after you all in the inward parts of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 1:8). The Greek word translated inward parts literally means "bowels," signifying inward affection, then tender mercy and sympathy. Paul was one with Christ even in the bowels, the tender inward parts of Christ, in longing after the saints. This indicates that Paul did not keep his own inward parts but took Christ's inward parts as his. He took not only Christ's mind but also His entire inward being. Paul's inner being, therefore, was changed, rearranged, remodeled, reconstituted. His inner being was reconstituted with the inward parts of Christ. Paul did not live a life in his natural inner being; he lived a life in the inward parts of Christ.

　　"The truthfulness of Christ is in me" (2 Cor. 11:10). "Truthfulness" here means "honesty, faithfulness, trustworthiness." What was in Christ as truthfulness, that is, as honesty, faithfulness, trustworthiness, was also in the apostle Paul.

　　"My love in Christ Jesus be with you all" (1 Cor. 16:24). Paul's love for the Corinthians was not his love but the love in Christ, which is Christ's love. Paul loved the saints not by his natural love but by the love of Christ.

　　[By putting] these verses together, we...see that Paul was a man who continually experienced Christ's inward parts. Because he experienced Christ in this way, he surely was able to offer Christ according to his experience of Him. (Life-study of Leviticus, pp. 84-85)

　　Paul was one with Christ even in His bowels, the tender inward parts, in longing after the saints. Philippians 1:7 and 8 belong together and should not be separated. Notice that verse 8 begins with the conjunction for. This indicates that grace is related to the inward parts of Christ. Paul partook of grace, for he longed after all the saints in the inward parts of Christ. To enjoy Christ is to be one in Christ's inward parts. This refers not only to enjoyment, but also to living Christ. To live Christ is to abide in His inward parts and there to enjoy Him as grace.

　　Elsewhere in this chapter Paul speaks of magnifying Christ and living Christ. Experientially, to magnify Christ and to live Christ require that we remain in the inward parts of Christ. In simple words, this is to abide in Him. If we would be those in Christ, we must be in His inward parts. We need to be in His tender heart and delicate feelings. If we abide here, we shall enjoy Christ as grace and experience Him in a very practical way. As we experience Christ and enjoy Him as our grace, we shall be sustained in suffering for the gospel by caring for the accomplishment of God's economy on earth today. (Life-study of Philippians, pp. 29-30)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Philippians, msg. 3; CWWL, 1990, vol. 2, "The Oneness and the One Accord according to the Lord's Aspiration and the Body Life and Service according to His Pleasure," chs. 3-4

«　WEEK 5　DAY 4　»

　　1 Cor. 12:26-27 And whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or one member is glorified, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the Body of Christ, and members individually.

　　Since we are the members of the Body of Christ, we should have a feeling for the Body. First, we must take the feeling of the Head as our own feeling. In Philippians 1:8 Paul says, "I long after you all in the inward parts of Christ Jesus." This means that Paul took the inward parts of Christ Jesus as his own inward parts in caring for the church. This also means that he took care of the Body of Christ by taking Christ's feeling as his own feeling. Christ's feeling became his feeling for the Body. We all should be like Paul, taking the feeling of the Head as our own feeling. This is most necessary for our living the Body life. Furthermore, we should not only take the feeling of the Head as our feeling but also do so in the principle of caring for the Body. (CWWL, 1990, vol. 2, "The Oneness and the One Accord according to the Lord's Aspiration and the Body Life and Service according to His Pleasure," p. 94)

　　In order for us to have the Body life, we must care for our fellow members and must be full of feeling for the Body.

　　If we as members have the feeling of the Head in everything and care for the Body, we will take the Body as the rule in our mind, thoughts, words, and actions. We should deny ourselves and should identify ourselves with the Body. By doing this, there will be no separation or disconnection from the Body. The life that we live will fully be the Body life, and the Lord will gain the expression of His Body. (CWWL, 1990, vol. 2, "The Oneness and the One Accord according to the Lord's Aspiration and the Body Life and Service according to His Pleasure," p. 94)

　　We need to cultivate a consciousness of the Body by fellow-shipping more with the Lord. Our inner sense will spontaneously be developed as we fellowship more with the Lord. Furthermore, if we add obedience to this fellowship, our inner sense will become keener and richer. When a feeling comes, we should closely follow that feeling. If the inner sense desires us to stop, we should stop; if it desires us to go, we should go. In this way our inner sense will become keen and enriched. Our inner sense is developed through our fellowship with the Lord and our obedience to Him. Therefore, we should always exercise this sense. This means that we must always use this sense when we touch spiritual matters.

　　When we exercise the consciousness of the Body, a good situation will develop. A member who is in a difficult situation will not bear his burden alone, but his fellow members will bear the burden with him. We will no longer pray for someone simply because he asks us; rather, we will pray out of the burden in the Body. Sometimes one person's prayer is not enough; there is truly the need for the prayer of the Body, but this prayer is still spontaneous. For example, a person who is Body conscious can sense that a certain brother has a difficulty and a certain sister has a heavy burden. The sense of the brother's difficulty is communicated into him, and the sense of the sister's being pressed is also added to his spirit. He shares the same feeling with the brother and sister. This feeling presses him and forces him to go before the Lord to pray for the brother and sister. This intercession is an intercession that comes from the sense of the Body. There is such a thing in the Body that proves whether we are weak or strong inwardly and also proves the extent of our concern for the children of God, the members of Christ.

　　When a member of the Body suffers, all the members feel uncomfortable. It should also be like this when we serve together. When a person has a difficulty, everyone else should feel the same way; when a person rejoices, everyone also rejoices together. This is the normal condition. (The Church as the Body of Christ, pp. 198, 203-204)

　　Further Reading: The Church as the Body of Christ, ch. 17; The Experience of Life, ch. 15; CWWL, 1980, vol. 1, "Perfecting Training," ch. 23

«　WEEK 5　DAY 5　»

　　Rom. 12:4-5 For just as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, so we who are many are one Body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

　　The sense of the Body is very mysterious. If we allow this sense to be enlarged, it will become a universal sense. Strictly speaking, this sense is already universal, but when it comes into us, we limit it. Christ's life is universal, and God's Spirit is also universal. Once this life and Spirit enter into us, we should have a universal sense. This sense is great and far-reaching, but when it enters into us, we limit it. At our salvation this sense caused us to realize our own condition. However, because we have not been broken very much, this sense cannot come out of us. Gradually, according to the lessons we learn, the more we are broken, the more this sense will increase so that we can begin to care for others, for the church, and for the Lord's work. The more we experience the Lord's breaking, learning the deeper lessons and being delivered from ourselves, the more we will discover that this sense is universal. (The Church as the Body of Christ, p. 205)

　　In Colossians 2:17 Paul says that the body, the reality, of all the shadows is of Christ, but in verse 19 he speaks not of Christ but of holding the Head. The reason for the change in terminology from Christ to the Head is that our enjoyment of the Lord causes us to become conscious of the Body. If we enjoy Christ continually, we will not continue to be individualistic. The saints who are individualistic are those who do not consistently enjoy the Lord. The more we enjoy Christ, the more we become Body conscious. We should touch the Lord in the morning, but in the evening we should come to the church meetings. It is not normal to enjoy the Lord during the day and neglect the meetings of the church, which is His Body. Even if our environment does not allow us to attend all the meetings, inwardly we should have the sense that our whole inner being is with the saints in the church meeting. This consciousness of the Body comes from the enjoyment of Christ. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3592-3593)

　　The overflow of the life of Christ is the expression of the Body of Christ. The consciousness of the Body is the sense of Christ's life within us. If we use this sense often, it will cause us not only to sense our own condition before the Lord but cause us also to sense others' condition before the Lord and to be conscious of matters related to the Body. If we constantly exercise, cultivate, train, and use this sense, it will enable us to detect the problems in the Body.

　　In a newly saved believer this sense may enable him to sense only his condition and situation before God. If he pays attention to this sense, cultivating it by fellowshipping with God and obeying the inner sense, it will develop. He will be able to sense his spiritual condition and the spiritual condition of the brothers and sisters. This sense will gradually develop and increase to enable him to sense the condition of the meeting, the service in the church, and the Lord's work. This means that this sense has been enlarged, beginning with himself and then reaching to others, the church, and the church meetings. The sense that has been enlarged in us will enable us to properly touch all these matters. This sense is the sense of the Body.

　　If we use and exercise this sense often and if we love God and care for the church, this sense will become the sense of the Body. We will sense when our fellow members are in difficulty, when they are weak, happy, or victorious in the Lord, and we will share the same feelings with them. We sense their burden so that their burden becomes ours, we sense their experience so that their experience becomes ours, and we sense their difficulties so that their difficulties become ours. In this way we will be in one Body. (The Church as the Body of Christ, pp. 201-202)

　　Further Reading: The Church as the Body of Christ, ch. 19; CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 4, "One Body and One Spirit," ch. 1; Life-study of 1 Corinthians, msg. 58

«　WEEK 5　DAY 6　»

　　Philem. 7 For I had much joy and encouragement over your love, because the inward parts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.

　　12 Him I have sent back to you—him, that is, my very heart.

　　If we have the sense of the Body, whenever any member in the Body of Christ is blessed, regardless of whether it is our locality, we will be very happy because another church has been blessed. Regardless of whether it is our local church, as long as the saints have hardships or have been blessed, we will identify with them and feel the same hardship or blessing. If we can reach this stage, the sense within us toward the Body will be rich. It will no longer be local but extra-local. The supply to the Body of Christ from this kind of sense is indescribable. (The Church as the Body of Christ, p. 207)

　　If we can bring the universal riches to the Body of Christ, our usefulness to the Body is universal. Thus, we may serve in one place, but the effect is universal, not merely local. We are often shut up in ourselves. Even when we come out of ourselves, we remain in our locality and do not allow the Lord to enlarge us. The Body is universal, and the life within us is universal. The Spirit within us is universal, the sense within us is universal, and the supply is universal. It does not matter what locality is blessed.

　　Everyone who serves God, everyone who serves sinners, and everyone who administrates the church must exercise to have a keen sense. If we do not exercise, we will not be of much spiritual use. We must admit that often the help we render to people is in faith; we do not need to be so clear. In fact, our being clear concerning the condition of people actually hinders us from helping them. At the same time, we cannot be foolish. When people come to us, we should be able to discern their condition in three to five sentences. Even if they describe a certain condition, our spirit should be able to sense their real situation. This kind of exercise is necessary. Although we are outwardly listening when we contact a brother or sister, inwardly we should be exercised to sense their true situation. (The Church as the Body of Christ, pp. 207, 200-201)

　　If we have Body consciousness, we immediately will see that the Body is one. Once we see this, we will not be individualistic in our spiritual work. If we want to participate in the Lord's work, we need to deal with this one matter—individualistic works.... Whenever God's children see the oneness of the Body, they will also see the oneness of the work, and they will be delivered out of individualistic work into the work of the Body. This does not mean that we no longer work by ourselves. It means that we no longer consider any work to be our own. It does not matter whether a work is done by us or not, as long as someone is doing it, we are satisfied. If we see the Body, we will see that the result is all for the benefit of the Head and the Body, whether we or others are doing it. All the glory goes to the Lord, and all the blessings go to the church.

　　The Lord has assigned a portion to each one of us. We should not consider ourselves greater than what we are. We should be faithful to the portion that the Lord has assigned to us, and we should honor the portion that the Lord has assigned to others. Those who see the Body will see that all the members have their functions; they will see that they are only one of the many members. They will not place themselves in a conspicuous position and make comparisons with others or usurp their places.

　　Once a Christian sees the Body, it will be impossible for him to be proud or jealous anymore. Since the Body is one, it will be the same if the work is done by others or by ourselves; there will be no difference at all. Whether the work is done by you or by others, the glory ultimately goes to the Lord alone, and the blessings go to the church. (CWWN, vol. 37, pp. 244-245)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1990, vol. 2, "A Thorough View of the Body of Christ," ch. 3; CWWN, vol. 36, pp. 243-248; vol. 37, chs. 35-36