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We abide in Christ so that He may abide in us by caring for the inward teaching of the all-inclusive anointing—1 John 2:27:
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We abide in the divine fellowship with Christ by experiencing the cleansing of the Lord's blood and the application of the anointing Spirit to our inner being—John 15:4-5; 1 John 1:5, 7; 2:20, 27.
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Christ as the Head is the anointed One and the anointing One, and we are His members enjoying Him as the inner anointing for the fulfillment of His purpose—Heb. 1:9; 3:14; 2 Cor. 1:21-22.
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The anointing, as the moving and working of the compound Spirit within us, anoints God into us so that we may be saturated with God, possess God, and understand the mind of God; the anointing communicates the mind of Christ as the Head of the Body to His members by the inner sense, the inner consciousness, of life—Psa. 133; 1 Cor. 2:16; Rom. 8:6, 27.
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When the Head wants a member of the Body to move, He intimates it through the inner anointing, and as we yield to the anointing, life flows freely from the Head to us; if we resist the anointing, our relationship with the Head is interfered with, and the flow of life within us is stopped—Col. 2:19.
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The teaching of the anointing of the Spirit has nothing to do with right or wrong; it is an inner sense of life—Acts 16:6-7; 2 Cor. 2:13.
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If our natural life is dealt with by the cross and if we submit to the headship of Christ and live the Body life, we will have the Spirit's anointing and enjoy the fellowship of the Body—Eph. 4:3-6, 15-16.
Morning Nourishment
1 John 2:20 And you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know.27 And as for you, the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone teach you; but as His anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, abide in Him.
A life of abiding in the Lord and enjoying His life is a life in which we constantly experience the cleansing of the blood and enjoy the anointing moment by moment. Whenever you have even a slight feeling that something is wrong or have the sense that you are living in the flesh, in the old creation, or in the self, you should immediately confess your sin and ask for the Lord's forgiveness. When you confess according to this sense, it proves that you are in the light. Then the blood cleanses you, and the anointing follows to anoint you, increasing the element of God within you. You then enjoy more of what God is. You are practically abiding in the Lord and enjoying His life. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 3, “Abiding in the Lord to Enjoy His Life,” p. 376)
Today's Reading
The Bible shows us that God's anointing is only for the One who has totally satisfied God's heart—His Son, Christ. If this is so, why does the Body receive the anointing? Psalm 133 shows us that the fine oil was poured on Aaron's head and ran down upon his beard to the hem of his garments.... After the oil is poured, it runs downward and eventually flows to the whole body. Because the Head is Christ, the anointed One, the Body is also Christ. Christ is God's Anointed. The church is His Body. When Christ was anointed, the whole Body was anointed with Him. The function of the anointing is to maintain the link between the Head and the Body, as well as the link between all the members. The anointing is the operation of the Holy Spirit within man.When the Head wishes a member of the Body to move, He intimates it through the anointing, and as we yield to the anointing, life flows freely from the Head. If we resist the anointing, the relationship with the Head is interfered with and the flow of life stops. Many believers miss the leading of the Lord because they are not under the Head.... Believers can receive the anointing which flows from the Head to the Body only when they are directly under the Head.
The teaching of the anointing of the Spirit has nothing to do with right or wrong, what should or should not be done, or what is true or false. It is an inner feeling of life. Many people still work according to the principle of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the tree from which Adam ate. This is to walk according to the principle of right and wrong; however, God's work in Christ is a matter of life. It is a matter of the anointing of the Spirit. Where the anointing is, there is life.
We can fellowship with one another because Christ is the life of the Body and the Head of the Body. At the same time, the enjoyment of this fellowship is the Holy Spirit. The more we live in the fellowship of the Body, the more we enjoy the anointing of the Spirit. But there is a condition to this: We have to allow the cross to deal with our flesh and our natural life in a thorough way. Whether or not a believer can enjoy this fellowship depends on whether he has dealt with his natural life. Our natural flesh only deserves to die; it only deserves to be in ashes, to be on the cross. We cannot think by ourselves; we are not qualified to propose anything by ourselves. We must allow Christ to have the absolute sovereignty over everything. We must allow Him to be the Lord in an absolute way. If our natural life is dealt with by the cross and if we submit to the headship of Christ and live the Body life, we will have the Spirit's anointing and enjoy the fellowship of the Body. (CWWN, vol. 44, “The Mystery of Christ,” pp. 815-818, 820)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1983, vol. 3, “A Living of Mutually Abiding with the Lord in Spirit,” ch. 3; CWWL, 1980, vol. 2, “The Mending Ministry of John,” ch. 8; CWWL, 1990, vol. 1, “The Spirit,” ch. 12; CWWL, 1953, vol. 3, “The Experience of Life,” ch. 7