«　WEEK 4　DAY 3　»

　　John 1:4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

　　8:12 ...Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall by no means walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

　　In the Gospel of John, there are six major items of the enjoyment of Christ in the spirit. These include life (1:4; 10:10), which is the first and most basic matter; the food supply (6:35); the living water for drinking (4:14; 7:37); the breath of life (20:22); the light of life (8:12); and the dwelling place (15:4-5)....In order for life to exist, food, water, air, and light are needed. These four items are for the maintenance of life. Without sunlight in the universe, all the living things would die.... Similarly, man cannot live without air for a long period of time, perhaps less than three or four minutes. If we do not breathe, we will die within a short period of time. We also must eat and drink in order to sustain our life. (CWWL, 1966, vol. 1, “Christ Our Portion,” p. 93)

　　Many Christians may have the knowledge, the doctrine, and the teaching that Christ is their life, their spiritual food, their living water, their fresh air, their light, and their abode. However, many do not know the proper way, the practical way, to enjoy Christ as their food to eat, their living water to drink, their fresh air to breathe, their light to walk in, and their abode, or dwelling place, in which to abide. The practical way to enjoy Christ as all these items is in our mingled spirit, which is our human spirit mingled with the divine Spirit (Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor. 6:17).... After the Lord Jesus accomplished redemption through His work on the cross and passed through death into resurrection, He became the Spirit, the life-giving Spirit (John 20:22; 1 Cor. 15:45b). As the Spirit, the Lord Himself dwells in our spirit (2 Cor. 3:17; 2 Tim. 4:22).

　　In order to maintain life, the first item is light....We must realize that whenever we are not in spirit, we are in darkness. Regardless of how much knowledge we have or how much we read the Scriptures, as long as we are out of the spirit, we are in darkness. The place of light is in our human spirit (Prov. 20:27), regenerated and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. In our soul is darkness, and in our flesh, our body, is sin (Rom. 7:17-18). Outside of the spirit, we are either in darkness or in sin. If we are in our soul trying to seek the guidance of the Lord, regardless of how much energy or effort we exercise, we will still be in darkness. On the other hand, if we turn to the spirit and remain there, immediately we will sense the light, and everything will be clear and transparent.... In the morning we can be so clear, and later in the day we can be in darkness. The reason for this is that perhaps in the morning while we were praying, we prayed ourselves into the spirit. But after the prayer we came out of the spirit. If we simply turn back to the spirit again, the sky will be clear, and everything will be transparent. However, if we turn to the mind to analyze or consider, we will again be in darkness....Whenever we have a problem, the best way to handle it is to turn back to the spirit. If we turn to the spirit, everything will be so clear. To be in the light is easy. Our problem is that we do not practice to be in the light by turning to our spirit. Most of the time when we have problems, we exercise the mind to solve them, or we go to other people to help us solve them....The best way is to simply turn quietly to the spirit. This is so easy that even a new believer can practice it.... Christ, the living Lord, is so real; He is the dynamic center of the Christian life because He is the life-giving Spirit. Whenever we turn back to our spirit, we meet Him. (CWWL, 1966, vol. 1, “Christ Our Portion,” pp. 94-96)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1990, vol. 2, “Messages to the Trainees in Fall 1990,” ch. 18; CWWL, 1966, vol. 1, “Christ Our Portion,” ch. 3; Life-study of Colossians, msg. 55