«　WEEK 5　DAY 5　»

　　Col. 2:10 And you have been made full in Him, who is the Head of all rule and authority.

　　1 Cor. 1:30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

　　Because all the fullness of the Godhead is in Christ and because we have been placed in Him (1 Cor. 1:30), we have been made full in Him....All those who believe in Christ have been put into Christ [Gal. 3:27]. Therefore, we are identified with Him and one with Him. The result is that all He is and all He has belongs to us, and all that He has experienced is our history....Furthermore, because we are one with Him, we partake of all that He has accomplished, obtained, and attained. (Life-study of Colossians, p. 178)

　　We are members of the all-inclusive Christ. We have been put into Him, identified with Him, truly “married” to Him. Hence, we are one with Him. All that He has passed through is now our history, and all that He has obtained and attained is our inheritance. We are in such a Christ, and He is in us. We have been placed into Him, we are one with Him, and we receive all that He is and has. Although some Christians have a doctrinal knowledge of this, a mere mental understanding of our union with Christ is not adequate. We need to exercise faith in order to partake of all that is ours in Christ. We should not consider ourselves poor, just as a poor woman who has married a rich man should no longer think of herself as poor. Even though she may feel poor, she must practice applying the fact that the riches of her husband belong to her. In like manner, because we are one with Christ, we should not regard ourselves as in poverty. To the contrary, we need to have a full realization of what we have in Christ.

　　In their prayers, some Christians like to declare how poor, pitiful, and low they are. This kind of prayer is without faith or assurance. We need to believe with full assurance that we are one with the rich, all-inclusive Christ, with the One who is the embodiment of all the fullness of the Triune God. If we realize this with full assurance, we shall never consider ourselves poor.

　　Do not believe your feelings about yourself, but look away to Christ. Exercise your faith to realize what He is, what He has passed through, what He has obtained and attained, and where He is today. Since He is in the third heaven and we are one with Him, we are in the third heaven also....We have been placed into the Christ who is unsearchably rich. In this Christ we are made perfect, complete. In Him we do not lack anything. Do not talk about how much you lack. Because you are in Christ, you lack nothing. In Him is the fullness, the perfection, the completion. Actually, He Himself is the fullness, perfection, and completion. Because we are in Him, we are complete and perfect; we lack nothing. We are those who possess the riches of Christ.

　　In Ephesians 3:8 Paul speaks of the unsearchable riches of Christ. We are more than billionaires because the riches we have are greater than can be counted. We simply have no idea what vast riches we possess in Christ. Often we have prayed, “Lord, I am poor and pitiful.” But not many have prayed in this way: “Lord, I thank You that I am rich, complete, and full. Lord Jesus, because I am in You, I am richer than the wealthiest billionaire. I am short of nothing.” I hope that after reading this message, you will begin to pray in this way. Tell the Lord, the angels, and even the demons that you are richer than any earthly billionaire because you are in the Christ whose riches are unsearchable. (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 178-179)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Colossians, msg. 22; CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 1, “The Indwelling Christ in the Canon of the New Testament,” ch. 16