Ⅳ
We meet together to have an exhibition of the Christ upon whom we have labored, the Christ whom we have enjoyed and experienced—Deut. 14:22-23:
Ａ
The true worship of God by His people is when everyone is full of Christ, radiant with Christ, and exhibiting the Christ upon whom they have labored.
Ｂ
We should always have something to speak in all the meetings as a freewill offering to God and to the attendants—1 Cor. 14:26:
１
Before coming to the meeting, we should prepare ourselves for the meeting with something of the Lord, either through our experience of Him or through our enjoyment of His word and our fellowship with Him in prayer—cf. Rev. 1:20.
２
After coming into the meeting, we need not wait, and should not wait, for inspiration; we should exercise our spirit and use our trained mind to function in presenting what we have prepared to the Lord for His glory and satisfaction and to the attendants for their benefit—their enlightenment, nourishment, and building up—1 Cor. 14:31-32.
Ⅴ
Day by day and hour by hour we need to enjoy the marvelous, wonderful, immeasurable, unlimited, and all-inclusive riches of Christ as the good land—Eph. 3:8:
Ａ
In 2 Corinthians the good land flowing with milk and honey is Christ Himself as the embodiment of the processed Triune God, given to us as the divine grace for our enjoyment—1 Cor. 5:7; 10:3-4; 2:14-15; 3:1; cf. 2 Cor. 1:12; 12:9; 13:14:
１
In order to experience the riches of Christ as the good land, we must be dominated, governed, directed, moved, and led by our spirit—2:13.
２
In order to experience the riches of Christ as the good land, we must live in the person, the presence, the face, of Christ—v. 10; 4:6-7; 3:16-18; 12:2a:
ａ
In order to possess Christ as the all-inclusive land, we must be governed by His person, His presence—Exo. 33:14.
ｂ
Because Paul lived in the person of Christ, he experienced Christ as changelessness (2 Cor. 1:17-20), as meekness and gentleness (10:1), as truthfulness (11:10), as power (12:10; 13:4), as grace (v. 14), and as the One speaking in him (v. 3; cf. 2:17).
３
We receive Christ as grace, the reality of the good land, through the breaking and constituting work of the Holy Spirit, whereby our inner being is rebuilt with the Divine Trinity—12:7-10; 13:14.
Morning Nourishment
2 Cor. 12:9-10 And He has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly therefore I will rather boast in my weaknesses that the power of Christ might tabernacle over me. Therefore I am well pleased in weaknesses, in insults, in necessities, in persecutions and distresses, on behalf of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am powerful.13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
In 2 Corinthians we see a group of people who have attained to the uttermost to fulfill God’s purpose….Although the term of the good land is not used in this book, spiritually speaking, we can see the good land in 2 Corinthians. The good land in this book is Christ Himself as the very embodiment of the processed Triune God given to us as the divine grace for our enjoyment. In this book we see some persons who possessed Christ as their God-given portion. These persons entered into the land promised and given by God, and they were enjoying this land, which is Christ Himself. (CWWL, 1967, vol. 2, “An Autobiography of a Person in the Spirit,” p. 198)
Today’s Reading
[A] good example of grace is in 2 Corinthians 12. In verses 7 through 9 Paul said, “There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, that he might buffet me, in order that I might not be exceedingly lifted up. Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you.” We might think that if the thorn were taken away, that would be a real grace. If we had some illness, we might ask the Lord to heal us, to take away our illness. If our illness were gone the next day, we would be excited, praising the Lord for His grace. But this is not the grace mentioned in 2 Corinthians. The grace that Paul experienced was related to a thorn in the flesh which troubled and buffeted him all the time. The Lord was not willing to take the thorn away but told Paul that His grace was sufficient. If we were Paul, we might have argued with the Lord: “Lord, if Your grace is sufficient, it has to be sufficient to take the thorn away.” However, if the thorn is taken away, we could never experience the sufficient grace. We could never taste how sufficient this grace is. The grace mentioned here is not something done by the Lord or given by the Lord. It is simply the Lord Himself within us, supporting us, energizing us, and strengthening us to face the trouble, to meet the situation. This is a living grace, a real grace, and is nothing less than Christ as the very embodiment of the fullness of the Godhead (Col. 2:9) for our enjoyment.God assigned one co-worker another co-worker who was peculiar and troubling to him. He asked the Lord many times to be gracious and merciful to him so that he would not have to work with this brother. After many years, there was no answer to this prayer, no taking away of his fellow worker. Eventually, this brother was subdued by the Lord and realized that he had to accept this “thorn.” Then he prayed, “Lord, how I thank You for this precious, dear ‘thorn’ upon me. Through this I can experience You more and more as my grace.” He learned the lesson of how to enjoy the living Christ as grace, the embodiment of all the fullness of the Godhead within him for his enjoyment.
Out of the enjoyment of Christ Himself as grace comes forth the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ cannot come forth, cannot be brought into our practical experience, by teachings alone. The practical life of the Body of Christ could only come forth out of the enjoyment of Christ as the grace of God. The more we enjoy Him, the more we will possess of Him. Out of this possession of Christ as our grace, the practical church life will be produced. (CWWL, 1967, vol. 2, “An Autobiography of a Person in the Spirit,” pp. 199-201)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1967, vol. 2, “An Autobiography of a Person in the Spirit,” chs. 4, 10