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Scripture Reading: John 1:1, 4; 6:35, 6:57, 63; 4:14, 4:24; 7:37; 20:22; 15:4-5; 8:12; 10:10; 3:6; 14:16-17, 19-20
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). As human beings living on this earth, we need life, food, water, air, light, and a dwelling place. 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. Light is needed to maintain life. 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.
In the Gospel of John, the Gospel of life, the Lord Jesus said that He came that we may have life and may have it abundantly (10:10). In order to maintain this life given by the Lord Jesus, light, air, food, and water are needed. Yet even with all of these items, there is still the need of a dwelling place (15:4-5). This dwelling place is the Lord Jesus Himself. Not only is He our life, light, air, food, and water, but also He is our abode (14:23). Each of these items is definitely and clearly mentioned by the Lord Jesus in the Gospel of John. While other things are mentioned by the Lord Jesus in the Gospel of John, none are as vital or as basic as these six items. In chapter 10 the Lord Jesus told us that He is the good Shepherd (vv. 11, 14), the door (vv. 7, 9), and the pasture (v. 9). But as far as the matter of life is concerned, the Lord as the Shepherd is not as vital as these six items. Christ being our life, food, water, breath, light, and abode shows us how vital He is to us.
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). If we read the Gospel of John carefully, we will discover that 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 (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 the Gospel of John, Christ is first revealed as the Word in the beginning (1:1). As the eternal Word He is God Himself. Then He became flesh (v. 14) through incarnation in order to accomplish redemption on the cross (v. 29; 11:49-51; 19:34). After the accomplishment of redemption, He passed through death and entered into resurrection (v. 30; 20:9). On the day of resurrection He returned to the disciples and breathed into them, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (v. 22). After the Lord breathed Himself into the disciples, it is difficult to trace where He went. Actually, the Lord entered into the disciples, so wherever they went, the Lord was with them. When the disciples were meeting in a room, He was in the room with them. When Peter and the disciples went to the sea, He was also at the sea. Where the disciples were, He was, because He had become the life-giving Spirit, and as the Spirit, He had breathed Himself into them. Thus, in a sense, the Gospel of John does not have a conclusion. Today there may be hundreds of chapters as a continuation of this Gospel because Jesus is still here within us as the life-giving Spirit.
In the Gospel of John, there is the line of life, and there is also the line of the spirit. The line of the spirit begins in John 3:6 where the Lord says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” This line continues in John 4:24: “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.” In these verses we can see both the divine Spirit and the human spirit. Our human spirit has been born of the divine Spirit, and we must worship God, who is Spirit, in our human spirit. If we are to worship God, we must worship Him in our spirit. This means that if we are to deal with God, contact God, enjoy God, and partake of God, we must contact Him in our spirit by exercising our spirit. God is Spirit, and this God includes Christ as our life, our food, our water, our air, our light, and our abode. He is everything!
John 6:63, as a continuation of the line of the spirit, says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken unto you are spirit and are life.” It is the Spirit who gives life. It is the Spirit who nourishes. If you are in your spirit enjoying the life-giving Spirit, He will nourish you as food. This Spirit will also be the living water flowing out from your innermost being (7:38-39). The Spirit will be a source of life within you, in your spirit, your innermost being.
In chapter 14 of the Gospel of John, the Lord Jesus reveals that He must be transfigured into the Spirit in order that He may dwell within us and be one with us (vv. 17-18). If He had not been transfigured into the Spirit, there would be no possibility for us to abide in Him or for Him to abide in us (15:4-5). In order to come into us, He had to be transfigured from the flesh into the Spirit through death and resurrection.
The secret of taking Christ as our food, water, air, light, and abode is to turn to our spirit. To illustrate, let us consider the matter of light. In order to maintain life, the first item is light. Without physical light in the universe, all the living creatures on this earth would be in darkness. 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. One minute everything can be transparent, and the next minute everything can be in darkness. 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. To be clever in our understanding does not help. 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 more people that we go to with our problems, the more complicated we become. The best way is to simply turn quietly to the spirit. This is so easy that even a new believer can practice it. We must learn to practice this reality. 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.
The first item to maintain life is light. The second item to maintain life is air or breathing. The more we remain in the soul, the more we will be choked, the more we will sense the shortage of air. On the other hand, when we turn ourselves to the spirit, right away we sense the freshness of air. Through my experiences I have learned one vital lesson: to turn to the spirit. Instead of caring for so many outward things, we must learn to turn to the spirit all the time. We need to forget about our environment. When we are in spirit, we often have the sense that we are not on earth. Everything is so fresh and new in our spirit. This freshness and newness is Christ as our air. We Christians think, consider, and worry too much. Many times we will not turn to the spirit until we are forced to. If our business runs well, we do not turn to the Lord. Therefore, we often need troubles, trials, and painful sufferings, things we cannot get through, to force us to give up and turn back to the Lord. We must learn to be willing to turn to our spirit. Even if we could get through in some area outside of the spirit, we should still come back to the spirit. When we turn to our spirit, we sense the fresh air within us; we are refreshed, strengthened, and uplifted.
When we read the Bible, it is a good practice to read a little bit, maybe half a verse, and then say a little word to the Lord. Usually, however, our habit is just to read. When we merely read, we are often occupied in the mentality. We should not only use our mind but also exercise our spirit to contact the Lord. We may read half of John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word.” Then we can tell the Lord, “O Lord, praise You. You are the Word. In the beginning You were there.” The best way to read the Bible is not merely to read, solely exercising our mind, but to read a little and then say something to the Lord. We need to learn when reading to exercise our spirit by praying and not to exercise our mind too much. To pray is the best way to exercise our spirit. In the morning while we are dressing or washing, we can say something to the Lord from our spirit. We must learn to turn ourselves to the Lord at all times.
The third item for the maintenance of life is the experience of Christ as our living water. Physically, we can live without eating longer than we can live without drinking. Thus, following light and air, we need water. If we keep ourselves in the spirit, we will sense that we are being watered. Many times we are dry within because we are in the soul. If we would turn to the spirit, we would sense water instead of dryness. In our spirit is the living water ready to water us all the time. When we pray, we need to follow the inner flow of life to utter something to the Lord. If the inner feeling or sense urges us to repent, we should say something according to the inner sense of life and not according to mere knowledge. Perhaps we would say, “Lord, I am sinful.” To say something according to this inner sense is to follow the flow. That flow is the springing up of the living water within us (4:14; 7:38). When the living water springs up and flows out of us, the first one to be watered is us. We are watered, and then we will water others. The secret is to keep ourselves in the spirit all the time.
Many know the doctrines, teachings, and sayings of the Gospel of John, but few have found the secret of how to get into the enjoyment of the things revealed there. If we are going to enjoy Christ as the living water, we must come back to the spirit. Many who have experienced the so-called gifts of the Spirit have said that they were watered through the practice of the gifts. But strictly speaking, these gifts are without, whereas the living water is within. The living water springs up from within our innermost being. We must learn to turn within. We should not pay attention to the outward teachings, forms, and gifts. Rather, we should turn and pay our full attention to the spirit within.
The all-inclusive Christ dwelling in our spirit is a heavenly mystery within us which no one can exhaust (Col. 1:26-28; 2:2). The more we turn ourselves to the spirit and remain there to contact the Lord, the more we will sense that He is the exhaustless One. As we turn to our spirit, we sense a flowing and springing up within which waters us, and spontaneously we will water others. Whoever contacts us will be watered by this living outflow. This is the way to enjoy Christ as the living water. This is not doctrine. Our need is to practice to turn ourselves back to the spirit and remain there with the Lord. Then we will enjoy Christ as the living water.
The fourth item of the enjoyment of Christ is the matter of food. As we turn to our spirit, we sense enlightenment, refreshment, and nourishment. While we are reading the Word, we must learn not to exercise our mind too much. If we exercise our mind too much when we read, we will be exhausted instead of being satisfied. We must learn to exercise our spirit to contact the Lord, praying more than we read. As we do this, we will sense that we are being nourished, satisfied, and strengthened, having something of Christ ministered into us. If we would practice this, I cannot tell you what kind of sweetness, preciousness, and richness we would enjoy! Many Christians do not have a time with the Lord, and many of those who desire to be with the Lord, do so in a wrong way. Many of these brothers and sisters study the Word and read it by exercising their mind too much. They do not know how to turn themselves to the spirit in order to touch the Lord and meet with Him. Learn to turn to the spirit. This is the only way to enjoy Christ as light, air, water, and food. If we learn to turn to our spirit, the whole church will be turned, and there will be a great change in the church life.
The last major item of the enjoyment in the spirit is Christ as our abode. It is only as we turn ourselves to the spirit and remain there that we abide in Christ. To remain in the spirit is to abide in Christ. When we are abiding in Him and He is abiding in us (John 15:4-5), we have the sense that we are one with Him, mingled with Him. At this time we realize that He is the vine (v. 1) and that we are the branches of the vine (v. 5) enjoying all the richness, sweetness, and fatness of the vine tree. As the vine He is everything to us. We are in Him and He is in us. We abide in Him, taking Him as our abode, and He abides in us to be the Dweller within us. What a wonderful life this is in oneness with Him! No human word can adequately explain this wonderful mystery. Our abiding in Him and His abiding in us is mysterious, yet this mutual abiding is a fact, a reality, to be experienced by us. Therefore, we must learn one thing and pay our full attention to this one thing, that is, to always turn back to the spirit. Whenever we turn to the spirit, we will be in the light, we will have air, flowing water, and nourishing food, and we will enjoy Christ as our abiding place, our abode. This is the proper way to enjoy Christ.
