We must be clear that any life matter does not depend so much upon knowledge. You may know this and you may know that concerning the matter of life, but knowledge does not work out anything for the matter of life. The matter of life must be something by itself. So regardless of how much we know concerning the spiritual life, if we are off from that life, it means nothing.
Through all the years in the Lord’s recovery, the Lord has shown us that His intention is just to be our life that we may live Him. This is simple. You may have heard this for years, yet truthfully I must say that you have not gotten into the habit of living Him. There are many reasons why you have not gotten into the habitual experience of living Christ. Your intention to do certain things may be a reason. You may like a small thing, such as a pair of shoes or a pair of eyeglasses or a ring. These things may have kept you from getting into the experience of habitually living Christ. Although you may realize many reasons that keep you and frustrate you from living Christ, it may be you have not realized some of the reasons that are in the religious field. Anything in the field, the circle, the sphere, the realm, of religion may be a trap. If you are not in your spirit contacting the living Lord through the Spirit and the living word, everything in the so-called Christian religion is a trap.
From my youth, although I did not know anything concerning Christianity, I heard that we have to pray. I still remember when I was around ten years of age, and my second sister was away from home studying at a school. We used to correspond, and my mother helped me compose a simple letter. My mother always told me to conclude the letter with this blessing: “The Lord be with you.” I did not know what that meant, but every time I wrote, I concluded with that kind of word. Sometimes I wrote, “The Lord’s peace be with you.” Who was the Lord? I did not know. What was the peace? I did not know. That was just a religious clause to close the letter. This illustration may help you to know that you have been saying a lot of things and you have been writing a lot of things, including good biblical terms, spiritual terms, and holy terms, yet those were just terms. You did not really realize what they meant. You were trapped there because you thought you knew what they meant. Actually, you did not know what they meant.
Many Christians pray, but their prayer is a trap. Before I met Brother Nee, when people asked me to pray for them or for their father or for their mother or for this or for that, I was quick to say I would do it. Then I stayed with Brother Nee, and I noticed that a number of people came to him asking him to pray for them. When they asked him to pray for them, he was very cold. He had no expression, no reaction, no response—nothing. I saw this happen not only once but time after time. I was with him for quite a time, and when people came to him, he liked to have me there so that I could see the situation. Old people, young people, pastors, ministers, and sinners asked Brother Nee to pray for them. But he was cold; even he was frozen with no expression. Eventually, through further talk I got to know he had a reason for doing that. He indicated that he could not promise a man that he would pray for him, because prayer was not up to him. It should not be initiated by him. Prayer is up to the Lord. If He initiated, he would pray; he would have no choice. If the Lord did not initiate, then his prayer was something presumptuous and a kind of presumptuous sin. He did not like to have any kind of presumption. By this you can see that many prayers have become a trap to you, trapping you to do something apart from the living One.
The Lord said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5), but actually we can do a lot of things apart from Him. Apart from Him we can pray, we can read the Bible, we can preach the gospel, we can do everything in today’s Christian religion. But all these are done by ourselves, not by the Lord. Some may say that they cannot do miracles apart from Him. Thank God that you cannot do miracles apart from Him! It is wonderful that there is some restriction, that there is something you cannot do. But all the ordinary things you can do, and you have done a lot, yet you never realized that all these are traps used by the enemy to trap you. Do not consider others; consider yourself. Day after day you have been trapped in this thing and in another thing. I do not mean that something worldly or sinful is trapping you. Everything that traps you is quite “Christian.” I would not say spiritual, but anyway these things always trap you. They trap you and keep you away from living Christ. All these things have one goal and one object from the enemy, and that is to keep you from living Christ. Christ’s words in John 15 are so simple: “Abide in Me and I in you...Apart from Me you can do nothing” (vv. 4-5). This word is so simple, but I can tell you that not even a few are really abiding in this word. You have been trapped from this word. When you pray, do you really abide in Him? When you read the Bible, do you read it abiding in Him? If not, you are trapped. If you are not abiding in Him, prayer is a trap; if you are not abiding in Him, even reading the Bible is a trap.
Many Christians only care for the knowledge of the doctrines; they do not care for the substantial, genuine experience of a living person. I was with the Brethren, who are famous for knowing the doctrines, for many years. All the help I received of them was just knowledge; nearly not one bit was the experience of the living Christ. Then I got the help to experience Christ, and I looked to the Lord that I would surely have the experience of such a living Christ rather than a lot of knowledge that had nothing to do with Him. You can see that the doctrinal knowledge or paying your attention to doctrinal points is a trap. This is my experience.
Let me tell you also some of the experience of the Brethren. At the end of the last century and the beginning of this century, it may be that Andrew Murray was one of the top among the inner-life people. He put out a number of very helpful books on life, such as The Spirit of Christ and The Holy of Holies, a study on Hebrews, and a number of other books. Many Brethren teachers never recommended Andrew Murray. They said that he quoted the Bible and used it in a wrong way. Second Timothy 2:15, concerning cutting straight the word of the truth, is very much used by the Brethren teachers. But if you pay attention only to cutting the word straight, and you do not care for the real experience of the living Christ, you will be trapped. So even to read the Bible, to pay attention to the Bible, to know the Bible, and to collect knowledge from the Bible may be traps.
Today many Christians have been trapped by the charismatic things. Many have been trapped by healing. Some have been trapped by the lengthening of legs and other miracles. You may laugh at them, but how about yourself? You may not practice leg lengthening or healing or other miracles, but you do practice a lot of Christian, religious things, which are small traps to you. Even today a number of you are probably still walking by stepping into traps. Everywhere you step is a little trap. Your prayer is a trap; your reading of the Bible is a trap. If you say, though, “I would give up the prayer; I would give up the Bible reading,” even your giving up of these things is a trap.
This is the problem today. Many Christians have gotten trapped in Christian, religious, biblical things. Actually, to live Christ is very simple. The most simple thing is life, but at the same time life is the most complicated thing. No one can finish the study of the science of life. It is too complicated. To study life for the sake of knowledge is very complicated, but for experience it is very simple. Even a little baby can live. After being conceived, a little baby can live even before it is born. To live is easy. We have never taught any child to breathe, yet right away after birth they breathe. To live is simple. Why is it so hard to live Christ today? Because we all have been trapped, entangled, wrapped up, and bound with so many “Christian” things.
In this Perfecting Training I have been speaking for at least three months on living Christ. I realize that some of you are really bothered and puzzled. The more I speak, the more you are puzzled. I must say that I do not bear the blame. In my speaking I am trying my best to untie you. You have been tied by this and by that because you have picked up a lot of things. Tonight I would like to repeat a word: you had better let everything go. This is the best way—let everything go. Just remember that our Triune God desires to be your life, He desires to live in you and with you, and He desires that you will just take Him as your life and live Him. In a sense you have to forget what is prayer, what is Bible reading, what is this and what is that. Just remember that God wants to live in you, and He wants you to take Him as life and live Him. Today you have to consider where He is and what He is. When you come to this matter, you have to forget about the so-called systematic theology. You have to realize that our God, our Savior, after all, is just the Spirit. He is in the heavens, but He is also within me and within you.
Titus 2:13 says, “Awaiting the blessed hope, even the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Here, four titles, our great God, Savior, Jesus, and Christ are compounded together to be a long title—our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Through the centuries Christian teachers began to debate concerning this verse. Even up to this day the problem has not been settled. Out of so many debates two schools came. One school says that this title indicates two persons: our great God, that is, the Father, and our Savior, Jesus Christ, the Son. The other school says that this title indicates that Jesus Christ is both our great God and our Savior. Even the authorities on the Greek New Testament disagree on this point. Henry Alford stands with the first school, whereas M. R. Vincent follows the second. Vincent says that the verse should have a comma after Savior: “The great God and our Savior, Christ Jesus.” This means that Christ Jesus is both the great God and our Savior. The Concordant Version, the Wuest translation, and the New American Standard Version all put a comma in that place.
Concerning the Trinity, many like to systematize the Father away from the Son and to systematize the Son away from the Father. But the Bible does not systematize this way. The Bible says, “Our Savior God.” In 1 Timothy and Titus this title has been used six times (1 Tim. 1:1; 2:3; Titus 1:3; 2:10, 13; 3:4). When J. N. Darby interpreted this term, he called it “Savior-God,” with a hyphen between Savior and God. The point is: He is our God; He is our Savior; He is Jesus Christ; He is the Lord; He is the Spirit. We need to make it so simple. The Berkeley Version of the Bible says that our Savior is not only Christ but God Triune. This is good. However it goes on to say God Triune represented by Christ. We can agree with the first part but not with the second. In the Triune God there is no representation. How could the Son represent the Father? How could the Father be represented by the Son? Our Savior God is not only Christ but God Triune embodied in Christ as indicated in Titus 2:13, which has this long, compound divine title our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Do not fall into the snare of the so-called systematic theology. They only care for theology, but we care for the living Theos. We do not care for the “-ology.” We only love and treasure and appreciate the living Theos, the living person of the living God who is triune.
You do not need to ask, Is this the Father? Is this the Son? Who is the Savior God? Who is the God Savior? No! On His side the Triune God is for dispensing, and on our side He is for enjoyment. Even we do not need to say that we do not have an objective God but a subjective God. This too is a kind of theology. Today Christianity has made the experiential God absolutely an objective object for worship. Their God is altogether objective. They do not care a bit for the experiential enjoyment of God. To them there should not be verses such as, “To me, to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21), or “It is Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). There should not be verses like John 15:4 and 5, which say for us to abide in Him and He in us. Some have even said that to abide in Christ and to let Christ abide in us simply indicates a kind of intimate relationship. Because they insist that Christ is there high in the heavens, they ask, How could you abide in Him? And how could He abide in you? He is so far away, and this is just an intimate expression indicating how close you and He are. This is their interpretation; they just annul these verses in the Bible. Yet they like to speak in tongues. This is not logical. If you ask them what kind of Spirit they have received, they cannot tell you explicitly. Three hundred years ago people spoke of the Spirit as a kind of instrument, a kind of power, a kind of channel. Today, because they have more scriptural knowledge, most of them would not say this. But it is so strange! They would say that the Spirit is upon them, yet God Himself is not there. They would say that the Spirit is upon them, yet Christ is not there. Then, of course, they use the word represent, saying that the Spirit represents the Father and the Son.
When John 14:9 says, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father,” they say that this is a kind of representation. Why? They annul all the experiential enjoyment of the Triune God. So whenever we apply these verses to our experiential enjoyment, they say it is heresy. They say we are making ourselves God, that we are deifying ourselves into God. For them to speak in this way indicates blindness. Today a line has been drawn between dead, theological, historical Christianity and the living Christians. We should not be bothered by all these things. We should only remember that our God today is the Triune God who has passed through all the necessary processes, and today He is so ready for us to enjoy Him. He is a ready God, a processed God. He is the Spirit. Now the Lord is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). Then they argue that the Lord in 2 Corinthians 3 is not Jesus Christ but God the Lord. But according to the text of 2 Corinthians 3 and 4, the Lord refers to Christ. This problem comes from the source of systematic theology. Jesus Christ is the Lord, and the Lord today is the Spirit who gives life (3:6).
We need to forget about the theological talk and simply remember that He wants us to take Him as life, and He wants us to live Him, and today He is the Spirit. He passed through creation and through incarnation, He lived on this earth, He passed through crucifixion, and He entered into resurrection. In His resurrection He is the Spirit, and the Spirit must be the Holy Spirit who gives life. Do not be trapped into caring for the knowledge; just care for the experience of life.
I would stress again that for us to realize and to touch the solid and concrete substance of the divine element, He has given us the Bible, the Word. You must realize that the Word is divine, and the Word is a very particular writing. It is the condensation of the breathing of God. This is why you do not need to exercise your mind, your mentality, so much. Of course, you need your mind, but you have to realize that the Bible is not a kind of human, secular, worldly writing. It is the very condensation of God’s divine breath. So you must love Him, and you must love His Word, not in a way of knowledge but in a seeking and living way.
Remember these three points: First, God wants you to take Him as life and live Him. Second, He is now the Spirit, and third, He is the very Word as well. When you apply these two to your experience, you will find that they are one. The Word and the Spirit are one (John 6:63). When this wonderful One gets into you, that is the Spirit. When this wonderful One remains outside of you, it is the Word. But these two are one. Do not consider that the Bible is something separate from the Spirit. They are just one. It is somewhat like your body and your physical life. Your physical life and your body are just one; you cannot separate them. If you separate your body from your physical life, your body will become a carcass. If you separate the Bible from the Spirit, the Bible is just a dead body. This is what the Bible calls the letter (2 Cor. 3:6). The letter means the dead writings. We must keep these two one in our experiential enjoyment of our God.
Because the Bible is a writing, you need to read it. But from Psalm 119, Ephesians 5 and 6, and Colossians 3, I have been deeply and strikingly impressed that to touch the Word of God in the way of reading is just the initial step. You can never finish anything just by taking the initial step. The initial step is just the initiation; you need to keep on. What are the following steps? You must sing; you must pray; you must psalm; you must thank the Lord all the time. In addition to your reading, you must exercise the prayer, the singing, the psalming, and the thanking. Reading is only one part of these five. In the past we were out of proportion because we made our reading too big. Reading is the initial step; then it should be followed by praying. Then it should be followed by singing, by psalming, and by thanking. All these are in the Bible. In all three of the above portions, the word read is not used. But in our mentality and on our lips there is nothing but read. However, in these few chapters a lot of other predicates are used for the touching of the living word. How many different predicates are used in Psalm 119! Ephesians and Colossians say that we need to receive the word of God by means of all prayer and petition, even praying at every time.
Do not take this word just as a message. I do not like to see all these things taken as a kind of doctrine. This is not a mere doctrine. If you do not practice these things, you are wasting your time coming to this Perfecting Training. You must practice these things. Do not pray for other things; pray the Word. I surely hope that we all could pray through these four books: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. Then not only pray through them but sing through them. Then you can psalm. Psalming does not need much of a melody for singing. You can psalm with your own tune and even with all kinds of irregular tunes. You will see what will come out. There will be a sweet and strengthened receiving of the divine element. Then we need to practice thanking through the Word. If we all would practice praying the Word, singing the Word, psalming the Word, and thanking through the Word, the church life will be much uplifted.
This is a direct word. Just these three or four things are worthy to talk about: First, our God today wants us to live Him. Second, He is the Spirit. Third, He is the Word. Last, He wants us to take Him in through the Word and the Spirit by praying, by singing, by psalming, and by thanking. We all can testify that when we pray in our spirit, we get the infusion of the divine element, of light, of life, of love, of sanctification, of all the divine things we need. When you sing, that is a real musing upon the Word. To muse upon the Word is not just to have a deep consideration or a deep apprehension of the Word. To muse is to enjoy the Word. The best way to muse upon the Word is to sing. A deeper musing is psalming. Psalming even gives you more enjoyment than singing. Thanking may be considered as a kind of conclusion. You must pray, you must sing, you must psalm, and eventually you must give thanks to our God.
If we would practice this all the day long, we would not need to talk about living Christ; spontaneously we would live Christ. If we do not practice singing the Word, praying the Word, psalming the Word, and thanking the Lord for the Word, yet we try to live Christ, we will find it impossible. I hope we all could realize that this is crucial. We must practice this. It does not matter how much you know. But if you will practice this, you will be fully infused, saturated, and even permeated with the Triune God. This is being one spirit with the Lord. When you are infused and permeated with Him, you are actually one with Him, and you are practically one spirit with Him. So whatever you do, that is to live Christ. Whatever you do, you spontaneously do it in Him. You do it in His name, and that is not you; that is He. Because you have been fully saturated with Him, He surely becomes you, just like you become Him. This is to live Christ. This is what the New Testament terms in Christ and Christ in you mean. Do you think the words in Christ and Christ in you are just a kind of terminology? What do these mean? For many years I was bothered by these kinds of expressions. When you practice these matters, you will experience the real fact that you are in Him and that He is in you. It will not be just a kind of expression or terminology; it will be a kind of real experience. You will really experience that you are in Him and He is in you. You need to contact and receive Him and be saturated with Him and enjoy Him. Then you will live Him.
