CHRIST MAKING HIS HOME
IN THE HEARTS OF THE SAINTS
Through the dispensing of the riches of Christ, Christ is ministered into sinners. He is no longer outside of His believers; He is now inside of them. The Christ who was crucified on the cross now lives in us. Christ has been ministered into us, so we now have Christ making His home in our hearts (Eph. 3:16-17). Since we have received Christ, He is working and moving within us. He is working and moving in the heavens, in the church, and in our environment, but His main work is to work Himself into us, to make home in our hearts, to get Himself settled down within us.
The Lord desires to settle Himself down within us, but we often keep Him within a small part of our being. When I travel to different cities, I often stay as a guest in the homes of the saints. Since I am a guest, I do not settle down by unpacking my suitcase completely. On the contrary, I leave my suitcase partially packed because I know that after a few days I will leave again and have to repack everything. I also realize that as a guest it is inappropriate for me to touch things within the saints’ homes unless I have been given permission to do so. As a guest, I am restricted in my activity. This illustrates how the Lord Jesus is often restricted within us. The Lord Jesus is often like a guest within us. He may have been living within us for fifteen years, but He may still not yet be "unpacked." He also may not dare to do things within us because we have not given Him the permission to do so. He may still be restricted to our spirit, unable to occupy the rest of our inner being.
Our being may be likened to a house with many rooms. The Lord may be limited to the "living room" of our inner being. Because the Lord is limited to the living room, it may have become a little prison to Him. We have other rooms in our being, but they are secret rooms because we have not allowed the Lord to enter these rooms. These rooms include our mind, emotion, will, and conscience. We love the Lord Jesus, but we may not have given Him any ground in our emotion. This may also be the case with our mind. In the way we live, in the way we dress ourselves, and in the way we drive our car, there may be no ground for Christ. In the same way, many of our decisions may have been made without any ground given to Christ. We may be the only one occupying our mind, will, emotion, and conscience. As a result, Christ has been a guest within us and even a prisoner within us.
Paul first told the saints at Ephesus that he was a steward with a commission to distribute, to minister, the riches of Christ into the believers (3:2, 8). But in carrying out this stewardship, he realized that Christ was not yet settled down within them. Christ was dwelling in their spirit, but He had not yet settled down in their heart. Christ was in the center of the saints’ being, in their spirit, but He had not yet come into the parts of their soul surrounding their spirit. The parts of the soul include the mind, emotion, and will. These parts of the soul with the conscience of the spirit form the heart. Christ was limited and imprisoned within their spirit; He could not spread into the inner parts of their being. This is the reason that Paul prayed for Christ to make His home in the hearts of the saints. For Christ to make His home in our hearts means that He is able to spread Himself into our mind, emotion, will, and conscience. In this way Christ will occupy our entire inner being. Thus, Christ will become settled in our being, and our inner being will become His home.
(The Divine Dispensing for the Divine Economy, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee)
