CHRIST MOVING WITHIN
When the life within, which is Christ Himself, moves, that moving is fellowship. Fellowship means mutuality. It includes mutual communication, participation, and enjoyment. Christ enjoys you, and you enjoy Him. There is a transmission back and forth between the two of you. Within you there is a current for your daily life. Rather than doing things by yourself, you must do things by that current between you.
You may feel at a disadvantage if you do not have a strong will and it is hard for you to make up your mind. Be assured it is of no help to make up your mind to live Christ. To make up your mind to live Christ does not work. You must realize that He is in you, moving in you. When He moves, His moving is the fellowship. He Himself is the fellowship. There is a flowing from Him to you and from you back to Him.
This transmission occurs even when you do what is not proper. You may have gone shopping even when you realized that the Lord Jesus did not agree with you. While you were on the way, there was some fellowship within, a current moving, which said, “Don’t go!” You may have replied, as I myself have done many times, “Lord, You are not really that narrow, are You? I don’t go shopping like this very often. It is not evil, like going to Las Vegas to gamble. I am going to buy something which is useful.” I am sure many of you have had such experiences. This indwelling Lord is dealing with you. As long as He is moving, the current is flowing.
In 1933 I went to Shanghai for the first time. As a young man, I had no love for the world, but I did have an appetite for spiritual books. Shanghai was a densely populated city. There were many missionaries there and a good many secondhand Christian bookstores. In those days I was hungry to read spiritual books in English. During those months my behavior was nearly blameless. My only fault was in going to the secondhand bookstores. Whenever the brothers did not occupy my time, I would slip away to those stores and buy those old books. All the while, I felt condemned. The fellowship within said, “You are doing things by yourself.” But I could not stop! Such books as George Müller’s autobiography and the writings of G. H. Pember I had heard of previously. Now I had the chance to have a copy of my own. When I got back, I would put them on the table, happy to have them on the one hand but rebuked on the other. The fellowship within was strong against me.
In buying those books I was in myself; I was not living Christ. I was doing what I loved. It was not evil, but I was living myself. While I had no heart for the horse races, which were famous in Shanghai, and no heart for the newspapers, I did find that going from bookstore to bookstore was a real entertainment to me. I did collect a good many books. Some of them I brought with me to the United States. While I was living in Los Angeles, one day I put out for the trash collectors five big cartons of books. These had been bought by me in Shanghai while offending the Lord.
Years ago I could not have told you how to live Christ. Now, because of my experience all through the years, I can tell you there is no other way except, firstly, by fellowship. Remember that you have a Companion who indwells you. He is always with you. You are no longer single. He is your life. When He moves, He is the fellowship. Do everything by this fellowship. If you have your being by it, you will have a wonderful life. All day long you will live only Him. You will not only be doing good and overcoming; you will be living Him. He will be lived out of you because of your living by fellowship with Him.
TWO SPIRITS
This fellowship is the fellowship of Christ (1 Cor. 1:9). Since Christ today is the life-giving Spirit, it is also the fellowship of the Spirit (2 Cor. 13:14). Since Christ indwells our spirit as the life-giving Spirit, it is also the fellowship of our spirit (Phil. 2:1). The fellowship is a matter concerning these two spirits.
As you practice, you will realize that the Lord Jesus is in you. When He moves, that is His fellowship. This fellowship is, on the one hand, of the Spirit, and, on the other hand, of your spirit. Christ is the life-giving Spirit in your spirit. Here you enjoy Him and He enjoys you in mutual participation, communication, and transmission. Here you live by Him and He lives by you. You live Him out and He lives in you.
(The Mending Ministry of John, Chapter 7, by Witness Lee)
