GOD BEING THE UNIQUE SATISFACTION TO MAN
The need within the spirit of man cannot be satisfied by wealth and fame, nor by entertainment and amusement, nor by the religions invented by men. Man is a vessel created by God with the purpose of containing God Himself. Hence, man can have the real satisfaction within only by receiving his Creator as his life and content. You can sincerely cry out from deep within, saying, “O God, if You are real, I pray that You would cause me to know You and receive You. I need You. Although I have tasted the things of this world, I am still not satisfied within. I want to gain You as my satisfaction.” When you call in this way, you will experience an indescribable joy within, and sometimes you will even be so joyful that you shed tears. Then the sense of emptiness deep within you will vanish. Nothing else can satisfy the need in our spirit, nor can anything else quench the thirst in our spirit; only God can. This is like a man walking in the wilderness or desert. When he is thirsty, you cannot quench his thirst by giving him gold coins or diamonds; only a cup of water can satisfy his need. Our God, our Lord, is the cup of water that man needs for his inner thirst. Only God, who is the living water, can quench the thirst in man’s spirit (John 4:10, 14; 7:37-38).
If man wants to verify the existence of God in the universe, he can do that simply by touching the need in his spirit. In this universe, only this God can truly satisfy man’s inner need. When a person calls on God, the need in his spirit is satisfied. This is neither an imaginary perception nor a superstitious belief. A person may call on Confucius again and again, yet he will not have any feeling within him. However, at any time and in any place, if a man sincerely cries out from the depths of his heart, “O Lord Jesus, I believe in You,” he will have a sense within and he will obtain the reality. This reality within him will not only make him joyful and satisfied, but it will also change his behavior and his life. This kind of change is not out of man’s exhortation and teachings; it is produced spontaneously from within.
We cannot contact God with our body or by our mental consideration because God is Spirit. If we want to contact God, we must use our spirit (John 4:24) because the human spirit is the organ for man to contact God. This may be compared to the receiver in a radio, which is the part that receives the radio waves in the air. Our God is the Lord who created all things in the universe. One day He became flesh to be a man, whose name was Jesus, and lived on the earth for thirty-three and a half years. Then He was crucified on the cross, and by the shedding of His precious blood He accomplished redemption for our sins and became our Redeemer. Moreover, He resurrected from the dead and became a life-giving Spirit. This life-giving Spirit is omnipresent. Although He is invisible and intangible, we can touch Him by calling on the name of the Lord (Rom. 10:8-9). When we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, we receive the Lord Jesus because the Lord’s name is just the Lord Himself. Furthermore, after the Lord Jesus resurrected from the dead, He became the life-giving Spirit, so when we call on the Lord’s name, this Spirit enters into our spirit to regenerate and save us. Then the Lord Jesus becomes our life and everything to us in our spirit and thus becomes the real satisfaction within us.
CHRIST BEING A LIVING PERSON IN HIS BELIEVERS
A Christian is one who has Christ in him as life. When a person believes in Christ and Christ enters into the spirit of this one to be his life and his Savior, he becomes a Christian. The suffix -ian does not refer to a “disciple” but to a “man.” Hence, a “Christian” is a “Christ-man.” A “Christ-man” refers to a person who has Christ in him as his life and everything. This is not an empty noun or a doctrine, but a real experience. This Christ who lives inside us, the Christ-men, is the life-giving Spirit. He is the Lord as a person who lives in our spirit as our life to make us Christ-men.
Therefore, a Christ-man is not so simple because within the Christ-man there is Christ and there is also the natural self. There are two persons living together inside every Christ-man: one is the natural self and the other is Christ. Unlike a male and a female who are married to become a couple living together outwardly, these two persons live together within us. We all can testify that within us there are really two persons living together. In our daily living almost every day we have this story: When we want to do something, often this person who is in us, the Lord Jesus, does not agree. Hence, these two persons within us are in conflict. This kind of conflict was not there before we became Christ-men. For example, before the sisters believed in the Lord, when they saw the advertisement of a big sale in the newspaper, they immediately went to buy some items without any struggle. However, after you have been saved and have become a Christ-man, when you see an advertisement of a big sale and want to go and buy a dress that is on sale, there is Someone in you who says, “No.” While you are on your way, He keeps saying, “No.” When you enter into the main entrance of the department store, He still says, “No”; but you still do not pay attention to His disagreement, and so when you are about to buy the dress, He still says, “No,” and keeps saying, “No,” to the end. This “no” bothers you until you can no longer tolerate it, and you say, “If You say, ‘no,’ then let it be ‘no.’ I won’t buy anymore.” When you say this, He immediately calms down and you also feel comfortable. As you are in your car going home, you will be able to rejoice and say, “Amen, hallelujah! Lord Jesus, You are so lovely. I really love You.”
However, sometimes because you like that dress so much and you also have a strong character, even though there is Someone in you who says, “No,” you still bargain with Him, saying, “Lord, please allow me this time. I won’t do it again.” Then the Lord becomes quiet and remains silent, and you think that you can now buy the dress. However, after you have bought it, you are not able to pray and you have no joy; rather, you feel very bad. Originally, the dress was very lovely, but now you do not even dare look at it, because when you see it, you feel bad within. You feel bad when you put it aside, and you feel worse when you put it on. Then one day you give it to someone who is in need, and you immediately become joyful within. What is this story? This is a story of two persons living together. All these experiences tell us that the Christ within us is a living person.
Right now while I am here speaking a message to you, my whole being is very released because my outer man is not in conflict with the Lord within. The two persons are one, so my words have much light and much anointing. On the contrary, if my outer man has a problem with the Lord who is within me, and if I do not care for Him or love Him, yet I tell you that He is lovely and that we should love Him and obey Him, then this becomes acting. A false tone cannot fool people. If we truly live with Christ as two persons living together in oneness, we will have the anointing. When we pray, we can touch heaven, and we can also touch the spirit of others, ministering life and life supply to them.
(The Subjective Experience of the Indwelling Christ, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee)
