II. GOD’S MOVE WITHIN US IN THE OFFICES
AND MINISTRIES OF CHRIST IN ALL OF HIS STATUSES
Now we want to see God’s move within us in the offices and ministries of Christ in all His statuses.
A. Dwelling in Us through His Indwelling Spirit
in the Presence of Christ in Our Spirit
In Christ’s ascension God dwells in us through His indwelling Spirit in the presence of Christ in our spirit (1 John 3:24b; 4:13; Rom. 8:11; 2 Tim. 4:22). His dwelling in us is a great thing. Eventually, we have the Triune God dwelling in us, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The Father is the Dweller, the Spirit is the instrument, and the Son is the very presence within us day by day. When we miss His presence, miss the consciousness of the instrument, the indwelling Spirit, and miss the consciousness of the Dweller, the Father, our Christian life is a failure, a defeat. We should always have the presence of the Son with the consciousness of the Spirit as the instrument and the Father as the Dweller. Whenever we have the presence of Christ within us with a consciousness of the Spirit as the instrument and of the Father as the Dweller, the Triune God is moving in us to write His history, and that history is our story. This is God’s subjective, intimate move within us, a move in which God is altogether involved with us and mingled with us, making Him and us one. This is the ministry of Christ in His ascension as the Spirit with His incarnation through His human living and under His crucifixion. This is God’s move in man, and this is God’s writing of His history.
B. Operating in Us Both the Willing and
the Working for His Good Pleasure
In Christ’s ascension God is operating in us both the willing within and the working without for His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13). He works within us for His good pleasure in our willing and in our working.
C. Perfecting Us in Every Good Work
for the Fulfilling of His Will
I love the book of Hebrews because it is so rich in all the items of Christ’s being. Hebrews 13:21 is the crucial verse of this book. This verse tells us that God is moving in us to perfect us in every good work for the fulfilling of His will, doing in us that which is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ.
(The Move of God in Man, Chapter 9, by Witness Lee)
