REMEMBERING THE LORD BEING TO RECEIVE THE LORD AGAIN
In breaking bread we turn to our spirit and through the symbols receive the Lord again and again. Every time we break bread, we receive the Lord once more, and every time we break bread, we again contact the Lord who died and resurrected, touching Him in our spirit. If we really see this, the next time we break bread, we will realize that inwardly we have been filled with too many other things so that the Lord is not able to find any place, any empty room, in us. When we realize this, we need to pray, “O Lord, remove all the things that should not be in me so that You may have a place in me.” The revelation we see will touch our inward problems and cause us to tell the Lord spontaneously, “O Lord, I am glad to pour myself out and empty myself. O Lord, I receive You as the Spirit into me. Fill me with Your resurrection life.” By doing this, after breaking the bread we definitely will be filled with Christ.
There was once a brother who had been at odds with his wife for a long time. Inwardly he felt that it was not right, but he simply could not help it. Every time he came to the Lord’s table, after singing a hymn and calming down, he would begin to pray, “Lord, You are God, who took the form of a sinner and humbled Yourself for us. You were born in Bethlehem, grew up in Nazareth….” He enjoyed his prayer, and the saints were joyful in their spirits. However, just as he was not happy with his wife before the Lord’s table, he also was not happy with her after the meeting. After the Lord’s table, and after this meditation and prayer in his mind, he still had not been touched by the Lord inwardly. Therefore, he was the same after the meeting as he was before the meeting. He was still intact and was the same as he had always been.
One day, however, after receiving revelation and seeing that to remember the Lord is actually to receive the Lord, he could not touch the bread anymore. Why was he unable to do this? He could not touch the bread because he realized that since he was not pleased with his wife, he could not receive Christ into him even though he might take the bread outwardly. Thus, he could no longer break the bread. He felt very bad, and so he poured out his sins and everything that was in him, saying to the Lord, “O Lord, I pour out all my displeasure, my self, my sins, and the world that is within me.” This was not a meditation in the mind but a receiving of the Lord into him. In that one hour of remembering the Lord by breaking bread, he enjoyed the Lord again. As a result, he became a different person.
BREAKING BREAD BEING TO PARTAKE OF THE LORD’S TABLE
The Bible tells us that when we break bread, we partake of the Lord’s table (1 Cor. 10:16-17, 21) and enjoy the Lord. When we invite people for a meal, we cannot serve ourselves as food. However, the Lord’s table is different. In the Lord’s table the Lord Himself is spread on the table. What is spread on the Lord’s table is the Lord Himself. In remembering the Lord we come to His table, and on this table His flesh and blood are displayed. Today Christianity has made the Lord’s table a religious matter, without the reality of Christ. However, when we come to the Lord’s table, we come to receive the Lord Himself. We empty ourselves so that the Lord can come in. In this one hour we enjoy the Lord by eating and drinking of Him. By the end we have received and enjoyed Him inwardly. As a result, the world and the flesh are gone.
To partake of the Lord’s table is to remember the Lord. Is there anyone who would attend a feast merely to observe and think but not to eat and drink? Everyone who attends a feast surely eats and drinks. Thus, if we really know what it is to remember the Lord, we will definitely eat and drink to our heart’s content at the Lord’s table. Then every time we remember the Lord, we will be able to say with boldness that all of our hunger and thirst are fully satisfied. When people ask us about what we are eating and drinking, we can tell them readily that we are eating and drinking the Lord Jesus. When we receive Him into us, He becomes our life and strength within, enabling us to love those whom we cannot love, to do what we cannot do, to be what we cannot be, and to live in a way that we cannot live. Then during the week He will be digested in us to become our everything, making us joyful and satisfied. This is to enjoy Christ and to receive the Lord.
I hope that our remembrance of the Lord will not be centered on meditating but will be based upon receiving. Every time we remember Him, may we eat Him, drink Him, and enjoy Him inwardly. Then may we take His riches back with us so that we will have Him as our satisfaction, joy, and supply. This is to remember the Lord.
(The Crucified Christ, Chapter 10, by Witness Lee)
