THE WAY TO RECEIVE OF HIS FULLNESS
His fullness comes to us in two ways: by the Word and by the Spirit. We can liken this to electricity with its two wires, the antenna and the ground wire. The Spirit is the antenna, and the Word is the ground. These are the two lines that convey the heavenly electricity, which is Christ Himself, the life-giving Spirit. He is brought into the house, our being, by means of these two wires, the Spirit and the Word.
If you read the Gospel of John carefully, you will notice that at the beginning Christ is presented as the Word; then toward the end He becomes the Spirit (20:22). As the Word He is the ground wire; He came down to us. As the Spirit He is the antenna. These two, the Word and the Spirit, are brought together in John 6:63: “The words which I have spoken unto you are spirit and are life.” When the antenna and the ground wire become one, the electricity comes. When the Word and the Spirit are intertwined, Christ is conveyed into us.
How can we receive Christ? We must read the Word and touch the Spirit. Then we have both the antenna and the ground wire. This brings the heavenly electricity. With the Word as the ground wire and the Spirit as the antenna, all the riches of Christ will be transmitted to us.
This receiving is not once for all. It began when we believed in the Lord Jesus, receiving Him as our Savior. It should continue all day long, every day, along these two wires. I trust that by our considering the Gospel of John together in this way, your appetite for the Word has been stirred up. Several times every day come to the Word. Pray over it. Understand and receive it. Read it and love it.
STUDYING THE WORD
I hope we shall eventually have the whole New Testament in the Recovery Version. For the present you can study the books we have already finished. If you will use them, they will save you much time and effort. It has taken a great deal of research and many hours to compile them. We have checked interlinear translations, lexicons, concordances, and many other translations. By using the Recovery Version of the books we have completed, you will get all the benefit of our efforts. It will save you from studying too much on your own; studying is sometimes a frustration to the Spirit.
Especially read John, Romans, Hebrews, Ephesians, Colossians, and Revelation. Leave Matthew aside at first; that is a hard book. Besides your morning reading of a few verses, spend some other time to delve into these books. One way to study them is to notice the key words. In John, for example, pay attention to the word came. Then consider the word receive. Our receiving will last even to eternity, because we shall still have the water of life to drink and the tree of life to eat of.
AN ORGANIC RECEIVING
How do we receive this Triune God? It is first by believing into Him, then by drinking, eating, and breathing Him. Drinking and eating are the best ways to receive, but the fastest is by breathing. These are the three means of receiving what is organic. To accept something that is handed to you is not an organic receiving. But drinking, eating, and breathing are; they cause a metabolic change.
You must read the Word. You cannot drink without something to drink. You cannot eat without food. You cannot breathe if there is no air. The water, the food, and even the air are all in the Word. Come to the Word at least three times a day. You must build up this habit. As you get older, you will be grateful that you did.
MEETING TOGETHER
The Word will make you grow and experience the riches of Christ. Then you will be impelled into the church life. The word ecclesia, which we translate church, means a called-out congregation. Without meeting together or congregating there can be no church life. The more meetings we have, the better.
Our coming together is not just with ourselves. We come with Christ, with the growth in life, and with the experience of the riches of Christ. This will make our meetings living. Merely to shout “Praise the Lord!” may not help the meeting. From the Old Testament we can see that when the children of Israel gathered together, they brought a rich surplus of the produce of the good land. No one could appear there empty-handed (Deut. 16:16). It was not sufficient simply to shout. Of course, they did come singing the psalms of blessing, but singing was not the main factor. They had to bring a surplus of their produce.
For us this means that we come to the meetings with the riches of Christ. How full our meeting will be depends on how much we have experienced Him. Our experience of Christ is dependent upon our daily eating of the Word. The Word is our source. Eating of it regularly is basic. Our Christian life and the church life both stem from our being in the Word. If we practice this in a thorough way, every one of us will be a shining light. When we meet together, the church will be strong.
(Life Messages, Vol. 2 (#42-75), Chapter 3, by Witness Lee)
