We believers in Christ need to bear a sign that we’re God’s people and that we need Him: we need to first rest with God, enjoy God, and be filled with God, even enter into the enjoyment of His accomplished work, and then work together with God, one with God, with Him as our strength to work and our energy to labour.
Oh Lord Jesus, may we be those who bear a sign that we are the Lord’s! Save us from being workers for God who do not spend time with God! Keep us coming to You, dear Lord, in all things and concerning all things! Fill us with the enjoyment of Christ. We give ourselves to You to just enjoy You so that we may be filled with You and do all things one with You! Amen!
Our God is amazing; He not only created all things and also man, but He has a principle in His creation and in His work. His divine principle is that He will never require man to work for God before man enjoys God and is filled with God. Wow!
Many Christians today work for God, and so many Christian workers do great works for the Lord until one point, when they are burned out or when they are too tired.
It is not that difficult to be zealous for God, do things for God, and perform before others in such a way that they think you are doing something for God; what is not easy, however, is to stop and enjoy God.
In Genesis 1-2 we see how God created all things in heaven and on earth, and on the sixth day He created man; then, after man was created, God rested and was refreshed.
When God obtained a man in His image and with His likeness, a man who can express Him in His image and represent Him with His authority, God was satisfied, so He rested.
Man was like a refreshing drink to God, quenching God’s thirst and satisfying Him.
When man was created, he didn’t start toiling on the ground to till the ground and bring forth fruit; rather, he first entered into God’s rest.
Oh, this is a divine principle in our Christian life today, and we should keep this principle in both our daily living and our work for God!
May we not succumb to the temptation of just working for God, for we are burdened, we have zeal, we have some ability, and we see so many needs in the church life!
May we first stop and enjoy God, and then may we work one with God!
This principle is so important that we need to spend more time to prayerfully consider it so that it is instilled in us and becomes something that governs our daily living and our work for the Lord.
Being Filled with Christ as the Heavenly Wine to be One with God in His Work!
A very good example of keeping the principle of the Sabbath in the New Testament is what happened on the day of Pentecost.
The Lord Jesus told His disciples that He is going to the Father, and He will send another Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to be with them, even to be in them, and He will guide them in all things.
So He spent forty days with His disciples after His resurrection to train them to live in His invisible presence.
Then, after His ascension, for ten days, the disciples were in the upper room, gathered together, simply praying and being in one accord. They were all there, with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and they were praying in one accord (Acts 1:14).
On the day of Pentecost, as they were praying in one accord, the Holy Spirit came and filled them not only inwardly but also outwardly.
The disciples were filled with the Spirit, for they were filled with the enjoyment of the Lord (Acts 2:4, 12-13).
Because they were filled with the Spirit, others thought that they were drunk with wine. Before they did any work for God, and they had to do a great work, the disciples first prayed themselves into the Spirit.
They were filled with Christ as the heavenly wine so that they may be one with God in His work!
When Peter stood with the eleven, he spoke, and they were all one with him; actually, it was the Holy Spirit speaking and doing works through him, for he was one with God in His work.
This is how the New Testament ministry of the apostles began; it began not with them studying the Bible or going to preach the gospel everywhere after Jesus resurrected, but with them being filled with Christ as the heavenly wine.
They first had to stop their being and wait on the Lord, so they prayed and prayed and prayed until they were filled with the enjoyment of the Lord.
Because they were filled with the Spirit, others thought that they were drunk with wine.
Of course, they were not drunk with earthly wine, but they were indeed drunk with the heavenly wine, Christ as the Spirit, and out of this filling they worked for God and with God. Wow, how about that? This is to keep the principle of the Sabbath in our Christian experience.
It is first to rest with God, enjoy God, and be filled with God, and then work with God, even work together with God in oneness with God.
This doesn’t mean that we need to literally come together for ten days and pray; it means that in our work for the Lord we need to stop our being and just enjoy the Lord until we are filled with Christ as the heavenly wine.
We need to be filled with the sweet divine wine of God until we overflow with God and do all things in oneness with God!
We need to be refreshed with the Spirit, even be filled with rest and refreshment in God’s presence, and then something overflows from us – that is our work. The disciples were filled with the enjoyment of the heavenly wine.
Only after we are filled with the enjoyment of God can we begin to work with God in oneness with Him.
When we are filled with the enjoyment of the heavenly wine, when we give ourselves to spend much time with the Lord until we’re filled with Him, we rest with Him, we are satisfied in Him, and we are refreshed.
Then, the Lord has a way to do things in us, within us, and through us, and we will simply be one with Him.
In Peter’s case, he stood up with the apostles to preach the gospel and thereby do a work for God, and they were all one with God. May this be our experience today in our Christian life and church life.
Lord Jesus, we come to You to enjoy You. Amen, Lord, we stop our being. We stop our doing. We simply wait on You. We come into Your presence to just enjoy You. We want to enjoy You thoroughly until we are filled with the enjoyment of Christ. Amen, Lord, fill us with Yourself as the heavenly wine! May we spend much time with You until we’re filled and saturated with Christ as the heavenly wine! Oh Lord, we love You! Fill us today. Saturate us. Fill us until we overflow with the riches of Christ. May there be an overflow of the inner life that fills us and saturates us. Amen, Lord, we want to first rest with You and then work and do things one with You. May we be so one with You that all we do and speak would be You flowing out through us! Oh Lord, we want to be one with You in Your work. We don’t want to initiate any work; we simply join You in Your work, one with You! Flow into us, flow within us, and flow out through us to accomplish Your work through us! Amen!
Bear a Sign that we are God’s People who Need Him and Enjoy Him and then Work with Him
In Exodus 31:13 the Lord said that the Sabbath is a sign that His people belong to Him, and by keeping His Sabbaths, we may know that He is Jehovah who sanctifies us. Wow, when we keep the principle of the Sabbath, we bear a sign that we are God’s people, and we are sanctified!
This does not mean that we need to keep the day of Saturday as the Sabbath; this is in the spiritual realm, for the Lord is not after anything that is outward but after the inward reality.
As we cooperate with the Lord to do the work of building up the church – typified by the work to build the tabernacle in the Old Testament – we must bear a sign to indicate that we are God’s people and that we need Him. Oh, we need the Lord!
There is a lot to do, there are many works to be done, and there are many practical matters to be taken care of; in all these things, in our work for the Lord, may we bear the sign that we’re God’s people who need Him and enjoy Him and then work with Him!
We must bear a sign to indicate that we are God’s people and that we need Him; then, we will be able to work not only for God but also with God by being one with God.
We need God. We need to be filled with Christ as the heavenly wine. We need to rest and be satisfied with God.
First of all, we need to enjoy God and be filled with the enjoyment of God. Then, we will be able to work not only for God but also with God by being one with God!
Amen, when we’re filled with God, when we need God and enjoy God, we will work with God by being one with God!
He will be our strength to work and our energy to labour. May we bear the sign that we are God’s people by keeping the principle of the Sabbath.
We are God’s people, and we should bear a sign that we need Him to be our everything.
As God’s people, we should bear a sign that we need Him to be our enjoyment, strength, energy, and everything so that we may be able to work for Him to honour Him and glorify Him.
We want to work for God and please God, but first of all, we realise our need for God. We need Him to be our enjoyment, our strength, and our everything.
So we turn to Him. We eat Him so that we may live because of Him (John 6:57). We don’t react by jumping into work for God and do things for God; we first enjoy God, for we need Him as our everything.
The Sabbath rest means that, before we work for God, we need to enjoy God and be filled with Him (Heb. 4:9-11; Psa. 127:1-2; Eph. 5:18-20; Col. 1:9-10; John 15:4-5).
We need to be infilled with the Spirit, the processed and consummated Triune God.
This is the principle we see from the very beginning, from Genesis, when God created man. God created everything for man – He stretched forth the heavens, laid the foundations of the earth, and created all things needed for man’s existence.
Then, on the sixth day, He created man in His image and according to His likeness, and man entered into God’s rest.
God put man in a garden, the garden of Eden, which was planted by God Himself (Gen. 2:15); man was to rest, enjoy God, fellowship with God, and be satisfied with God.
Man’s first day was not a day of tilling the ground or labouring to please God or feed himself; it was a day of rest with God.
In our Christian life and church life, as we serve the Lord and live the Christian life, we need to remain in the cycle of first enjoying God first of all so that we may be filled with God, and then working one with God as we work for God.
The Sabbath means that, before we work for God, we need to enjoy God and be filled with God.
Just as Peter on the day of Pentecost, he didn’t just speak from what he remembered from the Lord or from what he read in the Bible, but he was first filled with God and preached the gospel by the infilling God!
We need to have the infilling Spirit and bear a sign that we are God’s co-worker, and then our gospel preaching will be an honour and glory to God.
God may reveal to us the design of His house, the needs in His house, and the work that we need to do for Him and in Him.
Before we do anything, we need to bear the sign that we are God’s people by being filled with God! Amen!
In our speaking to God’s people and to the sinners around us, may we always bear a sign that the Lord is our strength, our energy, and our everything for ministering the word (2 Cor. 13:3; Acts 6:4).
We want to be one with Him, we are His people, and we take Him as our enjoyment, strength, and energy. We need Him as our everything so that we may be able to work for Him. In this way, we honour Him and glorify Him.
This is something we need to bring to the Lord in prayer, opening to Him again and again, so that He may work this out in us and we would be His people, bearing a sign that we depend on Him and need Him!
Lord Jesus, may we bear a sign to indicate that we are God’s people and that we need God! Amen, Lord, we need You. We come to You. We can’t do it. We can’t be it. We just open to You. We need You as our enjoyment, our strength, our energy, and our everything! Amen, Lord, we come to You and we take You as our everything, for we need You! Fill us, Lord! Fill us with Yourself. Saturate us. May we be filled with the enjoyment of the Triune God to the point that we work for God by being one with God and by having God as our energy and strength! Amen, Lord, we rest with You. We enjoy You. We want to be filled with You. We want to first enjoy God and be filled with God, and then we can work with the very One who fills us! Amen, Lord, we seek the infilling of the Spirit! Fill us, Lord Jesus, as the heavenly wine! Fill us to the brim! May our gospel preaching and our speaking to others be the overflow of the infilling Christ! May our work for the Lord be an honour and glory to God! Amen!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Minoru Chan on this topic, and portions from, Life-study of Exodus, msg. 172 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The All-inclusive Christ as Revealed in Matthew (2025 Thanksgiving Blending Conference), week 5, Christ as the One Who Gives Us Rest – day 5.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Jesus! I am resting, resting / In the joy of what Thou art; / I am finding out the greatness / Of Thy loving heart. / Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee, / And Thy beauty fills my soul, / For, by Thy transforming power, / Thou hast made me whole. / Jesus! I am resting, resting / In the joy of what Thou art; / I am finding out the greatness / Of Thy loving heart. (Hymns #579 stanza 1 and chorus)
– The overflow of life is work, / The work should be our living! / What we experience e’er should be / The message we are giving. / When living and the work are one, / The work will be effectual; / When message and the life are one, / The word will be successful. / The work must be the fruit of life, / Born thru the Spirit’s flowing; / As branches of the Lord, the vine, / Fruit bearing, life bestowing. / ’Tis Christ Himself thru us to work, / Himself as life expressing, / And all the riches of His life / To others manifesting. (Hymns #910 stanzas 1-2)
– “Be all at rest, my soul!” Oh! blessed secret / Of the true life that glorifies thy Lord; / Not always doth the busiest soul best serve Him, / But he who resteth on His faithful word. / “Be all at rest!” for rest is highest service; / To the still heart God doth His secrets tell; / Thus shalt thou learn to wait, and watch, and labor, / Strengthened to bear, since Christ in thee doth dwell. (Hymns #654 stanzas 1-2)
