Being Joined in Soul to both Experience Christ in Spirit and Enjoy Him in our Soul

It is possible for us to have the experience of Christ without the enjoyment of Christ, that is, it is possible that we experience Christ in spirit without enjoying Christ in our soul; the problem is our soul. Oh Lord Jesus!

Paul wrote the epistle to the Philippians to help the believers to not only experience Christ but also enjoy Christ; though he was in prison and the outward situation didn’t seem to improve, he rejoiced, he asked the believers to rejoice with him, and he was full of joy.

And he encouraged the saints to make his joy full that they would be with one spirit in one soul, being joined in soul; the saints had no problem in exercising their spirit and being one in spirit, but they had a problem with being one in the soul.

Our soul is always a problem; we can exercise our spirit and be one in spirit, but are we joined in soul with the saints? Do we think the same thing, the one thing?

In Philippians Paul says that we should think the one thing, which is the experience and enjoyment of Christ. If we would be aligned with this one thing and speak it, enjoy it, and think it, we will be joined in soul.

We have been regenerated in our spirit, but we need to go further and be transformed in our soul. Christ has come into our spirit, but He needs to spread into our soul to saturate and transform our soul; then, our soul will be transformed, and we can be one in soul.

Transformation in soul is a personal matter; we need to personally cooperate with the Lord to be transformed in our mind, emotion, and will.

If we are not one in our thoughts, affections, and decisions with the saints, then we are not with one soul, and as long as we are not one in soul, we are not in the fellowship unto the furtherance of the gospel.

When we are not one in soul, our conduct is not worthy of the gospel. May we pay the price to be transformed; may we behold the Lord with an unveiled face so that we may be transformed into His image, and may we be transformed by the renewing of our mind.

When we are in one spirit with one soul, our oneness will be convincing, subduing, and attractive, and others will spontaneously believe into the Lord, as we enjoy and experience Him.

Being those who not only Experience Christ in their Spirit but also Enjoy Him in their Soul

Strictly speaking, the book of Philippians is not only on the experience of Christ but also on the enjoyment of Christ.

On one hand Paul encouraged the saints to pursue Him, experience Him, and know Him, and on the other, he encouraged them to be one in soul, rejoice in the Lord, rejoice with him, and make his joy full (see Phil. 1:4, 18, 25; 2:2, 17-18, 28-29; 3:1; 4:1, 4).

When Paul wrote this book he was in prison, and he knew it was toward the end of his course on earth; however, he still rejoiced in the Lord, encouraged the saints to rejoice, and he was full of joy and rejoicing, even considering the saints with joy and thinking of them as being his joy.

However, it is possible that in the church life we would have a “low-grade depression”, something that is not manifested in problems and divisions outwardly but it is not hot for the Lord.

Even in the world today, such a low-grade depression is very hard to detect and therefore hard to deal with. In the church life we may still read the Bible and the ministry, and we may be in the meetings of the church, but our joy may be missing, and we may not enjoy the Lord in our soul.

We may not be “sick” but there’s no happiness among the saints; we may experience Christ in our spirit but not enjoy Him in our soul.

We should hate such a low-grade depression and pray that the church life would be filled with joy and rejoicing, for this is a sign of enjoying Christ.

The apostle Paul had every right to be depressed – not only low-grade depression but even high-grade depression, but he rejoiced, he enjoyed the Lord in his soul, and he experienced Christ in his spirit.

The experience of Christ is primarily in our spirit, but the enjoyment of Christ is in our soul.

To illustrate the difference between experiencing Christ and enjoying Christ we can look at the children: many times they have to eat their vegetables because their parents want them to, but they may not enjoy their vegetables.

Many times we are like the children, we are forced to experience Christ in our spirit but we do not enjoy Christ in our soul. We may eat Christ by “holding our nose” but we do not rejoice. Oh Lord Jesus!

May we be those who not only experience Christ in our spirit but also enjoy Him in our soul! May we cooperate with the Lord that He would transform our soul and give us a taste for the enjoyment of Christ.

May we be those who are rejoicing in the Lord always – even when we don’t have a reason outwardly to rejoice, even when we pass through sufferings and troubles, and even when we are in pain and suffer loss.

Rejoicing in the Lord has nothing to do with our environment, and the enjoyment of Christ in the soul has no source in what is happening to us. We need to both exercise our spirit to experience Christ, and also cooperate with the Lord to be transformed in our soul so that we may enjoy Christ.

Lord Jesus, we want to experience You in our spirit and also enjoy You in our soul. Save us from having a low-grade depression in the church life by living a life of grudgingly experiencing Christ in our spirit but not enjoying Christ in our soul. May our experience of Christ be accompanied by our enjoyment of Christ. Amen, Lord, make us those who rejoice in the Lord always – even when we don’t have a reason to rejoice, and even when we don’t feel like rejoicing. Amen, Lord Jesus, You are our enjoyment!

Being Joined in Soul to both Experience Christ in Spirit and Enjoy Him in our Soul

When we first touched the Lord, when we were revived by Him, and when we touched the ministry and came into the church life, everything was wonderful; the saints were wonderful, the word was enjoyable, and we rejoiced in the Lord.

The joy of salvation accompanied our believing into the Lord, our being revived by Him, our touching the ministry, and our coming into the church life.

However, as we go on with the Lord, as we meet with the saints, and as we get used to being in the meetings and in the word of God, there’s a danger of losing our enjoyment, that is, losing the joy, the rejoicing, the enjoyment in the soul in the word of God and in the church.

We may go to the meetings, we may read the Bible according to a schedule, we may even read and digest a lot of the ministry books, but we may have no enjoyment of Christ in our soul.

Rather, we may experience Christ in our spirit and not enjoy it in our soul, and we may know that the Lord is dealing with us in this or that respect and not be happy about it in our soul.

We may just cruise along with the saints in the meetings, and we may seek some inspiration from the Lord as we come to the word and the meetings, but get none. Oh Lord Jesus! There’s a real danger of losing our enjoyment of the Lord in our soul, because our soul has so many problems and issues.

We may be too much in our emotion, we may be stubborn in our will, or we may be always wandering in our mind, so the Lord has no way to break through in us.

We may be so occupied with the things of the world, we may be so busy with our family and the necessities of life, and our hobbies may take a lot of our time. Oh Lord Jesus…the reason many lose their enjoyment of Christ is because they have a problem in their soul.

Outwardly there may be no problem, for they don’t miss the meetings, they don’t skip the Bible reading, and they don’t have a negative attitude toward the saints or the church, but inwardly there’s no enjoyment of the Lord in the soul.

Rather, they may fulfill their Christian duty and even go out and preach the gospel with the saints, singing and praising the Lord, but there’s no enjoyment in the soul.

The reason is that our soul is not transformed, we don’t cooperate with the Lord in our soul, and we are not one in soul.

The reason we do not have much enjoyment of Christ is because we are not one in soul; our emotions and our thoughts differ from those of the others, and we desire, think, and will things that are not the one thing.

What is the one thing that we need to think and desire, the one thing that will make us one not only in spirit but also in our soul? It is the enjoyment and the experience of Christ.

In the book of Corinthians we see the problems of lawsuits, eating things offered to idols, divisions, fleshly things, and a lot of problems.

In the book of Philippians, however, what we see is an orderly church that takes care of the apostle and participates in the gospel, but they were not joined in soul; rather, they argued, there was dissension in their thinking, and they were not joined in soul, so they were not rejoicing, for they lost their enjoyment of Christ. Oh Lord!

May we bring these matters to the Lord personally and corporately in prayer and tell Him,

Lord Jesus, save us from living our Christian life without the enjoyment of Christ. Save us from losing the enjoyment of Christ in our soul. Lord, we don’t want only to experience You in our spirit but also enjoy You in our soul. We open to You, Lord, and we give ourselves to You: You know what the problems in our soul are, and You know how little we are joined in soul with the saints. Lord, may we be joined in soul to think the one thing, the enjoyment and experience of Christ! Fill us with joy and rejoicing in Your word and in the meetings. May we rejoice in the Lord always, and may we never lose our enjoyment of Christ!

This article can also be read in the Romanian language / Citiți acest articol în limba română vizitând următorul link, Fiind uniți în suflet să-L experimentăm pe Cristos în duhul nostru și să-L savurăm în sufletul nostru.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, The Experience of Christ, ch. 4 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Experience of Christ (2019 Memorial Day Conference), week 1, The Intrinsic Significance of the Experience of Christ.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Our Christ is so enjoyable, / His life is so applicable; / He lives in us to cause the flow / To reach the world, His life to show. / Oh saints, don’t just sit idly by; / Rise up! Your gift do not despise; / Let’s eat and drink of this sweet Christ! / Let’s enjoy Christ to reach the goal, / Partake of Him to beat the foe, / All His vast riches we extol, / Yes, we are freed from every woe! / We may not know a lot of things, / But we are kept from Satan’s stings / By eating Christ, and Christ alone! (Song on, Our Christ is so enjoyable)
  # We are washing all our robes the tree of life to eat; / “O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah!”—Jesus is so sweet! / We our spirits exercise, and thus experience Christ. / What a Christ have we! (Hymns #1151)
  # Splendid church life! His green garden! / He has brought us, praise the Lord, / To experience the Christ Who’s growing here! / He is full of rich enjoyment / To His saints in one accord; / He is new and fresh, available and dear. (Hymns #1237)