We need to be brought into love as the inner substance of God that we may enjoy His presence in the sweetness of the divine love and thereby love others as Christ did; when we love others with Christ as our love, even by becoming love in Christ, we build up the Body in love. Oh Lord!
Our daily Christian life with our Christian walk needs to be in love and light, in what God is as love and light. We believers in Christ have been saved by God not only from the world but also from the vain manner of life inherited from our parents.
The whole world lies in the evil one, and everyone walks in the vanity of their mind; they think they accomplish this and gain that, but actually it is all vanity.
Some may become a superstar while others may excel at this or that sport; it is all vanity, for these things are here today but are gone tomorrow.
If we love the world and the things in it, the love for the Father is not in us. But if we love the Father, we will not love the world.
When we see how much God loves us and what He did to show His love toward us, we will simply respond to Him in love, and we will allow His love to come into our hearts. God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which He has given to us (Rom. 5:5).
His love was not just given to us; He poured out His love into our hearts, and His love is continually flowing in us as we love the Lord and respond to Him in love. As we enjoy the Father’s love in Jesus Christ, we know and experience God as love, and our daily walk will be in love.
In this world today, hardly anyone walks in love and light; everyone walks in darkness. Even among us in the church life, who walks in light and love?
It is only when we turn to our spirit and go deeper with the Lord so that we enjoy God as love and light that we can have such a walk.
May we be saved from only knowing the doctrine of God being light and love, and may we be brought into a genuine and intimate knowledge of God and walk in love and light, even as He is love and light.
When we walk in love, we will care for the feeling of the Father, always checking with Him so that we please Him. God is our Father.
Yes, He is sovereign, He is almighty, and He is above all things; however, He is also our Father, and He shows His love toward us in Jesus Christ.
When we touch the Father’s love, we will respond to Him in love, enjoy His love, and express His love in our daily walk with the Lord.
Being Brought into Love as the Inner Substance of God and Love others as Christ did
The book of Ephesians speaks of the church; it gives us the highest and deepest revelation of the church. However, one other thing revealed throughout this book is love; the goal of Ephesians is to bring us into love as the inner substance of God.
God wants to bring us into love as the inner substance of God so that we may enjoy God’s presence in the sweetness of the divine love and thereby love others even as Christ did (Eph. 5:25).
Paul’s goal in writing the book of Ephesians was not only to unveil the church so that we may see its many wonderful aspects but even more, to bring us into love, the inner substance of God.
Today the Lord is interceding and praying for us all to be brought out of ourselves and into the inner substance of God so that we may simply enjoy the sweetness of the divine love.
In the condition and atmosphere of love, we are saturated with God to be holy and without blemish before Him (Eph. 1:4). God loves us and we love Him. He chose us in love.
In this atmosphere of love, we believers in Christ as God’s chosen ones are saturated with God so that we may be holy and without blemish before Him.
We are not sanctified merely in an outward way by having many things removed from us or merely by God disciplining us; we are made holy and without blemish in love.
When we see how much God loves us, we are inspired to love Him in return. In such a sweet and tender atmosphere of love, we are saturated with God so that we may be just like He is, holy and without blemish.
What a wonderful situation this is, where we love God and God loves us, and we are transformed into the image of Christ by being saturated with God!
The love in which we are rooted for growth and grounded for building is the divine love realised and experienced by us in a practical way (Eph. 3:17).
We are rooted and grounded in love.
On the one hand, we have faith in order to experience Christ, for faith enables us to apprehend Christ. On the other hand, we have love, which enables us to enjoy Him.
Neither faith nor love are ours; they do not originate with us but rather, they are His.
Faith is of Christ; His faith becomes our faith by which we believe in Him. Love is of God; His love becomes our love by which we love Him.
For us to experience Christ, we need both faith and love (1 Tim. 1:4). May we realise that we have been rooted and grounded in love, and may we experience this love in a practical way.
When we allow the Lord to root us and ground us in His love, we will love the Lord and love one another with this love.
Also, in this love we grow in life and are built up in life. The love of Christ is Christ Himself; this love is immeasurable and knowledge-surpassing, yet we can know it by experiencing it (Eph. 3:19). Wow!
On one hand, the love of Christ is immeasurable and is beyond our capacity to understand it; on the other hand, we can know the love of Christ by experiencing it.
![With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing one another in love...But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ, Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and [through] the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love. Eph. 4:2, 15-16](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/With-all-lowliness-and-meekness-with-long-suffering-bearing-one-another-in-love-1.jpg?resize=400%2C500&ssl=1 "With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing one another in love...But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ, Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and [through] the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love. Eph. 4:2, 15-16")
We can ask the Lord daily to make His home in our hearts through faith, as He strengthens us into our inner man according to the riches of His glory and through His Spirit, so that we may apprehend with all the saints the universally rich dimensions of Christ and know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ.
This is not something for us to merely understand, but even more, to apprehend in our experience by experiencing the love of Christ.
The Lord wants to guide us as the Spirit of reality into the reality of this matter in our experience for the building up of the church in love.
In the love of God in Christ, we hold to truth, that is, we hold to Christ with His Body (Eph. 4:15).
We have the truth, we love the truth, we get into the truth, and we hold to truth; we hold to truth in love.
If we only hold to truth without love, we may become a very knowledgeable brother or sister, but we will separate ourselves from others, for there’s no love; knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
May we love the Lord and love one another with Christ as our love.
The Body of Christ builds itself up in love (Eph. 4:16); the most excellent way to do anything and be anything in the church life today is love.
Everything in God’s economy is in love; everything we do in the church life should be in love. The best – even the most excellent way – for us to do anything or be anything in the church is love.
Lord Jesus, bring us into love as the inner substance of God so that we may enjoy God’s presence and love others as Christ did! Amen, Lord, may we be brought into the inner substance of God, into love itself, so that we may enjoy God’s presence in the sweetness of the divine love and love others with Christ as our love. We praise You, Lord, for calling us, choosing us, and marking us out. Hallelujah, in the condition and atmosphere of love, we are saturated with God to be holy and without blemish before Him! Keep us here, dear Lord, in the atmosphere of love. We love You and You love us. We want to remain in love with You and toward You. Root us and ground us in Your love for the building. May the divine love be realised and experienced by us in a practical way today. Oh, how we long to know the love of Christ, which is Christ Himself, by experiencing it! Hallelujah, the love of Christ is immeasurable and knowledge-surpassing, yet we can know it by experiencing it! Amen, Lord, may we hold to truth in love! May we do all things in love in the church life, taking the most excellent way to build up the church!
Loving the Saints, Loving the Lord in Incorruptibility and Becoming Love Itself
What does it mean that the Body of Christ builds itself up in love (Eph. 4:16)? It seems that everything God does toward us, in us, and with us is in love.
In love, this phrase, is repeated many times in Ephesians (Eph. 1:4; 3:17; 4:2, 15-16; 5:2). From His predestination, which was in love, to the building up of the church, which is in love, everything is in love.
We may know a lot of things, even be constituted with the high peak of the divine revelation in God’s word, but if we don’t have love, all we have is just knowledge, and we do not build up the Body. Oh Lord Jesus!
May we grow in life in love. May we hold to truth in love. May we do all things in love.
When someone is weak, we are also weak with them so that, in love, we may gain the weak (1 Cor. 9:22).
When someone is down and out, when they are backsliding, we need to burn for them, pray for them, and love them, for the Lord loves them. This is to love others with Christ as love, even to become love itself, for God is love.
We shouldn’t consider that others are weak but we’re not weak; this is not love.
In love, we cover others, we care for them, and we do all things so that others may be gained by the Lord.
Love is the most excellent way for us to be anything and to do anything for the building up of the Body of Christ.
The building up of the Body of Christ takes place in love. Unless we walk in love, being brought by God into the inner substance of God as love to love God and love man with Christ as love, we cannot build up the church as the Body of Christ.
At the end of his epistle to the Ephesians, Paul said, Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruptibility (Eph. 6:24).
When we love the Lord in incorruptibility, the grace of the Lord Jesus is with us.
Our God is incorruptible (1 Tim. 1:17), and Christ nullified death and brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel (2 Tim. 1:10). In resurrection the corruptible things will become incorruptible (1 Cor. 15:50-53).
This means that we need to love the Lord not with our natural love but in resurrection, in the new creation.
To love the Lord in incorruptibility is to love the Lord in the new creation, in resurrection. We can testify that, when we try to love the Lord, our love for Him fades over time and fails. We need to love the Lord in the new creation, in resurrection.
We need to exercise our spirit of love, for God gave us a spirit of power and of love and of sobermindedness (2 Tim. 1:7).
Love is in our spirit, for the love of God is Christ Himself in our spirit. It is only when we live in our spirit and do all things in spirit that we love God, we love the saints, we love the Lord Jesus in incorruptibility, and we love all men with Christ as love.
The whole creation is groaning under the slavery of corruption (Rom. 8:21-22); everything of the old creation is corrupting, but the new creation is not corrupting.
May we exercise our spirit and remain in our spirit, even live in the mingled spirit, so that we may love the Lord in incorruptibility and love others with Christ as our love.
As those who have been regenerated by God to become part of the species of God, we the children of God should be love because God is love (1 John 4:8, 16).
We are becoming the same as God in life and in nature, we also should become love.
He is making us the same as He is in this aspect of love, from pouring out His love in our hearts, having His love in us, perfecting us in His love, doing all things in us in love, until we become the same as God as love.
Lord Jesus, we want to take the way of love today, the most excellent way to build up the church as the Body of Christ. We open to You, dear Lord; pour out Yourself as love into us and fill us with Yourself as love. May we do everything in love and with Christ as our love. We love You, Lord, in incorruptibility. We exercise our spirit of love to love You not in the old creation, which is corruptible, but in the new creation! Hallelujah, our spirit is a spirit of love! Praise the Lord, we are a new creation, and we love the Lord in the new creation! Hallelujah, we have been regenerated to become God’s species, and we are becoming love, even as God is love! Amen, Lord, we fully open to You. Do in us what You need to do. Work Yourself into us. Perfect us in Your love. Build us up in love. Make us the same as You are in life and nature so that we may become love! Oh, may love prevail in the church life today!
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 Ron Kangas in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 503-504, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (2) (2024 December Training), week 23 (msg. 11), The Children of God Walking in Love and Light.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– A summary of the exhortation in chapter five, a portion from, Life-Study of Ephesians, Chapter 61.
– What Does It Mean to Love God with All Your Heart? More via, Bibles for America blog.
– Loving the Lord and letting Him make His home in you, a portion from, Living Christ, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee.
– 1 Thessalonians (Program #11) – Encouragement for Faith, Love, and Hope, via, Bible study radio.
– Love, a portion from, Conclusion of the New Testament, The (Msgs. 079-098), Chapter 5, by Witness Lee.
– Testimony of the Lord’s Love, Grace, and Mercy, via, Living to Him.
– How to enjoy Christ as life, a portion from, The Experience of Christ as Life for the Building Up of the Church, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
– Definition of Love, a new song via, Hymnal.net.
– The way to receive and enjoy such a full salvation of God, a portion from, Life-Study of Isaiah, Chapter 47.
– His Mercy Reached Me, a testimony via, The Church in Dallas.
– The Genuine Ground of Oneness, Message 5: Enjoying Christ with God on the Ground of Oneness, video message via, LSM Youtube.
– Enjoying Christ as My Portion, a testimony via, The Church in Anaheim.
– Being Transformed by the Spirit into the Glory of New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog.
– Help to Build Up a Personal Relationship with Jesus Christ, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
– God’s need and God’s goal, book review via, Conversant Faith.
– The mystery of Christ and the church as revealed in Matthew and Revelation, article by Ron Kangas in, Affirmation and Critique. - Hymns on this topic:
– Father, long before creation, / Thou hadst chosen us in love; / And that love, so deep, so moving, / Draws us close to Christ above, / And will keep us, and will keep us, / Firmly fixed in Christ alone, / Firmly fixed in Christ alone. (Hymns #33 stanza 1)
– Jesus is getting us together, / Come and see the saints in one accord. / His love is knitting us together, / To the stature of the fullness of the Lord. / Thus with all saints we can apprehend / All the vast dimensions of God. / Knowing Christ’s love passes all we know, / We’re together filled to fullness with our God. (Hymns #1232 stanza 2 and chorus)
– By Thy Spirit daily strengthened / In the inner man with might, / I would know Thy love surpassing, / Know Thy breadth and length and height; / Ever of Thy riches taking, / Unto all Thy fulness filled, / Ever growing into manhood, / That Thy Body Thou may build. (Hymns #840 stanza 4)
About aGodMan
Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” pp. 124, 127
We need to be brought into love as the inner substance of God so that we may enjoy His presence in the sweetness of the divine love and thereby love others even as Christ did.
As we see God’s love and respond to it, we will be in an atmosphere and condition of love, we will be saturated with Him to be holy and without blemish before Him, and we will love others with God as our love.
It is in this love and by this love that we should do and be anything in the church life today.
The church as the bride is the top church life.
We need to know God as love & light so that we will be holy and without blemish before Him in love. We need Christ’s faith & love.
His faith enables us to receive & apprehend Him, and His love enables us to enjoy Him. Our growth in life is in love.
The top grace is with those who love the Lord with the incorruptibility of the new creation.
Love is the way, and love prevails, brother.
God first loved us, hallelujah! Then, this divine love inspires us to love Him in return. In such a condition and atmosphere of love, we are saturated with God to be holy and without blemish, just as He is.
In this love, a mutual love, God loves us, and we return this love to Him. It is in this kind of condition that we are being transformed. Under such a condition, we are being saturated with God (Eph.1:4).
God’s love in which we are rooted and grounded is the divine love realized and experienced by us in a practical way.
With such love, we love the Lord, and with that same love, we love one another. In such a love, we grow in life and are built up in life. Lord, do this in us!
Amen, brother!
Before the foundation of the world, God chose us in Christ to be holy and without blemish according to His love.
His faith and love have become ours by which we love Him, and we love one another.
Without such love we cannot be built up to be the Body of Christ.
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Eph. 1:4 footnote 7 on, in love, Recovery Version Bible
The outflow of love is shepherding. At the end of the Gospel of John, the Lord asked Peter, “Do you love Me?” When he answered yes, the Lord responded, “Shepherd My sheep.” A good shepherd lays down his soul life for the sheep—death works in him, but life in the sheep. This is the reality of the vision Jacob saw in Genesis 35: a pillar was set up, followed by the drink offering and the pouring of oil upon it.
It is the Lamb on the throne who shepherds. And if we are ever able to minister life to others, it is only because we ourselves have been shepherded along this way. Therefore, if the Lord seems to be leading you through suffering beyond the ordinary—if your path appears unusually difficult and His hand feels especially heavy upon you—interpret it in light of the ultimate purpose revealed throughout the entire book of God: that others might receive benefit, that others might enter into the eternal life through the way He is taking you, and that you, too, might have a share in this government of love.