Praise the Lord, grace is God wrought into us to live in us and do everything in us!
The grace of God which operates in us is not some matter or some thing but a living person, the resurrected Christ who dwells in us to be our everything so that we are what we are by the grace of God, and we labor yet not us but the grace of God which is with us; we can do all things in Him who empowers us. Hallelujah!
Paul was a pattern of a person to whom the grace of God did not turn out to be in vain.
The grace of God is with our spirit, always ready and available for us to receive, enjoy, and experience; however, many times we still try to do things in and by ourselves, and we do not appropriate the grace of God.
It’s as if we had a very nice meal set up before us, but we are fussy and say that we’re not hungry; the nice food is right there, in front of us, but we lack appetite, so we don’t benefit of it.
God in Christ went through a process to become the life-giving Spirit; He has been installed in our being to be the grace of God with our spirit.
But many times the grace of God unto us is in vain, for we don’t access this grace, we don’t enjoy grace, and we don’t live and experience grace.
Paul testified that the grace of God did not turn out to be in vain to him but rather, he labored more abundantly than others, yet it was not him but the grace of God.
The grace of God was enjoyed by Paul to such an extent that he was what he was by the grace of God, and it was not him who labored – even though he labored more abundantly than all the others – but the grace of God which was with him.
Today the all-inclusive Christ as the life-giving Spirit is with our spirit, but we may not access and appropriate the grace of God in our daily living.
How much of our daily living is under the divine dispensing? How much do we remain in our mingled spirit, touching the throne of grace and receiving mercy and grace from the Lord for our timely help?
We need to admit that, from time to time, we may contact the Lord, and especially when we need Him, we are more desperate to come to Him, but we are still in need of much more grace.
If we see how important is the grace of God with our spirit for our daily living, if we realize that the grace of God is God in Christ as the Spirit to be our everything, to be wrought into us, and to do everything in us and for us, we will give up our struggling and striving, and we will simply enjoy the grace of God!
The grace of God is with our spirit, but this grace is not manifested until we live by the grace of God and we are by the grace of God; then, the grace of God is seen in us and manifested through us.
The Grace of God Motivating us is the Resurrected Christ as the Spirit Dwelling in us as our Everything
1 Cor. 15:10 is Paul’s testimony that he was what he was by the grace of God and it was not him who labored but the grace of God which was with him.
This grace that motivated Paul and operated in him was not some matter or some thing that God gave him; it was a living person, the resurrected Christ Himself, who dwelt in the apostle to be his everything.
In other words, Paul exercised his spirit and touched the throne of grace, and out of this throne grace as a river flowed until his whole being was filled with grace and there was an overflow of grace (Heb. 4:16; Rev. 22:1-2).
The resurrected Christ – the embodiment of God the Father who became the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit – dwells in us to be our everything.
The resurrected Christ as the Spirit dwells in us to be the grace with our spirit motivating us to do everything and be what we are.
When we exercise our spirit and contact this One, we can declare one with Paul, I am able to do all things in Him who empowers me.
Christ is in us not merely to dwell in our spirit but also to work in us, live in us, and move in us, and when we cooperate with Him by enjoying Him as grace with our spirit, He lives in us and empowers us to do all things.
The resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit lives in us and empowers us to do all things; it is in Him and by Him that we can live a life for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.
Grace is something of God wrought into our being to work in us and do things for us; grace is not something outward that God would give us or do for us, but a living person infused and wrought into us.
Because God has been wrought into Paul, he could become the foremost apostle; he used to be the foremost of sinners, but by the grace of God, he became the foremost apostle (1 Tim. 1:15-16).
It was not Paul, however, who did all things or labored, but it was the grace of God.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom Paul was the foremost; he was shown mercy, that in him Jesus Christ might display all His long-suffering for a pattern to those who are to believe on Him unto eternal life.
We can testify together with Paul that we were sinners, but God showed us mercy; now we are put in the right position to enjoy grace and live by this grace so that the grace of God would motivate us to live a life for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.
The more we enjoy God as grace, the more we partake of the resurrected Christ as the Spirit dwelling us as our everything, and the more our daily living is by the grace of God and the grace of God is manifested in us.
We can experience Christ subjectively; when we see Him in the word and in fellowship with the Lord and with the saints, we enter into Him and He becomes the subjective One in us.
It is this One, this life-giving Spirit in our spirit who is contacted, received, enjoyed, and experienced by us, that motivates us to live one with the Lord to the point that it is not us but the grace of God, and we labor for the Lord but not in ourselves but the grace of God which is with us.
Thank You, Lord Jesus, for coming into us as the life-giving Spirit to become the motivating factor for us to live one with the Lord a life for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. We love You, dear Lord Jesus, and we open to You. We open to Your divine dispensing. Keep us in touch with You; keep us in the organic union with You so that we may be able to do all things in the One who lives in us and empowers us. Amen, Lord Jesus, in You we can do all things, and in the organic union with You, we can live a life for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ. Live in us today, Lord, as we enjoy and experience the grace of God with our spirit!
Grace is God Wrought into us to Live in us – we are what we are by the Grace of God
It is very interesting to see in 1 Cor. 15:10 that Paul doesn’t say that by the grace of God he has what he has or that it is by the grace of God that he does what he does.
Grace is not something that God gives us or does for us; grace is something of God Himself wrought into our being to live in us, work in us, and do things for us.
It’s not a matter of doing, having, or working; it’s all about our being, what we are in our being.
The grace of God lives in us to cause God to be wrought into our being so that we are what we are by the grace of God.
God Himself in Christ, the divine person, is wrought into our being to be the very constituent of our being; the result is that we are what we are by the grace of God.
This was Paul’s experience and the experience of many servants of the Lord who were used by Him, and this should be our experience also in our Christian life today.
We need to enjoy and experience the grace of God, which is the Triune God wrought into our being to be what we should be and to live, work, and do things for us until we can declare like Paul, I am what I am by the grace of God; it is not I but the grace of God.
In ourselves and by ourselves we cannot do anything and we cannot be anything, but by the grace of God we can do all things and we can labor even more abundantly, yet not us but the grace of God.
This is really amazing; this is what it means to live by the grace of God and in the grace of God. God wants to be everything to us in a practical way, so He went through a process to become the life-giving Spirit with our spirit, the very grace of God with our spirit.
Now He is eternal life as our supply and support for the carrying out of God’s New Testament economy.
If we go through sufferings, His grace is sufficient for us (2 Cor. 12:9). If we are persecuted and be opposed, if we suffer and are heavily burdened, we can contact Him and enjoy the grace of God with our spirit.
The more we contact the Lord and enjoy Him, the more we will be what we are by the grace of God, and our labor will not be in ourselves but in the grace of God, for the grace will do everything in us, grace will work in us, and grace will live in us.
If the work we are doing for the Lord seems to be so hard and burdensome, we need to stop and contact the Lord; He as grace is with our spirit, and it is the grace of God who should work in us and through us, not us laboring in ourselves.
The grace of God, the resurrected Christ who lives in us, should be the One working; we simply coordinate with the One living in us.
Who can bear the burden of the churches? Who can carry out the Lord’s work? Who can care for all the saints?
Who can meet all the needs of the saints in the church life? Who can arrange all the practical matters related to our meeting together, fellowship together, and blending?
It is not someone with a great capacity and ability nor is it a core group of brothers and sisters who usually do that. No, it is the grace of God.
In the church life, we need to enjoy the grace of God and experience the resurrected Christ as grace until we are what we are by the grace of God, and we labor yet not us but the grace of God which is with us.
When the grace of God does everything in us and through us, the burden is easy and the work is pleasant, for it’s not us who bear the burden nor do the work but the grace of God.
What amazing grace! This grace is the incarnated, crucified, resurrected Christ becoming the life-giving Spirit to enter into us, to indwell us, and to be our life and life supply.
This grace in us does everything and works everything, while we cooperate with Him simply by enjoying the grace of God with our spirit.
May we be top enjoyers of the grace of God, enjoying the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit with our spirit day by day and even moment-by-moment until we are what we are by the grace of God and we labor abundantly, yet not us, but the grace of God which is with us.
Lord Jesus, work Yourself into us until You become the very constituent of our being. We open to You and we come to You in spirit to enjoy the grace of God with our spirit. Amen, Lord, may the Triune God be wrought into our being to be what we should be and to live, work, and do everything in us. Become our everything, Lord, and do everything in us. We simply want to coordinate with the grace of God with our spirit until we are what we are by the grace of God, and it is not us but the grace who lives and does everything. Amen, Lord, we trust not in ourselves, in our zeal for the Lord or our capacity to do things; we trust in the grace of God who enables us to live Christ and to labor. We come to You, again and again, Lord, to enjoy You as the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit with our spirit, our supply and support for the carrying out of God’s New Testament economy!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers on this message, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament (pp. 3175-3177), by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Grace of God in the Economy of God (2022 International Chinese-speaking Conference), week 2, entitled, Experiencing the Grace of God in the Economy of God.
- Hymns on this topic:
– It is this grace-Christ as our inward strength- / Which with His all-sufficiency doth fill; / It is this grace which in our spirit is, / There energizing, working out God’s will. / This grace, which is the living Christ Himself, / Is what we need and must experience; / Lord, may we know this grace and by it live, / Thyself increasingly as grace to sense. (Hymns #497)
– All sufficient grace! / Never powerless! / It is Christ who lives in me, / In His exhaustlessness. (Hymns #312)
– In the holiest place, live before His face, / Light of glory thru me will shine; / In the holiest place, live before His face, / Light of glory thru me will shine. / In the holiest place, touch the throne of grace, / Grace as a river shall flow; / In the holiest place, touch the throne of grace, / Grace as a river shall flow. (Hymns #770)
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