The Christ who is our pattern is also the life within us, and when we live Christ, we live the One who is the pattern of a crucified life, and we ourselves live a crucified life; may take Christ’s mind as our mind and be open to let “this mind” also be in us today.
Amen, Lord, You are our pattern! You are our life! We want to live Christ today! May Your mind be in us! Amen!
Our dear Lord Jesus is the most wonderful person in the universe. Just read the Gospels and also the entire New Testament, and you will be captivated by this wonderful One.
The kind of life He lived, the words He spoke, His attitude, and His entire being were so wonderful, so aromatic, and so precious.
There was never such a person who lived on the earth until Him, nor was there any other after Him. He was God Himself who became man, but He did not consider being equal with God a treasure to be grasped.
At certain times, He did acknowledge to those around Him that He and the Father are one, and whoever has seen Him has seen the Father; however, He did not make a big deal out of it. Rather, what stood out at Him is that He emptied Himself and humbled Himself.
He emptied Himself of the outward form of splendour and expression of divinity. He was willing to be emptied and humbled, and He took a lower form, becoming in the likeness of men.
He even became a slave, a lowly slave to serve God and to serve us for God. Here was the Creator of the universe, the One who created all things and the very means by which the universe came into being, yet He humbled Himself and emptied Himself. This is quite amazing.
What kind of God is this? What kind of man is this? This was Jesus Christ, the God-man, who emptied Himself, humbled Himself, and was obedient to God.
He was so obedient to God that He was willing to go to death, and that the death of a cross.
If we think that things and people are not fair to us today, that we are mistreated and unfairly dealt with by others, just consider the Lord Jesus: He was the most misunderstood and mistreated person in the history of mankind!
Yet He did it willingly, and now He is our pattern. After humbling Himself to the uttermost and being obedient to death to God the Father, He was uplifted by God to the uttermost, and now He is our pattern.
He’s our pattern not only in the heavens, up there far away from us; He is our inward pattern, even our very life.
He now can live the same kind of life in us so that we may live a crucified life, and we can have Christ’s mind be our mind today.
Christ as our Pattern is the Life within us for us to Live a Crucified Life by the Power of His Resurrection
Thank the Lord for being our pattern! He is not only our pattern outside of us but even more, the Christ who is our pattern is now the life within us (Col. 3:4).
Christ is our life. This is how we can live the same kind of life that He lived, because He is our pattern and also our life.
Because we have Christ as our life, we can empty ourselves and humble ourselves as He did. We can live the same way He lived not based on our natural human life; the source is the indwelling Christ as our life.
The pattern presented in Philippians 2:5-8 is now our life, and He lives in us a crucified life today. We have a life in us that is a self-emptying and self-humbling life.
The life we have in our spirit never grasps at something as a treasure but is always willing to lay aside position and title.
When we no longer live by our natural life but by the divine life, we can live a self-emptying and self-humbling life.
May we realise that we have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us, and the life we now live in the flesh is a crucified life, a life in the organic union with the Lord (Gal. 2:20).
Christ crucified is our pattern, and this pattern is the crucified life within us. We have Christ crucified as our crucified life; He is within us.
When we turn to Him and enjoy Him, when we live in our spirit and walk according to the spirit, the cross is applied to everything that is negative in our being.
Once the cross touches something in our being, it is dealt with, and that negative matter is gone. The steps of Christ’s humiliation in Philippians 2:5-8 are all aspects of the crucified life lived out in a full way.
When we live Christ, when we exercise our spirit to live one spirit with Him, we live the One who is the pattern of a crucified life (1:21).
Christ is not just our outward pattern; He’s also our life within us. He wants us to experience Him as our life and let Him live in us a crucified life according to the pattern.
When we live a crucified life, there will be no rivalry or selfish ambition, nor will there be any vainglory or self-exaltation. Rather, we will empty ourselves, humble ourselves, and allow Christ to be expressed through us in our daily living.
May we learn to open to the Lord again and again in our personal relationship with Him for Him to fill us and saturate us with Himself.
As He does this, He lives in us a crucified life, a reproduction of the life He lived while on the earth. This life, the indwelling Christ, will enable us to empty ourselves and humble ourselves.
It is impossible for us to empty ourselves and humble ourselves by our natural life or in our natural man; only the crucified life can live such a life. This life in us will never have vainglory nor will it have any rivalry, and there’s no ambition to be someone or to be a leader in this life.
This crucified life in our spirit never grasps at something as a treasure.
When we take the crucified life as our pattern, the gates are open for resurrection to come in, and we experience the power of resurrection (3:10).
Outwardly, death operates in us, both in our mortal body and in our soul, and we experience the death of Christ being applied to us by the Spirit; however, the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is making His home in us and is giving life to our mortal body (Rom. 8:10).
Our body is dying and our soul is suffering, yet our spirit is full of life, and the divine life spreads into every part of our being, having even a way to flow out of us.
By living a crucified life, we can experience the power of resurrection which raised Christ and exalted Him to the highest peak in the universe (Eph. 1:19-22). Wow!
This is not something we can do in ourselves, but this can be our experience when we live a crucified life today.
The highest life on earth is the crucified life; whenever we believers in Christ live a crucified life, God will bring us into the power of resurrection! Amen!
May we live such a life today. Christ should be exalted not only objectively in the universe by God but even more, subjectively in our daily life (Phil. 2:9).
When we live Christ and take Him as the crucified life to be the pattern of our daily life, Christ is exalted in us.
We do this not by our own energy; we just turn to the Lord and allow Him to operate in us and live in us as the crucified life so that He may bring our whole being into resurrection.
The bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ is the power that exalts Christ, and this power is ours in our spirit (1:19). Hallelujah!
We can live a crucified life according to the pattern of Christ because of the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ in our spirit!
Lord Jesus, we take You as our pattern and we want to live a crucified life one with You today! Hallelujah, we have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us the pattern of a crucified life! Amen, Lord, we turn to You. We want to live one spirit with You today. Live in us a life that empties itself and humbles itself so that God may be expressed through us. Amen, Lord, we take You as our pattern today. We take You as our life. Thank You for being the indwelling Christ as our pattern and our life. May we live Christ so that we may live a crucified life. Hallelujah, when we take the crucified life as our pattern, the gate is open for resurrection to come in and for us to experience the power of resurrection! Amen, Lord, we want to exalt You in our daily life by living a crucified life so that You may be expressed through us. We open to You and we enjoy the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ to live a crucified life today.
Take Christ’s Mind as our Mind by being One with Christ in His Inward Parts
Taking Christ as our pattern, though it sounds like something we do outwardly, it an inward matter, for Christ as the pattern of a crucified life is our life, and we can live Him.
If we would take Christ as our pattern, we need to take Christ’s mind as our mind; as Paul said in Philippians 2:5, we need to let this mind be in us, which was also in Christ Jesus.
To let Christ’s mind be our mind is to think this in us, to consider this, and to let His thinking become our thinking.
This kind of thinking, this kind of mind, was also in Christ when he emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, and humbled Himself, being found in fashion as a man (vv. 7-8).
This mind needs to be in us today. We need to open to the Lord and allow His mind to become our mind.
We need to open ourselves and let “this mind” be in us. The kind of thinking that was in Christ when He emptied Himself and humbled Himself needs to also be in us.
Our mind needs to change; it needs to be renewed. We need to exercise our spirit and ask the Lord to strengthen us into our inner man so that the mingled spirit would spread into our mind to renew it.
Our mind needs to be renewed so that we may have “this mind,” that is, the mind that was in Christ Jesus.
This is why we need to pray-read the Bible, especially the New Testament; we want the mind of Christ to become our mind.
The same thinking that was in Christ needs to be also in us. This doesn’t merely mean that we should memorise many verses in the Bible and then be able to recite them, even though this definitely helps.
It means that we open ourselves to the Lord so that His mind may be in us. The mind is one of the inward parts of our being; to have the mind of Christ, we need to be one with Christ in His inward parts (Phil. 1:8).
We want His mind to become our mind; this requires that we are one with Christ in His inward parts.
This requires much prayer before the Lord so that we truly turn our heart to Him. Our inward parts are quite complicated, deep, and full of things that we don’t even know.
However, we want to know the Lord in His inward parts and allow His inward parts to become our inward parts.
We want to let His mind be in us; we want to take Christ’s mind as our mind by being one with Christ in His inward parts.
When we do this, when we give the Lord access to our inward parts, He will have a way to speak to us.
He speaks to us not only in His word or in the meetings of the church; He speaks to us in our inward parts, for we’re one with Christ’s inward parts (Psa. 51:6; Prov. 20:27).
This is one of the deepest and most intimate experiences of Christ, being one with Him in His inward parts by taking Christ’s mind as our mind.
May we open ourselves to the Lord and let His mind be in us. May we just abide in the Lord so that He may abide in us (John 15:5).
May we allow Him to infuse us with His inward parts so that all that He is becomes what we are in our inward being.
The Lord right now is yearning for saints all over the earth to be open to Him in this way, not just on the surface, and just let Him infuse them to the extent that His inward parts become their inward parts.
Our prayers become His prayers. Our speaking becomes His speaking.
May our personal relationship with the Lord be increased and developed to a stage beyond everything we have known by having Christ’s inward parts become our inward parts.
May we daily learn to open our vessel to the Lord for Him to make His home deep down in our heart.
May we allow Him to have access to our inner being to reproduce Himself in us until Christ’s mind becomes our mind.
Lord Jesus, we love You and we open our whole being to You. We take You not only as our pattern but also let Your mind become our mind. Oh, may the mind of Christ be our mind today! We want to abide in You today, Lord, for You to abide in us. Strengthen us into our inner man. Make Your home in our heart. Amen, Lord, may we be in Your inward parts and may Your inward parts become our inward parts. May we know and sense Your feelings, Your thoughts, and Your decisions. May Your inward parts become our inward parts. Oh Lord, we are just an open vessel: dispense Yourself into us. We empty afresh and we are poor in spirit as we come to You. Speak to us in our inward parts. Reproduce Your inward parts in us. Have access to our thoughts, our feelings, our preferences, and our desires. Fill us with what You are in Your inward parts. Amen, Lord, may this mind, the mind that was in Christ Jesus, be also in us 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 the brother Ron Kangas in this conference, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 347, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (part 3 – 2025 Summer Training), week 26, Knowing and Taking Christ as Our Pattern – day 3.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Oh, what a life! Oh, what a peace! / The Christ who’s all within me lives. / With Him I have been crucified; / This glorious fact to me He gives. / Now it’s no longer I that live, / But Christ the Lord within me lives. / Now it’s no longer I that live, / But Christ the Lord within me lives. (Hymns #499 stanza 1)
– Utterly abandoned! / Oh, the rest is sweet, / Waiting in His presence / At His blessed feet; / Waiting for the filling / Of the Host divine, / Who my inward parts shall / Perfectly refine. / Lo! His Spirit fills me, / With His presence sweet! / I, in Him, am blessed! / I, in Him, complete! / Now the light within me / Never shall grow dim / While abandoned ever, / Living unto Him! (Hymns #439 stanzas 6-7)
– Spreading outward from our spirit / Doth the Lord transform our soul, / By the inward parts renewing, / Till within His full control. / By the power of His Spirit / In His pattern He transforms; / From His glory to His glory / To His image He conforms. (Hymns #750 stanzas 3-4)
About aGodMan
The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 3492, by Witness Lee
Dear brother, the Christ who is our pattern is now the life within us; we have a life in us that is a self-emptying and self-humbling life, a life that never grasps at something as a treasure but is always willing to lay aside position and title.
When we exercise our spirit and live one spirit with the Lord, letting Christ live in us, we will live a crucified life, and the power of His resurrection will be manifested also in us.
May we live a crucified life today, having the same mind that was in Christ also be in us. Lord Jesus, thank You for being our life today.
We put ourselves aside and we want to live by the divine life in our spirit so that we may live a crucified life.
There is a difference between giving up what we have and giving up what we don’t have.
For example we have nothing, but we pretend as we have everything and as we know all things.
Whereas, Jesus Christ left His eternal throne and incarcerated to become human which He doesn’t deserve. This means that He brought down God to live God’s life as a God-man with us, so that we can live His crucifixion and resurrection life as our pattern.
Therefore as long as He showed us how we can live God’s life practically, It is very mandatory to follow and live His life as our pattern of life by taking Him as a model.
In the process of His being God man, He didn’t boast and show His deity, but lived as any of us outwardly except sin.
Therefore, we are called to imitate the life of the Lord, who gave us life by taking the form of a slave servant and living among us, dying in our place and rising as the giver of life.
Praise the Lord for His redemption and salvation.
Aamen my brother.
To live a crucified life is to be self humbling and self emptied, there is no room for vainglory, self exaltation or rivalries.
The life inside us has no will to grasp at something as treasure.
Amen, brother! May the mind of Christ live in us inwardly as our subjective pattern in living the crucified life, our way of salvation!
The source of our living should be the indwelling Christ. This is because Christ, who is our pattern, is now the life within us (Col.3:4).
We have the crucified life in us. Hence, our need to apply the cross to touch our being and doings.
Living Christ means we the One who is the pattern of a crucified life, a self-emptying and self humbling life.
The Lord thus makes His home in us and gives life to our mortal bodies thru the power of Christ’s resurrection (Rom.8:11). Lord, may your crucified life be operative in our being! This pattern becomes our inward life, our salvation!
We need to take the mind of Christ as our mind if we would take Christ as our pattern.
This means taking the person of Christ Himself. For, it is the thinking of the mind that expresses itself in the acts of the person.
To have such a “considering” and regarding mind, an “emptying” and “humbling” mind requires us to be one with Christ in His inward parts. In our living, Lord, let “this mind” be in us! (Phil.2:5)
A hymn on this topic is 482
1. I am crucified with Christ,
And the cross hath set me free;
I have ris’n again with Christ,
And He lives and reigns in me.
Oh! it is so sweet to die with Christ,
To the world, and self, and sin;
Oh! it is so sweet to live with Christ,
As He lives and reigns within.
2. Mystery hid from ancient ages!
But at length to faith made plain:
Christ in me the Hope of Glory,
Tell it o’er and o’er again.
Sing it via, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fy9GuUoREo
Written and Composed by: Albert Benjamin Simpson (1843-1919)
Lyrics: https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/482
We have the pattern of a crucified life within us.
This is the life of Christ Jesus who emptied Himself and humbled Himself and was exalted by God.
If we want to experience Christ in a genuine way we need to let His mind be in us – laying aside position and title, taking Him as our life and person by being one with His inward being.
In such a way we can be saved from selfish ambition, rivalry and vainglory which are contrary to living the crucified and resurrected Christ.
This morning we see that Christ isn’t just our outward pattern; He’s also the life within us.
We need to experience Jesus as our inner life and live a crucified life; a life of self-emptying & self-humbling.
When Christ as our outward pattern becomes our inward life, the pattern becomes our salvation.
We are saved from such things as rivalry & vainglory. Like the apostles, we should not be concerned with how we’re treated by others.
Our concern must be whether/not others take Christ as their pattern and live a crucified life. The mind that was in Jesus should be in us.
This requires us to be one with Christ in His inward parts.
We need to be one with Him in His tender inward feeling and in His thinking…
Listen to the audio version of this article here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3wl5eUhETv8dzDdMaLK5H9?si=0b466adec5a64892
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp3ks07J_RQ
https://youtu.be/fp3ks07J_RQ
https://www.instagram.com/agodman_/reel/DQHKCyIjMni/
Wow!!! Reading this right now.
Life-study of Matthew, message 49
In fact, Bible never speaks of “living a crucified life.” Rather, it says that we have been crucified with Christ so that we might live by His resurrection life. No one crucifies himself, but we are called to take up our cross and follow the Lord. As 2 Corinthians 4:7–18 shows, Paul’s pattern is being delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake so that the life of Jesus may be manifested. This is not self-imposed asceticism but a willing submission to God-permitted circumstances—without losing heart, denying the self, obeying God, and fixing our eyes on what is unseen—so that resurrection life is manifested: “so then death operates in us, but life in you.”