Taking the Way of Enjoying Christ As the Tree of Life
Message Five
The Secret of Living the Christian Life to Be
an Overcomer—Taking the Way of Eating
and Enjoying Christ as the Tree of Life
OPENING WORD OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Jer. 15:16 Your words were found and I ate them, / And Your word became to me / The gladness and joy of my heart…
Ezek. 3:1-4 …Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, …So I opened my mouth, and He gave me that scroll to eat…And I ate it, and it was like honey in my mouth in its sweetness. Then He said to me, Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them.
Word of Appetizer
What is the secret of living the Christian life to be an overcomer?
The secret of living the Christian life to be an overcomer is for us to take the way of eating and enjoying Christ as the tree of life; God does not intend for us to do anything for Him; His only desire is to give Himself to us as food for our enjoyment; only those who take the way of enjoying Christ as the tree of life will see their life and work remaining in the New Jerusalem.
Spiritual Burden
God’s intention for man was to give Himself as the tree of life to man for him to enjoy; to see that God wants us to enjoy Him and that He does not want us to do anything for Him is to see that the Christian life is a matter of enjoying Christ as the tree of life; if our concept is changed so that we see these two points, it will be easy for us to live a life of enjoying God.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
We can eat the Lord Jesus as our spiritual food for our enjoyment, receiving Him as the Spirit who gives life through eating His words of spirit and life by means of all prayer and by musing upon His words.
We can eat Him by doing the will of the Father to satisfy the hungry and thirsty ones and by glorifying the Father on earth in living the life of a God-man for the glory of the processed Triune God.
We can eat Him by contacting the proper people
We can eat Him by feasting on Him in the meetings on the ground of oneness.
The Experience of Life
When we eat the Lord Jesus by eating His words of spirit and life, we live because of Him (John 6:57, 63); we live not by Christ but because of Christ as our energizing element and supplying factor; we live Christ in His resurrection, and we live Christ by eating Him.
As we eat the Lord Jesus by eating His words, we need to have proper spiritual digestion; by eating we have digesting, by digesting we have assimilation, and by assimilation we get the practical nourishment of the riches of Christ into our being.
Practice and Application
We can eat His words of spirit and life by means of all prayer and by musing upon His words. We need to keep our whole being, with all our inward parts, open to the Lord so that the spiritual food will have a thoroughfare within us; if we do this, we will have proper digestion and assimilation, we will absorb Christ as spiritual nourishment, and Christ will become our constituent for the expression of God.
We can eat Him by doing the will of the Father to satisfy the hungry and thirsty ones and by glorifying the Father on earth in living the life of a God-man for the glory of the processed Triune God. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1 Only those who touch the tree of life will see their life and work remaining in the New Jerusalem (Gen. 2:9; Rev. 2:7)
(Please illustrate that in order to serve God and work for Him, a Christian must learn to stay away from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.)
T2 To muse upon the Word is to “chew the cud,” like a cow eating grass (Lev. 11:3; Jer. 15:16)
(Please illustrate that musing upon the Word will be slower and finer than pray-reading the Word.)
Day 2
T1 When we eat Christ, we also need to spiritually digest Him in a proper way (Ezek. 3:1-4)
(Why do some dear saints may enjoy calling on the Lord and pray-reading the Word at first. But after a certain time, they lose their taste and appetite for this?)
T2 Indigestion means that there is no free course for the food to get into your inward parts (Heb. 3:12, 14; 4:2)
(Please illustrate with examples that what spiritual indigestion is.)
Day 3
T1 When we believed in the Lord and were saved, God has put us into Christ, who is the pattern (John 4:34; Eph. 4:20-21)
(Please illustrate that this mold is the life of Jesus recorded in the four Gospels, a life absolutely according to truth.)
T2 By being put into Christ, we learn Christ (Phil. 1:21; John 4:34; Eph. 4:20-21)
(Please illustrate that the more we love Him and contact Him, the more we live Him according to this mold.)
Day 4
T1 To eat is not merely to contact something but also signifies our contacting of people (Lev. 11:3; 1 Cor. 15:33)
(Please illustrate that when we eat we contact something that is outside of us, however, if we eat that thing, it can affect us inside.)
T2 A divided hoof signifies discernment; Chewing the cud signifies receiving the word of God with much consideration and reconsideration (Phil. 1:9; Lev. 11:3)
(Please illustrate that what animals that divide the hoof and chew the cud signify.)
Day 5
T1 Be careful of friends, neighbors, and even relatives who do not have fins and scales (2 Cor. 6:14; Lev. 11:9)
(Please illustrate that what do aquatic animals that have fins and scales signify.)
T2 To Live and move in a life that is away from and above the world and to take things of life as their life supply (2 Cor. 6:14)
(Please illustrate that what do birds that have wings for flying and that eat seeds of life as their food supply signify.)
Day 6
T1 To see that God wants us to enjoy Him and that He does not want us to do anything for Him (Deut. 12:5-7)
(Please illustrate that to see the story of a Christian before God is entirely a story of enjoyment.)
T2 Two aspects of the enjoyment of Christ-the common aspect and the special aspect (Deut. 12:5-7)
(Please illustrate that what are the two aspects of our enjoyment of Christ.)
