As believers in Christ, we are symbolised by the wheat of life, and we want the Lord’s life to grow in us and flow through us in an unhindered way, so we deal with any obstacles, such as disobeying the living Christ within us and not being broken in our natural capabilities and abilities.
Lord Jesus, break through in us. Thank You for being in us as life. Hallelujah, Christ is our life. Amen, Lord, grow in us as life. Live through us. Live in us. Flow in us. Have an unhindered way to flow in every part of our inner being. We simply open to You. We want to take care of the living Christ in us in all things. We do not want to ignore You or disobey You. Have Your way in our being. May we be willing to deal with any problems to God’s life in our being so that His life may flow! Amen!
We have received the life of God into us through regeneration, and today we need to allow this life to grow in us and flow in us.
As the wheat of life, we believers in Christ are full of God’s life, and we want Him to be expressed through us. So we deal with anything that His life encounters as an obstacle.
There are many obstacles to God’s life in us, for our natural life in all its manifestations and expressions is a hindrance to God’s life.
First of all, we have a lot of concepts of how we as Christians should live, what we should do, and how we should work for God and be zealous for Him.
However, we may not know the pathway of life and we may not take Christ as life.
We may pay attention to many outward things and we may be involved in many activities for God and for the church, but we may not take care of the living Christ in us but rather, we may take some things other than Christ as our aim.
So we need to come back to the Lord and pay attention to Him, heed Him, and take care of the living Christ in us.
Another obstacle to God’s life in us is hypocrisy, pretending to be something we are not. What determines our spirituality is not our outward appearance but how we take care of Christ.
It all comes down to us and Christ, Christ and us; a real Christian is one who lives Christ, and when Christ lives in us, we are real Christians.
But when we do not take care of the living Christ in us, the Lord has no way to live in us and move in us, and we are not in reality the wheat of life.
May we come to the Lord again and again to open to Him and deal with anything that His life encounters in us so that He may freely flow in us and His life may grow in us.
Not Imprisoning the Living Christ Within us by Ignoring Him but Obeying His Speaking
There are many obstacles to God’s life in us, for we were born in the natural man, we grow and develop the natural man, and as we grow in the human life, the natural man grows and expands.
So we need to come to the Lord and deal with any obstacle to His life in our being.
One such obstacle is rebellion; we may not be outwardly and publicly rebellious toward God, for we love God and read the Bible, but we may disobey His speaking within us.
We may be quite active and zealous in doing things for God and in the church life, but we may still imprison and disobey the living Christ within us by ignoring Him (Lev. 14:9, 14-18; 11:1-2, 46-47; Rom. 16:17; 1 Cor. 15:33).
This is very personal and intimate, and it is only the Lord and we who know what we go through and what we are doing.
The Lord Jesus is in us as a living Person; He operates and moves in us to make us clear about His will and requirements for us, and He wants to show us His leading and His dealing with us.
But if we go against the feeling of the Lord within us, if we do not accept His leading nor pay the price to say Amen to His inner speaking, this unwillingness and opposition are rebellion.
We may think that we love the Lord, we are in the church life, and we are in the meetings of the church, but actually in our daily life we may be rebellious toward God by imprisoning Him in us and by disobeying the living Christ within us (Isa. 50:4-5).
The Lord gave us freedom of choice, but if we do not choose to obey Him, we will not have the way of life.
We may love going to the meetings of the church, the home meetings, visiting gospel friends, and fellowshipping with the saints; we just love being with the saints.
But at the same time, though we may still be very active and zealous in doing those things, we may still imprison the living Christ within us by ignoring Him.
We may not be involved in a rebellion outwardly, but we may disobey the person of Christ within us; we may simply not listen to His speaking.
We all have to admit that too many times we do this; this is our practice even every day.
Others do not know this, but the Lord may inwardly speak to us and lead us not to say certain things, not to be involved in a particular activity, and not to go to a particular place, yet we disobey Him.
We are unwilling to do things according to the living Christ within us who speaks to us; this unwillingness is rebellion.
We may commit sins, but not habitually; however, the sin that we commit most frequently and most severely is not any outward or visible sin but the sin of disobeying the sense of Christ in us.
If all genuine believers in Christ would obey the sense of the living Christ within them, we would all live a proper Christian life, God would gain His building, and the Lord can return.
But, even though Christ is living in us, constantly giving us an inward sense of life, so many times we do not obey Him.
We often do not do what He wants us to do; we do what we want to do. Also, we often do things that He does not want us to do; we rebel against the Lord. This rebellion is an obstacle to God’s life in us.
The Lord cannot grow in us and life and His life cannot flow through us when we are rebellious toward Him and disobey the sense of the living Christ within us.
We need to come to the Lord again and again and deal with Him, repenting for our rebellion and allowing Him to shine on our unwillingness to obey Him.
May we really open to Him and let Him expose us of our rebellion and may we learn to listen to and obey the living Christ within in all things, both great and small.
Lord Jesus, we take You as our life today. We love You. We open to You. Shine on us. Deal with any rebellion in our being. Make us clear about Your will and Your requirements for us. Make us clear concerning Your leading in all things. Amen, Lord, we open to You and we want to take You as our life and our everything. Save us from being unwilling to obey the inner sense of the living Christ within us. Oh Lord, may we listen to Your inner speaking and follow Your inner leading throughout the day. Flow in us as life. May Your life in us grow little by little, day by day. Shine on us and expose any rebellion in our being. Save us from committing the sin of rebellion by disobeying and ignoring the living Christ within us. Oh Lord, thank You for being in us to always give us an inward sense of life; may we obey the inner sense and allow You to lead us and move in us! We love You, Lord! We love to be in spirit, one with You, obeying Your inner leading and speaking! Flow in us as life! Grow in us! May Your life has an unhindered way in our being! Amen!
If our Natural Capabilities and Abilities Remain Unbroken, they will become a Problem to Christ’s Life in us
One of the hidden problems we all have, a problem that we may not even consider to be a problem, is the matter of our natural capabilities and abilities. If our natural capabilities remain unbroken in us, they will become a problem to the life of Christ in us (1 Cor. 2:14-15; 3:12-17; Jude 19-21).
We may think that we are not that capable; we may not be able to speak eloquently, and we may not have abilities that would stand out; however, we all have some natural capabilities and abilities which we treasure.
On the one hand, our natural being, disposition, and self are all problems that prevent God’s life from coming out of us. This is obvious, and we come to the Lord again and again to deal with these problems.
On the other hand, however, the problem of our natural capability and ability is even more serious.
We may love the Lord, we may be zealous for Him, and we may be godly and very much involved in doing things for the Lord. But we may not realise that our greatest problem is the strength and greatness of our capabilities and abilities.
What others see and touch when they see us is not Christ but how capable and able we are. Oh, Lord Jesus!
Our capabilities are natural, coming from our background, our learning, our education, and our human development. We have natural wisdom, natural strength, natural power, and natural gift.
They are not bad or evil in themselves, for the Lord needs such abilities for His purpose, but when they are unbroken in us, when they are not dealt with by the cross so that Christ may flow through them, they will become a problem to the life of the living Christ within us.
We need the Lord’s light; only under His shining can we see the problem of our natural abilities and capabilities.
We know that we have a problem with sin, the world, and our disposition, and we may come to the Lord in prayer whenever we realise that these things are seen in us. But we may not be aware of the problem of our natural capability.
We may love the Lord, pursue Him, and have much knowledge of the Bible and of the ministry; however, when others touch us when they speak to us, they realise that their capability and ability are not broken, for what they see is what is natural in us. Oh Lord!
Others can see that we seek and pursue the Lord, but that our natural capability has not been broken. We need to allow the Lord to get through in us when He encounters our capability.
He is faithful to shine on us through His word, in our personal fellowship with Him, and in the fellowship and coordination in the Body.
He will show us how much we still live according to the natural man, in the flesh, and according to the self. The Lord within us gives us a clear sense of life, and He exposes our natural capabilities and abilities.
It is only under the Lord’s light that we consider these things as filthiness and sin, for unless the Lord breaks through and flows through us, all other things are just useless to Him and, even worse, they hinder His life in us. Oh Lord!
Under the Lord’s shining, we will not treasure our natural capabilities but rather, we will despise them, and we will allow the Lord to break through in us. May the Lord have mercy on us.
May we be the wheat of life in reality, those full of God’s life, those who allow the life of God to grow in them and flow in them. May we deal with any obstacles that restrict and hinder God’s life from growing in us, flowing in us, and flowing out of us.
There are many obstacles to God’s life in us, and the only way to deal with them is to pass through the cross and let the cross break us.
We need to say Amen to the Lord’s breaking and stripping through the cross.
When we are under the breaking of the cross and the obstacles to God’s life in us are dealt with and removed, the life of Christ is free to glow in our being and also flow through us to the other members of the Body.
The only solution to the problems and obstacles in our being to the life of Christ growing in us, flowing in us, and being manifested in us, is the cross.
When the cross operates in us, when we exercise our spirit and allow the cross – which is in the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ with our spirit – to operate in us, the life of Christ will be lived out of us.
The living Christ within us will be able to be manifested through us, for there is no more hindrance, no more problem, and no more obstacle to His life in us. May we open to the Lord and allow Him to grow in us, flow in us, and be manifested through us as life!
Lord Jesus, we want to cooperate with You today so that Your life may grow in us, flow in us, and be manifested in us! Amen, Lord, grow in us in an unhindered way! We are open to You: shine on us and show us the obstacles that Your life encounters in our being. Shine on anything that hinders the growth of the life of God in us. Oh Lord, by Your mercy and grace, we say Amen to Your shining! Expose and remove by shining any hindrance and obstacle to Your life in us. Shine on the matter of our natural capabilities and abilities; have a way to break through in us, Lord! We allow the cross to operate in us. We exercise our spirit and we let the cross break in us what needs to be broken. May Your life in us be unhindered in its growth and spread in our being. Oh Lord Jesus, we want to remain here, under Your shining. We do not treasure our natural capabilities and abilities; we treasure and love the living Christ within us! Have a way to live in us and be expressed through us! Amen, Lord, we love You!
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 Minoru Chen on this topic, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1953, vol. 1, “Knowing Life and the Church,” chs. 3, 16, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Believers (1) (2026 July Semi-Annual Training), week 3, “The Wheat of Life, the Good Seed, the Salt of the Earth, the Light of the World, and the Fishers of Men” – day 2.
- Hymns on this topic:
– I hardly know myself; / Deceived so much by pride, / I often think I’m right / And am self-satisfied. / I know Thee even less; / In doctrine, shallowly; / True revelation lack / Of Thy reality. / Oh, may Thy living light, Lord, / Scatter all my night, Lord, / And everything make bright, Lord, / For this I pray to Thee. (Hymns #426 stanzas 2, 3 and chorus)
– Lord, grant Thy holy brokenness, / Deliver me from being whole; / And make me willing to receive / The wounds that Thou wouldst give my soul. / Oh, cause me to appreciate / Thy breaking, never to complain; / And grant that I may value more / All kinds of loss instead of gain. (Hymns #749 stanzas 7-8)
– Lord, how Your light makes clear / That we could not but e’er fail You; / Yet there’s a message true, / The seed of life within us will break through— / Lord Jesus, grow in us. / Make us in spirit poor; / Lord, take whate’er we think we know. / We’ll open to life’s flow, / And thus take in the life that makes us grow— / Lord Jesus, grow in us. (Hymns #1132 stanzas 4-5)
