Our inner man, in brief, is our regenerated spirit. Consider how much you remain in your spirit every day. Psychologists classify human beings, according to human disposition, as introverts and extroverts. A so-called introvert is a person whose interest is not in the things outside of him but in the things within himself; he does not like to talk and does not have much to say. A so-called extrovert is a person whose interest is more on the things outside of him than on the things within himself; he likes to talk and has many things to say. Actually, the “inner man” referred to in the Bible is the real “introvert.” In the biblical sense, a person is an “extrovert” regardless of whether he speaks much or speaks little; only when he turns to his spirit is he truly an “introvert.” Many times it requires the combined strength of nine oxen and two tigers for us to return to [402] our spirit. Sometimes even in the meetings we are not in our spirit, and it usually takes us half an hour to return to our spirit.

Ephesians 3:16 is profound and hard to comprehend. Paul prayed for us to be strengthened into the inner man and not to remain in the outer man. When you talk endlessly, surely you are in your outer man, yet even when you sit in meditation without praying or fellowshipping, you are in your mind and are therefore still in your outer man, not in your inner man. It is hard to comprehend the difference between the outer man and the inner man, and we often mistake one for the other.

For this reason Paul prayed that the Father would grant us to be strengthened, in particular to be strengthened into our inner man. When we are weak, obviously we are in our outer man. In the meetings once we criticize, judge, or despise others, this proves that we are weak. Yet even if we do not criticize, judge, or despise others, merely sitting in the meeting without functioning, having no strength to pray or call on the Lord, also shows that we are weak. At this time we really need the Spirit to strengthen us. Who directs the Spirit to strengthen us? It is the Father; He initiates, directs, and manages, causing the Spirit to stir us up and fan us into flame.

We all have the experience of being weak most of the time. Even though we know that the Lord does not want us to buy a certain thing, we still buy it. When we pick up something in the department store and the Lord tells us to put it down, we just cannot put it down. The strangest thing is that we have the strength to pick it up but do not have the strength to put it down; we are strong to pick it up, but we are weak to put it down. However, sometimes we also have another kind of experience. While we are struggling, suddenly there is a surge of strength within us so that we are able to put the item down and leave without saying a word. I believe that this is the effect of Paul’s prayer. Not only so, many times when you are about to quarrel with your spouse or argue with another believer, you begin to say something and suddenly stop half way. This is because you have been strengthened into your spirit. Then you go back to your room and pray, “Lord, forgive me because I almost acted out of my flesh. Thank You for being merciful to me and preserving me.” This is the Spirit strengthening you from within. Once you are strengthened, you are able to enter into your inner man. [403]

Christ Making His Home in Our Hearts through Faith 
That We May Be Rooted and Grounded in Love

Paul uses the word that repeatedly in Ephesians 3; he uses it four times in verses 16 through 19 alone. The first time he uses it is in verse 16 when he prays that the Father would grant us “to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man.” The second time, in verse 17a, he says, “That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith.” The third time, in verses 17b through 19a, he says, “That you…may be full of strength to apprehend…and to know the…love of Christ.” The fourth time, in verse 19b, he says, “That you may be filled unto all the fullness of God.” In these verses the word that may also be translated as “in order that,” meaning that the second that is the result of the first that, the third that is the result of the second that, and so forth.

Verse 17 says, “That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love.” This is the result of our being strengthened into the inner man (v. 16). What does it mean for Christ to make home? Making home has a deeper meaning than staying in a certain place; it does not merely mean to stay somewhere but to settle down there. Christ is in you, but He may be like a guest merely sitting in a chair, leaning against the wall, or standing in the corner. However, once your whole being is strengthened into your spirit, He has the ground and the right to settle down and make home in you. For example, suppose I am moving to a new house, but the original owner will not vacate the house. If this is the case, I will not know where to put my furniture; the most I can do is to put it in the living room. Not until the house is empty will I be able to unpack and put everything in order, thus making home and settling down there.

Has Christ settled down and made His home in us? Sometimes He is at home within us, but sometimes He is not, because we often struggle with Him. When we are joyful, we may pray, “Lord, I love You.” However, we should not think that we have prayed well and that this is enough, because when we struggle with Him, we may not love Him anymore. Sometimes when we struggle with the Lord, we may even force Him into a corner. Although He comes back again a few days later, we do not have peace in our spirit, because we always have this kind of struggle within. Before we were saved, we [404] may have seemed to be at peace all the time. If we wanted to scold someone, we would just do it, and we were very happy after doing it; we were free to do whatever our heart dictated. But after we became a Christian, even the thought of blaming others, let alone scolding them, causes us to have no peace within, because it interrupts the Lord’s making His home in us. Once He is prevented from making His home in us, He does not have peace, and we also do not have peace.

In Matthew 11:28 the Lord Jesus said, “Come to Me all who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” When I was young, even before I was saved, I had already heard this word being preached, and I also loved to preach it to people. Now when I think back, I realize that I simply did not know what I was talking about. The only way for you to genuinely receive rest from the Lord is to let Him make His home in you. If you do not let the Lord make His home in you, it will not be possible for you to find rest. The rest that the Lord gives is His making home in you. If you let Him settle down in you peacefully, you will be blessed. However, today among thousands and millions of Christians, it is rare to find one or two who are willing to let the Lord make His home and settle down in them.

In order to let the Lord make His home and settle down in us, we need both faith and love (1 Tim. 1:14). Through faith we apprehend Christ, and through love we enjoy Christ. However, neither faith nor love is from us; both are from Christ. For this reason we need to be strengthened into our inner man. In this way His faith becomes our faith, enabling us to believe Him, and His love becomes our love, enabling us to love Him. When we are rooted and grounded in Christ’s love, we grow in life and are built up in His life.