Section 3
Him the ground, the space, to abide in us. The Lord desires to spread His abiding within us. However, we like to narrow down His abiding. We restrict Him. There is constantly a gentle struggle between the abiding Christ and us. While Christ's abiding is gradually spreading within us, there is something within that restricts this abiding Christ. The abiding Christ wants to gain more ground gradually, even inch by inch. But sometimes there is a struggle over His gain ing even one inch. Christ wants to gain another inch, but we restrict Him from doing so. As a result, we bargain with Him. If you do not bar gain with the Lord, you must be a Christian in the third heaven. Probably even today many of us have bargained with Him. Although we have shouted, "We have been ruined by Him," still within us we may say, "Lord Jesus, I will just give You this much. I can't afford to give You more space. Lord, have mercy on me. Be patient until I am ready to give You another half an inch. Until then, Lord, stay where You are." Although we may not say this audibly, many times we have this thought deep within us. The Lord may say, "I would like to take another five inches." Then you begin to bargain with Him once more. After this, He remains silent, turning His face aside.