13我们需要祷告求主怜悯，使我们灵里贫穷，心里纯洁，在我们所作的一切事上，按着神的旨意是对的。我们若这样祷告，主耶稣就要一点一点地顶替我们，也要一部分一部分地充满我们。祂要一直在我们里面生长，并一直在我们里面扩增。至终我们不再产生荆棘和蒺藜，乃要产生葡萄和无花果；这些乃是国度生命两种不同的彰显。葡萄和无花果二者都是用来喂养人的。这就是国度的生活。不是外面的行为；乃是内里生命的彰显，就是基督在我们里面扩展。如果祂要扩展到我们里面的全人，我们就需要灵贫心清，并且在我们所作的一切事上，不照着我们的观念，乃按着神自己是对的。这就是基督将祂自己撒在我们里面，并将祂自己扩展到我们里面，使我们有团体生活的路。这团体的生活就是国度；这就是召会生活的实际。基督作生命，正将祂自己扩展到我们里面。现在我们能更充分地看见，国度乃是基督作生命，带着祂一切的活动扩展到我们里面的总和（李常受文集一九七二年第二册，六二至六三、六七至六八页）。
13We need to pray for the Lord’s mercy that we may be poor in spirit, pure in heart, right in all that we do, and right according to God’s will. If we pray in this way, the Lord Jesus will take us over little by little, and He will fill us up part by part. He will grow in us, and He will increase within us all the time. Eventually, we will no longer produce thorns and thistles, but we will produce grapes and figs, which are simply two different expressions of the kingdom life. Both grapes and figs are used for feeding others. This is the kingdom life. This is not outward conduct; it is the expression of the inward life, which is Christ spreading within our being. If He is to spread into all our inward being, we need to be poor in our spirit, pure in our heart, and right in all that we do, not according to our concepts but according to God Himself. This is the way for Christ to sow Himself into us and to spread Himself into our being so that we may have a corporate life. This corporate life is the kingdom. This is the reality of the church life. Christ as life is spreading Himself into us. Now we can see in a fuller way that the kingdom is the totality of Christ as life spreading into us with all His activities. (CWWL, 1972, vol. 2, “The Kingdom,” pp. 51, 54-55)