LESSONS ON THE GOD-ORDAINED WAY
Lesson Seven
The Life of the God-ordained Way—
The God-Man Living (1)—A Life of Morning Revival
Scripture Reading:
Prov. 4:18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until the full day.
Judg. 5:31b …But may those who love Him be like the sun when it rises in its might.
Psa. 119:147-148 I anticipated the dawn and cried out; I hoped in Your words. My eyes anticipated the night watches, that I might muse upon Your word.
Titus 3:5 Not out of works in righteousness which we did but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.
2 Cor. 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart; but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.
Rom 12:1-2 I exhort you therefore, brothers, through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect.
I. The new way begins with personal revival—Prov. 4:18:
A. We need to be revived every morning and renewed day by day.
B. Within the divine life that we are enjoying today, there is the renewing capacity—Rom. 6:5 and note 1; 1 Pet. 1:4 and note 3.
II. A believer’s life of morning revival and daily renewal—Lam. 3:22-23; 2 Cor. 4:16:
A. In God’s creation and arrangement everything has its law and principles—Eccl. 3:11a.
B. We stress morning revival because it is based upon God’s natural law.
C. What we need today is this kind of renewal in the inner life.
III. Our life should be one that follows the moving of the sun—Judg. 5:31b:
A. The Christian life is not a sunset, rather it is a dawning of the sun.
B. In the morning, no matter how busy we are, we have to spend some time to exercise our spirit.
IV. Morning revival is for us to be nourished with spiritual food that we might live Christ—Heb. 4:16; John 6:57:
A. We need to enjoy Christ as the best spiritual breakfast—let us come forward to the throne of grace to Him, the One who ministers the bread and wine—Gen. 14:18-20.
B. We need to pick up Christ as the manna every day to keep us living every day—Exo. 16:13-36.
V. Morning revival is for us to be rooted in the Lord that we might grow and be built up—Col. 2:7a; Matt. 13:21:
VI. The exercise of the spirit in morning revival—1 Tim. 4:8; Rom. 10:13; Eph. 6:17-18:
A. The first step in the exercise of the spirit—calling on the name of the Lord—Rom. 10:12b-13; Psa. 119:147-148.
B. The second step in the exercise of the spirit—pray-reading the Lord’s word—Eph. 6:17-18.
VII. Two aspects of morning revival—Matt. 6:6; 2 Tim. 2:22:
A. Personal morning revival—Exo. 34:3; Matt. 6:6.
B. Corporate morning revival.
VIII. The outflow of a renewed life—the practices of the new way—John 4:14b:
A. The new way is actually a way of life.
B. In this revived and renewed living we will spontaneously care for others:
1. Share with others the Christ whom we enjoy.
2. Go out to visit people.
IX. Revival bringing in transformation—Titus 3:5- 6; Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18:
A. Daily revival brings transformation with it. It is not just a revival, but a transformation as well. This is what we all need today.
B. If you have morning revival with an overcoming daily life, then you can take the lead to bring new ones into the same practice.
X. Living the overcoming life by consecrating everything we have—Rom. 12:1-2:
A. After such a revival, we should live a life of consecration daily.
B. On one hand, we do not have to wait for revival. On the other hand, we need to take the initiative to get it.
Excerpts from the ministry:
THE NEW WAY BEGINS WITH PERSONAL REVIVAL
Therefore, we must endeavor to go on in this new way. Whether it is a home meeting, a small group meeting, or a district meeting, everything must begin in us ourselves. We must be revived persons. It is not difficult for us to be revived. As long as we kneel down before the Lord day by day, call upon Him, draw near to Him, enjoy His word, and walk in the spirit, it will be sufficient. (Being Up-to-date for the Rebuilding of the Temple (Chinese), p. 141)
We Need to Be Revived Every Morning and Renewed Day by Day
In Matthew 13:43 the overcomers are likened to the sun shining forth in the kingdom of their Father. The sun rises afresh every morning. If we are to be the overcomers, the sun, we must also rise up every morning to be revived by the Lord. Proverbs 4:18 says, “But the path of the righteous is as the dawning light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day” (ASV). We should follow the sun to be revived and to have a new start every morning. Our path is like the dawning light that shines more and more until the full day. I like Paul’s expression in 2 Corinthians 4:16—“day by day.” The Christian life does not only have one day. We are being renewed day by day. This means that day after day we have to be revived by the Lord. Yesterday morning we may have had a revival, but this morning we need another one, and tomorrow we need another one. Every year we need three hundred sixty-five revivals to be renewed day by day. (Being Renewed Day by Day, p. 14)
Within the Divine Life that We are Enjoying Today,
There is the Renewing Capacity
The divine element is very active. It is energizing, it works, and it is organic. Anything that is organic has an energizing capacity within it. Within the divine life that we are enjoying today, there is a renewing capacity. This capacity is not merely the measure of the divine life. When I use the word capacity, I mean the ability of the divine life in its nature. In God’s divine nature, there is the ability which is energizing all day. Once the divine life with the divine nature gets into us, it energizes within us. We all have the divine element energizing in us, and in this divine element there is the renewing capacity. (Being Renewed Day by Day p. 26)
A BELIEVER’S LIFE OF MORNING REVIVAL AND DAILY RENEWAL
In God’s Creation and Arrangement Everything
Has Its Laws and Principles
We all know that in God’s creation and arrangement everything has its law and principles. The center of all things is life. If our universe today has only the heavens and the earth, but does not have plant life, animal life, or human life, then the universe is void and desolate. Although mankind’s living together invariably brings in friction and arguments, where life is, there is joy, and there is pleasantness. The greatest characteristic of life is metabolism. The flowers bloom during the flowering season, and the fruit trees bear fruit during the fruit season. The plant life behaves differently according to the four seasons of the year. Likewise, the animal life has different characteristics for the four seasons of the year. In winter, many animals enter into hibernation. But when spring comes, they begin to propagate again. The human life is much higher than the plant life. It is even much higher than the animal life. Hence, according to God’s law of metabolism in creation, man’s life cannot be monotonous, having no change whatsoever from day to day. (The Organic Practice of the New Way, p. 45)
We Stress Morning Revival because
It Is Based Upon God’s Natural Law
A vital matter that is crucial to the practice of the church life in the new way is our living a life of morning revival and daily victory. We should not consider that to have a personal morning revival is difficult. To be revived is simply to be touched by the Lord anew. Whenever the Lord touches us, we are revived. In only two minutes the Lord can touch us and revive us. You may not have been revived for a long time, and you may feel that you are very far from the Lord. However, the Lord promises that, regardless of what we are, where we are, or how we are, He is always near to us. We may not have a pure conscience, but the Lord’s blood is ready to cleanse us. If we simply confess our failures, defects, wrongdoings, and shortcomings, the Lord will forgive us and cleanse us. Then immediately we touch Him, and He touches us. This is to be revived, and this kind of revival must be fresh every day.
We stress that this should be a morning revival based upon God’s natural law. Every twenty-four hours there is a morning to begin the new day. The sun rises anew every morning, and we also must rise up every morning. Therefore, it is good for us to go to bed earlier at night so that we can rise up earlier in the morning. Every morning we should get up, make our bed, and then spend some time with the Lord. If we can give the Lord ten minutes in the morning before doing anything else, surely we will be revived. If we normally get up at six o’clock, we should get up at five fifty. Then we could have ten minutes to contact the Lord and be revived. (The Exercise and Practice of the God-ordained Way, p. 279)
What We Need Today Is this Kind of Renewal in the Inner Life
The revival that I am talking about is not the kind of revival commonly known in Christianity. It is not something sudden, brought about by days of prayer and fasting and accompanied by extraordinary events, resulting in a general excitement. The revival that I am talking about is the renewing described in the New Testament. Second Corinthians 4:16 says, “…indeed our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is being renewed day by day.” The renewal here is a revival. Every day we need a renewal, and this renewal has to be refreshed day by day. What we need today is this kind of renewal in the inner life as opposed to a renewal in outward actions or expression. God has set up a natural law that the rising of the sun affords a new beginning and a fresh renewal every day for everything, whether plant, animal, or human being. The same is true with our Christian life. Every morning we should allow the Lord Jesus, our Sun, to rise up in us so that we can be renewed. This is the revival that I am talking about. (A Timely Trumpeting and the Present Need, p. 51)
OUR LIFE SHOULD BE ONE THAT FOLLOWS THE MOVING OF THE SUN
The Christian Life is Not a Sunset,
Rather It Is a Dawning of the Sun
The Christian revival does not occur in the afternoon or at sunset. Rather it occurs in the morning. The Christian life is not a sunset. Rather it is a dawning of the sun. In fact, we ourselves are the sun. Judges 5:31 says, “Let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might.” Proverbs 4:18 says, “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” A Christian’s life should be one that follows the moving of the sun. When the sun rises, we should rise with it. We keep rising until the perfect day, which is noon. The Christian life does not have afternoons. Whether we are among the worldly people, or in the church meetings, we should bring the shining light to others. For this reason, it does not matter how busy we are, we have to spend some time to exercise our spirit.
In the Morning, No Matter How Busy We Are,
We Have to Spend Some Time to Exercise Our Spirit
When you have thoroughly pray-read the Lord’s word in the morning, during the day this word will speak and work within you, and your spirit will spontaneously be strengthened. In the evening, you will be filled with the Lord’s word, and when you come into the meeting hall, you will spontaneously cry, “Hallelujah! In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” There will be no need for anyone to remind you. You will spontaneously stand up in the meeting to speak. The reason there is nothing to say in the meeting is that there is not enough pray-reading in our daily life. If a saint has pray-read enough, he will surely have a lot to speak when he comes to the meetings, because there is too much to speak about. The twenty-seven books of the New Testament alone provide us with enough to pray-read. If we would call on the Lord and pray-read His word every morning, our whole being will be filled with the Lord’s word spontaneously throughout the day. (The Organic Practice of the New Way, pp. 48-50)
This is the first lesson early in the morning for every Christian. I myself exercise this way. In the morning when I wake up, I do not speak to man first. Rather, I first speak to God. I would not open my mouth to any man before I open my mouth to God. I would say, “O Lord, I love You!” “Lord Jesus, I am coming to You!” Every morning, all I do are these two things: calling on the name of the Lord and pray-reading His word. These two things are the morning exercises for a Christian. If you would exercise yourself in these two things every morning, surely you will be revived. You will become the rising sun, with the shining, dawning light that shines brighter and brighter until the perfect day. Fifty years ago, I read the verse in Judges 5 that says that those who love the Lord are as the sun that goes forth in its might, and I told the Lord, “O God, I love You. May I be as the sun that goes forth in its might before You.” May this verse also become your aspiration and your daily prayer.
I have said all this to show you that we Christians are different from the people in the world. The worldly people at most meditate or contemplate in the morning. But what we are doing is not meditation. We are calling on the Lord and pray-reading His word. This fills us up with the Lord and refreshes us from within. At the same time, when we call on the Lord, the Holy Spirit comes, because today the Lord Jesus is the Holy Spirit. When we call on the Lord every morning, there is a deep realization within that the Lord Jesus has come. We have really found Him! In the end, our whole person will be changed. This is what is meant by a revival. (The Organic Practice of the New Way, p. 51)
MORNING REVIVAL IS FOR US TO BE NOURISHED
WITH SPIRITUAL FOOD THAT WE MIGHT LIVE CHRIST
We Need to Enjoy Christ as the Best Spiritual Breakfast—
Let Us Come Forward to the Throne of Grace to Him,
the One Who Ministers the Bread and Wine
In the early days of my experience, nearly every time I knelt down to pray, I said, “Lord, thank You for being my redeemer and for shedding Your blood for me.” At that time I never realized I could come to the throne of grace and enjoy such a positive High Priest ministering the bread and wine. Every morning I confessed the failures of the day before, hoping I could do better that day. But that day also ended in failure and the next morning I would confess once again. This went on and on day after day. I only knew Christ as the High Priest typified by the order of Aaron. Only after many years did I learn that I could come to the throne of grace and touch our High Priest who ministers to me the bread and wine. I do not need to try to be a success. I simply need to come forward to the throne of grace and enjoy the positive High Priest ministering the bread and wine. This is the best breakfast. Whenever I enjoy such a breakfast, my whole day is a success. Just as we need a physical breakfast every day, so every morning we should enjoy Christ as our breakfast. The best breakfast table is the throne of grace where we enjoy Christ in such a positive way. Christ is our Melchisedec today. How we need to come forward to the throne of grace to Him, the One who ministers the bread and wine! (Life-study of Hebrews, pp. 311-312)
All the physical things in nature have their spiritual significance. For the health of our bodies, we need to eat a good breakfast. In the same way, for our spirit, we need to have the best spiritual breakfast. When we wake up in the morning, we should call on the Lord. The first thing we should think about is the Lord. After that we should enjoy some of the Lord’s words. (Perfecting of the Saints and the Building Up of the Body of Christ,
p. 43)
We Need to Pick Up Christ as the Manna Every Day
to Keep Us Living Every Day
Every morning when we spend a few minutes with the Lord, we do have the sensation that Christ in the heavens is raining upon us. We pick up the manna to eat. Manna is the ascended Christ in the heavens raining to us for our daily supply… And the ascended Christ becomes your daily supply to keep you living every day. (Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, p. 33)
MORNING REVIVAL IS FOR US TO BE ROOTED IN THE LORD
THAT WE MIGHT GROW AND BE BUILT UP
In order to save time, when I am dressing in the morning, I begin to call on the Lord and pray-read His word. If your wife is not awake yet, you should not shout and cry aloud. You can pray from within. While you are putting on your shirt, you can pray-read the verse you read yesterday…While you are washing up, you can also pray-read. You can do two things at one time. Perhaps at the beginning you do not feel comfortable doing it. But after a while, you will feel comfortable. If you would spend half an hour or even fifty minutes there praying and reading the Lord’s word, and finally mingling the praying with the reading, your spirit will be enlivened. With such a morning, your whole being will have a revival. (Organic Practice of the New Way, p. 49)
A tree rooted in the soil absorbs into itself all the rich elements from the soil. As these elements are absorbed into the tree, they become nourishment to the tree. The tree then increases, grows, with these elements. Apart from absorbing the riches from the soil, it would not be possible for the tree to grow. The more deeply a tree is rooted into the earth, the more it absorbs the rich nourishment from the soil. The principle is the same with our growth in Christ. We have been deeply rooted into Christ as the soil, the all-inclusive, life-giving, processed Triune God who dwells in our spirit. Now we are absorbing the riches from Christ as the soil into our being. As a result, we are being built up with what we have absorbed of the riches of Christ. What we absorb into us becomes the material with which we are built up…every morning we need to take an adequate amount of time to absorb the Lord. (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 413, 468)
THE EXERCISE OF THE SPIRIT IN THE MORNING REVIVAL
The First Step in the Exercise of the Spirit—Calling on the Name of the Lord
We can discover one law from man’s physical life. The human body needs a revival every morning. After we rise up in the morning, our whole body needs a revival. We need to wash our faces. After that, all our sluggish feeling is washed away. After we wash our face and our mouth, and cleanse our lungs through deep breathing, our whole being is renewed. This proves that every morning the human body needs a renewal. The morning hour flies by quickly. One hour is over in no time. This is why the Word of the Lord says, “Redeeming the time” (Eph. 5:16). The period of time that needs to be redeemed the most is six to seven o’clock in the morning. During this hour, every minute is precious. We have to redeem this time.
Not only do the New Testament saints call on the name of the Lord. Even the ancient psalmists in the Old Testament called on the Lord as well. David said in Psalm 119:147, “I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped in thy word.” The crying here is to call by saying “O Lord!” It is also to pray and to speak to the Lord. To cry unto the Lord is to call on Him and to speak to Him. We cannot call on Him without praying to Him, and we cannot say His name without speaking to Him. The longer we speak to the Lord, the better it is. The calling plus the speaking to the Lord is like a man’s deep breathing. When you speak out all that you have, you are breathing out. When you take in the grace of the Lord, you are breathing in. We breathe out carbon dioxide, and we breathe in the oxygen from God. In this cycle, spontaneously we are cleansed within, and our whole being becomes healthy. (The Organic Practice of the New Way, pp. 45-47)
The Second Step in the Exercise of the Spirit—Pray-Reading the Lord’s Word
After this crying, David said that he “hoped in thy word.” In hoping in the Lord’s word, it is better that we do not speak, lest we interrupt the Lord’s speaking. David said again, “Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word” (v. 148). This shows us that in the experience of the Old Testament saints, there was the prayer, the hoping in the Lord’s word, and the meditation on the Lord’s word. Today, for us, the New Testament believers, the quickest way to receive the Lord’s word is not to meditate on His word; rather it is to pray-read His word. It is easy for the mind to receive the Lord’s word with its mental faculty. But in pray-reading the Lord’s word, there is the crying and the calling, and it will be spontaneous and natural to turn the Lord’s word into prayer.
For example, you may have read Genesis 1:1 in the morning, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” If you consider these ten words, you may wonder what is the beginning. The beginning is surely the start. But it is the start of what? For you to do this is to meditate on the Lord’s word. If you would turn these ten words into pray-reading, you would say, “Lord, in the beginning. Lord, in the beginning. Without You there is no beginning. With You there is the beginning.” When you speak to the Lord this way, your spirit will be full of feeling. Perhaps you will say, “Lord, may my wedding engagement have You as the beginning, and may my wedding have You as the beginning. May my future home have You as the beginning, and may my childbearing also have You as the beginning.” Following that, you will pray-read, “God created.” You may say to the Lord, “God, it is not by imagination or by illusion, but by creation. Only You can create. We cannot create. The most we can do is but to manufacture.”
If we have tasted pray-reading, we will treasure every word of the Bible. If I had the time, I could pray-read Genesis 1:1 for a whole day. The more we pray, the tastier it becomes. “O God, You have created the heavens. We cannot create the heavens. Today we can only enjoy the heavens. You have done too marvelous a work in creating the moon, the stars, and the sun in the heavens. Not only have You created the heavens; You have created the earth as well. All things on earth are created by You!” This kind of pray-reading will fully mingle the Lord’s word with our spirit. It will give our spirit the greatest exercise. (The Organic Practice of the New Way, pp. 47-48)
TWO ASPECTS OF MORNING REVIVAL
Personal Morning Revival
The Lord’s charge to Moses in verse 3 indicates that we all need a time to contact the Lord alone. We all need a private time to meet with the Lord. During this time alone with the Lord, we should not bring with us anyone or anything. When we go to the Lord early in the morning, we should go to Him alone. We need to leave even our husband or wife behind. Some brothers have the practice of taking their wives with them wherever they go. This practice is good. However, when it is time to meet with the Lord on the mountain top, a brother should leave his wife at the foot of the mountain. When we meet with the Lord in this way, we need to forget everything and everyone. Forget your possessions, your education, your occupation, your future. Go to the Lord alone without anyone or anything. (Life-study of Exodus, p. 1888)
I am concerned that many, especially the young people in corporate living situations, do not have a private time of prayer. They have only the corporate prayer. I admit that no private time of prayer can replace the corporate time….If you do not go to the Lord directly and privately by yourself, your dealing with the Lord will not be very practical or detailed. (Life Messages, Vol. 1, pp. 21-22)
Corporate Morning Revival
You could even save your time by arranging to have ten minutes morning watch with each of them [new ones]. The telephone may be used for this purpose. One person can be scheduled at 6:15 a.m., the next person at 6:30, and the next person at 6:45. Within one hour, you could contact three persons in the morning. You could contact the same three persons in the morning to pray-read with them, fellowship with them, and enjoy Christ with them in a brief way. With three months each person can be contacted at least eighty times. After three months of this kind of consistent contact, these ones can be gained for the Lord’s interest. (Elders’ Training Book 11, p. 80)
THE OUTFLOW OF A RENEWED LIFE—
THE PRACTICES OF THE NEW WAY
The New Way Is Actually a Way of Life
These days we have been talking about all kinds of practices in the new way: the preaching of the gospel by knocking on doors the home meetings, the small group meetings, and prophesying in the meetings. All these are but outward ways and activities. The new way is actually a way of life. Today, all of us have to live a life of touching the Lord every morning to be revived every day. Every morning we need a new beginning. To us every day should be new.
In this Revived and Renewed Living, We Will
Spontaneously Care for Others
In this revived and renewed living, we will spontaneously care for others, and we will spontaneously share with others the Christ whom we enjoy and the Savior whom we have received, in this way, others will be able to enjoy with us the portion that God has given to us. God has not given the privilege of preaching the gospel to the angels. Rather He has given this utmost honor to us. Therefore, in our daily life, we spontaneously go out to visit people. This visitation is to bear gifts to others’ homes. We politely offer the Christ that we enjoy throughout the day as a gift to others. This is our duty. It is also our honor.
(The Organic Practice of the New Way, p. 52)
REVIVAL BRINGING IN TRANSFORMATION
Daily Revival Brings Transformation with It
This daily revival brings transformation with it. Romans 12:2 says, “Be transformed by the renewing of the mind.” Second Corinthians 3:18 says, “We all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” This shows us that transformation comes from beholding the Lord. We are like mirrors beholding the Lord with an unveiled face. The more we behold Him, the more we reflect the glory of the Lord and the more we are transformed into the image of the Lord from one stage of glory to another. This transformation is from the Lord Spirit. There is not just a revival, but a transformation as well. Hence, to have a revival that is renewed daily is to have a transformation that is fresh daily. If we remain in this transformation our whole life, we will grow in the life of the Lord until we are matured. This kind of revival, renewal, and transformation is what we all need today. (A Timely Trumpeting and the Present Need, p. 53)
Because we have such a daily practice, we should help all of our new ones to do the same. Do not think that because they were just baptized, they cannot have morning watch or a morning revival. Everyone can have a morning revival. You only need to give them some simple instructions. We found out that a good way to help the new ones build up this practice is by using the telephone. You can encourage a new one to have a time of morning revival and explain what this means as I have done in this message. Then you can help him set a time for this. Many people do not get up early, so you may have to encourage him. If he usually gets up at seven o’clock, then you can say, “If you get up fifteen minutes earlier, you can make your bed, and then I will call you at six fifty. Then we can pray together over the phone.” If you practice in this way, you may be able to take care of two or three new ones every morning. You should also fellowship with them and select a book from the New Testament to go through in your morning revival times. When you begin to help them in this way, it may seem somewhat lifeless. However, after one or two days, this new one will be revived and become living. Whether he becomes living this morning, tomorrow morning, or the next morning, you should not care for that. If you are faithful to call him every morning, eventually, he will be fully revived. Through your example, he will learn to pray and to pray-read. If you will practice with him, he will learn. If you have a morning revival with an overcoming daily life, then you can take the lead to bring the new ones into the same practice. (The Exercise & Practice of the God-ordained Way, pp. 280-281)
If You Have Morning Revival with an Overcoming
Daily Life, then You Can Take the Lead to Bring
New Ones in to the Same Practice
After the morning revival, we must exercise to keep ourselves in the spirit throughout the day. We must do and say things in our spirit. This is to be overcoming and victorious. Throughout the day, there will be a lot of failures because we are so fragile, unstable, untrustworthy, and not very steadfast. We may ascend very strongly early in the morning, but by ten o’clock in the morning we may already be down. We do not have to remain down. We can always exercise our spirit to come back to the Lord. Then we should continue to practice remaining in our spirit the rest of the day. This is to have the morning revival and the overcoming daily living.
We should not only exercise to have such a life and living ourselves, but we should also help each of our new ones to have the same kind of life and living. We have discovered that a very convenient way to help the new ones get revived every morning is to have some time with them over the telephone each morning. It is best to make an appointment with them before calling them. Because of the convenience of calling the new ones by telephone, if we rise up a little earlier each morning, there is the way to take care of as many as three persons very easily. (The Exercise & Practice of the God-ordained Way, pp. 290-291)
LIVING THE OVERCOMING LIFE
BY CONSECRATING EVERYTHING WE HAVE
After Such a Revival, We Should Live
a Life of Consecration Daily
After such a revival, we should live a life of consecration daily. In such a living, we fellowship with the Lord, walk with Him, and abide in Him, and thus become one spirit with Him and live Him out. This is an overcoming living. By this, we will be able to consecrate everything for the Lord. Our whole being will be for the Lord. Our time, energy, family, and business will all be for the Lord. We all have to consecrate ourselves in such a reckless way, not giving up until we reach our goal. We must be like a mother nursing her baby. Whether she is healthy or not does not matter. Whether she has problems or not, she has to consecrate everything for the care of her child. The same is true for athletes in the field; they forget everything and are desperate for the goal. (A Timely Trumpeting and the Present Need, p. 54)
On One Hand, We Do Not Have to Wait for Revival As Long As We Receive the Grace,
We Can Be Revived. On the Other Hand, We Need to Take the Initiative to Get It
In conclusion, to change the system, to practice the new way, and to reach the goal of every member functioning to build up the church, we need to have revival. On one hand, we do not have to wait for revival. As long as we receive the grace, we can be revived. On the other hand, we need to take the initiative to get it. First of all, we need to make a resolution to live for the Lord from now on, and desire to lead a reviving life. And then we need to separate our time. We need to consecrate ourselves to the Lord to go every week to visit people, preach the gospel, and have home meetings. We also need to have spiritual exercise daily for the spiritual accumulation to make us rich spiritually. In such a way, whenever we come to a meeting, we will supply others.
The way for us to exercise is for every couple to pray-read two verses every morning, live in spirit the whole day, walk according to the Spirit, speak the Lord, preach the gospel, and testify whenever we meet people. This will increase our accumulation.
(The Proper Way for the Believers to Meet and Serve (Chinese), p. 139)
Samples of Prayer
Every morning, as soon as we get up, we should turn to the Lord and say, “Lord, thank You for another day that I may live You. Remind me this whole day to reject myself, not to trust in myself, and not to live by myself. Strengthen me to live by You. Make this a day for me to live You out, taking You as my everything, abiding in You as a branch in the vine.” All during the day this should be our prayer. Do not spend time praying so much for your job, your children or your being kept from car accidents. The Lord takes care of all things. Just concern yourself with this one matter of walking in Him. (Life Messages Vol. 1, p. 187)
“Lord, I am still under Your grace and mercy…I do want to follow You in the way ordained and revealed by You, the way that matches Your economy in resurrection. You have now shown us this way. But I know I am helpless. I give myself to You. Keep me in Your resurrection.” If we will pray in this way, the Spirit of the Lord will surely be with us abundantly. This is a true revival. Moreover, daily we should renew this revival; this is like the rising of the sun. In this way, we will truly be living in the Lord’s resurrection, and there will be power from on high to supply us. We will be able to meet the demands of the New Testament and testify that we are those who have truly received abundant grace from the Lord. (New Testament Priests of the Gospel, p. 70)
“Lord, how I thank You! I don’t have much to pray for. I don’t have much to ask for, because my whole being is filled with thanks. I’m so grateful to You, because all the time You do everything within me and for me.” You don’t need to pray that the Lord will help you to win the victory and to overcome sin and to be patient…You just need to love Him and to keep yourself open to Him, giving Him every opportunity to do everything He wants to do. You become the enjoyer, enjoying Him and enjoying His doing. (Perfecting Training, p. 271)
“Lord, I love You. Attract me, that I may live You more. Rekindle my love for You this very day. Every day I want my love for You to be fresh and sweet. Come and make Your home in my heart. You are the One I desire.” (Life Messages, Vol. 2, p. 206)
References: Being Up-to-date for the Rebuilding of the Temple (Chinese), ch. 12; Being Renewed Day by Day, ch. 1; The Organic Practice of the New Way, ch. 4; The Exercise and Practice of the God-ordained Way, ch. 28; A Timely Trumpeting and the Present Need, ch.4; Life-Study of Hebrews, ch. 28; Perfecting of the Saints and the Building Up of the Body of Christ, ch. 4; Life-Study of Colossians, chs. 47 and 53; Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, ch. 3; Life-Study of Exodus, Msg. 178; Elders’ Training Book 11, ch. 9; Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Vol. 21, Issue Nos. 7 and 8; The Proper Way for the Believers to Meet and Serve (Chinese), ch. 6.; Life Messages, Vol. 1, ch. 20 ; Vol. 2, ch. 64; The New Testament Priests of the Gospel, ch. 5; Perfecting Training, ch. 22.
