Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Ministry Excerpts -Young People's Training


THE CHURCH AS CHRIST’S COUNTERPART

The church is also Christ’s counterpart, His wife (Eph. 5:25-27, 32). The church as the counterpart of Christ implies satisfaction and rest in love. Every husband needs satisfaction and rest, which are found in love. The brothers who are husbands can testify that our satisfaction and rest can only be in our wives. If we say that we are the church, then we must ask if Christ has His rest among us. This is serious. Do not be so quick to claim that you are the church. To be the church is to render to Christ the adequate satisfaction and rest in love. Christ needs such a wife. The church is not merely a gathering of God’s called ones. It is a satisfaction and rest to Christ in love.

THE CHURCH AS THE TEMPLE

To God the Spirit, the church is the temple. First Corinthians 3:16 says, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” The believers as a corporate unit in a certain locality are the temple indwelt by the Spirit of God. Hence, to God the Spirit we are the temple filled with Himself. It is not simply a matter of having the manifestations of certain gifts, such as healing and speaking in tongues. It is a matter of having the corporate indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This is the reality of the church life.


THE CHURCH AS THE ARMY

To the enemy, Satan, the church is an army (Eph. 6:11-13). Being the army is not an individualistic matter. At most, you and I can only be soldiers. But all the soldiers must be formed and constituted into an army. Whenever we are detached from the army, we are in a very dangerous situation. We must have the protection of being in the army. Because many Christians today are not in the army, they are constantly under the attack of the enemy. The church is absolutely a corporate entity. All the aspects of the church we have covered—sonship, family, Body, counterpart, temple, and army—are corporate entities.


THE CHURCH AS THE NEW MAN

In addition to all these aspects, the church is also the new man (Eph. 2:15-16). The church as the new man is for our living. Hallelujah, on earth there is such a new man living here! To the Father, the church is the sonship and the family; to the Son, the church is the Body and the counterpart; to the Spirit, the church is the temple; to Satan, the church is the army; and for our living the church is the new man. Praise the Lord that we are the new man! Individualistically we are not the new man. God has one corporate new man—the church.
After seeing all these aspects of the church, can we still be individualistic? I can testify that after I saw all this, my individualism was killed. I have seen that the church is absolutely a corporate entity. With respect to the Father, to the Son, to the Spirit, to the enemy, and for our living, the church is a corporate entity. Hallelujah, the church is the sonship, the family, the Body, the counterpart, the temple, the army, and the one new man!



Thursday, May 24, 2012

Practice, and turning to the Spirit!


THE NEED OF PRACTICE




I have concluded that nothing works except the all-inclusive Christ as the life-giving Spirit. As long as I live by Him and take Him as my life, my person, and my everything, I have no need to overcome sin. He is the way. I do not need to seek holiness. Holiness is mine because Christ is mine. If the married sisters try to submit to their husbands, it will never work. The only thing that works is Christ as the life-giving Spirit. There is no need to retreat into your private room and pray. No, as you are about to do anything, stop and examine whether you are taking Christ as your life, whether you are living by Christ at that very moment and are taking Him as your person. You should say, “Lord, be one with me. I take You, Lord, as my life, my person, and my everything.” If you practice this, there will be a great difference in your daily living. You will have victory, holiness, and life.



TURNING TO THE SPIRIT


There is only one place where we can experience Christ— in our spirit. The mind, the emotion, and the will do not avail in this matter; only the spirit avails. We must constantly turn to our spirit. Some may ask how we can know whether or not we have turned to our spirit. Although it is difficult to say what the spirit is, you do know quite well what your mind, emotion, and will are. As long as you are not in the mind, emotion, and will, then you must be in the spirit. If you are a married brother and are about to talk with your wife, examine whether or not you are in the mind, emotion, or will. If you are in none of these places, then you must be in your spirit and you can freely converse with your wife. There are only four chambers of your being in which you can dwell: the chambers of the mind, emotion, will, and the inner chamber of the spirit. If you are in your spirit, then you may say to your wife, “Dear, I’m not in my mind, emotion, or will. Therefore, because I know that I’m in the spirit, I have the confidence to talk to you.” I’m certain that you could never attend a movie in your spirit. Try to lose your temper in your spirit. I doubt if you can do it. Whenever we get into our spirit, all the bugs and pests are exterminated. The most effective pesticide is our spirit, the unique place to experience Christ.

Young people, you need to experience Christ and to practice living by Christ. If you do a work among other young people without living by Christ, it will be a shame. To talk to people without taking Christ as your life is a disgrace. We all must learn to live by Christ. I do not care whether or not you are able to preach the gospel. I only care for one thing— whether or not you are living by Christ. As long as we live by Christ, our preaching of Christ will be prevailing. But if you attempt to carry on a work without taking Christ as your life, as your person, and as your everything, it will be a shame to the Lord’s recovery.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

THE TRIUNE GOD SPREADING WITHIN MAN


God’s economy is to dispense Himself into our spirit as His abode and to take His residence in our spirit as a base to spread Himself through our whole being. Our spirit is God’s home, His dwelling place, His habitation, the very place from which He spreads Himself through our whole being (Eph. 2:22). By spreading Himself within us, He saturates every part of our being with Himself. First, He thoroughly mingles Himself with our spirit, then with our soul, and finally with our body. He comes into our spirit to begin the mingling by regenerating our spirit. Regeneration is the mingling of God Himself with our spirit. After our regeneration, if we cooperate with Him, offering ourselves to Him and giving Him the opportunity, He will spread Himself from our spirit into our soul to renew all the parts of our soul. This is His transforming work (Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18). Through transformation the very essence of the Triune God is mingled with our soul, our very self. When our soul is transformed into the image of the Lord, our thoughts, our desires, and our decisions will always express the Lord.

God’s first step, therefore, is to regenerate our spirit; His second step is to transform our soul; and finally, His last step is to transfigure, or change, our body at the second coming of the Lord (Phil. 3:21; 1 Cor. 15:51-53). The Lord will then permeate our body, and His glory will saturate our whole being. This transfiguration is the ultimate consummation of His mingling with our being to the uttermost. At that time God’s economy of dispensing Himself into us will be fully accomplished. We need to remember these three steps by which God mingles Himself with us in every way. The following hymn expresses the final consummation.

Christ is the hope of glory, my very life is He,
He has regenerated and saturated me;
He comes to change my body by His subduing might
Like to His glorious body in glory bright!

He comes, He comes, Christ comes to glorify me!
My body He’ll transfigure, like His own it then will be.
He comes, He comes, redemption to apply!
As Hope of glory He will come, His saints to glorify.

Christ is the hope of glory, He is God’s mystery;
He shares with me God’s fulness and brings God into me.
He comes to make me blended with God in every way,
That I may share His glory with Him for aye.

Christ is the hope of glory, redemption full is He:
Redemption to my body, from death to set it free,
He comes to make my body a glorious one to be
And swallow death forever in victory.

Christ is the hope of glory, He is my history:
His life is my experience, for He is one with me;
He comes to bring me into His glorious liberty,
That one with Him completely I’ll ever be.

Hymns, #949

Monday, May 14, 2012

THE HEART AS THE LOVING ORGAN


Second Corinthians 3:16 says, “Whenever their heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” The heart must first turn to the Lord. This is real repentance. When we were fallen, our heart was turned away from the Lord, but when we repented, our heart turned to the Lord. The turning of the heart to the Lord is not once and for all. The heart must be turned to the Lord all the time, day by day. Every morning we must turn our heart again toward the Lord. After raising, we should go to the Lord and tell Him, “Lord, here I am. By Your mercy and grace I wish to turn my heart anew to You for this day.”

When our heart is turned to the Lord, the veil is gone. Many people wonder why they do not have the Lord’s guidance and why they do not know the Lord’s will. But the problem is where is their heart and in what direction is their heart turned? Their heart must be turned and tuned to the Lord. When I was young, I prayed over 2 Corinthians 3:16 nearly every day: “Lord, cause me to turn my heart to You.” I must testify that this kind of prayer works. I encourage you to try it. Before you read the Word in the morning, you should first turn your heart to the Lord. If you do this, the veil will be gone, and there will be light. The veil between you and the Lord will be taken away by you turning your heart to Him and you will see the light.

Once our heart is turned to the Lord, it must next exercise faith. Romans 10:9-10 says, “Believe in your heart” and “With the heart there is believing.” Hence, believing is not an exercise of the spirit, the mind, or the will, but an exercise of the heart. We need to learn how to exercise our heart to believe in order to cooperate with the indwelling Spirit. After our heart is turned to the Lord, we should immediately exercise faith in our heart. Whatever the Lord says in the Word, we must exercise our heart to believe. Whatever we sense deep within, we must believe by exercising our heart. We must believe in the Lord in the midst of our environment. In all the situations within our set of circumstances, we must always exercise our heart to believe the Lord. Exercise faith in the Lord will keep our heart from doubt. We must even pray that the Lord will protect our heart from doubt.

Third, our heart must be sprinkled from an evil conscience (Heb 10:22). The heart itself is not to be sprinkled, but the evil conscience. Our conscience always needs the sprinkling of the redeeming blood of the Lord Jesus. The more we turn our heart to the Lord and the more we believe in the Lord by exercising our heart, the more we will feel in our conscience that we are wrong in many matters. When our heart is not turned to the Lord, we will never sense: that we are right in everything; everyone else is wrong, but we ourselves are right. When we turn our heart to the Lord we can see only ourselves: we cannot see others. The more we believe in Him, the more we will sense how wrong we are in a great many things. We will sense that we are wrong with our wife, with our husband, with our children, with our parents, with our schoolmates. These accusations in our heart are the accusations of our conscience. At such a time we will spontaneously confess everything according to the inner accusation of our conscience. The more we confess, the more the blood of the Lord Jesus will be applied to our conscience. As a result, our conscience will be purged, cleansed, and without offense – a purified conscience. To have our heart sprinkled from an evil conscience means that our conscience has been so purged that there is no more condemnation in our heart. Our heart is at peace and full of joy in the Lord.  

Furthermore, according to Ezekiel 36:26, the heart must be renewed. In Ezekiel 36:25 the Lord said, “I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you will be clean; from all your filthiness and from all your idols I will cleanse you.” But this is not all. To cleanse us from all filthiness, from all sins, and even from idols is only on the negative side. We need something positive. Therefore, the next verse says, “I will also give you a new heart.” The new heart is the old heart renewed.

Thus, there are four steps in dealing with the heart. These steps do not take place once and for all when we believe in the Lord Jesus and receive Him as our Savior. We who are seeking the Lord must have our heart refreshed by these four steps every day. We must turn our heart to the Lord, exercise our heart to believe Him, have our heart sprinkled from an evil conscience, and have it renewed again and again. The renewing of the heart is not a once and for all matter. I believe that if he were living today, the apostle Paul would still need to have his heart renewed. We need to put all these steps into practice immediately. When we first rise up in the morning, we should pray, “Lord, cause me to turn my heart to You.” Then we need to exercise our heart to believe the Lord: “Lord, I believe You and Your Word. I believe in Your dealing within me and in all Your dealings in my environment.” At this point we will sense how wrong we are, how many mistakes we have made, and how much filthiness we have. Therefore, we must confess in order to be cleansed and sprinkled from an evil conscience. Then our heart will be renewed afresh.

These four steps will cause our heart to function adequately. The function of the heart is to love the Lord, for the heart is the loving organ of our being. This is proven by Mark 12:30: “You shall love the Lord your God from your whole heart.” The heart was created for the purpose of loving the Lord. If we do not have a heart, we cannot love. Just as we cannot see without eyes, hear without ears, or think without a mind, we cannot love without a heart. Many Christians do not know what the function of the heart is. They know the function of the eyes, the ears, and the mind, but they simply do not know the function of the heart.
Love is a matter of the heart. We cannot love people with our nose, nor can we love them with our hands. Our heart is the only organ by which we can exercise love. No one can say that he does not love anything. Everyone loves something—either the Lord Himself or something else. The more we turn our heart to the Lord, the more we will exercise our heart to believe the Lord, and the more our heart will be sprinkled from an evil conscience and renewed. Then it will have a greater capacity to love the Lord. This is the function of a renewed heart. Every morning we must renew our heart so that we may love the Lord more and more.

All spiritual experiences start with love in the heart. If we do not love the Lord, it will be impossible for us to receive any kind of spiritual experience. In fact, the first experience of our Christian life, our salvation, involves our heart loving the Lord Jesus. Not one person who truly repents is without love in his heart toward the Lord. He may not have the language to express it, but he has the sweet sense of love within. He does not have the knowledge, but his initial experience of salvation is a reaction or reflection of love in his heart toward the Lord.

We all must learn how to continually turn and exercise our heart in order to have our heart purged from an evil conscience and renewed again so that we may love the Lord more and more. It was the loss of its first, fresh love to the Lord that was the cause of the church’s fall and degradation (Rev. 2:4). When our heart is not fresh in loving the Lord, we have fallen. We must turn our heart back to the Lord again and again and have it continually renewed that we may have a new and fresh love toward the Lord.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

The Spirit is the Mutual Abode

John 14:23 says that the Father and the Lord will come to make Their abode with us. What does this mean? Have you ever experienced the Father and the Son coming to make Their abode with you? This is the mark of God's economy that we are considering. This abode has two aspects -- the Father and the Son become our abode, and we become Their abode. Thus, it is a mutual abode. How is the mutual abode possible? Only as we are in the Spirit, just as the Father and the Son are in the Spirit, can we experience this mutual abiding. When we are in the Spirit, we are abiding in the Son and the Father, and at the same time They are abiding in us. Only then will we have an intimate communion and fellowship with the Father and the Son. We will have an inward "talking." We will talk with the Lord, and the Lord will talk with us. These are the practical experiences of the mutual abode.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

The Valleys and the Mountains

2 Corinthians 6:8-10 "Through glory and dishonor, through evil report and good report; as deceivers and yet true; As unknown and yet well known; as dying and yet behold we live; as being disciplined and yet not being put to death; As made sorrowful yet always rejoicing; as poor yet enriching many; as having nothing and yet possessing all things." If you can experience Christ in times of trouble and trial, how much you will have flowing out to others! It is not in peaceful times or happy days that you can do this. It is in the days of sorrow, the days of sickness, the days of trouble. It is by your experience of Christ in these times that you may have the living flow to water others. Each situation of death may bring forth a greater outflow of refreshing water. Not only the mountains but also the valleys; not only the valleys but also the mountains. We need many experiences of the Lord's death and many experiences of the Lord's resurrection; then we will be full of the springs, the fountains, and the streams.  These are indeed sweet verses. It is a good land, a land of water brooks, of springs and of deep waters, flowing forth in the valley's and the mountains. And it is by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report, as deceivers and yet true, as unknown and yet well known, as dying and yet we live, as sorrowful and yet always rejoicing, as poor and yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things. Try to experience Christ and apply Christ when you are in all kinds of suffering; then you will have something which not only refreshes yourself, but also flows forth to water others. This is but a part of the  unsearchable riches of Christ; this is just one item of the riches of the good land. The land is good in the riches of water: in brooks, in springs, and in deep waters, flowing forth in valleys and mountains.