Month: April 2020

The church life is not for a good time; it is for something solid

/ livinglywrong

“Suppose the young people in a locality come together only to have a good time, playing the guitar, singing hymns, and releasing their spirit, but they do not spend time in the Word of God and are not exercised in the spiritual experiences. Several years may pass, yet nothing will be built up. Such a situation would be worse than the situation in denominational Christianity, for Christianity at least has seminaries to train some leaders. To only have a good time is a waste of time. We need to come to the church meetings to learn something, to be built up, and to be trained. This is worthwhile. We should mean business in the church life. The Lord’s testimony is the most important thing in our life today. Therefore, we need to spend our time, our energy, and even our being to be constituted for the Lord’s recovery.

I encourage all the saints to spend a solid time to enter into the solid things. We should not relax or only seek to have a good time. The church life is not for a good time; it is for something solid. We need to pick up this burden and go to the Lord. We should not use the excuse that we are weak. We are all weak, but He who is in us is strong. We do not have the energy in ourselves, but His grace is sufficient for us (2 Cor. 12:9). We all need to look to the Lord for His grace that we may come up to His standard. I hope that all the saints will legally spend time in the Word of God. If we all practice this, the church life will be healthy, strong, rich, and genuinely living. We all need to honor the headship of Christ, bear the truth, exercise ourselves unto godliness, take care of the healthy teaching, and study the Word. By spending time in the Word, we will be filled with the knowledge of the divine Word and will know how to conduct ourselves in the house of God.”

(Crucial Principles for the Christian Life and the Church Life, Chapter 8, Section 4)

Why do we need to pass through afflictions and persecutions?

/ livinglywrong

We ourselves boast in you among the churches of God concerning your endurance and faith in all your persecutions and the afflictions which you bear,
A plain indication of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be accounted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which also you suffer. (2 Thes. 1:4-5)

Establishing the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God. (Acts 14:22)

“The believers have been called into God’s kingdom and glory (1 Thes. 2:12). To enter into this kingdom, we need to pass through afflictions (Acts 14:22). Hence, the persecutions and afflictions are a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment, showing that we may be accounted worthy of the kingdom of God.”

(2 Thes. 1:5, footnote 2)

Why does God allows us to be afflicted?

/ livinglywrong

‘Psalm 119:71 says, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.” This verse indicates that God raises up circumstances to discipline us so that we may learn the Word. Through suffering and affliction we learn His law. Inwardly we have faculties created by God by which we can understand His Word, and outwardly we have the environment and the circumstances by which we are disciplined. God allows us to be afflicted so that we may learn the Word of God.’

(Life-Study of Exodus, message #57)

We must not derive our life or strength from outward circumstances

/ livinglywrong

“He grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground.” (Isaiah 53:2)

‘…Its roots are the means whereby a plant is nourished, the channel through which its life is derived. No plant can live without a root-system. Equipped with one it may survive in the most unpromising conditions. Isaiah’s words suggest that Jesus Himself did not derive His life and strength from outward circumstances. Nor must we. If necessary we must be able to live without the succor of our brethren in Christ. Even with them around us, we live with our fellow members, we do not live by them. The secret source of our life is God alone.

But to live thus “out of a dry ground” means something more. It means that nothing merely circumstantial can destroy us. No drought can wither God’s tender plants. Amid barren, even hostile conditions, His children are equipped to be “more than conquerors.” Their life is Christ Himself.’

(from A Table in the Wilderness)

To speak incorrectly in the meetings is much better than not to speak

/ livinglywrong

“The Spirit is always ready and expects to speak with us and through us, but we would not always cooperate with the Spirit to speak. Whenever we come to the meeting, we must try to speak. In a good sense, it does not matter whether we speak properly or wrongly, well or poorly. As long as we speak, God will be happy. Parents always like to hear their young children speak…. For many years our Father in heaven has not seen us speak much in the meetings, and this should have bothered Him. If we come to the meetings speaking, even in an incorrect way, He will be happy. To speak incorrectly is much better than not to speak. When someone speaks, even incorrectly, he is learning to minister to others.”

(CWWL, 1990, vol. 2, “The Practice of Prophesying,” pp. 367-368)

Are we serving under a vision?

/ livinglywrong

“When Jesus of Nazareth came, He also served God, and a group of Galilean fishermen followed Him as His disciples. In the eyes of man, these Galileans were just like little naughty children. Outwardly, Jesus was a Galilean; He did not move away from Nazareth the first thirty years of His life, and He received no formal education in serving God. Yet at the age of thirty He started a ministry, and a group of “ignorant” people followed Him. Even some women ministered to His needs. They followed the Lord Jesus for three and a half years. What do you think the Pharisees, chief priests, scribes, and elders thought of them at that time? Among these men were fishermen, tax-collectors, and relatives of the Lord Jesus. There was even a woman who was once possessed with seven demons. Did they not seem to be children at play when they claimed that they were serving God?

At that time among the Jews, there was still a magnificent temple. It was built over a period of forty years. The Levites were divided into twenty-four orders and were offering sacrifices and ministering according to their orders. They were either taking care of the utensils, slaying the animals, or offering the sacrifices such as the daily burnt offerings and sin offerings and the weekly Sabbath offerings on the bronze altar. In the eyes of man, such services were certainly proper and dignified, but were they carried out under a vision? We are all very clear that the services of the priests in the temple were not carried out under a vision; they were carried out by tradition. It was the Lord Jesus and those who were following Him who were serving under a vision and whose service was pleasing to God.”

(from The Vision of the Age, chapter 1)