Although God has made many preparations in the environment in order for us to migrate, we still have problems practicing migration. Such problems include our nature, habits, family relationships, relatives and friends, work factors, geographic factors, and property. There is also the inability to adapt to different languages, different customs, and new environments. In addition, there are hardships, costs, and losses suffered when we migrate. These matters cause us to hesitate. Furthermore, according to our natural disposition, Chinese people do not like to move. It is difficult to leave our native land. In general, migration is relatively easy for Caucasians but difficult for the Chinese. Unless we are forced to move, we are unwilling to go even to a nearby region, let alone to a faraway land. Our natural disposition, habits, environment, and human relationships make us inclined to stay in one place. Hence, we need the Lord’s deliverance in relation to migration.

We do not have to move for our sake or for the sake of our family, but we do need to move for the Lord’s sake and for His gospel. If we do not move, the gospel cannot go forth; if we stay in one place, the gospel will be held back. In order for the gospel to go forth, we have to move. In order to move, however, we must overcome the problems that hinder us. We need to be delivered from these problems by allowing the Lord to break our natural disposition and our lack of desire to move. We must also ask the Lord to enable us to overcome every factor that restrains us from migrating.

We need the Lord to break our natural disposition and habits in relation to migration. We ask the Lord to enable us to overcome sin and the world, but we must also ask Him to enable us to overcome all the things that restrain us from migrating. Most people would rather stay in one place than suffer moving to different places. We need the Lord to deliver us from this preference. We need the Lord’s grace to make us willing to move so that we would not be half Christians, ones who come but do not go. By the Lord’s grace, we need to be sojourners on earth who follow the footsteps of Abraham.

When Abraham was called, he obeyed and went from his land to Canaan, the land that God promised to give him. Abraham dwelt in Canaan as a foreigner; he was a sojourner who moved from place to place in a tent, thus confessing that he was a stranger and a sojourner on the earth (Heb. 11:8, 13). Wherever Abraham went, he pitched a tent and built an altar to Jehovah; he also called on the name of Jehovah and maintained God’s testimony on the earth (Gen. 12:6-8; 13:3-4, 18). The tent and the altar were inseparable in the life of Abraham. The tent was a symbol of his life of sojourning on earth, and the altar was a testimony of his calling on the name of Jehovah. Abraham built an altar only after he pitched a tent. He had the testimony of calling on Jehovah only when he lived a sojourning life. Likewise, if we want to serve God, declare His gospel, and maintain His testimony, we must live as sojourners; that is, we must move. If we stay in any place for a long period of time, we will lose the characteristic of a sojourner and the life of the tent. When we lose the life of the tent, we also lose the testimony of the altar. Hence, we cannot maintain God’s testimony when we lose the characteristic of being sojourners.

Whenever we stay in a place for a long time, we will be in danger of being rooted on earth. When we received salvation, the Lord uprooted us out of the world. However, some saints have not allowed the Lord to pull their roots out of the earth. Abraham obeyed God’s command immediately after he was called by going from the land of his birth, that is, from Ur of the Chaldeans (11:31). Some brothers and sisters have been called to be God’s children, but they have not obeyed God’s command to go out from their “Ur,” the place where their roots are in the earth. If they would be willing to migrate, the Lord would pull their roots out of the earth…

May we follow the example of Abraham, the father of faith, by always moving, living the life of a sojourner who pitches a tent and builds an altar as a testimony of God.

(CWWL, 1950-1951, vol. 2, “Serving According to Revelation,” ch. 8)