Author: livinglywrong

God wants to be the Giver and the Doer

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Luke 15:21-24a:
“The son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his slaves, Bring out quickly the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fattened calf; slaughter it, and let us eat and be merry, because this son of mine was dead and lives again; he was lost and has been found.”

WORDS OF MINISTRY:

When the prodigal returned home after wasting all of his substance on riotous living, the father did not have a word of rebuke concerning the waste or a word of inquiry regarding the substance. He did not sorrow over all that was spent; he only rejoiced that the prodigal’s return afforded him the opportunity to spend much more. God is so wealthy that His chief delight is to give; His treasure-stores are so full that it is painful to Him when we refuse Him an opportunity to lavish His treasures upon us. It was the father’s joy that he found a willing applicant in the prodigal son for the robe, ring, shoes, and feast; it was his sorrow that he found no such application in the elder brother. It is a grief to the heart of God when we try to give things to Him, because He is so rich. It is a joy when we simply allow Him to give and give to us. It grieves Him when we try to do things for Him, because He is so able. He longs for us to simply allow Him to do everything. He wants to be the Giver and the Doer eternally. If only we saw how rich and how great He is, we would leave all the giving and doing to Him.

(The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 46, “The Christian’s Relationship to the Law,” pp. 1161-1162)

Why do people in the Lord’s recovery say “Amen” in the meetings so much?

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Answer from ChatGPT:

In the Lord’s recovery, “Amen” is used very frequently because it is understood not merely as a way of ending a prayer, but as a way of actively responding to the Lord and agreeing with what is being spoken.

The practice has several layers:

1. Biblical meaning: “Amen” basically means “truly,” “surely,” or “so be it.” It is a Hebrew word carried directly into the New Testament. When someone says “Amen,” they are affirming, “Yes, this is true,” or “May this be so.”

2. A corporate response: Recovery meetings emphasize that the church is not primarily an audience listening to one person minister. Everyone is encouraged to function. Saying “Amen” is a very simple way for everyone to participate.

3. Affirming the Lord rather than merely the speaker: Ideally, when someone shares something concerning Christ or the Word, the “Amen” is directed toward what is true of the Lord—not simply, “I agree with that brother.”

4. Praying with the speaker: If someone prays, “Lord, we love You and want to enjoy You more,” others may say “Amen” because they are making that prayer their own.

5. Receiving the Word: Someone might read a verse and then make a short declaration about it. Others say “Amen” as an expression of receiving and agreeing with the truth.

6. Spiritual exercise: The Recovery places considerable emphasis on believers exercising their spirit in the meetings rather than remaining passive. Vocal responses—“Amen,” “Praise the Lord,” “Hallelujah,” etc.—are part of that practice.

There is actually a particularly relevant verse:

“For all the promises of God in Him are Yes; therefore also through Him is the Amen to God, unto the glory of God through us.” — 2 Corinthians 1:20, RcV

The Recovery’s understanding of that verse is that Christ Himself is God’s “Yes” to us, and our “Amen” is our response to God through Christ.

Why it can sound like a lot of Amens:

There’s also a cultural/meeting-practice component. In a typical Recovery meeting, people have been trained to respond audibly and frequently. So you might hear:

“The Lord Jesus is so wonderful!”
“Amen!”
“We just want to love Him!”
“Amen!”
“We need to exercise our spirit!”
“Amen!”

And sometimes it can become almost automatic.

That’s worth distinguishing from the biblical principle itself. The New Testament certainly supports corporate verbal affirmation—Paul explicitly says that the other believers should be able to say Amen to someone’s prayer (1 Corinthians 14:16). But the Bible doesn’t prescribe a particular frequency or meeting style for saying it.

So there are really two things going on:

1. Biblical principle: Amen = “Yes, I agree; may it be so,” and it can be a genuine corporate response to the Lord.

2. Recovery culture: frequent audible “Amens” have become one of the characteristic ways that Recovery meetings express corporate participation.

And, frankly, the second can sometimes continue even when the first isn’t happening very consciously. A person can say “Amen” because everyone else just said “Amen.” That doesn’t necessarily mean the practice itself is wrong; it means the spiritual reality behind the practice matters.

Related Bible verses:

“Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel, From eternity to eternity. And all the people said, Amen, and praised Jehovah.” (1 Chronicles 16:36)

“And Ezra blessed Jehovah the great God; and all the people answered, Amen, Amen, lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshipped Jehovah with their faces to the ground.” (Nehemiah 8:6)

“Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel, / From eternity to eternity. / And let all the people say, Amen. / Hallelujah.” (Psalm 106:48)

“Otherwise if you bless with the spirit, how shall he who fills the place of the unlearned in tongues say the Amen at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying?” (1 Corinthians 14:16)

“For as many promises of God as there are, in Him is the Yes; therefore also through Him is the Amen to God, for glory through us to God.” (2 Corinthians 1:20)

“The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.” (Revelation 22:21)

What is the optimal size for a small group? 

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It is preferable for a small group to have no more than twelve people. Five or six is the best, seven or eight is fine, and even eight or ten is good. Because we love Him and mean business with Him, we should daily pray, read the Word, learn the truth, see the light, experience Christ, and labor on Christ. Then when we come together, we will have experiences to share, rather than being an “audience” waiting for others to speak.

(On Home Meetings, chapter 1)

Why do we have to know the hymns?

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“In order for us to enrich, strengthen, enliven, refresh, and uplift our meetings, we need to use the hymns. We have seen that according to 1 Corinthians 14:26 and Hebrews 10:25, we need both speaking and singing in our meetings. The speaking is not only the speaking of the word of God or the speaking forth of Christ but also the speaking of the hymns. The first item listed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 14:26 is a psalm. A psalm is poetry. In both Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16, we are charged to speak in hymns. This indicates that the saints in the early Christian meetings used a lot of hymns. Many times we may not be able to find a verse or some verses in the Bible to meet the real need in the meeting, but we can easily find a hymn to meet the need. This is why we have to know the hymns. If we use the hymns adequately and properly in our meetings, they will be uplifted, enlivened, and refreshed.”

(Speaking Christ for the Building Up of the Body of Christ, p. 73)

Quotes by ME Barber

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“The requirement to work for the Lord is not to work.”

“Whoever cannot stop working for the sake of God cannot work for the sake of God.”

“Whenever God delays in telling me His will, I find that I still have a disobedient heart and an improper motive within me.”

She often asked brother Nee, “do you love God’s will?” She did not ask, “do you obey His will?”

“The secret to understanding the will of God is that 95% is a matter of submitting to the will of God, and only 5% is a matter of understanding.”

What do you do when the devil knocks at your door?

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When I was first saved, I heard a story about a young girl who knew the meaning of victory very well. During the Keswick Convention, a man asked the little girl how she overcame when the devil came to her. She answered, “In the past, if the devil came to knock at my front door, as soon as he knocked, I would say, ‘Don’t come in. Don’t come in.’ But the result was always a failure. Now when the devil knocks at my door, I say, ‘Lord, You open the door for me.’ If the Lord opens the door, and the devil sees the Lord, he will say, ‘Sorry, I came to the wrong door,’ and he will run away.”

(The Overcoming Life, ch. 6)

Never contact anyone with a cheerless countenance

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LEARNING HOW TO NOURISH PEOPLE

The members of the vital groups have to learn how to nourish people to continue their cherishing of people. Cherishing without nourishing is in vain. When a mother wants to feed a naughty child, she will first make him happy by cherishing him. But without nourishing him, her cherishing is meaningless. After cherishing the child, the mother nourishes him with food. This is the way that Christ as the Head takes care of His Body, the church. He nourishes us after cherishing us.

Revelation 1 shows how Christ cares for the churches. Revelation is a book of signs. A sign is a symbol with spiritual significance. The first sign in Revelation shows Christ in His humanity as the High Priest, and the last sign is the New Jerusalem. As the Son of Man, Christ as the High Priest is taking care of all the churches as lampstands (1:12-13). On the one hand, He is cherishing the churches in His humanity; on the other hand, He is nourishing the churches in His divinity. The members of the vital groups have to learn these two things. When we visit people, invite them to our home, or contact them before and after the meetings, we must be one with Christ to cherish and nourish them.

THE MEANING OF CHERISHING AND NOURISHING PEOPLE

To cherish people is to make them happy and to make them feel pleasant and comfortable. We must have a pleasant countenance when we contact people. We should be happy and rejoicing. We should not contact anyone with a cheerless countenance. We must give people the impression that we are genuinely happy and pleasant. Otherwise, we will not be able to cherish them, to make them happy.

Then we should go on to nourish them. We do not nourish people when we speak to them about marriage, courtship, politics, the world situation, or education. To nourish people is to feed them with the all-inclusive Christ in His full ministry in three stages. When we speak to people about Christ, we should not speak to them in an incomprehensible way, in a kind of language that they do not understand. We have to find a way to present the all-inclusive Christ to everyone.

(The Vital Groups, ch. 11)

Christ was made man that we might be made God

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Athanasius, one of the early church fathers, said concerning Christ, “He was made man that we might be made God,” and “The Word was made flesh… that we, partaking of His Spirit, might be deified.” This is the principle of God’s move on earth. God’s move is in man and through man. God’s move is to deify man, making man God in life and in nature but not, of course, in the Godhead. (Life-Study of Job, message 24)

“For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.” (Saint Athanasius, On the Incarnation)

How fruitful we are depends on whether we have an intimate concern

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In 2 Corinthians 7 Paul was very emotional. In verse 13 he says that he “rejoiced more abundantly over the joy of Titus.” …Paul was very human and emotional in his ministering of life. Paul was so emotional because his concern was so deep and intimate. Without this kind of concern, we could never be abundantly rejoicing in the way Paul was. Instead, we may be as cold as a freezer, altogether lacking in concern for the saints. Instead of warming up others, we make them even colder. Nothing can grow when it is in such a frozen condition. We need the weather of spring to come to thaw us out and warm up our life. Once again there is a need for a ministering life. Do you know what a ministering life is? It is a life that warms up others. Learn to warm others. This is to have an intimate concern for them.

Many have read 2 Corinthians 7 without touching the matter of Paul’s intimate concern. If we do not have this kind of concern for others, we will not be fruitful. If I would minister life to the saints, I must have a genuine concern for them, a concern that is emotional, deep, and intimate. I must be so concerned that, at times, I may appear to others to be foolish or beside myself.

(Life-study of 2 Corinthians, message 44)