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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)

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.”

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)

The divine life is needed for family life

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“Suppose we did not have the divine life within us. This would certainly make family life very difficult, especially in relation to our in-laws, and particularly, to the mother-in-law…. For both a husband and a wife, a mother-in-law can create a difficult situation. For this reason, humanly speaking, it is better that a married couple not have a mother-in-law live with them.”

(Life-study of 1 Peter, pp. 173-174, 182)

God does not want us to be always up or to be always down

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God does not want us to be always up or to be always down. Even in nature the alternating of day and night testifies of this. There is no such thing as an unending day or night. Rather, there is the alternating of day and night, night and day. God did not create us so that we would have a day or night that would last for many years. This may be according to our way, but it is not according to God’s way.

Young people, you must know your rule, your limit. This means that you must know how much God has measured to you, how much He has apportioned to you. This restriction, this limitation, is a very practical dealing with our flesh. Our natural man wants to be without limitation. However, God knows our problem. Therefore, He sets up boundaries and restrictions so that we may stay within the measure that He has apportioned to us.

(Life-study of 2 Corinthians, pp. 444-445)

The Christian’s happiness is not to be found in external things, but in learning to enjoy God Himself in the midst of trial

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“What is the significance of suffering? This, that the devastation it brings to the old creation provides an opportunity for the God of resurrection to impart Himself to His creatures, so that they emerge from the death process with a divine element in their constitution. The primary purpose of suffering in this universe, particularly as it relates to the children of God, is that through it the very nature of God may be wrought into the nature of man. “If indeed our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is being renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16). Through a process of outward decay an inward process is taking place that is adding a new constituent to our lives.

Beloved brothers and sisters, through hardship and pressure a divine element is being wrought into the very fabric of our beings, so that we cease to be colorless Christians, but have a heavenly hue imparted to our lives that was lacking before. Whatever else suffering may effect in this universe is incidental; this is primary — to bring those whom the living God has made possessors of created life into the uncreated life of the God of resurrection. It is in the death experiences which come through suffering that the life of the creature is blended with the life of the Creator. We may know the living God without such drastic experiences, but only through death can we come to an experiential knowledge of the God of resurrection.

Suffering is the God-appointed lot of the Christian. The Christian’s happiness is not to be found in external things, but in learning to enjoy God Himself in the midst of trial. Paul and Silas could rejoice and sing His praises while they were in prison, because their happiness did not come from outer circumstances, but from an inner enjoyment of God. In Paul’s short letter to the Philippians, written during his imprisonment, there are over a score of references to joy. In deep distress he could still be joyful because in his affliction he was learning to know Christ, to appropriate Him and to enjoy Him. His outward circumstances were all conducive to sorrow, but it was in sorrow that Christ was imparted to him as the source of his joy.”

(The God of Resurrection)

In order to help people, we must have spiritual experiences in addition to love

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“A member must have spiritual experiences in order for his function to be manifested. Without spiritual experiences, there is no spiritual function. For instance, I may be someone who has touched God’s love and who loves the brothers and sisters, but I may not have learned many lessons or have had many spiritual experiences. This will limit the operation of love within me and limit the manifestation of my function. Motivated by love, I may want to fellowship with a brother, but without spiritual experiences, I will not be able to help the brother. Without spiritual experiences, there will be no way to manifest my function according to the operation of love.

…. One day a sister in her fifties came to see me. As soon as she began to speak, she had only critical words for her husband, saying, “Brother Lee, my husband is so mean to me. He never gives me a pleasant look. He is away from home all day long even when he is not at work, and as soon as he gets home, he quarrels with me. I cannot bear this. Please pray that my husband would change.”

As she continued to speak, I was unsure of how to help her at first. However, I did know that this kind of disharmony in a family cannot be attributed to just one person. If her husband needed to be dealt with before the Lord, she did as well. As she spoke, I began to realize that she also had many problems. For example, she was very proud in her husband’s presence, and she was unwilling to bend or obey. If her husband was stubborn, she would be even more stubborn. If her husband was unhappy and had a long face, she would have an even longer face. When her husband came home late, she would wait to open the door and would greet him with an unpleasant expression on her face. In part, her reactions caused her husband to like her less and less and to want to be at home less and less.

After gaining a broader view of the problem, I said, “Sister, I will pray for your husband as you requested, but you must promise me that you will change your attitude toward him. As soon as he comes home in the evening and knocks on the door, you should open the door for him with a pleasant smile on your face. It would also be good if you could prepare a snack for him.” Upon hearing this, the sister said, “I cannot do that.” I responded, saying, “I know that we cannot do it in ourselves, but the Lord can. Is not the Lord in us as our life? Have a time of prayer with the Lord and ask the Lord to supply you in order to do this.”

It is not easy for a person to yield to the Lord, and it is even more difficult to yield to man. Although the sister was very troubled, she had to yield to the Lord in order for there to be any hope that her husband would yield as well. When she went home, she knelt down and wept bitterly in her room, saying, “Lord, I cannot do this. I cannot do this.” In her prayer, however, she was deeply touched by the Lord, and she yielded to Him. Then she inwardly yielded to her husband as well. That evening she dressed neatly, prepared some snacks, and waited for her husband to return. When her husband returned around twelve o’clock and knocked on the door, she immediately opened the door and had a much more agreeable attitude. This went on for several evenings, and soon there was a completely different situation in their house. After the sister yielded in this way, her husband began to yield as well.

In order to help people practically, it is not enough to have merely love; we must have spiritual experiences as well. Once there is experience, various functions will be manifested. We must learn the lessons of touching the authority of the Head, accepting the ruling of the Head, and letting the Lord subdue us in every matter. We can truly help others only in the matters in which we have been subdued. Function is based on experience.”

(Service for the Building Up of the Church, pp. 35-37)

Meeting with the saints is a party

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“First Corinthians 1:9 says that our faithful God has called us into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ. The word fellowship includes the thought of enjoyment. Sometimes people may celebrate something by having a party. For us to fellowship together is to have a “party.” A party is a fellowship. The Christian meeting may be considered as a Christian party. Every meeting is a party to us. I am interpreting the word party in a very positive sense. A party is an enjoyment. If we are at a party, you will enjoy me, and I will enjoy you. We will share our joy and feelings with one another. We are so happy when we are meeting with the saints because our meeting, in a positive sense, is a party.

In our hymnal there is a hymn about the church life that says, “I’m so happy in this lovely place” (Hymns, #1237). It is hard to enjoy such a hymn by ourselves. If we were at home alone in our living room, it would be difficult to sing, “I’m so happy in the living room.” But if you are in a small group meeting of ten to fifteen saints, you can declare, “I’m so happy!” because you are having fellowship, a party. This party is not like the parties in the world with sinful and worldly things. It is a party of the Son, Jesus Christ. We are enjoying Him. We are happy with Him and happy because of Him. We are so happy because He is our joy. He is our enjoyment. Our fellowship, our enjoyment, our party, is to partake of, to participate in, the all-inclusive Christ. The faithful God has called us with a purpose. This purpose is that we may participate in His Son, Jesus Christ. This means that God has given us Christ and that He has called us into the enjoyment of Christ.”

(The Excelling Gift for the Building Up of the Church, chapter 1)

God sovereignly arranged everything for you before you were born

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“It is easy to reach the high point in our experience with God, but it is not easy to remain there. Look at the environment that surrounds you on every side. It was sovereignly arranged before you were born. God is sovereign. Although you may consider yourself a small creature, as far as God is concerned, you are a very important person. Before the foundation of the world, God arranged everything for you. He even arranged that you would be reading this message right now. We are under God’s arrangement. Do not try to escape. If you escape to a certain place, you will find that place to be the exact place that God arranged for you. When you reach old age, you will bow down and say, ‘Lord, I am fully convinced that You arranged everything for me before the foundation of the world.’”

(Life Study of Genesis, chp. 42)