Fighting for those who have wronged us

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“And they took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, and his possessions and departed, for he was dwelling in Sodom…. And when Abram heard that his brother had been taken captive, he led out his trained men, born in his house, three hundred eighteen of them, and pursued as far as Dan.” (Genesis 14:12, 14)

When Abraham heard the news about his nephew’s captivity, he did not say, “I knew that he should not have gone to such a place. When he did, surely God’s hand was heavy upon him.” What did Abraham do?
[Read verse 14.]
This shows that Abraham was truly an overcomer. He overcame his self and was brought to the point where he no longer had any personal feelings. It did not matter how Lot had treated him; he still recognized Lot as his brother. Although Lot had never overcome, he was still Abraham’s nephew. Lot was an ordinary man in Mesopotamia, he was an ordinary man when he reached Haran, and he was an ordinary man after he reached Canaan. He even chose the good land for himself and moved to Sodom.

Yet Abraham still recognized him as his nephew. Only those who stand on the ground of fellowship can engage in spiritual warfare. In order to have the strength for warfare, we must not harbor any complaint within us. Even if our brother has wronged us, we should still consider him our brother, and we should still pray for him and help him unreservedly. Only this kind of person can have the power to fight the spiritual battle. Abraham fought by standing on this ground. Therefore, he was able to overcome the enemy.

(The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, ch. 3, via eManna)

How to overcome the degradation of the church

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“… I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but of power and of love and of sobermindedness.”  (2 Timothy 1:6-7)

“How can we overcome the degradation of the church? We must have a burning human spirit of love [2 Tim. 1:6-7]. Under today’s degradation of the church, we all need a spirit of love fanned into flame to be burning in spirit. Love prevails in this way.

According to my observation throughout the years, most of the co-workers have a human spirit of ‘power’ but not of love. We need a spirit of love to conquer the degradation of today’s church. We should not say or do anything to threaten people. Instead we should always say and do things with a spirit of love, which has been fanned into flame. This is what the recovery needs.”

(The Vital Groups, pp. 71,73)

Do not try to be strong

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“In Revelation 3:8 we see the condition of the church in Philadelphia. Firstly, this church had ‘a little power.’ Many times we estimate the church in Philadelphia too highly, thinking that this church was strong and prevailing. Actually, it was not so…. While we estimate the church in Philadelphia very highly, the Lord says that she had ‘a little power.’ What pleases the Lord is not that we are strong, but that we use our little power to do the best we can. Do not try to be strong. The strong ones may not please the Lord as much as those who do their best with the little power they have. You can never surpass what the Lord gives you. Simply spend what you have received from Him. Do not usurp the Lord’s grace. None among us can say that he has received nothing from the Lord. Even the least among us has received a certain amount of grace from Him. You must spend that grace, using it to do your best. If you do this, the Lord will appreciate you and say, ‘Good. You have a little power, yet you have kept My word with the power you have.’ Do not seek to be a giant. The Lord is not happy with giants; He is happy with the little ones who have an amount of grace. Although that grace may be limited in its capacity, as long as we use it, spending it to do as much as we can to keep the Lord’s word, He will be pleased.”

(Life-Study of Revelation, Chapter 15)

Where is the reality of the Body of Christ?

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“Today in the recovery, we need to go on and on to reach the high peak of God’s economy, that is, Mount Zion…. Although Jerusalem is good, it is not the peak. In Jerusalem there is a peak, that is, Mount Zion, on which the temple was built…. The good situation in the recovery today is just like Jerusalem. However, there is no Zion. In the New Testament the overcomers are likened to Zion. In Revelation 14:1 the 144,000 overcomers are not just in Jerusalem; they are on the peak of Zion. The overcomers, the vital groups, are today’s Zion. My burden today is to help you reach the peak of the vital groups, that is, the overcomers’ Zion. Although we may have a good church life, among us there is almost no realization, no practicality, no actuality, and no reality of the Body life. This is the need in the recovery today.

The regular procedures of the church work in the Lord’s recovery today consist of four steps: begetting, nourishing, teaching (perfecting), and building. Begetting is to have sinners saved and regenerated to become the members of Christ (1 Cor. 4:15b; Matt. 28:19); nourishing is to feed the new believers for their growth in the divine life (1 Thes. 2:7; John 21:15, 17); and teaching is to perfect the saints that they may mature to be built (Matt. 28:20a; Eph. 4:12-16). The steps of begetting, nourishing, and perfecting are all for another higher step, that is, for the building up of the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:12b, 16) in the local churches (Rev. 1:4a, 11). However, we need to ask ourselves, ‘Where is such a building? Where is the Body of Christ today? Within and among the many local churches, where is the reality of the Body of Christ?’ According to my observation, we cannot see the reality of the Body of Christ anywhere today.

….The highest peak of the Lord’s recovery that can really, practically, and actually carry out God’s economy is for God to produce not many local churches in a physical way but an organic Body to be His organism. We all have a physical body, but our body actually is not the reality of our being. My body is me, but it is not the reality of my being. Likewise, the churches set up around the globe are a physical frame, but among the churches there may be no reality of the Body of Christ. If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that this is our situation today. Where is the reality of the Body of Christ?”

(Practical Points Concerning Blending, Ch. 2)

Mutual fellowship is better than merely listening to messages

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“The content of the small group gatherings involves mutual fellowship. In Greek the word fellowship conveys the meaning of flowing, being in agreement, linking up, and communicating. Hence, fellowship is a flow. For example, the circulation of the blood in the body is a kind of fellowship. Likewise, the electric current in a lamp is a kind of fellowship. When there is no flow of electricity, a lamp stands alone. But once a lamp is connected to the electrical current, it is connected not only to the power plant but also to other lamps.

As believers, we have the Spirit of God and the life of God in us. Today the life of God and the Spirit of God are flowing within us continually. We have this flow, and even those who have not been meeting for a long time have this flow. Many dormant saints say, ‘I have not been meeting for many years, and I am embarrassed to go back.’ This sense of embarrassment proves that they still have God’s life in them; they are still breathing. It also proves that they have the sense of life within them. Hence, there is still hope for them. This hope is related to the flow of life, which is also the fellowship.

When we gather together in the groups, we should believe that the Lord is in our midst. From the day we were saved, He came into us with His life, and He has never left. Furthermore, we can also stand on His promise in Matthew 18:20: ‘Where there are two or three gathered into My name, there am I in their midst.’ We must acknowledge and grasp this privilege.

…. Each time we come to a gathering, it is not to conduct business, not to eat hot pot, and not to make friends or seek assistance. We come to seek the Lord Jesus, that is, to be gathered into the Lord’s name. Once we have this faith, we can say, ‘Lord, we thank and praise You. This small gathering is connected to heaven. You are on the throne, in our midst, and even in us.’ We must have this faith and make this declaration.

…. Mutual fellowship is truly better than merely listening to messages. Listening to messages is similar to eating only white rice during a meal; there is not much variety in flavor. When we have a meal, we always have other dishes in addition to white rice. The two-way traffic in fellowship is similar to pickled vegetables, which stimulate one’s appetite during a meal…. There may be strengthening prayers or testimonies that follow one after another. Following this fellowship, the entire gathering will open up. After half an hour of fellowship, everyone will be full and satisfied, and when they part, they will yearn for the next meeting.”

(Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 4: The Increase and Spread of the Church, ch. 8)

If we gather together only in big meetings, the proper church life will be hindered

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“The group meetings are the life line of the God-ordained way. As long as we have not touched the group meetings, we have hardly begun to practice the God-ordained way. Satan has deceived us, just as the serpent deceived Eve, through the practice of Christianity to pay attention to big meetings. However, the New Testament makes it clear that the first stage of the Christian meetings was in the homes. According to Acts 2:46, on the day of Pentecost the believers met from house to house. This means that they met in homes, from home to home. The Greek phrase translated ‘from house to house’ implies that wherever there is a home of a Christian, there should be a meeting. In all the Christians’ homes, there should be meetings. Although I stressed this again and again, today we may still prefer to have big meetings. If we gather together only in big meetings, the proper church life will be hindered. When clumps of grass are scattered about, they grow and spread, but when they are piled together, they die. We may prefer to have the facade of a big meeting, but the Lord is not for that. The Lord is for His spreading, and His spreading is in the homes.

…. I fully realize that our barrenness is due mainly to the lack of the group meetings. If we do not have the group meetings, it will be difficult to overcome our barrenness. We may still have some increase, but the rate of increase will probably not be high, and the atmosphere in our meetings also will not be high. A large tree without branches cannot bear fruit. The big meetings are like the trunk of a tree, but a trunk alone cannot bear fruit. The trunk needs tender, fresh branches. It is the branches that can bear fruit. In the church life the branches are the groups. We should not be individualistic but should live in the Body. According to the New Testament, to live in the Body, we need the groups. This does not mean that we should group all the saints into one gathering. According to Acts, it means that we should group the saints together in home meetings.”

(Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, ch. 1)

What does it mean to meet?

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“This is the start of the vital groups… we are in a stage in which we need to be vital. We need to be living, burning and fruitful…. How can we be vital? We have to run the race… we all have to run the race by contacting people… we should contact one another every day, every week, every month, and every year. When we contact one another we are meeting. To meet is to blend and to know each other. Our contact should not be formal and official but normal and living in every way.”

(The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, ch. 4, 9, 11)

We all have defects and shortcomings

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“We all must learn to shepherd one another… We all have defects and shortcomings…. Therefore, we have to humble ourselves to meet God’s grace. This strengthens our spirit to visit people and to take care of people regardless of whether they are good or bad. Regardless of what they are, we must go to visit them and keep visiting… with such a shepherding spirit full of love and care.”

(A Word of Love to the Co-Workers, Elders, Lovers, and Seekers of the Lord, chapter 2)

Changing our concepts and habits to take the God-ordained way

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Link from LivingToHim.com:  Changing our Concepts and Habits to Take the God-Ordained Way (Part 1)

“Unless we have the right view and are willing to change our concept and our system so that every saint fulfills his function, we will not be able to multiply….” (Shepherding the Church and Perfecting the Young People, Chapter 3)

Excerpt:

We need to have 6 changes of concepts and habits (practices):

  • From meeting to people: from meeting-centered to people-centered
  • From big to small: from holding big meetings to gathering in 2s and 3s
  • From coming to going: from always asking people to come to going to visit people where they are
  • From “center to circumference” to “mutuality to mutuality”: from one-directional working on a few “promising” ones to mutual caring among all
  • From “top to bottom” to “bottom to top”: from having a top-down one-directional organized church structure to everyone actively initiating and functioning
  • From “small to big” to “few to many”: from making one home meeting bigger and bigger to multiplying one home into many homes — the principle of the mustard seed vs. the principle of the grain of wheat

The need of the one-talented members

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The Parable of the Talents: Matthew 25:14-30

“Whether or not a church can grow prevailingly does not depend on whether those who have received five talents come forth and serve or not…. The full responsibility rests upon the one-talented ones.

From generation to generation, all the difficulties lie not with the five-talented ones but with the one-talented ones. If the one-talented ones are all right, everything is all right. If the one-talented ones bury their talent, everything is finished.

The difficulty with the one-talented ones is that they have buried their talents in the ground, and as a result you can sense the weight of death in the church. You do not know how heavy it is. The five-talented ones are carrying the one-talented ones. How heavy is the weight of death!

At any time and at any place where there is a church, all the one-talented ones should bring forth their talents and do business. When all the one-talented ones bring forth their talents, there is a church in that locality.

You yourselves must take heed to see that whether or not a church is managed properly is not just a problem of you yourself, but more a problem of whether or not you have the ability to make all the one-talented ones bring forth their talents. All the problems in the church today issue from the one-talented ones.

The Lord has shown us that there is not one whose gift exceeds five talents. For a span of 20 years, the church may have only one with 5 talents. But every day the church can have 5 persons each with one talent. Any one of the children of God even in the poorest condition still has one talent. When you put 5 of the one-talented ones together, it equals one who has 5 talents. If all the one-talented ones in the church today would bring forth their talents, there would be no need of so many great gifts among us.

Just by the coming forth of the one-talented ones, let me tell you, the whole world will be conquered.

(EM quoting Watchman Nee from Further Talks on the Church Life, International Blending Conference in London 2016)