“If anyone sees
his brother sinning a sin
not unto death,
he shall ask
and he will give life to him”:
is zoe, the spiritual, eternal, divine life.
that the asker
has life of himself
and can give life by himself to others;
it means
that such an asker,
who is abiding in the Lord,
who is one with the Lord,
and who is asking
in one spirit with the Lord,
becomes the means
by which God’s life-giving Spirit
can give life to the ones
for whom he is asking:
of giving life to the weaker ones
in order to swallow up their death;
this is
a matter of life-imparting
in the fellowship
of the divine life.
who can give life to others,
we must abide in the divine life
and walk, live, and have our being
in the divine life.
to minister life to others,
we must do
at least four things:
an adequate contact with the Lord
simply to spend time with Him,
listening to the Lord
in His dealings with us,
so that we
may speak a timely word
to sustain the weary ones.
in the presence of the Lord
to be dealt with
by Him
under His light;
in order to bear fruit,
we must deal
with the Lord
to be
new, fresh, and tender branches of the vine;
we must deal with all the hindrances
to have a living
of bearing fruit,
and we must deal with
our natural disposition
to become flexible
in caring for people.
to care for people
—unbelievers, young believers,
new believers, and weaker believers;
we must care for them
as nursing mothers
and exhorting fathers
to be fishers of men
and feeders of lambs:
by caring for others in the Lord:
we ourselves
will be watered,
and if we
desire to grow in life,
we need to help others to grow.
is to give,
and the more we give,
the more we receive.
from merely ourselves
to others,
we will receive
what we desire.
and be utterly spent
on behalf of others,
sacrificing our wealth and our life
for others.
for the sake of fruitfulness;
because Paul’s disposition
was fully dealt with by the Lord,
it was soft, bendable, flexible,
and applicable to any situation;
our disposition
is the depth of our self,
which must be denied.
to be interested in people;
every day
the Lord’s people
must be our “food”;
many in the church
need our shoulders
to bear them
and our breast
to embrace them
in love.
must be in the nature of life,
with the content of life,
and in the imparting of life:
is not dollars
but the divine life;
the divine life
is our only kind of “merchandise.”
is altogether a matter of life,
because the church
is the organism of the Triune God
as the Body of Christ
and as the vine with the branches;
our work, speaking, fellowship, service,
ministry, message, Bible study, and prayer
must be in the flow
and imparting of life.
receive a sufficient supply
of the life-giving Spirit
as the life-juice of Christ,
they bear fruit
as the overflow
of the inner life supply.
the pattern of the Lord Jesus
as the Son of Man
cherishing us
and as the Son of God
nourishing us,
experiencing and presenting Christ
as the attracting factor
to minister life to people
and gain them
in a normal way:
became the Lamb of God
to take away our sin
—cherishing.
became the life-giving Spirit
to give life to us
and transform us
—nourishing.
in the form of the serpent,
destroyed
the old serpent,
the source of sin,
through His redeeming death
—cherishing.
speaks the words of God
and gives Himself
as the Spirit
to us
not by measure
that we may have
the eternal life
—nourishing.
going from Judea to Galilee,
detoured into the city of Sychar,
near Jacob’s well,
to purposely wait for
the thirsty and water-seeking,
immoral Samaritan woman
—cherishing.
sent by God
as a gift,
gave her to drink
the water of life
which springs up into eternal life
—nourishing.
has been designated by God
to judge all the people of the world,
the living and the dead;
the judgment of Christ
has been preached to the sinners
as a cherishing to them
that they might repent unto God
and receive Christ
as the Son of God
to have His eternal life;
the judgment in Revelation 14:6-7,
as a part of the judgment of Christ,
will be declared to
all the people on the earth
as the eternal gospel
—cherishing.
was given authority by God
to give the eternal life
to His believers
—nourishing.
would not condemn the sinful woman
—cherishing.
would free her from sin
so that she could sin no more
—nourishing.
as a propitiation for our sins
in His humanity
—cherishing.
that we may have life
and live through Him
in His divinity
—nourishing;
this is confirmed
by John 3:16:
God gave us His only begotten Son
that we who believe into Him
may not perish
through His redemption
in His humanity
(cherishing)
but may have eternal life
in His divinity
(nourishing).
the entire New Testament:
came to redeem us from sins
—cherishing.
came to impart the divine life into us abundantly
—nourishing.
Christ in eternity:
He is the ladder
sustaining and maintaining
the life union of all His believers with God
—cherishing.
He is
the life element of the New Jerusalem
as the divine and human constitution
of the consummated Triune God
and His glorified elect
—nourishing.
In order to minister life to others
and recover the dormant saints among us,
we must have
the loving and forgiving heart
of our Father God
and the shepherding and seeking spirit
of our Savior Christ:
We must take
the Lord’s heart
as our heart
and treasure
the lost sheep.
We must rely on
the work of the Holy Spirit.
We must love people
with the Father’s love
and go to them
with a cheerful countenance.
The increase of the church
is according to
the law of increase:
Christ and the church
are the universal vine
as the organism of the Triune God,
and the believers
as the branches in this vine
are in an organic union
with the Triune God.
Since we believers
are the branches of Christ,
we abide in Him as the Son
and are one spirit with the Lord,
thereby participating in
His position and authority.
By abiding in the Son,
we receive the Father’s nurturing,
because the Father
is the husbandman,
the cultivator of the vine;
by abiding in the Son,
we are able to receive
the Father’s nurturing
and to enjoy
the riches of the Father’s divine nature,
that is,
to enjoy
all the riches of God.
By abiding in the Son,
we experience the Spirit of life
as the realization of the Son in us,
and this Spirit of life
also becomes our life essence.
The law of fruit-bearing
involves abiding in the Lord
and being in union with the Triune God;
bearing fruit
comes out of the law of life,
not out of miracles;
the law of life,
which is
the law of fruit-bearing,
the law of increase,
involves four points:
We should abide in the Lord,
just as the branches
abide in the vine,
to absorb the life supply of the Lord.
We should abide in the Lord
to absorb
the supply of God the Father
as our source of nutrients
and the supply of the Holy Spirit
as our watering and refreshing.
We should abide in the Lord
to absorb the supply of God
as our light
and the Spirit
as our air.
We should abide in the Lord
and live in the church,
just as a vine
has to remain in the garden,
in order to receive
protection and care.
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7 replies on “The Increase of Christ Being for the Increase of the Church by Ministering Life to Others according to the Law of Increase”
Prophecy note, 7 August 2016
We have the privilege
of giving life
to the weaker ones
in order to swallow up their death;
this is
a matter of life-imparting
in the fellowship
of the divine life.
To be ones
who can give life to others,
we must abide in the divine life
and walk, live, and have our being
in the divine life.
In order for us
to minister life to others,
we must do
at least four things:
We need
an adequate contact with the Lord
simply to spend time with Him,
listening to the Lord
in His dealings with us,
so that we
may speak a timely word
to sustain the weary ones.
We must learn
in the presence of the Lord
to be dealt with
by Him
under His light;
in order to bear fruit,
we must deal
with the Lord
to be
new, fresh, and tender branches
of the vine;
we must deal with
all the hindrances
to have a living
of bearing fruit,
and we must deal with
our natural disposition
to become flexible
in caring for people.
We must pick up a burden
to care for people
—unbelievers, young believers,
new believers, and weaker believers;
we must care for them
as nursing mothers
and exhorting fathers
to be fishers of men
and feeders of lambs:
We are cared for by the Lord
by caring for others in the Lord:
If we water others,
we ourselves
will be watered,
and if we
desire to grow in life,
we need to help others
to grow.
The way to receive
is to give,
and the more we give,
the more we receive.
If we turn our prayer
from merely ourselves
to others,
we will receive
what we desire.
We need to spend
and be utterly spent
on behalf of others,
sacrificing our wealth and our life
for others.
We must deal with our disposition
for the sake of fruitfulness;
because Paul’s disposition
was fully dealt with
by the Lord,
it was soft, bendable, flexible,
and applicable to any situation;
our disposition
is the depth of our self,
which must be denied.
We must learn
to be interested in people;
every day
the Lord’s people
must be our “food”;
many in the church
need our shoulders
to bear them
and our breast
to embrace them
in love.
Everything in the church
must be in the nature of life,
with the content of life,
and in the imparting of life:
The “currency” in the church “exchange”
is not dollars
but the divine life;
the divine life
is our only kind of “merchandise.”
The church
is altogether a matter of life,
because the church
is the organism of the Triune God
as the Body of Christ
and as the vine with the branches;
our work, speaking,
fellowship, service,
ministry, message,
Bible study, and prayer
must be
in the flow and imparting
of life.
When the branches of the vine
receive a sufficient supply
of the life-giving Spirit
as the life-juice of Christ,
they bear fruit
as the overflow
of the inner life supply.
We need to follow
the pattern of the Lord Jesus
as the Son of Man
cherishing us
and as the Son of God
nourishing us,
experiencing and presenting Christ
as the attracting factor
to minister life
to people
and gain them
in a normal way.
In order to minister life to others
and recover the dormant saints among us,
we must have
the loving and forgiving heart
of our Father God
and the shepherding and seeking spirit
of our Savior Christ:
We must take
the Lord’s heart
as our heart
and treasure
the lost sheep.
We must rely on
the work of the Holy Spirit.
We must love people
with the Father’s love
and go to them
with a cheerful countenance.
The increase of the church
is according to
the law of increase:
Christ and the church
are the universal vine
as the organism of the Triune God,
and the believers
as the branches in this vine
are in an organic union
with the Triune God.
Since we believers
are the branches of Christ,
we abide in
Him as the Son
and are one spirit with the Lord,
thereby participating in
His position and authority.
By abiding in the Son,
we receive
the Father’s nurturing,
because the Father
is the husbandman,
the cultivator of the vine;
by abiding in the Son,
we are able to receive
the Father’s nurturing
and to enjoy
the riches of the Father’s divine nature,
that is,
to enjoy
all the riches of God.
By abiding in the Son,
we experience
the Spirit of life
as the realization of the Son in us,
and this Spirit of life
also becomes our life essence.
The law of fruit-bearing
involves abiding in the Lord
and being in union
with the Triune God;
bearing fruit
comes out of the law of life,
not out of miracles;
the law of life,
which is
the law of fruit-bearing,
the law of increase,
involves four points:
We should abide in the Lord,
just as the branches
abide in the vine,
to absorb
the life supply of the Lord.
We should abide in the Lord
to absorb
the supply of God the Father
as our source of nutrients
and the supply of the Holy Spirit
as our watering and refreshing.
We should abide in the Lord
to absorb
the supply of God
as our light
and the Spirit
as our air.
We should abide in the Lord
and live in the church,
just as a vine
has to remain in the garden,
in order to receive
protection and care.
Day 6
Luke 15:4-5
Which man of you,
who has a hundred sheep
and has lost one of them,
does not leave the ninety-nine
in the wilderness
and go after the one
which is lost
until he finds it?
And when he finds it,
he lays it
on his shoulders,
rejoicing.
John 15:5
I am the vine;
you are the branches.
He who abides in Me
and I in him,
he bears much fruit;
for apart from Me
you can do nothing.
We must take the Lord’s heart
as our heart
and treasure the lost sheep,
loving the brothers and sisters
who have not been
to a meeting
for a long time
and paying the price
to find them.
Although there is
a price to pay
in visiting people,
requiring not only the expense of time and energy
but even a considerable amount of thought,
the price the Lord paid
was much higher.
We must have a spirit
to lay these dormant saints
on our shoulders
like lambs
and bring them back
to the church.
As we seek out the saints,
we must rely on
the work of the Holy Spirit.
I truly believe
that my return to the meetings
was altogether the work of the Holy Spirit;
it was the Holy Spirit
who brought me back.
The work of the Spirit
is likened in Luke 15
to a woman
who lights a lamp
to seek a lost coin.
The Holy Spirit
is able to shine upon the saints
with the Lord’s word
and is willing to search for them
until they are found.
We must love others
with the Father’s love
…like the father
who eagerly welcomed his prodigal son
in chapter 15 of the Gospel of Luke.
…The father had
only love toward his son.
We must take the Lord’s heart
as our heart.
…The father spoke only of slaying the fattened calf
in celebration of his son’s return;
he did not mention
things from the past
or touch his son’s wounds.
He forgot the past.
Even if the dormant saints
want to bring up their past,
we must let them know
that it is not necessary,
because of the Lord’s grace.
…As our brothers and sisters return,
we can minister
what we
have experienced and enjoyed of Christ
according to the need.
In this way,
we will gradually recover them.
I hope
that we will receive this burden
and actively stir up the small groups
to seek out, visit, and restore the saints
who have been absent from the meetings
for a long time.
As long as we visit people,
this is good enough.
Many times,
our words
are not appropriate,
and because we
do not know their inner condition,
it is easy
to hurt them
and cause them to feel bad.
However,
if we go with a cheerful countenance,
they will be comforted
and touched.
They will feel
that neither the Lord
nor the church
has forgotten them.
This will give the Holy Spirit
a great opportunity
to work in them.
The law of fruit-bearing
involves abiding in the Lord
and being in union
with the Triune God.
Bearing fruit
comes out of the law of life,
not out of miracles.
The law of life,
which is the law of fruit-bearing,
involves four points:
First,
we should abide in the Lord,
just as the branches abide in the vine,
to absorb the life supply of the Lord.
Second,
we should abide in the Lord
to absorb the supply of God the Father
as our source of nutrients
and the supply of the Holy Spirit
as our source of watering and refreshing.
Third,
we should abide in the Lord
to absorb the supply of God
as our light
and the Spirit
as our air.
We must receive a supply from God
as our nutrients, water, light, and air
so that the life within us
can grow and bear fruit
according to its law.
Finally,
we need to abide in the Lord
and live in the church
…just as a vine
has to remain in the garden,
in order to receive
protection and care.
…Under these conditions,
we will bear new fruit
according to the law of life.
Day 5
The next day
he saw Jesus
…and said,
Behold,
the Lamb of God,
who takes away
the sin of the world!
And John testified, saying,
I beheld the Spirit
descending as a dove out of heaven,
and He abode upon Him.
And I did not know Him,
but He who sent me
to baptize in water,
He said to me,
He upon whom you see the Spirit
descending and abiding upon Him,
this is He
who baptizes
in the Holy Spirit.
a thorough dealing with the Lord
and have become flexible,
we need
something in our daily living
that attracts and convinces people.
The disciples
mentioned in John 1
were brought to the Lord
by being attracted to Him.
…John the Baptist recommended
…Jesus as the Lamb
to take away
the sin of the world
and…the One with the dove
to baptize people
so that they may receive God as life.
These are
the two attracting factors
of the Lord.
The Spirit of God
always works
through these two attracting features.
Immediately after
this attraction through recommendation,
two of John’s disciples
followed Jesus.
is the most troublesome thing
to all of us,
but Christ became the Lamb of God
to die for us,
to accomplish redemption for us,
to take all our sins away.
This is
the greatest cherishing to us
to make us
happy and restful.
is like a mother.
First,
He cherishes us,
makes us happy.
Then
He gives us some nourishment
to transform us
from clay
to precious stones
for God’s building.
Without Christ’s cherishing,
no one would come
to receive Him
as the life-giving Spirit.
in the form of the serpent,
destroyed
the old serpent,
the source of sin,
through His redeeming death
—cherishing.
We were bitten by the old serpent
in the garden of Eden in Genesis 3,
so we have
the poison, the essence,
of the serpent
in our being.
It was
not sufficient
for Christ
merely to become our redeeming Lamb.
He also had to become
in the form of the serpent.
Paul in Romans 8:3 said
that God sent His Son
in the likeness of the flesh of sin.
Christ became a serpent
in form,
not in element.
He was
the reality of the brass serpent
in Numbers 21 (vv. 4-9)
to destroy
Satan, the source of sin,
through His redeeming death.
speaks the words of God
and gives Himself as the Spirit to us
not by measure
that we may have
the eternal life
—nourishing.
The unlimited Son of God
speaks God’s words
and gives the Spirit
to the hearers of God’s word.
Those who hear His word
and receive the Spirit
are regenerated
to be His increase, His bride.
going from Judea to Galilee,
detoured into the city of Sychar,
near Jacob’s well,
to purposely wait for
the thirsty and water-seeking,
immoral Samaritan woman
—cherishing.
The very God
who became a man
traveled from Judea to Galilee,
and He purposely detoured
to a small city
to cherish an immoral woman.
As the Son of Man,
Christ is
the detouring Savior.
sent by God
as a gift,
gave her to drink
the water of life
which springs up
into eternal life
—nourishing.
First,
He was
the Son of Man
to cherish her;
then
He was
the Son of God
to give her
the living water
that flows into
the New Jerusalem,
the totality of the eternal life.
Christ as the Son of Man
will be the ladder
sustaining and maintaining
the life union
of all His believers with God
—cherishing.
In His humanity
Christ is the standing ladder,
strong and unshakable
…to bring heaven to earth
and to join earth to heaven.
This is
to bring God into man
and to bring man into God.
Christ will be
the life element of
the New Jerusalem
as the divine and human constitution
of the consummated Triune God
and His glorified elect
—nourishing.
Day 4
Jesus said to them,
My food
is to do the will of Him
who sent Me
and to finish His work.
And you shall put the two stones
on the shoulder
pieces of the ephod
as stones of remembrance
for the sons of Israel.
And Aaron
shall bear their names
before Jehovah
on his two shoulders
for a memorial.
So Aaron
shall bear
the names of the sons of Israel
in the breastplate of judgment
on his heart…
a thorough dealing with the Lord
and pick up a burden,
we must learn
to be interested in people.
Because of the fall,
many of us
are not interested in others.
We consider
that whether others
go to heaven or to hell
is their own business.
We do not care
whether others grow in life,
and we feel
that it is sufficient
for us
to care for our own spiritual welfare.
However,
the church service
requires every one of us
to be involved with others.
We need
an interest in the Lord’s people.
…Every day
the Lord’s people
must be our “food” (John 4:31-34).
Some older teenage sisters
should say,
“All the young girls
between ten and fifteen years old
in the church life
are my food.
I am interested in the young people
to this extent.”
However,
we must
not be interested in people
in a natural way
…or social way
but in the way of life
…to see them
saved,
grow in life,
and become matured.
for some specific persons.
We should make
a list of their names,
always keep it
in front of us,
and pray for them
one by one.
…Many in the church
need our shoulders
to bear them
and our breast
to embrace them.
We must love them.
When they fall,
we should weep,
and when they rise up,
we should be joyful.
…Our service
is not to arrange the chairs,
do the cleaning, usher,
or do clerical work.
These are
temporary matters
as the means, instruments, and channels
for us
to take care of people.
As those
who have been born again,
we have the divine life.
However,
we may not exercise the divine life much
in the church service.
We may simply do things
and talk, gossip, ask questions,
and exercise our mind and emotions
in the name of “fellowship,”
yet without the exercise of the divine life in us.
To come together
to have a friendly talk
without the ministry of life
is not fellowship;
it is merely something social.
Genuine fellowship
is the flow and the mutual imparting of life.
I minister life to you,
and you return life to me,
and in this life current
there is
the real fellowship.
…Everything in the church
must be
in the nature of life,
with the content of life,
and in the imparting of life.
The “currency” in the church “exchange”
is not dollars
but the divine life;
the divine life
is our only kind of “merchandise.”
The church
is altogether a matter of life.
Our work, speaking, fellowship, service,
ministry, message, Bible study, and prayer
must be in the flow and imparting of life.
In the church
we must have
life, training, and fruit-bearing.
Every member of the church
should be a branch
that bears fruit.
The word of the Lord
in John 15
is emphatic and definite.
He said,
“I am
the true vine,
and My Father is
the husbandman.
Every branch in Me
that does not bear fruit,
He takes it away;
and every branch
that bears fruit,
He prunes it
that it may bear more fruit” (vv. 1-2).
If we are saved,
we are
a branch in the vine.
We cannot deny this.
Therefore,
we must realize
that every branch in the vine
must abide in the Lord
to bear fruit.
This is
not a small matter.
If we will bear
even one fruit,
the life supply
will flood in.
The life-juice
will stream in,
and we
will bear more fruit.
To bear the first fruit
is a breakthrough.
We must have
such a breakthrough.
We need to go to the Lord
to have a thorough dealing with Him.
Day 3
The blessing soul
will prosper,
and he who waters
will also be watered himself.
Give,
and it will be given to you;
a good measure,
pressed down,
shaken together,
and running over,
they will give into your bosom.
For with what measure
you measure,
it shall be measured to you
in return.
and deal thoroughly with the Lord,
we can pick up a burden before Him.
…We may pick up a burden
for ushering in the meetings,
but the ushering itself
is not our burden.
Rather,
our burden
is to take care of people
by ushering.
Picking up a burden in this way
will make a great difference.
…Whenever we usher,
we will minister life.
There will be
an outflow of life
from us
to others’ spirits.
The Holy Spirit
always honors
this kind of serving.
even the teenagers.
I hope
that the older teenagers
will pick up the burden
to care for
those in junior high school.
…If some teenagers
will do this,
they will have
the Lord’s presence with them,
and they will see the blessing.
for example,
can pick up the burden
to care for the older saints.
No one can appoint us
to this service.
We must all go to
the Lord, the Head of the Body,
have a thorough dealing with Him,
and pick up a burden
…to care for people.
if we desire to receive,
we need to give.
If we water others,
we ourselves will be watered,
and if we desire to grow in life,
we need to help others to grow.
When we help others
to grow in life,
we ourselves will have the growth.
The way to receive
is to give,
and the more we give,
the more we receive.
…We should not say
that we
can do nothing
and are not useful.
Rather,
we need to say,
“Satan, get away from me.
I can do something,
I have something,
and I am useful
in the Lord’s hand.”
…When we say
we have something,
we add to
what we have.
Therefore,
we should endeavor
to water others
and care for them.
promised a child to Abraham,
the child did not come for many years.
The Lord even put Abraham into a situation
in which he was forced to pray
for the household of Abimelech
so that they could have children.
If we were Abraham,
we might have found it difficult to pray.
…However,
when Abraham prayed,
God answered the prayer
not only for Abimelech
but also for Abraham.
If we turn our prayer
from ourselves to others,
we will receive
what we desire.
It is because we
are too self-centered in our prayer
that the Lord
needs to teach us a lesson.
If we water others,
we will be watered,
and if we care for others,
we will be cared for.
“I will most gladly spend
and be utterly spent
on behalf of your souls”
(2 Cor. 12:15).
This passage
has the sense of
sacrificing one’s wealth and one’s life.
Spend refers to
the spending of Paul’s possessions,
and be utterly spent
is the spending of
what he was,
referring to his being.
If we have a spirit
to spend whatever we have
and to be spent,
to sacrifice whatever we are,
we will have
a great increase
each year.
for nothing else
but to gain people.
…He seemed to have
no disposition of his own.
He was simply like
a piece of wood
that could be cut
into any shape.
Because his disposition
was fully dealt with
by the Lord,
it was soft, bendable, flexible,
and applicable to any situation.
is the cause
for our not bearing fruit
and using our talent
to care for people.
…Our disposition
is the depth of our self,
which must be denied.
If we are not useful
in the Lord’s hand
for taking care of people,
it is due to
our raw, natural disposition.
Day 2
Then
his master
shall bring him to God
and shall bring him
to the door
or to the doorpost,
and his master
shall bore his ear through
with an awl…
The Lord Jehovah
has given me
the tongue of the instructed,
that I should know
how to sustain the weary
with a word.
He awakens me
morning by morning;
He awakens my ear
to hear
as an instructed one.
The Lord Jehovah
has opened my ear…
to minister life to others,
we must do
at least four things.
First,
we need
an adequate contact with the Lord.
We must all purposely go to the Lord,
not to pray for other things
but simply to spend time with Him.
We need to be
like the purchased slave
in Exodus 21.
Verse 5 says,
“If the servant plainly says,
I love
my master, my wife, and my children;
I will not go out free.”
After six years of service
the slave was free to leave,
but if he loved his master,
he would not go out.
Moreover,
while he was in his master’s house,
he received a wife
and had children.
In type,
the wife and children
are the church with all the saints.
We have not only the Master
but also the church and all the saints
as our family.
We love
our Lord, the church, and all the saints.
We should tell the Lord,
“Lord, I wish to stay.
I can go out freely,
but I will not.
I love You.
I love my wife, the church,
and I love my children, the saints.
I do not want to miss You, Lord,
and neither do I want to miss
Your church and all the saints.
I want to remain here
to be Your bondslave.”
to have our ear bored through
is to open our ear.
To be a good serving one
does not depend upon
our feet, our hands, or our eyes.
It depends upon
our open ear.
To be a proper slave,
we need an open ear,
not to speak, do, or walk
but to listen.
We must
not be as instructors
but as the instructed,
not as teachers
but as learners.
We all
need to pray this way:
“Lord, I love You,
I love Your church,
and I love the saints.
I will never go out.
Therefore,
bore my ear;
open my ear
that I may listen to You.
I do not want to be a teacher.
I am a listener and a learner.”
Isaiah 50
is a prophetic word
describing the Lord Jesus
while He was on the earth.
Verses 4 and 5 say,
“The Lord Jehovah
has given me
/ The tongue of the instructed,
/ That I should know
how to sustain the weary
with a word.
/ He awakens me
morning by morning;
/ He awakens my ear
/ To hear
as an instructed one.
/ The Lord Jehovah
has opened my ear;
/ And I was not rebellious,
/ Nor did I turn back.”
One who has
life and the timely word
from the Lord
can speak the timely word
to sustain the weary ones.
This is
to minister life
to the weary and weak ones.
we must learn
in the presence of the Lord
to be dealt with by Him.
We may say,
“Lord, here I am.
I know that I am
not fitting and useful.
I am natural, wild, and raw;
I have never been
‘cooked,’ processed, by You.
I am
even sinful, worldly, and fleshly.
Lord,
in order to use me
as Your bondslave,
You must deal with me.
I need Your dealing.
I need Your ‘cooking.’
Lord,
I open myself to You,
but I do not depend on my opening;
I depend on Your exposing.
Bring me into Your light.
Shine over me,
shine within me,
and shine through me thoroughly
in order that I
may be fully exposed.”
We all
need such a prayer.
It is better
to pray in this way
by ourselves.
In doing other things
we should
not be individualistic,
but in this kind of prayer
it is better
to do it individually.
We should spend an hour or more
in the presence of the Lord
for this purpose,
checking with Him
again and again
until we get through
and until nothing further
needs to be exposed.
Day 1
For if,
by the offense of the one,
death reigned through the one,
much more those
who receive the abundance
of grace
and of the gift of righteousness
will reign in life
through the One, Jesus Christ.
If anyone sees
his brother sinning a sin
not unto death,
he shall ask
and he will give life to him,
to those
sinning not unto death.
There is
a sin unto death;
I do not say
that he should make request
concerning that.
in Romans 5:17,
and in 5:10, 18, 21; 6:4; and 8:2, 6, 10,
refers to
the eternal, divine, uncreated life of God (zoe),
which is
Christ Himself
as life to us.
It is different
from both our physical life (bios—Luke 8:14)
and our soulish life (psuche—Matt. 16:25-26; John 12:25).
…In this eternal life
we can reign.
in 1 John 5:16,
the subject
is still he,
the subject of the first predicate
shall ask,
indicating that the asker
will give life to the one
for whom he is asking.
This does not mean
that the asker
has life of himself
and can give life by himself to others.
It means
that such an asker,
who is abiding in the Lord,
who is one with the Lord,
and who is asking
in one spirit with the Lord,
becomes the means
by which God’s life-giving Spirit
can give life
to the ones
for whom he is asking.
This is
a matter of life-imparting
in the fellowship of the divine life.
To be one
who can give life to others,
we must abide in the divine life
and walk, live, and have our being
in the divine life.
In James 5:14-16
the prayer is
for healing;
here
the prayer is
for life-imparting.
is an organism,
and what an organism needs
is life.
Therefore,
our church service
is mainly for ministering life
to others.
Even the arranging of chairs
and the cleaning of restrooms
are not for themselves;
they are
for ministering life.
In ushering, clerical work,
and any aspect of the church service,
we must do everything
to minister life to others.
Of course,
it is good
for us
to do things
in a proper way.
Not doing things well
can be a frustration,
but this does not mean
that merely doing a good job
is to have the proper service.
In worldly religious organizations
it is sufficient
to do the jobs well,
but in the church
the main thing
we need
is the ministry of life.
Even if we
cannot do things very well,
but by His mercy
we minister life to others,
the service
is still successful.
The main matter
is to minister life
to others.
that it is not we
but the Lord Jesus
who is the Life-giver.
However,
there is
at least one verse
in the New Testament
which says
that we can give life
to the weaker ones.
First John 5:16a says,
“If anyone sees
his brother sinning a sin
not unto death,
he shall ask
and he will give life
to him.”
Life here in Greek
is not bios, the physical life;
it is zoe, the spiritual life.
This verse
does not mean
that if we pray for the brother’s sickness,
we can impart physical life to him.
It means
that we give him
zoe, the spiritual life.
We have the privilege
of giving life
to the weaker ones
in order to swallow up their death.
Many saints
are not sick physically,
but they are sick spiritually.
They need us
to pray for them
and to give them life.
We all
need to be trained
and to practice
to take care of the weaker ones
who are
short of life and sick spiritually.
In the churches
it is often the case
that death, rather than life,
spreads from mouth to mouth.
Therefore,
there is
the need of some stronger ones
to minister life
to stop the spread of death
and to swallow up death.
This is
the main purpose
of the service in the church.
in the service
…must help the saints
not primarily to carry out the service;
rather,
they should fellowship with them
and minister life to them
so that they may grow.
If the leading ones
do this,
spontaneously
all the saints
will do the same
for others.
Then
the entire church
will be
under the care of
the proper ministry of life.