Body Life

A decade ago, I had been taught and trained to be a "spiritual giant" as the case is in many inner life Christian groups. No wonder, I used to struggle and strive to become such a one. But the Lord, in His mercy, saved me from this extremist pursuit. Thank the Lord! 

However, having stated this, the basic practices of a Christian living are very much needed as they are the foundation for the stability of a normal Christian life. Nevertheless, all these practices are actually for the Body of Christ; spirituality is for the Body of Christ, otherwise, it is a great threat to the building up of the Body of Christ. A spirituality without Body-consciousness is individualistic and divisive. Church history has proved it. Such partial, incomplete and improper understanding of spirituality does more harm than good; instead of building up the Body of Christ, it tears down what has already been built.

Since the Lord recovered me to the Body life, He has shown special grace to me. All these years, praise the Lord, a decade now(!), many of my self have been stripped layer by layer, including my understanding of spirituality. In no way can I say, I have been fully stripped off of all that need to be stripped off, but for sure, significant stripping have been done. Looking back, I can only praise the Lord for what He has been doing which otherwise would have made me by now a half-baked cake. Having stated thus, I still look to the Lord for more grace to go on in Him, with Him, with His Body.

These days, as to God and as to man, I can humbly acknowledge that I am indeed nothing and can do nothing in myself without the Lord and His Body. Since the Head, Christ cannot be separated from His Body, the Church, I can also not be separated from my fellow brethren. A decade ago, I can spiritually do many things individually and divisively in the name of the Lord, but now, a decade after, I can only depend on the Lord and dwell with the Body and need the fellowship, balancing of the Body in the Body for the Body. Be it personal or corporate matter, I cannot be myself, do it myself any longer. The hand of the Lord is heavy upon me if I dare to be individualistic, because He loves me. I need the Body as much as I need the Head of the Body; for the body is the Body of the Head, and the Head is the head of the Body. The two co-exist as one. What the Head feels, or says or does, the Body feels, or says or does too. Recently, a brother had indirectly indicated that he is fully for the Head, Christ but had some uneasiness with the Body and further indicated that he is only for the Head. To this I retorted back, that I am for both the Head and the Body. For one cannot be sweetly joined to the Head without fitly joined to the Body; to claim royalty to the Head without being in peace with the Body is a paradox. How many of today's Christians who loves the Lord dearly need to know and live in the Body life? Lord, have mercy on us...

Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12-14 are great unveilings of the Body life. To me these are enhanced gospel, not merely being saved from negative things, but even more to be saved into the Body life. These days, I can only praise and thank the Lord for His great mercy shown especially towards me. He saved me from my self pursuit of spirituality and shepherded me into the Body life, living as a member of His Body with many other members, coordinating, blending and building together for the fulfillment of His eternal purpose " Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ," Ephesians 4:13.

Flow of Life

The church is a miniature of the New Jerusalem and needs to take the holy city as its highest standard. In the holy city as revealed in Revelation 22:1,2 are the throne of God and the Lamb, the river of water of life and the tree of life. These three significant items also comprises the church life today. And these has been my experience in the church life very strongly these days.

Be it a mere group meeting or a church prayer meeting or the Lord's table meeting or a prophesying meeting or training or conference or blending or whatever meeting, as long as it is the meeting of the proper church life under the throne of God and the Lamb, there is always a rich supply. No matter how many joins the meeting or who speaks the word, there is the Lord's anointing. I have been enjoying this anointing very much. Regardless of what truth is spoken, how well or unwell spoken, how long or how short, there is always a rich supply of life.

For this blessings divine, my being sings in praise to the Lord. These days I am so much blessed with the Lord's speaking through the ministry of the word of the speaking brothers. Even the readings of the ministry writings is full of life supply; any books, any chapter, any page, there is the rich supply of life. The fellowship of the brothers on whatever matter is also filled with life. Lord, thank you for the flow of life.

Whatever others say, whether critiquing or criticizing, accusing or excusing, my life experience clearly testifies beyond doubt, the Lord's recovery is truly the Lord's recovery of life, in life and by life. Time and again, the Lord confirmed to me through the objective revelations of the truth and the subjective experiences of the revealed truth, that He is indeed the Head of the church and the proper practice of the church life in the Lord's recovery is truly of the Lord; though there are differences in practices and many outward matters in comparison with other believers, essentially, the Lord's heart is please and His blessings are unsearchable, both abstract and concrete, spiritual, psychological and physical too. 

Even when we few brothers gather together for fellowship on many matters, there is the divine life operating and flowing among us; not a matter of right or wrong, good, better or best, there for sure is the Lord's blessing. O how I treasure this flow of life.

Based on the word, all this is just the fulfillment of the proper church life, a miniature of the New Jerusalem, with the throne of God as the center, and the river of life flowing to supply all the saints in the church and the tree of life for the saints to feed upon.

If I were to jot down all the blessings there will be no end; if I were to write descriptively on the experiences of the Lord's bountiful supply of life, time and energy will not suffice. These are the riches Christ, the Head of the Body, bestowed His Body, the church, with. 

O to be in the church life in the Lord's recovery is a blessing of all blessings! Lord, thank you for Your life flow; preserve me in the church life under Your throne with Your river of life and tree of life.

Better Things

In my study of the word recently the Lord impressed me so deeply and the blessing inexplicable of being a believer today in the new testament. We have all that the old testament believers had and much more, we have the fulfillment and the reality of all the types of the old. Some thing better, yes, better things.

Hebrews 11:40

40 Because God has provided something ²better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.

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40² The Greek word means superior, nobler, greater; hence, better. It is used thirteen times in this book: the better Christ (1:4), better things (6:9), a better hope (7:19), a better covenant (twice — 7:22; 8:6), better promises (8:6), better sacrifices (9:23), a better possession (10:34), a better country (11:16), a better resurrection (11:35), something better (11:40), and better speaking (12:24). (The other instance is in 7:7, where it is translated greater.) All these better things are the fulfillment and reality of the things that the Old Testament saints had in types, figures, and shadows. What God provided at that time was a picture of the things concerning us, the things that were to come in the new covenant and that are the true and real things, better, stronger, more powerful, nobler, and greater than their types, figures, and shadows. The Old Testament saints, who had only the shadows, need us for their perfection that they may share with us in the real things of the new covenant. Why, then, should we leave the real things of the new covenant and turn to the shadows of the old covenant?

http://online.recoveryversion.org/FootNotes.asp?FNtsID=7451

Some thing better, yes, better things, these are the blessings of being a believer today! As a brother and I visited an elderly couple whose daughter and son-in-law were instrumental in bringing me to the Lord, they asked me to minister the word. So impromptu was the request, that I ran out of words. But the Spirit inspired me instantly to minister what I had enjoyed the previous day. That was this "better things." 

Praise the Lord today, that I am not only of the new testament time, but also living in the new testament age. Many today are new testament believers with old testament beliefs and practices. When we have better Christ (1:4), better things (6:9), a better hope (7:19), a better covenant (twice — 7:22; 8:6), better promises (8:6), better sacrifices (9:23), a better possession (10:34), a better country (11:16), a better resurrection (11:35), something better (11:40), and better speaking (12:24) what more do we need? Christ is the reality of all these! Especially in the Lord's recovery in the church life today, all these are spoken, ministered, dispensed and being lived out. Not a boast, but declaring the fact, I am really blessed in the church-life today! May the Lord preserve me by His mercy that I enjoy the reality of all these better things of God, Christ and the Church for the fulfillment of God's eternal economy. 

Mahanaim

Song of Songs 6:13

Return, return, O Shulamite; Return, return, that we may gaze at you.

Why should you gaze at the Shulamite, As upon the dance of two camps?

"Two camps" in Hebrew means "mahanaim." Jacob, after he met the angels of God, divided his wives, children and the rest of his possessions into two camps, or "two armies" (Gen. 32:1-10). On the one hand, Jacob was so afraid of his brother Esau that he made two camps, as a cleverly defensive tactic in case he was attached. It shows his helplessness, weakness and dependence on God who can only protect him. Yet on the other hand, having two camps signifies being a testimony; dancing between the two camps being more than conquerors in the Body life.

As I studied this verse, with the help of the notes in the Recovery Version, the Lord enlightened me of two things. 

Firstly, I am weak in myself. I can do nothing and even if I were to do something, it will be all out of fear and helplessness. So my only refuge is the Lord Himself who is my Protector and Strength. In fact, all the days of my life, I must take this position, recognizing my weakness and always depending on God for everything. Only by this utter dependence on God, can I become one with God to be His army to fight against His enemy unto victory. 

Secondly, though I am weak, I am a member of the Body, I am not alone, I am among the two camps of women and children, the feeble ones trusting the Lord. And also a part of the two camps, I am a part of the testimony of God. I not only conquer, but am more than conqueror in the Body life with the other saints.

As days go by, the deeper I realize the practicality of this verse. Often I groan in my weaknesses depending on the Lord, and often I rejoices in the strength of the Lord. Though weak, I am strong. At times, I too make my camps as a defensive tool, yet amidts the camps I dance in victory rejoicing! On the one hand, I am weak and need the Lord, and yet I am one with Lord and am victorious in Christ the Victor! Like the Shulamite, As upon the dance of two camps, gaze at me Lord!

These Hands

Acts 20:

34 You yourselves know that these hands have ministered to my needs and to those who are with me.

35 In all things I have shown you by example that toiling in this way we ought to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

In Acts 18:3b "they were tentmakers by trade", revealed what Paul did to make a living mainly so that he could serve the Lord without being a burden to the church nor to the saints, and yet be able to support the needs of the weaker saints. What a testimony! 

As I read this portion of the word and also from the message spoken by brother Watchman Nee in Church Affairs, Chapter 11,  the Lord enlightened me to see the proper way and attitude of serving the Lord. It is not for living that we serve the Lord, nor as a profession as in any secular job. We serve the Lord because we love Him, we love Him because He first loved us and has chosen us. We have no other option, even if there are many; we have no other way among the many ways; because the Lord has chosen us and captured us by His love. 

Since we love Him, we serve Him; and yet we are still man in the flesh with many physical, psychological and spiritual needs as any living and normal human does, so as not to stumble for these needs, we labor, even much more than any others, with "these hands" to make a living so that we can serve the Lord whom we love to the uttermost.

"These hands" also was a testimony of Paul; he kept himself pure in his motive in material needs in not being burdensome to and dependent on somebody else for his living, not that he did not have faith to trust in the Lord for his needs, but that in the principle of incarnation, labored as a tent maker to meet his basic physical needs and that of the needy saints with him. It was God who gave him the strength and the blessing to labor with his hands. 

Having spoken to by the Lord, it is my heart's desire too, as Paul, that as much as the Lord blessed, I would willingly labor with "my hands" trusting in the Lord to bless the fruit of "these hands" labor to supply the basic necessity and serve the Lord with all purity. This is not "not to have faith" but the exercise of faith to "till the ground that God may send the rain." Far be it from me that my service be dependent on or burdensome to some, instead I be a blessing to others both physically and spiritually, trusting in the Lord and having and exercising faith to bless and provide all my needs through "these hands." Having expressed this, it is upto the Lord to ultimately decide how I may serve Him. My faith, my trust, my provision, my Jehovah Jireh is and always will ever be God and Him only.

With all purity in heart, I may serve Him, laboring with "these hands" as He so ordained and blessed that the word of the Lord be fulfilled in me too that "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

Naming Children

Unexpected and unprepared we were for the third blessing of the womb, yet the Lord was the Lord and His way always were His ways and we just said "amen."

The Lord has taught me a lot of lessons through His blessings unsearchable. I, in my immature discernment, thought it sufficient for just two but the Lord knew best. He gave us one more beyond our expectation and perception. One the one hand He dealt with my thoughts and  on the other hand, He blessed us richly. A double blessing indeed! Through this He taught me a life lesson that "He is the Lord, and He ever will be and that I just trust in Him and fully depend on Him only."

When I got engaged to my wife out of God's sovereign will, she expressed her concern that she might not be able to bear a child. But my apt and innate response was that I would marry her not for a child but for the Lord's sake. It was upto the Lord whether we would ever be parent or not. The Lord was faithful and gracious. Now He has blessed three to the one who would physically not bear one, for health reason. God was and is above medical sciences.

Out of the Lord's blessings, for joy we named our first baby, BLISS -- a subjective experience of the sweetness and goodness of God. Then, the Lord blessed us a baby boy, knowing truly our heart's desire, and we named him, AMANA -- meaning high peak truth, an objective apprehension of the height of the Lord's marvelous, divine and mystical revelation, and co-incidentally my service to the Lord was also assigned in the literature service in the year he was born. He, as the Head, Christ, apportioned His member as He wills, and to this I say, "Amen!". And then, though we had satisfactorily settled for two, the Lord's blessing was bountiful. He blessed us further with the third baby. We named her, CHRISTY -- a feminine name of Christ, at least to my reckoning of the name, as the realisation of the subjective "bliss" and objective "amana." Christ is the reality of all the subjective experiences and enjoyment of God and of all the objective truths, visions and  revelation of the Bible. So here are God's blessings--Bliss, Amana and Christy.

That's how our children were named.

Lord, as Thou blest, so shall Thine be;

Lord, do Thou what pleaseth Thee.

We consecrate our own and our all to Thee,

May Thy will be done, yea Thine only.

Willing and Working

Philippians 2:13

13 For it is God who operates in you both the ⁴willing and the working for His good pleasure.

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13⁴ The willing is within; the working is without. The willing takes place in our will, indicating that God's operation begins from our spirit (cf. 4:23) and spreads into our mind, emotion, and will. This corresponds with Rom. 8, where we see that God works from our spirit (Rom. 8:4), through our mind (Rom. 8:6), and eventually into our physical body (Rom. 8:11).   http://online.recoveryversion.org/FootNotes.asp?FNtsID=6012

The Lord's rhema speaking is so timely and intimate these days. He loves me so  much despite all my failures and short comings. One verse that shines out in my time with the Lord is Philipians 2:13. God operates in me! The Greek word for "operates" has the thought of God's moving, acting and working within us. Here the source of the operation is God, the means of the operation is also God and finally, the goal of the operation is also God! What a God indeed is our God!

This verse encourage me so much so that I even texted to some saints and new ones I am shepherding. Many times there are life's challenges and the task assigned to us on this temporary journey seems tough and mostly uncertain. Yet the word of  the Lord says, He is the one operating; yes operating in me the willing to carry out His will and the strength to carry out what He wills. So it is ultimately He who is the cause of willing and also ultimately He is the means to carry out His will. O what a blessing.

Often I struggled to seek God's will; but actually the "will-er" of the "willing" is God Himself. He operates in me the willing and I need to be exercised in my spirit to be one with what He is willing within me and through me. Even after His will is made known, foolish as I am, I tried to carry out the willing with my strength only to find myself in desperate hopelessness. As He willed, so He worked. He not only wills in me, but also supplies all the strength I need to carry out His willing within me. And all these for His purpose. So, the ultimate goal of everything God does in me and through me or in us and through us is for His purpose. Hallelujah! I need not struggle nor waver in vain. But abide in Him that He abide in me for His purpose. Praise Him!

Lord, thank you for your operation--the willing and the working for Your purpose!