Day: October 30, 2022
Crystallization-study of 1 & 2 Kings– Week 1
Morning Watch — October 31 – November 6, 2022
The Intrinsic Revelation in 1 and 2 Kings concerning the Economy of God Unveiled and Conveyed through Typology
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Corporate Reading: The Meaning of Human Life and a Proper Consecration, Chapter 5, Section:
Consecration being to Give Ourselves as Vessels to the Lord; Consecration being to Let the Lord be Our Person
Rejecting Traditions and Religious Concepts
The Lord’s Filling Requiring Our Cooperation; Removing Three Layers that Occupy Us
Having Different Experiences After Consecration; Pursuing the Normal Growth in Life
Being Filled with the Lord by Obeying His Speaking
Opening Word – Becoming a Reproduction of Christ as the Tree of Life for the Ministry of Life
Lord’s Day, October, 30, 2022
The Meaning of Human Life and a Proper Consecration, Chap 5, Section 3 of 3
The Lord touches what He wants to deal with. When He says that something is unclean and we say Amen, He can deal with the matter and fill us. When we say Amen, the Lord will fill us. Do not be influenced by those who say that speaking in tongues is the way to be filled with the Holy Spirit. A few years ago, a wind of tongue-speaking blew into Taiwan. Campaigns were held all over the island to promote tongue-speaking. The saints who were in those campaigns are not here today.
The saints who were young people twenty years ago have grown up. This is normal. We should have the same attitude toward the [170] church and toward ourselves. We should not expect to be miraculously filled. However, please do not misunderstand me. I am not opposed to being miraculously filled. Some saints experience being miraculously filled, but this is inferior to the regular and normal filling of life, which is to consecrate ourselves to the Lord and hand ourselves over to Him. After this type of consecration, we will follow the Lord as our person in a normal way. When the Lord says that something is unclean, we will say Amen and ask Him to cleanse us with His blood. When the Lord tells us to get rid of something, we will say Amen. We will say Amen to whatever the Lord says. When we take the step to obey Him, He will take the step to fill us. When we take another step to obey Him, He will take another step to fill us. As often as we take a step to obey Him, He will take a step to fill us. Eventually, we will experience the genuine filling of the Holy Spirit; that is, our inner being will be completely occupied by Him.
Ephesians 3:17 says, “That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith.” The words make His home indicate that we are a house and that Christ is the Dweller in this house. A house is not a person. The person of a house is its dweller. Ephesians 2:22 says that we are “being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.” We are God’s house, God’s temple (1 Cor. 3:16). If I buy a house and it has its own person, I would not dare move in. However, even though we are God’s house, we also have our own person, our old man, who is very strong. This has caused the Lord Jesus much suffering. It is difficult for Him to make His home in us when another person is occupying the house.
A young sister said that she wanted to consecrate herself to live for the Lord and to offer everything for the Lord’s recovery and for the ground of the church. This consecration is not wrong, but it still has a slight flavor of religion. To say that we will stand on the ground of the church in order to recover the truth for the Lord is to speak from the self. The Lord does not intend for us to go to remote regions or to live in the mountains; neither does He want us to stand on the ground for Him. He is the only One who can stand firmly on the ground of the church. We may stand on the ground today but not tomorrow. However, He stands on the ground every day. Hence, it is not a matter of whether or not we stand on the ground but of whether we let Him be our person. Once we consecrate ourselves to [171] Him, we should let Him be our person. We should practice letting Him be our person in small things.
There is no need to say that we will do this or that for the Lord. We simply need to consecrate ourselves to Him and let Him be our person. Perhaps we have seen the local church and are ready to die and live for the local church. However, the Lord would say that we do not have to be so strong and would ask whether He is the person or we are the person. A brother said that he wants neither a Ph.D. nor a bachelor’s degree. However, the Lord may say that He wants the degree. Another brother said that he will serve the Lord full time. However, the Lord may say, “I do not want you to serve full time; I want you to be a teacher.” What should this brother do? It is not a matter of what we want to do; it is a matter of giving ourselves to the Lord and letting Him be our person. If the Lord says that He wants to take the ground of the church, we should say Amen. If He says that instead of teaching He now wants a brother to serve full time, he should say Amen. The key is to let the Lord be our person. If one day the Lord says that He loves the aborigines in Mount Ah-li and wants to live among them and preach the gospel to them, we should say Amen. This is consecration.
To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be completely occupied by the Lord. This is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. This kind of infilling is lasting and proper, because it is normal. If we have a genuine consecration and are thus filled with the Holy Spirit, the church where we are will be blessed. We will not be a problem in the churches; rather, they will receive the supply of life from us. This is the normal experience of life. By the Lord’s mercy, may we have this kind of consecration. We may not be so clear in our consecration, but the Lord will gain us step by step. It is not a matter of what we should or should not do but of what the Lord wants.
Please remember that we are vessels, and we should let the Lord be the person in our vessel. We are the Lord’s house, and we should let the Lord, the Dweller of the house, be the person. A dweller should not have to tell his house what he wants to do, because the dweller is the person of the house, and the property rights belong to the dweller. This is a picture of our consecration. The problem is that we are all living; we are our own person. Some of us have consecrated everything to the Lord except our person; hence, we still tell [172] the Lord what we want. Eventually, everything in our experience revolves around the self.
The Lord does not need us to be the lord. He wants us to give up our position as the person. We just need to be a clean house for Him to dwell in as the person. Then there would be no problem and no hindrance when He touches something in us. We would never delay. Rather, we would agree with whatever He touches. We would let Him be our person. In this way He can gradually fill us. Every day He can fill us until we and the Lord become one. Then we will be conformed to His image: we will express Him and we will represent Him. This is our goal.
The Meaning of Human Life and a Proper Consecration, Chap 5, Section 2 of 3
THE LORD’S FILLING REQUIRING OUR COOPERATION
God created us in His own image so that we would be His expression (Gen. 1:26). We are God’s vessels to contain Him so that He may be expressed through us (Rom. 9:23). God chose us and predestinated us before the foundation of the world so that we would be conformed to the image of His Son (Eph. 1:4-5; Rom. 8:29). At a certain point in time the Lord called us. Then we believed, began to call on His name, and prayed, “Lord, I am a sinner. Thank You for dying for me on the cross. O Lord! I am weak, and I need You to rescue me.” Whether we called on Him or prayed, the Lord Jesus entered into us. When the Lord came into us, He filled us in our human spirit.
After being saved, the filling of the Holy Spirit involves the Lord’s filling every part of our being. Since we are vessels of God, the Lord desires to fill us completely. On the day that we first called on His name, the day we were saved, His desire was to enter into us in order to fill us completely. However, we were not ready for such a complete filling, because there were many other things that filled us. The Lord Jesus, however, is very accommodating. He will fill whatever space we are willing to give to Him. He will occupy whatever part of our being that we give to Him. If we do not want to open to Him, there is not much that He can do, because He depends on us. His desire is to occupy us, but we are reluctant to cooperate with Him. It therefore takes a long time for Him to fill every part of our being. He desires to enter into us and occupy our whole being; [167] hence, we were created to be His vessels. However, this requires our cooperation. This cooperation is our consecration.
REMOVING THREE LAYERS THAT OCCUPY US
Without our cooperation, the Lord has no way to occupy us, because there are too many things within us. Some of the things within us are filthy, evil, or corrupt thoughts and covetous intentions. We all have such thoughts and intentions; no one is absolutely without them. Some people have more evil thoughts and intentions, and others have less. This is the first category of things that occupy us. The second category of things that occupy us is not evil, but the things in this category usurp us. These things include our future, education, jobs, and relationships with others. Although these things cannot be considered evil, they usurp us and occupy us. We should be occupied by the Lord, but these other things continue to occupy us.
There is a third category of things that occupy us. This category consists of what we are: our person, personality, self, old man, and ego. If we can still say that we want this or do not want that, our consecration is not thorough. We are still filled with the “I”; we are still the person. These three layers usurp us: sinful things, the world, and the self.
Once we believe in the Lord, we are saved, and the Lord enters into us. However, the Lord has not yet filled our inner being because of these three layers of things within us. The first layer consists of sins, the second layer consists of things other than the Lord, and the third layer is the self. In other words, these things fill us up; we are filled with sins, the world, and the self. Consecration is our willingness to give ourselves to the Lord and tell Him that we are willing to cooperate with Him to deal with our sins, to remove the things of the world, and to deal with our self, that is, that we want Him to be our person. This will enable the Lord to fill us.
HAVING DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES AFTER CONSECRATION
The experience of every believer after consecration differs. Some believers experience indescribable joy that causes them to be beside themselves. There is no need for others to encourage them to praise; they spontaneously praise the Lord. Other believers do not sense any change in themselves. The different experiences are not important. [168] What is important is whether or not we are consecrated. As long as we are, this is sufficient. After consecrating themselves to the Lord, some believers immediately experience an outpouring of the Holy Spirit; they are so full of joy that they can dance and praise the Lord with Hallelujahs. However, after a few months they may become cold and backslidden. Other believers do not have any such experiences after their consecration. But still the divine life begins to grow in a steady way within them.
PURSUING THE NORMAL GROWTH IN LIFE
Growth in life is not coincidental; it requires time. Suppose you plant carnation seeds in your garden. After two weeks the seeds will begin to sprout. If you look at the sprouts every day, you may not notice any growth. It would be unusual for a carnation seed that was planted today to blossom tomorrow. Life grows at a normal pace.
The growth of a child is similar. A child has a small stature when he is six or seven years old. However, after ten years he will grow to be a tall young man. This is not strange or miraculous, because he has been growing every day for ten years. He did not grow taller in one day. May we be willing to be the kind of Christian who grows normally every day according to life instead of growing miraculously overnight into husky men.
In my early years I appreciated it when believers became “crazy” after they consecrated themselves. Later, as I grew in life, I became cautious of such experiences, because they do not last long. They can be likened to going through a thunderstorm every day; they are difficult to endure. We need drizzle, not thunderstorms. Whenever necessary, the Lord will send us a timely “drizzle.” If it drizzles every day, the earth will flourish with green plants. I do not like to see “typhoon” or “thunderstorm” experiences of being revived. Thunderstorms do not last long, and they bring much damage and loss to the church. They are a problem for the elders. I hope that after our consecration, we will not become thunderstorms blowing in our localities. This would cause the churches to suffer a great loss.
I am not saying that we should not be beside ourselves. We would prefer that the saints be beside themselves rather than be dead. However, our being beside ourselves should not be like a thunderstorm. It should be from within. Our activities should be weighty, genuine, and serious; this should be the issue of a spiritual [169] reality. Our experience of the Lord can be likened to the rain. Sometimes His watering us is like showers of rain, like drizzling rain. Our precious experiences of the Lord will not be our experience of Him as thunderstorms but our experience of Him as showers of rain. This means that even though we may not feel different from day to day, the life within us is growing every day. This is precious.
BEING FILLED WITH THE LORD
BY OBEYING HIS SPEAKING
To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to let the Lord occupy our whole being. It is also to fully open to the Lord. As a result, we are not the person; He is our person. The Lord is living in us; hence, He can touch something unclean in us. When He does, we should ask for His blood to cleanse us. We should say Amen to whatever He touches, even if it is not unclean. This is the way the Lord fills us. Sometimes, however, we are not obedient, and as a result, we do not experience the Lord’s filling. At other times we do not want to hear the Lord’s speaking. When He says that something is unclean, we are slow to obey, and we pretend that we have not heard Him.
This can be compared to a child who pretends that he does not hear what his mother is saying, because he does not want to obey her. We may even have a “spiritual” reason for not obeying the Lord. For example, rather than obeying Him to clear up a matter, we tell the Lord that we need to preach the gospel or pray.
When the Lord touches something, we should not question Him. We often question Him when we do not want to cooperate with Him. When He says that something is unclean, it is unclean. Nevertheless, we still ask Him why it is unclean. In reality, our asking is only our purposeful delaying.
The Meaning of Human Life and a Proper Consecration, Chap 5, Section 1 of 3
CHAPTER FIVE
A PROPER CONSECRATION
CONSECRATION BEING TO GIVE OURSELVES
AS VESSELS TO THE LORD
In this chapter we will fellowship concerning consecration. Every one of us should have a genuine consecration; we should spend time to earnestly pray and offer ourselves to the Lord. What is a proper consecration? A person may say that since he has consecrated himself to the Lord, he no longer wants certain things. This is not the kind of consecration that we are speaking of, because not wanting certain things may just be something according to a person’s desire. He may say that he no longer wants to study, but the Lord may say, “I want you to continue to study.” Consecration is not a simple matter. Sometimes our consecration is not thorough, because we still want to have the final say in everything. Formerly, studying was our decision, and now giving up our studies is still our decision. Formerly, obtaining a bachelor’s degree was our decision, and now giving up a bachelor’s degree is still our decision. Even our desire to gain the Lord is our decision. This is not a proper consecration.
Consecration means that we offer ourselves as vessels to the Lord to let Him fill us, occupy us, and be expressed through us. As a result, we are not the ones making decisions. If the Lord says that our attitude to our parents is not good, we should respond by asking Him to forgive us and cleanse us with His blood. The Lord may say that we offended a younger brother, and we should respond by asking Him to forgive us for offending this brother. This is the result of genuine consecration. Hence, it is not that we decide whether or not to study. Rather, we ask the Lord whether or not He wants to study. If the Lord does not want to study, we do not study further. If the Lord wants to study, we should study. Consecration does not mean that we should give up studying and eating, leave the world, and retreat to the mountains. That is a religious concept of consecration. Even consecrating to be an evangelist is according to a [164] religious concept of consecration. It is not the result of touching and gaining the Lord in a genuine way.
When we touch and gain the Lord, we realize that we are vessels created by the Lord, and we are willing to give ourselves to Him and receive Him as our Lord. We let Him speak and do everything. As a result, we do what He wants us to do. If the Lord says that we should get rid of something, we get rid of it, and if the Lord says that we should keep something, we keep it. Whatever the Lord does not want, we should not want, and whatever the Lord desires, we also should desire. This is consecration. When the young people give testimonies concerning their consecration, there is often a religious flavor. They say that they want to do this or that for the Lord. Actually, the Lord does not want you to do anything for Him. He only wants you to be an empty vessel. Never think that the Lord does not want you to get a degree. The Lord may want you to get a Ph.D. We do not have a proper understanding of consecration, because we are influenced by tradition. Even when we tell the Lord that we will do whatever He wants, there is still a religious flavor. The Lord does not want us to do anything. He wants to be our person. It is not a matter of what the Lord wants us to do; rather, it is a matter of our following the Lord.
CONSECRATION BEING
TO LET THE LORD BE OUR PERSON
The Bible says that we are a vessel (Rom. 9:20-21, 23) and that we have a treasure in our earthen vessel (2 Cor. 4:7). An earthen vessel is meaningless without a treasure. We are merely vessels in need of content. A car without a driver as its content is meaningless. Just as a car is a vessel in need of a person who can drive, we are vessels in need of Christ as our person.
We are often influenced by natural concepts, religious thoughts, Christian tradition, and even our history in the recovery. These four layers are like a pair of tinted glasses that hinder us from seeing things clearly. If my glasses are tinted dark brown, everything I see will be dark brown. Similarly, if I have a layer of “dark brown glasses” on my mind, whatever I hear becomes “dark brown.” This is the way that our natural, religious, and traditional concepts influence our understanding of consecration.
To consecrate ourselves to the Lord is to receive the Lord into us [165] to be our person. A car does not have a person; it is just a machine. A car can merely receive commands; it cannot receive me as its person. Likewise, we often consecrate ourselves to the Lord merely to receive His commands but not to receive Him as our person. Hence, the Lord is still not our person. At the most He is able to give us commands. We go when the Lord tells us to go, or we get a job when He tells us to do so. This is the consecration of a religious person. It is an old consecration.
The Bible shows that this is not the kind of consecration that the Lord wants. The consecration that the Lord desires is for us to give ourselves to Him as vessels and let Him be our person. If there is anything that frustrates Him from being our person, we should say, “Lord, remove the hindrances! Remove whatever occupies me. If there is anything unclean in me, remove it.” When we allow the Lord to cleanse and empty us, He will be enlarged in our being. The Lord desires to be our person.
Once the Lord comes in to be our person, we are no longer the person. This means that if the Lord wants to study, we follow Him to study. It is not we who decide; the Lord decides. It is not that I no longer have any opinions but that I am no longer the person who makes the decisions. In Galatians 2:20 Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” The self, that is, me as the person, is crucified. Hence, I am no longer the person; the Lord is now my person. I am a vessel to let the Lord come in and be my person. When I take the Lord as my person, I make room for Him. I do not want anything to occupy me. I will let the Lord take away anything that is a hindrance to Him so that I can take Him as my person.
After consecrating ourselves, how do we live? Suppose we are about to study, and we say, “Lord, I am about to study. I have consecrated myself to You, so please help me to study.” This is a religious prayer. Suppose there is no meeting in the evening, but there is a movie at the theater. Will you pray and ask the Lord Jesus to keep you from going to watch the movie? Such a prayer does not indicate that you are a consecrated person.
REJECTING TRADITIONS AND RELIGIOUS CONCEPTS
Christianity has brought us many traditions. The teachings and practices in Christianity are just traditions. Even the exposition of [166] the Bible is based on traditions. These traditions frustrate believers from understanding God’s desire according to the original intention and revelation of the Bible. Most believers have a preconceived idea concerning the filling of the Holy Spirit. Some think that this involves a miraculous experience or a special physical feeling. Hence, if such things are absent, they question the authenticity of the filling of the Holy Spirit. Others think that the filling of the Holy Spirit involves being filled with power, holiness, and love. These concepts are only half right; they are not absolutely wrong or absolutely right. We must completely give up our previous understanding, comprehension, and impression concerning the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the filling of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, our understanding will be veiled.