To be in the Lord’s recovery means that we are Christians NOT just for our own need and not just for ourselves (we don’t focus only on, What can God do for me?) – we are Christians for God’s need, God’s pleasure, God’s heart’s desire, and even God’s goal! Yes, we have our needs, we see what we are, but what about God’s need? What about God’s purpose, His goal, and His economy? We are here learning to lift our view from our petty needs and problems, and look to the Lord to be one with Him for His economy, His need. [read more online]
the secret to be content in all things: abiding in Christ (students training, South Africa)
The experience of Christ is in our spirit but the enjoyment of Christ is in our soul. We need to experience Christ in such a full and complete way so that our experience seeps through to our soul to be our enjoyment, joy and delight. How do we do this? In Phil 4:12 Paul says he has learnt the secret to be both abased and to abound and in the previous verse to be content in all circumstances. The secret is simply to be in Christ, to abide in Him. To be content in everything means the good things and the bad things. To be content in all things means to be content in all the ordinary things too! Our Christ does not change, our contentment therefore cannot change. [read more online]
we are earthen vessels containing a priceless treasure, the Christ of glory!
When God shines on us through the speaking of His Word, the glory of God in the face of Christ is being infused into us to become the indwelling treasure in our spirit (see 2 Cor. 4:6-7; 1 Pet. 3:4). This is so wonderful! We are earthen vessels – worthless, fragile, temporal, ephemeral, and passing away – but we contain a priceless treasure – the face of Christ, the person of Christ, the image of God Himself – in our spirit (2 Cor. 2:10)! There is nothing more precious and valuable in the whole universe than beholding the face of Jesus [read more online]
the believers are living letters of Christ for others to read and know Christ in them
Day by day, as we get into the Word of God and as we are under the speaking of the Word of God, Christ is being written into every part of our inner being to make us His living letters! What is a letter of Christ? The apostles’ ministry writes Christ into our being and inscribes us to be Christ’s living letter, so that others may read and know Christ in us and through us. As we spend personal time with the Lord to enjoy Him and “being written on by Him” and as we meet with the believers to write Christ on one another, we become the living letters of Christ to express Christ in all our being! [continue reading this portion]
being the captives of Christ in His triumphal procession scattering His fragrance
In our experience we all have to admit that many times Christ is captive to us, and we “defeat Christ” by living in our natural man, in our flesh, and guided by our self. We may not have problems with sin or with the world, but the question is, Who is Whose Captive? This is why we all need to pray, Lord, make me Your captive – never let me win! Defeat me all the time! The Lord doesn’t need “spiritual giants” but He needs little captives, those who have been defeated by Christ and who are subdued by Him. We need to cooperate with the Lord’s defeating work by praying in such a way, so that He may have a gateway to enter in and defeat us all the time. [continue reading online]
being a laboring farmer and an unashamed workman cutting straight the word of truth
The word of God is like a grain of wheat – it dispenses God as life into us to nourish us. Also, the Word of God is like a fire and a hammer to purify us and break down our self, our natural life, our flesh, our lusts, and even our concepts (see Jer. 23:28-29). As laboring farmers, we diligently and patiently minister the Word of God to people for their growth in the divine life. In all our contact with the saints, we should be pure and have only one motive – ministering Christ to them so that they might grow in life in the Lord (1 Tim. 5:1-2). [continue reading online]
being a good soldier of Christ Jesus and an athlete contending in the games
In Rev. 18:13 we see that the cargo of the material Babylon is gold and the souls of men. Babylon deals in the souls of men – even today, men sell their soul to their occupation and they neglect God and His eternal destiny. We need to have a job, we need to earn a living, and we need to take care of all the practical aspects of our human life, but we should not sell our soul to Satan! Our soul was created to enjoy God and express God, and we fight for God’s interest on the earth one in soul with all the saints! [continue reading online]