Be in the Flow of Life & Do the One Work for the Building up of the Body of Christ

We all need to follow the pattern of the apostle Paul to do the same one work universally for the unique Body, being saved from the river of fire by the river of blood to be in the river of life and do a work in the Body in coordination and with humility so that the Lord may work in us and with us. Amen!

This week we have been enjoying the matter of keeping ourselves in the one flow of the Lord’s work for the spreading of the church, and receiving the Lord’s mercy to be saved from Satan’s schemes.

On the positive side, we need to keep ourselves in the one flow of the Lord’s work so that He may have a way to spread the church through us and around us. On the negative side, we need to beware of Satan’s schemes to damage the church and frustrate the spreading of the church on the earth.

The book of Acts shows us both the positive and the negative side of the history of the spread of the church on the earth, beginning with the early disciples.

Our God is a flowing God, and He flowed in time to reach us in the Lord Jesus. Even more, on the day of Pentecost, God poured Himself out upon man, and since then, the Lord has been flowing in one divine stream from age to age, from generation to generation.

The stream of water of life, the living flow of life, has now reached us, and we want to keep ourselves in the one flow of life on earth today.

We do this, on the personal side, by giving the Lord the preeminence in all things in our being. We need to love Him with the first love and best love, and He will flow in us and through us as the first works, for He will work in us and flow out through us.

The church is eternal and universal, so the church must spread constantly on the earth. As we grow in life and cooperate with the Lord for His move, the Lord has a way to spread through us.

As the Lord spreads, however, and we cooperate with Him for His spreading, He exposes our concepts, our traditions, and our close-mindedness.

We love the Lord and we want Him to spread, but our natural being is a hindrance to the Lord’s move; so He shines on us, and we allow Him to break through in us.

This is what we see in the vivid history of the spread of the church in the book of Acts. Again and again, man’s concepts, religious background and traditions, and close-mindedness was exposed by the Lord, and thank the Lord, many times He had a way to break through!

Though Satan, through his scheme, may hinder or frustrate the spread of the church, the Holy Spirit cannot be stopped! He will break through in some people, who are open to Him, and He will move in them and through them! May we be such ones today!

Being in the Flow of the River of Life by Applying the River of Blood to be Saved from the River of Fire

Our God is a flowing out God. From eternity to eternity, He flows as life, and He wants to flow His life into us, the human beings created by Him in His image and according to His likeness.

In Genesis 2 we see a river, which is a type of the river of life, and in chapter 3 we see another river, a type of the river of fire.

The cherubim had a flaming sword, guarding the way to the tree of life because of man’s disobedience. The flame signifies God’s holiness and the sword signifies God’s righteousness.

As far as God’s righteousness and holiness are concerned, we all should die, for the river of fire burns all those who disobey God and do not match His standards.

How can we have a river of life flowing in us and out of us?

We believers in Christ need to allow the river of life to flow through us so that there will be a river of life flowing out of us into others also. Whatever it is in our being that doesn’t allow the river of life to flow will be burned by the river of fire.

All that we have and do, all our speaking and doing, and all our work for the Lord, including our work, family, and business, need to be in the river of life.

Only when we allow the river of life to flow into us, within us, and through us will there be something produced for the building up of the church – gold, silver, and precious stones (1 Cor. 3:12-13).

If we build upon the foundation gold, silver, and precious stones, our work will stand the judgment of the river of fire.

But if we build with the wood, grass, and stubble of our flesh and natural man, these will be burned by the river of fire, for the fire will reveal what kind of work we are doing. Oh Lord Jesus!

Thank the Lord that, between the river of water of life and the river of fire, there is a river of blood.

We can apply the precious blood of Christ to any sin and trespass (1 John 1:7, 9), and everything that should be consumed by the river of fire will be terminated, and we will be in the river of water of life.

Thank the Lord that we have the river of blood to take care of everything that is of ourselves. On the one hand, we need to examine ourselves; on the other hand, after we have examined ourselves, we need to trust in the blood of the Lamb.

We need to simply wash our robes in the blood of the Lamb and go on with the Lord to partake of Him as the tree of life (Rev. 22:14).

We can be saved from the river of fire into the river of water by the river of blood. Only what comes from the life of God and is in the river of water of life will remain; everything else will be consumed by fire.

We may have many things in us that are good, created by God, and naturally beautiful and nice; these have to pass through the river of blood to be terminated by fire and come on the river of the water of life.

Anything in us, any ability and capacity, and any desire and opinion that we have which does not have the life of God, will be burned away.

This is why we need to open to the Lord again and again so that He may flow into us as the river of water of life.

He came into us as the river of life at the time of our regeneration, for through faith we received the Triune God as the fountain of life in our spirit.

Now we continually drink of Him and apply the precious blood of Christ to allow Him to flow in our being and flow out of us as many rivers of living water (John 7:37-39).

This river of water of life flows in us and through us until the New Jerusalem, where we see a river of water of life! Hallelujah!

The city of water signifies God’s life and holiness, and it manifests God’s glory. The lake of fire signifies God’s righteousness.

May we daily be in the river of water of life and allow the Lord to judge and remove from us anything that is not holy and does not belong to God.

Lord Jesus, thank You for coming into us as the river of water of life! Hallelujah, the Triune God is in us, flowing within us as a fountain of life! From our spirit within flows a fountain of life – the Triune God flows in us! Amen, Lord, we open to Your flowing. Flow into every part of our being. We love You, Lord, and want to remain in the flow of the river of water of life. May the river of fire purge us and eliminate from us anything that Your life and nature do not agree with. Amen, Lord, may anything that is not of Your life and nature be removed from our being. May our living and work be in the river of water of life. We apply Your precious blood, Lord, and we come to You to be in You as the river of water of life. Flow within us. Flow out of us. Flow us all the way into the New Jerusalem! Hallelujah, there’s a river of water of life flowing in us and flowing us into the New Jerusalem, the totality of the eternal life!

Do the same One Work for the Building up of the Local Churches unto the Building up of the One Universal Body of Christ

As we read and enjoy what the Lord has been doing with and among the early disciples, we need to ask ourselves what kind of work we do today.

We may be like Apollos, having a limited knowledge of the plan of God, and the result of our work may be that some may want to follow us, but this brings in division.

Or we may be like Peter, being greatly hindered in our usefulness to the Lord because of remaining in the old concepts, religious traditions, and not advancing in the Lord.

Or we can follow the pattern of the apostle Paul, doing the same one work universally for the unique Body of Christ (1 Cor. 3:12; 15:58; 16:10; Eph. 4:11-16).

Even though we may not be full-time serving saints but have a job and take care of many things related to our family and our human life, we all do a work for the Lord, for our very living is our work, and what we share with others is part of our ministry.

May we learn from the apostle Paul to do the same one work for the building up of the universal Body of Christ.

We may have the concept that we need to ask the Lord if it is His will for us to visit a particular person for the gospel or for shepherding.

But what we need to do is sense whether God wants us to go, whether we enter into His work, for He is doing something, and we are one with Him.

The work in the Lord’s recovery is for the building up of the local churches unto the building up of the universal Body of Christ (Eph. 2:21-22; 1 Cor. 16:10). This is what we want to do today.

We want to not only build up our own small group or our local church, but do one work for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

Genuine work involves God working with us. Before we decide whether or not we should do something, we need to first allow God to pass through our mind and will.

We need to let Him have a way in us to deal with our mind, emotion, and will, so that something of Him may be infused into us and flow out of us for others to be edified.

Brother Lee once said that there are four kinds of workers for the Lord.

The first kind is the co-workers who match the need of the ministry of God in the present age. This is a small group of people who have been dealt with by the Lord and who are in one accord.

Through such ones, the Lord has an unhindered way to release what is in His heart, and the entire Body of Christ receives supply and direction.

The second kind of workers is the younger co-workers; these are willing to receive direction and to come under the coordination of the older co-workers, and they are willing to follow and to learn in humility. We want to be such ones today.

We may not have the portion of being those who match the need of the ministry of God today, but we can learn to serve under the leadership and training of the older co-workers and elders so that the Lord may have a way in us for the building up of the Body.

The third kind of workers are those who are unwilling to submit to the senior co-workers and who do not belong to the denominations, but who are happy to remain in fellowship with us.

They do a work for the Lord, but they are not in fellowship or leading of the co-workers.

The fourth kind of workers are the preachers and free evangelists among the nations.

What kind of workers are we today? What we need today is the first and second kind of co-workers. Concerning the third and fourth kind of workers, we can only let them choose their own pathway.

We need to realise that with some people, God has not assigned them to take the same way as we do, and we dare not say anything to them.

No matter what their situation may be, as long as they remain in the church life in fellowship and oneness, we cannot ask anyone to do the same thing we do.

We need to choose to do the one work for the building up of the Body of Christ, and we need to learn to be in fellowship and coordination, remaining in the fellowship with the senior co-workers and elders.

We can’t interfere with others’ work, and we’re not here to tear down others’ work.

May we all choose before the Lord in the church what we should do, and may we be the workers who are one with the Lord for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

Lord Jesus, we love You and we want to do the one work universally for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ. We give ourselves to You, dear Lord, for You to work Yourself into us and build Yourself in us. Oh Lord, may there be no element of the self in the things we do for You in the church life. We allow You to first pass through our mind and will so that You may have a way to flow in and flow out of us. Amen, Lord, flow in us, flow within us, and flow out of us as one work for the building up of the Body of Christ. May we be those who are willing to learn and follow in humility to do the work of God for the building up of the church. Save us, Lord, from doing our own work. Save us from not being in the fellowship and coordination of the Body, and save us from being independent from the Body. Oh Lord, may we learn to serve, being coordinated with the saints and having the covering of the senior co-workers, so that we may all do one work for the building up of the church!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers, and portions from, Messages Given during the Resumption of Watchman Nee’s Ministry, vol. 1, ch. 26, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, One Accord and Crucial Aspects of the Book of Acts (2025 April ITERO), week 5, Keeping Ourselves in the One Flow of the Lord’s Work for the Spreading of the Church and Receiving the Lord’s Mercy to Be Saved from Satan’s Schemes – day 6.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – From my spirit within flows a fountain of life— / The Triune God flowing in me; / God the Father’s the source, Christ the Son is the course, / And the Spirit imparts life to me. / Lord, I treasure the sweet flow of life, / And my soul-life at last I lay down; / O Lord, deepen the pure flow of life; / At Your coming may life be my crown. (Hymns #1191 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – For the Church should be our service, / ’Tis the perfect will of God; / ’Tis the only way of working / Which the Lord’s apostles trod. / For the Church should be our service, / Not our aims to satisfy; / This, the perfect will of God is, / And with it we must comply. (Hymns #914 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – In our ministry and service, / From the Body, our supply; / If detached and isolated, / Out of function we will die. / ’Tis by serving in the Body / Riches of the Head we share; / ’Tis by functioning as members / Christ’s full measure we will bear. (Hymns #913 stanzas 5-6)