To give the Lord the first place in our life practically means to repent and do the first works. Rev. 2:5 warns us that if we don’t repent and do the first works, the Lord will remove the lampstand. These works issue from our first love for the Lord – they are a work issuing from a heart filled with zeal for the Lord’s love, and this is precious in the Lord’s eyes. We love the Lord so much that we just do the first works – and they come out of our zeal, our love for Him! In that day, when we will stand before God at His judgement seat, He will appreciate how much of what we have done out of love for Him. Only those things we do motivated by our love for the Lord are considered gold, silver, and precious stones. If we don’t do these works, the Lord will take the lampstand! Whatever we do in the church life, we need to love the Lord and do the first works – and we will be a corporate expression of the Triune God everywhere on the earth as the golden lampstands! [continue reading online – 12 ways we can give the Lord the preeminence in our life]
a trainee’s testimony – learning the basic lesson of daily contacting the Lord by enjoying Him
Our Christian life is a life of romance with the Lord. I am a country girl, we are all the country girls, yet in time He came to us as a Country Man to court us and gain us to be His bride. How lovely He is! I love Him as such a divine-human being. Our Triune God is a lovely One, He knows exactly how to attract us, to deal with us, and to gain us. Though we can’t physically see this One, by gazing at Him we are infused with Him as faith, and our reaction to this attractive One is our love for Him. [continue reading this testimony online]
a trainee’s testimony – the grace enjoyed by us meets the high standard of the training!
In the training I found out that a really high standard of living is required, and sometimes it seemed that I cannot do it… but especially in this environment of impossibility the Lord’s grace was applied! After experiencing such a supply of the Lord to reach such a high standard, the Lord started to be closer to me day by day. Oh it is really true that life grows by regulation! If there would not be these wonderful and necessary regulations for a proper humanity, there would not be as much profit as it is now! [continue reading this sharing online]
a trainee’s testimony – loving the Lord and building up a romantic relationship with Him
I’m in love with Him, I always loved Him. Yet coming to the training made me doubt my love towards Him. Was my love temporary? Or was it an impulsive decision? Many times, I told myself, this was the greatest mistake that I made in my whole life – to be in the full time training…. A Christian life is a life of believing in the things unseen. We have never seen the Lord – yet we love Him (1 Pet 1:8). In every circumstance, I learned to go to the Lord, confess, repent, weep, and see that I am nothing but Christ is everything. It’s heart-aching, to come to Him and say, Lord, take it away if it’s something that replaces You. I want Thy increase and my decrease. [continue reading online]
a trainee’s testimony – we need to develop deep roots in the Lord by spending time with Him
As Christians we are like little plants – we don’t have much power, but if we have deep roots in Christ we will be unshakable, immovable. Sometimes our roots are in something else than Him. As a result, we are easily shaken, and with any small situation we are blown off. Our roots may be in our campus work. It might be somewhat successful, with some promising contacts, but as soon as they begin missing the meetings or making excuses to have appointments we will collapse and be blown off. We may be enjoying the Lord, but as soon as we suffer some persecution from those with whom we study or work we are rapidly blown away. We need to be rooted in Him, but how? [continue reading online]
The Flow of Life with the Ministry of Life out of and for the Magnificent House of God (2)
The ministry of life involves feeding, which is a supply for living. Paul told the Corinthians “I gave you milk to drink” (v. 3:2). Had they been mature enough to receive it, he would have given them solid food. This ministry is nourishment, not knowledge. We are ministers “not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6). The Spirit nourishes. This nourishment comes from healthy words (1 Tim. 6:3) which are according to godliness, a life lived one with Christ to express God (1 Tim. 3:16). [continue reading online, a review of message 5 in the recent ITERO]
a trainee’s testimony – the full time training is the best place to be infused with God!
The life in the training is a practice of the kingdom life. I wasn’t bothered that much by the outward problems and difficulties that I faced, but I started to see my old man who is very active, wanting to fulfill God’s law. But I realized that only Christ can make it. I must be defeated and let Christ be victorious in me in every way [read online the sweet testimony of a trainee after his first semester in the FTTL, the Full Time Training in London, UK]