The book of Acts reveals a group of people who live in the divine history within human history by continuing steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word; they enjoyed Christ and became evangelists for the spreading of the gospel, being “loaded with Christ” as they went out.
The disciples in Acts were different from the disciples in the gospels – they were no longer men but God-men, that is, they had Jesus Christ as the Spirit in their spirit, and they had the consummated Spirit outpoured upon them to anoint them for their work.
As those living in the continuation of the book of Acts today, we are not just men – we are God-men, men who have God in Christ as the Spirit in their spirit, and who enjoy the anointing of the outpoured Spirit for our working for God.
For us to live in the divine history within human history, we need to reject ourselves and live by another life, that is, live by Christ as the divine life; the corporate living of Christ is the reality of the Body of Christ.
On one hand we need to call on the name of the Lord and be filled with Him inwardly, and on the other, we need to live by the divine life in our spirit, rejecting ourselves with our natural life and self, and letting Christ live in us.
The life of Jesus has to be duplicated in us by our eating the word of God, serving God by the Spirit in our spirit, living in the spirit as the Holy of Holies, and outside of any religion.
May the divine life in our spirit be lived out in us and be so real and present in our circumstances and situations that all those around us – and even the angels – would see this life being expressed.
The key to this is not our struggling and perfecting ourselves, but simply opening to the Lord as open vessels, loving Him, receiving Him, being filled with Him, and letting the Lord be everything to us and do everything in us, through us, and for us.
We need to pray many times during the days short prayers such as,
Lord, I want to open my whole being to You without any reservation. Lord, I love You. I open to receive You and be filled with You! Lord Jesus, I allow You to be everything in me and do everything in me, through me, and for me. Lord Jesus, You’re everything to me.
Christ is the treasure in our earthen vessel, and His smiling face in our spirit is the treasure in our weak and fragile human vessel; whenever we enjoy Christ as the treasure in our vessel, He fills us with Himself, He conforms us to His image, and He has a way to live in us and for us, thus fulfilling God’s purpose. May we be those who live in the divine history within human history by enjoying and experiencing Christ daily!
Continuing Steadfastly in Prayer and in the Ministry of the Word to Cooperate with Christ’s Heavenly Ministry
The book of Acts reveals a group of people who live in the divine history within human history by continuing steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word (see Acts 6:4).
This continuing steadfastly in prayer and the ministry of the word is to live in the apostolic ministry in coordination with Christ as our great High Priest in His heavenly ministry.
What does the Lord do in His heavenly ministry? He was active when He was on earth, but now in the heavens He is even more active in His heavenly ministry.
According to Heb. 7:25, Christ is able to save us to the uttermost as we come forward to God through Him, since He lives always to intercede for us.
Right now Christ is in heavens praying for each one of us; He prays for us both personally and corporately, and for us to reflect His ministry, we need to be people of prayer.
According to Heb. 8:1-2, we have such a High Priest, a Minister of the holy places. On one hand Christ intercedes for us, and on the other, He ministers God into us.
If we are going to reflect Christ’s heavenly ministry on earth, we need to pray for people by entering into His prayer for people, and we need to minister God into others.
This is why the apostles said in Acts 6:4 that they will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word; they wanted to reflect Christ’s heavenly ministry.
When we pray, we set our mind on the things above, and we become a reflection of Christ’s heavenly ministry in the heavens (Col. 3:1-3; 4:2).
When we continue steadfastly in prayer, we depend on prayer to do what man cannot do, to understand what man cannot understand, and to speak what man cannot speak (see Acts 9:11; 13:1-4; Eph. 6:18; Dan. 6:10; 9:2-3; 1 Cor. 2:13; 2 Cor. 3:6).
This is our situation today; we feel we can’t do what the Lord tells us to do, so we depend on prayer to do what we can’t do, speak what we can’t speak, and understand what we can’t understand in our human life.
We see this in case after case in the book of Acts; the disciples depended on prayer – as they were continuing steadfastly in prayer – to do what they couldn’t do and to understand what humanly they couldn’t understand.
This is what we should do today; prayer should be the foremost practice in our life to propagate the resurrected, ascended, and all-inclusive Christ as the development of the kingdom of God.
We need to persevere in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving. The perception of our body, soul, and spirit need to be alert, not dormant, and we need to watch in prayer, thanking the Lord. We need to offer Christ to God and be thankful.
By the ministry of the word, we impart Christ into others as the heavenly life and power so that they may be sustained with the riches of Christ to live Christ as their heavenly life on earth (Rom. 15:16; cf. Isa. 50:4-5).
We need to ask the Lord to awaken us in the morning to spend time with Him; we need to tell Him to open our ear to hear as an instructed one, and then our tongue will speak the Lord to minister Him into others.
By continuing steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word, we cooperate with Christ’s heavenly ministry, reflecting Him on earth to be the continuation and duplication of Christ on earth.
Lord Jesus, we want to continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word so that we may cooperate with Your heavenly ministry. Amen, Lord, gain a reflection on earth of what You are doing in the heavens. We want to set our mind on the things above through prayer so that we may become a reflection of Your ministry in the heavens. Lord, we depend on prayer to do what man can’t do, to understand what man can’t understand, and to speak what man can’t speak. Lord, awaken us daily to hear Your word and be instructed by You, so that we may impart Christ into others as the heavenly life and power so that they may be sustained with the riches of Christ to live Christ as their heavenly life on earth!
Enjoying Christ as the Center of God’s Move on earth and being Loaded with Christ to Preach the Gospel
The book of Acts reveals a group of people who live in the divine history within human history seen in Psa. 68; in this Psalm we see that Christ is the center of God’s move on earth and the reality of God’s activities through the church.
Psa. 68 speaks of God’s activities through the church in typology. In vv. 11-13 we see that the Lord gives the command, and the women who bear the glad tidings are a great host (that’s us!).
The kings and the armies flee, and she who abides at home divides the spoil. When we abide in Christ, we enjoy the spoil of Christ’s victory for our possession, experience, and enjoyment.
What is this “spoil” here? Later it says that the spoil is dove wings covered with silver, and its pinions are greenish-yellow gold; this is our inheritance and enjoyment.
The dove wings (the dove signifies the Spirit, wings signifies the soaring power of the Spirit) is our spoil; today we are enjoying the soaring, moving power of the Spirit.
Silver signifies the redeeming Christ; pinions (the feathers at the end of a bird’s wings giving it power to soar) are covered with greenish-yellow gold (gold signifies God the Father in His divine nature; green signifies the divine life; yellow signifies the divine glory).
This is God the Father in His divine nature, glittering in His life and glory; God the Son with His redemption; and God the Spirit with His moving and soaring power. The Triune God is our inheritance.
In Psa. 68:19 we see that the Lord day by day loads us with good; God is our salvation. Hallelujah! God loads us with good; we need to daily pull up to the inner loading God and tell Him to load us with Himself.
God is our salvation – the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit – is the good that loads us daily. So what we need to do as the “gospel ships” is to pull into the docks and be loaded with the Triune God as the goods, and go and preach the gospel!
We need to dwell in Christ as the “shore” of the evangelists for the transportation and spreading in the preaching of the gospel (Psa. 68:27; Gen. 49:13; Acts 2:7; 13:31).
We need to be “gospel ships” loaded with Christ as the goods, and spreading the gospel as the continuation of the book of Acts!
As we are daily being loaded with Christ, we are filled with Him, and we go out as gospel ships to bring this gospel to all the inhabited earth, so that we may propagate the resurrected and ascended all-inclusive Christ as the development of the kingdom of God!
This is how we live in the divine history within human history – by enjoying Christ as the center of God’s move on earth and being loaded with Christ to preach the gospel for the propagation of Christ on earth!
Lord Jesus, we want to enjoy You as the center of God’s move on earth so that we may be daily loaded with Christ! Amen, Lord, make us the gospel ships dwelling in Christ as the “shore” and being filled with Christ as the goods, those going out to preach the gospel for the propagation of Christ! Lord, daily load us with God, with salvation, and with all that You are, and flow through us to all those around us as the goods for their enjoyment, salvation, and entrance into the kingdom of God! Amen, Lord Jesus!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The Triune God’s Revelation and His Move,” ch. 12, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Propagating the Resurrected, Ascended, and All-inclusive Christ as the Development of the Kingdom of God (2018 fall ITERO), week 2, The Continuation of the Book of Acts — Living in the Divine History within Human History.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Pray to labor with the Lord, / Be identified with Him / In His purpose and His aim / Till His blessing floodeth in. (Hymns #786)
# He’s living now to intercede, / Continuing forever; / He undertakes into the age, / His priesthood changes never; / He always lives to intercede, / Such a High Priest is what we need: / He’s higher than the heavens. (Hymns #1130)
# Rescue the perishing, / Duty demands it; / Strength for thy labor the Lord will provide; / Back to the narrow way, / Patiently win them; / Tell the poor wand’rer a Savior has died. (Hymns #921)
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