We need to pay the price to learn the truths and experience Christ so that He may become our reality; in this way, when we speak to people, we don’t give them mere knowledge or doctrine but we minister Christ to them.
May the Lord save us from not receiving the love of the truth but rather, love the Lord, love His word, and pay the price to be constituted with the truth.
In 2 Thes. 2:8-11 Paul describes the situation of today, the situation at the end of this age; many these days do not receive the love of the truth, so God sends them an operation of error that they may believe a lie.
The Lord already told us that there will be such a situation today, and we see the operation of error working in society today; so many people would rather believe a lie than believe the truth.
Even when we turn on the so-called news, many times there is a hidden agenda behind the expounding of the news, to the extent that truth is buried and there’s no love for the truth.
May we pray that the Lord would give us a love for the truth so that we may pay the price to learn the truths and also experience Christ as our life and everything.
No matter what age we have, no matter our social status, and no matter how advanced we may be in the Lord, we need to be under the hearing of faith so that the truth would be wrought into us and we would be constituted with the truth.
Even the high schoolers and the students, with their seemingly busy schedule and so much to study and learn, even they need to pray that the Lord would give them a love for the truth so that together, we would be the church, the pillar and base of the truth.
Satan is a liar and the father of lies; he lies to us, he deceives us, and even when it seems that he speaks the truth, he still speaks a lie, for he’s the father of lies.
But we have been transferred out of his kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, and here we are ruled by God with love and light; here His light reaches us as the truth, and we can stand in the truth.
Wherever we are, in our locality and in our country, may we testify to the truth and may we spread and propagate the truth, for many are seeking the truth, and the Lord wants to gain these ones.
Especially the parents of younger children, even though these little ones keep the parents so busy, there has to be at least once a day that they pay the price to be in the truth and also speak the truth to the children.
Our homes need to be sanctified in the truth, and the Bible needs to become the living word of God to us so that it may operate in us, sanctify us, and cause us to move out of ourselves and into the Triune God for the genuine oneness.
We have to pay the Price to Learn the Truths and Experience Christ to Minister Christ when we Speak to others
May we be those who buy the truth and do not sell it; may we be those who pay the price to learn the truths (Prov. 23:23).
For us to have the divine reality wrought into our being so that the church can be the pillar and the base of the truth, we need to pay a price to learn the truth.
Learning the truth doesn’t merely mean that we memorize it, read it, or recite it; we shouldn’t have the misconception that, if we can recite a verse or a point of truth, this truth is constituted into us.
It does help to commit the truth to our memory, but we need to take it in by praying and reading, musing and considering so that the Spirit can breathe on us, speak to us, bring life into our being, and impart the divine reality into us.
We need to enter into the intrinsic significance of the Holy Scriptures to find out what the Lord says and what He wants (John 8:12).
This requires time and diligence; we need to pay the price of our time to enter into the truth, learn the truths, and dive into the truth in a prayerful and consistent way.
We have no right to invent anything or add anything to the word of God; rather, we simply discover what is in the Bible, and we pray it to the Lord day by day.
After we have learned the truth, we still need to do something: we need to experience Christ so that He may become our reality.
Merely learning the truth doesn’t cause us to be constituted with the truth; we need to also experience Christ so that, when we speak to others, we would minister life to them.
As we read the Word and pray over it, we need to exercise our spirit and ask the Lord to make it real to us.
We need to have Christ as the living Word of God to make His home in our heart, dwell in us, and abide in us, so that He can guide us into the reality of that word.
Then, He will lead us into the experience of the truth we have enjoyed and learned, and through our experience of Christ, the truth is wrought into us.
The result is that we gain the divine reality, and we are constituted with the truth. We need to pay the price at least in two ways: our time and our soul-life.
We cannot be constituted with the truth and learn the truths unless we spend time in the Word of God under the shining of the divine light; constitution takes time, and much of our time needs to be spent on the Word of God.
Furthermore, we need to pay the price of our soul-life; when the Lord shines on us during the day concerning the word He spoke to us in our time with Him, we need to simply say Amen to the Lord’s shining.
When the Spirit speaks the words to us in our daily life, let’s say we’re at work and our fellow workmates gossip about things or complain about the boss, and the Spirit speaks to us, Speak the truth.
This word suddenly may come to us, and we may not like it, for we want to complain also, but when we say Amen to the living Word, we are sanctified by the truth and we are freed from ourselves.
If we say Amen to the Lord’s inner speaking and obey the truth in our experience, in that particular situation, the truth is being wrought into us and we gain the divine reality.
Such a divine reality becomes a long term and constant supply, and when we speak to others, we will minister not just doctrine or knowledge but something of the Christ we have experienced and the truth we’re constituted with.
After learning the truth, we still need to experience Christ so that He may become our reality; in this way, when we speak to others, we will give them not knowledge or experience but minister Christ to them, giving them something of the Christ we have experienced and enjoyed (Eph. 3:16-17; 4:15, 21).
Lord Jesus, we want to pay the price to learn the truth and experience Christ so that we may minister Christ as life to others. May we be those who buy truth and do not sell it; may we be those who have the divine reality wrought into our being so that we may be part of the church as the pillar and the base of the truth. Amen, Lord, we want to enter into the intrinsic significance of the Holy Scriptures to find out what You say and what You want. Speak to us, Lord, and guide us into all the reality of what You are. We want to experience Christ according to the truth and have the divine reality wrought into us. Amen, Lord, may we gain the divine reality and minister Christ as life to others as we speak to them!
Diving into the Depths of the Truth, being Constituted with the Truth, and Speaking the Truth to others
The Lord’s word, His truth, is in the Bible; the Bible is the word of God. However, the Bible needs the proper interpretation, and for this, we have the life studies and the Recovery version with the footnotes and cross-references (2 Tim. 2:15). Praise the Lord for the life-studies!
They do not substitute the word of God but rather, they open up the word as a gold mine, and we can dig deeper into the truth to dive into the depths of the truth.
We can all testify that, as we read the life studies and the footnotes in the Recovery Version Bible, we appreciate the Lord more, we love His word more, and we get the proper interpretation of the word of God.
We may be travelling to work or we may commute to school or to the office, and we take the Word of God and the life-studies; this constitutes us with the truth.
For us to be constituted with the truth and to learn the truths, we need to pay the price of our time; the world may be very attractive, our job may be very demanding, and our family situation may keep us very busy, but we need to find time to get into the truth daily.
We need to read the Word of God, follow the cross-references, and read the footnotes and the life studies; we need to dive into the depths of the truth and be constituted with the truth.
May we be delivered from skating on the surface of the divine truth; may we cooperate with the Lord to labour together with Him to dive into the depths of the truth of His marvellous economy (Eph. 3:9).
As we are being constituted with the truth day by day, we also need to speak the truth to others.
On one hand, we learn the truths and experience Christ as the reality; on the other hand, we need to speak the truth.
We need to minister to others the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel. He has both divinity and humanity (Rom. 1:3-4); He is both God and man, possessing the divine attributes and the human virtues. Our Christ is so rich and all-inclusive!
This One went through incarnation, passed through human living, experienced all the trials and ordeals of human life, endured the pains of humanity, went to the cross and died, terminated all the things, and accomplished redemption for us.
After dying on the cross and being buried in the tomb for three days, He resurrected and became the life-giving Spirit; this life-giving Spirit is the Triune God – the Father, the Son, and the Spirit – coming to us to impart all that God is into us.
Everything that the Father is in the Son, with all the unsearchable riches of God, are in the Spirit, and this Spirit is now omnipresent – He is all around us, He’s so available to us, being like the air.
He is even in our heart and in our mouth, for as long as we confess our sins, repent, and call upon the name of the Lord Jesus by believing in our heart and confessing with our mouth, the Spirit will enter into us.
When the Spirit comes into us, He brings with Him all the riches of God; when we contact the Lord as the Spirit and live according to the Spirit, we enjoy and experience Christ as love, light, holiness, and righteousness, and His attributes become our virtues.
When we speak in this way to the people, ministering the riches of Christ to them, an appreciation rises within them for this wonderful One.
We then lead them in prayer to receive Christ and apply the Christ we announce; they receive the Lord, they enjoy His riches, and the truth is being infused into them. Amen!
If we labor on the truth and pay the price to learn the truths so that we may be constituted with the truth, we will be a great blessing to the church.
Those who are constituted with the truth are pillars in the church, and it is such a blessing to be around such ones, for their very presence ministers Christ to us. May we be such ones!
Lord Jesus, thank You for opening up Your word to us so that we may have the proper interpretation of each of the books in the Bible. Hallelujah for the truth in the Bible which was opened up and properly interpreted in the Recovery Version and in the life studies! Amen, Lord, we come to You in Your word to enjoy You and to dive into the depths of the truth of Your marvelous economy! Constitute us with the truth, Lord, as we seek You and read Your word. We do not want to merely skate on the surface of the divine truth. Oh Lord, we want to cooperate with You by laboring together with You to dive into the depths of the truth so that we may learn the truths and be constituted with the truth to minister Christ to others!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ricky Acosta for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1984, vol. 5, “Truth, Life, the Church, and the Gospel—the Four Great Pillars in the Lord’s Recovery,” pp. 405-409, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing the Truth, being Absolute for the Truth, and Proclaiming the Truth in this Present Evil Age (2021 Memorial Day Weekend Conference), week 3, Being Constituted with the Truth and Being Absolute for the Way of the Truth and the Propagation of the Truth for the Consummation of the Divine Economy.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Christ has put on human nature and become / a man like me, / He has died upon the cross that I from Adam / might be free, / He has risen and as Spirit He has come / to live in me / That He might be my life. (Hymns #1017)
– Truth we must be holding, which is Christ Himself, / That we be delivered from the sects of self, / That in all things growing into Christ the Head, / Built will be the Body and to fulness led. (Hymns #832)
– What a wonderful change in my living is wrought / By saying Amen to God’s Word. / More of Christ into me at each instance is brought / By saying Amen to His Word. (Hymns #1219)
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