This week we are going deeper into the matter of living in the divine history within the human history by getting into the matter of, The Universal History according to God’s Economy — the Divine History within the Human History.
Today in particular I was impressed with some simple yet practical ways of living in the new creation within the old creation, which is the hidden divine history within the human history.
We all need to see that behind all the events in the world, in our country, in our city, and in our personal universe, God is doing something hidden, intrinsic, and divine. We want to see this hidden divine history, the new creation, and match the Unique Mighty One by living, moving, and serving in the divine history.
Fact: we are a new creation, and all is new!
It is a fact: those who are in Christ are a new creation! All the old things have passed away – behold, everything has become new (2 Cor. 5:17). Because we received the divine life and the divine nature, we are now the new creation.
And, as Gal. 6:15 says, what matters is not circumcision or uncircumcision – a new creation is what matters! Our Father is the ever new, ever green, newness itself, and we who have God in us are also new! When we are in God, we are in newness itself, but when we are not in God, everything else is old.
Ezek. 36:26 tells us that we have a new spirit and a new heart – we need to exercise our new spirit to contact and receive God, and we need to exercise our new heart to love God! No matter how we feel, we have this new spirit and new heart and all we have to do is to exercise our spirit and love God!
Rom. 6:4 tells us to walk in newness of life, no longer in oldness of letters. Amen, Lord, I want to be in the divine history by walking in newness of life today! Make me a person who lives, moves, and has his being in newness of life!
Rom. 7:6 tells us that we need to serve in newness of spirit. Lord, we don’t want to serve in oldness of letter but in the new creation, in the newness of my mingled spirit! A very practical way to live in the divine history within the human history is to have a daily morning revival time with the Lord.
A simple yet practical way to live in the divine history is to start the day by touching our new God! Then, our life as Christians will be like the light of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until the full day of the Lord’s coming (Prov. 8:14).
How can we be renewed in our inner man?
Seeing these facts in the Word of God, we do not lose heart, saints, but though our outer man is decaying (and this may be obvious more and more), yet our INNER man is BEING RENEWED day by day (2 Cor. 4:16)! Hallelujah! How can we practically be renewed day by day?
- We are renewed by the cross. 2 Cor. 4:16 is in the context of vv. 10-11, where we bear about in our body the putting to death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body! Through bearing the cross we are renewed day by day. Our human life, our natural life, our flesh, are crucified, and we live the divine life in resurrection!
- We are renewed by the Holy Spirit. In Titus 3:5 we see the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. This means that we are reconditioned, reconstituted, remade, and remodelled with the divine life! Lord, renew us right now as the Holy Spirit! We want to be reconditioned, remade, and remodelled with the divine life!
- We are renewed through our mingled spirit – renewed in the spirit of our mind (Eph. 4:23). We need to RUN to our spirit, which is our refuge, whenever we have problems and issues… Retreat into the mingled spirit! As we turn again and again, the mingled spirit spreads into our mind to become the spirit of our mind. This mingled spirit spreading in us is the factor of our renewing.
- We are renewed through the Word of God – in Eph. 5:26 we see the washing of the water in the Word. As we pray over the Word of God, we are renewed and beautified! Also, according to Eph. 6:17-18, we have the slaying Word of God as the sword of the Spirit.
To be the Bride in the divine history we need the beautifying word of God (see Eph. 5:26). To be the warrior in the divine history we need the slaying word of God which makes us the corporate warrior, the mighty ones of God, His bridal warrior (see Eph. 5:17-18).
The slaying function of the word of God
On the one hand, the Word of God beautifies us through the washing of the water in the word, that we may be presented to Christ as a pure bride, with no spots and wrinkles. This is to make us the beautiful bride for Christ’s satisfaction.
We need to forget about trying to improve or beautify ourselves and rather take in more and more of Christ through pray-reading the Word of God, which is the washing of the water in the Word.
Real beauty is nothing of the natural man trying to improve himself; our beauty is the shining out of Christ from within us. Our only beauty is Christ wrought and constituted into the church and expressed through the church!
On the other hand, this beautiful bride is also a corporate warrior – when the overcomers as the bride marry Christ, they “take a honeymoon” at Armageddon, where they fight and defeat Antichrist and his armies!
For this, we need to experience the slaying function of the Word of God (Eph. 6:17-18) through pray-reading the Word, so that all the negative things in us, the things of the self (doubts, hatred, jealousy, selfishness, self-love, etc) would be killed! How can we do this, and how does this happen?
I enjoyed a portion from brother Witness Lee’s speaking in a book called, Teachers Training (pages 21-24) read by brother E. Marks in his speaking in this message.
According to Eph. 6:12 our fight is NOT against flesh and blood but against the evil spirits, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies. In the church life many times we can get offended by things such as others opinion, thought, temper, emotion, natural life, and point of view, all of which are used by the evil powers in the air to damage the Body life.
Many times we get offended due to our emotion and opinion… and the evil spirits in the air take advantage of that hurt emotion to damage the church life. Apparently we were “hurt in our feelings”, but actually the evil spirits in the air take advantage of the hurt emotion to come in and damage the church life.
What we need to do to defeat the enemy in this situation is to receive the sword of the Spirit by praying over the Word of God!
By means of all prayers and petition in the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit operates to kill the enemy indirectly and kill our hurt emotion directly. The way to get through the offenses is to pray-read the Bible, pray over the Word of God. Brother Lee’s speaking on this is so touching,
Without the Word as the Spirit to be the killing sword, there would be no way for us to be kept in the church life. I have been kept in the ministry and in the church life by pray-reading the Word.
The word of God we receive into us in a living way as the Spirit is the spiritual antibiotic, killing the enemy and also killing the germs within us. When the germs are killed, the evil spirits in the air cannot take any more advantage of us!
This is the way to live a healthy Body life and church life, and this is the way to be preserved in the church life! We need to pray-read the Word of God so that the Word becomes the Spirit to kill the enemy within us first!
Forgive and Seek to Be Forgiven
Another very simple and practical way for us to live in the divine history within the human history is to learn to forgive and to seek to be forgiven. Offenses happen, and sometimes we offend others even without us knowing it.
We need to learn to ask for forgiveness from others and to forgive others when they offend us. Maintain your newness in the divine history by forgiving one another and by seeking to be forgiven by one another.
Lord, renew us day by day! Keep us in this renewing process that we may live in the divine history within the human history. Keep us praying over Your Word, dear Lord, that the Word may beautify us, washing us and cleansing us of anything old. Also, may the Word be the sword of the Spirit to deal with the enemy in the air and with any germs in our being. Lord, make us Your loving Bride and Your corporate warrior!
References and Further Reading
- Sharing inspired from brother Ed Marks’ introductory word to the message on this week, partially quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of the Minor Prophets, week 5 (entitled, The Universal History according to God’s Economy—the Divine History within the Human History).
- Hymns on this topic:
# Our Father, as the evergreen, / Thou art forever new; / Thou art the ever living Lord, / Thy freshness as the dew.
# Every verse reveals Yourself to me, / Every line conveys reality. / When I pray the words that You breathed out / You become so real to me.
# Jesus is the living Spirit / And the living Word; / When we touch Him by pray-reading / We receive this Lord. - Picture source: nature scenery (taken with permission).
amen! praise the Lord!
We need to learn to ask for forgiveness from others and to forgive others when they offend us. Maintain your newness in the divine history by forgiving one another and by seeking to be forgiven by one another.