The greatest of all gifts and the most excelling gift for the building up of the church is prophesying (see 1 Cor. 1:2, 9, 24, 30; 5:7-8; 10:3-4; 15:45). All the believers have this gift, and this excelling gift of prophesying is produced in the growth in life through the enjoyment of Christ (see 1 […]
taking the lead to enjoy Christ as the richest grace and the sweetest love
This week in the morning revival we come to a very interesting topic, part of the series of messages given in the recent ITERO, Taking the Lead as Elders and Responsible Ones. The topic is, Taking the Lead to be Patterns and to Love the Lord with the First Love. We may think that these […]
the application of the heavenly “paint” brings us into the genuine oneness
It is the Lord’s mercy that we would see what real oneness in the Body of Christ is. The real oneness among the believers is not according to preference, taste, disposition, or culture, but it is the mingling of the processed Triune God with the believers. The oneness revealed in the whole New Testament is […]
the secret to be content in all things: abiding in Christ (students training, South Africa)
The experience of Christ is in our spirit but the enjoyment of Christ is in our soul. We need to experience Christ in such a full and complete way so that our experience seeps through to our soul to be our enjoyment, joy and delight. How do we do this? In Phil 4:12 Paul says he has learnt the secret to be both abased and to abound and in the previous verse to be content in all circumstances. The secret is simply to be in Christ, to abide in Him. To be content in everything means the good things and the bad things. To be content in all things means to be content in all the ordinary things too! Our Christ does not change, our contentment therefore cannot change. [read more online]
being willing to lose our soulish enjoyment for the building up of the church
Just as the disciples had a foretaste of the Lord’s resurrection by seeing His transfiguration on the mountain (see Matt. 16:28 and Matt. 17), so today the Lord comes to us when we lose our soul life to give us the real enjoyment! If we lose our soul life for the Lord’s sake in this age, we will receive the reward of the real enjoyment of the Lord in our soul when He comes to us again and again! If we don’t lose our soul life in this age but seek to have it, we are double losers – the enjoyment we have in this age in our soul is NOT REAL, and at the Lord’s return we will really lose our soul life. But if we lose our soul life in this age, we are double winners – we have the REAL enjoyment of Christ in our soul in this age and when He returns, we will gain our soul! [continue reading online]
a trainee’s testimony – learning to put myself aside and enjoy the Lord with the saints!
In my individual dealing with my ‘self’ I have been learning to put myself aside, especially when we go out on the campus to preach the gospel or to nourish our contacts. Many times I have been busy with my own things, I felt tired, and I didn’t even have any willingness to go out; however, the Lord has been reminding me to seek first His Kingdom (Matt. 6:33) and put Him first in any kinds of situation. I must exercise my will to choose what the Lord wants and rather forget about myself, my own feelings, and my own needs. It’s a privilege to be out on the campus and speak to people and take care of those that have already been captured by the Lord! It’s wonderful to be with the saints and the students. Plus I loved going to Uxbridge where sister Gloria bakes the most delicious cakes for every Friday night meeting! [continue reading this sweet testimony from a sister who just finished her first semester in the Full Time Training in London, UK]
Being a Christian student on the campus – balancing our studies and our Christian life
Over the years, I’ve realized that if I just give the Lord the time and go to some meetings in a consistent way, He honors this and takes care of me. In reality, our education is for the Lord – and our whole life is for the Lord – and He knows we need to take care of these practical things. Yes, the Lord wants us to take care of them in a proper way, but our life with Him is more important than any outward schooling, habit, practice, station etc.