Scripture Reading: Rom. 9:21, 23; Acts 9:15; 2 Cor. 4:7; John 12:24; 15:1, 4-5, 7

DAY 1 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 2 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 3 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 4 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 5 & DAY 6 Outline　MorningRevival

«　WEEK 7　DAY 1　»

　　Rom. 9:21 Or does not the potter have authority over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor?

　　23 In order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He had before prepared unto glory.

　　The summary of [Paul’s] fourteen Epistles may be expressed in just two words: open vessel. God wants an open vessel. In Romans 9:23 Paul tells us that God created us as vessels of mercy unto glory. Then in 2 Corinthians 4:7 he says that “we have this treasure in earthen vessels.” These two verses may be considered as a basic secret to our experience of Christ and the church. You may hear a lot of messages on Christ and the church, yet if you do not realize that you have to be an open vessel, Christ and the church still have no way…An open vessel is doing nothing but keeping itself open to the filling up. The processed God—the Triune God, the all-inclusive Spirit, the compound Spirit—is here waiting for an opening to get into you. How much He would enter into you depends upon how much opening you would give Him. (CWWL, 1980, vol. 1, “Perfecting Training,” p. 241)

　　As vessels, we are not instruments or weapons—we are containers. According to Romans 9, we contain mercy, honor, and glory [vv. 21, 23]. This mercy, honor, and glory are actually the Triune God. In the initial stage of our experience the Triune God is our mercy, in the progressing stage He is our honor, and in the completing stage He is our glory. At present we are enjoying our God as mercy and somewhat as honor. When the Lord Jesus comes back, we shall be fully brought into honor and also into glory. Then we shall be filled with the Triune God not only as our mercy but also as our honor and glory.

　　Mercy is the most far-reaching of God’s attributes. Mercy goes further than grace, for mercy reaches into a situation that is pitiful and unworthy of grace…How wonderful that God’s mercy does not depend on our being in a good condition! Rather, God’s mercy is shown in man’s pitiful condition. It is God’s mercy that has reached us…We need to see the preciousness of God’s mercy and praise Him for it and testify concerning it. Once we were sinners far from God; now we are one with the all-inclusive Christ. What a mercy! We are vessels containing the Triune God as mercy.

　　When Paul wrote chapter 9 of Romans, his thought was fully occupied with God’s mercy. He says, “It is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy” (v. 16). It is altogether a matter of God’s mercy that we are believers and that we are in the church life. Because all is of God’s mercy, we have nothing to boast of in ourselves. Our going on with the Lord is a matter not of our willing or running but of God’s mercy… We are changeable, constantly fluctuating. Therefore, we should not trust in ourselves but in God’s mercy. We praise the Lord that we are vessels of mercy unto honor and glory. We now contain Him as mercy, and we shall contain Him as honor and glory.

　　As vessels of mercy unto honor and glory, we were chosen by God according to His sovereign mercy (vv. 11-16)…Being a vessel of mercy is not the result of our choice; it originates with God’s sovereignty…His sovereignty is the basis of His selection.

　　In Romans 9:15 Paul quotes the Lord’s words, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy.” Because of God’s mercy we responded to the gospel when others did not respond, we received a word about Christ as life when others refused to receive it, and we took the way of the Lord’s recovery when others drew back from taking this way. Concerning the gospel, the ministry of life, and the church life, God, in His sovereignty, has had mercy on us. Therefore, we must praise Him for His sovereign mercy. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 1183-1185)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Romans, msgs. 22, 58, 63; Life-study of Genesis, msgs. 10, 83—84

«　WEEK 7　DAY 2　»

　　2 Tim. 2:21 If therefore anyone cleanses himself from these, he will be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, useful to the master, prepared unto every good work.

　　2 And the things which you have heard from me through many witnesses, these commit to faithful men, who will be competent to teach others also.

　　15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God,…cutting straight the word of the truth.

　　In 2 Timothy 2:21…to cleanse ourselves is to “depart from unrighteousness” (v. 19), as an outward evidence of the inward divine nature…We should cleanse ourselves not only from anything unrighteous but also from the dishonorable vessels [vv. 16-18]. This means that we must stay away from them…If we cleanse ourselves from these negative things and negative persons, we shall be vessels unto honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, and prepared unto every good work. “Unto honor” is a matter of nature, “sanctified” is a matter of position, “useful” is a matter of practice, and “prepared” is a matter of training. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 1189)

　　The things to which Paul refers [in 2 Timothy 2:2] are the healthy words in 1:13. The healthy words, after being committed to faithful men, become the good deposit in them (v. 14). This word indicates that if someone in a local church has a deposit of the Lord’s healthy words, he should train the faithful ones, the trustworthy ones, that they too may have a good deposit from the Lord and be competent to teach others.

　　Paul realized that Timothy had received a good deposit, that he had been taught and nourished with the riches of grace. Therefore, he charged Timothy to commit these things to others who would be faithful and competent to carry on the same ministry. This indicates that more than one person is needed to carry on the riches of God’s New Testament economy. My hope is that through all these Life-study messages thousands of saints in the Lord’s recovery will receive a good deposit of the riches of grace concerning God’s New Testament economy. Then those who have received these riches will be able to commit these things to others. Imagine what the situation would be if the Lord had ten thousand saints filled with His good deposit, spreading the riches of His economy throughout the earth. No doubt, this would hasten the time of His glorious appearing.

　　In 2:3 Paul continues, “Suffer evil with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” The apostle considered their ministry a warfare for Christ, just as the priestly service was considered a military service, a warfare, in Numbers 4:23, 30, 35 (lit.). Whenever we minister Christ to others, we find ourselves in a battle. Hence, we should not only be teachers committing the deposit to others, but we should also be soldiers fighting for God’s interests. In 2 Timothy 2:5 Paul likens Timothy to an athlete contending in the games: “And also if anyone contends in the games, he is not crowned unless he contends lawfully.”

　　Verse 6 continues, “The laboring farmer must be the first to partake of the fruit.” Here Paul likens Timothy to a farmer. Just as a soldier must win the victory and an athlete must receive the crown, so a farmer must partake of the fruit, the food. This requires patience. As athletes, we should be quick, but as farmers, we need to be patient…With both crops and livestock, farmers must learn to have patience.

　　In verse 15…Paul indicates that the inoculator is to be a workman. As a carpenter, this workman must cut straight the word of the truth. This means to unfold the word of God in its various parts rightly and straightly without distortion. Just as a carpenter has the skill to cut wood in a straight way, so the Lord’s workman needs the skill to cut straight the word of the truth. This is necessary because in the decline of the church so many truths are twisted and presented in a warped, biased form. (Life-study of 2 Timothy, pp. 22-24, 26)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1980, vol. 1, “Perfecting Training,” ch. 22; CWWN, vol. 37, “General Messages,” ch. 22

«　WEEK 7　DAY 3　»

　　2 Cor. 4:6-7 …God…is the One who shined in our hearts to illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of us.

　　3:18 But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image…

　　Paul tells us that we are the vessels, and the Lord Jesus within us is the treasure [2 Cor. 4:7]. But the key to this verse is the verse preceding it: “To illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (v. 6). In Greek, the word for face is the same word used for person in 2 Corinthians 2:10, which means the index around the eyes…We will never sense that we have a treasure within until we see the face of Jesus. When we are enjoying His presence, we sense that He is such a precious treasure within us. (CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 1, “The Indwelling Christ in the Canon of the New Testament,” p. 597)

　　We all can say that we are the earthen vessel, and Jesus is the treasure within. But we can say this without any sense of the reality within us. It is only when we are living in His presence, looking at the index of His being, that we will sense that He is such a treasure to us. In the whole universe there is nothing so precious as to behold the face of Jesus. This is something of personal experience and enjoyment. The more we live in His presence, the more sense we will have of the preciousness of Jesus. This is just the enjoyment of His indwelling. This very Jesus indwells us. This is a living reality, not merely a saying. If we would all learn to forsake our old person, taking Him as our person by looking at the index of His face while enjoying His presence, we would have a sweet sense of the preciousness of the indwelling Jesus. This would make us so shining, a shining that is the reflecting of His glory. I can assure you that if you ever have this kind of experience, others will see how shining you are. It is not that you are merely happy, but you are shining. Something from within shines out, and that is the reflection of Jesus. This was Paul’s experience of the indwelling Christ. (CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 1, “The Indwelling Christ in the Canon of the New Testament,” pp. 597-598)

　　According to 2 Corinthians 3:18, we behold and reflect like a mirror the glory of the Lord. To behold the glory of the Lord is to see the Lord ourselves; to reflect the glory of the Lord is to enable others to see Him through us. We are like mirrors beholding and reflecting the glory of the Lord. The glory in verse 18 is the glory of the Lord, the resurrected and ascended One, who as both God and man passed through incarnation, human living on the earth, and crucifixion, entered into resurrection, accomplished full redemption, and became a life-giving Spirit. As the life-giving Spirit, He dwells in us to make Himself and all that He has accomplished, obtained, and attained real to us, that we may be one with Him and be transformed into the same image from glory to glory.

　　When we with unveiled face are beholding and reflecting the glory of the Lord, He infuses us with the elements of what He is and what He has done. Thus we are being transformed metabolically to have His life shape by His life power with His life essence; that is, we are being transfigured, mainly by the renewing of our mind (Rom. 12:2), into His image.

　　As vessels, we need to have an unveiled face; that is, we need to be open to the divine life with its power, essence, and shape. As we open to the Lord, He as the life-giving Spirit enters into our being to infuse His life essence into us, to operate within us by His life power, and to shape us into His image. This is the constitution of life to make us ministers of the new covenant. (Life-study of 2 Corinthians, pp. 69-70)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of 2 Corinthians, msgs. 8, 10; CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 1, “The Indwelling Christ in the Canon of the New Testament,” ch. 10

«　WEEK 7　DAY 4　»

　　John 12:24-26 Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his soul-life loses it; and he who hates his soul-life in this world shall keep it unto eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there also My servant will be. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.

　　The believers are also symbolized by many grains of wheat…The expression “much fruit” [in John 12:24] refers to many grains of wheat as the multiplication of the one grain. In verse 24 the Lord Jesus clearly refers to Himself, God incarnate, as the unique grain of wheat that falls into the ground and dies. The believers as many grains of wheat are produced out of Christ as the one grain.

　　The many grains of wheat are produced through the death and resurrection of Christ. In His work on the cross the Lord Jesus died as a grain of wheat falling into death for the release of the divine life. The divine life was in Jesus, just as life is confined in a grain of wheat. Because the life is concealed in the grain, the shell must be broken so that the inward life may be released. Christ’s all-inclusive death released the divine life that was within Him. As a grain of wheat, He died to release the divine life and to enliven God’s redeemed ones in order to produce many grains. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 1176-1177)

　　The many grains of wheat produced through Christ’s death and resurrection are for the formation of one bread—the Body of Christ. After the many grains have been produced, they need to be crushed, ground into flour, and blended together in a loaf to be offered to God. This loaf is the church, the Body of Christ…(1 Cor. 10:17). The Christ out of whom we have been produced and of whom we partake constitutes us into His one Body. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 1178)

　　If we love God, He will cause all things to work together for our good… The good is for us to be conformed to the image of His firstborn Son (Rom. 8:29). [God] uses all things to conform us to the image of Christ. Some persons may be nice, gentle, and faithful in their natural man. They would be good persons even apart from being regenerated or transformed. Then what can God do to work Himself into such persons? With such persons and with all of us, God must put us into certain circumstances to break us. God’s desire is for us to be broken so that He can work Himself into us.

　　Paul was a person who was conformed to the death of Christ by something mysterious called the power of resurrection. No one can be conformed to the death of Christ except by the resurrection power. There is something within us hidden, mysterious, and dynamic called resurrection. Eventually, we will learn that whether money comes or money goes, whether children come or children go, God remains. God is our portion. He is not our portion outwardly but our portion inwardly in the way of constitution. God has constituted and is constituting Himself into our being. Eventually, God uses all things to make Himself our unique portion.

　　Our money, our children, our job, and our degree are not our portion. Only God is our portion…We may have our own goals that we desire to reach, saying that we need to be practical. But actually, these goals are our portion. This is why God comes to “peel off” our natural life layer by layer throughout the years. I have been under God’s gradual “peeling” for almost seventy years. I am happy today because much of my natural life has been peeled off. God uses all things to “peel off” our natural life. God even uses all the brothers and sisters in the church life to accomplish this peeling… The day will come when we will have a great and serious peeling off. Then we will be broken. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 2, “The Christian Life,” pp. 486, 490-491)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 2, “The Christian Life,” ch. 15

«　WEEK 7　DAY 5　»

　　John 15:4-5 Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.

　　The believers are also the many branches of the vine. This means that the believers are members of the Christ of God to form the organism of the Triune God in the divine dispensing. In John 15:1 the Lord Jesus declared, “I am the true vine,” and in verse 5 He said, “I am the vine; you are the branches.” This vine, which is Christ, with its branches, which are the believers in Christ, is the organism of the Triune God in God’s economy to grow with His riches and to express His divine life.

　　The vine in John 15, therefore, is a universal vine comprising Christ and His believers as the branches. In this vine, this organism, the Triune God lives, expresses Himself, and dispenses Himself to the uttermost. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 1178)

　　As branches of the vine, we need to abide in the vine, the Christ of God… Only when the branches abide in the vine can the vine be everything to them. This is the reason the Lord Jesus said concerning Himself as the vine and us as the branches, “Abide in Me and I in you” [John 15:4]. Our life and enjoyment are to abide in the vine. Our destiny as branches is to remain in the vine…

　　A branch of a vine cannot live by itself, for it will wither and die apart from the vine. The relationship between the branches and the vine portrays the relationship between us and the Lord Jesus. We are nothing, we have nothing, and we can do nothing apart from Him. What we are, what we have, and what we do must be in the Lord and by the Lord in us…We should not do anything in ourselves; we should do everything by abiding in the vine… Because we are branches to the Lord and the Lord is the vine to us, we must abide in Him and let Him abide in us. Then in our experience Christ will be everything to us for our enjoyment.

　　Any insulation will separate us from the rich supply of the vine. A little disobedience, a sin, or even a sinful thought can be the insulation that separates us from the riches of the vine. First, we must see that we are branches. Then we need to maintain the fellowship between us and the Lord. Nothing should be between Him and us…Hence, we need to pray, “Lord Jesus, let there be nothing between You and me separating me from Your rich supply.”

　　The vine and the branches are an organism to glorify the Father. With the vine we have the glorification of the Father through the expression of the riches of the divine life in fruit-bearing. In fruit-bearing the Father’s life is expressed; hence, in fruit-bearing He is glorified [John 15:8].

　　The Father is the source and substance of the vine. Apart from the fruit, the essence, substance, and life of the vine are concealed, hidden, confined. However, the riches of the inner life of the vine are expressed in the clusters of fruit. To express the inner life in this way is to release the divine substance from within the vine. When the life of the vine is expressed through the branches in its propagation and multiplication, the Father is glorified, because what the Father is in the riches of His life is expressed in the propagation and multiplication of the vine. This is the glorification of the Father.

　　Our fruit-bearing is the glorification, the expression, of the Triune God from within. Today the Triune God is within us as our life and nature, and the expression of the life and nature of the Triune God from within us is glory. Therefore, when the divine life with its nature is expressed through us in fruit-bearing, the Father is glorified. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 1180-1182)

　　Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 109—110; CWWL, 1967, vol. 2, “An Autobiography of a Person in the Spirit,” ch. 6

«　WEEK 7　DAY 6　»

　　Col. 1:10 To walk worthily of the Lord to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and growing by the full knowledge of God.

　　John 21:15 …Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, Feed My lambs.

　　A walk worthy of the Lord is to please Him in all things [Col. 1:10]; it is pleasing to the Lord in all ways. God the Father is pleased with the Son (Matt. 3:17; 17:5). In Galatians 1:15 and 16 Paul says that it pleased God to reveal Christ, the Son, in him. Nothing is more pleasing to God the Father than for us to live Christ. Apart from Christ, nothing can please the Father. The only time we are fully happy is when we are living Christ. If we are humble or kind in a natural way, we are not happy. But if we take Christ as our life and our person and live Him out, we will be the happiest people on earth…The most pleasant thing is to live Christ, to enjoy Christ, and to experience Christ.

　　If we walk worthily of the Lord, we will bear fruit in every good work… Bearing fruit [in Colossians 1:10] refers to living Christ, growing Christ, expressing Christ, and producing Christ in every respect. This is the good work Paul had in mind. (Life-study of Colossians, p. 21)

　　In John 21 the Lord asked Peter if he loved Him. Peter told the Lord, “You know that I love You.” Then the Lord answered, “Feed My lambs,” and “Feed My sheep” (vv. 15, 17). To speak is not only to edify or to teach but also to feed the lambs and to feed the sheep. If we are going to feed the Lord’s sheep, we have to speak…For us to feed the Lord’s sheep, we must love Him…

　　The more that we love Him, the more we are qualified, equipped, and even perfected to speak.

　　One day a young lady came to my hometown. I was nineteen years old, and she was twenty-five. That was over sixty years ago in conservative mainland China. For a young lady to speak to a thousand people was a unique and unusual event. Although I had been to Christian meetings quite often, I went to this meeting full of curiosity to see this young lady speak. In my whole life, even up to today, I never heard a person speaking with that much authority…As I listened to her, all my curiosity was taken away. Every word that she spoke caught me, and I was fully convinced. I was a young man raised up in Christianity, but that day I was convinced and caught by the Lord. After the meeting as I was walking home, I prayed and gave my entire life to the Lord.

　　That young lady, who was only twenty-five years old, loved the Lord to the uttermost. That was her motive. Her love for the Lord was the factor, the element, and the very basic essence of her being powerful. The message she released was from the book of Exodus. She told the audience that Egypt typified the world and that all the worldly people were under the tyranny of Satan, just as the children of Israel were under the tyranny of Pharaoh. She said that we had to be delivered out of this tyranny and that this was our exodus. When I heard this near the beginning of her message, I said to myself that I would not be under Satan’s tyranny anymore. Because this young sister loved the Lord to the uttermost, she had the Lord’s authority, and the impact was in her gospel preaching.

　　If we love the Lord, we surely will be filled with Him. Whatever fills us within will come out of us. The overflow comes from the infilling…From that day in 1925 when I gave my life to the Lord, I loved to study the Bible and to talk to people about Jesus. Because I was filled with the Lord Jesus, I wanted to speak the Lord Jesus. If we are filled with the Lord Jesus, we surely will have something to pour out…When we love the Lord to the uttermost, we must speak. We must release the One who has filled us within. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, “Speaking Christ for the Building Up of the Body of Christ,” pp. 172-173)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Colossians, msg. 3