Scripture Reading: Matt. 28:19; Rom. 8:9; Phil. 1:19; John 7:37-39; Acts 1:8; John 14:17; Eph. 5: 18-20

DAY 1 & DAY 2 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 3 & DAY 4 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 5 & DAY 6 Outline　MorningRevival

«　WEEK 8　DAY 1　»

　　Matt. 28:19 Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

　　John 20:22 And when He had said this, He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.

　　In the Divine Trinity, the Father is the source, the Son is the course, the expression, and the Spirit is the flow, the reaching. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is the Triune God reaching us. When the Triune God reaches us, He is the Spirit. When we receive the Spirit, we receive the Triune God….The truth concerning the Divine Trinity is that the Father is the source, the Son is the course, coming with the source, and the Spirit is the reaching, the flow, coming with the source. Hence, the Holy Spirit comes with both the Father and the Son….Hence, the New Testament shows that for us to receive the Spirit is to receive the ultimate consummation of the Triune God, that is, to receive the processed Triune God. Today the Holy Spirit is the processed Triune God (Vessels Useful unto the Lord, chap. 10).

　　The Bible says that Christ went into death for three days, but He did not remain there. On the third day He resurrected spiritually and physically (1 Cor. 15:3-4). The abundant witnesses to His resurrection, who saw and talked and walked with Him, are a strong testimony to a historical fact that has remained unshaken for the past two thousand years (1 Cor. 15:5-7). Socrates died; Napoleon died; Alexander the Great died; Karl Marx died; and Mohammed, Buddha, and Confucius all died. But Jesus Christ is alive! His tomb is an empty tomb, and He lives within the spirits of millions of people today.

　　In nature we can see the principle of resurrection every day. When a grain of wheat is planted into the ground, apparently it dies. Actually, what dies is only the outer shell. Soon the wheat germ germinates, and the wheat life comes out in a better and more glorious form. A caterpillar goes through its cocoon stage. Apparently, it dies and ceases from all outward activity; but the life within the creature continues to operate, and in a short time it emerges in full splendor and glory as a butterfly. Similarly, in His resurrection Christ was not only made alive but was also changed to another form. The Bible says that He was changed to a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). When He was on earth, He was in the flesh. In resurrection He became the Spirit.

　　The best way to understand the Spirit is by way of illustration. Consider the air around you. It is everywhere and is available to everyone. Whether you are in the East or in the West, in a closed room or at the marketplace, the air is always with you. The Bible compares the Spirit to air. In fact, the word for Spirit in Greek is pneuma, which can also be translated "breath" or "wind." On the evening of the Lord's resurrection, He came to His disciples and did something rather strange to them: He breathed into them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22). The divine breath that He breathed into the disciples was just Himself in resurrection as the life-giving Spirit.

　　When Christ was living on earth, He was not fully available to the disciples. When He was in Galilee, He could not be in Jerusalem. He was limited by time and space. He could not be present with all the people all the time. But after Christ was resurrected, He became a Spirit. As the Spirit, He can now be with His disciples all the time. This is why after His resurrection He could say that He would be with His disciples "all the days until the consummation of the age" (Matt. 28:20). Today, our Christ is not limited by time and space. He can dwell within all those who believe in Him - (Christ is Spirit and Life).

«　WEEK 8　DAY 2　»

　　1 Cor.15:45b …the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.

　　2 Tim.4:22a The Lord be with your spirit…

　　There is nothing more simple than breathing. A person may not understand many deep mysteries, but as long as he is a human being, he can breathe. Breathing is the most universal ability; any living creature can breathe. Christ has made Himself so available that anyone can receive Him and experience Him.

　　Human beings are like a rubber tire, and the Spirit is like the air. Many people live with "flat tires" in their lives; they are depressed and plod along life's journey in a bumpy way. What we need is the heavenly air—the life-giving Spirit of Christ. When we have Him, our ride will be smooth, and we will be filled with the heavenly pneuma!

　　The Spirit can also be illustrated by electricity. In modern civilization nearly every home has electricity installed in it. We need electricity to drive the fan, the clock, the refrigerator, the telephone, the doorbell, the television, and many other appliances. Without electricity our lives would nearly come to a standstill. Although electricity is so applicable, the source of electricity is far away from us in the hydroelectric power plant. God is like the awesome power plant up at the head of the river; He is most powerful. In order for that mighty power to be applied to us, there is the need of power lines to convey the current of electricity to us. The incarnated Christ as a man with His humanity is like the power line; He came from God the Father to us to bring God to us in our human situation. The resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit is like the electrical current that carries the mighty hydroelectric power from the power plant into our homes. The electrical current applies the power and turns it into sound, light, heat and other useful forms in our homes. In the same way the Spirit as the current of the heavenly electricity applies all that God is to us. Through the Spirit we have love, light, truth, joy, power, and all the attributes of God. If we do not have the Spirit in us, our lives will be full of darkness, weakness, and suffocation. But the Spirit applies the Triune God to us and makes our life meaningful and full.

　　Many people think that to be a Christian is merely to improve their behavior or to be religious. They even build large cathedrals in which to worship God. Yet the most necessary thing is not to be outwardly good or religious. It is foolish for anyone to clean his lamps or adorn his television set without applying electricity to them. The only thing that matters is to apply electricity to the appliances. What man needs is not bigger buildings or more religious ceremonies; none of these will give him the inward power. What man needs is the Spirit, because the Spirit is the application of God Himself to man.

　　When a person believes in the Lord Jesus, the Spirit comes into this person and lives within him. Second Timothy 4:22 says that the Lord Jesus Christ is with our spirit. We do not need to go to heaven to find God, and we do not need to make any pilgrimage on earth to touch Him. The most holy place is now in our spirit. When electricity is installed in a house, all that a person has to do is to turn on the switch. Today, the Spirit is "installed" in this universe—Christ has accomplished all the work, and as the life-giving Spirit, He is now everywhere. Whenever we call on the Lord's name, our spirits are "switched on," and we can experience all that God is.

　　We can explain the mystery of the Spirit by yet another illustration. One day in the summer I bought a watermelon from the market. The melon was large, and I perspired a lot in bringing it home. My intention was to eat and digest that melon. In order to do this, first I had to cut the melon into slices. To make it even easier to receive the melon, I then squeezed the melon slices into melon juice. That big melon became so enjoyable to me through the melon juice. Originally, God was in heaven. He can be illustrated by the big, uncut melon. One day He became a man and was crucified on the cross. Through His crucifixion He was "cut into slices." But the process did not stop there; after His death He resurrected and was transformed into the form of the Spirit. This is like squeezing the melon slices into melon juice. The Spirit is like the juice of the melon. Through this process God became accessible to us. Today, the God whom we worship is not the "uncut" God. He is a "processed" God. In other words, He has passed through a process to become the life-giving Spirit. Now we do not need to sweat and struggle to reach Him; He has become so enjoyable and accessible to us - (Christ is Spirit and Life).

«　WEEK 8　DAY 3　»

　　Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore also the holy thing which is born will be called the Son of God.”

　　Phil. 1:19 For I know that for me this will turn out to salvation through your petition and the bountiful supply of the Spirit o Jesus Christ,”

　　

　　Genesis 1:1 says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Then the following verse says, “The Spirit of God brooded over the face of the waters” (Heb.). Thus, we see that the Spirit was the Spirit of God in God's creation of the universe.

　　After His creation, God began to work on man. In God's work on man, His name is Jehovah. The Spirit of Jehovah is in God's reaching of men and in His care for men (Judg. 3:10; 6:34; Gen. 6:3a). The title Jehovah literally means "He that is who He is; therefore, the eternal I Am." As Jehovah, He is the One who was in the past, who is in the present, and who is to come in the future (Rev. 1:4). Jehovah simply means to be. God was, God is, and God shall be forever. He is the great I Am.

　　God told Moses that His name was "I Am That I Am" (Exo. 3:14). This means, "I am always the thing which should be." If there is a need of light, He is the light. If there is a need of life, He is the life. He is everything. The Lord Jesus Himself told us that His name is "I Am" (John 8:58). The name I Am means that the very One who works on man is everything to man. He takes care of man and He comes upon man. This is Jehovah in His reaching of man and in His care for man.

　　The Holy Spirit first divine title used for the Spirit in the New Testament is the Holy Spirit. According to the Greek text, the title translated as the Holy Spirit may be in two forms: the Spirit the Holy or the Holy Spirit. According to my understanding, this means that in the New Testament age, the very God who is the Spirit is "the Holy." God is a Spirit and this Spirit now is totally "the Holy." We are now in an age in which God Himself as the Spirit is "the Holy" to make man not only separated unto Him but also one with Him. In the Old Testament, the most God could do with man was to make man separated unto Him but not one with Him. But now in the New Testament age, the time has come in which God would go further and deeper to make man absolutely one with Him, to make man Him and to make Him man. Athanasius, who was one of the church fathers, said concerning Christ: "He was made man that we might be made God." This means that we are made God in life and in nature, but not in the Godhead. This process takes place by the Spirit the Holy.

　　In the New Testament, the life-giving Spirit is referred to as the Spirit of Jesus (Acts 16:7). This title of the Spirit is concerning Jesus in His humanity, who passed through human living and death on the cross. It indicates that in the Spirit there is not only the divine element of God but also the human element of Jesus and the elements of His human living and suffering of death.

　　The Spirit of Christ is concerning Christ in His divinity, who conquered death and became the life in resurrection with the resurrection power, indicating that in the Spirit there is the element of divinity that became the death-conquering and the life-dispensing Spirit (Rom. 8:9b).

　　The Spirit of Jesus Christ refers to the Spirit, comprising all the elements of Jesus' humanity with His death and Christ's divinity with His resurrection, who becomes the bountiful supply of the unsearchable Christ for the support of His believers (Phil. 1:19b) – (The Spirit with Our Spirit).

«　WEEK 8　DAY 4　»

　　Rom. 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death.

　　John 7:39 But this he said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

　　Through and in His resurrection Christ as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit to enter into His believers to flow out as rivers of living water (1 Cor. 15:45b; Rev. 21:6; 22:17c). God is a Spirit and the Second of the Triune God in the flesh became a life-giving Spirit. Prior to Christ's resurrection, God was a Spirit but not a life-giving Spirit. Before Christ's death and resurrection, God had no way to enter into man to be man's life. Between man and God there were a number of negative things as obstacles. According to the typology seen in Genesis, the way to God as the tree of life was closed by the requirements of God's glory, God's holiness, and God's righteousness (Gen. 3:24; see Life-study of Genesis, pp. 282-286).

　　Hebrews 10 reveals that the death of Christ opened the way, a new and living way, so that we can go into the Holy of Holies to partake of God as the tree of life (vv. 19-20). In His death He fulfilled all the requirements of God's glory, holiness, and righteousness; then in resurrection He changed in form to be the life-giving Spirit. This was absolutely for the organic union between God and man— to bring God into man and to bring man into God in His resurrection. Today we can take the tree of life and drink the water of life so that the Triune God can flow out from our innermost being as rivers of living water (The Spirit with Our Spirit, chap. 2).

　　Verse 39 says, “But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” Many Christians do not understand the words “not yet” in this verse. The King James Version adds the word “given” in italics, showing that the translators were troubled by this verse. But verse 39 does not mean that the Spirit “was not given”; it means that the Spirit was “not yet.” The Spirit was not there yet. The Spirit of God was there from the very beginning (Gen. 1:1-2), but the Spirit as “the Spirit of Christ” (Rom. 8:9), “the Spirit of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:19), was “not yet” at the time the Lord Jesus spoke this word, because He was not yet glorified. Jesus was glorified when He was resurrected (Luke 24:26). After His resurrection, the Spirit of God became the Spirit of the incarnated, crucified, and resurrected Jesus Christ, who was breathed into the disciples by Christ in the evening of the day He was resurrected (John 20:22). The Spirit is now the “another Comforter,...the Spirit of reality” promised by Christ before His death (John 14:16-17). When the Spirit was the Spirit of God, He had only the divine element. When He became the Spirit of Jesus Christ through Christ's incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection, He had both the divine and human element, with all the essence and reality of the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ. Hence, He is now the all-inclusive Spirit of Jesus Christ as the living water for us to receive.

　　We may use the illustration of a glass of pure water into which many other ingredients are added. The pure water passes through one stage, and the milk is added. It passes through other stages in which honey, tea, and salt are added. Eventually, it becomes an all-inclusive drink. Before the pure water passed all these stations, such a wonderful drink was “not yet,” although the pure water in the glass was there already. Now it is an all-inclusive drink. Likewise, the Spirit promised by the Lord Jesus in 7:39 and 14:16-17 is not the Spirit with only divinity as His content, but the Spirit with divinity, humanity, the all-inclusive death, resurrection, and ascension. Now we not only have the Spirit of God, but also the Spirit of Jesus Christ. It is such an all-inclusive Spirit that gives us the flow of the rivers of water of life (Life-study of John, chap. 18).

«　WEEK 8　DAY 5　»

　　Eph. 5:18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissoluteness, but be filled in spirit,

　　1 Cor. 12:13 For also in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit.

　　The human spirit is more important than the human body. This is why Ephesians 5:18 says, “Do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissoluteness, but be filled in spirit.” To be drunk with wine is to be filled in the body. Here it says that we should not be filled with wine in our body but that we should be filled in spirit. We need to be filled with Christ unto all the fullness of God (1:23; 3:19). Today all the riches of Christ are included in the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17). To be filled in our spirit is to be filled with the essential Spirit. The essential Spirit is the life-giving Spirit, and the life-giving Spirit is the Spirit of reality as the realization of Christ, referred to in John 14:17.

　　The inward filling of the Spirit is different from the outward filling of the Spirit. The outward filling of the Spirit is far less precious than the inward filling of the Spirit. Hence, after the book of Acts the word for outward filling is not used in the twenty-two Epistles from Romans to Revelation. Instead, inward filling is emphasized.

　　1 Corinthians 12:13, says, “For also in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body...and were all given to drink one Spirit.” Here the conjunction and indicates that to be baptized and to drink are two matters. To be baptized is to be filled outwardly, and to drink is to be filled inwardly. Therefore, the Pentecostals are mistaken in neglecting the distinction between the two.

　　I stayed in Shanghai after the second World War. From time to time I ministered in Nanking. At that time there was a saying in the region around the lower Yangtze River. The saying was, “In the morning the skin encompasses the water; at night the water encompasses the skin.” When a person drinks tea in the tea house in the morning, his skin “encompasses” the water. When he goes to take a bath at night, the water encompasses the skin. They believed that if one practiced this, he would surely be healthy. After I heard this saying, I found it to be very good and meaningful. The skin encompassing the water is a picture of the inward filling, and the water encompassing the skin is a picture of the outward filling. If you want to be a healthy Christian, you have to be revived every morning. This is the skin encompassing the water. You also need to receive the outward filling of the Spirit when you go out to labor for the Lord at night. This is the water encompassing the skin. The Pentecostals make these two “encompassing” into one “encompassing.” As a result, many of them get too deeply immersed in water and drown.

　　Those in the Pentecostal movement also talk about confession, but they wrongly teach people that confession must be accompanied by speaking in tongues. The Bible never says that we must speak in tongues to be filled with the Spirit. Today people are hungry and thirsty for God. Thus, those in the Pentecostal movement use tongue-speaking to attract them. Because the Pentecostals lack the truth, they encourage people to pursue after tongue-speaking. Actually, in many cases their so-called speaking in tongues is not genuine. They simply ask people to roll their tongue and speak out anything that comes to their mind. As a result of this practice, they are not filled with the Holy Spirit. They are not even filled with the evil spirits. They are filled only with themselves.

　　On the one hand, this fellowship is meant to help you by giving you the proper way to pursue the filling of the Spirit. On the other hand, it is meant to give you an inoculation. When you speak to people concerning the filling of the Spirit, they may say, “We also talk about the filling of the Spirit” and may ask you, “Do you speak in tongues?” If you do not know how to answer them, you will be poisoned by them. You must be clear that the filling of the Spirit has two aspects—an outward aspect and an inward aspect. The outward aspect is mentioned only in Acts, but in the Epistles from Romans to Revelation, the inward filling is emphasized because it is the more important aspect (Vessels Useful to the Lord, chap. 7).

«　WEEK 8　DAY 6　»

　　Acts 13:52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

　　Rom. 12:11 Do not be slothful in zeal, but be burning in spirit, serving the Lord.

　　

　　How can we be filled with the Triune God? We can be filled with the Triune God through thorough prayer and confession. When you began the Full-Time Training, you renewed your consecration. This is good, but you also have to find some time in your busy schedule to kneel down before the Lord by yourself and to thoroughly pray and confess. This is most precious. At the beginning of this time, you may tell the Lord, “O Lord, forgive me. Although You have forgiven me of all my sins, I have never had a thorough confession and a thorough dealing. Today I would like to confess all of my sins thoroughly before You. Please shine on me!”

　　When you pray in this way, do not seek for feeling. You have to believe that the Lord's Spirit is with you. You also do not need to confess according to a sequence. Simply confess according to what you sense within and according to what you remember. Confess your sins to the Lord one by one until, according to your inner sense and your memory, you have nothing more to confess. Once you have done this, you should simply believe that you have been filled in your spirit with the ultimate consummation of the Triune God. Every Christian should have one time in which he thoroughly confesses in this way. In medical science this is equivalent to changing the blood cells in your entire body in order to cleanse away all the germs and filthiness from your system for the sake of your health. Every one of you needs to be filled with the Spirit in this way.

　　How much the Spirit can fill you within depends on how much room you give Him. The more room you give Him, the more He fills you. Similarly, the amount of air that fills a bottle depends on how much space there is in the bottle. If half of the bottle is filled with soil, air can fill only half of the bottle. The more the soil is removed from the bottle, however, the more the air will fill it. In the same way, the more you remove the defilement of sin and the filthiness that is within you, the more the Holy Spirit will be able to fill you. As you empty out, the Spirit will fill you. When you have completely emptied yourself of all filthiness, then you will also be completely filled with the Spirit (Vessels Useful unto the Lord, chap. 7).

　　When we get up in the morning, it is a good practice not to think about other things except about Jesus! However, it is easier to say than to do it because our heart is occupied by many matters. Nevertheless, we should endeavour to exercise. I hope from today onward you would practice to call upon the name of the Lord immediately after you wake up and continue to call and speak Him throughout the day. Whenever you call upon the Lord's name, the Spirit will be with you. Whenever you speak the Lord's words, the Spirit will be with you. Eventually, you will be filled by the Triune God as the Spirit because you breathe Him and speak Him (Translated).

　　

　　After we have been filled with the Holy Spirit, we still have to do a few things to maintain the filling. First, we should not quench the Spirit (1 Thes. 5:19). The Spirit causes us to be burning in spirit (Rom. 12:11) and also causes us to fan into flame the gift which is in us (2 Tim. 1:6). Hence, we should not quench the Spirit.

　　second, we should not grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30). To grieve the Holy Spirit is to displease Him and to not walk according to Him in our daily living (Rom. 8:4). How do we know when the Holy Spirit is grieved? We can know by our living. If we are not joyful in our Christian life, this is a sign that the Holy Spirit is grieving in us. It is because the Holy Spirit is grieving in us that we are not joyful. If we are joyful, this indicates that the Holy Spirit in us is also joyful. A sister testified that she once had prayed to the extent that her whole being was refreshed, light-hearted, and so full of joy. This is proof that the Holy Spirit in her was joyful. Hence, to not grieve the Holy Spirit is to not grieve yourself.

　　Third, on the positive side, we must obey the Holy Spirit. In Acts 5 Peter said, “The Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him” (v. 32). This shows that the Holy Spirit is for us to obey. Obedience is the way and the requirement for us to enjoy the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:4 says, “Do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.” This is the way to be filled with the Holy Spirit and the requirement for maintaining a life of being filled with the Holy Spirit. We should not only study these verses but also put them into practice in our daily life (Vessels Useful to the Lord, chap. 10).