Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 1:8-9; Rom. 8:28-29; Phil. 3:10-11; 2 Cor. 4:16; 1 Cor. 15:58

DAY 1 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 2 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 3 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 4 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 5 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 6 Outline　MorningRevival

«　WEEK 2　DAY 1　»

　　Acts 13:33 That God has fully fulfilled this promise to us...in raising up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, "You are My Son; this day have I begotten You."

　　1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

　　"This day" [in Acts 13:33]...was the day of resurrection. Christ was begotten by God in resurrection to be God's firstborn Son....Christ was the only begotten Son of God even before His incarnation (John 1:18). His incarnation was the coming of the only begotten Son of God (3:16). This Son of God was incarnated to be a man. But Acts 13:33 unveils that in resurrection God begot Christ to be the firstborn Son of God among many brothers (Rom. 8:29).

　　Also, the Bible tells us that we, the God-chosen people, were regenerated in Christ's resurrection [1 Peter 1:3] ....In resurrection God begot a Son, Jesus Christ, and in resurrection God regenerated many sons. This shows us that the resurrection of Christ was a great delivery.... In the unique resurrection Christ was born and we were regenerated, so we were His "twins" in the same delivery. According to our natural idea, we were regenerated on a specific date in time after Christ's resurrection. But the Bible tells us that we were regenerated when Christ was resurrected.

　　In this same resurrection, Christ became a life-giving Spirit.... First Corinthians 15:45b tells us that in resurrection the last Adam, the man Jesus, became a life-giving Spirit. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, "The Practical Way to Live a Life according to the High Peak of the Divine Revelation in the Holy Scriptures," pp. 59-60)

　　God's raising up Jesus Christ from the dead was God's act. In this one divine act, God accomplished three big things. He begot not His only Son but His firstborn Son; He begot His many sons in this one delivery; and He made this Jesus Christ, who had just been begotten of God, the life-giving Spirit.

　　The entire economy of God is carried out by these three items. If you were to delete Acts 13:33, 1 Peter 1:3, and 1 Corinthians 15:45b from the Bible, the firstborn Son of God, the many sons of God, and the life-giving Spirit would be absent from the divine revelation. Even though these items concerning the resurrection of Christ are in the Bible, they are mostly absent from the fundamental teaching of today's Christianity. Without these major items of the Lord's resurrection, there would be no church, no Body of Christ. If there were nothing in the Bible revealing the firstborn Son of God, the many sons of God, and the life-giving Spirit, there would be no economy of God. These items are new to many Christians, but they are not new to the Bible. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, "The Practical Way to Live a Life according to the High Peak of the Divine Revelation in the Holy Scriptures," pp. 60-61)

　　Resurrection is the life pulse and lifeline of the divine economy. If there were no resurrection, God would be the God of the dead, not of the living (Matt. 22:32). If there were no resurrection, Christ would not have been raised from the dead. He would be a dead Savior, not a living One who lives forever (Rev. 1:18) and is able to save to the uttermost (Heb. 7:25). If there were no resurrection, there would be no living proof of our being justified by His death (Rom. 4:25 and footnote), no imparting of life (John 12:24), no regeneration (John 3:5), no renewing (Titus 3:5), no transformation (Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18), and no conformity to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). If there were no resurrection, there would be no members of Christ (Rom. 12:5), no Body of Christ as His fullness (Eph. 1:20-23), and no church as Christ's bride (John 3:29), and therefore no new man (Eph. 2:15; 4:24; Col. 3:10-11). If there were no resurrection, God's New Testament economy would altogether collapse and God's eternal purpose would be nullified. (1 Cor. 15:12, footnote 1)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, "The Practical Way to Live a Life according to the High Peak of the Divine Revelation in the Holy Scriptures," chs. 3-4

«　WEEK 2　DAY 2　»

　　Num. 17:5-6 And the rod of the man whom I choose shall bud.... Every one of their leaders gave him a rod, one rod for each leader according to their fathers' houses, twelve rods...

　　8 And on the next day Moses went into the Tent of the Testimony, and there was the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi: it had budded; it even put forth buds and produced blossoms and bore ripe almonds.

　　A rod is a piece of dead wood that has not only been cut but is also dried up. Yet such a dead and dried-up piece of wood budded! A bud is something organic, something of life. The budding rod of Aaron typifies not a dead Christ but the resurrected Christ, the budding Christ, who not only buds but also blossoms and bears fruit to maturity. Such a Christ imparts life to others (John 12:24; 1 Pet. 1:3). Today He is still budding, and we are the fruit, the almonds, of His budding. (Num. 17:8, footnote 1)

　　God commanded the twelve leaders to take twelve rods according to the twelve tribes of Israel, and put them in the Tent of Meeting before the Ark.... A rod is a piece of wood. It is a branch that has been stripped of its leaves and roots. It once was living but now has become dead. It once derived its sap from the tree.... All twelve rods were leafless, rootless, dry, and dead. Whichever one budded was the one that was chosen by God. Here we see that resurrection is the basis of God's selection. It is also the basis of authority.

　　Resurrection is everything that is not out of our natural life, not out of ourselves, and not based on our ability. Resurrection speaks of the things that are beyond us, which we cannot do in ourselves.... If a man has never realized his own inability, he can never experience God's ability...Resurrection means that God has given us something that we did not have in ourselves. The Bible testifies again and again that man cannot make it by himself. But many people think that they can make it....Resurrection means that you cannot make it and that God is the One who has done everything.

　　The principle to every service lies in the budding rod. God returned all the eleven rods to the leaders, but kept Aaron's rod inside the Ark as an eternal memorial. This means that resurrection is an eternal principle in our service to God. A servant of the Lord is one who has died and resurrected. God testifies again and again to His people that authority to serve God lies in resurrection, not in a person himself. All services to the Lord must pass through death and resurrection before they will be acceptable to God. Resurrection means that everything is of God and not of us. It means that God alone is able and that we are not able. Resurrection means that everything is done by God, not by ourselves. All those who think highly of themselves and who hold a misguided judgment of themselves have never realized what resurrection is. No one should be mistaken to think that he can do anything by himself. If a man continues to think that he is able, that he can do something, and that he is useful, he does not know resurrection.... All those who know resurrection have given up hope in themselves; they know that they cannot make it. As long as the natural strength remains, the power of resurrection has no ground for manifestation. As long as Sarah could beget a child, Isaac would not come. What we can do belongs to the natural realm, and what is impossible for us to do belongs to the realm of resurrection.

　　God's ability is not manifested in His creation but in resurrection. God's greatest power is manifested not through creation but through resurrection. When God's power is manifested in creation, it does not need to be preceded by death. But when His power is manifested in resurrection, there is the need for it to be preceded by death. Every created thing needs no precedence for its creation, but everything in resurrection has its precedence.... A man must come to the end of himself before he will be convinced of his utter uselessness. (CWWN, vol. 47, "Authority and Submission," pp. 243,247-250)

　　Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 47, "Authority and Submission," ch. 15; CWWL, 1990, vol. 2, "A Thorough View of the Body of Christ," ch. 2; CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 2, "The Christian Life," ch. 7

«　WEEK 2　DAY 3　»

　　Eph. 2:6 And raised us up together with Him and seated us together with Him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.

　　Phil. 3:10-11 To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if perhaps I may attain to the out-resurrection from the dead.

　　The church is a new creation created in Christ's resurrection and by the resurrected Christ. We must see this vision.... We must also see where the church is. The church today is in Christ in ascension. Ephesians 2:6 tells us that the church has been resurrected with Christ, and now the church is seated in the heavenlies with Christ. Therefore, the church is absolutely and purely of the element of Christ, absolutely in resurrection, and absolutely remaining in the heavenlies with Christ.... With the church there is no element other than Christ. Such a vision will govern you to the uttermost and will rule out everything that is not Christly (of Christ), resurrectionly (of resurrection), or heavenly (of the heavens)....The church is a matter in Christ, in resurrection, and in Christ's ascension in the heavenlies. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, "Elders' Training, Book 2: The Vision of the Lord's Recovery," pp. 115-116)

　　As a type of Christ, the lampstand portrays Christ as the resurrection life, growing, branching, budding, and blossoming to shine the light....Since the lampstand typifies Christ, it indicates that Christ is the One who is growing....The lampstand is not made up of only one branch and one lamp. On the contrary, as the central stalk grows, it produces three pairs of branches. Moreover, all the branches are growing and have knobs, buds, and blossoms. As the stalk of the lampstand begins to grow, it produces the first pair of branches. Then as it continues to grow, it produces the second pair and finally the third. Eventually, the stalk itself grows to its full measure. All this indicates that Christ is growing.

　　Christ grows first in Himself and then also in us as the branches. Apparently, it is the branches that are growing. Actually, it is the stand that is growing through the branches and within them. This indicates Christ's growth in us.... As the central stalk, Christ grows in Himself, by Himself, and with Himself. But in the six branches He grows in us, by us, and with us. (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 1097-1098)

　　In John 11:25...the Lord revealed that resurrection is not a matter of time but a matter of His person, because He is the resurrection....The One who created Adam came to be a man and lived a human life in resurrection. He denied His natural humanity. He never did anything out of Himself (5:19, 30). He did everything in Himself but not of Himself. We also should not do anything in our natural life but in Christ's resurrection life. Jesus was living and walking on this earth in His flesh, but He rejected this flesh. He rejected His natural life....The Lord's charming and cherishing are not natural but are by His resurrection life in humanity.

　　He was a divine and mystical person living in the divine and mystical realm, doing everything in a divine and mystical way. We should be such persons. If we are working in an office, those around us should have the feeling that there is something extraordinary about us. This extraordinary thing is divine and mystical. We all need to be discipled by the Lord to be divine and mystical persons.

　　We are being discipled from being a natural man to being a God-man, living the divine life by denying our natural life according to the model of Christ as the first God-man (Matt. 28:19).... The church life is a discipling life to disciple us from being a natural man to being a God-man. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, "The Vital Groups," pp. 142-143, 75, 88-89)

　　Anything that is carried out even scripturally but in the natural life is not the reality of the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is absolutely something in the resurrection life of Christ. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, "The Practical Points concerning Blending," p. 113)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Exodus, msgs. 92-94; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, "The Practical Points concerning Blending," chs. 2-4; vol. 5, "The Vital Groups," chs. 2-5,10-11

«　WEEK 2　DAY 4　»

　　2 Cor. 1:8-9 ...We were excessively burdened, beyond our power, so that we despaired even of living. Indeed we ourselves had the response of death in ourselves, that we should not base our confidence on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.

　　4:16 ...Though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

　　While the living God can perform many acts on man's behalf, the nature of the living God cannot blend with the nature of man. When, on the other hand, the God of resurrection works, His very nature is wrought into the nature of man.... When the living God has performed some act on your behalf, after that act as before it, He is still He and you are still you. His working on your behalf does not impart anything of His nature to you. The living God can work on behalf of man, but the nature of the living God cannot unite with the nature of man.... When the God of resurrection works, He communicates Himself to man by that which He does for him.

　　Paul was so sorely tried that he despaired even of living, but it was thus that he learned to trust in the God who raises the dead. When the God of resurrection acted on his behalf to raise him from the dead, that divine act not only accomplished something for Paul; it also communicated God's own nature to Paul. (The God of Resurrection, pp. 6-7)

　　Resurrection life is a life that can overcome all affliction and can even swallow up death. [A brother who is ill may be] conscious of much weakness and [be] sorely tested; nevertheless, the realization deepens that God is not working to make His might known in external acts but is working to impart Himself. Light breaks upon him gradually, and gradually health returns. This brother does not just experience a healing; he comes into a new experience of God.

　　The significance of suffering...is this, that the devastation it brings to the old creation provides an opportunity for the God of resurrection to impart Himself into His creatures so that they emerge from the death process with a divine element in their constitution. The primary purpose of suffering in this universe, particularly as it relates to the children of God, is that through it the very nature of God may be wrought into the nature of man....Through a process of outward decay, an inward process is taking place that is adding a new constituent to our lives [2 Cor. 4:16]. (The God of Resurrection, pp. 8-9, 15)

　　Is there some renewing going on with us, or are we remaining the same day by day and year after year? It would be tragic if we would pass through many sufferings and still remain the same. In order to consummate His renewing work in us and with us, God becomes our life and nature within. In addition to this, God as the sovereign Lord controls the entire universe in order to renew us. God uses the environment in order to work His life and nature into us. Without the environment, we could never be renewed.

　　God desires us to be the new creation. When all of the Lord's children pass through the process of renewing to become the New Jerusalem, they will be in a state of being fully renewed. The holy city is called the New Jerusalem because it has no old element of God's old creation. As we pass through afflictions, there needs to be a continual renewing taking place in us day by day so that God can accomplish His heart's desire. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 2, "Being Renewed Day by Day," pp. 358, 363)

　　We, the God-men, live a human life to express God, not by our own life, our natural life, but by the divine life of Christ in resurrection (Col. 3:4)....To live Christ by the divine life of Christ in resurrection is to have Christ grow in us that we may be formed inwardly and even conformed to the image of Christ as the Firstborn of God among many brothers (Gal. 4:19; Rom. 8:29b). (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, "The Practical Way to Live a Life according to the High Peak of the Divine Revelation in the Holy Scriptures," p. 70)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1990, vol. 1, "The Spirit," ch. 12; The Living God and the God of Resurrection, ch. 3; The God of Resurrection

«　WEEK 2　DAY 5　»

　　2 Cor. 4:10-12 Always bearing about in the body the putting to death of Jesus that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who are alive are always being delivered unto death for Jesus' sake that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death operates in us, but life in you.

　　We are renewed by the addition of God into our being, by having more of the divine element added into our being. I have been living the Christian life for over sixty years, and I can testify concerning what the real Christian life is. The real Christian life is to have God added into us morning and evening and day by day. God's intention is for us to be renewed day by day. In order to be renewed, we need the new addition of God into us daily. Daily we need to contact God, open ourselves up to Him, and let Him come into us to be a new addition into us day by day. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 2, "Being Renewed Day by Day," pp. 359, 361)

　　When God is added into us, He does not just remain there, doing nothing.... God is operating within us [Phil. 2:13].... God is operating in us, energizing in us,... and in this divine element there is the renewing capacity.... We need to enjoy the renewing capacity of the divine life in resurrection day by day. This is why we have to learn to die to ourselves....Every morning we should contact the Lord. First, we have to confess our sins. Second, we have to reject ourselves. In rejecting ourselves, we pass through the death of Christ, and the death of Christ kills us. In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul talks about "the putting to death of Jesus" (v. 10). This means that Jesus, in a positive sense, is always killing us. In many medicines today there is a healing element and a killing element that kills the bad germs and bacteria within us. In Jesus there is the killing element. He is our medication to heal us, enliven us, and kill all the negative things within us.

　　God has the best provisions to help us to receive the renewing. The first provision is the cross, the putting to death of Jesus. According to 2 Corinthians 4, Paul was always under the killing of the cross, the Lord's death. The cross is the greatest help to accomplish the renewing for us. The second provision is the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:5 speaks of the "renewing of the Holy Spirit." We have the Holy Spirit within us. His main work is first to regenerate us and then to renew us every day....The third provision God gave us is our mingled spirit, our human spirit mingled with the divine Spirit. In our human spirit, the Holy Spirit dwells, works, and renews us....Our spirit is the place where we receive the renewing [cf. Eph. 4:23]. Our mingled spirit spreads into our mind, thus becoming the spirit of our mind. It is in such a spirit that we are renewed for our transformation.

　　In addition to the cross, the Holy Spirit, and our spirit, we have the holy Word. The Head of the Body cleanses the church, His Body, by the washing of the water in the word (Eph. 5:26). Because I have studied the Bible for such a long time, I can recall chapters such as Matthew 1 and Romans 8. When I just think about the contents of these chapters, I get washed. When I think about Romans 8:4—to walk according to the spirit—I get washed. We all need to receive the washing of the water in the word daily.

　　Whenever we come to the Lord's table, we need renewing....The table He set up was new, and the table He will take in the kingdom of His Father will be new [Matt. 26:29]. We have to come to the Lord's table in a new way, in the principle of newness. How can we come to the table in newness? We need to realize that anything negative is a cause and a factor of oldness. Negative things cause us to be old. We need a thorough confession [of] and...dealing [with all the negative things]. Another thing that makes us old is not forgiving others. Always forgive people (Matt. 18:21-22,35; Eph. 4:32; 5:2), and always seek to be forgiven (Matt. 5:23-24). (CWWL, 1989, vol. 2, "Being Renewed Day by Day," pp. 361-362,351-353)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1989, vol. 2, "Being Renewed Day by Day," chs. 1-2

«　WEEK 2　DAY 6　»

　　Phil. 3:3 For we are the circumcision, the ones who serve by the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.

　　Acts 7:35 This Moses, whom they refused,...God has sent as both a ruler and a redeemer, along with the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the thornbush.

　　In our service we must do everything in the principle of incarnation. The principle of incarnation is that the divine nature is wrought into humanity. When the Lord Jesus was on this earth, He did everything in His humanity full of the divine element. He did not do anything by the natural strength or the natural ability.... The Father was within Him and one with Him in all His deeds, in all His words, and in all His works (John 14:10; 10:30). Whatever He did, whatever He said, and whatever He worked was altogether with the Father as the divine element. We need to consider whether the strength and ability we use for the Lord's service are natural or divine.

　　The natural strength and ability need to be dealt with by the cross.... In a certain sense, our natural strength and ability equal our self, our natural constitution....This is why after the denial of the self we need a lesson on rejecting the natural strength and ability and dealing with them by the cross.

　　The natural strength and ability are useful if they are dealt with by the cross. After being dealt with by the cross, they are in resurrection....The cross always works the divine element into the person it deals with, bringing God into him....After being dealt with, our strength and ability become useful in resurrection for our service to the Lord. (CWWL, 1979, vol. 2, "Basic Lessons on Service," pp. 140-143)

　　Acts 7:22 tells us that Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and works.... Moses did something for God's people according to his own will (vv. 23-26). He was full of assurance that he could accomplish something, but he was carrying out his will, not God's will. God purposely and sovereignly put Moses aside for forty years (Exo. 2:14-15; Acts 7:27-30)....In those forty years Moses learned to serve God according to His leading and to trust in Him (vv. 34-36; Heb. 11:28). Moses eventually became a person who did nothing according to his will. He always acted according to the Lord's leading....He had no faith in his ability. Although he was very capable, he did not use his natural ability. His natural ability was dealt with, so it became an ability in resurrection.... If our ability is not dealt with, it is separate from God's move. But after being dealt with by the cross, our ability becomes one with God's move. Actually, God was wrought into Moses' ability. His ability eventually was full of God.

　　Peter was self-confident in his natural strength and ability even to the point of thinking that he would follow the Lord both to prison and to death (Luke 22:33)....Peter was tested, and he denied the Lord three times, even before a little maid (John 18:15-18, 25-27). Peter was absolutely defeated and became a complete failure (Matt. 26:69-75)....His love for the Lord was precious, but his natural strength had to be denied and dealt with. The Lord allowed Peter to fail utterly in denying the Lord to His face three times, so that his natural strength and self-confidence could be dealt with. Through his failure Peter learned to serve the brothers by faith in the Lord and with humility (Luke 22:32; 1 Pet. 5:5-6). Peter was really broken and was turned from the natural ability to something in resurrection.

　　Our natural strength and ability must be dealt with and put on the cross. Then they will be in resurrection and full of the divine element, and whatever we do in the church service will be a ministry of the divine element to others. (CWWL, 1979, vol. 2, "Basic Lessons on Service," pp. 143-145)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1979, vol. 2, "Basic Lessons on Service," lsn. 20