Scripture Reading: Rev. 4:11; Eph. 1:5, 9, 11; Col. 1:9-10, 27; 2:6-7; 3:4, 10-11; 4:12

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 1　DAY 1　»

　　Rev. 4:11 ...You have created all things, and because of Your will they were, and were created.

　　Eph. 1:9 Making known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself.

　　11 In whom also we..., having been predestinated according to the purpose of the One who works all things according to the counsel of His will.

　　God is a God of purpose, having a will of His own pleasure. He created all things for His will that He might accomplish and fulfill His purpose. The book of Revelation, which unveils God’s universal administration, shows us the purpose of God.... His creation is related to His will. (Rev. 4:11, footnote 2)

　　In eternity God planned a will. This will was hidden in Him; hence, it was a mystery. In His wisdom and prudence He has made this hidden mystery known to us through His revelation in Christ, that is, through Christ’s incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. (Eph. 1:9, footnote 2)

　　God’s will is His intention; God’s counsel is His consideration of the way to accomplish His will, or intention. (Eph. 1:11, footnote 4)

　　In God’s plan Christ is the Head to head up all things (Eph. 1:10). The whole universe is for Christ. Whatever God has planned, whatever God has done, and whatever God is doing are to make Christ the Head, the center, and everything. This is God’s eternal purpose. The phrase to head up all things in Christ (v. 10) indicates the divine economy.

　　In God’s creation Christ is the first, the One who has preeminence among all creatures. In the old creation all things were created in Christ, through Christ, and unto Christ (Col. 1:15b-16). Furthermore, all things cohere, subsist together, and are compacted as one in Christ (v. 17b). We can see the beauty of the universe and the oneness of all things in this universe.... Christ is the power by which and in which all things cohere. Christ is the center of God’s creation, and He has the first place in all creation.

　　The new creation is something of the old creation that has died and resurrected into life to have a fresh start in newness. Christ is the Firstborn from the dead (Col. 1:18); He is the first in resurrection. As such, He has the first place in the church as God’s new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15). Christ is not only the Firstborn of the new creation but also the Head of the church, the Body. Moreover, He is the constituent of the Body. He is all the members of the Body and in all the members (Col. 3:11). Even the Body itself is Christ (1 Cor. 12:12). Everything of the Body, the church, in a positive way and in the proper condition, must be Christ Himself. Christ is the Head, Christ is the life, and Christ is the constituent of the church. Hence, in the new creation, the church, Christ is everything.

　　One day in 1933 the Lord opened my eyes to see that Christ is everything to us. Many times the saints came to me to praise someone by saying that he was humble or lovely. But after 1933 whenever I heard this kind of praise about a person, I always had a question within me. What do you mean by being humble? What do you mean by being lovely? Do you mean that here is a part of the old Adam that is so humble? Or here is a man in Adam who is so lovely? The real humility and loveliness of a Christian must be Christ Himself. Our love toward others must be Christ. Our patience, our humility, our wisdom, our knowledge, and our insight must be Christ. (CWWL, 1964, vol. 1, “The Centrality and Universality of Christ,” pp. 174-175)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1964, vol. 1, “The Centrality and Universality of Christ,” ch. 1; CWWL, 1985, vol. 3, “Elders’ Training, Book 6: The Crucial Points of the Truth in Paul’s Epistles,” ch. 7; Life-study of Colossians, msgs. 1, 3

«　WEEK 1　DAY 2　»

　　Col. 1:9 ...We also, since the day we heard of it, do not cease praying and asking on your behalf that you may be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

　　4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a slave of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.

　　Wisdom is in our spirit for us to realize, sense, and perceive the spiritual things, and understanding is in our mind to interpret what we perceive. We need all spiritual wisdom and understanding in order to have the full knowledge of the will of God. The will of God mentioned in Colossians 1:9 is not His will in small matters. It is not merely for us to know what school to go to, what house to buy, or whether or not to marry. These things are too minor. The will of God mentioned here is the eternal will of God, the great will of God. It is related not to the things in our daily life but to God’s purpose, God’s intention. To know this will requires that we have full knowledge and all spiritual wisdom and understanding. (CWWL, 1964, vol. 2, “A General Sketch of the New Testament in the Light of Christ and the Church, Part 2—Romans through Philemon,” p. 327)

　　Spiritual wisdom and understanding are of the Spirit of God in our spirit, in contrast to Gnostic philosophy, which is merely in the darkened human mind. (Col. 1:9, footnote 2)

　　What is the will of God according to His desire, His intention, in the whole universe, in creation, in redemption, in the coming age, and in eternity? The entire book of Colossians is the answer to this question. If we read this book, we will realize that the answer is Christ Himself. The will of God is in Christ, concentrated in Christ, and for Christ. Christ is everything in the will of God. We must know this and realize this with spiritual wisdom and with our understanding in a clear, renewed mind.

　　[In Colossians 1] the apostle Paul and his co-workers prayed that the Colossians would know the will of God, and in chapter 4 Epaphras as a slave of Christ struggled fervently in prayer on behalf of the church concerning the same thing [v. 12]. Therefore, this is a book which reveals to us the eternal will of God in the universe. (CWWL, 1964, vol. 2, “A General Sketch of the New Testament in the Light of Christ and the Church, Part 2—Romans through Philemon,” pp. 327-328)

　　To be filled with the full knowledge of God’s will simply means to have the revelation of God’s plan so that through this revelation we know what God plans to do in this universe.... What did God plan in eternity past to do in time throughout all the generations? We need such a revelation so that we can have the full knowledge of God’s eternal plan.

　　The revelation of God’s plan opens the way for us to have more experience of Christ.... Thus, we need to spend more time to learn about Christ in the plan of God. This is one of the most important reasons why we have to read the Scriptures. We read the Scriptures not to receive doctrine or teachings but to receive the revelation of Christ and the full knowledge of God’s eternal plan.

　　The Bible is a book of revelation. The Bible opens the universal curtain, the universal veil, to show what is in the mind of God and what it is that God plans to do in this universe. This plan is to make His Son everything. God’s desire, plan, and mind is to make Christ everything. This is the content of the entire Scriptures. (CWWL, 1961-1962, vol. 4, “The Mystery of God and the Mystery of Christ,” pp. 129-130)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1964, vol. 2, “A General Sketch of the New Testament in the Light of Christ and the Church, Part 2—Romans through Philemon,” ch. 19; CWWL, 1973- 1974, vol. 1, “The Indwelling Christ in the Canon of the New Testament,” ch. 16

«　WEEK 1　DAY 3　»

　　Col. 1:9-10 ...That you may be filled with the full knowledge of His will...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.

　　Eph. 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him.

　　According to Colossians 1:9-13, first we receive the knowledge of God’s plan and then, based on that knowledge, we “walk worthily of the Lord.” To know is first; to walk is second. Knowing the will of God and the eternal plan of God enable us to walk worthily of the Lord. Our revelation directs our walking. Our walk is under the control of the revelation that we have.

　　We all need to spend time to read the Scriptures, to meditate on the Lord’s Word, and to pray concerning these matters until we are filled with the truth and with the full knowledge of God’s eternal plan. When this happens, we will have wisdom in our spirit and heart and spiritual understanding in our spiritually enlightened and renewed mind. We will have knowledge, not in our natural mind with its natural concepts but in our renewed mind that has been given understanding by the Holy Spirit through our spirit. Then this knowledge, this revelation, will direct and control our daily walk. Thus, first we need to know the will of God—to know that Christ is everything. Then we will walk according to what we know. This walk will be worthy of the Lord. (CWWL, 1961-1962, vol. 4, “The Mystery of God and the Mystery of Christ,” pp. 130-131)

　　To walk worthily of the Lord and grow by the full knowledge of God is to live and walk according to spiritual wisdom and understanding. After we receive the revelation and vision concerning Christ, we have to walk according to it. Then we will walk worthily of the Lord and partake of the Lord more and more. In this way we grow by Christ being increased in us. The way for Christ to increase in us is by our receiving spiritual wisdom, understanding, and revelation concerning Christ and by walking according to the spiritual revelation of Christ that we have received. This is to gain the real, subjective, and experiential knowledge of God, by which we grow with the increase of Christ.

　　We need the inner empowering “according to the might of His glory” (Col. 1:11). This is not only to have revelation in our understanding; it is something more. It is that the Holy Spirit within us strengthens us, energizes us, and imparts the might of God’s glory into us.

　　First, we have revelation and vision in our spiritual understanding. Then, we make the decision to walk according to that vision. Third, we look to the Lord that He may strengthen us with His power. This is the proper way to walk in Christ. (CWWL, 1964, vol. 2, “A General Sketch of the New Testament in the Light of Christ and the Church, Part 2—Romans through Philemon,” p. 341)

　　Walking “worthily of the Lord” (Col. 1:10) results from the full knowledge of God’s will. If we know that God’s will is for us to be saturated with Christ, to take Christ as our life and our person, and to live Christ, spontaneously our walk will be worthy of the Lord. Some think that to walk worthily of the Lord is to be humble, nice, and generous. However, a worthy walk is a walk in which we live Christ. We can be humble, nice, and generous without living by Christ. Only by living out Christ can we walk worthily of the Lord. Christ is the will of God, and He should also be our walk. (Life-study of Colossians, p. 21)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1964, vol. 2, “A General Sketch of the New Testament in the Light of Christ and the Church, Part 2—Romans through Philemon,” ch. 20; Life-study of Colossians, msgs. 36, 42, 51, 53-55

«　WEEK 1　DAY 4　»

　　Col. 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation.

　　17-18 And He is before all things, and all things cohere in Him; and He is the Head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that He Himself might have the first place in all things.

　　The revelation concerning Christ in Colossians is both all-inclusive and extensive. Colossians reveals that Christ is everything. Christ is the Firstborn both of the old creation, the universe, and of the new creation, the church (1:15, 18). The new creation is not as extensive as the old creation, the universe. The church is all-inclusive, but it is not extensive. For Christ to be the Firstborn of both the original creation and the new creation means that He is both extensive and all-inclusive. In the new man there is room only for Christ; Christ is all and in all (3:11). This shows His all-inclusiveness. However, the fact that He is the Firstborn of all creation indicates His extensiveness. In the words of Ephesians 3, Christ is the breadth, length, height, and depth.

　　The completion of the Word of God found in Colossians is the mystery of God’s economy—Christ in us, the hope of glory (1:27). This means that without Christ in us as the hope of glory, God’s revelation would have no completion. (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 433-434)

　　Many Christians think that to receive Christ is simply to believe in Him. Receiving Christ, however, is not as simple as this.... According to our concept and according to traditional doctrine, Christ is rather simple. Many believers only realize that Christ, the Son of God, is the Savior who loved us and died for us. If we believe in Christ, we are saved. However, the receiving of Christ in a book such as Colossians involves a great deal more than this.... This Christ is more vast than the whole universe.

　　Receiving Christ can be compared to breathing. Just as breathing is a continual process, so our receiving of Christ should take place continually. Regrettably, however, a great many Christians have had only the initial receiving of Christ. They do not receive Him continuously. Many believers can tell you that at a certain time in the past they received Christ. But they have not continued to receive Him. If we do not receive Christ continually, we shall not enjoy the full benefit of the Christ we have received initially.... We must realize that our receiving of Him must be consistent and continual.

　　How much have you walked in Christ today? How much of your talk, actions, and attitudes have been in something other than Christ?... According to the book of Colossians, we should walk in the extensive Christ, in the Christ who is universally vast and who is everything to us. We do not need philosophy—Christ is our philosophy. We do not need tradition—Christ is the best heritage. We do not need the elementary principles—Christ is every principle to us. What we need to do is to take Christ as everything and walk in Him.

　　We should not be held back by the narrow view of Christ held by many Christians. Christ is exceedingly extensive; He is unlimited. The Bible even speaks of “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph. 3:8). Although Christ’s riches are unsearchable, many Christians limit Him by their theology and teachings. They have only an elementary understanding of Him. Christ, the Savior in whom we believe, is not limited. He is inexhaustible, all-inclusive, limitless. No one can say how great He is. Since He is without limitation, the revelation concerning Him must also be without limit. In this matter the book of Colossians is crucial. Without this book, it would be difficult to realize that the revelation of Christ is unlimited and extensive. (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 417-418, 403,350)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Colossians, msgs. 8-10, 15, 39-41, 45-46, 48, 50

«　WEEK 1　DAY 5　»

　　Col. 1:17-18 And He is before all things, and all things cohere in Him; and He is the Head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that He Himself might have the first place in all things.

　　As the all-inclusive One, Christ is the centrality and universality of God. This expression was first used by Brother Nee in 1934.... He pointed out from the book of Colossians that the all-inclusive Christ is the center and the circumference of God’s purpose. Christ is both the centrality and universality of God’s purpose. He is the hub and also the rim. In other words, Christ is all.... This is not pantheism. It is simply a statement of the fact that Christ is both the center and the circumference of God’s economy. (Life-study of Colossians, p. 43)

　　God’s economy is to work a wonderful person into our being. This person is the all-inclusive Christ, the One who is the reality of every positive thing in the universe. Christ is the Firstborn of all creation. He is both God and man, for the One who was the eternal God became incarnated at a point in time. Hence, Christ is the real God and the real man. He possesses all the divine attributes and human virtues. He is the reality of love, life, light, grace, humility, patience, power, mercy, wisdom, righteousness, and holiness.

　　The enemy within us is subtle. We have certain standards, either the standards we have inherited or those we have made for ourselves. Because these standards are good, we do not condemn them. Nevertheless, these good standards are not Christ Himself. God does not want something good produced by us; He wants Christ and Christ alone. In the eyes of God, only Christ counts for anything. God’s intention is to work Christ into us so that we may have the full enjoyment of Him. When Christ has the free course within us to become our enjoyment and experience, our culture will be dealt with.

　　The time has come for all of us in the churches to hear this message, to see this vision, and to condemn our cultural standards. Then we shall realize that what God wants is Christ and that Christ today is the life-giving Spirit mingled with our spirit. Instead of living according to a certain standard, we should simply live by the Christ who dwells in our spirit. As we live in the spirit, we should let Christ have a free course throughout our whole being. Then we shall enjoy Him, experience Him, and be delivered from our culture.

　　The book of Colossians reveals that God wants Christ and Christ alone.... God does not care for philosophy, religion, ordinances, observances, or any kind of ism. God wants only the wonderful, preeminent, all-inclusive Christ, the One who is all in all. Although Christ is all-inclusive, He dwells in us as our life. As the indwelling One, He is waiting for the opportunity to live in us. He is living, real, practical, and available. On the one hand, on the throne He is the Lord of all; on the other hand, He is the life-giving Spirit in us. Both in the Christian life and in the church life, Christ is everything.

　　If we see this, we shall stop all our doing. In the church life, God does not want us to be doing so much; He simply wants Christ to live in us and grow in us. If I have a vision of Galatians 2:20—that it is no longer I, but Christ who lives in me—I shall never assume that I can do anything. I shall spontaneously cease from all my trying, for I shall realize that I am nothing and nobody and that Christ is everything. As the One who dwells in us to be our life, He is everything to us. He is our holiness, our power, and our wisdom. But He needs to be given the opportunity to be everything in us. If we give Him the ground, He will come in to be everything and to do everything. This is what it means to let Christ live in us. (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 313, 319, 327-328)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Colossians, msgs. 5,14,24-25, 37-39

«　WEEK 1　DAY 6　»

　　Col. 2:8 Beware that no one carries you off as spoil through his philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ.

　　3:10-11 ...Put on the new man, which is being renewed unto full knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where...Christ is all and in all.

　　[In Colossians 2:8] the expression “according to Christ” is very important. It indicates that everything should be estimated and evaluated according to Christ. As we consider ourselves, our families, situations, and environment, we should evaluate them, not according to the tradition of men, but according to Christ. (Life-study of Colossians, p. 292)

　　In Colossians 2:4 Paul specifically refers to “persuasive speech.” Usually those who deceive others are eloquent and persuasive in speech. Beware of eloquence.... Instead of being taken in by a speaker’s eloquence, we should ask if there is reality in his speaking.

　　Sister M. E. Barber helped Brother Nee to learn this important lesson. When he was young,... Brother Nee thought that a certain preacher’s message was marvelous, and he was confident that Sister Barber would agree. Nevertheless, Sister Barber still pointed out that the message was void of life and reality. From that time onward, Brother Nee no longer appreciated the empty speech of eloquent preachers. May we also learn not to be deluded by persuasive speech.

　　No doubt, when the serpent approached Eve in the garden, he spoke in a very refined way. Be on the alert lest you are deluded through the persuasive speech of cultured people. Only when we have a clear view of the place of the all-inclusive Christ in God’s economy shall we be able to see through delusion and deception.

　　Fallen man uses culture as a substitute for God. First, such a culture is a substitute for God. Then Christ comes in to replace this substitute with Himself. Since we are no longer children, we need Christ to replace every element of our culture. This does not mean that we should despise culture. Rather, it means that we should love Christ. If we are filled to the brim with Christ, there will not be any room in our being for anything else. Every part of us will be occupied by Christ and with Christ. Then in our experience we shall have the fullness of Christ.... The Christ who fills our being will replace our culture with Himself. This is the revelation in the book of Colossians.... Christ, the extensive One, must replace every element of our natural human life. In the church as the new man, there is no room for any kind of natural person. In the new man Christ must be all and in all (3:11).

　　We should neither hate our natural being nor treasure it.... Instead of trying to hate the natural being [which is to practice asceticism], we should follow the Lord’s word to deny ourselves. To deny the self is to ignore the self, to forget it, to pay no attention to it.... Instead of either hating the self or loving it, we should simply refuse to pay attention to it.

　　However, if we would keep from paying attention to the self, we must concentrate on something better than the self. This is the reason we need a vision of the extensiveness of Christ.... If we see this vision, we shall concentrate our entire being on the extensive Christ, who will then fill us and occupy us. Because we are filled with the extensive Christ, we shall have no need of Judaism, Gnosticism, mysticism, or asceticism. Our being will be occupied with the vast, unsearchably rich, extensive Christ. Spontaneously this Christ will come in to replace every aspect of our natural human life with Himself. (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 172-174, 426-428)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Colossians, msgs. 32, 34-36, 39, 21, 26, 28-29, 49