«　WEEK 8　DAY 1　»

　　Heb. 10:25 Not abandoning our own assembling together,…and so much the more as you see the day drawing near.

　　1 Cor. 14:23-24 If therefore the whole church comes together in one place, and…if all prophesy and some unbeliever or unlearned person enters, he is convicted by all, he is examined by all.

　　Exodus 15:13 says, “In Your lovingkindness You have led the people whom You have redeemed; / You have guided them in Your strength to Your holy habitation.” Have you ever noticed that the destination of God’s guiding is His holy habitation? Could you realize that God’s habitation is the meeting of His redeemed people? So you have a term that combines these two things together: the Tent of Meeting. The tent refers to God’s dwelling place, and the meeting, no doubt, refers to the gathering of God’s people. This indicates that the gathering of God’s people is just God’s dwelling place.

　　In the New Testament …God’s habitation is the church. And the church, according to the Greek word ekklesia, means a kind of meeting. It is a meeting or an assembly of the called-out ones. When God’s called-out ones meet together, this is the church. The church is the meeting of a collective people, a gathering of the believers. This gathering is the habitation of God. So the church is the “Tent of Meeting.” (CWWL, 1982, vol. 1, “Experiencing Christ as the Offerings for the Church Meetings,” pp. 481-482)

　　We have to realize that today on the earth, besides our inner life, no other thing is so crucial, so important, so profitable as the matter of meeting. Believe me! One day you will testify that to lose your job is not so important as to miss a meeting. To miss a meeting means the real loss.

　　We live on this earth, and our goal, our purpose, is to do the will of our Father. How could we know His will? There is no other way except by attending the meetings….When you begin to miss the meeting, you begin to miss God’s will. Then you would begin to go back to that miserable life under Satan’s tyranny from which you have been delivered already.

　　So we must do whatever we can not to miss any meetings….Coming to the meeting must be first. I have never seen one saint who eventually really suffered because of coming to the meeting…. Rather, I can testify that I have seen thousands in the past who kept coming to the meetings and who were much blessed by the Lord, not only spiritually but even physically. The Lord is faithful, and His promise is trustworthy.

　　Saints, be encouraged and be assured. This is not only the right way; this is also the unique way….To be a human being, we have to be a Christian. To be a Christian, we have to come to the meeting. There is no choice. This is our destiny. To come to the meeting is not only our destination; it is our destiny. Our Father predestined us this way….If we go along with God’s predestination, surely we will be under His blessing. If not, we are kicking against the pricks, and we will suffer.

　　Some might consider that they sacrifice too much time to come to the meetings. They might consider that if they used all their time to do business, they would make more money. Let them try four or five years, and they will see the suffering. I have seen too many cases like this. This thought is quite deceiving and quite misleading….If we come to the meeting, we are keeping His predestination, and the destiny of blessing will come to us. It will come not only to us, one generation, but perhaps even to the third generation, or generation after generation. Both we and our children will be under God’s blessing.

　　To meet together is not a small thing…. Here we know the will of God, here we do the will of God, and eventually we will fulfill His purpose. (CWWL, 1982, vol.1, “Experiencing Christ as the Offerings for the Church Meetings,” pp. 488, 490-491)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, “The Crucial Points of the Major Items of the Lord’s Recovery Today,” pp. 19-21