Scripture Reading: John 17:14-24

DAY 1 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 2 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 3 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 4 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 5 & DAY 6 Outline　MorningRevival

«　WEEK 2　DAY 1　»

　　John 8:12 Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall by no means walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

　　14:6 Jesus said to him, I am the way and the reality and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.

　　17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.

　　According to the Bible, the Lord is the light, the truth, and the Word. The Word, which is also the truth, gives light, for in the Word there is light. Therefore, the Word, the light, and the truth are one. Truth is the realization and expression of light. Light is the source, and truth is the expression. The expression of light is the shining of the light. When light is concealed from us, it is merely light, but when it shines upon us, it becomes truth.

　　Truth does not denote doctrine. It first means the shining of the light, the expression of the light. In other words, truth is light expressed. God never comes to us without shining upon us. When God comes to us as light and shines, we immediately have the sense of truth, of reality. Truth is not…simply words written in the Bible; it is a heavenly, spiritual vision televised into our being. We all need to learn to differentiate the speaking that gives merely a news report from the speaking that televises a vision into us. (CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “Truth Messages,” pp. 299-301)

　　Every vision is a reality…. In God’s economy there are many visions. For example, when Christ died on the cross, He shed His blood for us. If this is merely a doctrine to us, we cannot be saved. But as soon as the reality of the death of Christ is televised into our being and we see it as a vision, we are saved. When I was a child, I was taught that Christ died on the cross for my sins and that He shed His blood for me. This was nothing more than a doctrine to me until I was nineteen; then the heavenly vision of Christ’s death was televised into me. At that time I could see Christ dying on the cross for me, shedding His blood for my sins. When I saw this, I wept, I worshipped, and I thanked the Lord. That experience was the vision, the truth.

　　According to the Bible, the Spirit is called the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of reality (John 14:17)….The Bible also says that the Lord’s word is truth (17:17). All the spiritual facts are contained in the Word and conveyed by it. Christ is our holiness, Christ died for our sins, Christ is our life, the church is the Body of Christ, Christ is the Head of the church—all these are facts contained in the Bible. However, without the enlightenment from the divine electricity, these facts are mere doctrines. But when the Spirit shines upon these facts recorded and conveyed in the Bible, they become truth, reality.

　　The Spirit seeks the opportunity to shine upon the Word. When He does so, we receive the truth. In knowing the truth, we thus have the facts, the Word, and the Spirit…. If we have the Word without the Spirit, we will not have the vision…. If we read the Word without the shining of the Spirit, we may have doctrine or news reports but not the truth, the reality, or the vision. Thank the Lord that the shining Spirit is always within us. Whenever we open ourselves to Him, the light shines. As the light shines on the Word, certain things stand out and make a deep impression upon us. This is the truth.

　　The church as the pillar is composed of all of us. Therefore, even the young sisters must know the truth. This is the reason that I encourage everyone, especially the young people, to get into the Word. All the divine facts are contained in the Word and conveyed to us through the Word. When the Spirit shines upon the Word, we have the heavenly television. The light shines upon the facts in the Word, and we know the truth. (CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “Truth Messages,” pp. 301-303, 305)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “Truth Messages,” chs. 2-3

«　WEEK 2　DAY 2　»

　　John 8:32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

　　36 If therefore the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed.

　　17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.

　　The first function of the truth is to set us free. To be deprived of the truth is to be in bondage, in slavery, but to know the truth is to be released from slavery, to be freed. The second function of the truth is seen in John 17:17….On the one hand, the truth sets us free; on the other hand, it sanctifies us. It causes us to be saturated with the element of God. It is a very significant matter to have the truth, for it frees us from all negative things and saturates us with the divine element…. Eventually, the truth will cause us to be thoroughly sanctified and transformed. Hallelujah for the functions of the truth! (CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “Truth Messages,” pp. 296-297)

　　The truth that sanctifies us for oneness involves the Lord Jesus, the Spirit of reality, and the word of the Father. Therefore, all three of the Triune God are related to the truth. The Lord Jesus, the Son, is the truth; the Spirit is the Spirit of truth; and the Father’s word is truth. In the New Testament, especially in the Gospel of John, truth does not mean doctrine; it means the reality of the Triune God.

　　Because the Father’s word is His expression, and because His word is truth, truth is the expression of the Father. We need to be deeply impressed with the fact that the Bible is not merely a book but a word that expresses God…. Every time I come to the Word, I have the sense deep within that I am coming to God Himself, and not to a hidden God or a concealed God, but to the God who is expressed. By means of the Bible I can meet with God, talk to Him, and listen to Him.

　　Christ, the Son, is also the truth….The Father’s word is the Son, who is the expression of God. Many Christian teachers have rightly said that the Bible is the written Word and that the Son is the living Word. I agree with this. The Bible is the word without, and the Son is the word within. But these two, the outer word and the inner word, are one. All this is realized through God the Spirit….The Father is embodied in the Son, and the Son is realized as the Spirit of reality. The Spirit is the realization of the Son as the embodiment of the Father. Therefore, the Spirit is the reality. The Spirit is also the word. John 6:63 says that the Lord’s word is spirit, and Ephesians 6:17 says that the Spirit is the word. Hallelujah, we have the Word without and the Spirit within!

　　Whenever we come to the Word with an open heart and an open spirit, we immediately touch both the Word and the Spirit as the truth. I can testify that every time I open my heart and spirit as I come to the Bible, I meet God….Two or three times every day we need to come to the Word. It is rather difficult to come to the Lord as the Spirit apart from the Word….What a wonderful instrument the Word is for contacting the Lord! When we are disappointed or depressed, feeling empty within, we can open ourselves and come to the Word. After reading for a while, something within us rises up, and we enjoy the presence of the Lord. This is the experience of the truth, the reality. It is the Triune God in His word being imparted into our being.

　　The Father is embodied in the Son, the Son is realized as the Spirit, and the Spirit is one with the word. When we touch the Word, we also touch the Spirit. Then something is infused into our inner being. Whatever is infused into us in this way is the truth. Although this involves the acquisition of biblical knowledge, there is something living inside this knowledge. This is the Triune God realized by us and transfused into us through the word. This is not merely the word. It is the word mingled and saturated with the Triune God and infused into our being. This is the truth that sets us free and sanctifies us. (CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “Truth Messages,” pp. 325-327)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “Truth Messages,” ch. 1

«　WEEK 2　DAY 3　»

　　John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

　　Eph. 6:17 And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God.

　　There are three aspects of the word. First, there is the written word of God—the Bible (John 10:35). Then there is the living word of God—Christ (1:1). Finally, there is the applied word of God—the Spirit (Eph. 6:17; John 6:63)….The living word becomes the applied word through the Spirit…. First, [God] spoke, and what He spoke was written in a book. That is the Bible. There is only one book that is the word of God.

　　When the word of the Bible is spoken to us and heard by us, right away the written word becomes the living word. That is Christ. When the living word is applied to us and received by us, it becomes the word of the Spirit. Then this word of the Spirit heard by us is the source of our faith. Faith comes from the hearing of this applied word by the Spirit through the living Christ out of the written Bible.

　　Early in the morning you may read the Bible but without prayer and without calling on the name of the Lord. Then the word of God is merely the written word to you. It has nothing to do with you subjectively. So you have to have some contact with the Lord by calling on Him and pray-reading the Word…. Right away you have the deep sensation that Christ is living within you. Then you would say, “Lord, I love You. I love this word here….” Right away this written word becomes a living word and then an applied word to you. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 286-287)

　　We cannot sanctify ourselves. The more we try to be sanctified, the more involved we become with things that are common. But when the word mingled with the essence of the Triune God is imparted into us as the truth, this truth sanctifies us.

　　Suppose the young people touch the Word with the Spirit in morning watch and then go to school. Throughout the day at school this word of truth will work within them to separate them and make them different from their classmates in their behavior, actions, work, thoughts, and feelings.

　　By taking the Word in this way, we have the clear conviction that something of the Lord has been wrought into us. This is not the mere knowledge of the Bible or of things concerning the Lord. It is the reality of the Triune God living, moving, working, and separating us. This makes us different from the worldly people….What a blessing! Every morning we can touch the living Word and have the divine reality infused into our being. In this way the Triune God is transfused into us.

　　This transfusion of the element of God frees us from such negative things as temper, jealousy, hatred, and pride. It sets us free from every kind of falsehood. This is real liberation, real freedom. As we are being set free, we are also sanctified, separated, made holy to God, not only positionally but also dispositionally. We become one with God because His very essence is being wrought into us. This is what it means to be sanctified by the word of truth.

　　Like breathing, we cannot do this once for all; rather, it must be a continual exercise. We need to be sanctified unceasingly every minute of the day. This is the reason we need to come to the Word every morning and, if possible, at other times as well. When the word is mingled with the living Spirit in our spirit, we are sanctified with the essence of God….Our crucial need is to have the Triune God infused into us through the Word. This…works to sanctify us and transform us…. By contacting the Word in this way, God is added into us day by day. As a result, we are permeated with God and made one with Him. (CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “Truth Messages,” pp. 327-328)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “Truth Messages,” ch. 5; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” ch. 8

«　WEEK 2　DAY 4　»

　　John 17:20-21 And I do not ask concerning these only, but concerning those also who believe into Me through their word, that they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that You have sent Me.

　　Sanctification through the word of truth results in oneness. The sanctifying word, the sanctifying Spirit, the sanctifying life, and the sanctifying God are all one. Therefore, if we are being sanctified, we can be nothing else but one. We are one spontaneously because all the factors of division are taken away. (CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “Truth Messages,” p. 328)

　　The first of these factors is worldliness. As long as you love the world in a certain aspect, that aspect of worldliness becomes a cause of division. It separates you from the brothers and sisters…. Such worldliness is like a wolf.

　　Another cause of division is ambition,… [which] is like a gopher that works underground in a hidden way to cause damage. Ambition undermines from within. We all must admit that we are ambitious. What can kill our ambition? Rebuking does not avail…. However,…when we contact the Lord through the Word and allow Him to infuse Himself into us, the truth thus imparted into our being kills our ambition…. DAY by day the sanctifying truth kills the element of ambition within us.

　　In John 17:17-23 we see that sanctification issues in the genuine oneness because this sanctification keeps us in the Triune God…. In order to be one we need to be in the “Us,” that is, in the Triune God. The only way to be in the Triune God is by the sanctifying truth that deals with all the factors of division. By being kept in the Triune God, we are one. But whenever we are out of the Triune God, we are divided immediately.

　　A third cause of division is self-exaltation, which usually accompanies ambition. Some people, however, are ambitious but do not seem to exalt themselves. Others are ambitious and are consumed with the desire to have preeminence and to be exalted. Such self-exaltation is like a serpent; it causes division among the saints. Therefore, in order to keep the genuine oneness, we must learn not to exalt ourselves.

　　If you are an elder or a leading one, you should not boast about this. Do not claim that you are somebody. It is better to be nobody…. If you want to be somebody, you should not come to the church, for this is not the place for you….In the Lord’s recovery everyone is brought low. But praise the Lord, we are willing to be nobody and to exalt Christ, who has the universal preeminence! Christ is the only Somebody. We like to be nobodies, because by being nobodies, we are truly one. In the crucified life self-exaltation is defeated…. In God’s economy the preeminence belongs to Christ alone! It pleases the Father to give Him the first place in all things (Col. 1:18).

　　The fourth factor of division is opinion and concept. Opinion is like a scorpion. We should not hold to our own opinion but simply pursue the Lord’s goal: the recovery of Christ as life and as everything for the building up of the church. Those who have been with me throughout the years can testify that I do not insist on anything except Christ as life and as everything to us for the church. We should all be for this, not for our opinions and concepts regarding other things.

　　The four factors of division—worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and opinion—can be dealt with only by the sanctifying truth. Do you think that if you contact the Lord every morning, touch the living Word, and have the divine reality infused into your being, you will still be divisive?… As we contact the Lord in this way, the factors of division are overcome. What I am sharing here is not a mere teaching; it is my own experience. When the factors of division in us are put to death by the sanctifying truth, we are brought into the genuine oneness, for sanctification keeps us in the Triune God. (CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “Truth Messages,” pp. 328-331)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “Truth Messages,” ch. 7

«　WEEK 2　DAY 5　»

　　John 17:11 And I am no longer in the world; yet they are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, which You have given to Me, that they may be one even as We are.

　　21 That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that You have sent Me.

　　When we are with the Lord in the Father and in the glory, we are one. But when we are in ourselves, we cannot be one with others. In ourselves we are one only with ourselves, not with anyone else. If we desire to be one with others, we need to move out of the self and into God the Father. No one can make this move for us; we are responsible to do it ourselves. When we move out of ourselves and into the Father and into the Father’s glory, we are one and are even perfected into one. (CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “Truth Messages,” p. 336)

　　To be sanctified is to make the move out of ourselves and into the Father. If we remain in ourselves, we are not sanctified, and thus we cannot be one with others. In ourselves we have worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and opinion. It is impossible for us to eradicate these things from our being. Do you realize that the world is actually yourself? The same is true of ambition, self-exaltation, and opinions and concepts. This is the reason we cannot escape from these four things if we stay in the self. Paul told the Corinthians that among them there was jealousy and strife (1 Cor. 3:3). These are some of the characteristics of those who are in the self. The church life, however, is a building, and the real building is the genuine oneness. In this genuine oneness there is no room for worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, or opinion.

　　The Lord Jesus knows our problem. In John 15:5 He said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” He is the vine, and we are the branches. We must remain in Him, that is, abide in Him. To remain in Christ as the vine means that we move out of ourselves and into Him. Since the Lord is in the Father, we also may be in the Father by being in Him. In John 17:21 the Lord prayed, “That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us.” This is the oneness in the Triune God. In order to be in the Triune God, we must move out of ourselves. John 17:22-23a says, “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as We are one; I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one.” When we move out of ourselves and remain in the Triune God, Christ lives in us. In this way we are perfected into one.

　　Only by our being sanctified can we abide in Christ and can Christ live in us. Again I say, to be sanctified is to move out of ourselves and into the Triune God and to allow Christ to live in us….This is the proper concept of sanctification.

　　This sanctification takes place by the word, which is truth, and by the Spirit, which is the Spirit of truth. In [John 14 through 17] the word and the Spirit are mentioned again and again. Actually, the word and the Spirit are one. I thank the Lord that so many of us have come back to the Word and are getting into the Word every day. As we come to the Word every morning, outwardly we touch the Word, but inwardly the Spirit touches us. By the word and by the Spirit, both of which are the reality, we are sanctified.

　　To be sanctified is not merely to be separated from the world; it is to move out of ourselves and into the Triune God….The more you touch the Word and the more the Spirit touches you, the more you move out of yourself. You move from one dwelling place, the self, to another dwelling place, the Triune God. Every day we need to make this move. If we do not move out of ourselves, we are wrong; for in the self there is worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and opinion. (CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “Truth Messages,” pp. 336-338)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “Truth Messages,” ch. 6

«　WEEK 2　DAY 6　»

　　John 17:22-23 And the glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as We are one; I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.

　　When we are in the Triune God, we are one. When we are in ourselves, however, we are divided. Outward teachings concerning oneness do not make us one. In John 14 the Lord Jesus said that He was going to prepare a place for us. This place is God the Father Himself, and the way there is the Lord Jesus [cf. vv. 3-6]…. Although unbelievers can lodge only in themselves, we have a choice between dwelling in ourselves and dwelling in the Triune God….The Lord is in the Father, and He desires that we too be in the Father. Now that the place has been prepared for us in the Father, we can move into Him by being sanctified through the truth. This involves both the Word and the Spirit. If we continually touch the Word and allow the Spirit to touch us day by day, we will be sanctified; that is, we will move out of ourselves, our old lodging place, and into the Triune God, our new lodging place. (CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “Truth Messages,” pp. 339-340)

　　Not only have we moved into the Triune God, but the Lord is also in us [cf. John 17:23]. His being in us is a matter of living. We move out of ourselves in order to be in the Triune God. When we are in the Triune God, Christ can live in us. When we remain in the Triune God and when Christ lives in us, we are perfected into one.

　　If we come together for the church service in ourselves, it will be impossible for us to be one….We serve by moving into the Triune God. However, as we move out of ourselves and into the Triune God, we need to let Christ live in us. His living in us perfects us into one. By moving out of ourselves and into the Triune God, we have oneness. However, this is not yet the perfected oneness. Only when Christ lives in us do we sense the reality of the genuine oneness.

　　Genuine oneness is not merely a matter of meeting together. To have the genuine oneness, we must first move out of ourselves and into the Triune God; second, we must allow the Lord to live in us. Then we are not only one but also perfected into one. Here in this genuine oneness there is no worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, or opinions. Instead, there is just the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

　　This perfected oneness is the real building. In 1954 I first began to speak of the building. I told the saints in Manila that they had to know who was above them, under them, and beside them. Later, I learned by experience that this concept of building is not accurate, for it applies only to a building with lifeless material that does not move from place to place, not to us as living ones who may move from one city to another. I asked the Lord to show me what the practical building was. Gradually, mainly from Ephesians 4, I saw that real building is the proper growth in life. When we grow in life normally, we get out of ourselves and into the Triune God, and Christ lives in us. When this is our experience, we have the genuine oneness, and we are perfected into one. When we are perfected into one, there is no problem with building. Wherever we go, we are one with the saints. But if we remain in ourselves, we will have problems no matter where we may be.

　　Real oneness is not merely relatedness, nor is it merely coordination. It is the growth in life. To grow in life means that we move out of ourselves and into the Triune God and allow Christ to live in us. If we move into the Triune God and allow Christ to live in us, we can be one with the saints in any locality. If you have problems in the church, do not blame your environment or the saints. Instead, blame yourself for not moving out of yourself and into the Triune God and for not allowing Christ to live in you. (CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “Truth Messages,” pp. 340-341)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “Truth Messages,” ch. 8