Ⅰ
God’s intention in His economy is to dispense Christ with all His riches into His believers chosen by God for the constitution of the Body of Christ, the church, to express the processed and consummated Triune God—Eph. 3:8-10.
Ⅱ
For the consummation of the divine economy, we need to be constituted with the truth—1 John 2:4; 2 John 1-2:
A
To be constituted with the truth is to have the intrinsic element of the divine revelation wrought into us to become our constituent, our intrinsic being, our organic constitution—1 John 1:8; 4:6; 5:6.
B
The solid truth that is constituted into us becomes in us a constant and long-term nourishment—1 Tim. 4:6.
C
If the truth is wrought into us and constituted into our being, we will be able to protect the interests of the riches of God’s divinity and the attainments of His consummation—Rev. 21:12a, 17.
Morning Nourishment
2 John 2 For the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever.1 Tim. 4:6 If you lay these things before the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, being nourished with the words of the faith and of the good teaching which you have closely followed.
A number of the saints have been meeting with us for years and years, but they still have not gotten into the basic intrinsic element of the Lord’s recovery…. For many years I attended the [Christian] services, heard the sermons, and went to Sunday school, but nearly nothing got into me. However, something of the Bible stories and of the traditional Christian practices surely got into me…. Actually, no truth, no life, no Spirit, and no reality ever got into me….We all have to admit that a good number of saints have been meeting with us year after year, yet if you check with them today, you would discover that not much intrinsic element of the divine revelation has been really wrought and constituted into their being. Not only in the matter of life but even more in the matter of the truth, not much intrinsic element has been wrought into the saints. I am really concerned that not many among us can present particular truths in an adequate way. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 3: The Way to Carry Out the Vision,” pp. 307-308)
Today’s Reading
You must dive into the Recovery Version with the footnotes and the Life-study messages. It is not an easy task to be built up in the truth. You must study the text and every footnote. If possible, it is helpful to take care of the cross references. Then you need to study the Life-study messages. You need to get into these messages not like you are reading a newspaper or a reference book. You must consider the text of the Recovery Version with the footnotes and the Life-study messages as a textbook. Because this is my work, I know the nature of it. I am fellowshipping this with you to let you know the way our publications were written. If you merely read them in a light way, you cannot get into them. You must study them as a textbook.If you merely read the Life-studies, you will receive only a temporary nourishment. That will become only a kind of inspiration to you. An inspiration is like a vapor in the air. When what we read becomes a truth in our being, this nourishment remains forever. What I have received is not all the time inspiration, like a vapor. What I have received from the Lord is always the solid truth, so it remains in me, nourishing me all the time. You must have the truth. The only way for the truth to get into you is through your mentality. Then it remains in your memory. If you do not understand, the truth cannot get into you….If the truth gets into your memory, it becomes a constant and long-term nourishment. Then you have an accumulation of the truth, and you are a person continually under the constant nourishment. You will then know how to present the truth to others, not merely to inspire them or to stir them up but to make them solid and constituted with the truth.
While the issue of nourishment is forever, the nourishment itself remains only temporarily. Once the truth has been constituted into someone, however, it will remain there forever, and its remaining is its supply. Our need for the long run is this kind of education with the truth, which is really something solid, living, and existing. We need this. Do not expect to have an overnight success, which is like a factory making artificial flowers. Overnight you can produce many flowers, but in a genuine nursery or garden it takes time to grow flowers….You may have the thought that within two years a great number of people will be added to the church. Most of these people, however, may be empty. This is mushrooming. We must take care of the church in a way of growing gradually by life and by truth. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 3: The Way to Carry Out the Vision,” pp. 312-313, 336)
Further Reading: Life-study of 1 John, msgs. 5, 7, 9-11, 17-18, 22, 28, 32; CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “Truth Messages,” chs. 1-2, 5