Scripture Reading: Rev. 21:5a; Rom. 6:4; 7:6; 12:2; 2 Cor. 4:16; 5:17; Gal. 6:15

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 5　DAY 1　»

　　Rom. 6:4 We have been buried therefore with Him through baptism into His death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead…, so also we might walk in newness of life.

　　5:17 … Much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

　　We were buried with Christ into His death, and now we have been resurrected as He was. Hence, we should walk in newness of life. This newness of life is very much related to the life-giving Spirit, who is Christ Himself in His resurrection. The way to walk in newness of life is the Spirit. When we are immersed in the water, we enter into death, but when we come out of the water, we enter into resurrection. We all need to have such a wonderful realization and understanding of baptism. After baptism we become a new person in resurrection. Resurrection is not only a future state; it is also a present process. To walk in newness of life means to live today in the realm of resurrection and to reign in life. This kind of living deals with all that is of Adam in us until we are fully transformed and conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 3052)

　　The newness of life mentioned in Romans 6:4 is the likeness of His resurrection mentioned in verse 5. We all should walk in this newness of life. We must see that we have grown together with Christ in the likeness of His death, that is, in baptism, and that we will grow together with Him in the likeness of His resurrection, that is, in the newness of His resurrected life. This means that we must see that we have died with Him and that we are now growing with Him. We were buried with Him in baptism, and we are now growing with Him in His resurrection, in His divine life. We must walk according to this vision; that is, we must walk in newness of life. In our daily life and our meetings, we need to live, behave, act, work, and do everything in newness of life. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3052-3053)

　　Being saved in the life of Christ in Romans 5:10 corresponds with walking in newness of life in 6:4. If we are being saved in His life, then we are walking in newness of life. Sometimes a husband may give his wife an unpleasant look. In this situation the sister should simply walk in newness of life. This is to be saved in the life of Christ. However, if she returns the unpleasant look, she is not walking in the newness of Christ’s life. Rather, she is in the oldness of Adam’s death.

　　Husbands and wives who have exulting faces are living in the life of Christ. The expression of this life is resurrection. The resurrection of Christ is the expression of something new. Therefore, to live in the life of Christ is to live in the newness of life…. If we desire to be saved daily and constantly, we must realize that we are persons who are dead and buried. But we are no longer in the tomb; we are now in resurrection.

　　To display an unpleasant face to our spouse is to revive the buried old man…. If we allow the old man to return, we are not living in newness of life. Rather, we are in the oldness of death. We must live a life in resurrection, and this life is based upon the all-inclusive death of Christ. The Christian story is a wonderful story. There is the historical side of the story, which consists of the facts, and there is also the experiential side, the side of our daily life. According to history, the old man was buried, but in our daily life, the old man is still lodging with us. A house is a lodging place for living persons, but a tomb is for dead persons. In a sense, our body is a tomb for the old creation. We have to tell the old man, “I am not your house for you to live in. I am your tomb for you to be buried in.” (CWWL, 1989, vol. 3, “The Experience and Growth in Life,” pp. 98-100)

　　Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 299-300, 358; CWWL, 1989, vol. 3, “The Experience and Growth in Life,” ch. 16

«　WEEK 5　DAY 2　»

　　Rom. 7:6 But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held, so that we serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letter.

　　1:9 For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of His Son…

　　2 Tim. 4:22 The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.

　　Romans 7:6 shows that as the wife we must…serve the Lord in newness of spirit, not in oldness of letter. We have to realize that in 6:4 we have the newness of life for our living; in 7:6 we have the newness of spirit for our service. Newness of life issues from our being identified with Christ’s resurrection and is for our walk in our daily life. Newness of spirit issues from our being discharged from the law and being joined to the resurrected Christ and is for our service to God. Thus, both newness of spirit and newness of life are results of the crucifixion of the old man.

　　Furthermore, both newness of life and newness of spirit are related to the Spirit. The newness of life is related to Christ Himself in His resurrection, who is the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). The spirit in the phrase newness of spirit refers to our regenerated human spirit, in which the Lord as the Spirit dwells (2 Tim. 4:22). We may serve in newness of spirit because God has renewed our spirit. Everything that is related to our regenerated spirit is new, and everything that comes out of our spirit is new. Our regenerated spirit is a source of newness because the Lord, the life of God, and the Holy Spirit are there. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 3065)

　　We all must learn how to exercise our spirit. When you come to the meetings of the church, do not exercise your memory. Exercise your spirit. If you exercise your spirit, you will have something new to offer the brothers and sisters…. If I retain a great deal of information in my memory and try to give a message according to this memorized material, that message will be old, filled with the oldness of dead knowledge. However, if I forget my memory and exercise my spirit as I give the message, something new will burst forth…. In one meeting I stood up to speak but was not clear concerning the content of the message. I stood by faith, exercising my spirit. Immediately, the matter of the seven Spirits in the book of Revelation came forth. Everyone who heard that message can testify that it was new, fresh, powerful, and living. (Life-study of Romans, p. 149)

　　In my whole Christian life, I have not seen many living weddings. Nearly all of them were dead. One pastor, however, instead of going on according to the regulations in letters, wept with tears before the bride and the bridegroom. Then he told the bridegroom, “Today you are not standing in my presence. You are standing in the Lord’s presence. I realize where you stand as a young man. I know you. I am so concerned today for you.” This was the newness of the spirit…. That day the pastor just broke through the dead letter. He broke through the oldness. Later on, that young man was really captured by God due to that wedding.

　　Today we must serve the Lord in the way of newness. When we come together to meet, we must meet in the way of newness. To be kept in the way of oldness is easy. If I were a pastor, it would be easy for me, having just studied four years in a seminary, to get myself acquainted with a prayer book and read certain portions for certain occasions. But if you are going to serve in newness of spirit, you must keep yourself in the presence of the Lord and living in the spirit by contacting the Lord. Otherwise, you would not have the newness, but spontaneously you would have the oldness. To have the oldness is easy, but to keep the newness you need to contact the Lord day by day. (CWWL, 1965, vol. 3, “Our Human Spirit,” p. 245)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Romans, msgs. 11-12; CWWL, 1965, vol. 3, “Our Human Spirit,” ch. 5

«　WEEK 5　DAY 3　»

　　2 Cor. 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart; but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

　　Matt. 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.

　　The outer man is our body and our soul, with the body as its organ and the soul as its life and person. The inner man is our regenerated spirit with our renewed soul. The regenerated spirit is its life and person, and the renewed soul is its organ. The life of the soul must be denied (Matt. 16:24-25), but the functions of the soul, the mind, will, and emotion, must be renewed and uplifted by being subdued (2 Cor. 10:4-5) to be used by the spirit, the person of the inner man.

　　The Greek word rendered “decaying” also means “being consumed, being wasted away, being worn out.” By the continued killing, the working of death, our outer man, that is, our material body with its animating soul (1 Cor. 15:44), is being consumed and worn out. (Life-study of 2 Corinthians, p. 98)

　　In the church life we are experiencing the renewing of the mind and the uplifting of the mind. As our mind is subdued by the Lord, it is renewed. Then it can be used by our spirit, which is the person of the inner man. The outer man is being consumed. It is being worn out and put to death. But the inner man is being renewed day by day. Being consumed implies decreasing, and being renewed implies increasing. Thus, our outer man is decreasing, and our inner man is increasing. Outwardly my body is getting older, but my inner man is getting younger and newer.

　　The inner man is renewed by being nourished with the fresh supply of resurrection life. As our mortal body, our outer man, is being consumed by the killing work of death, our inner man, that is, our regenerated spirit with the inward parts of our being (Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10; Rom. 7:22, 25), is being metabolically renewed day by day with the supply of resurrection life.

　　Being renewed is similar to being constituted…. In order for us to be renewed, some element must be added to us. This renewing element is the treasure hidden within us (2 Cor. 4:7). However,… it is not adequate simply to have the treasure within. There is also the need for the killing, the destroying, the consuming, the grinding. For this reason, inwardly we have the treasure, and outwardly we have the environment.

　　It is impossible for us to escape God’s hand….You may still use your cleverness to escape the breaking and the grinding. No one is able to deal with you. However, those who try the hardest to escape the breaking eventually suffer the most. It is our destiny to be consumed.

　　The Lord sovereignly uses our environment to consume us. Do not think that it is because you are wrong that you need to be consumed. Actually, it is because you are right that you need to be consumed…. Paul was very right. This was the reason he needed a great deal of consuming. This does not mean, however, that you should purposely try to do something wrong. If you are wrong, you may be punished. You may wonder what you should do, since you will be consumed if you are right and punished if you are wrong. The answer is that you should not do anything.

　　The more we experience the consuming, the putting to death, of the outer man, the more our inner man is renewed. Our regenerated spirit with our renewed mind, emotion, and will needs to be resurrected, developed, enlarged, and refreshed. Therefore, as the outer man is being consumed, the inner man is being resurrected, renewed, and developed. (Life-study of 2 Corinthians, pp. 99-101, 307-308)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of 2 Corinthians, msgs. 11, 34-37; CWWL, 1963, vol. 1, “The Believer’s Experience of Transformation,” ch. 4

«　WEEK 5　DAY 4　»

　　2 Cor. 5:17 So then if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, they have become new.

　　Eph. 4:23 And that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind.

　　Anything created by God that does not have God in it as its life, nature, appearance, and expression is old, but anything that has God within it as its life, nature, appearance, and expression is a new creation. Before we were regenerated, we were the old creation. After we were regenerated, we became a new creation. To be regenerated is to be made a new creation [cf. 2 Cor. 5:17]…. In the sense of being in Christ, we are the new creation, but in actuality in our daily life, we are not that new because we do not have Christ as the only One who occupies us, who fills us up, and who is our life, nature, appearance, and expression. Even though we have been regenerated to be made a new creation, we are still the old creation most of the time according to our daily walk in actuality. Regardless of how long we have been in the Lord, we still keep our old habits. Sometimes we live in the spirit to live Christ, but most of the time we still live in our old habit, our old nature. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 2, “Being Renewed DAY by Day,” pp. 355-356)

　　We have God doctrinally, but we may lack God as our life and nature in our daily life. We may be slow in our disposition, but many times God’s nature is to do things immediately, especially in the meetings. We may be quiet in our nature, but God wants us to be a new creation to utter something in the meetings against our natural habit. God desires that we all be His new creation, having Him as our nature. He also wants us to express Him. God is our portion, but can we say that He is our new habit? We all have to be brought out of our old habit into taking God as our new habit.

　　After we have been regenerated, we have God, but we do not have much of God. This is why Colossians 2:19 says that we need to grow with the growth of God, or increase with the increase of God. This means that we grow by the increase of God within us. If we have little increase of God, we grow little. If we have much increase of God, we grow much. When we have God in us to the fullest, we will have the full growth. God has to be increased within us. When God is increasing within us, His new element is being added into us. When the divine element comes into us, it renews us regardless of whether we are slow or quick in our natural disposition. As we are contacting God, God infuses Himself as the divine element into our being. This new element is added into our existing element. When this new element is added into us, something is worked out within us.

　　God desires to add Himself into our being, but He does not increase in us when we do not contact Him. We may go through a period of time in which we do not contact God or pray to Him. Instead, we are doing everything by ourselves and in ourselves. During this time, God is not added into our being, and we are not increasing with the increase of God. This is why we encourage all the saints to have morning watch. Our morning watch with the Lord is not just for us to exercise our mind to read the letter of the Bible, but it is for us to exercise our spirit. This is why we have to say “O Lord Jesus.” Our calling on the Lord is our spiritual breathing. We have to contact God by praying to Him and calling on Him. Then He adds Himself into us. When we contact Him, He is adding more and more of the divine element into our being. As the new element of God is being added into our being, this new element metabolically renews us. I may be a quick person naturally, but because God’s element comes into my being, this element renews my natural habit. I may be slow in my natural disposition, but God renews me with His element to discharge my old element. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 2, “Being Renewed DAY by Day,” pp. 356-358)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1989, vol. 2, “Being Renewed DAY by Day,” chs. 1-2; Life-study of Ephesians, msgs. 47, 94

«　WEEK 5　DAY 5　»

　　Rom. 8:17-18 …If…we suffer with Him…we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed upon us.

　　Titus 3:5 Not out of works in righteousness which we did but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.

　　We may be good saints in the church who have been kept and preserved by the Lord, but have we been renewed with the divine element? 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. We would remain the same. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 2, “Being Renewed DAY by Day,” p. 358)

　　God desires to renew us….We may be the most right persons and still be the most old persons. We may be strong in our habit and strong in what we are. God’s intention is not merely to chastise or correct us but to use the outward environment to trouble us, to remind us, and to wake us up to realize that we have God as our nature, yet we do not live Him according to His nature. We possess Him for our enjoyment, but we do not live Him as our nature.

　　Do we discipline our children according to God’s nature? We may discipline them according to our disposition, our being, and our habit. God, therefore, uses the environment to put us into “prison.” Then we are reminded to pray, and the eventual outcome of our prayer is not merely that we get corrected but that we get renewed…. Formerly, we disciplined our children with ourselves, by ourselves, and in ourselves….Now God is in our disciplining of our children, and our disciplining them becomes a human-divine disciplining. The father is doing the disciplining, yet his disciplining is the divine disciplining because it is full of God. God is in it. God uses the outward environment in which we suffer to renew us.

　　We are renewed by the addition of God into our being, by having more of the divine element added into our being…. The real Christian life is to have God added into us morning and evening and day by day. The problem today is that people do everything without God. What God cares for is that His chosen ones would learn to cooperate with Him by allowing Him to be added into them day by day. God is daily being added to us for the purpose of metabolically transforming us….This new element is God Himself, and the old element is us.

　　Our God is daily waiting for a chance to add Himself into all of us. If we would give Him the opportunity and the opening, He will add Himself into our being as the new element, not merely to correct us but to replace us, to renew us. Sometimes God may allow the church to pass through a “storm.” God may allow this “storm” to occur because He wants us to be renewed. The tragic thing is that while we are suffering in the “storm,” we would remain the same with no renewing. I hope that we will consider this matter. We have to pray, “Lord, I don’t want to remain the same. I do not want to remain the same this year as I was last year. I want to be renewed 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. 358-361)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 1, “The Central Line of the Divine Revelation,” chs. 11, 23-24

«　WEEK 5　DAY 6　»

　　Rom. 12:2 And do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect.

　　Rev. 21:5 And He who sits on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said, Write, for these words are faithful and true.

　　The divine element is very active. It is energizing, it works, and it is organic….Within the divine life that we are enjoying today, there is a renewing capacity….When I use the word capacity, I mean the ability of the divine life in its nature. In God’s divine nature there is the ability that is energizing all day. Once the divine life with the divine nature gets into us, it energizes within us. We all have the divine element energizing in us, and in this divine element there is the renewing capacity.

　　We may use soap as an illustration because it has the capacity to wash away dirt. There is the ability to wash away dirt in the nature of the soap. Likewise, in the divine life that we have received and that we are enjoying, there is a renewing capacity according to its nature….We need to enjoy the renewing capacity of the divine life in resurrection day by day. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 2, “Being Renewed DAY by Day,” p. 361)

　　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…. In this dose there is the killing power. Morning after morning we need to come to the Lord and take Him as our… daily antibiotic. When we take Him as our medication, we enjoy the killing of Jesus, or the putting to death of Jesus. This killing is the process of renewing. Furthermore, this killing brings in resurrection…. In the resurrection of Christ the divine life has the renewing capacity. When we reject ourselves in the morning to receive God into us, we have the sense during the day that a killing process is going on within us. Also, there is a capacity in the divine life that is renewing us in all our actions.

　　God’s intention is altogether to make us new. This is not an overnight matter…. It requires us to contact God, to receive God, and to get God added into us all the day. It requires us to pray, confessing our sins and rejecting ourselves to take the cross of Christ. To take the cross of Christ is a killing, and this killing is death. This death brings in resurrection, and in this resurrection the divine life in us will carry out its renewing capacity. Then we will be changed metabolically.

　　Moment by moment we have to receive God so that He can be added into us, and we have to reject ourselves to receive the death of Christ so that we can cooperate with the Lord within us. Then we will enjoy not only the renewing capacity but also the renewing result, which is a metabolic change in our behavior, in our character, in our disposition, and even in our habit. The most difficult thing to renew is our habit. When we experience God in Christ daily, we will see that God’s intention is to renew us bit by bit, especially to renew our habit.

　　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. 361-363)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1966, vol. 2, “The Divine Spirit with the Human Spirit in the Epistles,” ch. 3; CWWL, 1965, vol. 3, “The Spirit in the Epistles,” ch. 2