«　WEEK 7　DAY 2　»

　　Rom. 15:16 That I might be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, a laboring priest of the gospel of God, in order that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, having been sanctified in the Holy Spirit.

　　John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.

　　[In the Old Testament] God invited all His people to come together, yet God did not cook…. He had given them the food by sending the sunshine, the air, and the rain year round…. All the things were sent, but they needed to cooperate with God to have the produce. Then the produce became the tithes, and the tithes were brought to answer God’s invitation. Everyone was invited to God’s home. Everybody came home to feed the Father and to satisfy Him. What a happy time this was!

　　When we come together, we should come with Christ in this way…. How much Christ you bring to the meeting depends upon how much Christ you produce, how much Christ you have grown…. Actually, it is not that you produce Christ but that Christ produces Christ Himself through your labor. The poor thing today is that the Christians as God’s redeemed people all come together empty-handed. (CWWL, 1982, vol. 1, “Experiencing Christ as the Offerings for the Church Meetings,” p. 510)

　　Meeting is the proper church life….Without this kind of meeting, we do not have the practical church life. What we have might be just a kind of organization with certain communal activities. But the proper church life should be a meeting life. Before coming to the meeting we must be laboring on Christ. We must reap Christ. We must have gathered some amount of Christ so that when we come to meet, we come filled with Christ. (CWWL, 1982, vol. 1, “Experiencing Christ as the Offerings for the Church Meetings,” pp. 510-511)

　　Every morning you need to pray, “Lord, I consecrate myself once more to You, not to work for You but to enjoy You.” You must consecrate yourself sincerely to the Lord for the simple purpose of enjoying and experiencing Him—nothing more. From the moment you awake in the morning, you need to say, “Lord, here I am. I give myself to enjoy You. Grant me through the entire day, from this moment on, to experience and apply You in every situation. I am not asking for anything tomorrow. I am asking for grace to enjoy You today. Show me how to till the ground, sow the seed, and water the plants of the Lord.” Moment by moment through the whole day you will maintain your communion with the Lord. You will live practically in the Lord, laboring on Him, applying Him, and enjoying Him. If you do this, consider how fruitful and how beautiful your “farm” will be. The farm of Christ in your daily life will be full of produce. When the Lord’s DAY comes, and you go to worship the Lord with the saints, you will be able to say, “I am going now to see my God; I am going to worship my Lord. I will not go with empty hands but with hands full of Christ. I have a surplus, and in my right hand is the best part reserved for my dear Lord.” When you come to the meeting, …you can have a little fellowship… [with a saint and since] you have been abundantly satisfied with [Christ], …you have something over to share with the brothers and sisters. When the meeting begins, you are well prepared to offer your prayers and praises to the Lord from your reserve for Him. This is the best of your surplus, and with the saints you joyfully render it to the Lord for His enjoyment and satisfaction. You have reaped enough of Christ for yourself, for the needy ones, and for the Lord. You have furthermore put aside a considerable portion that will stand you in good stead in future days. (CWWL, 1961-1962, vol. 4, “The All-inclusive Christ,” pp. 345-346)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1982, vol. 1, “Experiencing Christ as the Offerings for the Church Meetings,” chs. 4-5; CWWL, 1977, vol. 1, “The Kernel of the Bible,” chs. 4-5, 7