Scripture Reading: Prov. 29:18a; Acts 26:18a; 1 Tim. 1:4; Gal. 2:16, 20

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 1　DAY 1　»

　　Acts 26:19 Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.

　　Prov. 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint; but happy is he who keeps the law.

　　We in the Lord’s recovery must have a clear vision of God’s economy. Then we need to be governed, controlled, and directed by this vision. Because I have seen this vision and am directed by it, I have never changed my tone throughout the years. I know what I have seen, I know what I am teaching, and I know what I am ministering to the Lord’s people. If we have the vision of God’s economy, we shall automatically have only one choice, preference, taste, and ministry. We shall care only for the all-inclusive and all-extensive Christ and for the genuine and proper church life. Today we in the Lord’s recovery must be strong and unshakable in the vision of God’s economy, God’s eternal will. Because Paul had seen this vision and was faithful to it, he could be very strong. We all need to be strong and steadfast in this way. (Life-study of 1 Corinthians, p. 138)

　　Most Christians consider the Bible to be a book which teaches them to be good, ethical, godly, and spiritual… But this is only for their own benefit; this is not at all for God… The major point in the Bible concerns God’s economy, yet in Christianity today nearly no one talks about God’s economy… Because hardly anyone cares for God’s economy, the Lord has been delayed for nearly two thousand years.

　　The center of God’s economy is to have a Body to express Christ. Eventually, this Body will be Christ’s bride to match Him as His counterpart and to come down to earth with Him to carry out the final step of God’s economy. Today, the world situation is ready for His coming, but the Lord has not yet gained His counterpart. Therefore, He has no way to come back. He is still waiting.

　　God’s economy is to dispense Christ into His elect that they might become first the Body of Christ to express Him and then the bride of Christ to match Him and fulfill God’s economy in the divine dispensing. Of course, I am happy that so many have come to receive help to seek God, to seek Christ, to grow in life, and to be more godly, more spiritual, and more overcoming, but I am not satisfied with this. I would rather that we all had the eyes to see God’s economy. My intention, my goal, in all these messages is to help you to advance beyond the realm of seeking for spirituality into another realm to see God’s desire, God’s good pleasure.

　　According to His eternal arrangement, or economy, God desires to have the church, a proper church in the biblical sense. Christianity is a totality of organization, but the church revealed in the Bible should be absolutely organic and full of Christ as life, full of the Triune God in His consummation—the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit—to constitute us with God’s life and nature and to join us with God as one spirit. This is God’s economy through His dispensing.

　　Today in Christianity, even among the most spiritual ones, what is taught is not food but sugar… You need solid food (Heb. 5:11-14). Whereas milk is for babes, solid food is for the mature… We have been carrying out the life-study of the Scriptures now for seventeen years, yet most of the saints are still remaining, lingering, wandering, in the realm of being spiritual, victorious, overcoming, and so forth. Very few, even among the co-workers, are qualified to give a message on God’s economy with the divine dispensing. We need to be brought into another realm, not the so-called spiritual realm but the realm of God’s economy, God’s dispensing… I am somewhat happy that the Lord has released all these truths among us, and I have the full faith and assurance that all these things will eventually be realized; yet I long to see their fulfillment. (Life-study of Zechariah, pp. 88-90)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of 1 Timothy, msg. 1; CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 1, “The Central Line of the Divine Revelation,” chs. 2

«　WEEK 1　DAY 2　»

　　Eph. 3:9 …To enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things.

　　1:10 Unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him.

　　The New Testament revelation, the teaching of the apostles, is concerned with God’s economy. According to 1 Timothy 1:3-4, we may say that God’s economy is the general term for God’s New Testament revelation… Different teachings refer to teachings that are not in line with the economy of God. What certain ones taught, though somewhat based on the New Testament revelation, were genealogies and the law. These were different from God’s economy in faith… This shows us that God’s economy is the New Testament revelation, the teaching of the apostles. It is uniquely one, perfect, and complete. Nothing can be added to it or taken away from it. Today in the church we should teach only according to the New Testament revelation, which is the apostles’ teaching. Anything less than this is inadequate, and anything more than this is man’s teaching, not the words of God’s economy. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, “The Governing and Controlling Vision in the Bible,” p. 276)

　　The ministry of Christ consists of His earthly ministry and His heavenly ministry. He carried out the earthly ministry in His flesh for the accomplishment of redemption. Once He accomplished redemption, He entered into the tomb for rest. Then in resurrection He became the Spirit and thus began His heavenly ministry. He became the Spirit in order to dispense God Himself into people. This dispensing is He Himself coming into us… The issue of this dispensing is the church, which is the Body of Christ, the house of God, the kingdom of God, and the counterpart of Christ as His bride, the ultimate consummation of which is the New Jerusalem.

　　God’s economy is that God became flesh, passed through human living, died, and resurrected; then He became the Spirit and entered into men to dispense God into them for their regeneration, issuing in the church. The church as the Body of Christ is His continuation, enlargement, and multiplication; it is also the kingdom of God, the house of God, and at the same time the counterpart of Christ as His bride. The ultimate consummation of the totality of all these items is the New Jerusalem.

　　Once you see the economy of God, you will know how to be an elder, and all your troubles will be gone… I am just like you. You have the flesh; I also have the flesh. You are weak; I am weaker. You have troubles; I have more troubles, and my troubles are more complicated. How can you be an elder? You have to see that God became flesh, passed through human living, died daily, eventually died on the cross, and then resurrected and became the Spirit. This Spirit enters into us to dispense God into us. If you see these things, you will know how to be an elder. If you pray over these words and let them get into you, you will spontaneously realize how to be an elder. Hence, this is a governing vision and a controlling vision.

　　You need to learn to say that the Bible has two sections: The first section is the types and prophecies, and the second section is the fulfillment and accomplishment. All the things referred to in the Bible are for the fulfillment and accomplishment of the economy of God. The economy of God is that God became flesh, passed through human living, died, resurrected, and became the Spirit to enter into us as life and dispense God into us that we may be transformed for the producing of the church, which is the Body of Christ, the house of God, the kingdom of God, and the counterpart of Christ, the ultimate aggregate of which is the New Jerusalem. This is the Bible, and this is the vision that governs and controls us. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, “The Governing and Controlling Vision in the Bible,” pp. 281-282)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1990, vol. 3, “The Divine Dispensing for the Divine Economy,” ch. 1

«　WEEK 1　DAY 3　»

　　Rev. 2:17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna…

　　3:21 He who overcomes, to him I will give to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat with My Father on His throne.

　　The divine economy is to produce the new creation out of the chaotic old creation. This producing of the new creation will continue until the end of the millennium (Rev. 20). That will be the time for the new heaven and the new earth to appear with the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem, the holy city, will be the consummation of the divine economy. The New Jerusalem will be the enlargement and consummation of today’s church life… In the church life we experience the divine economy with the help of the satanic chaos. The satanic chaos helps our Christian life and also our church life.

　　Christ’s first coming, or the first part of Christ’s coming, initiated the New Testament economy. His second coming, or the second part of His coming, will consummate the New Testament economy. Between the initiation and the consummation, there is the long period of the church life. The church life is also a part of Christ’s coming. Christ has come, yet His coming is still taking place in the church life. The process of the church life is the process of Christ’s coming.

　　Today we are experiencing the church life, which is the process of Christ’s coming. Every time a sinner is baptized, that is a further step of Christ’s coming. Likewise, our growth in life is the advancement, the furthering, of His coming. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 3, “The Satanic Chaos in the Old Creation and the Divine Economy for the New Creation,” pp. 241-242)

　　We have to enjoy Christ as the hidden manna, a special portion of the nourishing supply, to overcome the worldliness of the degraded church with the idolatrous teaching of Balaam and the hierarchical teaching of the Nicolaitans (Rev. 2:12-17a). The Lord gave manna to the children of Israel openly. Every morning around their camp the manna was there in an open way for them to eat (Exo. 16:14-18). But a small portion of this manna was preserved in a golden pot within the Ark in the tabernacle (v. 33; Heb. 9:4). That is the hidden manna. The open manna is Christ as the common portion to all of God’s people for them to enjoy in a public way. The hidden manna, signifying the hidden Christ, is a special portion reserved for His overcoming seekers, who overcome the degradation of the worldly church.

　　We must have some deeper experience of Christ. Our experience of Christ should not merely be openly in the meetings but hiddenly in the Holy of Holies, even in Christ Himself as the Ark, the testimony of God.

　　In the Lord’s recovery we have to overcome the clergy-laity system. All of us have the position as members of the Body of Christ to speak for the Lord. If someone asks us who our pastor is, we should say that everyone among us is a “pastor.” All of us can speak for the Lord and teach the truth. Our speaking for the Lord in the meetings is the annulling of the hierarchy.

　　We need to be hot, even burning, instead of being lukewarm, to buy gold refined by fire, white garments, and eyesalve, that we may not be spewed out of the Lord’s mouth but may be invited to dine with the Lord and to sit with Him on His throne (Rev. 3:15-21). We need to be those who dine, who feast, with the Lord in this age so that we can sit on the throne with the Lord in the kingdom age. To sit with the Lord on His throne will be a prize to the overcomer so that he may participate in the Lord’s authority and be a co-king with Him to rule over the whole earth in the coming millennial kingdom. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 3, “The Satanic Chaos in the Old Creation and the Divine Economy for the New Creation,” pp. 258-259, 261)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1984, vol. 3, “The Divine Economy,” ch. 1; CWWL, 1990, vol. 3, “The Economy and Dispensing of God,” ch. 1

«　WEEK 1　DAY 4　»

　　1 Tim. 1:4 Nor to give heed to myths and unending genealogies, which produce questionings rather than God’s economy, which is in faith.

　　Heb. 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to Him, for he who comes forward to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

　　God’s economy is in faith. It is not by our doing but by our faith in God’s grace. It is not by our doing in ourselves but by our believing in Christ, the embodiment of the Triune God… Faith does not originate from us. Faith originates from what we see. When we see God’s economy, this generates and initiates a believing within us. God’s economy is God’s will to dispense Himself into you and me to produce an organism, the Body of Christ, for His good pleasure… We need to see that in the whole universe God’s good pleasure is to impart Himself, to dispense Himself, into us so that we may become parts of His organism, the organic Body of Christ. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, “Living in and with the Divine Trinity,” p. 285)

　　Faith is to stop yourself from doing anything… Faith joins you with God to make God the only One who is. I am not, so I should not be the one who loves my wife. It should be Christ loving my wife… I should not be the one to go shopping. He should be the One. When you pick up something on sale in the department store, you have to check, “He is, or I am?”

　　Faith is to stop you from doing anything but to make God everything to you. This equals Paul’s word in Galatians 2:20: “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” Who lives? It is no longer I. I do not exist. I was terminated. I was crucified. I am finished. It is no more I, but it is Christ who lives in me. Christ lives. Christ is. Christ exists. I do not exist. This is the very essence of the short phrase believe that He is [Heb. 11:6]. To believe that God is implies that you are not. He must be the only One, the unique One, in everything, and we must be nothing in everything.

　　This is faith—believing that I should be out and believing that He should be in. I must deny myself in everything and trust in Him in everything. To deny yourself and to trust in Him is faith. This is to believe that God is. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 278, 280-281)

　　Faith is the first item in the basic structure of the Christian life, a holy life for the church life. Those who backslide… experience some loss of faith. They may not lose their faith absolutely, but they may lose it at least in part. They may no longer have a view of the objective faith, of the contents of God’s New Testament economy. While such ones were in the church life, they did have a view. They saw Christ, they saw the church, and they saw God’s economy. They saw God’s recovery and how the Triune God is dispensing Himself into us. However, they have gradually come to lose sight of these matters. Whenever someone loses sight of the contents of God’s economy, the subjective faith, the believing action within him, also diminishes. The ability within us to believe is always a product, a result, an issue, of having a proper view of God’s economy.

　　In the meetings of the church and of the ministry, it is as if we are all watching a heavenly television to see more of God’s economy… We spontaneously believe in what we see. Therefore, we come away from meetings full of the ability to believe. The meetings of the church and the ministry enlarge our capacity to believe. Faith is a matter of seeing a view of the contents of God’s New Testament economy. Once we have the view, we shall believe in what we see. This faith is the foundation of our Christian life. (Life-study of 1 Thessalonians, pp. 122-123, 127)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, “Living in and with the Divine Trinity,” ch. 2; CWWL, 1990, vol. 2, “Messages to Trainees in Fall 1990,” ch. 19

«　WEEK 1　DAY 5　»

　　Gal. 2:16 And knowing that a man is not justified out of works of law, but through faith in Jesus Christ, we also have believed into Christ Jesus that we might be justified out of faith in Christ and not out of the works of law…

　　Second Corinthians 5:7 says that we believers do not walk by sight, by appearance, but by faith. Sight brings you a lot of things, but faith annuls all things. When sight is here, you see all the material things. When faith comes in, all these physical things disappear. Some of the young people may be burdened to serve the Lord full time, but they may wonder how they can be supported. If you think in this way, you are walking by sight, not by faith. Throughout the years I have walked by faith, but eventually all things came to me. I was saved by the Lord from the Japanese army’s hand. Otherwise, they would have killed me. The Lord also saved me from death due to tuberculosis of the lungs. This is to walk by faith. The worldly people do not have God. They have only the things they can see. But because we have God, we do not walk by anything we see. We walk by our unseen God. Eventually, all the things we need come to us. This faith links us all the time to God. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 297, 300)

　　Under God’s New Testament economy we are not to keep the law. On the contrary, we are justified through faith in Christ (Gal. 2:16). Faith in Christ denotes an organic union through believing. The faith in Christ by which we are justified is related to our appreciation of the person of the Son of God… The more we describe Him and speak of His preciousness, the more something will be infused into the being of the listeners. This infusion will become their faith, and this faith will cause them to respond to our preaching. In this way they will appreciate the person we present to them. This appreciation is their faith in Christ. Out of their appreciation for the Lord Jesus, they will want to possess Him. The Christ who has been preached to them will become in them the faith by which they believe. Faith is Christ preached into them to become their capacity to believe through their appreciation of Him.

　　The genuine experiential definition of faith is the preciousness of Jesus infused into us. Through such an infusion, we spontaneously have faith in the Lord Jesus… The teaching of doctrine did not impress us with the preciousness of the person of the Son of God. But one day we heard a living message filled with the preciousness of Christ. When His preciousness was infused into us through the preaching of the gospel, we spontaneously began to appreciate the Lord Jesus and believe in Him. We said, “Lord Jesus, I love You. I treasure You.” This is what it means to have faith in Christ.

　　The expression out of faith in Christ [in Galatians 2:16] actually denotes an organic union accomplished by believing in Christ. The term in Christ refers to this organic union. Before we believed in Christ, there was a great separation between us and Christ. We were we, and Christ was Christ. But through believing we were joined to Christ and became one with Him. Now we are in Christ, and Christ is in us. This is an organic union, a union in life. This union is illustrated by the grafting of a branch of one tree into another tree. Through faith in Christ we are grafted into Christ. Through this process of spiritual grafting, two lives are grafted and become one.

　　Many Christians have a shallow understanding of justification by faith. How could Christ be our righteousness if we were not organically united to Him? It is by means of our organic union with Christ that God can reckon Christ as our righteousness. Because we and Christ are one, whatever belongs to Him is ours. This is the basis upon which God counts Christ as our righteousness. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3272-3273)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” chs. 7-11

«　WEEK 1　DAY 6　»

　　Gal. 2:20 I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God…

　　Rom. 3:26 …So that He might be righteous and the One who justifies him who is of the faith of Jesus.

　　Through our organic union with Christ, we share whatever Christ is and has. As soon as this union takes place, in the eyes of God Christ becomes us, and we become one with Him. Only in this way can we be justified before God.

　　Many Christians have a mere doctrinal understanding of justification by faith. According to their concept, Christ is the just One, the righteous One on the throne in the presence of God. When we believe in Christ, God reckons Christ to be our righteousness. This understanding of justification is very shallow. In order to be justified by faith in Christ, we need to believe in the Lord Jesus out of an appreciation of His preciousness. As Christ’s preciousness is infused into us through the preaching of the gospel, we spontaneously appreciate the Lord and call on Him. This is genuine believing. Through such a believing, we and Christ become one. Therefore, God must reckon Him as our righteousness. When we heard the gospel, we began to sense the Lord’s preciousness. This gave rise to the living faith that joined us to Christ organically. From that time onward, Christ and we became one in life and in reality. Therefore, justification by faith is not merely a matter of position. It is also an organic matter, a matter in life. The organic union with Christ is accomplished spontaneously through the living faith produced by our appreciation of Him. This is to be justified through faith in Christ. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 3274)

　　The expression the Son of God [in Galatians 2:20] denotes Christ’s person, which is for the impartation of God’s life into us. Hence, the faith in which we live God’s life is in the Son of God, the life-imparting One. The Son of God loved us and purposely gave Himself up for us that He might impart the divine life into us. The life which we now live in the flesh is not bios, the physical life, or psuche, the soulish life, but zoe, the spiritual and divine life… The divine life, the spiritual life in our spirit, is lived [not by sight or feeling but] by the exercise of faith, which is stimulated by the presence of the life-giving Spirit.

　　One secret of experiencing Christ living in us is revealed in a phrase in Galatians 2:20—in faith. Paul did not live by his own faith; he lived by the faith that is both in and of the Son of God. This indicates that we need to live by a certain kind of faith. However, this faith is not something that we ourselves have. Rather, it is the faith of the Son of God. What we need is not only faith that is in Christ but also faith that is of Christ. The faith is His, not ours, but we can be in this faith.

　　In speaking of faith, Paul refers to “the faith of the Son of God.” This expression implies that the faith mentioned in this verse is… the faith which He Himself possesses. However, this phrase also means faith in the Son of God. According to our Christian experience, the genuine living faith which operates in us is not only of Christ but also in Christ. Hence, Paul’s meaning here actually is “the faith of and in Christ.”

　　After the Lord has been infused into us, He spontaneously becomes our faith. On the one hand, this faith is of Christ; on the other hand, it is in Christ. This faith is Christ revealed to us and infused into us. Faith is related not only to the Christ who has been infused into us but also to the Christ who is continually infusing Himself into us. As Christ operates in us, He becomes our faith. This faith is of Him and also in Him. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3280-3281)

　　Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 2, 128, 325; CWWL, 1986, vol. 1, “Elders’ Training, Book 7: One Accord for the Lord’s Move,” ch. 3