Scripture Reading: Heb. 13:7; Rom. 1:17; 4:17; 10:17; Gal. 5:6; 6:10; Rom. 12:3; Hymns, #535

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 6　DAY 1　»

　　Rom. 10:17 So faith comes out of hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

　　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.

　　According to Romans 10:17, faith comes out of the hearing of the word. Thus, the source of faith is the word, but we have to realize the crystallization of this point. 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 Bible is the written word, and Christ is the living word. Without the Spirit, however, the living word cannot be applied to us. The living word becomes the applied word through the Spirit. God has only one kind of word. First, He 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. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 286-287)

　　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. When you call on Him and pray-read 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. How I love Hebrews 11:6: ’‘He who comes forward to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.’” Right away this written word becomes a living word and then an applied word to you. Then you get into your car and drive to your office. While you are driving, you have something living applied to you. Then you have faith. Faith comes from this source.

　　All three—the written word, the living word, and the applied word—refer to God Himself. “In the beginning was the Word… and the Word was God” (John 1:1). The Word here is a person. God’s written word in the Bible becomes Christ as the living word, who is applied into us as the Spirit, the word of the Spirit. That is God Himself. The more that God is gained by you in this way, the more He becomes your faith.

　　Thus, the source of faith is God… We can gain God by coming to the Bible, the written word… Before reading the Bible, it is good to call on the Lord at least two or three times, “O Lord Jesus. O Lord Jesus.” Right away, the written word of the Bible becomes the living word. That is Christ. Then we react to Him, and He becomes the word as the Spirit, the word applied by the Spirit. Then we have God. God is added into our being, and this God is the source of faith.

　　The crystallization of faith is to believe that God is. The crystallization of the source of faith is God in His written word contacted as the living word and applied as the word of the Spirit so that we can gain the Triune God, who is able to call the things not being as being and give life to the dead. This One is embodied in Christ and realized as the Spirit. So faith is the Triune God embodied and realized… God embodied in Christ and realized as the Spirit is faith. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 287-289)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” ch. 8

«　WEEK 6　DAY 2　»

　　Matt. 17:20 …Truly I say to you, If you have faith like a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.

　　Gal. 6:10 So then, as we have the opportunity, let us do what is good toward all, but especially toward those of the household of the faith.

　　In Matthew 17:20b the Lord spoke concerning the effect of faith… Nothing is impossible to faith. Hymns, #535, written by Charles Wesley, expresses this effect of faith.

　　I like his hymns very much, but I had never paid much attention to this hymn until recently. There is a wonderful line in stanza 5 that says, “Let me no longer live, but Thee.” It is marvelous that such a line is in this hymn on faith. Faith is to believe that God is and I am not. I do believe that Charles Wesley must have noticed this point. Otherwise, how could he have said in his hymn, “Let me no longer live, but Thee”? This is faith. Faith always annuls us and reveals Christ to us. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 289, 295)

　　Only God is all able, omnipotent; nothing is impossible to Him (Matt. 19:26). But the Lord also indicated that nothing is impossible to faith. So this indicates that faith and God, God and faith, are one. If you do not have God, God remains apart from you. If you have God in you, this God becomes faith. Faith is the subjective God applied to your being. Thus, just as nothing is impossible to God, nothing is impossible to faith.

　　The believers are the believing ones in Christ, who are the household of the faith (Gal. 6:10). In the universe there are many houses with many households. But there is one particular house with millions of members. That is the house of faith. We belong to this house. This is a big family, and the family name is faith. This is the home of faith. We may say that a certain home is the Smith home or the Lee home. Now we are all members of the “faith home.”

　　We are believers, who do not believe nonsensical things. We believe in the word, and the word has three stages: the written word, the living word, and the applied word. Over two thousand years ago, there was only the written word, not the living word, because Christ was not here yet. Today we have the living word. Without Christ as the living word, it was very hard for God’s word to become the applied word as the Spirit. This is because before Christ came, the Spirit was mostly objective; He was not yet within God’s people. Before Christ, the Spirit of God was upon God’s people. But today we have the Triune God embodied in Christ and realized as the all-inclusive, compound, life-giving Spirit indwelling us all the time. Thus, when we touch the Bible, right away the Bible can become living and applied.

　　We are the members of the family, the household, of the faith. This faith house is a house that believes in God through His word. Hebrews 1 says that God has spoken (vv. 1-2). This word becomes the living word, Christ, and this living word is applied by the Spirit. Then we have the Triune God as the word in us.

　　The believers’ faith in Christ brings them into a life union with Christ (John 3:15, 36)… The more we read [the New Testament] , the more we contact the written word of the New Testament. Then we have Christ as the living word and the Spirit as the applied word. The word of God is embodied in Christ and realized in the Spirit to be our faith. This faith brings us into a life union with Christ, who is the embodiment of God realized as the all-inclusive Spirit. Faith links us with the Triune God. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 290-292)

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

«　WEEK 6　DAY 3　»

　　John 1:12-13 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name, who were begotten… of God.

　　3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.

　　Believing into the Lord is not the same as believing Him (John 6:30). To believe Him is to believe that He is true and real, but to believe into Him is to receive Him and be united with Him as one. The former is to acknowledge a fact objectively; the latter is to receive a life subjectively. (John 3:16, footnote 2)

　　I still remember my conversion when I was at the end of my nineteenth year of age. I was born into, raised up, and educated in Christianity. I had heard much preaching and teaching about the Bible, though I was not saved. But one afternoon I heard the gospel, and within a few hours I was a changed person. Actually, it was the linking faith that changed me. At that time from my sincere heart, from the depths of my being, I cried to God. That was the faith, imparted into me as my believing element, that linked me with the marvelous God. Faith is the linking of our salvation; it links God with us and links us to God… I was a sinner, an enemy of God, but I became a God-man. This is because something linked into me, linked with me, and linked me to God. That was faith. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 295-296)

　　The believers live Christ by this faith,… the faith of Christ, the Son of God (Gal. 2:20b). We cannot live Christ by and in ourselves. We live Christ by a linking organ. This linking organ is faith. So Paul says in Galatians 2:20 that the life that he lived, he lived by faith, the faith of Jesus the Son of God. It is as if Paul is saying, “I live Christ not by my faith but by the faith of Jesus the Son of God; that is not my faith but His faith.”

　　How could you live Christ? You need to call upon Him by saying, “O Lord Jesus, I love You.” Call on Him and say just this much to Him. Then right away He “jumps” within you… This “jumping” Jesus as the faith imparted into you links you with Him. Then you cannot help but live Him during the day. When you call on Him in this way, He becomes the faith imparted into you so that you spontaneously live Him by this faith.

　　You should call on Him in such a way when you arise in the morning… There is no need to say much. To speak to the Lord a little bit is good enough. When you say this to the Lord, you receive another infilling. Christ right away is imparted into you as your faith. Actually, He Himself as the faith becomes your faith, and this is the linking organ that links you to the unlimited, infinite Christ.

　　When I tell people to call on the name of the Lord, they think that they need to call on Him loudly and repeatedly. There is nothing wrong with this. Whatever way we call upon the Lord is right… We can just say a simple word: “Lord Jesus, You know I am too busy. I have to rush to go to the office. Thank You, Lord.” With just this little bit of calling, you are infused. The infusing of Christ in you causes you to have Him in you as your faith, which is the linking organ that links you with Him. This is the way to live Christ.

　　To walk by faith means that our walking is linked with God, and He is altogether rich. We walk by faith, and faith links us to Him. The Lord indicated that we also suffer persecution by this faith… In Luke 18:8 the Lord said, “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” This means that we have to suffer all the persecutions by faith…, not being threatened by any kind of opposition. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 296-297, 301)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” ch. 9

«　WEEK 6　DAY 4　»

　　Heb. 4:16 Let us therefore come forward with boldness to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help.

　　Rom. 1:17 For the righteousness of God is revealed in it out of faith to faith, as it is written, “But the righteous shall have life and live by faith.”

　　The way to receive such a [linking] faith is to contact its source, the Lord, the processed and consummated God, by calling on Him, praying to Him, and pray-reading His Word (Heb. 4:16; Rom. 10:12; 2 Tim. 2:22; Eph. 6:17-18). We have to come forward to God’s throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace. This means that we have to contact God to receive faith… At any time, anywhere, you can contact Him. Just call on Him and say a little word to Him. Then you will receive faith. This faith links you with God and imparts, transfuses, God into you. In this way you will have the living faith. Actually, that is God Himself moving within you. Then you will become a man of faith. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” p. 304)

　　Faith has different stages… Faith comes from the hearing of the word (Rom. 10:17). That is the initial stage of faith. When we were sinners, one day under God’s sovereignty we heard the preaching of the gospel, that is, the word of Christ. Through that hearing of the word, faith came into us. This faith brought us into a life union with Christ. This union is a kind of linking. We had the Spirit installed into us through the hearing of the word… Now this Spirit, or this faith, which has been installed into us, stays within us and grows.

　　The faith through which we were saved became a linking faith within us. This is not just in the initial stage but also in the progressing stage… We have… the initial faith produced in us. It remains in us and goes on all the time, unless we stop it. We not only have life but also live by faith [1:17]. To live is a matter of continuation… The Christian life is not just a matter of having life by faith. You have to live by faith for your whole life. We are not believers for just a small amount of time. We are believers for eternity. We not only have life but also live by what we have. We live by faith. This is the linking faith that continues with us in our living.

　　Galatians 2:20 says, “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.” Many among us know this verse, but actually Galatians 2:20 is difficult to understand. If I am crucified without Christ, that is pitiful, but I have been crucified with Christ. He takes care of the matter. He bears the responsibility. Christ does not live by Himself alone. Christ lives “in me.” We should circle the words in me in our Bible. If we saw that Christ lives in us, we would be excited. You were crucified. It is no longer you, yet Christ still lives in you. You say “no longer,” but something is still going on. So Galatians 2:20 continues by saying, “And the life which I now live in the flesh.” Christ lives in me, and I now live a life in the flesh. I live this life in faith. It is no longer I who live, but still I live. The “I” who no longer lives is the old creation. The “I” who now lives is the new creation… I live this life in faith. This means that faith is going on. In Romans 1:17 to have life by faith is the initiation. But here Paul says, “I live in faith.” Faith is going on.

　　Faith in the second stage, the stage of living Christ,… comes into you by your contacting God in Christ. So you have to contact the Triune God all the time. All the time you should contact the Son. Then you will also touch the Father and the Spirit. Faith in the second stage comes to us through our contacting the Triune God. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 307-309)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” chs. 5-6

«　WEEK 6　DAY 5　»

　　Rom. 12:3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to be sober-minded, as God has apportioned to each a measure of faith.

　　1:8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all because your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world.

　　If you think you are bigger than Paul in the quantity of faith, you are crazy. You are not sober-minded… Some of the saints may think that they are bigger than the elders. This is not sober-minded… [The elders] are at least a little bigger, a little older spiritually, than you. To think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think without a sober mind is to annul the proper order of the Body life.

　　In Romans 12 Paul deals with the practice of the Body life. In the crystallization of the Body there is one crucial point, that is, not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, but to think so as to be sober-minded, as God has apportioned to each a measure of faith. God has not only allotted but also apportioned faith to us. He gave us the same faith in quality but not in quantity. The matter of quantity depends upon how you grow. If you grow today as the apostle Paul grew, the portion of faith you receive will be greatly enlarged. God first allotted faith to us in quality, and then He apportioned it in quantity. What kind of faith you have depends upon God’s allotment. How much faith you have depends upon God’s apportioning. God’s apportioning depends upon your attitude. If you are not sober-minded, God would not increase His apportioning of faith to you, and He probably would even decrease it. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 311-312)

　　We may say that we enjoy Christ and enjoy the Divine Trinity, but what kind of indication can people see in us of this enjoyment? Faith is the indicator of the believers’ life in the enjoyment of the Divine Trinity (1 Thes. 1:3, 5, 7-8; Rom. 1:8). Paul wrote a letter to the saints in Thessalonica, and he said that he remembered their work of faith. Their work of faith became such a strong factor in their lives that people everywhere were talking about their faith. This means that faith became a strong indicator of the Thessalonians’ enjoyment of the Divine Trinity. Paul said that they became a pattern to all the ones who believe in Christ. Their faith became such an indicator of their life in the enjoyment of Christ that they became a pattern to all the believing ones.

　　Faith is to live God and to annul yourself. You have to be annulled… Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 says, “If I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing” (v. 2). Strictly speaking, with us, the believing ones, faith is not for us to accomplish careers, to accomplish a big work… Do not think that faith is for us to accomplish big things. Faith is for us to live God, to express God, and to minister God to people.

　　Do not think that you can do something, so you are somebody. You should say, “Lord, I don’t want to be anybody, to be anything; You be my everything. You are, but I am not.” This is faith. Within you there must be the indicator of this linking faith. When people contact you, they should see that there is a strong factor indicating that you are linked with God. Your faith must be an indicator to make you a pattern. Do not learn from anyone how to do things. That means nothing. But you have to learn from someone how to live God, how to live Christ, how to magnify Christ, and how to minister Christ to others… Wherever we go and wherever we are, we should bear an indication that we are nothing, but God in Christ is everything to us. We should live such a life. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 319-320, 322)

　　Further Reading: Watchman Nee—a Seer of the Divine Revelation in the Present Age, ch. 11

«　WEEK 6　DAY 6　»

　　Luke 18:8 …When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?

　　Matt. 25:21 His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful over a few things; I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your master.

　　The linking faith is the divine requirement for the overcomers to meet Christ in His triumphant return. This is based upon Luke 18:8, where the Lord said, “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” …By His mercy,…we have been brought into a situation of learning not to trust in ourselves for anything, but to believe that our God is everything.

　　I hope that when the Lord comes back, He can find you and me as the believing ones, who always trust in Him, not in ourselves, and who always have no assurance in ourselves. Our full assurance is in Him. This is the linking faith. This faith qualifies the overcomers. It is the divine requirement for you and me as the overcomers to meet Christ in His triumphant return. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 322-323)

　　People may say concerning us, “They can do nothing. They only say, ’‘O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah’ [and] ’‘Lord Jesus, I love You.’…This is all that they can do.” This is because we are only for Christ Himself. We are not for big miracles, big works, or big careers. When the Lord comes back, He is expecting to find such people…, the ones who live by the linking faith. Christ expects to find us as His hidden overcomers.

　　The believers who live an overcoming and exulting life by the linking faith will be found by Christ at His return as the treasures ready to receive the salvation of their souls as the end (result) of their faith (1 Pet. 1:8-9). In a sense, we do not know anything or do anything. We only know how to overcome and how to exult by the linking faith. Those who live by faith today will eventually receive the end of their faith, that is, the salvation of their souls. We have received a salvation, but this is just the initial salvation. The progressing stage of salvation is the stage of transformation. The completing stage of salvation is the stage of glorification. If we live by the linking faith in the progressing stage to be transformed, we will be kings with Christ in the millennial kingdom.

　　We are now making ourselves ready for that day. To make ourselves ready is to become an overcomer, who is always linked by the living faith with the Triune God. Every day, morning and evening, you have to say, “Lord, I praise You that from morning to evening, I am linked to You. There is a living faith that links me with You so that I live You, walk with You, and live with You. I am one with You, just as You are one with me.”

　　The overcomers will be rewarded by Christ with the co-kingship and the top enjoyment of the divine life with Him in the millennium (Rev. 20:4, 6). The Lord will then say to His overcomers, “Well done, good and faithful slave… Enter into the joy of your master” (Matt. 25:21, 23). This is just like what J. N. Darby once said: “O the joy of having nothing and being nothing, seeing nothing but a living Christ in glory, and being careful for nothing but His interests down here.”

　　By this linking faith we are linked to God in Christ to participate in all that the all-inclusive Christ is, has, and has attained to, for the producing of the organic members of Christ to constitute and build up His organic Body, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the enlargement and expression of the eternal Triune God in His unlimited glory in the mysterious mingling of divinity with humanity for eternity (Rev. 21:2—22:5). This is the eternal fulfillment of the gospel in Romans 1:17, that “the righteous shall have life and live by faith.” (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 323-325)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” chs. 10-11