Scripture Reading: John 1:4; 12:24; 15:1, 4-5; 1 John 5:16; 2 Cor. 4:12

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　»

　　1 Pet. 2:21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered on your behalf, leaving you a model so that you may follow in His steps.

　　Gal. 2:20 I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me…

　　4:19 My children, with whom I travail again in birth until Christ is formed in you.

　　There are two main ways to grow trees. One way is to sow a seed. If we sow the seed of a peach, a peach tree will grow up. The second way is to plant the sapling of a peach tree into the earth. This sapling will grow to be a peach tree…The Bible tells us that God has sown Himself into our spirit as the life seed to grow a tree, a miniature of the tree of life. The tree of life was unique in Genesis 2:9, but today the tree of life grows in all of us, causing each of us to be a small tree of life. As small trees of life, we need to grow. We, the believers in Christ, have all been regenerated by God sowing Himself into us as the life seed. From that day a life tree came out. (CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, “The Organic Union in God’s Relationship with Man,” p. 420)

　　We need to be sowers and planters, sowing and planting Christ into many vacant sinners. Today there are many sinners who do not have Christ… If we have some dear friends who are still not believers in Christ or are believers in Christ in name but not in reality, these kinds of friends may have a feeling of emptiness within them. They may feel that their living on this earth is empty and is vanity of vanities. If they would pray, “Lord Jesus, I do not want to be empty anymore. I want to take You; I want to receive You,” immediately they would be filled by Christ as either a seed or a plant. Sometimes they will be blessed to receive Christ not only as a small seed but as a large plant planted into their being. This will cause them to feel that they are filled with Christ. They will be happy and will tell others that they are no longer empty, but they now have something within them, that is, Christ. (CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, “The Organic Union in God’s Relationship with Man,” pp. 420-421)

　　Literally, the Greek word [for model in 1 Peter 2:21] means a writing-copy, an underwriting for students to use in tracing letters as they learn to draw them…The Greek word for model is the word that denotes… a master copy used in the teaching of writing. The Lord Jesus has set His life before us as an underwriting for us to copy by tracing and following His steps. It is not God’s intention, however, that we try to imitate Christ by our own effort. We know from experience that trying to imitate Christ does not work. We are not able to imitate Him. What we need is not imitation, but reproduction…Outwardly Christ is our model, and inwardly He is our person, living in us, being formed in us, and making His home in us. Through this process we become a reproduction of the original, a reproduction of Christ as our model.

　　He is a writing-copy, an original to be used for making many copies. We need to become Christ’s reproduction, copies of Christ, by experiencing a process that involves the riches of the divine life. When this process is completed, we shall become a reproduction of Christ. When anyone observes the expression of the Triune God from within a believer, this indicates that such a believer has become a reproduction of Christ, the model. The manner of life that expresses the processed Triune God is a reproduction of Christ. As a model to the believers, Christ is the original used for making a reproduction of Himself. In order to understand Christ as our model, we need experience. From experience we know that as we enjoy Christ day by day, we are undergoing the process of spiritual reproduction to make us living copies of Christ. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 600-601)

　　Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 56, 302; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The God-man Living,” ch. 14

«　WEEK 6　DAY 2　»

　　1 John 5:11-12 And this is the testimony, that God gave to us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

　　16 If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask and he will give life to him…

　　First John 5:16 is the only reference in the Bible to ministering life to someone…What does it mean to give him life? It means that I impart Christ to him…He has sinned because he is short of life. When we are short of the Lord Jesus, we commit sin…Only one person can overcome sin, and that is the Lord Jesus. If we lose our temper, that is an indication that we are short of the Lord Jesus. We do not need a rebuke…A rebuking reduces our measure of Christ. What we need is an addition of Him, not a reduction. We need more of Him imparted into us. (CWWL, 1980, vol. 2, “The Mending Ministry of John,” p. 331)

　　Have you ever realized that you sin because you are short of the Lord Jesus? Why do you mistreat your wife or husband?…Why is it that you have not been able to live up to your resolves? You are short of the Lord Jesus.

　　Husbands, do not rebuke your wife. You will simply make yourself and her miserable…What can you do? You may say that you must love her. Sometimes that may help, but love may corrupt and do damage. Only Christ works. Only life helps. We husbands must minister life to our wives. Sisters, deep in your heart you may have the intention to subdue your husband. Husbands like to rebuke; wives like to subdue. You will never succeed in subduing your husband; God created man to be over you…Give up your efforts to subdue your husband. What he needs is for you to minister life to him. You must minister a portion of Christ to him. Both husbands and wives need more Christ. Only He saves.

　　Why is Christianity so degraded? One reason is that there are many to admonish but few to give life. What can mend today’s broken situation? Only the life-giving mending ministry. In the church life we must learn to minister life. This is what is needed. Do not try other ways. No way of helping is better than that of ministering life.

　　You may raise the objection that you yourself are short of life; how can you minister it to others? You may indeed be short of life. Then what should you do? Do not go to admonish or rebuke. Do not even go to the other party. You yourself must turn to the Lord: “Lord, have mercy upon me. My brother is sinning; he needs the supply of life. He lacks life. But so do I, Lord. I don’t have much life either. Have mercy upon us, but first have mercy upon me. I need more life. I must have more life.” You may be so burdened that you will even fast and shorten your sleeping hours in order to pray for more life. I can assure you that you will be supplied… When you yourself have the supply, then you can supply others.

　　We need to learn that when any brother or sister sins, this is a strong indication that he or she is short of life. To be of help, we must first check whether we have life. Do we have a surplus of life? Do we have more than we need? If not, we must wait on the Lord with prayer and fasting until we get the rich supply. Then we can minister from this supply to others. This is the way to go on in the church life during this time of degraded Christianity.

　　John stresses that this life which we need to minister to others is simply God Himself. It is the Son of God. “This is the true God and eternal life” [1 John 5:20]. Our need is to have a bigger portion of the Lord Jesus. Then we will have a surplus to minister to others, a surplus not of knowledge or doctrine but of God. (CWWL, 1980, vol. 2, “The Mending Ministry of John,” pp. 331-332)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1980, vol. 2, “The Mending Ministry of John,” ch. 11; Life-study of 1 John, msgs. 37-38, 40

«　WEEK 6　DAY 3　»

　　John 15:4-5 Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 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.

　　No matter what our service may be, we should be clear that our service is a means to supply life to others. Whether or not we are adequate in our service, our focus is on supplying life, not on accomplishing something. The church is different from a society… In the church the point is not whether we do a good job but whether life is supplied. If the church were only for taking care of matters, not supplying life, the church would lose its nature and would be a society. The saints must uphold this point.

　　I am not saying that we can be sloppy in our service… We must serve in fear and trembling before the Lord lest our service be haphazard. However, we cannot be content with doing a service. We must serve in such a way that others may receive the supply of life. We need to… look to the Lord so that our service becomes an outlet for His life. We want to be delivered from mistakes, but the focus of such deliverance is not on doing a successful job but on the flowing out of life. (CWWL, 1954, vol. 3, “The Service for Building Up the House of God,” p. 92)

　　The life that we supply to others is in the Spirit. This means that the Spirit is the dwelling place of the life of God. In Romans 8:2 the Spirit is referred to as the “Spirit of life.” Since the life of God is in the Spirit, the Spirit is the Spirit of life. In addition, as children of God, we have His life in our spirit.

　　The life of God is not in human thoughts, views, or opinions. The life of God is in the Spirit and dwells in the regenerated human spirit. The divine life is in the two spirits, the Spirit mingled with our human spirit. Initially, the divine life was only in the Spirit, but now the divine life dwells also in our spirit. It is difficult for expositors to determine whether the spirit in Romans 8 refers specifically to the Spirit of God or to our human spirit, for the two spirits are mingled together. In chapter 8 the Spirit and the human spirit have become one spirit. Both the divine Spirit and the human spirit are similar in nature, for they are both spirit. The Spirit is mingled with our human spirit, and the life of God is located, abides, and grows in our mingled spirit. Hence, if we are to supply the saints with life, we must release our spirit, for the divine life is in our mingled spirit. If our spirit cannot be released, the divine life has no way to be released. (CWWL, 1954, vol. 3, “The Service for Building Up the House of God,” pp. 92-93)

　　In John 15 the Lord said that He is the vine and we are the branches. Apart from the vine the branches can do nothing. The branches on the vine… are there to bear fruit. Bearing fruit is to minister life, that is, to release the supply of the vine’s life. This is our function with respect to the Lord. Today the Lord does not need people to be His material, nor does He need human talent. He only needs people to abide in Him, to be filled with Him, and to release the supply of His life. This is truly like the branches of the vine being filled with the sap of the vine and releasing the supply of the vine’s life. The branches of the vine do not know how to do anything but abide in the vine and allow its life to be ministered and to flow out through them. This is the service of the church, which is not a great work or large enterprise with a huge accomplishment but the ministering and flowing out of the life of Christ. It requires us to be joined to Christ, to abide in Christ, and to give Him the ground in us to fill us so that His life, His nature, His likes, and His inclination can become our life, our nature, our likes, and our inclination. In other words, His all becomes our all. (CWWL, 1950-1951, vol. 3, “The Spirit and Service in Spirit,” p. 393)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” ch. 18; Life-study of Ephesians, msgs. 45, 76, 89-90

«　WEEK 6　DAY 4　»

　　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.

　　12 So then death operates in us, but life in you.

　　In order for there to be a pure flow of the life of God, we must be broken… In Galatians 2:20…the statement I am crucified…and it is no longer I refers to the experience of being broken. Only those who are broken are crucified with Christ and can say, “It is no longer I.” The statement but it is Christ who lives in me refers to the flowing out of the divine life. Christ being expressed through us is life flowing out of us. (CWWL, 1954, vol. 3, “The Service for Building Up the House of God,” p. 95)

　　The operation of death within us, spoken of in 2 Corinthians 4:12, is the killing. The operation of death is our being broken. The more we are broken, the more the life of God will flow out of us.

　　A brother who is broken can supply life. We may understand this doctrinally, but we still need to put it into practice. The Spirit of life abides in our spirit. However, besides our human spirit, we also have a soul and a body. Our soul and body encase our spirit. Therefore, in order for life to be released from our spirit, our soul and body must be dealt with and broken. The body does not pose much of a problem, but our soul poses a great problem. The things of the soul, which is composed of our mind, emotion, and will, are difficult to deal with. The soul surrounds and encases the spirit. Hence, our soul must be dealt with and broken in order for our spirit to be released. Otherwise, there cannot be a pure flow of the divine life.

　　When we say that the soul needs to be dealt with and broken, we do not mean that a person no longer uses his mind, expresses his emotions, or exercises his will. Our mind, emotion, and will still function, but they have been dealt with, subdued, and made submissive to our spirit. In other words, they have been broken… A person who can release his spirit has subdued his mind, emotion, and will. The three parts of his soul are under the ruling of his spirit and let his spirit dominate.

　　When some brothers encounter something, their mind is the first to react, not their spirit. With some sisters their emotion is the first to react, not their spirit. With some saints their will is the first to react, not their spirit. The part that reacts first is the part that dominates our being. When we let our spirit respond first, the mind is subdued. When our mind responds first, our spirit is pushed back…When our spirit is released, our mind is dealt with, broken, and held under the ruling of our spirit. Then the divine life in our spirit can be released.

　　It is difficult to explain the way to release the spirit. When we only think of something, we are using our mind. When some sisters hear a sad matter, their emotions run wild like an unbridled horse. If they want life to flow out, they must suppress their wild emotions, and they must use their spirit to sense the situation. It is difficult for a brother with a strong will to change what he has decided. When such a brother expresses his strong will, he does not represent God. When we encounter situations with our spirit, life will flow out of us.

　　In order for the Lord’s life to be released from within us, we must learn to fellowship with the Lord, be subdued in our soul, and let our spirit dominate and rule over every matter. Whether we are elders or deacons or are involved in visitation or preaching the gospel, we must learn to use our spirit and to subdue our mind, emotion, and will so that we touch things with our spirit. Then the Lord’s life will be able to flow out. Our supplying others with life does not depend on our doing things properly but on our exercising our spirit. (CWWL, 1954, vol. 3, “The Service for Building Up the House of God,” pp. 95-97)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1969, vol. 1, “The Experience of Christ as Life for the Building Up of the Church,” ch. 15; Life-study of Colossians, msgs. 44, 49-52

«　WEEK 6　DAY 5　»

　　Exo. 17:6 I will be standing before you there upon the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink…

　　John 19:34 …One of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water.

　　7:38 He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.

　　The work of the apostles is the work of death operating in them so that life may operate in the believers [2 Cor. 4:12]. The result of this operation of death is wonderful—it is life in others… In the Lord’s recovery we need to die so that life may work in others. Hence, our dying is our working. The Lord does not need you to accomplish a work for Him. He needs you to die. If you die, life will work in others. You will minister life to others by dying. Therefore, our work is to be put to death. The apostles were not followers of a great person, but of a small man, Jesus of Nazareth. Furthermore, instead of being exalted, they were always being put to death so that the life of Jesus could be manifested in their mortal flesh. (Life-study of 2 Corinthians, pp. 295-296)

　　You ask me how you can be used to minister life to the Body. Not by setting out deliberately to do a lot, nor indeed by running away into retirement and doing nothing, but simply by letting the Cross operate in the normal course of your walk with the Lord. Those who only serve by words and works find they have no ministry if at any time they are reduced to inactivity or silence. But the measure of your ministry is not determined by the measure of your activity… It is an abiding principle of the Body that “death worketh in us, but life in you.” So you need make no special effort to bring increase to the Body in this way, for anything God takes you through by way of the Cross will spontaneously bring increase there. (CWWN, vol. 40, “What Shall This Man Do?” p. 125)

　　If we would flow the water of life, we also need to be identified with the smitten Christ (Exo. 17:6; John 7:38). The smitten rock signifies the incarnated Christ in His crucifixion… On the cross Christ was smitten by God. We need to be identified with this smitten One. This means that our human life, our natural life, must be smitten so that the living water may flow… If we simply are one with the smitten Christ, identified with Him, we shall experience the crucifixion of our natural life. Then as Christ’s divine life flowed out as living water through the smiting of His human life, we also shall experience the flow of the water of life through the smiting of our natural life. Only when our natural life has been smitten will the divine life flow out from us.

　　If we speak without being identified with the smitten Christ, our speaking, even our praise and prayer, will be natural. We need to be one with Christ in a way that is actual and practical. Then we shall experience the smiting of the natural life which took place in Him and with Him at the time of His crucifixion. If we are identified with the smitten Christ…, the water of life will flow not in a natural way, but in a way that is pure, without mixture. Whatever issues from us in prayer, praise, or testimony will be the flow of the divine life in its purity.

　　When we are identified with Christ in His death, our natural, human life will be put to death. Then whatever flows out of us will be the very life of God, the divine, eternal life. This life is the water of life. If we are identified with the smitten Christ, what flows out from us will be pure. There will not be the mixture of the divine life with the natural life. By speaking and by being identified with the smitten Christ, we shall have…the rivers spoken of by the Lord Jesus in John 7:38. Rivers of living water will flow out from our innermost being. (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 527-528)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of 2 Corinthians, msgs. 30-35; CWWN, vol. 40, ch. 8; Life-study of Romans, msg. 44

«　WEEK 6　DAY 6　»

　　Matt. 16:18 …Upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

　　John 11:25 Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life…

　　Phil. 1:25 …I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of the faith.

　　From Eden onwards, God’s controversy with Satan has been on this issue of death and life (cf. Gen. 3:3, 4; Rom. 5:12, 17, 21; 1 Cor. 15:22). All of God is characterized by life, all of Satan by death…Where there is life there is God. The great difference between Christ and all others is that, whereas others are dead, He lives. Death could not touch Him. And God who destroyed death through Christ, now uses the Church for the same purpose. Today she is God’s vessel of life, called to reveal the risen life of His Son, and to bring men to the knowledge of that life.

　　Praise His Name, God has shown us right from the outset from what quarter the attack upon the Church will come. We are to expect it from “the gates of Hades”—that is, of death… Satan’s greatest fear with regard to the Church is of her resistance, not to sinning, or to the love of the world, or to any of his direct attacks, but to his power of death. (CWWN, vol. 40, “What Shall This Man Do?” pp. 119-120)

　　John’s intention in 1 John 5:14-17 is to show us that the eternal life within us can overcome death both in ourselves and in other members of the church. Eternal life swallows up death within us and death within other members. Because the church is the Body, we live with the fellow members of the Body. Since we are in the Body, we are members with the other fellow members. Eternal life not only takes care of our own need; it also takes care of the need of the fellow members around us. It overcomes death within us, and it overcomes death within our brothers. Especially, it overcomes death in those who are weak or who have problems.

　　Weakness is related to death, and problems come from death. As long as there are problems in the church life, this is an indicator that there is death among those in the church. Therefore, we need eternal life to overcome, to swallow up, this death. If you are stronger and a fellow member is weaker, then you may become the one to supply the life from within you to the weaker one in order to swallow up the death within him.

　　First John 5:14-17 indicates that we who have eternal life can pass this life on to others. This means that we can be a channel through which eternal life is supplied to others. We can be a channel for eternal life to flow out of us and into others. Verse 16 refers to this. In this verse the one who asks is also the one who gives life to the sinning brother. This indicates that the one who asks will give life to the one concerning whom he asks. The asker, who is abiding in the Lord, who is one with the Lord, and who is asking in one spirit with the Lord, becomes the means through which God’s life-giving Spirit can give life to the one for whom he asks. This is a matter of life-imparting in the fellowship of the divine life.

　　The eternal life within us is real and practical. On the one hand, we can enjoy this eternal life within us. On the other hand, we can pass on this eternal life to others. We can be a channel for eternal life to flow out from us, or through us, to others. However, the experience of being a channel for eternal life to flow out to others is a deep matter. This cannot be done in a superficial way. If we would be a channel for eternal life to flow out to others, we must be deep in the Lord, and we must know the Lord’s heart by being in His heart. If we have entered into the Lord to such a degree, spontaneously we shall know the Lord’s will concerning a brother close to us who has sinned. Because we know the Lord’s will concerning the brother’s situation, we shall know how to pray for him. (Life-study of 1 John, pp. 328, 337-338)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of 1 John, msgs. 37-38, 40; Life-study of Philippians, msgs. 14, 50