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 3　DAY 1　»

　　1 John 5:16-17 If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask and he will give life to him, to those sinning not unto death. There is a sin unto death; I do not say that he should make request concerning that. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not unto death.

　　John uses what he has written in 1 John 5:4-13 as a basis to show us that this eternal life can overcome death. We have received eternal life, and this life has been testified, proved, and pledged within us…[In 5:14-17 John shows] 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.

　　In the church life we do not live alone. 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. (Life-study of 1 John, p. 326)

　　First John 5:14 speaks of asking according to God’s will, not according to our desire, preference, or way…A person who asks according to God’s will is one who has been regenerated, who has the divine life, and who is in the fellowship of the divine life…A person who prays in the fellowship of the divine life is truly one with the Lord. It is in this way that we know God’s will: by being one with Him, by abiding in Him, and by remaining in the fellowship of the divine life.

　　The prayer that is according to the will of God indicates that the praying one is abiding in the fellowship of the divine life and is also abiding in the Lord Himself…This makes it possible to have boldness toward God. When we are in the fellowship of the divine life and our conscience is without offense, we have peace with God, and we also have boldness to pray not according to our feeling but according to His will. Because we pray according to His will, He hears us.

　　In 5:15 John goes on to say, “And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.” This knowing is based on the fact that after having received the divine life, we abide in the Lord and are one with Him in our praying to God in His name (John 15:7, 16; 16:23-24).

　　In 1 John 5:16 John comes to his point in this section…Here John is saying that if anyone sees his brother, someone close to him in the Lord, sinning a sin not unto death, he should ask concerning that one. The word ask here must refer to a prayer made when we are abiding in fellowship with God. The subject of will give life is still he, the subject of the first predicate shall ask. This indicates that the asker will give life to the one for whom he is asking. This does not mean that the asker has life of himself and can give life by himself to others. It means that such an asker, who is abiding in the Lord, who is one with the Lord, and who is asking in one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17), becomes the means by which God’s life-giving Spirit can give life to the ones for whom he is asking. This is a matter of life-imparting in the fellowship of the divine life. To be one who can give life to others, we must abide in the divine life and walk, live, and have our being in the divine life. In James 5:14-16 the prayer is for healing; here the prayer is for life-imparting.

　　The vital point here is that if we would pray for a brother according to what is described in 1 John 5:16, we need to be one with the Lord. We must abide in the Lord and ask in one spirit with Him. Because we are so one with the Lord, we can become the means, the channel, through which God’s life-giving Spirit can impart life to the one for whom we ask. This imparting of life takes place in the fellowship of the divine life. (Life-study of 1 John, pp. 327-329)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of 1 John, msgs. 37, 39

«　WEEK 3　DAY 2　»

　　2 Cor. 4:10-12 Always bearing about in the body the putting to death of Jesus that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who are alive are always being delivered unto death for Jesus' sake that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death operates in us, but life in you.

　　After Paul told us that he and his co-workers were so burdened that they despaired even of living, he said, “Indeed we ourselves had the response of death in ourselves, that we should not base our confidence on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead” (2 Cor. 1:9). When the apostles were under the pressure of affliction, despairing even of living, they might have asked themselves what the issue of their suffering would be. The answer or response was “death.” The experience of death, however, ushers us into the experience of resurrection. Resurrection is the very God who resurrects the dead (John 11:25). The working of the cross terminates our self so that we may experience God in resurrection. The experience of the cross always issues in the enjoyment of the God of resurrection. Such experience produces and forms the ministry (2 Cor. 1:4-6). (CWWL, 1967, vol. 2, “An Autobiography of a Person in the Spirit,” p. 139)

　　Paul’s word shows us that we need to be terminated. We need to be brought to an end. Then we will learn not to trust in ourselves but in God. For us to say that we need to trust in God and not in ourselves is easy, but to be wrought through in this matter needs a certain amount of experience… We may trust so much in our spiritual attainment, but even that has to be terminated.

　　When the cross has been working through us, this working brings in resurrection. Therefore, 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 says that God has anointed us, has sealed us, and has given us the pledge, the foretaste, of the Spirit. If we are going to minister something of Christ to others, we have to experience Christ by the working of the cross, and the working of the cross is for the anointing, the sealing, and the pledge of the Spirit. The ministry comes out of this experience. (CWWL, 1967, vol. 2, “An Autobiography of a Person in the Spirit,” pp. 139-140)

　　In 2 Corinthians 4:8 Paul says, “We are pressed on every side but not constricted; unable to find a way out but not utterly without a way out.” The Greek word rendered “pressed on every side” can also be translated “afflicted”…This description of the apostles’ life…shows that they lived a crucified life in resurrection, or the resurrection life under the killing of the cross, for the carrying out of their ministry.

　　The putting to death [v. 10]…means the killing, the deadening, referring to the working of death, the working of the cross, which the Lord Jesus suffered and endured. When the Lord was on earth, He was daily under the killing. The apostles [also] experienced this killing work “that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.”…This daily killing is for the release of the divine life in resurrection. The life in verse 10 is the resurrection life, which the Lord Jesus lived and expressed through the working of the cross.

　　The continual daily grinding works for a specific purpose: that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. This life is resurrection life. The Lord Jesus lived resurrection life even before He was crucified. The life He lived on earth was a life of resurrection. This resurrection life is a life that can withstand being put to death.

　　When we are under the killing of the Lord’s death, His resurrection life is imparted through us into others. The impartation of life into others is always the issue of our suffering the killing of the cross. In verse 12 Paul seems to be saying, “We are dying, but you Corinthians are being made alive. Our dying infuses life into you and makes you alive. For us it is a matter of being put to death; for you it is a matter of the impartation of life.” (Life-study of 2 Corinthians, pp. 91-93)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1980, vol. 2, “The Mending Ministry of John,” ch. 11

«　WEEK 3　DAY 3　»

　　Eph. 1:22-23 …The church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.

　　1 Cor. 12:27 Now you are the Body of Christ, and members individually.

　　10:17 Seeing that there is one bread, we who are many are one Body…

　　Everyone who wants to engage in spiritual warfare must first know the Body. Nothing requires us to know the Body so urgently as spiritual warfare, because spiritual warfare is not an individual matter but a Body matter. No individual believer can fight with the enemy; it takes the whole Body. If we wish to learn spiritual warfare, we must first know the Body.

　　The Body referred to here is the mystical Body of Christ, the church. This Body is formed by Christ as life in each of us, Christ mingled with us. During the second and third stages of our experience of life, we are still living in our own life; therefore, we cannot know this life that mingles with us to form the Body. Only when our self life has been utterly dealt with and we have the experience of passing through the Jordan and entering into the fourth stage will we be able to touch the reality of this life of the Body and come to know the Body. (CWWL, 1953, vol. 3, “The Experience of Life,” p. 479)

　　Everyone who is saved is a member of the Body of Christ. Is the life in each one of us, then, a life pertaining to the members or to the Body? The Bible and our experience prove that though each one of us is a member of Christ, the life in each one of us is not a member life but a Body life. All the members of our body are sharing one life…Similarly, in the Body of Christ, when one member is joined to the Body or having fellowship with the Body, his life is the life of the Body, and the life of the Body is his life. It would not do for him to be separated from the other members, or vice versa, because the life in him and in the other members is of the same Body; it can neither be distinguished nor separated. It is this life that joins us together to become the Body of Christ; or, to say it more precisely and emphatically, it is this life that mingles with us to become the Body of Christ.

　　We cannot, however, experience this before the difficulties of the self have been entirely dealt with. If we are still living according to the flesh, in ourselves, and serving the Lord in our natural ability, the life of the Body, which is Christ Himself in us, has no way of being manifested, and there is no way for us to know the Body. The more we live by the flesh, the less we feel the need for the support of the Body. If we live by our self-opinion, we find no need for the sustaining of the church. If we serve with our natural ability, we sense no need for the coordination of the members. Only when our flesh has been dealt with, the self-opinion has been broken, and the natural life has been smashed, will the life within cause us to realize that we are simply members of the Body and that the life in us cannot be independent. Hence, this life requires us to have fellowship with all other members and be joined to them, and it also brings us into that fellowship and the experience of being joined together. It is at this time that we begin to know a little concerning the Body and become qualified to engage in spiritual warfare.

　　On one hand, we say that if we want to fight the spiritual warfare and deal with God’s difficulty, we must first deal with our flesh, self, and soul-life, thus solving our own difficulties; on the other hand, we say that in order to fight the battle, we must first know the Body, and in order to know the Body and live in the Body, we must first deal with our flesh, self, and soul-life. Whether, therefore, we speak from the standpoint of fighting the warfare or knowing the Body, we all must first pass through the preceding three stages—coming out of the flesh, the self, and the soul-life—in order to attain to the fourth stage of the experience of life. (CWWL, 1953, vol. 3, “The Experience of Life,” pp. 479-480)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 2, “Basic Factors of the Church Service,” ch. 3

«　WEEK 3　DAY 4　»

　　1 Cor. 12:18-20 But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, even as He willed. And if all were one member, where would the body be? But now the members are many, but the body one.

　　Since knowing the Body is such a practical thing, how may we ascertain whether or not one knows the Body as yet? We can prove it in at least three ways.

　　The first proof of knowing the Body is that we cannot be individualistic… Before one knows the Body, he is an individualist and can be individualistic. His life, his actions, his work, and his service are all individualistic. Outwardly, he appears to be one with the brothers, but there is no real coordination or knitting together. Not until he grows deeper in life and knows the Body to a certain extent does he see that being a Christian is a corporate matter and that he cannot go on without fellowship in the Body, nor can he depart from the coordination of the members. The Body of Christ becomes a practical matter to him. In the church life he can no longer serve alone. In the innermost part of his being, he feels that he needs to be a Christian together with others… He cannot work without the coordination of the brothers and sisters, and he cannot live without the support of the church. It is at this stage that he is being knit together spontaneously with all the saints to become one Body, no more to be separated. All those, therefore, who can still be individualistic do not know the Body, and all those with a true knowledge of the Body definitely cannot be individualistic. (CWWL, 1953, vol. 3, “The Experience of Life,” pp. 489-490)

　　The second proof of our knowing the Body is the ability to discern whether others are in the Body or not. One who has come to know the Body not only lives in the Body in a very practical way but also can clearly discern whether or not others are living in the Body.

　　This discerning ability after one knows the Body is absolutely due to the extent of the deep degree of fellowship he has in the Lord. Our fellowship with the Lord grows in depth in proportion to our experience of life, beginning with the initial stage of our spiritual life and continuing through the fourth stage. The degree of depth of fellowship differs greatly as we progress in the experience of life. When two people in different degrees of fellowship in the Lord come together, the one having the deeper experience can go on with the one who has the shallower experience and have fellowship with him, but that fellowship is limited in proportion to the experience of the latter. Should this fellowship go beyond the limit, it will become rather incongruous and incomprehensible to the latter. The one having deeper experience, therefore, can go on with the one who has the shallower experience, but the shallower one cannot go along with the deeper one. This is a great principle in spiritual fellowship.

　　The third proof of our knowing the Body is the recognition of authority. Whether or not one knows the Body depends upon whether or not he recognizes authority. Those who do not recognize authority do not know the Body. Knowing the Body and recognizing authority are inseparable.

　　Authority is simply the authority of Christ the Head, which is revealed in the order of the Body…When we speak of authority, we mean the authority of Christ manifested through the order of His Body. Since we are all members of the Body of Christ, we naturally have our right position and order. If we have been taught in our spirit and have been indeed led by God to recognize the flesh, if we have had the self dealt with and the natural constitution broken, we will immediately recognize our own order when placed among brothers and sisters…This kind of authority is not assumed, nor is it by election, but it is the natural order in life, which Christ the Head has manifested in all the members of His Body. (CWWL, 1953, vol. 3, “The Experience of Life,” pp. 490-493)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1953, vol. 3, “The Experience of Life,” ch. 15

«　WEEK 3　DAY 5　»

　　1 Cor. 12:14 For the body is not one member but many.

　　Acts 13:1 Now there were in Antioch, in the local church, prophets and teachers…

　　The universal church is the sum total of all the local churches…If we subtract all the local churches one after the other, there would be no universal church…When we add up all the local churches, the total is the universal church. This universal church is the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23).

　　In the New Testament age God wants to establish the church in every place to express His eternal intention. God’s desire is that every local church would represent the Body of Christ to testify on behalf of Christ in their respective localities. Therefore, every local church is the expression of the universal church in that locality. Therefore, the church in Jerusalem (Acts 8:1), the church in Antioch (13:1), the church in Corinth (1 Cor. 1:2), and the church in any other locality are part of the universal church. The church in a locality is a small expression of the universal church in a particular locality… Every local church is part of the expression of the universal church at a particular time in a given locality. (CWWL, 1957, vol. 2, “The Testimony and the Ground of the Church,” p. 153)

　　The nature and principle of the universal church are the nature and principle of the local church. Just as the nature of the entire universal church is of God, the nature of the local church in every locality is also of God. Therefore, the universal church is called “the church of God” (1 Cor. 10:32), and the local church is also called “the church of God” (1:2).

　　Just as the church is uniquely one in the universe, it is also uniquely one in each locality. The principle of the church is oneness. In the universe the church is one, and in each locality the church is also one. If there are two or more churches in Taipei, there is a problem, just as there would be a problem if there were two or more city administrations in Taipei. In one locality there can be only one church, not two or more churches.

　　The local church is a miniature of the universal church…The universal church expresses Christ, and the local church also expresses Christ, except on a smaller scale. Every local church is a representative of the universal church, representing the universal church in its locality by living out the proper life of the Body of Christ and thus expressing Christ. (CWWL, 1957, vol. 2, “The Testimony and the Ground of the Church,” p. 154)

　　If we hold on to the thought that the local churches are autonomous, considering that an Epistle written to any one locality belongs only to that locality, this would mean that no Epistle is intended for the believers in our time. In other words, it would mean that the entire Bible is not for us. This is altogether impractical.

　　In Ephesians 1:17 Paul prayed that the Father would give the believers “a spirit of wisdom and revelation,” indicating that the believers also need to see the vision that he saw, especially concerning the Body of Christ (3:3-4). As we labor in the local churches in the various regions of the United States, we are not merely building up the local churches; our work is to build up the Body of Christ.

　　One of the central items that Brother Watchman Nee stressed in his ministry was the Body of Christ. He explained that instead of doing the work of the Body, people prefer to build up churches without any kind of regulation or consciousness of the Body. Many establish such churches as their small empires. We need to consider our work in light of Brother Nee’s emphasis…In order to do a proper work, we must have the base of the truth. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 2, pp. 122-123)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1983, vol. 1, “Perfecting the Saints to Preach the Gospel, Present the Truth, Minister Life, and Walk according to the Spirit in Order to Bear the Testimony of Jesus,” ch. 4

«　WEEK 3　DAY 6　»

　　2 Cor. 11:28-29 Apart from the things which have not been mentioned, there is this: the crowd of cares pressing upon me daily, the anxious concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is stumbled, and I myself do not burn?

　　The sense of the Body…is a universal matter. Therefore, we should never despise the life that we have received. The sense in this life is a great matter. Regrettably, this sense has been restricted in us because of our own feelings and views.

　　If we have the sense of the Body, whenever any member in the Body of Christ is blessed, regardless of whether it is our locality, we will be very happy because another church has been blessed. Regardless of whether it is our local church, as long as the saints have hardships or have been blessed, we will identify with them and feel the same hardship or blessing. If we can reach this stage, the sense within us toward the Body will be rich. It will no longer be local but extra-local. The supply to the Body of Christ from this kind of sense is indescribable. (CWWL, 1956, vol. 1, “The Church as the Body of Christ,” pp. 181-182)

　　If we can bring the universal riches to the Body of Christ, our usefulness to the Body is universal. Thus, we may serve in one place, but the effect is universal, not merely local. We are often shut up in ourselves. Even when we come out of ourselves, we remain in our locality and do not allow the Lord to enlarge us. The Body is universal, and the life within us is universal. The Spirit within us is universal, the sense within us is universal, and the supply is universal. It does not matter what locality is blessed. If the Body of Christ is blessed, we rejoice, and if the Body of Christ has a problem, we feel the pain. Like Paul, we should be able to say, “Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is stumbled, and I myself do not burn?” (2 Cor. 11:29). We feel this way because the anxious concern for all the churches is upon us. This is not merely a matter of an individual member; it is a matter of all the churches. This sense will save us and cause the Body to be supplied. (CWWL, 1956, vol. 1, “The Church as the Body of Christ,” p. 182)

　　We have to learn to live in the Body and submit to the Head all the time, to care for the feeling of the Body, and to live together with all the members. We should not take our own spirituality, holiness, or victory as the center. This will make us particular and individualistic and will cause us to condemn others and make demands on them.

　　Since we are the members of the Body of Christ, we should have a feeling for the Body. First, we must take the feeling of the Head as our own feeling. In Philippians 1:8 Paul says, “I long after you all in the inward parts of Christ Jesus.” This means that Paul took the inward parts of Christ Jesus as his own inward parts in caring for the church. This also means that he took care of the Body of Christ by taking Christ’s feeling as his own feeling…We all should be like Paul, taking the feeling of the Head as our own feeling. This is most necessary for our living the Body life. Furthermore, we should not only take the feeling of the Head as our feeling but also do so in the principle of caring for the Body. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:25b-26 that “the members would have the same care for one another. And whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or one member is glorified, all the members rejoice with it.” In order for us to have the Body life, we must care for our fellow members and must be full of feeling for the Body.

　　If we as members have the feeling of the Head in everything and care for the Body, we will take the Body as the rule in our mind, thoughts, words, and actions. We should deny ourselves and should identify ourselves with the Body. By doing this, there will be no separation or disconnection from the Body. The life that we live will fully be the Body life, and the Lord will gain the expression of His Body. (CWWL, 1990, vol. 2, “The Oneness and the One Accord according to the Lord’s Aspiration and the Body Life and Service according to His Pleasure,” pp. 92-94)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of 2 Corinthians, msg. 44