A Digital Newsletter from Living Stream Ministry
Before the Lord, the meaning of the church being cleansed by the washing of water is that the life of Christ deals with every part that is not out of Christ. The natural life and all that is not out of Christ must be purged away. Sanctification can only come after cleansing, and the basis of cleansing is the Lord’s word, the rhema. If we do not know the Lord’s word, there is no way for us to be cleansed and sanctified.
Many difficulties have their root in this very matter—the lack of God’s word. The reason the Body of Christ cannot be built is because we merely have something outward, not something inward. The whole basis of the Christian faith depends upon the Lord’s speaking. The growth of the church also depends upon the word which the Lord speaks. Therefore, the central point of our prayers should be our longing for the Lord’s speaking. Oh, may the Lord speak to us! The Lord’s word being spoken to us will enable us to attain the eternal purpose of God.
True growth depends upon our receiving the word directly from God. God is using His rhema to do His work, and He desires to speak to us. Therefore, if our purpose in reading the Scriptures is solely for knowledge, it is indeed pitiful. If this is so, we are finished. The real value of the Scriptures is that God can speak to man through them. If we desire to be useful in the Lord’s hands, we must be spoken to by the Lord. Whether or not our building is spiritual depends upon whether the Lord has spoken to us. Knowledge and doctrine are of no spiritual use. Only the Lord’s speaking in us is of spiritual value. (CWWN, vol. 34, “The Glorious Church,” pp. 56-58)
God has blended the Body together (1 Cor. 12:24). The word blended also means “adjusted,” “harmonized,” “tempered,” and “mingled.” God has blended the Body, adjusted the Body, harmonized the Body, tempered the Body, and mingled the Body.
The Greek word for blended implies the losing of distinctions. One brother’s distinction may be quickness, and another’s may be slowness. But in the Body life the slowness disappears, and the quickness is taken away. All such distinctions are gone. God has blended all the believers of all different races and colors. Who can make the blacks and the whites lose their distinctions? Only God can do this. A husband and a wife can have harmony in their marriage life only by losing their distinctions.
In order to be harmonized, blended, adjusted, mingled, and tempered in the Body life, we have to go through the cross and be by the Spirit, dispensing Christ to others for the sake of the Body of Christ. The co-workers and elders must learn to be crossed out. Whatever we do should be by the Spirit to dispense Christ. Also, what we do should not be for our interest and according to our taste but for the church. As long as we practice these points, we will have the blending. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “The Divine and Mystical Realm,” pp. 159-160)
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