WEEK 4 — DAY 4
Morning Nourishment
Col. 1:13 “Who delivered us out of the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.”
Matt. 8:9 “For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my slave, Do this, and he does it.”
When we stand in our respective position of order, God’s authority will be made manifest in our midst; thus, we will be able to reign for God. Therefore,the authority in the church is neither self-obtained nor self-assumed, but it comes through submission. For example, the elders must not continually think of themselves as being more mature and older than others; if so, they will frequently make use of their position and title in dealing with the brothers and sisters or in their administration. They should be like Moses.Whenever anything occurs among the brothers and sisters, they must immediately fall on their faces before God, submitting to the position of order. By their submission to God’s authority, God’s authority will be with them, and they will be able to reign and rule for God over all things. (The Experience of Life, p. 351)
Today’s Reading
We must have the desire to reign. This means that we must positively and actively reign for God, ruling over all things. Once we have the position of ascension and order, we may reign. If our experience has reached this stage, we ought to reign....If one desires to reign, his spirit must not be lax or timid but willing to exercise God’s authority and positively and actively deal
with all the works of the enemy. Thus, God’s authority will immediately be manifested in the church, and many rebellious and unlawful matters in the church will be subdued.
In the church today we lack the kind of people who desire to reign.Therefore, many situations that should not exist often arise. For example, some of the fellowship and breaking of bread meetings are weak and confused. Some of the brothers and sisters should have prayed, but they did not; some should have spoken, but they withheld from speaking. On the contrary, many
unnecessary prayers and meaningless testimonies were released. The meetings thus are disturbed, and the brothers and sisters are not edified and lose heart toward meetings. This condition is mainly caused by those who should have reigned but did not reign. They have just behaved like bystanders, allowing others to act in the meetings in whatever manner they chose. They even regard such a way as being very spiritual, not by man’s doing but by the Spirit’s move.As a result, they cause the church to suffer great loss.
Whenever a meeting is dead and depressed, it means that Satan is reigning there as king. At that time, someone should rise up to reign for God, either by a word, a hymn, or a prayer to control the meeting, change the atmosphere, and release the life of God, thereby swallowing up
Satan’s death.
How we need men who are willing to rise and stand in the position of ascension and order, men who will positively and actively exercise authority for God to rule over all the confused and lawless situation and destroy the antagonistic works of the enemy!...If we want to reign, our spirit must be strong and positive. A reigning spirit must be strong and living, active and not passive, positive and not negative, diligent and not loose. One who has such a spirit not only keeps the position of order and submits to God’s authority but also has strong faith and exercises God’s authority consistently in the position of ascension. Thus, he reigns and rules over his environment,over his work, and over all the meetings and affairs in the church.
Therefore, with regard to the goal of God’s salvation, we need to reign for Him. With regard to our growth in life, we also need to reach the stage of reigning. With regard to Satan’s unlawfulness, we need even more to rise and reign....May the Lord be gracious to us! (The Experience of Life, pp. 351-354)
Further Reading: Salvation in Life in the Book of Romans, ch. 7; Living a Life according to the High Peak of God’s Revelation, ch. 2
沒有留言:
張貼留言