Prayers of a brother in the Lord’s recovery

主阿，我們真感謝你，給我們能有這樣的聚集。主阿，回顧已往，一直到現在，我們真是敬拜；一切都在乎你的 憐憫；一切都是你的憐憫所作的。至於我們自己，到今天我們還是無用，還是缺乏，還是在你面前滿了虧欠。主阿，你所給我們看見的又多又高大，而我們實際進入 的，我們在你面前承認，實在是缺如。主阿，我們來到這裡，一面敬拜你，讚美你，一面也向你承認我們的虧欠，我們的失敗。主阿，你在這幾天之內，再眷顧我 們。我們仍舊是恐懼戰兢，仰望你的憐憫。在我們自己這一面，我們是毫無指望的。主阿，求你潔淨我們，膏抹我們。你也祝福我們，引導我們的交通，沒有浪費的 話語，也不浪費時間。求你扶持我們。

Oh! Lord! We really thank You for give us such gathering. Lord! Looking back unto now, we are full of worship to You; all things are at Your mercy; all things are done by Your mercy. We are still useless, lacking, and full of shortage even today. Oh, Lord! How much and how great for what you have revealed to us! But we confess before You that what we have entered in reality is still much in lack. Lord! We come here to worship and praise You, and to confess our shortages and our failures. Lord! Have mercy on us again in the coming days. We still tremble, looking up for Your mercy. Regarding ourselves, we are completely hopeless. Lord! Do clean us, anoint us, and bless us, guiding our fellowship to have to no unnecessary speaking or waste no time Please strengthen us.

主阿，每逢我們進到你的面前，像你所教的禱告一樣，我們不能忘記你的仇敵還在這裡。求主拯救我們脫離 他的試探。主阿，也叫我們實在靠你復活的大能，勝過這惡者。主阿，更求你用你得勝的寶血，遮蓋我們，為我們抵擋他的攻擊和他的攪擾。我們也求你，為著你在 地上的行動捆綁他。主阿，求你也記念我們的軟弱。我們就是軟弱的器皿；離開你，我們不能作甚麼，也沒有甚麼，也不是甚麼。我們惟有敬拜你，敬拜你是一切。 阿們。

Lord! Every time we come to Your presence, like the prayer You taught us, we can forget about Your enemy. May the Lord save us from his temptation. Lord! May Your resurrection power overcome the evil one. Moreover, may Your victorious and precious blood cover us for resisting his attacks and disturbances. We also ask You to bind him for Your move on the earth. Lord! May You also remember our weakness. We are the weak vessel; Without You, we can do nothing, have nothing, and are nothing. We can only worship You, and worship You as everything. Amen.

主阿，惟有你知道我們的需要。我們需要看見你，我們需要看見你的經綸，看見你的目標，看見你心所愛的。主 阿，我們敬拜你，我們這一面都在於你的憐憫。你憐憫誰，就憐憫誰。主阿！求你繼續憐憫我們，繼續進一步憐憫我們。主阿，你的召會在地上已經有一千九百多年 的經歷，但是光景還是這樣。主阿，求你拯救我們脫離這個宗教世代，叫我們實在能進入你經綸所要得著的境地。主阿！潔淨我們，晚上再給我們膏油。也求你的寶 血遮蓋，為我們除去一切攪擾、一切混亂。賜給我們話語，也純潔我們的話。主阿，我們敬拜你，你也毀壞你的仇敵。阿們。

Lord! Only You know our needs. We need to see You, see Your economy, see Your purpose, and see what You love. Lord! We worship You. We are all at Your mercy. Have mercy on whom You will. Lord! Please continue to have mercy on us even more. Lord! Your church has been on this earth for 19 hundred years, but the condition is still such. Lord! Please save us from this religious generation, call us into what Your economy is after. Lord! Clean us, and anoint us tonight. Cover us with Your precious blood, and remove every disturbances and chaos from us. Grant us Your speaking, and purify our speaking. Lord! We worship You, and You would destroy Your enemy. Amen!

主阿，求你開我們的眼睛，叫我們真正認識你，知道你怎樣從單獨的神經過了成肉身、過人生、釘十架、進 入了復活，而成為終極完成的神，有神性，有人性，有人生的經歷，也有死和復活的功能。主阿，你是這樣的一位。你已經成為那靈，今天住在我們裡面，在我們裡 面作特殊的工作，叫我們能成為神。主阿，求你叫我們看見，我們要這樣的看見。主阿，只有你的光能殺死我們，也只有你的光能消除我們自己一切的作為。主阿，我們需要你的憐憫；求你在我們裡面實在發光。願你今天對我們說的話，也是滿帶著亮光，叫我們不是僅僅領會、懂得；我們所需要的乃是看見。我們接受你是光， 求你再赦免我們的虧欠、錯誤、我們的不絕對、不忠心。我們真是都需要你的赦免，而且我們作了許多許多你不在其中的事，我們都需要你的赦免，也需要你的寶血 潔淨我們。我們不能靠我們自己任何的長處，和任何的正直完全。主阿，我們只能靠你的寶血蒙悅納，而活在你的交通中。我們也是靠著你的寶血勝過那控告我們的 仇敵。主阿，你的仇敵一直緊盯著我們，我們只有宣告說，我們是靠著羔羊的血勝過他。主阿，求你賜給我們有好的交通。阿們。
Lord! Please open our eyes so we may truly know You and know how You, as the individual God, went through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, entered into resurrection, and became the consummated God with divinity and humanity, with experiences of human life, and with the power of death and resurrection. Lord! You are such a One! You have became the life-giving Spirit, living in us today and carrying out Your special works in us so we may become God. Lord! Please let us see; we need such seeing. Lord! Only Your light may kill us, and only Your light may nullify all our doings. Lord! We need Your mercy; do enlighten our inner beings. May your speaking to us today be also full of light so we may not only know or understand but see. We receive You as the light. Do forgive our lackings, failures, lacking of absoluteness, and unfaithfulness again. We really need Your forgiveness, and we did many many things without You, for which also we need Your forgiveness and Your cleasing blood. We cannot rely on any of our own strength, uprightness, or perfectness. Lord! we can only be accepted by Your precious blood so to live in the fellowship with You.  We also overcame the accusoing enemy by Your precious blood. Lord! Your enemy is always looking at us. We can only proclaim that we overcome Him by the blood of the Lamb. Lord! please grant us good fellowship. Amen.

主阿，為著你的恢復，我們滿心感謝。在這世代中，你把你的恢復啟示給我們看見，也把你的恢復托付給我 們，要我們把你的恢復傳佈到全世界。主阿，因著你的憐憫，因著你的恩典，你也實在作到了這一步。主阿，只是我們覺得，直到今天我們還是有非常的虧欠，有諸 般的軟弱；我們在地上的生活行動工作，還不彀活出神人的樣子。主阿，我們求你今天晚上再開我們的眼睛，在我們的裡面給我們清楚的看見，基督身體的實際就是 神人共同的生活。哦，我們實在仰望你祝福我們，向我們說清楚的話。也求你拯救我們脫離廢話，賜給我們純淨的話，煉淨的話。阿們。
Lord! We are full of thanksgivings for Your recovery. In this age, You revealed and entrusted your recovery to us, charging us to spread Your recovery to the whole world. Lord! By Your mercy and grace, You have done this. Oh! Lord! We still feel much lacking and weak even today. Lord! Tonight we ask You to open our eyes again, giving us a clear seeing from within that the reality of the Body of Christ is the corporate living of divinity and humanity. Oh!  We look up for Your blessing and clear speaking. Do rid us from nonsense and grant us Your pure and sanctified words. Amen.

Excerpted from the book 異象的高峰 by Br. Witness Lee.

Translated during March, 2009

The spirit of Joshua and Caleb

Oh! Jehovah of the hosts!
I praise You as the Creator of heaven and earth,
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
Husband of the Israelites.
and the Source of all creation.

Oh! Lord Jesus Christ!
I praise You as Lord of all lords, King of all kings,
the firstborn of all creation,
the firstborn of the dead,
the Head and Bridegroom of the church.
All things were created and maintained in You.

Oh! Lord!
I praise that You have redeemed and gained Your people.
You have prepared a group of faithful servants for Your uses and plan.
How glorious and privileged that we may be a part of this!
Indeed, there is no greater meaning or higher purpose than this
in our earthly journey and our transient existence.

May you stir me up with the same Spirit that touched Joshua, Caleb, and Ezra
so I fight against the enemy with my brothers under Your mighty move.
Let there be no turning back or regretting
so I may fully followed Jehovah my God.
I pray that, by Your all-sufficient grace and supply,
that, as long as I live,
my being is always strengthened
for battle and for going out and coming in.

May You enlighten me with the vision that captured Paul
so I may finish this course according to Your economy.
Let me count all things to be loss and refuse
on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ
so I may gain Christ and the incorruptible crown .
I pray that, by Your divine arrangements and according to Your purpose,
all things would work together for good.

May You attract me like You attracted Peter
so I may grow from naiveness and ignorance unto life and maturity.
Let my faith be tested and proved by fire and sufferings
so it may be found unto praise, glory and honor at Your revelation.
I pray that, by Your multifarious wisdom,
I may be part of the chosen race, the royal priesthood,
the holy nation, and the people acquired for a possession,
so that I may tell and live out Your virtues.

What else can I say?
The One who called me is faithful,
who is the Author and Perfector of my faith.
He initiates all things, accomplishes all things, and gains all the glory.
Amen.

(The above prayer was inspired by Br. Chas from the church in Pleasant Hill, CA during the Northern California brothers’ meeting)

Some attributes of the body of Christ

• One life: share the same source and the divine life
• One spirit: All believers who are joined to the Lord is one spirit.
• One soul: One mind, one burden, one will, one thought, one opinion, one goal, and one hope. Joining not only in soul and but also in spirit
  
• One accord: By fellowship, the members may act and move in harmony and in one accord

• Always pray together: The members always pray together
• Always fellowship: The members always have open, intimate, and thorough fellowship
• Always coordinate: The members always depend on another, and coordinate before act

• Love one another: Love is the single most important requirement and measure of building up
• Appreciate one another: Genuine appreciation of others without jealousy is an expression of maturity
• Submit to one another: Genuine humility in body and the heavenly vision may enable the members to submit to one another

• Cross: All fleshly elements need to put to death on the cross. The building up is heavenly.
  

Some recent seeing through experiences

1. Living and walking by faith
Several old and recent experiences lead me to believe that God desires us to live, walk, and go forward by faith. Hebrews 11:1 says “Now faith is the substantiation of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” We act and judge many things by our own seeing, reasoning, and feeling. A gospel friend may demand to see God before believing. A Christian may demand concrete signs or outward arrangements to go forward. I am not saying these things are wrong, but what really pleases God is that we can act, judge, and live in all simplicity of heart and in full dependency on Him. God called Abraham out of his home and family to the promised good land by faith. God didn’t show Abraham the beauty or the riches of the good land when calling him. As a Christian, we need to learn to know God’s will, which can be generic or specific, and follow that will. The most mature Christians should be the most depending ones, taking each step only by God’s leading. Yet this faith needs to be developed, grown, or cultivated. We need to learn to turn to the Lord, know His leading, and follow that leading. In doing so, which will requires faith, we see how perfect, good, and well-pleasing His will and leadings are. As our intimacy with the Lord increases over time, so does our faith. Eventually, we may live by faith in all things and in all times.

2. Praying in submission
We all have many things to pray, whether they are about myself, my family, or other saints, whether from the Lord or ourselves. My usual habit would be praying for specific things I want or I think what the Lord wants. The former can be my job security, and the latter could be the recovery of some saints’ illness. But prayer is actually not all about asking for “things” to be accomplished but, more importantly, about the union and fellowship with the Lord. Whether by talking or by listening to Him , the key of prayer is simple to turn and stay in His presence. Recently, I had several matters to intercede with the Lord. To me, intercession is higher experience that simply asking for things to be done. It is kind like bargaining or negotiating with the Lord. I used the word bargaining because whether practically or theoretically we have nothing to negotiate God with. In reality, God is completely autonomous  and all-mighty. Intercession usually requires fellowship and interaction with the Lord so He may grant or approve my prayers based on certain conditions.
Anyway, I usually pray for certain things without listening to the Lord. But when I am desperate, I will be forced to listen to Him. Although I have done these several times, the recent lesson I learned from my experiences of intercession with the Lord is that the proper and pleasing prayer is to give everything to the Lord, not asking Him. This means that we need to listen to what the Lord says, to deny our own preferences, opinions, and self and to submit to His will and His arrangement. This is much harder that it sounds while the death of the soul is often involved. However, this kind of prayer is the desirable and pleasing to God.

3. Living Christ as the center of the New Testament
Recently I read one article from a “known” co-worker on marriage. In reading this article, I cannot help but feel that it was full or teachings and reasonings. Maybe I was wrong, but that was what I felt. Then I was stirred and enlightened to see that the core, essence, merit, preciousness of the new testament and the new covenant, in contrast to the old, is that we live by this wonderful God-Man Jesus Christ as our life, nature, grace, supply, provision, strength, comfort, wisdom, courage, endurance, power, and everything, not by the fulfillments of the laws, religions, ordinances, outward teachings, fleshly attempts, and natural strength. In a way, the new testament scripture contains the “descriptions” of what we may live out when living for, unto, and by Christ spontaneously and genuinely. In fact, although apparently simple and straightforward, the many practical items in the New Testament are not so simple but humanly impossible to do or imitate. The on;y way to live out the life described in the New Testament Scripture is by this Author, the Mediator, and the Perfector of the new covenant, Jesus Christ our Lord. We are cureless, helpless, hopeless and beyond saving before God. Our only cure, medicine, and solution is Christ and Him alone. All we can do, and all we should do is simple come to Him and abide in Him, and in this wonderful and glorious abiding, we will find strength, grace, wisdom, and all the riches to live Christ. In living Christ, we fulfill and even perfect the righteous requirements of the laws, please God, grow in life, build up together, and much more. This is the core and essence of God’s new testament economy.

I dare not to say I have learned and mastered the above seeings. But I know in heart that these please the Lord, and, by His mercy, I may be constituted with this vision.

written on CalTrain southbound 2009/3/12, 13

Abide in Christ

约翰福音-John
8:31 耶稣对信祂的犹太人说，你们若住在我的话里，就真是我的门徒；

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples;

15:4-7 你们要住在我里面，我也住在你们里面。枝子若不住在葡萄树上，自己就不能结果子，你们若不住在我里面，也是这样。我是葡萄树，你们是枝子；住在我里面的，我也住在他里面，这人就多结果子；因为离了我，你们就不能作什么。人若不住在我里面，就像枝子丢在外面枯干了，人收集起来，扔在火里烧了。你们若住在我里面，我的话也住在你们里面，凡你们所愿意的，祈求就给你们成就。

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. If one does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is dried up; and they gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.

15:9-10 我爱你们，正如父爱我一样；你们要住在我的爱里。你们若遵守我的诫命，就住在我的爱里，正如我遵守了我父的命令，住在祂的爱里。

As the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

2:24 至于你们，务要让那从起初所听见的住在你们里面；那从起初所听见的若住在你们里面，你们也就住在子里面，并住在父里面。

As for you, that which you heard from the beginning, let it abide in you. If that which you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.

约翰一书-1 John
2:27-28 你们从祂所领受的膏油涂抹，住在你们里面，并不需要人教导你们，乃有祂的膏油涂抹，在凡事上教导你们；这膏油涂抹是真实的，不是虚谎的，你们要按这膏油涂抹所教导你们的，住在祂里面。现在，孩子们，你们要住在主里面；这样，祂若显现，我们就可以坦然无惧，当祂来临的时候，也不至于蒙羞离开祂。

And as for you, the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone teach you; but as His anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, abide in Him. And now, little children, abide in Him, so that if He is manifested, we may have boldness and not be put to shame from Him at His coming.

4:13 神已将祂的灵赐给我们，在此就知道我们住在祂里面，祂也住在我们里面。

In this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, that He has given to us of His Spirit.

The intrinsic significance of baptism

Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

To believe is to believe into Christ, and to be baptized is to be baptized into Christ.

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

By both faith and baptism we have entered into Christ, having thus put on Christ and become identified with Christ. Baptism practiced in a proper, genuine, and living way puts the believers into:

• The name of the Triune God, the divine name

Matt. 28:19 Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

• Christ, a living person

Gal. 3:27 For as many of you as were abaptized into Christ have bput on Christ.

• The death of Christ, an effective death

Rom. 6:3 Or are you ignorant that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?

• The Body of Christ, a living organism

1 Cor. 12:13 For also in one Spirit we were all bbaptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit.

• An organic union not only with Christ but also with His Body.
• A new state out of their old one, terminating their old life and germinating them with the new life of Christ