2021 A Word regarding the NA Chinese-speaking Perfecting Training

In the recent semi-annual training on the crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, we were charged to coordinate with God to gain and take possession of the all-inclusive Christ as the good land (as Joshua did in type) for Christ and to provide the proper persons (like Ruth in figure) who can bring forth Christ into humanity to meet today’s need of both God and men according to the purpose of the divine economy. 

 

Immediately after the life-study training on the above-mentioned three books in the summer of 1993, Brother Lee gave two additional words of fellowship, the first of which is entitled “Remaining in Life to Bring Forth Christ,”(CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, ch. 1, p. 71) in which he further admonished us to take the way of life (as Ruth and Boaz did with their godly propriety) rather than the way of power (as Samson and Gideon did with their fleshy indulgence), paying attention not to the success of a mighty work but simply to the maintaining of the lineage to bring God into humanity for the supply of Christ to mankind. 

 

The other word of fellowship from Brother Lee is entitled “Keeping the One Accord in the Lord’s Recovery,”(CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, ch. 2, p. 75) in which he charged the co-workers and elders to be in one accord as a living practice of our oneness, to not teach differently, to be one with today’s ministry of the age, to not do a separate work apart from the one work of the Lord’s recovery, to not have any church or work in our “pocket,” to not be independently and diversely-minded but to be in one spirit with one soul, thinking the same thing, and caring only for the Lord’s interests with a clean being, motive, and intention. 

 

Intrinsically, the burden for the upcoming North America Chinese-speaking perfecting training aligns with the above speakings of the ministry. The three lines in the perfecting training are: (1) The Ten Great Critical “Ones” for the Building Up of the Body of Christ, (2) A Ministering Life (based on 2 Corinthians), and (3) Fruit-bearing—Gospel Preaching on the Highest Plane. Our sincere desire before the Lord is that the Chinese-speaking saints in the churches will genuinely know and experience Christ as life, become persons of life, and walk on the constricted way of life, which is the unique way in God’s economy. Fruit-bearing is the issue of the fullness and responsibility in life, a ministering life is the expression of dealings and transformation in life, and one accord is the result and goal of the fellowship and blending in life for the building up of the Body of Christ. 

 

It is by paying attention to the Triune God as life and living the life of a God-man by the Spirit of life, not by depending on the Spirit of power, that we can do these things, that is, to ultimately produce and minister Christ to meet today’s need of God and men . Brother Lee said, “Today in the Lord’s recovery we do not take the way of the judges to be powerful and to do a great work. For someone to claim that he has gained a whole continent for the Lord means nothing if he is a Samson, a Gideon…None of the judges became a forefather of Christ. The judges had nothing to do with preserving the line of humanity to bring in God in His incarnation. Rather, it was a couple, Ruth and Boaz, who did this…In the past I encouraged the saints to gain the increase, but I did not intend that anyone do it as a Samson or a Gideon by not caring for life. It would be better not to have the increase, to seem to be powerless and without the success of a work, yet to be the lineage that brings Christ from eternity into time.” (CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, p. 74)

 

The Life-study of the three books was conducted between the first two series of the vital group trainings (August 1992 through April 1993 and September through December 1993) Brother Lee was desperately burdened for the vitality of the saints in the churches. Hence, he said, “To be a normal Christian, to be one of today’s overcomer’s, to answer the Lord’s present calling, and to meet the Lord’s present need in His recovery, it is altogether not sufficient to just be a so-called good brother or good sister, attending the church meetings regularly, behaving rightly, and living a life that is somewhat perfect in the eyes of men. We need to be one with God in His history, moving and energizing in His living overcomers, in life, in living, and in our entire being today on this earth! We need to write God’s today’s history! We need to March on as one with the energizing God! In Him! With Him! By Him! And for Him! We need to be vital! Living! And active! We need to be today’s Joshuas and Calebs to take possession of God’s promised land for Christ that we may become His possession! We need to be today’s Ruths to turn to God’s economy, to enter into the land of Immanuel, and to marry ourselves to Christ that we may bring forth Christ to meet men’s need today.”(Life-Study of Joshua, Judges & Ruth, Chapter 1, Section 1) After twenty-eight years, what a timely call this still is to all of us today!

 

For this we must trust only in God’s presence and counsel, taking Him as our Husband and Leader. As God commanded Joshua, “Be strong and take courage; do not be afraid or dismayed. For Jehovah your God is with you wherever you go” (Josh. 1:9). We must not let His word depart from our mouth, but rather let it inhabit us richly by musing on it and by saying Amen to it all the time (v. 8; Col. 3:16; Neh. 8:6). His living and indwelling word will be the source of our strength and success in taking God’s promised land for Christ, to disciple the nations for His kingdom on earth, and to become the dispensational agents to usher in Christ’s second coming to end this age! 

 

Furthermore, if we are to possess the good land for God’s purpose, we have to engage in spiritual warfare to defeat Satan’s aerial forces of his dark kingdom. By prayer and praise let us follow Christ as the Captain of God’s army to fight against the principalities and powers in the heavens (Eph. 6:12). Let us believe in God, submit to Christ our Head, and follow His commands fully, while relinquishing our own opinions and thoughts. With Christ our Captain in the lead, victory will be ours. 

 

May we all be burdened to enter into the ministry of intercession in these days—before, during, and after the upcoming perfecting training—for the saints who will participate in this event. May the Lord do far above all that we can ask or think in the innermost being of every brother and sister, to gain each one of them to be part of today’s corporate Joshua and Caleb to possess Christ and be part of today’s corporate Ruth and Boaz to produce Christ, all for the sake of God’s consummate move on the earth through His recovery for the accomplishment of His glorious purpose.

 

Finally, notwithstanding the Lord's encouragement to us that so many seeking saints will be joining this coming training, let us not merely focus on the outward attendance and atmosphere but on those things that are central to the recovery for the building up of the Body of Christ: that is, the one Bible with its one revelation; the one God with His one economy; the one unsearchable Christ; the one Spirit with His one application; the one eternal life as our one element; the one salvation of God; the one kind of living to manifest Christ; the one testimony for one divine expression; the one Body, the one universal divine-human organism; and one city, the New Jerusalem, as the one consummation of God’s eternal economy.