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We look to the Spirit of the Lord to move freely and work particularly so that our meeting will be filled with Him. We do not want to have set practices. Rather, we are willing to hand everything over to the Holy Spirit, who is among us and is moving in all of us, that we may have the inspiration to pray, to testify, to release the Lord’s word, or to admonish. We give all this over to the authority of the Holy Spirit. However, we also ask the Lord to restrict man’s activities so that we can live under the Holy Spirit’s authority and give the Holy Spirit absolute freedom. Perhaps a brother who is a co-worker will be inspired to testify, release the Lord’s word, or give us some fellowship in the matter of following the Lord. We are all willing to look to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
In our gathering at this time we do not want to encourage any of you to do something, nor do we want to propose something. Rather, we have a burden before the Lord and desire to come before God with all the saints to wait and fellowship together. We do not know what the Lord desires to do or will do in this time of waiting and fellowship, but we are willing to open ourselves unconditionally to the Lord and give Him a free opportunity to do what He desires to do. Perhaps He wants to touch us inwardly one by one, turn us over one by one, or break us one by one, subduing us so that we will have a thorough dealing and consecration. This would be the best, and this is our greatest desire.
Perhaps the Lord desires to do an unprecedented work of revival in the church in Manila and gain the brothers and sisters here in a thorough, penetrating, full, and powerful way. Perhaps He desires to entrust us with the burden of spreading the work so that we will spread His gospel in every part of the Philippines. Perhaps He desires to give us an even broader commission to spread His work in every country and region of Southeast Asia. Whatever He desires to do is what we are hoping for and willing to receive. Hence, we have not made any decisions and are willing to humbly bow and wait before the Lord.
As those who belong to the Lord, we have received His salvation and have His life and His Spirit in us. Therefore, we should give the Lord sufficient opportunity to move so that He can work more in us. Hence, from this meeting on, we should all wait before the Lord and look to Him, opening ourselves to Him and telling Him, “O Lord, when You spread Your work, please also bring me on. When You move on, please do not leave me behind. Lord, may You bring me on as well.” We should all have this desire; this should be our constant prayer.
We do not want to give you too many messages, and hopefully you are not expecting to hear many messages. We should all come before God together, looking to the Lord, waiting for the Lord, giving the Lord the opportunity to move among us and have a way in us. We do not have any set goals, much less any agenda. We are simply looking to the Lord to manifest His desire and have His own way among us to attain the goal that He wants to attain. We do not know what the Lord intends to do; we have no assurance of how much He intends to do, nor do we have any idea which brothers He will actually gain. We only desire to come together with the brothers and sisters, looking to the Lord, waiting for the Lord, giving Him the opportunity, and letting Him work so that He may speak freely, take the way He desires to take, and gain what He needs to gain so that His desire may be carried out through us.
Recently, the Lord has shown us a principle concerning man’s unique status in the universe. We have clearly seen that for God’s plan in eternity past to become His accomplished goal in eternity future, it must pass through man. Man is the bridge between the two eternities. For God to walk from eternity past to eternity future, He must pass through man. Man is the way and the bridge. If God can go smoothly on this path and this bridge, God can go on His way quickly, God’s purpose can be accomplished early, and the day of the Lord and the kingdom of God can come soon. Conversely, if God encounters problems and obstacles on this bridge and cannot have His way in man, He will be brought to a halt, will be stopped, and will not be able to go on. God will have to wait. He will have to wait not for Himself to work, not for Himself to move, but for man to answer His call, to be touched, and to agree with Him and open the way for Him.
The Bible has given us this light. Before His ascension the Lord told us clearly to go into all the world and proclaim the gospel (Mark 16:15). Furthermore, the Lord prophesied, “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole inhabited earth for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:14). This shows that the coming of the end is the coming of the Lord’s kingdom, which depends on whether or not the gospel has been preached in the whole inhabited earth. If the gospel is preached in the whole inhabited earth, the end will come, and the Lord’s kingdom will come. When the Lord ascended two thousand years ago, He wanted the disciples to preach the gospel in the whole inhabited earth (Acts 1:8). Would the Lord not want us to preach the gospel in the whole inhabited earth within ten years? Would the Lord not want us to preach the gospel in the whole inhabited earth in this century? I believe that we all would say that the Lord is desirous and willing. However, although twenty centuries have passed, until today the gospel has not been preached in the whole inhabited earth. Why is this? If the Lord is willing, why has the gospel not been preached in the whole inhabited earth? It is because the Lord cannot find a way, a bridge, on earth; He cannot find a channel for the gospel.
Man is the Lord’s way, the Lord’s bridge. The Lord has no way to go on today because no one is willing to be the Lord’s bridge, the Lord’s way. In Acts 10 the Lord sent an angel to tell Cornelius to invite Peter to preach the gospel to him (vv. 3-5). Here we must consider that if the Lord could ask an angel to speak this word to Cornelius, could He not have sent an angel to preach the gospel to Cornelius directly? Why did the Lord need to go through such trouble as to contact Peter? He only needed to tell an angel to announce some part of the gospel to Cornelius. Any part of the good news would have been acceptable; it would not have mattered. However, the Lord did not do this. Why not?
In His purpose God has established a very formidable rule. It is a great matter in the universe that God’s eternal plan is not accomplished through angels. God did not give this grace to angels; He did not entrust this to angels. In His plan God wanted man to be His way, His channel. God’s eternal plan must be accomplished through man. God desires to cross from eternity past to eternity future through man. Man is the way, the course. Hence, for the past two thousand years it has seemed that the Lord is not omnipotent; many times it seems that there are things He cannot do. In fact, He is limited by man. Our Lord is the One who “spoke, and it was” and who “commanded, and it stood” (Psa. 33:9). He can accomplish anything, whether small or great, in an instant. However, the preaching of the gospel throughout the world is the only thing that He has not yet been able to accomplish in the past two thousand years.
From the record in the Bible we know that God created the small earth in an instant, yet for two thousand years His gospel has had no way to be preached fully on earth. The reason for the slowness and the delay lies not with Him but with man. God is willing, but man is unwilling; God desires to move, but man would not move; God desires to spread, but man does not think it is necessary. God desires to work, but man does not have the burden; God commands, but man would not obey; God gives man the commission, but man would not accept it. Hence, for two thousand years the work of the gospel has had many starts and stops. It seems that it has started, but then it stops; it seems that it has begun running, but then it slows down again. The reason for this lies not with God but with man.
The church in Manila has been here for over twenty years, yet until this day the gospel has not gone forth from us very much. We live in the Philippines and among the Filipinos, yet we have not preached the Lord’s gospel to them. We have not only failed to preach to the local people, the Filipinos, but we have also failed to preach even to our own countrymen, the overseas Chinese. Our countrymen are everywhere, but the gospel is not everywhere. No one goes out to preach the gospel and establish churches. Is this because the Lord is not willing? Please remember, it is not the Lord but we who are unwilling. Does the Lord not desire to work? Yes, the Lord does desire to work, but He has encountered a problem, a limitation. This problem, this limitation, is man, because man will not cooperate.
God’s eternal plan, which He designed in the beginning, is to be accomplished through man. After God created man, He gave His purpose over to man’s will for man to choose and to agree with. If man agrees a little, God works a little. If man accepts a little, God accomplishes a little. If man has a little of God’s mind, God completes a little. If man moves with God a little, God advances a little. From Genesis to Revelation the entire Bible shows the principle that no one ever seeks out God; rather, it is God who seeks out man. No one chooses God; it is God who chooses man. God not only loves man, but even more, He desires to gain man. The reason God desires to gain man is that He loves man; the reason He loves man is that He desires to gain man. Why does a husband love his wife? It is because he desires to gain his wife. Why does he desire to gain his wife? It is because he loves his wife. In the universe there is a law: When God created man, He said that it is not good for man to be alone (Gen. 2:18). This means that a man must have a counterpart, a wife. However, this word is merely a type; it has a spiritual significance. It signifies that in the universe it is not good for God to be alone. God must have a counterpart, and this counterpart is man. God is seeking a counterpart, and man is the counterpart whom God seeks.
One day God became flesh, coming down to earth from heaven. What did He come for? It is not wrong to say that He came to be the Savior. John the Baptist did say, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). However, John also said, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom” (3:29). The Lord Jesus came not only to be the Savior to save sinners but even more to be the Bridegroom to marry His beloved bride. Who is His beloved bride? It is man. God loves man in the way that a man loves a woman. The sweetest feeling that God has within is when He gains man. What God loves the most is that man can be His counterpart, His companion, being of the same mind as He and walking with Him. In this way the two — man and God, God and man — can become one. Paul says that he betrothed us, the saved ones, to present us as a pure virgin to Christ (2 Cor. 11:2). We are Christ’s counterpart, and Christ desires to gain us. The Bible says that when the New Jerusalem comes in the future, the bride will have made herself ready, and the Bridegroom will marry the bride (Rev. 19:7; 21:2, 9-10). This Bridegroom is the God who created man and redeemed man. The God who created and redeemed man is the universal Bridegroom, and the bride is the man whom God created and redeemed. The man whom God created and redeemed is His bride, His counterpart.
Thus, we see how much God needs man. In the universe, God is a God who lacks nothing, yet He has the greatest lack — man. God lacks man. He lacks you and me, and He lacks every sinner. For this reason He came to work by calling, seeking, saving, leading, and guarding. He worked in many ways and in a thorough manner, and His only goal is to gain man. Here we must see clearly that God’s only lack is man; therefore, He desires to gain man. We have heard God’s voice not only in the New Testament but even in the Old Testament, when He spoke from heaven, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?” (Isa. 6:8). This word is very clear. God in heaven desires to bring His work down to earth, but He needs a channel, a way, on the earth. This channel, this way, is man. This is where man’s function lies.
Who is willing to be the Lord’s channel today? Who is willing to be His way to match Him and to be of the same mind with Him? Who is willing to move with Him and work with Him? History has proven that the Lord’s move advanced and spread any time there was a person, a few persons, or a group of people, regardless of the age, place, or ethnicity, who were gained by the Lord to be of the same mind as the Lord, to move and work with the Lord, and to desire the Lord’s purpose and work to be fulfilled. As long as there was this kind of cooperation with God, regardless of the age, place, or kind of people, God was manifested immediately, and His work, His purpose, was fulfilled to a greater extent.
This is a great principle, a great law. God needs man; He needs to gain man as His counterpart, as one who is of the same mind as He and is willing to be His co-worker. Without man it is difficult for God to move an inch. In eternity past God was omnipotent, but in time He cannot move without man. Without man, God does not and cannot do anything. Likewise, if the Lord cannot gain a group of people in the Philippines, His gospel and work will have no channel on earth. If the Lord cannot gain some people in the countries of Southeast Asia, if He cannot gain you and me, we should not expect that He will be able to do His work and have His way here. For Him to do so would violate the principle, the law, of His work. Our God is a law-abiding God, a principled God. According to His law, He gave Himself over to man. Man can either impede, limit, bind, and hinder God, or he can complement God, help Him, move with Him, be of the same mind as He, labor with Him, and be His channel, giving Him a way, even a smooth way. Everything depends on man’s attitude toward God.
Genuine salvation is not only for us to gain a little peace, some blessings, or some benefits; it is not even merely for us to reach a certain condition in the future. None of these things are the highest meaning of salvation. The highest meaning of salvation is that we become God’s counterpart, being of the same mind as He, moving with Him, and becoming His co-workers, even to the extent that we become Him and He becomes us, that is, that He enters into us and we live in Him. In this way He and we, we and He, become one. He is still God, but He has gained man; we are still human, but we have gained God. We live before Him and in Him, and at the same time He has found a way, a channel, and a bridge in us for Him to be lived out through us.
I hope that we can see that each one of us is God’s channel, God’s bridge, God’s way. If you and I do not sympathize with God and rise up to answer God’s call to follow Him, God will have no way to move. If within us God encounters a wall and cannot move on, we instantly become God’s hindrance and limitation. However, if each of us is gained by Him, responding to Him from within as His counterpart, being of the same mind as He, moving with Him, being His co-workers, and being one with Him, then through us He can do what He desires to do and gain what He desires to gain. If this is truly the case, the church in Manila will be shaken, miracles will happen, grace will be poured out, and blessing upon blessing will flow out.
As long as there is someone who is willing to be God’s channel, a channel that is connected to the heavens, God will be able to obtain a way that is connected to the heavens. Conversely, if we are all closed toward God, ignoring God, not answering God, and putting God aside, God will have no way to advance. If we listen to messages, attend meetings, pray to the Lord, and read the Word, yet we put God aside, ignore His voice, reject His demands, and cast His word behind us, God will have no way to gain a channel. If we remain in ourselves and have no relationship with God, if we belong to Him in name but not in reality and live apart from Him, we will become a hindrance and a limitation to God. Among us God will have no way to pass through. Although we are God’s children, He will not be able to find a channel among us.
To this day the principle is the same. The Lord said, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?” Yes, who is willing to rise up and answer the Lord’s call, placing himself in the Lord’s hands thoroughly and completely, without conditions, without reservations, and without choices, desiring only the Lord Himself and rejecting the world, position, and everything that is natural and worldly? If there are some, and even if there is only one, God will have a bridge, a channel, a way.
We look to the Lord to give us this grace that He may walk among us and that we may be shown mercy, so that whomever He goes to, that one will give Him a free way, and whomever He gives a demand to, that one will bow his head and say, “Lord, here am I; send me. Lord, regardless of what You want me to do, and regardless of what You want to do in me, I am willing. Lord, pass through me and gain my entire being. I have no conditions, no choices, no views of my own, and no future of my own; all I have is in You. Lord, You are my choice, my view, and my future. I desire only what You desire; I choose only what You choose; I would do only what You would do. Lord, my being here is Your being here; You are in me and I am in You; You and I are one.” This is the way to be blessed. It is a great grace and a great blessing to us. Only in this way can genuine grace and blessing be manifested. May the Lord have mercy on us to prepare our hearts that we may receive Him in such a way.
We must pray before the Lord for ourselves and for the other brothers and sisters. May the Lord gain a smooth way in us and among us in which no one will reject His grace, no one will deny Him a free way, and no one will hold Him back. Each one of us should bow down and tell the Lord, “O Lord, since it must be so, I am here. Gain me. I want You to be able to get through. Lord, concerning my life and my future, I would put the self aside. Please come in. Lord, it is You, not I. From now on, my all is in Your hands; my all is in You. I am willing to give You a way, and I know that I am Your way, Your channel. Lord, without me, You have no way and no channel. For this reason I am willing to answer Your demand.” This should be our prayer deep within.
In the Bible those who served God usually not only prayed but also fasted, and it was during these times that the Lord appeared to them. We too need to fast and pray, but it must be spontaneous, not forced. It must be according to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Whoever has the feeling to do so can fast together. You can pray either with several others or by yourself. At the same time, I hope that the elders and co-workers will bear a greater burden in this matter. Because this concerns the Lord’s gospel work in all Southeast Asia, we must be more watchful.
We look to the Lord that His Spirit will move among us in many ways, giving us a burden and the words to pray. May we all receive the burden to pray, opening our spirit to the Lord so that the Holy Spirit can find a channel. Hence, no matter who we are, if there is the inspiration, we can pray in a released way. However, our prayer must have a focus. We must ask the Lord to gain man, to revive the church in Manila, and to revive everyone here. This should be the focus of our prayer. We must ask the Lord for a genuine and thorough revival.
When we pray together, our voices must be raised, but we should not pray too long. It is sufficient to release the feeling within. At the same time, we must give the Holy Spirit absolute freedom and remove all the hindrances so that our spirit can be uplifted.
