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Rev. 2:4-5; 3:14-16; Psa. 119:147-148; 2 Tim. 1:6a; Rom. 12:11; 1 John 1:6; 2 Cor. 13:14; Gal. 5:16; Rom. 8:4; 1 Cor. 6:17; Phil. 1:19-21; John 7:37-39
I. Loving the Lord
II. Being revived every morning
III. Living a victorious life every day
IV. Abiding in the fellowship with the Lord daily and hourly
V. Being a praying person
VI. Walking by and according to our mingled spirit
VII. Living Christ for His magnification
In this lesson we want to fellowship about having a normal daily Christian life that is in spirit and expresses Christ. The first and most important thing in a normal Christian life is loving the Lord. [If we love the Lord, we surely will be filled with Him. Whatever fills us within will come out of us. The overflow comes from the infilling. When we love the Lord, He will fill us.] Revelation chapters two and three contain seven epistles to seven churches in Asia. The first item of degradation was the loss of the first love by the Church in Ephesus (Rev. 2:4). They did many good works, but losing their first love could cause them to lose the church status if they would not repent (Rev. 2:5). Due to the loss of their first love, the churches became lukewarm, and the Lord wanted to vomit them out of His mouth (Rev. 3:14-16). Therefore, the first thing we must do is to repent by praying, “O Lord, forgive me for not loving you first, for not loving you supremely, and for not loving you hotly. Lord, I still love so many things in the world. I even love myself. O Lord, forgive me, cleanse me with Your precious blood. Lord, I want to declare to You and to the whole universe that I love You now. I love You more than anything else in the world. I do not love myself. I love only You. Fill me with your Spirit. Amen!’’ If you would pray this way, you will start to love the Lord again. Your first love will be restored and you will be filled with His Spirit.
Our Christian life begins anew every day in the morning. We [must enjoy the Lord in the Word every day early in the morning to have a new start of each day (Psa. 119:147-148). According to God’s principle in His creation, He ordained to have a new year, a new month or a new moon, and a new day. Within every year we can have three hundred sixty-five new starts. If we failed for three hundred sixty-four days, we still have one more opportunity to have a successful day. We may have failed today, but thank the Lord tomorrow is still here waiting for us. Tomorrow morning we will have another chance to have a new start. Within every twenty-four hours, there is a new chance for us to have a new start and be renewed.]
[To have a new start is not hard. It is so easy.] Have your Bible and your clothes by your bed the night before. [Just rise up a little earlier and say, “O Lord Jesus. O Lord Jesus.’’ You do not need to shout loudly to bother others. Just say, “O Lord Jesus.’’ To say this makes a big difference. Sometimes I forgot to call on the Lord immediately after I woke up. That became a big loss to me. As soon as I realized this I said, “Lord Jesus, forgive me for forgetting You.’’]
[Then we need to pray-read a short portion of the Word, anywhere from two to four verses.] We may have our own verses or use the verses provided by the church. [We can enjoy the Lord with His Word and in His Word through pray-reading. We should do this every day in the morning to have a good, new start. We can speak the Word to ourselves, to the Lord, and even to the angels. We can speak the word to our pets and even to our furniture. When we speak the word in such a way, we will be the first ones nourished by our speaking.] It is helpful to write down in a few words what you have enjoyed. [We do not need to spend a long time to enjoy the Lord in the Word early in the morning. Ten to fifteen minutes is sufficient to get nourished and have a good start of a new day. We need to practice this.]
We call this a “morning revival.’’ The word revival is not in the Bible. But the principle is found in 2 Timothy 1:6a, which says, “For which cause I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you.’’ Many times we cool down. Especially during the night, our spirit is not so burning. Romans 12:11 says that we should be “burning in spirit.’’ The Lord in Revelation 3:15-16 warns us against being lukewarm. Rather, we should be hot. Therefore, every morning we must start with a “morning revival’’ by fanning our spirit into flame so that we may be burning in spirit and hotly in love with the Lord. Without this new beginning every morning, we cannot have a proper Christian life during the day.
Then we need to live a victorious life to overcome sin, to overcome the world, to overcome ourselves, to overcome our flesh, to overcome our disobedience to our parents, and even to overcome our quarreling with our siblings. After you have a wonderful time being revived in the morning, do not stop there. Continue to live in spirit. When you see your parents and siblings, do not murmur or quarrel; fellowship with them what you see in the word and what light you receive from the Lord. If they say anything that may offend you, call on the Lord inwardly and even thank the Lord for the situation. By this way you will live a victorious life.
[We also must abide in the fellowship with the Lord daily and hourly (1 John 1:6; 2 Cor. 13:14). Even the angels should be able to testify that we are in the fellowship with the Lord. We should not be away from Him but present in His fellowship. There should be no absence in our fellowship with the Lord. Daily and even hourly we need to be such persons. If I were not such a person, it would be hard for me to speak in the Lord’s ministry. My speaking depends upon my continual and present fellowship with the Lord. Why can we not speak in the meetings? Maybe we have been absent from the Lord’s fellowship for three days because we had a quarrel with our] sibling or our friend. [Because of this quarrel, we have been put away from the Lord’s fellowship. If we are going to speak for the Lord, we have to recover our fellowship with Him by confessing our sin and by making an apology to our] sibling or our friend. [We must remain, abide, in the constant and continual fellowship with the Lord. This is a strong demand.]
[We must also be praying persons. We should pray unceasingly all the day long. This means that we have to call on His name. We need to call, “O Lord.’’ Do not think that such a short calling means nothing. It means a lot. While we are] in school or doing house chores at home, [we can call, “O Lord Jesus.’’ Such a short calling means a lot to our Christian life. By calling on the name of the Lord, we can pray unceasingly.] For us to live a normal Christian life we must be praying persons.
[We also must learn to walk by and according to our spirit mingled with the Spirit (Gal. 5:16; Rom. 8:4). Praise the Lord that we have a spirit and that our spirit is mingled with the divine Spirit! What a provision! Our God has created us with a spirit and has even regenerated our spirit. Immediately after regenerating us, He stays with us as the Spirit to be one with us and even to mingle Himself with us as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). Now we have such a mingled spirit. After having a good start in the morning, we should continue to walk, to live, to do everything by this mingled spirit and with this mingled spirit all day long. We must learn to practice this.]
Many young people cannot avoid having problems with their siblings. Very few can avoid these problems because they are so close, and they know each other so well. [They feel that they do not need to be careful, so there are always chances for them to get into the self or the flesh. These chances are snares and traps to get you. Many times, Satan would send your] sibling [to tempt you. He or she may say a hard word to you or give you a long face. But at that time we have to learn how to walk, how to behave, how to have our being and living by the Spirit. Do not talk to your] sibling [by yourself. Talk to your] sibling [with the mingled spirit. This is the way that you can always be ready to speak] Christ everywhere.
[We must live Christ for His magnification by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and this bountiful supply is right within us (Phil. 1:19-21; Gal. 2:20). The Lord has given us a wonderful provision. First, we have His Word in our hand. Second, we have the Holy Spirit, who is the bountiful Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, living in us, in our spirit, which has been regenerated and strengthened. We have such a provision, and we can live Christ by this divine provision. If we are such persons, we will surely have something to speak when we come to the meeting.
What kind of Christian do you want to be? Do you want to be a cold, dumb, dormant, dying, lukewarm, defeated, and backsliding one? Or do you want to be a Christian who loves the Lord and who is living, refreshing, and active. Why is Christianity not powerful? It is because most of the Christians in the denominations have been stripped of their riches. They have been annulled and even choked to death. This is why they need a religious service in which one person speaks to them. But in the Lord’s recovery it should be different. The Lord desires to recover a meeting with all the members speaking to function. But this depends upon our Christian walk. We must love the Lord.] [We must enjoy the Lord in the Word early in the morning to have a new start of each day.] [We must live a victorious life. We must abide in the fellowship with the Lord daily and hourly, and we must be praying persons. We must walk and have our being by and according to the mingled spirit, and we must live Christ. If we are such persons day after day and throughout each day, we will be ready to speak in the meetings. Something of Christ will always be bubbling out of us. The Spirit will become a flow out from our innermost being to flow out all the riches of Christ by the Spirit (John 7:37-39).]
This is a normal Christian life according to the divine, eternal, and indestructible life. We should not have a living less than this. This is normal. This is our standard. This will cause us to experience life and grow in life. This will prepare us for the proper church life and the Lord’s second coming. This will cause the Lord to give us the reward.
