Hearing Lets Us Know; Exercise Lets Us Live It Out

Verses to pray-read today

1 Tim. 4:7

But the profane and old-womanish myths refuse, and exercise yourself unto godliness.

1 Tim. 4:8

For bodily exercise is profitable for a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the present life and of that which is to come.

1 Tim. 4:9

Faithful is the word and worthy of all acceptance.

Matt. 7:20

So then, by their fruits you will recognize them.

Matt. 7:21

Not every one who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but he who does the will of My Father who is in the heavens.

Matt. 7:24

Every one therefore who hears these words of Mine and does them shall be likened to a prudent man who built his house upon the rock.

James 1:22

And become doers of the word and not hearers only, who delude themselves.

James 1:23

Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, this one is like a man considering in a mirror the face he was born with;

James 1:24

For he considers himself and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he is.

Today’s burden

Lord, the revelation You have given us has reached its high peak, and an ultimate goal has been set before every one in Your recovery. But Lord, we do not want these to be merely a high peak of doctrine. Lord, keep us from standing still and from merely holding on to what we already have; make us cooperate with You every day, so that the high-peak revelation enters into our practice and our living. Lord, cause everyone to join the vision and the practice together; the bridge between them is exercise! We confess that hearing the word lets us know, but only exercise lets us gain it and live it out. Lord, may all the high-peak truths we have seen not merely remain within us but be applied to us and lived out in the church life, in our family life, and at work.

Lord, show us that among all the exercises, the highest, the one that will even bring You back, is the vital groups! Lord, we treasure this overcoming way, the way to build up Zion. Lord, without the vital groups the high peak of revelation cannot become our reality; without the vital groups we cannot live the highest God-man living. Lord, have mercy on us, that through the vital groups we would reach the high peak of practice, the full building up of the Body of Christ. Lord, we are willing to cooperate with You, to exercise together with our vital companions, and to go on together until it is completed.

Lord, we want to cooperate with the burning and moving seven Spirits. The seven Spirits are here to complete the building up of the reality of the Body and to produce overcomers in groups. Lord, bless the exercise of the vital groups, which is to bless the exercise of becoming today’s Zion, living out and working out the New Jerusalem. Lord, may the intensified burning of the seven Spirits reach all the churches, into every vital small group and every vital group, burning away our old shell, all the wood, grass, and stubble, and all our routine, so that we may fully take the new way, this living way of life. Lord, in this burning, we repent thoroughly again and are revived, letting You alone gain a testimony in us.

Lord, bless this vital way, the way of life, the way of the cross, of passing through death and resurrection, the way of exercising every day for the Spirit to mingle with our spirit, the way of living out the God-man life and the reality of the Body. Oh Lord, not to exercise is Laodicea, a pool of stagnant water. Lord, cause those who exercise in the vital groups to go out quite naturally to preach the gospel, bear fruit, contact people, shepherd people, and build up the house of God, until the Body of Christ is built up. Lord, may this organic model be established throughout the earth, reaching the greatest revival in history to welcome You.

Lord Jesus, we long for You to come back soon. Lord, make the vital groups prevail throughout the earth, to bring in the greatest revival for Your return. Lord, under all kinds of disturbances, some brothers and sisters could not complete their past exercise, but today we firmly believe that if only we are steadfast and keep on, exercising together and living together, we will have a part in Your coming back! Lord Jesus, may all Your churches and all the brothers and sisters share together in this last stage in the high-peak truths, the God-man living, and the vital exercise of shepherding according to God. Lord, bless Your brothers and sisters, bless all Your churches throughout the earth, and may this exercise of life spread like fire until You return! Amen.

Fellowship from the ministry

The vision the Lord has shown us in His word can be said to have reached the high peak of the vision; it cannot go higher

God’s economy, consummated in the New Jerusalem, is the vision the Lord has shown us in His word, and it is what we have been speaking for decades. With the Chinese-speaking conference at the Lunar New Year last year, it can be said to have reached the high peak of the vision; it cannot go higher. For Revelation has no chapter 23, and after Revelation there is no other book. Chapter 22 says that nothing may be added to this book and nothing taken away from it (vv. 18-19); God’s revelation has been completed.

(The Governing and Controlling Vision in the Bible, message 3)

The overcomers are those who have been exercised to live a proper life

Doing something regularly exercises us and makes us overcomers. The overcomers are those who have been exercised to live a proper life.

(Experiencing Christ in Our Spirit for the Church Life, chapter 5: The Regulation of the Inner Law of Life)

If you would be godly, letting God be manifested in your flesh, you must exercise

To grow in life without exercising is still not enough. … If you would be godly, letting God be manifested in your flesh, you must exercise. … The epistles the apostle Paul wrote early on, such as Romans and First and Second Corinthians, stress spiritual theory. But in his old age, when he wrote First and Second Timothy, they were mostly about application and experience. He no longer spoke much theory; he entirely put people under training.

(Experiencing Christ as the Portion of the Saints, message 4)

Exercising unto the New Jerusalem

What Jude 19 through 21 speaks of is joining our exercise of the spirit to the New Jerusalem. When we exercise our spirit, we are joined to the Triune God, and eventually we will reach the New Jerusalem. … In “unto eternal life,” “unto” also means “becoming”; that is, we are to become the totality of eternal life, the New Jerusalem. We are not people without a spirit; when we exercise our spirit, we enjoy the entire Triune God, and eventually we can become the totality of eternal life, the New Jerusalem. So we all need to be stirred up in our spirit to be those who exercise the spirit.

(Crystallization-study of the Minor Prophets, message 12)

The vital groups will consummate the building up of the local churches and bring in the New Jerusalem, consummated in eternity

The Lord’s recovery is to build up Zion; the overcomers, the vital groups, are today’s Zion. Today, in the church age, the perfected and matured God-men are Zion, the overcomers, the vital groups in the church.

(2022 Summer Training, message 10)

The overcomers as today’s Zion are for the consummation of the holy city (the church). They will consummate the building up of the local churches and bring in the New Jerusalem, consummated in eternity.

(The Training and Practice of the Vital Groups, message 1)

The corporate living of the God-men is the reality of the Body of Christ

The reality of the Body of Christ is the corporate living of the perfected God-men. They are genuine men, yet they do not live by their own life but by the life of the processed God, and the attributes of the processed God are expressed through their virtues. Those who touch God’s heart and are overcomers in God’s eyes are those who live in the Body and practice the Body life (Eph. 4:1-6). This corporate living of the God-men is the reality of the Body of Christ, which will end this age and bring Christ back to take, possess, and rule over the earth with these God-men in the kingdom age (Rev. 11:15; 20:6).

(2002 Memorial Day Conference, message 1)

Today we urgently need ourselves and our churches to become such a model, bringing in the true revival

This is what we need now. I do not believe that we need further revelation. What we have seen is enough. What we urgently need today is to practice living a life that belongs to the God-men, who are the constituents of God’s economy. … All the elders and co-workers should pursue this reality, so that the Lord can make them a model, a model of living in God’s economy. Then they and their churches will become such a model. This is what I mean in my prayer by the true revival.

First become a model yourself: “Where is there such a church?”

You elders should take the lead to exercise and practice these things. First become a model yourself; then your intimate practice with the Lord will influence the saints in the church where you are. … After about a year, your church will become a model. When we tell people about the vision we have seen, they will say, “Where is there such a church?” Then we can say, “I will take you to a place where you can see that model.”

(Living a Life according to the High Peak of God’s Revelation, message 4)

That this ministry may be carried out on earth

Since His ascension, the Lord has been ministering in the heavens. But for this ministry to be carried out on earth, we on our side need to cooperate with Him. Although twenty centuries have almost passed, not much of it has been carried out on earth. So at the close of this age, we urgently need to cooperate with the Lord’s ministry.

(The Heavenly Ministry of Christ, chapter 5)

We need to pray and consult together often: Lord, how can all the brothers and sisters be raised up?

Brothers, at the beginning it is indeed difficult. But you must see the vision accurately and clearly. What is the church? The church needs the church to preach the gospel; the church needs the church to serve. So the responsible brothers and the responsible sisters need to come together often to pray and consult: Lord, how can all the brothers and sisters be raised up? Our way is here: it is not that you keep doing everything with your own hands, but that you get them to do it. Anything that you do and they do not do will not work. I must do it in order to get them to do it; my doing is right only when it leads them out to do it. They need to be busy; we must put them in one by one and arrange things until every one preaches the gospel and every one serves. Only then will you know that this way is the right way.

(Church Affairs, message 4)

The ministry excerpts and book titles on this page are translated from the Chinese.