Wake Up and Rise Up to Produce the Overcomers

Today’s Main Verses for Pray-reading

To the one who overcomes, the Lord will give the tree of life

Revelation 2:7

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.

The one who overcomes will by no means be hurt by the second death

Revelation 2:11

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall by no means be hurt by the second death.

The one who overcomes will receive the hidden manna and a white stone

Revelation 2:17

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna, and to him I will give a white stone, and upon the stone a new name written, which no one knows except him who receives it.

The one who overcomes will receive authority over the nations

Revelation 2:26–29

And he who overcomes and he who keeps My works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations;
And he will shepherd them with an iron rod, as vessels of pottery are broken in pieces, as I also have received from My Father;
And to him I will give the morning star.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

The one who overcomes will be clothed in white and will not have his name erased from the book of life

Revelation 3:5–6

He who overcomes will be clothed thus, in white garments, and I shall by no means erase his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

The one who overcomes will be made a pillar in God’s temple

Revelation 3:12–13

He who overcomes, him I will make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall by no means go out anymore, and I will write upon him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which descends out of heaven from My God, and My new name.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

The one who overcomes will sit with the Lord on His throne

Revelation 3:21

He who overcomes, to him I will give to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat with My Father on His throne.

Those leading the saints watch over their souls as those who will render an account

Hebrews 13:17a

Obey the ones leading you and submit to them, for they watch over your souls as those who will render an account, that they may do this with joy and not groaning; for this would be unprofitable to you.

Today’s Prayer Burden

About 1,936 years ago, the Spirit called the churches seven times to overcome in order to produce the overcomers. If the church cannot produce overcomers, it has missed its goal. If those who lead do not watch over the souls of the saints as those who will render an account, their leading can become routine. Lord, kindle in the depths of our being a glorious sense of urgency. Bring every church, meeting hall, and district into a time of intensification, with all practicing the vital groups. May everyone have hope and become an overcomer for the building up of the Body. If we do not speak of overcoming or feel the need to overcome, considering it too distant and difficult, we may have been drugged. Lord, wake us up and raise us up!

Today’s Prayer

The Lord’s recovery is to build up Zion; the church must produce overcomers

Lord Jesus, open our eyes to see that the goal of Your recovery is to build up Zion, produce overcomers, and complete the building up of the Body of Christ. Lord, without Zion, Jerusalem cannot be maintained; without the overcomers, the church loses its high peak. We do not want meetings without overcomers, truth without vital persons, or the outward shell of the church without the reality of the Body. May You, as the sevenfold intensified Spirit, blow into every church, meeting hall, and district. Save us from being satisfied merely to maintain the church; make us urgent to produce overcomers. Lord, the vital groups are today’s Zion in the church life. Gain one vital group after another, and raise up companies of overcomers to be the high peak of the building up of Your Body.

The new way is for everyone to overcome, not only a few

Lord Jesus, remove from us and from the churches the concept that overcoming is too difficult, too far away, or possible only for a few. You call people to overcome, and You supply them to overcome. The new way ordained by You is for everyone to live an overcoming life. Do not let the saints merely listen to messages, attend meetings, and receive care. Raise everyone up to live Christ, preach the gospel, speak the truth, shepherd people, and function day by day. Show us that the new way is not an additional activity but a way to bring everyone into an overcoming life. The vital groups are not an exercise for a small number; they are an organic way for every ordinary saint to become an overcomer. Lord, begin with us today—with ourselves and with two or three others. May everyone exercise, overcome, and become a living member of You.

Wake up and rise up; build up the Body through the vital groups

Lord Jesus, we will all stand before You to render an account. Save us from a drugged, routine church life that costs us nothing. May those who lead not merely maintain meetings, but watch over the souls of the saints; may they care not only for the condition of the church but also for whether each saint can overcome. Kindle in the depths of our being a glorious sense of urgency. Without overcomers there is no Zion; without the reality of the vital groups, the organic building up of the Body is lacking. Intensify us sevenfold, making the high peak of the truth our constitution, the corporate God-man living our reality, and shepherding according to God our practice. Make each vital group a reality of Zion and each company of overcomers a builder of the Body. Lord, wake us up and raise us up! Do not let us meet You empty-handed. Make us overcomers who also perfect others to overcome, prepare the bride, and welcome Your return. Amen.

Ministry Fellowship

1. We will all stand before the Lord to render an account

Matthew 24 and 25 show us that one day we will all stand before the Lord and render an account item by item. I admit that my responsibility is greater. I also must stand before Him and render an account, but I cannot render an account for you. I thank and praise the Lord that you have risen up to receive my leading, and I worship the Lord for you. But you must be clear that you are not following me; you are following the vision that brings God’s economy to its ultimate completion, and you must practice the Lord’s word and spread the gospel.

(Witness Lee, The Vision of the Age, message 3.)

2. The Lord’s recovery is to build up Zion, the vital groups in the church

We must realize what the Lord’s recovery is. The Lord’s recovery is to build up Zion. In the church age, the perfected and matured God-men are Zion—the overcomers and the vital groups in the church. Those who live this kind of life are the overcomers in today’s dark age, the vital persons in the vital groups. Revelation 14 speaks of the overcomers standing with Christ the Lamb on Mount Zion in the heavens. The overcomers in the vital groups are the high peak among the believers; they are today’s Zion.

(The Practical Points concerning Blending, ch. 5; The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994–1997, vol. 1.)

3. The time of intensification is a time to produce overcomers

For the Body to be made complete and full, there is the need of the third stage of Christ, the stage of intensification, in which Christ becomes the sevenfold intensified Spirit. I am burdened to carry out the work in this stage. I pray to the Lord, “Lord, I am striving to do my best to be an overcomer, to build up Your Body, and to consummate the New Jerusalem.”

(The Three Stages of Christ—Incarnation, Inclusion, and Intensification.)

4. The time of intensification is the time to complete the building

The foundation is the work in the stage of incarnation; the building is the work in the stage of inclusion; and the completion of the building is the work in the stage of intensification.

5. We must go on from inclusion to intensification

I would ask you to consider the matter of intensification and pray urgently: “Lord, I must go on. I need Your grace to bring me on. I do not want to remain in the work of incarnation, or even in the work of inclusion. I want to go on from inclusion to intensification. Lord, You have been intensified sevenfold. I pray that I also will be intensified sevenfold to overcome the degradation of the church, so that Your Body may be built up and the New Jerusalem consummated.”

(The Three Stages of Christ—Incarnation, Inclusion, and Intensification, ch. 2.)

6. Enter into the high peak and condensed ministry released in Witness Lee’s final years

He felt that what he had ministered before 1994 was not sufficient to prepare the bride. We must be wholly and absolutely for the Lord and His present recovery, accepting His absolute requirement concerning the recovery today. We must enter a new age. What is this new age? We can see that the words released in the final years of Witness Lee’s ministry, from 1994 to 1997, were the most important years of his ministry. They were the summation and concentrated high peak of his lifetime of ministry, bringing us to the high peak of the divine revelation. This enables us to live the corporate God-man living, shepherd according to God corporately, and be one with the Lord in His heavenly ministry in the vital groups, preparing us to be His bride and bring Him back. He said that we must enter this new age in whatever we do; if we do not, we will be of no use and will amount to nothing.

(2007 Memorial Day Conference, The Lord’s Present Need in His Recovery, message 6, transcript.)

7. The new way is for people to overcome

What is the new way? The new way is for people to overcome. If we do not overcome, we cannot take the new way; if we do not take the new way, we cannot overcome. The new way cannot be faked or performed like a circus. The new-format meetings are meetings that require people to overcome; we must live an overcoming life. Once we overcome, preaching the gospel and doing anything else will not be a problem.

(To Rebuild the Temple, We Must Keep Pace with the Age, message 12.)

8. If all live according to the new way, all can be overcomers

In the churches of the Lord’s recovery, we should be shining stars, living Christ, preaching the gospel, speaking the truth, and meeting with people every day. This should be our living. Whether young or old, great or small, if we all live this way, I believe all will be overcomers.

(The Training and the Practice of Bearing Remaining Fruit, message 10.)

9. Overcoming through begetting, nourishing, perfecting, and building

When the Lord returns, we will all stand before Him. He will ask how many we have begotten, nourished, perfected, and prophesied. According to Matthew 25:14–30, all the Lord’s slaves received one, two, or five talents from Him, and all must render an account before Him. We must live Christ, be truly for His recovery, and seriously build up the Lord’s Body. If we do this, we will surely endeavor to practice the four major items of the God-ordained way. If we remain in our present condition, however, we will delay the Lord and set a poor example for the new ones. We must see that God wants an organism, produced and built up through our begetting, nourishing, perfecting, and prophesying.

(The Practice of the Church Life according to the God-ordained Way, message 13.)

10. Without overcomers, the church life cannot be maintained

Without Zion, the overcomers, Jerusalem, the church life, cannot be preserved and maintained. A local church must have some overcomers. They are the high peak and center of that local church, its uplifting, strengthening, enriching, and reality. If these overcomers are taken away from a local church, it becomes like a deflated tire.

(The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1993, vol. 2, part A.)

11. Without practicing the God-ordained way, we remain in a routine church life

If we do not practice the God-ordained way, we will remain in a routine church life. Because we continually receive the Lord’s grace, we may not indulge in worldly entertainment or stop attending the church meetings, yet we may still practice the church life and attend meetings routinely. A routine church life does not require us to pay a price.

(The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1993, vol. 1, part A.)

12. Grow rapidly in life

Life, truth, service, the gospel, and the spread of the gospel go together. We should not say that because we are shallow and young in life, we should focus only on life. If we do this, even after three, four, or five years we will not have much growth in life. But if we care not only for life but also for the truth, the church meetings and service, and the gospel, we will grow rapidly in life. Just as physical life has different needs, our spiritual life needs different aspects of supply. To be healthy physically, we need food, clothing, shelter, and hygiene; we cannot take care of only one. The same is true of our spiritual life. Life, truth, service, preaching the gospel, and spreading the gospel are all basic needs.

(Serving in the Meetings and in the Gospel, ch. 5, “The Ten Ways to Preach the Gospel.”)

13. When we meet the Lord, each of us will have an account of the gospel

Sooner or later, we will meet the Lord, and there will be an account to render. When that account is opened, we may say, “Lord, I served You diligently. I attended the church meetings faithfully and was responsible for the children’s service in one district.” But at least we can say that the Bible does not tell us these things will be on that account. We may add, “Whenever the church had a need, I gave myself; when the church built a meeting hall, I even offered money.” That is good, but the Bible does not say this will be on that account either.

(Brother Yu, “The Gospel Debt and the Shrewd Steward,” a gospel burden fellowship to the Hong Kong business community, 2014.)

14. The church should meet the genuine spiritual need of every brother and sister

What is a spiritual requirement? It is the requirement for the brothers and sisters to rise up to serve the Lord. We must never let a brother have such a need before God while the church is unable to meet it. What is the church? The church is able to meet the genuine need in the spirit of every brother and sister. Elders should continually consider this matter, bringing the whole church before God and bearing the brothers and sisters before Him. Today we need the whole church to serve. God’s requirement is great; He wants us to leave everything to serve.

(The Adequate Leading in the Lord’s Recovery, message 23.)

15. The Lord will return to settle accounts with us; do not be drugged

The Lord’s word tells us that He will return and even warns us to be prepared to meet Him. He will return to settle accounts with us. We must tell Him what we have done and what we have gained for Him. This is why Matthew is a weighty book. If you do not feel the weight of Matthew 24 and 25, perhaps you have been deeply drugged.

By the Lord’s mercy, I have spoken to many of you for years. I have a burden for you all and a genuine loving concern. You have spent time again and again in the ministry meetings and in the meetings of the church in your locality, but are you watchful? Are you still watchful? Were you watchful yesterday and today? If you are not watchful from day to day, do you think that you will be all right when Christ comes? You may use others as an excuse and talk about the elders or the condition of the church, but what about you? No wonder the last book of the Bible, Revelation, is a book calling for overcomers. We all must overcome the degradation among Christians today, and this includes us. So I say again: Wake up and rise up!

(The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1985, vol. 5, part A.)