Christ is never bothered

Serving the Lord is not so easy for being a member of the Body means that you are with other members of the Body. The tricky part here is not every member is the same as the other. Some compliment. Some have friction. Despite the peculiarities among the members, God would also not like it to see a member serving Him alone and apart from the other members.

Just like in our body, seeing is the function of the eye. But when we see things, it is not only the eye that is functioning. The eyes coordinate with nerves, with muscles, with the brain, etc. We in the Body have different functions but it doesn’t mean we can function independently.

And when we are in the service already, we will eventually be exposed to one another, to our fellow serving ones. We start getting frustrated with others. Others get frustrated with us. But we need to see the Christ in us is the unbothered One. He is never frustrated with us. He is the most patient One I know. He patiently waits for us to open to Him that He may work in us. We get frustrated because we are in ourselves. But I am reminded that all the frustrations I feel in serving the Lord is just because of the lack of living Christ and taking Him as my person.

You can listen to the podcast through the link provided for further supply.

How Can I Be Saved from Being Frustrated with Another Serving One’s Disposition?

Blending is the Body

…Our comely members have no need. But God has blended the body together, giving more abundant honor to the member that lacked.

1 Corinthians 12:24

The word blended also means “adjusted,” “harmonized,” “tempered,” and “mingled.” I was so enlightened that in the Body, we are many members. And since we are many, we are blended by God to become His unique, organic Body. This includes being adjusted and tempered. Just like the one bread in 1 Corinthians 10:17, we are also being made into “one bread.” In baking, the baker doesn’t just mix the ingredients. The baker needs to sift them, to blend them until the distinctions disappear and you will just see the one dough. In the Body, it is the same. Since we are many, we also have a lot of differences, distinctions and peculiarities. And most of the time, we love ourselves too much and we like being unique. We love being different from others. This is why when the Lord tries to build us up into the Body, we feel hurt and sometimes, we try to escape. This is because we have not seen the vision of Body much and we still love ourselves too much. We feel violated and offended. Then we dwell on our feelings. Then we would feel bad about the saints, about the church. Thus, we miss the building. We miss the Body. But in 1 Corinthians 12:24, it is not us who blend the Body. It is not the brothers and sisters. It is God who blends us together. He is the Baker. He is the One crushing us to pieces so that we could be blended perfectly into one.

In a communal living with the saints, the Lord really makes the building and the Body-life so practical to us. I believe God is sovereign in putting us together here in the meeting hall to live together at least for this entire term. He is the Baker, right? As the Baker, He didn’t just put the ingredients together and let them blend themselves. After putting us together here, I believe He started blending us already. For this entire term, we experience a lot of crashing, misunderstandings, clashing of attitudes and characters. Within a month, we are quite exposed to each other already. We saw what each one is like in a normal setting. We get to see who we really are outside the meetings. There are disagreements concerning some arrangements. Even in simple things. But praise the Lord! Crushing is necessary for the building. Truly the Body-life is not just full on enjoyment. There is cutting so that we could be buildable to one another. We are limited by one another and restricted by one another. We clash, we even fight, because God is blending us together. Once we saw this light, everything became clear to us. I personally began to have this prayer, “Lord, I don’t want to miss Your building this term. You out me here so that I could be built into Your Body. Lord, I don’t want to escape Your building.” Through much prayer, light and fellowship with the saints, thank the Lord, I’m still here in the training. Even up to the last month of this term, the Lord is still bringing me to the experience and reality of the building of His Body.

Hello 2021! New Year, New Consecration

2020 has really been a bumpy ride. Not just for me but for all of us. Our plans all have been wrecked and we were all forced to a pause.

Honestly, I think that when 2020 started, everything has been going too fast. I personally was in a hurry. I was in a hurry to graduate. I was in a hurry to decide whether to take the board exam or not. I was in a hurry to be in the training. Basically, I was in a rush. It was because I felt that everything has been delaying a lot.

So when the year started, I was like, Lord, finally, last semester! I’m graduating! After 8 years, I’ll finally get to finish college! I’ve been studying for 21 years already. Finally, I finish! Then the Lord was like, Hmm… You’re too excited huh?

The Lord is sovereign. He has the absolute right to do whatever He wants and whenever He wants to do it. But He is also wise. He doesn’t miscalculate and He is not without a purpose. In every arrangement, there is always something behind the scene. He wants to accomplish something.

At first, I was quite disappointed that I wouldn’t get to stand on a stage to get my diploma. I wasn’t even able to get a grad pic. Then the training went online. I was like, “Lord, this is not what I expected. Why?”

Then I started enjoying the world again. I got into kdrama and kpop a lot. But thank the Lord for not letting me stay in that condition.

In the graduation fellowship, a verse hit me. It was Joel 2:25.

And I will restore to you the years / That the swarming locust has eaten, / The licking locust and the consuming locust and the cutting locust, / My great army / That I sent among you.

Joel 2:25

We always think that when time passes by, we can never recover it. Well, part of it is true. A time not spent with the Lord is a wasted time. But praise the Lord for Joel 2:25! He can restore the days!! We can’t but He can!

How do we cooperate though? First, of course, is repentance. We need to repent. Once the Lord enlightens and touches us, we need to humble ourselves and repent immediately. Then we need to come to the Word for supply and enjoyment.

This year is a year of repentance, confession and enjoyment! New year, new start, new consecration!

Lord, I consecrate myself to You again! Lord, I surrender my family to You. Lord, my training, my church life, my growth in life are all for Your economy. Lord, keep reminding me that I am for You and I am Yours! Lord, gain me! Gain Your heart’s desire in our lifetime!

In My Name

And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.

John 14:13-14

Here, the Lord Jesus is telling us to ask the Father inHis name. What is it to pray in His name? In 1 Kings 8:48, it shows us to pray toward three things: the land, the city and the house. This is to pray in the Lord’s name.

Christ today is the good land! Christ today is the holy city! and Christ today is the house of God! To pray in His name is to have our prayers aimed at Him! Today, God’s interest is Christ and the church! Our prayers must be towards this great mystery! But does it mean that we can no longer pray for our needs or for the saints’ needs? To pray prayers aimed at Christ and the church means that we may pray for the saints but in the interest of Christ and the church! We must be clear with the source and aim of our prayer.

On day 4, it says that source of our prayer is God’s need. And the aim of our prayer is God’s interest. We may pray for the sick ones or for the needy ones. We may pray for our family. But our prayers must be coming for God’s need and directed towards God’s interest. Why do we pray for them? It must be because God has a needs and to fulfill God’s interest.

In my experience, in the training, I started to have a prayer notebook, for it is required by our TA. So I listed down names of my family, relatives, some of my acquaintances and some of the saints. I started praying for them regularly but it seemed like the Lord wasn’t doing anything. I even told the Lord that it is His desire that all men be saved, that all men serve Him.

But as I went along the training, I was exposed of the source and aim of my prayers. I was exposed that I was just praying for them out of my own concern. Especially with my family, I was exposed that I was praying for them for my own convenience, thinking that if they would be touched by the Lord, it would be easier for me to enjoy the Lord when I get home.

I was enlightened that my prayer must be from God’s need revealed to me and directed toward Christ and the church. Eventually, I started praying for God’s goal. I didn’t have time to mention my family, especially my father. But to my surprise, during FAC, that was the time the Lord answered by prayer concerning him. Truly, if we would learn to pray toward God’s goal, everything will just follow. This is to pray in the Lord’s name.

Matter of Life

As those who are regenerated ones, who have already received the divine life of God, we are qualified to enter into His kingdom (John 3:5). Only the divine life can realize the divine things.

Today, we are the people of the kingdom of God, those who have been delivered… out of the authority of darkness and transferred… into the kingdom of the Son of His love (Col. 1:13).

We have been transferred into a realm where we are ruled in love with life. Here, under the heavenly ruling and restriction, we have genuine freedom, the proper freedom in love, with life, and under light.

To be subject under His ruling is to be built up into the church.

Anyone who refuses to submit to the authority of the kingdom can at best be a saved person; he will never be built into the structure of the church.

God reigns in us today not by outward regulations but by the innate ability of the divine life within us. To live as people of the kingdom today, there is no need of self-effort to be good or to restrict ourselves from doing things. To be subject to His rule is just to live by, in, and according to the divine life within us.

Quotes from Life-study of Colossians, p. 35; The Kingdom and the Church, pp. 32-33
Further Reading: The Kingdom and the Church, chs. 1-3; Life-study of Colossians, msg. 4
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Colossians 1:12-13 – Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light; who delivered us out of the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.

John 3:5 – Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Divine Life Expressed

In Matthew 16:18-19 the words church and kingdom are used interchangeably. … This indicates that in order for the church to be built, the kingdom needs to be opened. In other words, opening the kingdom is the way to begin the building of the church.

We know that any kind of life is the kingdom. So the life of God is the kingdom of God itself. And this life issues in the church. We must realize the life we received through the gospel is the very kingdom of God and whenever we live this life, the church is produced.

The gospel of the kingdom brings forth, produces, the church because the kingdom is the life itself and the church is the issue, the produce, of life. …the church is the product of what is preached.

As long as we are living in the divine life within us, there is the kingdom life. And the kingdom life issues in the church life. The kingdom is the divine life expressed in the church.

Quotes from Life-study of Mark, p. 120
Further Reading: Elders’ Training, Book 2: The Vision of the Lord’s Recovery, ch. 4; What the Kingdom Is to the Believers, chs. 1-3; The Kingdom and the Church, p. 33

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Matthew 4:23 – And Jesus went about in all of Galilee, teaching… and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom…

Matthew 16:18-19 – …Upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatever you bind on the earth shall have been bound in the heavens, and whatever you loose on the earth shall have been loosed in the heavens.