We will continue reading The Advance of the Lord’s Recovery Today for the churches in Anaheim, Cypress, and Orange. Detailed information including the full reading schedule is available at churchinanaheim.org/gowreading/.
This week we will be reading The Advance of the Lord’s Recovery Today, Chapter 6. This book is available for purchase from Living Stream Ministry. You can also read it online at ministrybooks.org.
The first three major points of The Advance of the Lord’s Recovery Today are the priesthood of the gospel in the New Testament, the organic building up of the Body of Christ, and the perfecting of the saints by the gifts. In Chapter 6 we come to the last major point—the prophesying for the building up of the church as the organic Body of Christ.
Prophesying in 1 Corinthians 14 is not in the sense of predicting, foretelling, but in the sense of speaking for the Lord, speaking forth the Lord, to dispense Christ to people. To prophesy is to speak to men building up for the church, encouragement for the believers, and consolation for the saints’ welfare. Prophesying convicts people, judges people, and exposes the secrets of people’s hearts. Prophesying is for the building up of the church, which is the organism of the Triune God, in the way of life.
Prophesying is the excelling gift among all the gifts, making its seekers excelling (1 Cor. 14:12). It is excelling in revealing God’s heart, God’s will, God’s way, and God’s economy to his people. It is excelling in convicting people, exposing people’s real condition, and showing people their spiritual need. It is excelling in speaking forth Christ to minister and dispense Christ to people for their nourishment. It is excelling in building up the church in the organic way that it may be built up as the organism of the processed Triune God for His fullness, His expression.
Quote from pp. 109-110: “Everyone prophesying for the building up of the church as the organic Body of Christ has not been seen in Christianity. I believe that now is the time, at the end of this age, for the Lord to recover 1 Corinthians 14 among us. The Lord has been preparing us for this recovery for the past sixty-seven years, since 1922. I feel that now is the time and that we are the people to give the Lord a way to recover the truth seen and written by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 14.”
Prayer on p. 113: “Thank You, Lord. Thank You for Your speaking. Thank You for Your revelation. Thank You for opening 1 Corinthians 14. Have mercy upon me, Lord. Bring me into the practice of this chapter. While I am living on this earth, I want to be a person who is always prophesying, speaking Christ.”
Week 29: December 30th through January 5th
If you have any questions or comments contact us at: gowreading@gmail.com.
Recommended Readings on Prayer
In addition to the God-ordained way reading material, the following titles are recommended readings concerning the church’s current emphasis on prayer: “Burden and Prayer” and “The Key to Prayer.” They are chapters 50 and 51, respectively, of The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Vol. 38: General Messages (2) published by Living Stream Ministry. They are also available online through ministrybooks.org. In the online version they are chapters 13 and 14.