intrinsic and organic - yet building up the city! (1 picture + 1 experience with the Lord) 30-day challenge

Praise the Lord - this weekend we have the Teachers Training! Once a year - a few months before the Winter School of Truth - we set aside a weekend when we come together to have some fellowship concerning the burden of serving with the young people and also the material we are getting into during the Winter School of Truth.... It is an intense weekend with lots of speaking, lots of fellowship, and lots of prayer! Every year there's a particular burden on the Lord's heart, and below I'll try to share what I enjoyed today about this...

1 Picture for Today - Bower House, Havering Atte Bower, in Romford

Bower House is a mansion somewhere on the hills of Havering, where once upon a time the lord of the land used to live and enjoy life... Nowadays this place is the home of the Full Time Training in London, an accredited Bible school in the UK, where I happened to have graduated a while ago. The manor house is quite old, and it is "protected by the state" since it's part of the "national treasure" :) You have to visit this place, you will definitely enjoy both the view from the Manor House(you can see the city of Romford from there) and the fellowship with the brothers and sisters :)

1 Experience with the Lord Today - Intrinsic and Organic - Yet Building up the City!

As believers in the Lord and as ones who are burdened to serve in the church life according to our measure, we need to see and realise that our service is not outward or extrinsic. What we do today is not a work of "correcting people" or "adjusting people" - especially as we serve with the young people. It's so easy to see the faults or the expressions of the flesh - and it is very tempting to point them out and correct people. But what we do today is not something outward and it is not something on the exterior. Rather, we do an intrinsic and organic work...

The Lord Jesus is not in the business of correcting us outwardly; rather, He comes into us as our life and our everything to be our supply and fill us inwardly. He does an intrinsic work in us - by coming into our being and even becoming part of our being through constituting us with Himself! Also, He does an organic work - He doesn't correct us outwardly or adjust our behaviour from outside; rather, He does an organic work in us by working Himself into us in our spending time with Him. Yes, He does correct and adjust us, but He does so from within, as we fellowship with Him!

There are so many things that are wrong about us and there are so many negative things that come out of us, oozing out even as we live our life daily. We are a constitution of sin, and it's normal and natural for us to live in sin - to live apart from the Lord. But when the Lord comes into us, He makes us one with Him organically(1 Cor. 6:17) and He does an organic and intrinsic work in us to reconstitute us with Himself from within. As we spend time with the Lord, as we enjoy Him, as we get into the Word, He gently adjusts us, corrects us, and rebukes us... He does it from within, and the change comes from within - this is the real change!

It's the same with us when we cooperate with the Lord today - we are not in the business of correcting or adjusting people, but what we do today is an organic and an intrinsic work. We want to learn to cooperate with the Triune God that Christ may be wrought into the beings of the saints through their enjoyment of the Lord! We don't need to adjust others or correct others outwardly - rather, we need to help the saints to enjoy the Lord! When we bring the young ones and the new ones, even all the saints, to enjoy the Lord, all their problems are solved and the Lord can do an intrinsic work in them! I need to repeat this to myself and I need to see this in a fresh way - we do an intrinsic work and an organic work, not something outwardly!

Moreover, our work is not just to bring others to simply enjoy the Lord and that's it - God desires to have not just His house but also His city! Yes, it is good to have the house of God built up (see Ezra), but what about the city of God (see Nehemiah)? Who cares for the rebuilding of the walls of the city? God wants His people to be His home, and He also wants His people to be separated from the world, sanctified unto God! We need to be both God's house and God's kingdom, His city... This also is done not through outward correction - we may think that the city of God is obtained by adjustment, correction, and regulations, but the building up of the wall of the city is also an organic and intrinsic work!

For us to build up the wall of the city and become the city of God standing strong for God's testimony we need to eat Christ in His proper humanity, His perfect and balanced humanity... only Christ is qualified to protect the interests of God, and only He is the One who can build the church - therefore, we need to eat Him! Praise the Lord, we can eat Christ in His humanity - He loves man, He cares for man, He does not condemn the sinners, He does not send away the children or the infants, He spends regular time with God, He does not seek the glory which comes from man, He respects the Father... The more we read and pray read the gospels, appreciating and enjoying the Lord's perfect humanity, the more an intrinsic and organic work takes place within us.....

Praise the Lord... He's such a great God, respecting our free will, yet at the same time He makes Himself available for us to enjoy and be dispensed into others! He does an intrinsic and organic work in us - He reconstitutes us, grows in us, and supplies us to do His will... Also, God wants us to cooperate with Him in doing an intrinsic and organic work by helping the saints to enjoy the Lord! It's actually not us but the Lord doing His work in us... As we enjoy the Lord, especially as we enjoy His fine and perfect humanity, we are built up as the city of God to protect God's interest and bring in His kingdom. O, Lord... turn our eyes from anything outward to the intrinsic and organic work You are doing in us and we are doing one with You!

we all know it - now we need to practice it! (1 pic + 1 experience with the Lord) 30 day challenge

Many times people try to encourage us to do something, explaining how good it is to that particular thing, how healthy it is, etc... and you know what, you already KNOW IT! In my case it can be about going to gym and eating properly - not too much, not too little, not too much junk food, not too many sweets, etc... - and I KNOW IT! But now I need to PRACTICE it! ... But before I get into this, here's the,

1 Picture for today - The Grosvenor House in Central London

The above is Grosvenor House - home of JW Marriott Hotel in Park Lane, Central London, very close to the Hyde Park and the US Embassy. Only fancy cars around, and all kinds of stylish events and conferences are being held there. I heard about it "by the hearing of my ear" and I knew it was in London - I KNEW IT! - yet I wanted to see it! So one day I was around on a street called Park Lane, and here it is - the Grosvenor House! Of course, this picture is not a match to the official Pictures of the Grosvenor House, A JQ Marriott Hotel, from their website! [read their website for more info...]

At SparksDirect.co.uk we sell a light fitting called Grosvenor Light and another whole range called, Park Lane Wall Lamps, and recently I have been writing some articles on the NewLights blog to promote and introduce them. I have actually never known that these lamps are named after real streets in London and real buildings in London! One day I heard that there's actually a house called Grosvenor House, and there's a street in London called Park Lane.... - and since then, even though I KNEW where they were, I wanted to go visit them! Yes, we all KNOW it, but now we need to SEE it and PRACTICE IT!

1 Experience with the Lord - we all know it, now we need to practice it!

Just like with many things in life, we may KNOW a lot about the Lord Jesus - especially if you're in the church life practically, or if you're a seeking one pursuing the Lord daily - and about having a personal relationship with Him. We know we need to read the Bible daily, we know we need to confess our sins whenever the Lord shines on us, we know we need to regularly pray daily, we know we have to make it to at least one home meeting per week, we know we need to listen to the Lord's speaking within us... - we know all these things and so much more! Now it is time to practice it!

What use is it for me to know that there's a street in London called Park Lane, and on that street there's a hotel in a house called, Grosvenor House - if I don't go to visit that place EVEN THOUGH I live in the same city with that place?!? It kind of doesn't make sense... In the spiritual life, we don't just need to know things about God, about the Bible, about the church life, or about the saints - we need to be open to the Lord and enter into the life practices that we may OWN these things in our practical living! I need to practice being grouped with the saints to pray together! I need to practice reading the Bible regularly!

This is what I was pondering over today... these last days even the children know a lot of things, and the young people think they know everything. But what about our experience? Lord, I want to really spiritually see the things in the Bible, so that they may become my vision! I want this vision to be inscribed and written into me so that it may be my living, my practice, and even my being! Make me one like Paul who said to the king, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision (Acts 26:19).

... and this is a passive-active matter. It's not "me doing this", neither is it "me waiting for the Lord to do it in me" - it's God mingled with man, man learning to take the initiative and God coming in to fill man, and somehow being open to the Lord that He may do it in us... I hope you get what I'm saying - God will never come to you to force you to do things which you know you should do, but He will come in and strengthen you + be everything to you if you take the initiative to do something in oneness with Him! Lord, may I know You more! May I experience You more! May I practice living one with You more!

One portion of the Bible that sometimes sends chills down my spine when I read it or hear it is where the Lord says, Those who know much and don't do will be punished with more stripes than those who knew little and did something according to what they knew(approx. Luke 12:48). As believers we can't just "know", we need to enter in by practicing these things! Is there a home meeting close to where you live? Don't just KNOW about it, but make sure you pay the saints a visit! Is there a younger one that needs shepherding once or twice a week? Pray about it and the Lord will release your time for this... - the divine life in us is LIVING and ACTIVE, not DEAD and PASSIVE... - that's what I love about it!

the football game tonight vs the Real Game going on (1 Pic + 1 Experience with the Lord today), 30-day challenge

I think I got myself into trouble with this "one picture per day", since sometimes I am not really going out in London - unless you count going to home meetings, prayer meetings, young people meetings, and the Table Meeting as "going out"... Today I was thinking - well, apart from work, gym, and the prayer meeting, where can I take a picture? And then it dawned on me, as I was walking to the saints' house tonight - it is such a privilege to be ONE with the Lord in His prayer today! One with the saints in praying for the Lord's interest! But then I got to come home after the prayer meeting and this is what I saw this...

The Football Game Tonight VS The Real Game Going On - 1 Pic + 1 Experience with the Lord today

This is how Holloway Road looks like on most Tuesday nights at 9.30-10.30pm, and this picture was taken close to Highbury and Islington tube station. Almost every Tuesday night there's a football game at the Emirates - Arsenal plays some team, and tonight there was Arsenal Vs. Shrewsbury in the Carling Cup. Don't ask me what that means, but it looks like Arsenal won 3-1(thank you, BBC Sport News). As I am intending to make my way up the Holloway Road, thousands of people are streaming down from the game, many reaching home close to midnight... The buses rarely work during this time, and both Holloway Road and Highbury & Islington stations have limited access... - too many people!

There have been many times I made my way up the Holloway Road against the crowd, being literally bumped and kicked shamelessly by the people streaming down from the football stadium... Usually the Brits say, "Sorry", or they apologize somehow - but not after the game, and not these people! Hundreds of British people, Polish people, Romanian People, Arabs, Indians, French, etc walking down the street from the game... You hear all kinds of languages being spoken when they pass you by. All these come from the tonight's football game - which sometimes coincides with the time for the prayer meeting, Tuesday night at 8pm.

So what about this football game? In the football game thousands of people get together to watch some select ones play ball on a wide football pitch, and usually one of the team loses and the other wins. But no matter whether one wins or loses, the score counts towards the final score - after many other games... It's a whole system, with points, penalties, goals, etc - it will give you a headache to try to understand... And then there's the many transfers of players, the coach, the boss, the TV commercials, the club, the fans, the magazine, the scarf, etc. Everything is to get people fully involved and occupied with this game, out of which they don't gain anything - but they spend lots of money!

What about the REAL GAME? As we were praying tonight, though less than 20 of us, I had the clear feeling that we touched the Lord's heart and we were praying one with Him. Can you believe that? We as human beings can move God's hand to accomplish His heart's desire by us praying in oneness with Him! We don't just pray for our needs, our problems, our families, our new ones, our jobs, etc - we pray for God's will to be done! We pray for God's economy to be accomplish! We pray that God's kingdom would come and His will be done on earth as it is being done in the heavens(Matt. 6:10)!

When we pray in this way, God has a group of people on earth that are one with Him in the heavens - this is all He needs so that He would go on in His move and accomplish what's on His heart! I believe that in the prayer meeting we're praying THE REAL GAME, the game that is played in the universe between God and Satan, where we already know the end score! In the end, Satan loses and has NOTHING, while God wins and gains the glory in everything. And we are here to "be God's team", be on God's side - not just "God's fans" wearing "the scarf with God's club initials", but to be One With God!

The "ball" we play with - and we surely do play ball in the prayer meeting - is our prayer one with His prayer! It's actually a real thing and also a very good experience to enter into Christ's prayer in the heavens and pray what's on His heart! Christ as the Great High Priest is interceding right now, and we can be those who hear His prayer, utter His prayers, and offer Christ's prayers to God as the Body of Christ. When this happens, when God gains a response and a cooperation from man in the principle of incarnation, He wins! He can tell Satan,

Look: these men whom you have usurped and damaged now have not only been redeemed and filled with the divine life but they also cooperate with Christ to pray God's will on earth! Go to the lake of fire, Satan! Your sentence has been uttered - and your full judgement is being hastened! 

:) I want to choose to play The Real Game - and be on God's side! This doesn't mean I will never watch a football game (remember, some things like these can shepherd others or can "waste your time") - but when the time is for the REAL GAME to be played, when "the game is on", I want to join the winning team and learn to be One With The Lord in the Body so that He may accomplish His economy! :)