What’s the meaning of “Oh Lord Jesus”?

OH – used to express a strong emotional reaction such as surprise, shock, pain, or EXTREME PLEASURE.LORD – our Lord Jesus became “Lord” after His ascension, is for the exercising of AUTHORITY (Acts 2:36), a matter which concerns His HEADSHIP.

JESUS – means Jehovah the Savior. He is not only a man but Jehovah, and not only Jehovah but Jehovah becoming our salvation. He is our Savior, the One who brings us into rest (Heb. 4:8; Matt. 11:28-29), which is Himself as the good land to us.

“In oneness, we need to take the “Lord” as our Head and Authority”Eph. 4:5 – ONE LORD, one FAITH, one baptism;

Eph. 4:6 – One God and Father of all, who is OVER all and through all and in all.

“ONE LORD” – This verse does NOT say “one Son,” but “one Lord.” In the Gospel of John it is Son into whom we believe (John 3:16), but in the Acts it is the LORD into whom we believe (Acts 16:31). In the Epistles of John, the SON is for the imparting of LIFE (1 John 5:12), whereas in the Acts, the LORD, after His ascension, is for the exercising of AUTHORITY (Acts 2:36), a matter which concerns His HEADSHIP. Hence, our BELIEVING in Him is related to both LIFE and AUTHORITY, for He is both our LIFE and our HEAD.

As the Head of the Body, He is the Lord. Christians are DIVIDED because they NEGLECT the Head; that is, they NEGLECT the Lord’s headship and authority.

“FAITH” – Through faith we BELIEVE into the Lord (John 3:36), and through BAPTISM we are baptized into Him (Gal. 3:27) and terminated in Adam (Rom. 6:4). Through faith and baptism we have been TRANSFERRED out of Adam INTO Christ, thereby being JOINED to the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17). Immediately after believing in Christ, we should be BAPTIZED to COMPLETE the transfer.

“OVER” – The Trinity is implied even here. ‘OVER ALL’ refers mainly to the Father, ‘THROUGH ALL’ to the Son, an ‘IN ALL’ to the Spirit. The Triune God eventually enters into us ALL by REACHING us as the SPIRIT. The oneness of the Body of Christ is constituted of the Trinity of the Godhead – the Father as the source and origin being the ORIGINATOR, the Son as the Lord and the Head being the ACCOMPLISHER, and the Spirit as the life-giving Spirit being the EXECUTOR. The Triune God Himself, when realized and experienced by us in our daily living, is the fundamental basis and very foundation of our oneness.

 

PRAYER AND DESIRE

Prayer is an EXPRESSION of our DESIRE before God. The Bible records that many people HAD their prayers ANSWERED. EVERY ONE of them prayed with a DESIRE. Without a DESIRE, there is NO NEED for prayer. If what we pray for TRULY COMES from the BOTTOM of our heart, SURELY the ANSWERS to our prayers will NOT be so FEW. It is because our DESIRE is NOT SINGLE that our prayers become SOUNDING BRASS and CLANGING CYMBALS. The GREATEST DANGER to prayer is attempt to be ORNATE and to pray according to FORMAL RULES. There is MORE danger in PUBLIC prayer than in private prayer. Actually, nine times out of ten the LONG PRAYERS of a “thousand words” are EMPTY prayers. I am afraid such prayers are DIRECTED more toward MEN than towards God. Many times, the CONTENT of a prayer is VERY PLEASANT, the VOICE VERY DESPERATE, and the TONE VERY HARMONIOUS. Yet EVERYTHING is directed toward MAN. God will NOT hear nor answer such a prayer. Prayer that are WITHOUT any DESIRE are MOCKERY to God. In God’s eyes these prayers are DETESTABLE. Even when a person PRAYS alone, is it NOT true that many TERM he uses are FAMILIAR terms that are UTTERED without much thought? Because the words have become familiar, the SAME words may be uttered WITHOUT any RESPONSE from the heart. Such prayers are really a WASTE of time. They are WORSE than USELESS.Those who TRULY understand God and His holiness and majesty will NEVER DO such things. If we come to God with a PURE HEART and realize who He is with whom we have come FACE to FACE, would we ever DARE to be HYPOCRITICAL? Actually, we should NEVER pray BEYOND what the HOLY SPIRIT has PROMPTED us TO PRAY. If we do this, surely it is COUNTERFEIT. Hence, it is BEST to ALLOW the Holy Spirit to PLACE in our spirit the THINGS that we should pray FOR, so that we will NOT OFFEND God. We should LEARN to be HONEST before God. It is BETTER to have SHORT prayers than FALSE prayers. We should PAY ALL the more ATTENTION when we pray for OTHERS. Many SUPPLICATIONS are but a kind of PAYMENT of debts! Thus, there is NO sense of DESIRE, and the whole things is a MERE ROUTINE. Therefore, those who do NOT have a REAL love for OTHERS CANNOT pray for OTHERS. When we FEEL others’ NEED to be OUR OWN, we will pray SINCERELY for them. When we FEEL others’ NEED in the same way they FEEL it themselves, we will make SUPPLICATIONS for them FAITHFULLY. It is because there is NO love for OTHERS that prayers have become mere EMPTY voices. We should SYMPATHIZE with others MORE and should IDENTIFY ourselves with others MORE. May we henceforth pray with our MOUTH and also with our HEART. May our prayers REACH the presence of God like FRAGRANCE.

Based on the book “Twelve Baskets Full” by  Watchman Nee

 

P.A.P.S Time With Him

Lord, recover our Personal, Affectionate, Private, and Spiritual time with You!

People who are in love says that if you love someone, you always love to spend time with him or her. They then added that distance and time is not an issue as long as you can see and talk with your beloved. A brother once said that when he was so much in love with her wife before they got married, 5 or 10 minutes talk with her was not enough. The moment that he can hear the voice of his beloved, he cannot help but be with her and talk to her even if it takes how many hours, even for the entire day.

This is what the Lord wants from us; He wants us to spend more time with Him.  As we love Him, we need to have an appointed time to talk to Him in a PERSONAL, AFFECTIONATE, PRIVATE and SPIRITUAL way. Every early morning, before we are going to pursue our Morning Revival material, we need to have a PAPS time with the Lord first. As we spontaneously talk with Him and have fellowship with Him, 15 minutes is no longer enough for us. Moreover, the moment we come to the Lord’s presence, we cannot help but be with Him and have fellowship with him an a very intimate and personal way even if it takes the whole day. Then, as we pursue Him more in the Morning Revival material, we will be supplied and satisfied. This is the real revival. If we sense that although we have read the material, but still feels dry and dissatisfied, then, that is an indication that we have not really revived.

A brother once said that there are two ways on how to minister: ministering to the Lord and ministering to His house. So often, we only see the latter one and tend to forget the ministering to the Lord. Ministering to the Lord is to have time with Him first; to be one with His presence; to have a talk with Him; and to consider Him as the preeminent One. we need to see that before we can minster His house, that is the church, we need to minister to Him first; to have PAPS time with Him before anything and anyone.

As co-workers of our Lord, we want others to be touched by the Lord through us, but how can the Lord touch them if we have not been touched first by the Lord? Bro. Nee once said that we cannot touch others unless we have been touched first. May we see the need to be touched by the Lord first by simply touching Him and by having PAPS time with Him.

Psalms 66:18 says, “If I regarded inequity in my heart, the Lord did not hear”. This means that if we still have unconfessed sins in our hearts before Him, then our PAPS time with Him is not that effective and intimate. This is also a related in the matter of exercising our spirit. To exercise our spirit is to use the functions of our spirit. The bible reveals that our spirit has three functions: fellowship, intuition and conscience. Fellowship is to contact God; to have communion with Him; to have a talk with Him; and to be one with Him. Intuition is to have a direct speaking from God and a direct knowledge from Him beyond any human reason. Conscience then is to recognize good from evil; and to justify things according to righteousness. To use these functions is to exercise our spirit. In our PAPS time with Him, our spirit needs to be exercised. Otherwise we cannot have a real PAPS time with Him. Hence, there is a need to for us to confess our sins no matter how small it is, and to repent to the Lord by turning our hearts to Him.

May the Lord continue to recover our PAPS time with Him that it may become a habit for us every early morning!

 

Psalms 25

A psalm of David

A Psalm of David

1 To You, O Jehovah, I lift up my soul.

2  O my God, I trust in You; Do not let me be ashamed; Do not let my enemies exult over me.

3  Indeed may all who wait on You not be ashamed; May those who deal treacherously without cause be ashamed.

4  Make Your ways known to me, O Jehovah; Teach me Your paths.

5  Guide me in Your truth, and teach me; For You are the God of my salvation; I wait on You all the day long.

6 Remember Your compassions, O Jehovah, And Your acts of kindness, for they are from of old.

7 The sins of my youth and my transgressions, do not remember; According to Your lovingkindness, remember me, For the sake of Your goodness, O Jehovah.

8  Jehovah is good and upright; Therefore He instructs sinners concerning the way.

9  He guides the lowly in justice And teaches the lowly His way.

10  All the paths of Jehovah are lovingkindness and truth To those who observe His covenant and His testimonies.

11  For the sake of Your name, O Jehovah, Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.

12  Who then is the man who fears Jehovah? Him will He instruct concerning the way that he should choose.

13 His soul will dwell in prosperity, And his seed will possess the land.

14  The intimate counsel of Jehovah is to those who fear Him, And His covenant will He make known to them.

15  My eyes are continually turned to Jehovah, For He will bring my feet out of the net.

16  Turn toward me, and be gracious to me, For I am alone and afflicted.

17  Relieve the troubles of my heart, And bring me out of my distresses.

18  Look on my affliction and my suffering, And forgive all my sins.

19  Look on my enemies, for they are many; Indeed they hate me with a violent hatred.

20  Keep my soul, and deliver me; Do not let me be put to shame, For I take refuge in You.

21  May integrity and uprightness preserve me, For I wait on You.

22  Redeem Israel, O God, Out of all his troubles.

Source: http://online.recoveryversion.org

 

Be Normal

To be a normal Christian; to be today’s overcomers; to answer the Lord’s present calling; and to meet the Lord’s present need in His recovery;
it is altogether not sufficient simply to be a so-called good brother or good sister,
attending the church meetings regularly, behaving rightly,
and living a life which is somewhat perfect in the eyes of men.
We need to be one with God in His history, moving, and energizing in His loving overcomers; 
that is, we need to be one with God in life, in living, and in our entire doing today on this earth!

A Letter To The Youth

listen if you have ears!

You have claimed that you are ready for a relationship, Are you ready for a relationship?

Satan, the great deceiver of all mankind (Revelation 13:3) comes in and shouts at you….

“If you wait much longer, the field will be narrow. Why take the chance and then maybe miss out altogether? “

The lies of Satan….They are dangerous. They will make you impatient of God’s will. THE VOICE OF GOD IS OFTEN A WHISPER but designed for your good welfare. Listen if you have ears!!! God is speaking:

“I have chosen for you a life which is abundantly full of every good thing (Psalm 84:11). What looks to you as very good may not be for the next five years… BUT I AM THE GREAT I AM WHO SEE YOUR LIFE, THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE ( Exodus 3:14), (Psalm 139:16) AND ILOVE YOU WITH AN EVERLASTING LOVE (Jeremiah 31:31) I HAVE A PLAN FOR YOU WHICH YOU CANNOT IMAGINE ( Jeremiah 29:11). “

“I may give you the gift of SINGLENESS (1 Corinthians 7:17- 35) or you may discover that My plan include MARRIAGE (Ephesians 5:31). You may find out next week or weeks later. I will bring into your life……. A PERSON WHO WILL LOVE YOU WITH ONLY THE SPIRIT COULD INSPIRE… BE PATIENT TO WAIT FOR THAT PERSON. THE ONE WHO IS MY CHOICE FOR YOU, WILL LOVE YOU AS MUCH AS I LOVE YOU.”

“I WON’T FORCE YOU to marry MY choice for you. I will never prevent you from marrying your own choice. But don’t be deceived. YOU WILL REAP WHAT YOU SOW (Galatians 6:7).”

“I long to do good for you (Isaiah 30:18). BUT YOU HAVE TO LEARN TO ABIDE IN ME (John 15:7). WAIT FOR ME… I will act at My OWN TIME… No one can hinder Me from doing good for you, except your H-A-R-D H-E-A-D-E-D-N-E-S-S.”

For I am God and there is no other; I am God and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the ancient time to things not yet done. MY COUNSEL, SHALL STAND FOREVER, I will accomplish all MY PURPOSE (Isaiah 46:9-10). Your WHOLE duty is to SEEK MY KINGDOM AND RIGHTEOUSNESS, and My duty is to provide the things that you need. I will supply your needs according to My riches and glory…

DON’T BUSY YOURSELF HIUNTING AROUND FOR A LOVER, BUT SERVE MY PEOPLE AS YOU ARE SERVING ME (Colossians 3:23). DO ALL THINGS FOR THE GLORY OF GOD, WORKING WHOLE-HEARTEDLY…

Take time to TAKE CARE OF YOUR SPIRITUAL LIFE (Ephesians 6:10) for how can you take care of somebody if you are irresponsible yourself? MAKE YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH ME AS YOUR FIRST PRIORITY. Be kind of person I want you to be and I WILL DO THE BEST FOR YOU, or try to do YOUR BEST apart from Me and I will allow you to have the beast……

When God’s TIME (right time) and God’s Choice (right person) comes along,

YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU HAVE WAITED!

 

The Young People Needing the Humanity of Jesus for the Church Life

Taken during young people’s blending at Church in Lala, LDN

From the types in the Scriptures, we can see the need of a proper humanity for the church life – Exo. 25:10-11; 26:15,19.

We have seen that the Ark and the tabernacle signify Christ and the Church – the Ark is Christ and the tabernacle is the enlargement of the Ark, just as the tabernacle is the enlargement of the Ark, so the church is the increase and enlargement of Christ – 25:10-11.

The boards of the tabernacle were also made with the same material and in the same way as the Ark – acacia wood overlaid with gold – 26:15, 29. The boards are to be standing up; gold is valuable, weighty, and shining, but gold is not capable of standing by itself; in order for the boards of the tabernacle to stand up, there is the need of the acacia wood – v.15.

“We need humanity and we also need divinity, but it is the humanity in the church that causes the church to stand up – 1 Timothy 3:15-16. The church is the church of the living God; the church must have God living in it, and this church of the living God is the base and pillar of the reality and truth.”

But Satan‘s main target today is the young people; he injects all his evil, satanic, devilish concepts and ideas into the young and fresh mentality of the young generation. The young brothers and sisters in the church life must be clear that the source of all the damage in the mentality is Satan; the young people must repudiate the concepts that they have held in the past. The first kind of this kind of mental damage is fornication – 1 Cor. 6:9-11. Nothing damages our mentality like fornication; any act we commit is outside our body, but fornication damages our body – v.18.

“We must possess our vessels in sanctification and honor, not in the passion of lust ; this is to be safeguarded against committing fornication – 1 Thes. 4:3-5.”

The second issue is the devilish concepts indoctrinated into the minds of the young people is commit suicide. Satan has damaged the mentality of the young people with the concept of suicide; we all must stand against such subtlety of the enemy. Satan’s whole purpose is to damage humanity so that man cannot be used for God’s purpose.

The third issue of the indoctrination of devilish concepts is mental illness.  In 2 Timothy 1:7, Paul says that God has given us a spirit of sober-mindedness; we must be exceedingly healthy in our thinking, concepts, and ideas, and we need to have a sound mind. Col. 1:1-2 tells us also that the problems in the heart are often the cause of mental problem. If a person’s mind is under attack by the enemy, this is in indication that his heart is wrong in some way.

We must all realize that we are in a situation that requires the Lord’s humanity for His recovery. There must be a group of young people to stand against the current of this age – 2 Timothy 3:1-5.

The proper cure for this age, the proper dose for this generation, is the humanity that comes from the man Jesus. The proper humanity is only healing power for today’s generation. We can barely see that in the church life today, the Lord is going to recover His humanity. We not only need what He can do but we need what He is. Then the proper humanity shining forth through the young brothers and sisters will become a strong testimony and remedy to this present evil age; this humanity will also cause us to have the strongest church life.

In 2 Timothy we are able to see the apostle Paul’s concept concerning five ways to take the humanity of Jesus. The first was to call on the name of the Lord out of a pure heart – 2:22. When we on the Lord with a pure heart, we are really taking His humanity into us. Second, we must breathe in every word of the Scriptures – 3:16. This is to pray-read the Word. Third is the Body life. Take note that in 2:22, Paul did not say to call on the Lord by yourself but with “those” – this is a corporate life. We enjoy the Lord’s humanity by being with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Fourth, Paul tells us that we have a spirit to exercise – 1:7. Fifth, we have a wonderful person in our spirit – 2:22.

We must pray for the entire situation of the Lord’s recovery, that all the brothers and sisters in the local churches may have a full enjoyment of the humanity of Jesus. Then we will be the acacia boards, standing steadfastly against the tide of this evil age. This will be our strong testimony, and this will bring the recovery of the local church life to all to all the leading cities. (Christ As The Reality, page 151)

Based from the book: Raising Up the Next Generation for the Church Life.

Blending

This was during young people blending in Church in Cagayan de Oro City

Serve in Oneness

It is not easy for Christians to understand what the real service is that we render to the Lord. The natural thought is that anything we do for the Lord is a service. The word service has even been damaged in Christianity today. People speak of the Lord’s Day morning meeting as a “service,” and in the evening they also have an “evening service.” What they mean by service is simply a Christian gathering. In the Bible, however, service has a much different meaning. The best portion to see the proper understanding of the service is in 1 Peter 2. Verse 5 says, “You yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house into a holy priesthood.” In the original Greek of the New Testament, there are two words translated as “priesthood” in English. One word is used in Hebrews 7, referring to the priestly service, the service of the priests (vv. 11, 12, 24). The other, used in 1 Peter 2:5 and 9, refers not to the priestly service but to the group of priests, the priestly body. The spiritual house in verse 5 is the priesthood, the priestly body, and this priesthood is the spiritual house. Both the spiritual house and the holy priesthood are being built up. Verse 5 continues, “To offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” To offer is to serve; the offering up of spiritual sacrifices is the real service. The true service which we render to the Lord is an offering by a built-up body of priests, and this built-up body is the spiritual house. By this we can see that the genuine, proper service depends upon the building. If there is no building, there can be no house, and if there is no house, there can be no priesthood. The building is the house, and the house is the priesthood, the priestly body.

Today we speak of “service groups” in the church. This is a good term. In the biblical language, the service groups are the priesthood. “Service group” is simply a modern way to refer to the classical, or scriptural, term priesthood.The service of arranging chairs is a chair-arranging priesthood, and the cleaning service group is a cleaning priesthood. We also have the junior high, nursery, and clerical priesthood. The word priesthood should remind us that our service groups are the building up of the priests. If we are not serving as priests in this way, what we have is not a service group. Those who arrange the chairs in the meeting hall are not merely chair arrangers; they are priests. This means that they not only arrange the chairs; they render a service to God. Chair arranging is not their business, duty, or service. Their service is something holy and spiritual. In itself, chair arranging is not holy or spiritual; it is not a service. Our chair arranging is different. It is a holy and spiritual service rendered to God.

The first test of our service is whether we are serving as priests. The second test is whether we are serving as individual priests or as the “hood,” the corporate priesthood. Those who arrange the chairs are priests, but this is not enough. They should serve not as individual priests but as the priesthood. Priests are many, but the priesthood is one and unique. In the service groups there is only one priesthood, which is composed of the many priests. This implies the building up. The genuine service in the church has the nature of being priestly and of being built up. If our service is not of this nature, it is not genuine; it is a counterfeit and an imitation. Our service is a priesthood.

form: “Serving in Oneness as the Holy Priesthoold to be Built Up as a Spiritual House” by Bro. Lee. Available at lsm.org

 

Churching is the Way!!

Actually, I am not supposed to write this because I know that it was quite a long time since the churching, but still, I want to share it to other saints. Please bear with me if my sentence construction is poor. sorry for that!. 😦

Last summer, we were so blessed by the Lord that the young people saints (the collegians) in our locality were given the privilege to visit the saints in the northern part region  of Philippines (National Capital Region or NCR, Laguna, Cavite). It was so full of enjoyment and full of the Lord’s speaking. Up to these days, whenever I tried myself to reminisce to those days, my heart is always filled with joy.  Although we have once visited the churches in Taiwan when I was in first year college (and it was so fun too!), my heart still declares that last summer was indeed, the best churching in my life. I am not trying to say that Taiwan is not good and the saints there were not accommodating. No, it’s absolutely not about that. To be honest, Taiwan is really a nice place to live and the saints there were so accommodating and caring. They are burning in spirit in loving and serving the Lord. However, because of the language barrier (we speak Cebuano and they speak Chinese language, and only few of them can speak and understand English), many times, the fellowship were hindered. But still, the Lord spoke in our midst and we enjoyed the times that we were with them. We have visited almost all the local churches in Taiwan and I am really thankful to the Lord for that. The price that we paid (because you know, our country is not that progressive, and that we are still studying, we really saved for quite a long time to have enough money) was truly worth it. Hence, it was not wasted because we gained Christ. But don’t get me wrong if I did not consider that as the best churching I had. It’s just that, for me, I was really gained by the Lord in the last churching. I can describe my experience in one word: bittersweet. Now, you may wonder why? It’s because the Lord really dealt with in my natural life at that time (although until now, He keeps on dealing my natural man and I’m thankful for that). There were some circumstances that I was really expose, especially in my consideration to other young people saints who were with me in my group.

On the other hand, one of the things that I really love in that churching was that, we were able to visit the full-time training center in Malabon ( FTTM) and attended the college-age conference for one day. We have also witnessed the culmination of the trainees and heard their speaking based on their rich experiences in the training. It all added to my enthusiasm to be trained someday for the Lord’s testimony. I was also happy to be with the saints in Bacoor, Cavite because in that locality, I received the Lord’s fresh speaking concerning His move to Asia. Praise the Lord that our Lord is now moving to Asia! I was refreshed and touched by the testimonies of some brothers who were able to participate. Deep within me, there was the earnest desire that someday, if the Lord wills, I will go to other countries to participate in  the Lord’s move for the Lord’s testimony on earth. May the Lord continue to bless His move and aspire more saints to participate in His move today!

I am looking forward to experience more blending and more churching in the coming days. I can’t help myself to get excited for the next churching this coming summer and this time our destination will be Davao and we will go there via land trip.  I am excited to see the saints and to gain the Lord more.

Thank You Lord for the Body. thank You that blending is the way!

Here are some of the pictures taken during those days.

During arrival at Ninoy Aquino Interantional Airport (NAIA)

Picture taking at the entrance in FTTM.. 😀

At last Lord, FTTM, even though I’m not yet a trainee. hehe

Food is served.. yum! yum!

Time to enjoy the Lord with the saints. (be serious Mercy! hehe)

stopping by to eat lunch at Jolibee with Grace and Veca. 😀

during visitation  at International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in UPLB

Still at IRRi, watching the world population watch.. the population all over the world is rapidly increasing.. The Lord needs more preachers to more people.. 😀

during college-age conference at FTTM.

with Loudy Grace, my lovely sister in the Lord.