riverseoverflow

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Isaiah 8:10 tells us that because God is with us, the enemy can never take over the land of Emmanuel. Although Satan has tried his best to take you over, you are still here. Perhaps during the past week Satan tried twenty-one times to take you over, but he failed every time. You are still here because of Emmanuel, because of God with us. This Emmanuel is Jesus. Today we may enjoy Jesus and experience Him in such a real way as our Emmanuel.

(Life Study of Matthew, Message 6)

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Grace is not held back because of sin.

But it is not that as the offense was, so also the gracious gift is; for if by the offense of the one the many died, much more the grace of God and the free gift in grace of the one man Jesus Christ have abounded to the many....but where sin abounded, grace has super-abounded.

Romans 5:15, 20

God's grace is given to sinful man, to helpless, low, weak, and ungodly sinners. If the question of wrongdoing comes up and if it is stipulated that those with sin shall not have grace, then grace is basically annulled. God's grace can never be held back just because man has sinned. God's grace cannot even be reduced when man's sins increase. There can never be such a thing. We may think that the ones who have achieved may receive grace but we, the sinners, as those without achievements, are unqualified to receive grace. If you told anyone who has some consideration about God that God loved him and has given him grace, he would immediately wonder how this could be since he has committed so many sins. Man's thought is that grace can be received only when there is no wrongdoing. He fails to realize that this is absolutely wrong. Why? Because wrongdoing provides the best opportunity for grace to operate. Without wrongdoing, grace has no opportunity to manifest itself. Not only is wrongdoing unable to stop grace; it is the necessary condition for grace to be manifested. When high tide comes, a water line is left on the shore or bank. But if a flood comes, it overflows the water line. This is what abound means here. Sin is so high, but grace is higher and even covers sin. This is God's grace. Although our wrongdoings are quite serious and can rise quite high, God's grace rises even higher.

April 18, 2023 🌊

[riverseoverflow]

Our God is the processed and consummatted Triune God, who is the consummatted, all-inclusive Spirit as everything for our Christian life. When we have a need or a disability, we can remind Him of it. When we are facing a difficult situation, we can talk to Him about it. Then He, the One who lives in us, will come in to face the situation and to do whatever is needed.

(Life-study of Job, pp. 109-110)

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When sorrow darkens all the day,

When disappointments bar the way,

When hearts are numb and cannot pray,

Thou art sufficient, Lord.

Whate’er my circumstances be,

Help me in all Thy hand to see,

So wilt Thou then be unto me,

My all-sufficient Lord.

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The sweetest principle is that drawing near to the Lord is not in our hands; it is in the Lord’s hands. We may not draw near to Him, but He will draw near to us. We may be far away from Him, but He will find us. Even when we are at our weakest point, He will draw near to us. When we are far away from Him, He will come to contact us. Even when we are cold and indifferent toward Him or have fallen into the world, He will still say, “Do you love Me? Follow Me!”

(The Meaning and Purpose of Prayer, Chapter 4, Section 4)

Hi there! I have been relatively keeping myself under the radar again. Obviously I haven't been able to post content here.

Weak, sad, confused, speechless is how I would describe myself at present. I don't know. I... I started off agreeing to people who told me I needed rest. I think I've had enough though because it has been 1.5 months already since I moved into my parents' house after 2.5 years of training and service with all my bags unpacked. Without any expectations that I would need to pack and move at a later time. Having not so much on my plate comes off as a foreign feeling which I'm beginning to recognize as one of my deepest fears. I want to be of use. I hate being a burden.

I talked to the Lord even when I didn't quite know what to tell Him. He reminded me of a line in stanza 3 of H-403 which says: "Every moment, every member, / Girded, waiting Thy command; / Underneath the yoke to labor / Or be laid aside as planned."

I believe that during that brief moment in one of my candid afternoons with the Lord, cold, speechless, and indifferent as I was, He came to contact me that I may contact Him.

Thank you so much, Lord Jesus.

March 2022

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Life grows slowly. The higher a particular kind of life is, the more slowly it grows. For example, mushrooms and mosquitoes, being rather low forms of life, grow quickly. But it takes at least twenty-one years for a human being to reach maturity. The principle here is that the higher the life is, the slower it grows. Since the divine life is the highest life, it grows at the slowest rate. If we see this, we will not expect to grow quickly in the spiritual life. We should never expect mushrooming growth in the church life.

Since the divine life grows slowly in the saints, I would encourage the elders and leading ones in the churches to be patient and long-suffering. If we expect to see growth in the saints, we may be discouraged. However, sometimes when we are very discouraged and feel that the situation is hopeless, we see in the churches some signs of growth. Therefore, I would encourage not only the elders and leading ones but all the saints not to be disappointed with the rate of growth.

(The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity, Chapter 27, Section 1)

“It’s not a mushroom kind of growth.” This puts off a thankful heavy sigh out of me. I am not a mushroom. But, if I am a tree... I pray the burls and anything conspicuous that stunts my growth would be healed.

August 2021

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We need to be trained to the point that whether we are talking to others or riding a bus or a bicycle, we still can pray within. Those who minister the word must also learn to look to the Lord in prayer as they speak.

(Lessons for New Believers, Chapter 7, Section 2)

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But godliness with contentment is great gain;

For we have brought nothing into the world, because neither can we carry anything out.

But having food and covering, with these we will be content.

1 Timothy 6:6-8

I've got a roof over my head, some bread to break, rice that never runs out, the Bible and the ministry which opens the Bible to people and helps us understand the high peak truths, a blanket at night and a jacket by day, clothes for summer and for stormy days. I see these shadows and the reality of it all. I see Him who is all-inclusive, extensive, and sufficient to me. All the more, it is a blessing, a great gain, and a joy to see nothing but Him.

All I need is here, right here.

February 2021 🏡

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Come now and let us reason together,

Says Jehovah.

Though your sins are like scarlet,

They will be as white as snow;

Though they are as red as crimson,

They will be like wool.

Isaiah 1:18

In God’s full salvation He not only forgives our sins, exempting us from the penalty of our sins and removing the record of our sins from before Him; He also washes away the traces of sins in us, making us as white as snow and white like wool. Both snow and wool are naturally white. Hence, as a result of God’s washing, we become not only white but also naturally white, as if we had never been defiled. The washing that makes us as white as snow is a positional washing from without through the blood of Jesus Christ (1 John 1:7; Heb. 1:3b; Rev. 1:5), whereas the washing that makes us white like wool is a washing of our nature metabolically from within by God’s Spirit and by His life (1 Cor. 6:11 and note; Titus 3:5 and note 4).

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The crown of gold around the incense altar (30:3) signifies the glory of Christ’s divinity being the preserving power for His intercession. Our praying life does have the power to preserve God's people and His interests. It has the power to preserve whatever needs to be preserved.

(Life-study of Exodus, ch. 148)

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Lord, save me

from the past.

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eleos

The Greek word for mercy, eleos, refers to the kind of response that us motivated by the wretched condition of the poor party. Mercy refers more to the action or manifestation in response to wretchedness.

oiktirmos

The Greek word for compassion in Romans 9:15 and 2 Corinthians 1:3 is oiktirmos. The basic root of this word refers to the inward organs of man and which were believed to be the center of tender affections in man. Hence, this Greek word for compassion refers to the inward feeling that originates in the heart of the affectionate party. This feeling is not mild but deeply affectionate. Compassion, therefore, refers to the inward feeling that resides in the one who looks upon the wretchedness. It is the deepest of words showing the inward affection of God for man in his pitiful condition.

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My tears have been my food

Day and night,

While they say to me all day long,

Where is your God?

These things I remember,

And I pour out my soul within me:

That I passed through with the throng;

I led them to the house of God

With the voice of a joyous shout and praise,

The festal multitude.

Why are you cast down, O my soul?

And why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God, for I will yet praise Him

For the salvation of His countenance.

Psalms 42:3-5

As you learn to praise, you will find that there are days in which you cannot gather yourself to praise. Perhaps you praised God seven times today, yesterday, and the day before. But one day you will find that you cannot utter a praise. On such days you are in pain, total darkness, or dire trouble. On such days you suffer misunderstanding and slander. You are busy shedding tears of self-pity. You feel that the most obvious response would be complaint rather than praise. You feel that the most obvious thing to do would be to murmur rather than give thanks. At that very moment, you should remember that Jehovah's throne has not changed, His name has not changed, and His glory has not changed.

You should praise Him simply because He is worthy of praise. You should bless Him simply because He is worthy of all blessings. At that moment, your praise becomes a sacrifice of praise. Your praise is like the slaughter of your fattest calf. Your praise in tears is a sacrifice of praise. You are wounded before God. You die before God. You suffer loss, and you sacrifice before God. But you realize that God's throne is established in the heavens and cannot be shaken, and you do not hold back your praise. This is the sacrifice of praise. God desires His children to praise Him in everything and through every situation.

(Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry, from Watchman Nee, Messages for Building Up New Believers, pp. 249-250. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA.)

Lord, I hope I don't hold back any praise for You.

[riverseoverflow]

In His governmental dealing with His people, God is wise, loving, sympathetic, patient, purposeful, and successful. God’s severe chastisement of the children of Israel does not mean that He has given them up (Rom. 11:1-5, 11-12, 23-32). On the contrary, God is chastising them for their perfecting. The principle is the same with the New Testament believers (Heb. 12:5-11).

(footnote from Deuteronomy 28:15)

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The hope for my wretched condition is in God's mercy.

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If we would all learn to forsake our old person, taking Him as our person by looking at the index of His face while enjoying His presence, we would have a sweet sense of the preciousness of the indwelling Jesus. This would make us so shining, a shining which is the reflecting of His glory. I can assure you that if you ever have this kind of experience, others will see how shining you are. It is not that you are merely happy, but you are shining. Something from within shines out, and that is the reflection of Jesus.

(CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 1, “The Indwelling Christ in the Canon of the New Testament,” pp. 597-598)

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Therefore you shall lay these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them on your hand as a sign and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes

Deuteronomy 11:18

Moses’ words in vv. 18-20 can be applied to Christ and indicate that all the time and everywhere we should be occupied with Christ. We need to love God by laying Christ as the word on our heart and on our soul and by binding this word to everything related to us (Col. 3:16).