God’s blessing on our serving the Lord is based on our one accord, being in harmony in spirit with one another, having real coordination, and having genuine oneness; for this, we need to learn the lesson of being broken, accommodating others, and respecting others’ function.
Lord Jesus, we want to have Your blessing as we serve the Lord. We give ourselves to You to be one with You. We want to be one with one another in the Body. Amen, Lord, may there be a sweet and real one accord among us. May we be in harmony with one another, having real coordination in spirit with the genuine oneness. Oh Lord, may we learn the lesson of being broken, accommodating others, and respecting others’ function! Have a way in us and among us, Lord, so that You may bless the church life! Amen!
One important aspect of our learning to minister the word is coordinating with others in one accord. We see this principle in the New Testament, especially in Paul’s epistles.
The apostle Paul was commissioned by the Lord to announce the gospel to the Gentiles, and he had a large portion of faith from the Lord. He cooperated with the Lord to the uttermost. However, in everything he did, wherever he went, and even in writing the Epistles, he coordinated with others.
When he preached the gospel, he always had a companion he coordinated with. When he was in prison, he had some brothers there also, and even in writing the Epistles, he mentioned the name of another brother who was there with him.
He had the consciousness of the Body and he had a spirit of coordination. He not only realised he was a member in the Body but even in prison, he was living in the reality of the Body of Christ.
He had the consciousness of the Body, he lived in the Body, and he sensed the need for the saints. We need to learn to live in the Body and coordinate with others in the Body.
The greatest indication that we see the Body and we live in the Body is that we cannot be independent. We cannot live without the Lord and even more, we cannot live and serve without the saints.
We need the fellowship in the Body even as we need the fellowship with the Lord.
However, if we feel that we don’t need one another and we do not need to fellowship, we are proud; the greatest form of pride is that we don’t need the Lord and the Body. Oh Lord Jesus!
This insults the Lord and the Body, and it is offensive to the Lord and to the Body. May the Lord save us from our independence and may we have a consciousness of the Body in our service to the Lord.
God’s Blessing is based on our One Accord, Being in Harmony in Spirit with One Another, having Real Coordination, and having Genuine Oneness
We need to realise that God’s blessing is based on our one accord, being in harmony with one another, having real coordination, and having genuine one accord (Acts 1:14).
This is what brought in God’s blessing upon the early disciples, and this will bring in God’s blessing upon us in the church life today.
When we minister the word, fellowship, and pray, we need to be in one accord, even be in harmony in spirit with one another.
We should not criticise others. In particular, as we pray with the saints, we should avoid praying in a contradictory manner.
Someone may pray, Lord, sanctify us! We should not follow with a prayer along the line of, Lord, thank You that we have been sanctified. Both prayers are good, but we need to enter into others’ burden and continue it in prayer.
It is like playing basketball; there is only one ball on the court, and we play together, even play in one accord, for we want to win the game.
Others have the ball most of the time, and sometimes the ball is passed to us; we need to be in harmony in spirit with the saints, being in one accord with others.
When someone prays about us being sanctified, we should not change the topic to caring for the students on the campus; rather, we should enter into the prayer of the saints and be one with them.
We must absolutely avoid criticising others in the ministry of the word; when we criticise others or disagree with them, we show that we are narrow and this leads to division.
As we coordinate with others, we need to always have an attitude of respect, cooperation, and coordination with them.
We need to serve with the saints according to our portion, and we need to honour the portion of others (Phil. 2:3-4). It is the Lord who has entrusted each one of us with a portion, and each one of us has a portion in the Body and a measure of his portion.
May we have the humility not to regard our portion more highly than other person’s portion.
As we meet with the saints, as we coordinate together, and as we enjoy the Lord in the meeting, we need to follow along with what the saints are doing, not imposing our burden on them nor leading them in the direction we think they should go.
Some saints may fellowship about prayer and musing on God’s word; instead of changing the topic to something we have recently enjoyed or we may feel it is better, we need to enter into the burden of the saints and simply be in harmony in spirit with them, even be in coordination and in one accord.
If we disagree with them, if we do not like the way the meeting is going and the direction of our fellowship, may we learn to take the cross and, as long as there are no heretical teachings or idolatrous things, may we learn to be in harmony in spirit among the saints.
May we learn to simply labour positively and learn to receive help from others.
We have our own portion in the Body, our own function, and we can function accordingly. We can simply go along with what the Lord is doing and speaking among the saints, and we can be one with the saints in the Body.
May we learn not to be contradictory to others, nor pray to attack them or switch the topic, but rather may we be in one spirit.
What a mercy from the Lord that we can see that the Body is one and we can keep the oneness of the Body by denying ourselves and being one with the saints.
For example, the leading ones may decide that we read a particular book in the Bible, but we may prefer another book. we should just go along and enter in, and we should be one with the brothers.
It is all right to study any book in the Bible; what matters most is that we have harmony in spirit and we do all things in one accord in the Body and for the Body. This will bring in God’s blessing.
Lord Jesus, we want to have Your blessing on us today. We want to keep the one accord in the Body, being in harmony in spirit with the saints. Thank You, Lord, for placing us in the Body as members of one another. Thank You for the church life, where we can meet with the saints and enjoy You together. May we have genuine oneness among us today. May we have real coordination and go along with one another for the building up of the church. Amen, Lord, we want to be one with You and one with one another. May we learn to not criticise others but rather, be one with them, even be in harmony in spirit as we pray and do things together. Oh Lord Jesus, may we always have an attitude of respect, cooperation, and coordination with others. May we simply serve others according to our portion and honour the portion of others in the Body. Lord Jesus, grant us to have the humility not to regard our portion more highly than another person’s portion! Keep us in one accord, in harmony in spirit with the saints in our coordination and fellowship! Amen!
Learn the Lesson of being Broken, Accommodating others, and Respecting others’ Function in the Body to Preserve the Consciousness of the Body and Produce the Building among us
In the church life we all need to learn the lesson of being broken not only in our relationship with the Lord but also in our coordination with others.
We need to learn the lesson of being broken, accommodating others, and respecting others’ function. This is something we need to learn in the Body.
This is something that especially the brothers need to learn, and we all need to practice this.
We may have a burden to do something for the Lord in the church life, but the feeling in the Body is to do something else; we need to simply be broken and accommodate others, respecting their function to preserve the consciousness of the Body and produce the building.
For example, there may be some fellowship that we should go to preach the gospel; we may want to do something else, but we should simply go along with the burden in the Body and we will get the blessing.
Some brothers lead the saints to preach the gospel fervently, and we should simply enter into this burden, following and being in harmony in spirit as we do this.
We may even praise them, not in a way that is not genuine but by being one with them in spirit. In this way, we positively supplement the labour, and we have an attitude of respect, cooperation, and coordination with others.
We should all be of one soul to pray for, supply, and support whoever is speaking a message, for the Lord will grant us His speaking and He will pour out His blessing.
If those who serve the Lord are continually disagreeing instead of being in one accord, the enemy, the saints, and even the children will know it.
As we meet with the saints and listen to others’ speaking, we should simply Amen their speaking and follow them in spirit, not being dissenting or disagreeing inwardly.
This is not to make us uniform so that we obtain an artificial oneness of conformity; this is to learn the lesson of being broken and accommodating others, respecting their function. This is to preserve the consciousness of the Body and produce the building among us.
But if we are not in one accord, if we do not agree with the leading brothers and are not in harmony in spirit, others will see it, and even the children will realise this. Oh Lord!
May we not give the saints the impression that our speaking is higher than that of others; instead, the saints should have the impression that our speaking is in harmony with the speaking of others.
What a mercy and grace it is for us to enter into others’ burden and continue their speaking, being in harmony in spirit with them so that we may preserve the consciousness of the Body!
When a brother speaks, may we not be critical in our heart and say, “I know this already”; such a spirit is destructive to God’s work. May we allow the Lord to break us and make us those who are accommodating others, even receiving other’s portion.
The goal is the building up of the church, and there are many ways to get there; taking others’ way, as long as it is not sinful, heretical, worldly, or idolatrous, is not a problem.
We will receive the blessing from the Lord when we follow others in their way to do things in the church life, not our way.
The more we go on with the Lord, the more we advance in the church life, the more we know how to do things, and the more burden we have to do this or that.
We may exercise our preference to be involved in a certain service, and we may feel quite natural to do something we like or are inclined to do.
May we learn the lesson of being broken and accommodating others in our service.
Because the faithful saints are observing us in the church life, praying for us and caring for us, may we be careful not to do anything or say anything that stirs up their concern for us and for the Lord’s recovery (1 Cor. 1:10; 2 Cor. 12:18; 1 Tim. 4:12; Titus 2:7-8).
We need to realise that pride invites destruction, but humility brings in blessing (Prov. 16:18; 1 Pet. 5:5). May the Lord expose our pride and save us from being proud in the church life.
A reason for the lack of building up among those who serve the Lord is that they are short of love for one another. The Lord’s word to us and His prayer for us were to love one another (John 13:34-35; 15:12, 17).
His love is poured into our heart, and we can love others with the love that He has given to us, even the love that He is to us and in us. There should be an extraordinary love among the serving ones; such love for one another comes from our oneness with the Lord.
The elders and co-workers should shepherd one another and love one another to be a model of the Body life, and we all need to follow their pattern (John 21:15-17; 1 Pet. 1:22).
May we bring all these matters to the Lord and consder prayerfully before Him how we live the CHristian life and the church life, so that He may have a way to bless us as we live in the church life and minister the Word of God.
Lord Jesus, grant us to learn the lesson of being broken as we live the church life and coordinate with the saints. Amen, Lord, may we be accommodating others, respecting their function and going along with others as we serve the Lord together. We open to You. Have Your way in us for the building up of the Body. We give You our attitude toward the saints. May we have an attitude of respect, cooperation, and coordination with others. May we do all things to preserve the consciousness of the Body and produce the building among us. Amen, Lord, may we be of one soul to pray for, supply, and support the brothers who are speaking. May we never give others the impression that our speaking is higher than theirs. May we be in harmony with the speaking of others, being in harmony in spirit and in one accord. Amen, Lord, save us from pride and bring us into an attitude of loving the saints and caring for them in the Lord! Gain the sweet one accord among us so that You may have a way to bless the church for the sake of Your testimony on the earth!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers on this topic, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1957, vol. 2, “The Administration of the Church and the Ministry of the Word,” pp. 244-246, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Ministry of the Word and God’s Dispensing for God’s Economy (2026 March ITERO), week 5, “Cooperating with the Lord to Carry Out His Economy by Being His Faithful Stewards Who Minister the Word with a Burden from the Lord and Who Coordinate with One Another in One Accord” – day 5.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Oh, may my spirit flow, / Oh, may it flow! / Now I implore Thee, Lord, / Oh, may it flow! / No more self-satisfied, / No more in self-bound pride, / No more my spirit tied; / Oh, may it flow! / Oh, may my spirit flow, / Oh, may it flow! / For this I plead with Thee, / Oh, may it flow! / High-minded not to be, / Pride shall not prison me, / I’d flow unceasingly, / In spirit flow. (Hymns #846 stanzas 2-3)
– To the Head fast holding ever, / That we may together grow, / From the Head supplies incoming / Thru us to the Body flow. / Lord, anew we give our bodies; / May we be transformed to prove / All Thy will, to know Thy Body, / And therein to serve and move. (Hymns #913 stanzas 7-8)
– All the preaching of the Gospel, / All the teaching ministry, / Every other kind of service / For the church alone should be. (Hymns #914 stanza 5)
