Being Absolute for the Lord and for the Church Life to have a Rich Flow of Life

The river of water flowing from the house of God heals and brings life wherever it goes, but it cannot heal the swamps and marshes; we need to be absolute for the Lord and for His recovery to enjoy the healing and life imparting of the river of life.

God hates compromise, and all those who are lukewarm are spewed our of His mouth.

What we see in Ezek. 47 is a river of water flowing from the house of God, which is the Triune God flowing out from eternity to quench the thirst of His people.

This river can be seen from the very beginning of the Bible, in Gen. 2:10. In this river we find the precious materials, implying the transformed materials for the building of God, which is typified here by Eve.

Other verses mentioning the river of water of life are, Exo. 17:6, 1 Cor. 10:4, and Psa. 36:8-9. Here we see the Divine Trinity, the Father as the fountain, the Son as the flow, and the Spirit as the river, flowing to reach man.

Furthermore, the flow of water of life is associated with the house of God, and there comes a point that the flow and the house are inseparable, for what comes out of the house is the flow – these two are one. In Psa. 46:4 we see the river and the city.

In Zech. 14:8 – a dispensational fulfilment of what we see in Ezekiel, the larger temple with water flowing out of it – we see a river flowing toward the Dead Sea and the other toward the Mediterranean Sea.

In the New Testament, in John 4:14 we see the water that came into us – those who drank of it – becomes a fountain springing up. This water is not a body of water, a sea, a lake, a pond, or a puddle, but a river, a flow, a current, which moves, flows, goes to places, spreads, and brings life wherever it goes. The river of water of life it is living and active.

In John 7:37-39 the Spirit of Jesus is the flow, the Spirit flowing today in us and in the church life. In the last book, in Rev. 22:1, we see that in eternity there’s a flow issuing from the throne, which is the Triune God flowing out.

At the end of the Bible there still is a flow, coming out of the throne of the God-Lamb, and the flow is from the city. It is not just a flow from the throne; it comes from the throne, but it is in the city.

In Rev. 22:17 there is a river, typified by the river in the Old Testament, signifying the abundance of life in its flow; this is not just a little bit of life, but it is the abundance of the divine life.

Brothers and sisters, the church life today should be a miniature of the New Jerusalem, with a throne at the center, and a river issuing out of that throne to supply, enrich, maintain, and bring the tree of life to all those in the church life.

This is the display of the glory of God’s life. This is the testimony of Jesus.

The church life, although it has a lot of activities that we do, must be a testimony of a city with a throne, with a river proceeding out of it, the tree of life growing in it, and there will be a grand expression of the glory of God, even the glory of His life. May this be the reality of our church life in all the local churches today.

Avoiding Compromise or Lukewarmness and being Absolute for the Lord to Enjoy the River of Life

It is very striking that, even though the river flowing from the house of God can heal the Dead Sea, that is, it can heal death, and even though it brings life wherever it goes, it cannot heal the swamps or the marshes.

A swamp or a marsh is a muddy place, a place which is neither dry nor fully wet, but a mixture of water and earth. A swamp or marsh is a neutral place, a halfway place, a place of compromise and lukewarmness.

In Rev. 3:15-16 the Lord tells the church in Laodicea that, because she is neither hot nor cold, He will spew her out of His mouth. The Lord hates compromise and lukewarmness. He would rather have us cold or hot, that is, being absolute, than us being not absolute for Him nor anything else.

The Lord hates compromise, and He cannot help us or heal us if we are in a compromising situation. We should never be involved with a situation of compromise, we should never seek to make a compromise, and we should not live in compromise.

God’s way is not to negotiate. His way is to terminate our natural man with anything of the self, and His way is to deal with our natural being, so that the living flow of water would come in and be deepened in our being and in the church life.

If we are lukewarm or in a situation of compromise, the Lord will spew us out of His mouth, that is, He will cut us off from the enjoyment of Christ and from the fellowship of the Body of Christ.

Not even the river of water of life can heal us if we are in a situation of compromise, in a muddy, marshy situation. If we are dead or in a situation of death, the river of life can come in to enliven us and minister life to us. But if we are in a situation of compromise or we are lukewarm, the Lord cannot heal us.

We need to avoid any compromise or lukewarmness and learn to be absolute for the Lord so that He may have a way to reach us and flow in our being. If we are in the church life, we should be in the church life absolutely, and not half way, with one leg in the church and another in another place.

If we are in denominations or free groups, we should be there absolutely, and we should be open to the Lord as the living water to flow in. Human nature is inclined toward compromise, and especially in these days compromise seems to be the unique solution to all the problems.

God hates compromise, and He hates lukewarmness. Out stand before the Lord and concerning the church should be absolute. If we are midway between the church life and the Great Babylon, the Lord cannot heal us or flow as living water into us.

We need to be absolute for the Lord, and He will have a way to flow in as living water to heal us, mend us, impart life into us, and increase the level of life in us.

Lord Jesus, save us from being in a situation of compromise, and save us from being lukewarm. We want to learn to be absolute for You and Your economy. We want to have the flow of living water in our being. Oh Lord, we treasure the living flow in us, the flow of water of life. May this flow have a free way to heal us, mend us, give life to us, and make us a channel of life to others also. May we never be involved with situations of compromise, and may we never be lukewarm. Rekindle our love for You!

Being Absolute for the Lord and for the Church Life so that we may have the Flow of Life

As those who have been shown mercy from the Lord to see something of His economy and come into the Lord’s recovery, we need to be in the Lord’s recovery absolutely so that we may have the flow of life and enjoy the riches of the divine life.

We need to cooperate with the Lord for the flow of life to be deepened in us, and we need to avoid compromise and hate being lukewarm. If we are in the Lord’s recovery, we should be in the recovery absolutely and not halfway.

The Lord Jesus desires and even requires absoluteness; when we are absolute for Him, though we may not understand much, He can come in and fulfill His purpose in us, for we are fully open to cooperate with Him.

By being absolute for the Lord we will be in the flow of life, and this flow will not be merely a trickle but a river to swim in. Then everything will live where the river comes!

Some of the reasons for the swamps and marshy situations that occur in the church life is compromise, lukewarmness, half-and-half situations, and reservations. We must be absolute for the Lord and for the church life, not halfway or lukewarm, to enjoy the healing, mending, and life-giving of the flow of the water of life.

May the Lord save us from being just “muddy”, that is, having a little of the water of life, but being so mixed and lukewarm that nothing can grow or flow there. Marshes and swamps cannot be healed.

Death can be healed, and dry and parched land can be enlivened when the river from the house of God flows, but marshes cannot be healed. It is easy to be in a marsh, and it is easy to get lost or stuck in a marsh; however, we need to learn to be absolute for the Lord so that we may be in the flow of life.

When the river of life flows and we are absolute for the Lord, we will become a miniature of the New Jerusalem: the river flows in the middle, the trees bear fruit for our nourishment, and the leaves of the trees are for healing (Ezek. 47:11-12; Rev. 22:2).

The river of water of life flows from the house of God, and when it reaches us, it enlivens us, heals us, mends us, and gives us life, causing all kinds of fruits to come forth and bringing life wherever it goes.

When we are absolute for the Lord, the river of life heals us, mends us, enlivens us, causes us to be fruitful, and brings life wherever we go. When we are absolute for the Lord and for the church life, the river of life is deepened in our being, and we bring life wherever we go.

We need to learn to be absolute for the Lord so that He may flow in us as a mighty flowing river, and He may flow through us and with us all the way to the New Jerusalem.

When we are absolute for the Lord, we become a miniature of the New Jerusalem, and the river of water of life flows us all the way to the consummation of God’s purpose, the New Jerusalem!

Lord Jesus, we want to learn to be absolute for You and for the church life to have the flow of life and be healed, be mended, receive life, and become the New Jerusalem in miniature today. Save us from serving You half-hearted or being in the church life halfway. Lord, we want to cooperate with the flow of life in our being and in the church life so that this flow may be deepened and increased. May living water flow in us, saturate our inner being, bring life wherever it goes, and make us a channel of life to many others!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Ezekiel, msg. 26 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Ezekiel (2), msg. 10 (week 22 in the HWMR), The Flow of Life with the Ministry of Life out from and for the Magnificent House of God.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Have Thine own way, Lord, / Have Thine own way; / Hold o’er my being / Absolute sway. / Fill with Thy Spirit / Till all shall see / Christ only, always, / Living in me. (Hymns #449)
  # My heart longs for absolute surrender / That I’d wholly consecrated be, / Not in word alone but all my being / Would be fully given unto Thee. (Song on being surrendered to the Lord)
  # We the altar must obtain, / Have our all upon it lain. / The burnt-offering must be slain, / O glory be to God! / This we never should dispute, / For the church be absolute, / All that’s otherwise uproot / In the local churches now. (Hymns #1251)