Our work for the Lord needs to be in ascension, by the Spirit, and in the divine stream. This divine stream is the one flow of the Triune God from eternity into time and into eternity – and He flowed Himself into us!
In this divine stream, we need to have fellowship – the stream is the fellowship of the Body. The fellowship regulates us, restricts us, and it keeps us one with God and with the Body.
This stream is also the stream of the Lord’s work – where the stream flows, there is the work of God. In everything we do for the Lord we need to keep ourselves in the divine stream, which is the divine flow of God, the stream of fellowship, and the stream of the Lord’s work.
As we see the history of the Lord’s move, as He flows in man and through man, all we can do is to rise up and pray for Him to gain the reality of the Body of Christ, the built-up Body, for His return.
What the Lord needs for His return is a people who pray, who set themselves aside for Him to not DO a lot of things but PRAY much more, in oneness with Him, for His move on the earth and in man. Our prayer is,
Lord, for the consummation of this age, cause all Your believers to be in the unique flow of life, the divine stream! Lord, build up Your Body! Establish the churches! Gain the overcomers! Spread the gospel of the kingdom! Come, Lord Jesus!
The Divine Stream is the Stream of Fellowship
In Acts 2:42 we see that there was a divine stream right after Pentecost, and all the believers continued steadfastly in one accord in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles.
This fellowship is generated by reporting to others of what we see and hear from God, that they also may have fellowship with us (1 John 1:3).
Every Lord’s day at the Table Meeting we break the bread to have the fellowship of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 10:16).
Even in the New Jerusalem, the one street carries the flow of the living water is the fellowship of the Body of Christ, the stream of the divine life.
The fellowship of the church today is the flowing of the divine life, and as the stream of life flows in us we have the fellowship of the Body. In everything we do, we need to fellowship with the Body.
Fellowship restricts us, limits us, and keeps us in oneness with the Body. When we are in fellowship, we have the flow of life and we work in the divine stream. If we do things for God with no fellowship with the Body, we don’t accomplish much.
Oh, Lord, may we have fellowship with the Body before we do anything! Keep us in the one flow, the one stream, of the divine life in the Body! We want to benefit of the flowing life in the Body by opening up to fellowship!
The Divine Stream is the Stream of the Lord’s Work
In 1 Cor. 16:10 Paul recommends Timothy as “he is working the work of the Lord, even as I am”. In this universe, there’s a stream that we may call the current, the stream, of the Lord’s work. Where the stream of water of life flows today, there’s the work of God.
As we see in Ezek. 47, the flow is out of the house of God, and wherever the river flows, everything shall live!
In Acts especially we see the divine stream – in the Lord’s move on earth there is only ONE STREAM, one current of the Lord’s work, and we need to keep ourselves in this one stream, this unique flow (see Gen. 2:8-12; Rev. 22:1-2; Acts 2:33; cf. 15:35-41).
Today the stream is carrying out the work – we don’t need to strive and labor in and of our natural capacity and ability, we need to just be in this unique flow of God.
The flow has the preeminence, and as we remain in the stream of life, we will flow with God to the uttermost parts of the earth!
The Lord’s recovery is the recovery of the divine stream, and the Lord’s recovery should be the stream today. Our work in the Lord’s recovery needs to be in this stream!
An Abbreviated History of the Divine Stream
The divine stream started from the throne of God, and it flowed into a man called Christ Jesus. He flowed on earth for 33.5 years, and when He went to the cross, He was pierced in His side – out came blood and water (John 19:34).
Despite Satan’s attempts to stop the flow, the stream out of His side flowed into all Christ’s believers as the living water, washing us from sins and regenerating us with the divine life, and this flow became a fountain of life in us to flow out of us and flow us into the New Jerusalem!
Firstly, the flow was in the apostles, and in Christ’s ascension, as He administrates by opening the seals, the work of God in the divine stream began in Jerusalem and kept flowing!
From Jerusalem the divine stream flowed to Galilee, Judea, and then to Antioch. In Antioch, the flow took a turn – first to Asia Minor, and then the Spirit of Jesus caused Paul not to continue his gospel trip in Asia Minor but turn to Macedonia, to Europe.
The divine stream flowed in Europe throughout the past 2000 years, and, even though there was degradation, apostasy, and even a counterfeit flow in the church, yet in the unseen realm in a hidden way the stream never stopped.
The stream was always with a group of people, always going onward, because our God is moving and progressing!
From Europe the flow went to England, and from England through various servants of God the flow went all over the earth (India, China, Asia, etc).
At the beginning of the last century, the flow took a turn and came to Southern China – the divine stream of God’s work had a new start with the Lord’s recovery with Watchman Nee and Witness Lee.
From there the stream flowed to Taiwan, South Asia, and then to America in the 1960’s. In 1962 Witness Lee was clearly led by the Lord in the stream, carried by the stream, restrained and constrained by the stream, to remain in USA in Los Angeles to begin the work there.
For 3 weeks he and some others prayed daily for the Lord’s work in the Western Hemisphere. During that time brother Lee spoke about history as being the history of the stream, of the divine move.
In January 1963 brother Lee gave the message on, The Divine Stream, and he testified how in the 1930’s he saw the one stream of God’s move and, at brother Watchman Nee’s request, he left his work in Northern China and joined brother Nee in Shanghai to be in the same flow of the Lord.
From then on, brother Witness Lee was in the unique flow of the Lord’s move, in the divine stream. Despite the change in the political regime in China, the Lord continued to flow in Taiwan, and then to America, and from America to all the continents today!
Being In the Stream and Praying for the Ultimate Revival
The right way to study history is by seeing the divine stream, the unique flow of God’s move, all throughout the ages. The purpose and the goal of the divine stream is the kingdom, the New Jerusalem.
Today we are in this stream – the Lord’s recovery is NOT “another Christian work”, but it is a flow, the divine progressive work of God in this universe and on this earth. We need to stay in the stream and flow one with the flowing God.
We are in unique times in the history today – we are closer to the consummation of the age than ever before! Inwardly and outwardly we sense that the Lord is doing something, and He is moving in a more intensified way in the Lord’s recovery.
What should we do? As we see the Lord’s ultimate move, as we abide in the divine stream in the Lord’s recovery today, we need to be those who PRAY!
We need to pray as the five did in Acts 13, so that we may give the Lord, our Head, an unprecedented cooperation for His intensified Spirit to run and move across the whole earth today!
Just as brother Lee urged us before he died, we need to pray for a new revival, perhaps the greatest and the final revival.
We need to pray for a genuine revival, a revival of the God-man living, of the successful practice of the divine truths, and of the reality of the Body of Christ being manifested on the earth as a model in all the local churches! When this happens, the Lord will return!
Our job here is not mere Christian work. We are here for the Lord’s return! We are here to bring in God’s kingdom and to build up the Body of Christ!
This is the work we do, and for this let us be in this divine stream and pray to give the Lord our cooperation! Let’s join together in prayer and tell the Lord – at least the upcoming 21 days in December 2012 – honestly,
Lord, increase and spread Your testimony to all the nations! Cause the gospel of the kingdom to be preached to all inhabited earth! May the high peak truths be propagated and disseminated among all peoples! Bind the powers of darkness, defeat the opposition, expose the blinding work of religion, and cast down Satan for the kingdom of God to be ushered in! Lord, raise up the next generation to overcome sin, the world, the flesh, and the self! Constitute them with the truth for Your move to advance on the earth! Lord, put in us an aspiration for a new revival! Vitalize all the saints! Come, Lord, Jesus!
References and Further Reading
- Sharing inspired from brother Minoru’s sharing in the message and portions in, The Divine Stream (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Unique Work in the Lord’s Recovery, week 3 (entitled, A Work in Ascension, by the Spirit, and in the Divine Stream).
- Buy this morning revival book online via Living Stream Ministry.
- Further reading: Watchman Nee and Witness Lee: two ministers, one ministry (via, holdingtotruth).
- Hymns on this topic:
# In the stream! in the stream! let us work / in the Lord, / With the Church, with the saints, in the / light of His Word; / Give the Word, life supply to the people / in need, / Thus fulfilling God’s plan, in His flow we’ll proceed.
# And now the Spirit flows, / Brings God where’er He goes. / All he could do, the foe, / Was just release the flow. / And God just keeps on flowing.
# As we trust in the Lord helplessly, / Depend on Him as our love and strength, / And listen to His speaking, / Our hope is to be raptured / Through the redemption of our body. / And our prayer is— / “Come, Lord Jesus!” - Pictures credit: taken with permission via, Hidden Roots, and, Grace upon Grace (facebook pages).
The one thing which should rule us is the divine fellowship. We are restricted in this fellowship. By being restricted in this fellowship, the Body of Christ is kept in oneness, and the work of the ministry continues to go on. When we are out of fellowship, everything is finished. The thing which makes everything alive is fellowship. If we learn to fellowship, we will receive many benefits, especially in the Lord’s work. (The Triune God to be Life to the Tripartite Man, pp. 147-148)
The lord said that the water that He Gives would be a fountain of water springing up unto eternal life! This steam shall flow to eternity; it can never and will never cease! We need daily to thirst for this water, this divine stream which leads us in the divine fellowship is for eternity! We need God to revive us, In order to remain in His divine fellowship, flowing into New Jerusalem! Lord, raise up the next generation to overcome sin, the world, the flesh, and the self! Constitute them with the truth for Your move to advance on the earth! Lord, put in us an aspiration for a new revival! Vitalize all the saints! Come, Lord, Jesus! Yes Come Lord Jesus!