Being Vitalized to be Zion, the Group of Overcomers who Answer the Lord’s Call in this age

What the Lord is after today is Zion, the group of overcomers as the reality of the Body of Christ to consummate the New Jerusalem; we need to be vitalized to answer the Lord’s call and be produced as the overcomers of today in the local churches. Amen!

This week in our morning revival we come to the second week in the Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Samuel, and the title is, The Hannah Ministry.

There is no such phrase as “The Hannah Ministry” anywhere in the Bible, but there is the principle of the Hannah ministry.

We see a clear difference between Hannah and Peninah in 1 Sam. 1-2; Elkanah had two wives, Peninah (who had many children) and Hannah (who had no children).

Peninnah was provoking Hannah bitterly, and God on His side shut up Hannah’s womb so she could not conceive.

Hannah was very distraught and desperate, so at one point when they were offering at the tabernacle their yearly offering, she prayed and poured out her heart before God.

Though her husband asked her what’s the problem and assured her that she is loved by him and he should be like ten sons to her, she still wanted a son.

She was so desperate that, in her prayer, she touched God’s need; God needed a manchild who would be a Nazarite, and Hannah needed a son; she then prayed that, if God would give her a son, she will lend him to God all the days of his life for God to use him.

Somehow, she touched what is in God’s heart, for she realized that just as she needed a son, so God needed a manchild for His purpose.

She was praying, therefore, in a desperate way, before God; her lips were moving, but no sound came out of them.

So Eli, who was the high priest but had no discernment, asked her, How long will you be drunk? Put away the wine from here. The priesthood was so degraded that Eli lost his spiritual discernment.

Hannah, however, replied that she’s not drunk but rather, she’s a woman oppressed in spirit, and she has been pouring out her soul to Jehovah.

This should be our daily habit, pouring out our heart before the Lord. We need to tell Him what bothers us, and He wants us to do this; we need to have many conversations with the Lord, being honest and sincere toward Him as we pray.

As we do this, as we open our being to Him, we give Him a way to speak to us and to advance in our being; as we have many conversations with the Lord, we will have the genuine growth in life, because that’s the way the Lord will deal with things in our being.

In the case of Hannah, she poured out her heart to the Lord and touched God’s heart in her prayer, so the Lord listened to her prayer and at the same time He met His need.

When Samuel was born Hannah brought him to the temple to serve God, and later God had a way to speak to him, even when he was young.

When he was very young and was sleeping in the house of God, God called out to Samuel, and he thought it was Eli who calls him and so he went to him; Eli told him to say, Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.

Though degraded and full of failures, without any spiritual discernment, Eli still gave both Hannah and Samuel a good advice, and God had a way to speak to both of them.

May we be those who hear God’s voice, listen to His speaking, and repent and confess according to His word, so that we may be used by Him for His purpose.

God desires to gain Zion, the Group of Overcomers in the Church Life who are Perfected and Matured

May the Lord open our eyes to realize that the Lord’s recovery is not yet another piece of Christian work or another Christian movement; may we see that the Lord’s recovery is to build up Zion, the overcomers.

The Lord’s recovery is to produce and gain the overcomers as the reality of the Body of Christ to consummate the holy city, the New Jerusalem.

Zion in the Old Testament is clearly where God blesses and speaks, the city of King David (2 Sam. 5:7) where the temple as God’s dwelling place on earth was built (Psa. 48:2; 9:11; 74:2; 76:2b; 135:21; Isa. 8:18).

Yes, God wants to gain Jerusalem as the city where His name is, and He wants to gain the reality of the kingdom of God in the church life.

However, according to what we see in typology in the Old Testament, God’s heart is set on Zion.

In typology, the church life is today’s Jerusalem, and within the church life there must be a group of overcomers who are the perfected and matured God-men, and these overcomers are today’s Zion (Rev. 14:1-5).

Zion is the highlight and beauty of the city of Jerusalem (Psa. 48:2; 50:2); as such, it typifies the overcomers as the high peak, the center, the uplifting, the strengthening, the enriching, the beauty, and the reality of the church (Psa. 48:2, 11-12; 20:2; 53:6a; 87:2).

This doesn’t mean that we should reject others or not fellowship with them because “we want to be the overcomers”; rather, we need to love all the saints and fellowship together, and we need to desire to be the overcomers today, those who are the highlight and beauty of the holy city.

We need to pray that the Lord would make us part of the high peak, the center, the uplifting, and the strengthening and enriching of the church.

The characteristics, the life, the blessing, and the establishment of Jerusalem come from Zion (see 1 Kings 8:1; Psa. 51:18; 102:21; 128:5; 135:21; Isa. 41:27; Joel 3:17).

The elders were in Jerusalem and the Ark of the Covenant was in Zion. God did good to Zion and built the walls of Jerusalem; Zion is the center.

The Lord blesses out of Zion and the good was seen in Jerusalem; when He gains the group of overcomers in the church, the whole church enjoys God’s blessing and goodness.

The Lord dwells in Jerusalem and He is blessed out of Zion. The word was first announced in Zion and then preached to Jerusalem.

God dwells in Zion, and Jerusalem is holy. Hallelujah! The overcomers as Zion are the reality of the Body of Christ and consummate the building up of the Body in the local churches to bring in the New Jerusalem, the holy city (Rev. 21:16).

The New Jerusalem will be the ultimate Holy of Holies as God’s dwelling place (Exo. 26:2-8; 1 Kings 6:20). In the new heaven and new earth, the entire New Jerusalem will become Zion, with all the believers as the overcomers (Rev. 21:1-3, 7, 16, 22).

In the new heaven and new earth, Zion is the overcomers, especially in the millennial kingdom; for eternity, there will be the New Jerusalem, for Zion is consummated in and as the holy city.

Rev. 21:7 says that he who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be God to him, and he will be a son to Me.

To overcome here is to overcome unbelief and to believe into the Lord Jesus.

We receive the effectiveness of His redemption, the process of His organic salvation, and we become a part of the wife of Christ.

May we be those who are produced by the Lord to be Zion, the group of overcomers who are qualified to be the Lord’s bride.

May we live in the mingled spirit today, in the reality of the Holy of Holies, so that we may be consummated to be the precursor of the New Jerusalem, the bride in the age of the millennium to feast with the Lord for one thousand years!

Lord Jesus, gain a group of overcomers who live in the reality of the Body of Christ today to consummate the building up of the Body and bring in the New Jerusalem! Amen, Lord, keep us living in the mingled spirit today so that we may be in the reality of Zion, the Holy of Holies. Gain in us what You are after, dear Lord. Make our heart a duplication of Your heart. May we truly be in the Lord’s recovery, being recovered by You to the extent that we become the Zion today, the overcomers that will end this age and bring in the age of the kingdom! Amen, Lord, grant us the mercy and grace to be part of the bride of Christ, the overcoming ones in this age who will bring You back and end this age!

Being Vitalized to Answer the Lord’s Call for Overcomers in this Age

Today the Lord is looking for the one hundred and forty-four thousand amidst the defeated church; He is looking for the reality of Zion, those who stand on mount Zion.

Jerusalem is large, but Zion is small; Jerusalem is the city of God, but Zion is the stronghold. God’s heart’s desire has to do with Zion.

The characteristics, the life, the blessing, and the establishment of Jerusalem come from Zion; the Lord wants to gain Zion today, the group of overcomers.

In every age, He is calling the overcomers, those who are willing to pour out their blood before life can flow out to others.

The overcomers take the stand of victory and suffer tribulation and despising, and they are being vitalized to answer the Lord’s call for overcomers in this age.

On the negative side, the overcomers are willing to pay the price to have the old creation being cut off, and they are willing to deal with the gates of Hades (Matt. 16:18).

May we be willing to endure heartache so that we may gain the heart of God.

May we allow ourselves to be defeated by the Lord so that He may be the Victor, and may we allow Him to live in us the same life of obedience in us today, as we allow Him to deal with all disobedience (2 Cor. 10:6).

The book of Revelation in particular shows us what the Lord wants and what He is building – it is a group of overcomers, the reality of Zion.

The intrinsic reality of the spiritual revelation in the Holy Word of God is that God is gaining the overcomers for Him to carry our His heart’s desire; if we see this, we will be willing to pay the price.

May we be like the apostle Paul, desperate to pray at any cost and pay the price to be vitalized and be the group of overcomers who cooperate with the Lord today.

Paul’s experience as described in Phil. 3:8-14 shows us that he counted all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, his Lord.

Christ Jesus was his Lord – very personal; he wanted to gain Christ, he was not content with what he had, what he experienced, and what he enjoyed of Christ, but wanted to gain more!

We want to gain more of Christ – we are not content with where we are and how much Christ we have.

If we think we know everything, we have done this and that, we have enjoyed this and we heard about that, we are through; we need to have a fresh hunger and thirst for the Lord.

Even a the end of his life, Paul was pursuing Christ, having a fresh desire to enjoy Christ, gain Him, and partake of Him.

May we forget the things which are behind and freshly pursue Christ to gain Him. He is our prize; we want to gain Him and enjoy Him, and we want to obtain the prize of the fullest enjoyment of Christ.

Our response to God’s calling of the overcomers in this age is for us to be vitalized to be part of the group of overcomers that He needs.

To be vital is to be living and active in oneness with our living and acting God. God’s move on the earth for the accomplishment of His eternal economy is ultimately through the overcomers.

We are the church of the living God (1 Tim. 3:15) – our God is living and active, and we are the living church of the living God. He lives and acts through us.

May we be open to the Lord in His producing a group of overcomers so that we may be the vitalized ones, those who answer His call to be His overcomers today.

Lord Jesus, we respond to Your calling of the overcomers in this age – vitalize us! Make us those who are living and active in oneness with our living and acting God! May we be those who cooperate with You to accomplish Your economy. We want to forget the things which are behind and stretch forward to the things which are before to gain more of Christ! Amen, Lord, we want to gain Christ, win Christ and obtain Christ! We want to win Christ as our prize not only in the next age but even in this age today! Vitalize us, Lord, and make us living and active even as You are living and active. We join ourselves to You for the fulfillment of Your desire.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ed Marks, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “The Practical Points concerning Blending,” chs. 2, 5 as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization Study of 1 and 2 Samuel (2021 winter training), week 2, entitled, The Hannah Ministry.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Christ comes for His kingdom too; / Heav’nly reign we must pursue, / Let His rule our self subdue— / Yield in time! / Rebel self must be dethroned, / Lessons must not be postponed, / Quickly yield to Christ enthroned— / Yield in time! (Hymns #1304)
  – Will you be an overcomer? / Christ is calling now! / Will you then be such a follower, / Though you know not how? (Hymns #894)
  – If our hearts would be established; / If in spirit we would be; / If we would be overcomers; / Follow Jesus constantly. / Follow Jesus in the spirit; / Be the overcomers true; / Follow Jesus every moment— / Jesus, help us follow You. (Hymns #1247)