If we want to minister life to others, we need to be aware of the attack upon the church by death, the gates of Hades, and we need to be one with the Lord to pray and give life to the saints.
We need to not only drink Christ as the water of life but even more, be one with Him to minister life to the saints.
The Lord wants us not only to eat, drink and enjoy Him as life, but also be one with Him to flow out the divine life to others for them to enjoy and receive life. How can we flow out the divine life?
When the Lord Jesus was on earth, in Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
As He lived and worked on earth, He desired to release the divine life from within the shell of His humanity, but it was only at His death that His life was released.
It is the same with us; through regeneration, we received God as life, and now this life is concealed within the shell of our humanity.
When we meet others, they see our human being and something of our soul, but they may not realize that we have the life of God in our spirit.
The divine life is in our spirit, for our spirit is mingled with the divine spirit; however, this life wants to spread from our spirit into all the parts of our being and even flow out of us.
How can we cooperate with the Lord to let His life flow in and flow out of us? It is not only by eating the Lord but also by allowing Him to break our outer man so that the inner life may be released and flow.
The more we allow the Lord to deal with, wear out, and break our outer man, the more He has a way to not only fill our vessel with Himself but also flow out of us into others.
This will cause us to have the outflow of life, for we are one with the smitten Christ and His life can flow into the inner parts of our being and also out into others.
As long as we allow Him to break through in us, though we are on our own and others may not know what we’re going through, death operates in us and life is imparted into others.
We are members of the Body of Christ, and whatever we go through and experience has an organic impact on the other members of the Body.
If we resist and do not allow the Lord to break our outer man, we cannot minister life to the members of the Body of Christ, no matter how much we try to do outwardly.
May we learn to not only enjoy the Lord but also allow HIm to break our outer man so that the divine life in our spirit may be released and flow freely.
May we be those who minister life to the other members of the Body through our experience and enjoyment of Christ in His death and resurrection.
To Minister Life to Others, we need to be aware of the Attack of Death upon the Church
If we would minister life to others, we need to be aware of the attack upon the church by death, the gates of Hades (Matt. 16:18; Rom. 5:17).
There are two main parties in this universe, Satan and God; whatever Satan does brings in death, and God does everything in the way of life and to bring in life.
From Eden onwards, the controversy between God and Satan has been on the issue of death and life (Gen. 3:3, 4; Rom. 5:12, 17, 21; 1 Cor. 15:22).
Whatever is of God is of life, and everything of Satan brings in death.
Touching Christ brings in life, but cooperating with Satan brings in death.
When Christ came, Satan tried to attack him by means of death but death could not touch Him; Christ died, but He came out of death and overcame death.
God destroyed death through Christ, and now He uses the church for the same purpose.
The church today is God’s vessel of life; the church is called to reveal the risen life of His Son and bring men to the knowledge of that life.
We need to be aware of the attack of death upon the church, realizing that Satan attacks the church by means of the gates of Hades (Matt. 16:18).
Satan’s greatest fear is of the church’s resistance to his power of death; when we are aware of the enemy’s attack by means of death, the enemy will flee, for we will remain in the realm of life.
May we be those who overcome death not only in ourselves but also in others.
1 John 5:14-17 shows us that the eternal life within us can overcome death both in ourselves and other members of the church.
As we enjoy eternal life, as we remain in the realm of life, this eternal life swallows death within us and the death within other members of the Body.
When the Lord said that He is building His church, He also mentioned the gates of Hades, Satan with his power of death, being right there where the church is, to attack the church.
But praise the Lord, no matter how much Satan attacks the church by means of death, the gates of Hades shall not prevail against the church!
Satan’s ultimate weapon against the church is death, but the gates of Hades will not prevail against the church.
The church is built up in the resurrection life of Christ, and the saints who function in life allow their spirit to flow life into the meeting.
When death comes in, these saints are aware of the attack of death, and they know how to deal with it so that death may be swallowed up by the power of resurrection life!
What is of God is characterized by life, and what is of Satan, by death; in the church everything that issues from God is life, and everything that issues from Satan is death (John 11:25; Heb. 2:14; John 10:10).
Satan’s greatest fear with regard to the church is her resistance to his power of death (2 Tim. 1:10).
The Lord may lead some who have a keen spiritual discernment to pray and bind death before the meetings of the church; He may lead some to pray in harmony on earth to bind the enemy and release the flow of life in the meeting.
May we be such ones who grow in life, enjoy the divine life, allow the divine life to work in us and saturate our inner being, and live according to the sense of life, so that we may sense the attack of death upon the church and bind the enemy.
The heavens have bound what the enemy tries to do, and we on earth are one with the One on the throne to bind the enemy and his attack of death, and we release life in the meeting.
We bind the enemy and we release what the heavens has released.
The heavens has released the flow of resurrection life, and we stand against any attack of death and release the flow of life in the church.
Lord Jesus, we want to enjoy Your life, grow in the divine life, and live according to the sense of life. Make us those who are aware of the attack upon the church by death, the gates of Hades, and who stand against the enemy’s attack. Amen, Lord, we want to minister life to the saints and stand against the attack of the gates of Hades. We are here for the building up of Your church. We stand against the enemy’s attack of death upon the church and we want to minister the divine life into the saints. Amen, Lord Jesus, we bind the enemy and his attack of death, and we release the flow of resurrection life in the church for the building up of the church!
Being one with the Lord to be Channels of Life Ministering the Divine Life to Others
Though the enemy attacks the church with all his might by means of death, we need to be encouraged, for greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world!
The eternal life in our spirit can overcome death both in ourselves and in the other members of the church (1 John 5:11-13, 16). Amen!
Many times we can sense that there’s death among the saints, for the saints are weak in faith and they do not exercise their spirit to minister life.
In such situations, those who are stronger in the Lord, those who enjoy the divine life and live one spirit with the Lord, can minister life to others.
Actually, the life and life supply in us supplies life to those who are weaker in the Body of Christ.
We can be a channel through which eternal life is supplied to others.
We can be a channel of life, a channel through which the Lord as life can flow in and out for others to receive life and for death to be eliminated.
We may see a brother who sins or some saints who are weak, and we may pray for them and minister life to them.
We who ask can give life to the one or ones that we pray for.
We as the asker need to abide in the Lord and be one with Him, and in this organic union with the Lord, we can ask and give life to the ones in need.
We need to become the means through which God’s life-giving Spirit can give life to the one for whom we ask.
In this way, we have the fellowship of the divine life to impart life to the saints.
This shows that the eternal life within us is something real and practical; on one hand, we enjoy this life, and on the other hand, we can pass this life on to others.
What an amazing thing it is for us to not only enjoy eternal life but also be a channel for eternal life to flow from us and into others!
How we can do this? Ministering life to others is not a superficial matter, something that can be done merely by speaking some good teachings or encouraging others with some carefully chosen verses in the Bible.
If we want to be a channel for eternal life to flow out to others, we need to be deep in the Lord, and we need to know the Lord’s heart.
We need to know what is in the Lord’s heart concerning the saints, and we do this by being in His heart.
Then, when we’re in the Lord’s heart to such a degree, we will spontaneously know His will concerning a brother or sister close to us who has sinned or is weak in the faith.
Therefore, we can pray for him and give life to him.
This is actually one of the hardest things for us as believers to do because, by default, we go to the meeting and listen, waiting for others to feed us. We are not yet perfected to function for the building up of the Body.
Brother Nee even said that this portion in Eph. 4 is a portion that he thinks it is very difficult, almost impossible, to be fulfilled in this age.
We are here in the church life not only to enjoy the Lord with the saints; we are here to be perfected to function in ministering life to others.
![But now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who nullified death and brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel 2 Tim. 1:10 Now on the last day, the great [day] of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for [the] Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified. John 7:37-39](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/But-now-has-been-manifested-through-the-appearing-of-our-Savior-Christ-Jesus-who-nullified-death-and-brought-life-683x1024.jpg?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "But now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who nullified death and brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel 2 Tim. 1:10 Now on the last day, the great [day] of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for [the] Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified. John 7:37-39")
The Lord gave some as apostles, prophets, shepherds and teachers, and evangelists; these are the gifts the Lord gave to the Body NOT to replace the function of the saints but to perfect the saints so that they may function in their measure.
Only the perfected saints can carry out the building work.
It is me and you, the saints in the church life who are being perfected by the gifted members, that can build up the church as the Body of Christ.
We need to hold to the truth in love so that we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ, out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each part causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.
May we be those who daily partake of the tree of life and are perfected in the church life to build up the church by functioning in our measure, that is, by ministering life to the saints.
This is so that the church as the Body of Christ may be built up for the preparation of the bride to present her as a pure virgin to Christ for their wedding day.
The way we can fulfil this is by eating, enjoying, and living by the tree of life.
As we eat the Lord as the tree of life and live by Him, we minister life to others and build up the church as the Body of Christ, we contribute to the maturation of the one new man, the bringing in of the reality of the kingdom of God, and the preparation of the bride of Christ.
When we see that this is what the Lord wants, we will give ourselves to enjoy the Lord as the tree of life, live by the tree of life, and grow in life so that we may minister life to others, being channels of life to give life to others for the building up of the church.
Lord Jesus, we want to be channels through which the eternal life can flow. Keep us enjoying and experiencing You as life in our daily life so that this life would swallow up any death in us and others. May Your divine life within us overcome death both in ourselves and in other members of the church. Amen, Lord, may we experience eternal life and minister this life to others; make us a channel of life to them. We give ourselves to You, dear Lord, to enjoy, experience, and live You as the tree of life. We open to the perfecting of the gifted members in the Body so that we may function in our measure to minister life to the saints for the building up of the church. Amen, Lord, build up the church by the functioning of all the perfected saints in the church life.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ron Kangas in the message, and portions from, Life-Study of 1 John, msgs. 37-38, 40 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Taking the Way of Enjoying Christ as the Tree of Life (2022 Memorial Day Weekend Conference), week 6, entitled, Becoming a reproduction of Christ as the Tree of Life.
- Hymns on this topic:
– The work must be the fruit of life, / Born thru the Spirit’s flowing; / As branches of the Lord, the vine, / Fruit bearing, life bestowing. / ’Tis Christ Himself thru us to work, / Himself as life expressing, / And all the riches of His life / To others manifesting. (Hymns #910)
– Christ to minister is service / Both to God and others too, / Christ, the surplus, e’er supplying, / Off’ring Him as service true. / Holding Christ, as members growing, / Each his function must observe; / Christ receiving, Christ partaking, / To His Body Christ we serve. (Hymns #912)
– For ‘tis God’s eternal purpose / That the Church His vessel be; / He intends that all our service / Build His Church continually. / All the gifted persons given / To the Body by the Head / Are to aid the Church’s building, / That to fulness she be led. (Hymns #914)
About aGodMan
All of God is characterized by life, all of Satan by death…Where there is life there is God. The great difference between Christ and all others is that, whereas others are dead, He lives. Death could not touch Him. And God who destroyed death through Christ, now uses the Church for the same purpose. Today she is God’s vessel of life, called to reveal the risen life of His Son, and to bring men to the knowledge of that life. Praise His Name, God has shown us right from the outset from what quarter the attack upon the Church will come. We are to expect it from “the gates of Hades”—that is, of death… Satan’s greatest fear with regard to the Church is of her resistance, not to sinning, or to the love of the world, or to any of his direct attacks, but to his power of death. Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 40, “What Shall This Man Do?” pp. 119-120
The eternal life within us is real and practical. On the one hand, we can enjoy this eternal life within us. On the other hand, we can pass on this eternal life to others. We can be a channel for eternal life to flow out from us, or through us, to others. However, the experience of being a channel for eternal life to flow out to others is a deep matter. This cannot be done in a superficial way. If we would be a channel for eternal life to flow out to others, we must be deep in the Lord, and we must know the Lord’s heart by being in His heart. If we have entered into the Lord to such a degree, spontaneously we shall know the Lord’s will concerning a brother close to us who has sinned. Because we know the Lord’s will concerning the brother’s situation, we shall know how to pray for him. Life-study of 1 John, pp. 337-338, by Witness Lee
Satan’s attack on the church is death, the gates of Hades.
But we can be those who not only have eternal life but also pass this life on to others; we can be a channel through which eternal life is supplied to others.
May we deep in the Lord, know His heart by being in His heart, and pray one with Him to give life to others.
as a reproduction of Christ as the tree of life, we need to experience eternal life and minister this life to others by being a channel through which eternal life can flow.
Brother we need to be those who are identified with the smitten christ, and just as Christ was smitten on the crosss, the we need to allow our natural human life to be smitten so that life can flow out of us into others just as 2 cor 4:12 says if we allow the cross to operate in us this will in life flowing into others so we may be those who are willing to take the way of the cross
Amen, we need to experience the Lord as the Tree of Life
Amen Lord, produce us as channels of life to minister life to others!
By knowing the Lord’s heart concerning a brother’s situation, when asking according to His will we can be a channel of life when we contact such a sinning one that the eternal life in us would not only overcome death in ourselves but also in them.
Amen brother!
We can be, we want to be, and we are those ones whom Lord will use for the end of this age!
We need to be deep in the Lord, and to know the Lord’s heart by being in His heart.
The eternal life within us can overcome death both in ourselves and in other members of the church.
Those who have life can pass this life to others.
May the Lord grant us the discernment to know how to pray for others, and how to supply others
Wow bro, the Lord is not only life but the resurrection life!
As Life the Lord is the cause and the purpose why things exist. As resurrection life the Lord passed through death, tasted death, came out of death, nullified death, swallowed up death, destroyed the power of death and triumphed over death!
Also it is in His resurrection that the church was born. The church is a by product of the Lord’s resurrection, so the gates of Hades will not prevail against her. Satan’s greatest fear is the church’s resistance against the power of death.