Having a Clear View of God’s Economy, being Directed by it and Knowing where we Are

We praise the Lord for His economy, and we pray to be those who have a clear vision of God’s economy to be governed and controlled by this vision; in the Lord’s recovery today we must be strong and unshakeable in the vision of God’s economy.

In His economy God wants to simply work Himself into man to be one with man and become man’s life, life-supply, and everything, so that He may obtain a corporate expression.

This is the central work in God’s economy. This is the most intrinsic work God is doing.

But this intrinsic work is surrounded by or enveloped in the outward human history; God uses the outward human history to cause all things to work together for good to those who love Him to those who are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28-30).

As believers in Christ we can be assured that all things – both good and bad, both wonderful and unpleasant, both joyful and full of suffering – ALL things work together for good, for we love God and He wants to work Himself into us little by little and day by day.

God’s intention in His economy is to gain a corporate entity – the church as the Body of Christ, composed of God and man, to be His expression; for this, He draws man, He gains man, He works Himself into man, and He builds man up to be His testimony.

On our side, we cannot do anything else but open to Him; He wants to work Himself into us, and we open our being to Him, we pray and allow Him to work Himself into us.

Simply by having this short, opening prayers toward Him every day, He has a further way to work Himself into our being.

His intention is to make His home in our heart; we can cooperate with His work simply by telling Him, Lord, make Your home in my heart a little more today.

We see that God’s desire is to gain a corporate entity composed of God and man mingled together to be His corporate expression, so we earnestly tell the Lord,

Lord, make me a part of Your corporate expression. Gain more ground in me. Become my center and reality. I give myself to You, Lord, so that You may work Yourself into me a little more today!

The more we open to the Lord little by little, day by day, the more He has a way to gain in us what He desires; He operates in us both the willing and the working, and we cooperate with Him by prayer and opening to Him.

Seeing what God is doing According to His Economy and Knowing where we are and What to Do

As we read the book of prophecy – Joel, Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation – we realize that God has an economy, and He works all things according to His will and economy.

According to His economy God does many things in the world – He rules over the world, He produced a situation for Israel to be His elect, He gained the church as His mysterious people, and He will have the nations to be the peoples in the eternal kingdom of God.

We need to have a clear vision of God’s economy and be controlled by it; when we do this, we will realize that God needs our cooperation and coordination to consummate His eternal intention to make Christ preeminent.

In our daily life Christ must be preeminent; we need to cooperate with the Lord by daily giving Him the preeminence in all things, so that He may be the first in all things in our being.

God’s intention is to make Christ preeminent through the rule of the heavens.

We as the church need to take the lead to submit to the heavenly rule and give Christ the preeminence.

When we look at the world situation, what seems to be apparent is that the destiny of Israel is in the hands of the human government, that is, the power of the nations.

But actually, as those living in the divine history within human history, we realize that the destiny of Israel is in the economy of God who has chosen them and who rules over ALL the human government with heavenly authority. God is in control, and He rules over all human government.

Human government began with Babylon (represented by Nebuchadnezzar, the head of gold of the great human image) and will end with Babylon (represented by Antichrist, who will lead the rebellious human beings against God at the end of this age).

In God’s economy, Christ is the centrality and universality; He was crucified to terminate the old creation and to germinate the new creation in His resurrection; He is the most excellent One!

We appreciate Him and enjoy Him, we give Him all the glory and praise, and we want to experience Him and live one spirit with Him.

Today He is hidden, mysterious, and inward; He is not doing an outward work in an apparent, outward, visible way, but we who live in the divine history within human history realize that God’s economy is being carried out.

He will one day return to receive the eternal kingdom from God; He will smash all the human government from its toes to its head, and He will be enlarged to be the kingdom of God filling the whole earth. Amen!

And we as believers in Christ who aspire to be overcomers will be fully perfected and transformed to be co-kings with Him in the millennium and reign with Him over the whole universe as the New Jerusalem. Hallelujah!

As for the nation of Israel, the earthly people of God, in His divine economy God will perfect them to be His priests; the will teach the nations to serve God and obey God.

As for the nations that feared God, obeyed God, and did not receive the mark of the beast but rather stood with God’s people and even helped them, God will prepare His created and restored (yet not regenerated) nations to be His people.

This is the result of the manifested part of His economy.

But besides this, there’s the hidden part of God’s economy going on, which is God working Himself into man and completing the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

God is working hiddenly, secretly, and mysteriously in man today so that all those who believe into Him and cooperate with Him to be renewed, transformed, and glorified, these would be God’s royal family to rule as kings in the new heaven and new earth! Praise the Lord!

Our destiny as believers in Christ is to be matured, perfected, and glorified to be the co-kings of Christ to rule over the whole earth!

In eternity in His eternal kingdom God will have His kings (the regenerated people of God, the church), His priests (the restored and perfected nation of Israel), and His people (the restored nations) forever! Praise the Lord!

Praise You Lord for Your eternal economy. Thank You for including us in Your economy; according to Your economy we were regenerated and we are now in the process of being renewed, sanctified, transformed, conformed, and we will also be glorified! Hallelujah, our destiny as children of God is to be co-kings with Christ to rule over the whole earth in the new heaven and new earth! Amen, Lord, grant us to have a clear view of God’s economy and cooperate with You for the fulfillment of Your economy in us and through us on the earth!

Have a Clear View of God’s Economy and be Governed, Directed, and Protected by this Vision

May the Lord open our eyes to see a clear vision of God’s economy; may we realize that what God has been doing, what He is doing, and what He will do, is all for the fulfillment of His economy.

Even in the midst of the situation we are in, as complicated and hard as it is, God is working to carry out His economy.

In His economy God is working Himself into man – He is dispensing all that He is into man – so that man may be regenerated, transformed, and built up to be God’s corporate expression on earth.

Our role as believers in Christ is to be the manifestation of Christ; we need to allow Christ to have the first place, the central place, the preeminence in our being.

In whatever we do, whatever situation we’re in, even as we’re raising our family, working at a job, taking care of our education, or pursuing our career – whatever situation we’re in, we need to realize that having a clear vision of the economy of God will direct us, control us, and cause us to give the Lord the first place for His economy to be fulfilled in us.

The things we do and the things we go through are not the real thing; God’s economy is the real thing, and God’s economy within us is the meaning of our life.

We all need to have a clear vision of God’s economy and be governed, controlled, directed, preserved, and protected by this vision.

Without having a vision, we perish (Prov. 29:18), but once we see a clear vision of God’s economy, we will be governed and controlled by this vision to the end of our life (Acts 26:19).

Once we see a vision of God’s economy, we will never be led astray; things will come to distract us, some people and even some saints may offend us and not be pleasant to us, and the situation around us may not be that positive, but this vision of God’s economy will direct us and control us.

If we see a clear vision of God’s economy, we will emphasise only Christ as the mystery of God and the church as the mystery of Christ; all other things will fade away and will not be our priority.

Once we see God’s ultimate move, His eternal economy, we will not be preoccupied with anything else but God’s economy.

We do need to preach the gospel, speak the truth, have proper meetings, and serve the Lord in the church, but our focus is not activities – our focus is God’s central move.

Our focus will be God’s economy, and we will do everything we can to cooperate with Christ for the fulfillment of His economy, so that the bride may be prepared and Christ would return.

If we have a clear vision of God’s economy, we will automatically have only one choice, one preference, one taste, and one ministry; we will care only for the all-inclusive and all-extensive Christ and for the genuine and proper church life.

May the Lord grant us to be strong and unshakeable in the vision of God’s economy, His eternal will.

Under the heavenly vision we are directed toward God’s destination, and our life is controlled according to God’s economy; we can press on in spite of suffering, all kinds of trouble, defamation, or persecution.

A clear vision of God’s economy will control us, direct us, and keep us in the church life, and our life and living will be for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

When we have a clear vision of God’s economy, we will have light in God’s word, and the vision is stronger as we read the Bible.

Lord Jesus, grant us to have a clear vision of God’s economy and be governed, controlled, directed, preserved, and protected by this vision. May all the saints in the Lord’s recovery be strong and unshakeable in the vision of God’s economy. May nothing distract us from this central vision. Amen, Lord, may we live a daily life under a clear vision of God’s economy so that we may be directed toward God’s destination and press on in spite of any suffering, trouble, defamation, or persecution. Lord Jesus, we open to You in Your word; cause Your economy to become a vision that controls us, governs us, and directs us, so that we may be preserved under Your blessing, in the divine light, in the church life, and on the way toward God’s destination!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ricky Acosta for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Daniel, msgs. 9, 12-13, 17 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, A Timely Word Concerning the World Situation and the Lord’s Recovery (2020 Memorial Day Conference), week 3, The Universal History according to God’s Economy — the Divine History within the Human History.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Oh, may a clear, controlling vision of / The Lord’s economy direct my heart, / And burn in me until my spirit’s wholly set afire! / With spirit strong and active we’ll press on / To consummate God’s goal— / New Jerusalem, Hallelujah! (Song on, God has called us for His purpose)
  – Glorious vision, I have seen it: My life is meant for God’s economy! / Earthly bondage, I have left it: My heart outpours for the Lord’s recovery! / Divine Trinity, Divine dispensing: Christ to be life as Spirit real is He; / Churches of God, Body of Christ, New Jerusalem—how I long to see. (Song on, The Uniqueness of the Lord’s Recovery)
  – How true it is no heart may comprehend / The glory God prepareth for His own, / And what will happen when this age shall end; / But yet in vision Jesus hath made known / How fair and holy shall the Church descend, / Lit up with light of precious jasper stone. (Hymns #982)