God’s blessing is intrinsically related to oneness, and the Lord brings us in the enjoyment of His blessing, causing us to become a source of blessing under the showers of blessing.
The normal life of a Christian is a life of blessing, and the normal work of a Christian is a work of blessing (Num. 6:23-27; Matt. 5:3-11; 24:46; John 20:29; Gal. 3:14; 2 Cor. 9:6; Rom. 15:29).
It is normal for us to be under God’s blessing in our Christian life and church life; God doesn’t want to curse us but rather to bless us.
We must realize that in our work, in our Christian life, and in our church life, everything depends on the Lord’s blessing (Eph. 1:3; Mal. 3:10).
We thank the Lord for bringing us in the church life to enjoy the blessing of God; here we are on the genuine ground of oneness, and we enjoy God’s blessing.
Even more, God wants to pour out His blessing as showers of blessing, and He wants to make us His blessing, for all the nations to look at us and receive the blessing through us.
We may think we’re like Jacob, in the process of transformation while supplanting others, but the Lord will gain a corporate Israel who is both under God’s blessing and is blessing others, blessing everyone.
Everything depends on the Lord’s blessing; we shouldn’t trust in our strength or outward environment, for if we’re under the Lord’s blessing, even our mistakes will turn out to be right.
Sometimes in our weakness we make mistakes, but if we’re under the Lord’s blessing, He will turn these out to be something positive, something blessed by Him.
We should learn to live in a way that doesn’t hinder the Lord’s blessing.
We should stay away from apostasy and avoid division. We should not take the way of the world, neither should we take the way of division, for these frustrate the Lord’s blessing.
We want to live in a way that doesn’t hinder God from blessing us!
He has been blessing us, and we want to have our days extended in the possession of the good land, not coming short of God’s blessing.
We need to fulfill the requirements to receive God’s blessings; mainly we need to keep His word, obey His commandments, and keep the oneness.
We should not do anything or say anything that will frustrate God from blessing us. Rather, every day we need to stretch forward to the things which are before.
God’s blessing is comes in without us doing anything to draw it or bring it in, but it is easy to chase it away if we do things that upset the Lord.
God’s blessing is a result not proportional to our cause; we may have very little, but when we have His blessing, God’s blessing always goes beyond what we can do.
We may have only five loaves and two fish, but God can do much more!
We must learn to live in God’s blessing. We need to pray that the Lord would give us a vision that we may see the meaning of His blessing, and that He would have mercy on us that, unhindered, we may be able to receive His blessing!
Living in Oneness to Enjoy God’s Blessing, be a Blessing to Others and have Showers of Blessing
According to Psa. 133, God’s blessing is intrinsically related to oneness; when the brothers dwell together in oneness, God pours out the blessing – life forever!
The unity spoken of in verse 1 is a picture of the genuine oneness in the New Testament; this oneness is nothing else but the processed and consummated Triune God mingled with the believers in Christ (John 17:21-23).
How good and how pleasant it is when the brothers dwell together in oneness!
The believers’ dwelling together in oneness is likened to the inestimable goodness of the precious ointment on the head of Aaron and to the incalculable pleasantness of the dew of Hermon on the mountains of Zion.
When the Lord gains Zion, when He gains the believers dwelling together in oneness in the city of God, the group of overcoming ones who are on the genuine ground of oneness, God is resting there, He dwells there, and it is so good and so pleasant!
When we in the church life have this highest living, a living in which the brothers dwell together in oneness, God comes in to bless us with the anointing Spirit, the watering grace, and the eternal life.
When we live in oneness in the church life, when we dwell together in oneness, such a living causes God to come in to bless us with the anointing Spirit, the watering grace, and the eternal life.
As long as we are “there” – Psa. 133:3 says, “for there the Lord commands the blessing” – as long as we are on the ground of oneness, in the church life, dwelling unity with the saints, God commands life forever!
We may think that the church life has a lot of faults, and the church is weak or short in many ways, but as long as we are a genuine expression of the Body and stay in oneness, we enjoy the blessing of God!
In Ezek. 34:23-27 we see that, through His shepherding in His recovery by life, the Lord brings us into the enjoyment of His blessing and causes us to become a source of blessing under the showers of blessing. Wow!
On one hand the Lord wants to bless us, but on the other, He wants to make us a blessing, so that not only we would enjoy the Lord’s blessing but we would also be a source of blessing to others so that they may be supplied! Amen!
The Lord wants that there would be showers of blessing! God will cause the showers of blessing to come down in season (Zech. 10:1).
First, we ourselves enjoy the Lord’s blessing, and then the Lord will cause us to become a source of blessing to others so that they may also be supplied.
And He wants to cause the showers of blessing to come down in season! Amen, now is the season – it is the season for another rain to come!
We are about to see how the Lord is about to bless; as we are continuing together and standing firm in His word, fulfilling each condition, the Lord blesses us with a season of showers of blessing! Amen!
Lord Jesus, we want to remain in oneness in the church life, dwelling with brothers in unity, so that we may enjoy Your commanded blessing – life forever! Amen, Lord, may we have the highest living, a living in which the brothers dwell together in oneness, so that God would come in to bless us with the anointing Spirit, the watering grace, and the eternal life! Yes, Lord, we covet Your blessing, we want to enjoy Your blessing, and we want to be a blessing to others! Amen, Lord, keep us under Your blessing, make us a blessing to those around us, and send showers of blessing upon all the saints who dwell together in oneness!
God’s Greatest Blessing is not what He Gives us but His Transforming us to be Like Him
What is God’s blessing, and what is His greatest blessing? Many consider outward blessings to be God’s blessing, and it is easy to say that God blessed us with health, a good family, a good house, a good job, etc.
The real blessing God gives us is Himself, and His blessings are spiritual.
The greatest blessing that we receive from the Lord is not what He gives us but rather, it is what He makes us, what He enables us to become!
It is not a good job, a good environment, good grades in school, a new car, or good health that are the greatest blessings from God, but it is what the Lord does inside of us, His transforming work to make us the same as He is!
In Rev. 3:12 it says those who overcome in Philadelphia the Lord will make a pillar in His house.
What a blessing it is not just to have God give us things but for Him to make us, to transform us, to build us into Himself!
What a blessing it is to be built as a pillar into the house of God and have the name of God, the name of the city of God, and Christ’s new name written on us!
We are passing through a process daily, and as we cooperate with the Lord to enjoy Him and eat of Him, drink of Him, and breathe Him in, God is wrought into us to the point that we bear the name of God (we become like God), we bear the name of the city of God (we’re built into God’s kingdom), and we have the new name of Christ (we have hidden and precious experiences of Christ daily).
Becoming a pillar in the temple of God involves transformation and building (see Rev. 21:22; 2 Cor. 3:18; Eph. 2:21-22; 4:16).
It is a great blessing for the Lord to transform us and build us into His temple; this involves our being, what we are in Christ (Col. 1:27-28).
The Lord is blessing us not just in an outward way, for example saving a lot of people through us; rather, He is blessing us by making us pillars, by working more of the reality of God, the city of God, and of Christ into us.
This is the new revival that He desires; He doesn’t want “a new Welsh revival” today, but a group of people who has God written all over them, the city of God and Christ’s new name written on them!
If we see this vision, we will realize that in the church life the Lord’s intention is not to do something outside of us or to give us material things as blessings; He wants to transform us into another kind of being for His corporate expression (Rev. 21:10-11). Amen!
In the church life we shouldn’t expect outward blessings but rather, we need to realize that the Lord’s blessing is to transform us into precious material and then build us into His dwelling place (Eph. 2:21-22).
What a blessing this is! If we use the little power we have received from the Lord (as those in Philadelphia did) and mean business with the Lord, we are ready to be made into a pillar in the temple of our God.
We all have little power; if we exercise our little power with faith in God’s word, we will cooperate with the Lord’s transforming work to make us from clay into a pillar in His temple, from worthless dust into precious stones to be built into God’s building!
This involves our being; it involves not only what God can do for us but what He does in us and we cooperate with His doing.
Thank You Lord Jesus for the greatest blessing of transforming us from clay into precious stones to be built into the dwelling place of God! Amen, Lord, we have little power, but we exercise our spirit of faith in Your word and we cooperate with Your transforming work so that we may bear Your name, bear the name of the city of God, and have Christ’s new name written on us! We just open to Your transforming and building work so that You may do an inward metabolic work in us to make us the same as You are, Your corporate expression in this universe! Oh, what a blessing it is to enjoy not only what the Lord gives us but even more what He enables us to become – the building of God, the corporate expression of God!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. James Lee for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Revelation, p. 370 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy, week 12, Life and Blessing under the Government of God.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Behold how good and how pleasant it is, / For brethren to dwell together in unity!… / It is like the precious ointment upon the head, / That ran down upon the beard, / Even Aaron’s beard: / That went down to the skirts of his garments. (Hymns #1339)
– There shall be showers of blessing; / Send them upon us, O Lord! / Grant to us now a refreshing; / Come, and now honor Thy Word. (Hymns #260)
– How can we, as those who truly / Long to see God reach His goal, / Be united and related? / By denial of our soul! / As we contact Christ in spirit, / Feed on Him as life to us, / Then His life will flow, transform us / To His Bride, all glorious! (Hymns #1324)
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