Enter into the Experience and Reality of the High and Perfect Gospel (Acts 26:18)

Acts 26:18 reveals the contents of our divine commission to serve according to the heavenly vision of God’s economy; we need to see the high and perfect gospel, pray over the contents of the gospel, ask the Lord to make them our experience and reality so that we can bring others into this experience and reality. Amen, Lord Jesus!

The Bible is not only the love letter of God to us showing us what is in His heart, how much He loves us, and what is His purpose; the Bible is the word of God, even the breathing out of God, for us to enjoy and breathe in.

The Bible contains God’s word, and we can come to the Bible to read it with our spirit, with much prayer and prayerful consideration, to enjoy the Lord in His word.

When we exercise our spirit to pray and read the word of God, we have the Lord’s living word, His instant speaking.

We believers in Christ can testify that many times in our reading of the Bible, as we read and pray over God’s word, we receive new light and fresh supply from the Lord.

As long as we have an attitude of listening to the Lord’s word, sitting at His feet to absorb His word and having a position of submitting to Him, we can have His speaking.

Our prayer should have as its central point that the Lord would speak to us.

We depend on the Lord’s speaking and we want to have His present word.

We are not content with merely having the Bible in our hands; we want to have the living word of God in our being, in our spirit.

When we have the Lord’s speaking, we have His presence.

Thank the Lord that, in His mercy and grace, He is still speaking to us today.

He speaks to us personally and directly, and we can advance in our growth in life because of His living speaking.

May we be those who do not harden our hearts when we hear God’s word; rather, may we allow the Lord’s word to break any hard rocks in the soil of our heart so that we may receive the word and bear fruit.

As the Lord speaks to us, He exposes so many things in our being that are not according to Him; as He exposes and shines on certain things, we should not harden our hearts but rather say Amen, agreeing with Him.

There are so many things that are not according to God in our being; there are many hidden sins, worldly pleasures, lusts, and worldly desires in our being, and the Lord’s living word is able to expose them.

May we not harden our hearts nor stiffen our necks but rather, open to Him and say Amen to His word.

We cannot deal with these things by ourselves; we need the Lord’s light to expose them, and when we agree with the light, He will remove anything that is not according to Him.

May we come to the Lord, again and again, to have His living word, His instant speaking, so that we may be those who are commissioned by Him to speak the high and perfect gospel to others for them to be brought into the enjoyment of Christ and be sanctified by faith in Him!

Enter into the Experience and Reality of the High and Perfect Gospel (Acts 26:18)

The record of Paul’s conversion is in the beginning of the book of Acts, but it is at the end of Acts, in ch. 26, that he tells us what was the commission the Lord gave him when He appeared to him.

Acts 26:18 reveals the contents of our divine commission to serve according to the heavenly vision of God’s economy.

We need to pray over, enjoy, experience, participate in, and speak the high and perfect gospel as seen in this verse.

We need to ask the Lord to make all these aspects of the gospel our experience and reality so that we may bring others also in this experience and reality.

How can we bring others into the enjoyment and experience of the all-inclusive Christ in the church life if we ourselves are not in this experience and enjoyment?

We need to mean business with the Lord by taking every aspect of the high and complete gospel and praying over it, bringing it to the Lord in prayer, and allowing the Lord to work it in us to bring us into the experience and reality of the gospel.

To open their eyes

The first aspect of the high and perfect gospel is to open people’s eyes. For us to do this, we first need to have our eyes opened. We need to ask the Lord,

Lord Jesus, open my eyes. I don’t need more knowledge about You: I need my eyes to be opened to see You!

When our eyes are opened, we clearly see the Lord and His economy. We need to have our eyes opened and be crystal clear concerning what the Lord is and has for us.

We may even ask the Lord,

Dear Lord, cause my eyes to be opened like they have never been opened before. I don’t want to be opaque: I want to be crystal clear. Grant me and all the saints to have eyes like the four living creatures in the book of Revelations. May we be clear concerning God and His economy, and may we be filled with God!

We need to continually pray for a spirit of wisdom and revelation to understand and to see more and more of Christ, the Body of Christ, and the divine dispensing for the divine economy (Eph. 1:17; 3:5; cf. Rev. 4:6; 3:17; Matt. 6:6).

We cannot go on without new knowledge of the Lord and a new vision of Him (Acts 26:16; Phil. 3:8b, 10a, 13; cf. Deut. 4:25). When we see the Lord in the light, we are commissioned by Him to enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is (Eph. 3:9).

To turn them from darkness to light

The second aspect of the gospel is to turn them from darkness to light; before we can help others be turned from darkness to light, we ourselves need to be fully brought into the light.

We need to ask the Lord,

Oh Lord, turn me from anything dark. Turn me from darkness to light. I don’t want to remain in darkness. I don’t want to have any dark spots in my being. Turn me fully from darkness to light! Bring me fully in the light and keep me in the light!

When we open to the Lord in this way, He has a way of intensifying His shining in us, and we become bright people, people full of light.

Light is the presence of God; we need to be people who are full of light (Isa. 2:5; 1 John 1:5; Luke 11:34-36).

As we open to the Lord again and again throughout the day, His light shines in us, removes any darkness, and causes us to be beings full of light.

We become like a lamp placed on the table to shine on those around us and together we become like a city situated on a mountain, shining on those around us.

Then, when we’re in the light, we can bring others into this marvellous light, because our very being and words express the Lord as light to shine on them.

Others will not only hear the words we speak: they see the Lord’s shining.

May we be saved from any formality of just sharing something about Jesus; may He bring us into His marvellous light and, as we remain in the light and walk in the light (1 John 1:7), may He shine through us!

This is the real preaching of the gospel, the high and perfect gospel: the shining of the light.

We cannot lead others into a seeing of the Lord unless we first see the Lord; if we don’t have a fresh seeing of the Lord in the light, we’re like a blind leading a blind.

The enjoyment of Christ as our God-given portion is “in the light” (Col. 1:12; John 8:12; 1:4; Psa. 119:105, 130; Matt. 5:14; Rev. 1:20).

May we be the luminaries in the world, those who hold forth the word of life (Phil. 2:14-16) both by our living and by our speaking.

We need to tell out the virtues of the One who has called us out of darkness and into His marvellous light (1 Pet. 2:9).

To turn them…from the authority of Satan to God

The third aspect of the high and perfect gospel is to turn others from the authority of Satan to God.

We can help others be turned from Satan’s authority to God’s by first being delivered from Satan’s authority ourselves. For this, we need to pray,

Lord, turn me from the authority of Satan to Your authority in full. Save me from the dominion of Satan and bring me fully into You! I want to be a person who is absolutely in God! I don’t want to remain in myself, in my flesh, or in my natural man; I want to be fully and absolutely in God! May God be my sphere, my realm, my kingdom! Bring me fully in God!

If we pray in this way, we will become another person; we will be different, sanctified, and brought into God.

The way to be brought out of the authority of Satan and into the kingdom of God is through praying to open to the Lord and allowing Him to do it in us. Amen!

The highest point in our spiritual experience is to have a clear sky with the throne above it (Ezek. 1:22, 26).

For us to have a clear sky between us and the Lord with the throne of God above it, we need to give the Lord the preeminence in our being and the highest and most prominent position in our life (Col. 1:18; Ezek. 14:3).

In our daily life, in our daily living at home with our spouse and children, we need to be delivered from the authority of Satan and be brought into God.

When we speak things to our spouse or our workmates, when we deal with our children or speak to our neighbours, we need to be rescued from the authority of Satan.

May we be saved from trying to prove our point or keep our point of view, emphasizing only our side of things and being in ourselves; may we be brought out of ourselves and out of Satan’s authority into God.

If we are under a clear sky with the throne of God above it, genuine authority will be with us to bring others under God’s authority (2 Cor. 10:4-5, 8; 13:3, 10). May we tell the Lord,

Oh Lord, we want to have a clear sky between us and You. Remove any clouds and anything that hinders us from seeing You. May there be a clear sky in our being with the throne of God above it. Bring us to the highest point in our spiritual experience – having a clear sky with the throne of God above it. We give You the preeminence in our being. We give You the highest and most prominent position in our life!

As we open to the Lord and pray in this way, He is enthroned in our being, we have a clear sky, we are delivered from Satan’s authority, and we are entrusted with God’s authority to deliver others also and bring them into God’s kingdom.

The reason sometimes our speaking of the gospel and our ministry has no impact is because there are still some things in us in which we are bound, and we’re still under Satan’s authority in certain aspects.

May we go to the Lord again and again, dealing with anything that stands between us and Him, and have the spiritual atmosphere of His ruling and reigning presence.

Our uttermost love for the Lord qualifies us, perfects us, and equips us to speak for the Lord with His authority (John 21:15, 17).

May we love Him and speak Him forth to others.

That They may Receive Forgiveness of Sins

The fourth aspect of the high and perfect gospel is to help others to receive forgiveness of sins.

In order for us to help others receive forgiveness of sins, we ourselves need to come to the Lord to receive a thorough forgiveness of all our sins (1 John 1:7, 9).

This is not a doctrine or a teaching; this is something living, something that we should experience day by day. We need to daily come to the Lord and open to Him, asking Him,

Lord Jesus, grant us to have a full and thorough forgiveness of all our sins. We want to have a clearance of sins from the top to the bottom. We don’t want to leave anything that is not dealt with. Oh Lord, we say Amen to what Your light exposes in us as sin; forgive us of our sins. Wash our sins away. Cleanse us of our sins and grant us the forgiveness of sins.

David begged God to blot out his transgressions, wash him thoroughly from his iniquity, and cleanse him from his sin (Psa. 51:1-2, 7, 9).

Like him, we also need to be in the Lord’s presence and remain there, allowing Him to shine on us so that we may have a thorough and genuine repentance and confession to receive full forgiveness from God.

If we confess our sins to receive God’s forgiveness, we will have the gladness of God’s salvation and we will be sustained with a willing spirit (vv. 12-13).

Then, we can teach the transgressor His ways, and sinners will turn back to God. We can help others receive forgiveness of sins when we first experience this.

We can preach the high and perfect gospel of God when we first enter into the reality and experience of this gospel in our experience.

We can help others as far as we ourselves are helped and shepherded in the Lord. How much we need a thorough cleansing of our sins!

May we never take this for granted. May we never think that we now no longer need this, for it is too basic.

Rather, may we have a clear sky with the Lord and may we receive forgiveness of sins so that we may help others also be forgiven of their sins.

That they may Receive…an Inheritance among those who have been Sanctified by Faith in Me

One of the aspects of the high and perfect gospel seen in Acts 26:18 is being sanctified by faith in the Lord.

We need to be those who are sanctified by faith in the Lord and then bring others into the enjoyment of the inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Him. For this, we need to tell the Lord,

Lord Jesus, we want to be fully sanctified. Sanctify us by faith in You. We want to be not only a forgiven person but even more, a sanctified person. Sanctify us more today. Increase our faith. Strengthen our organic union with You and sanctify us to make us holy even as You are holy.

The Lord sanctifies us by our faith in Him. Because we are joined to the Lord as one spirit, we have an organic union with Him; in this organic union, we are sanctified by faith in Him.

All believers in Christ are sanctified by faith in Christ, and we all have an inheritance – Christ Himself as our allotted portion.

The inheritance that we have is the Triune God Himself with all that He has, all he has done, and all He will do for His redeemed people.

Our Triune God is embodied in the all-inclusive Christ, and this One is the allotted portion of the saints in the light to be their inheritance (Col. 2:9; 1:12).

May we open to the Lord to enjoy our portion of inheritance, and may we bring others also into the enjoyment of this rich allotted portion of the saints in the light.

Lord Jesus, we want to enjoy You as our inheritance. We open to You; bring us fully into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as our portion. Amen, Lord, sanctify us by faith in You and cause us to enjoy You with all that You are. Hallelujah, the Triune God with all He is, all he has done, and all He will do is for our enjoyment with the saints in the light! Amen!

As we open to the Lord and pray over these matters, asking Him to bring us into the reality and experience of every aspect of the high and perfect gospel, we will enter into the enjoyment of Christ and we will bring others also into these matters.

We enjoy the pneumatic Christ, Christ as the Spirit, to be the pledge of our inheritance (Eph. 1:14) among those who are sanctified by faith in Christ, that is, among those in the church life (2 Tim. 2:22).

We first enjoy the Lord and partake of His riches, we are saved and forgiven, we have a clear sky, and then we bring others into the enjoyment of the allotted portion of the saints in the light.

We need to bring people into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ in the church life so that they may enjoy Christ as we do and be sanctified dispositionally with the holy nature of God through the exercise of their spirit (Heb. 2:10-11; 1 Cor. 1:9; 2 Cor. 4:13). Amen!

Lord Jesus, bring us into the enjoyment of the pneumatic Christ as the pledge of our inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Christ! Amen, Lord, we want to enjoy You as our portion together with the saints. Hallelujah, God is now our portion. We come to You, Lord, to enjoy You. We want to bring others into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ in the church life! May those around us be brought into the enjoyment of Christ so that they would be sanctified dispositionally with the holy nature of God through the exercise of their spirit!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1975-1976, vol. 3, “Young People’s Training,” ch. 1, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living and Serving According to God’s Economy Concerning the Church (2023 fall ITERO), week 1, entitled, Living and Serving According to the Heavenly Vision of God’s Economy.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Proclaim the Year of Jubilee! Article via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – The contents of our commission, a portion from, A Young Man in God’s Plan, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
  – The all-inclusive Christ in Acts, article via, Conversant Faith.
  – Why We Witness for Christ and 6 Practical Points on How to Do It, via, the Bibles for America blog.
  – Liberty Throughout the Land, article via, Living to Him.
  – What is the Jubilee? Read more via, LSM radio newsletters.
  – The Kind of Person the Lord Can Use to Turn the Age, via, Shepherding Words.
  – The keys to the experience and reality of the jubilee, messages via, AgeTurners.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – To open their eyes, / To turn them from darkness to light, / And from the authority of Satan to God, / That they may receive forgiveness of sins, / And all that God has, all that God has done, / And all God will do! (Song on, To Open Their Eyes)
  – Shining One—how clear the sky above me! / Son of Man, I see Thee on the throne! / Holy One, the flames of God consume me, / Till my being glows with Thee alone. / Lord, when first I saw Thee in Thy splendor, / All self-love and glory sank in shame; / Now my heart its love and praises render, / Tasting all the sweetness of Thy name. (Hymns #1159 stanza 2)
  – In this portion we have God, / Whom we lost thru Adam’s fall; / By the shedding of Thy blood, / God becomes our all in all. / In this portion all we have— / Life and peace, redemption sure; / All that God has planned and willed, / In this portion we secure. (Hymns #223 stanza 3)