God Speaks through Negative Situations and Ministers the Riches of Christ to Supply us

The way the Lord speaks is by His shining and by some situations that are negative and dark.

God’s speaking is according to the negative situation yet with the riches of Christ as the supply for His people for them to go on with the Lord. How much we need God’s shining in us, upon us, and among us in the church life today!

In the Old Testament God spoke to His people through the breastplate of judgment with the Urim and the Thummim; today God speaks to us in the church life in our mingled spirit and in the meetings of the church.

The reality of the breastplate is Christ and the church, and the Urim and the Thummim signify Christ with His shining and His presence.

How can we have God’s speaking and leading today?

It is by exercising our spirit to contact the Lord.

Whenever the heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away, and we can behold the Lord with an unveiled face to reflect Him and be clear concerning our situation (2 Cor. 3:17-18).

We need to daily come to the Lord in His word with the exercise of our spirit so that He may shine on us, expose any dark part, and shine upon our situation and condition.

As we open to the Lord day by day, He has a way of shining in every corner of our being, and all darkness is dispelled.

We need the Lord’s shining day by day, even moment by moment.

Many times we have the Lord’s shining, but simply by being in the world, our inner being is covered with darkness.

Simply by doing this and that at home, at the office, with the neighbours, with our friends, darkness comes in. Oh, Lord Jesus!

Sometimes we meet with the saints and we realize that, even though this particular brother is so dear and sweet, there is some darkness there, something that he needs to deal with.

This is how we all are. So many times we do things for the Lord and in the church life without having the Lord’s presence, His shining.

Too many times we are independent of the Lord, and we do not remain under His shining presence.

As He shines, He exposes what is in us; our old man, our natural man, and our flesh are exposed, and we simply agree with the light.

When we agree with the Lord’s light and judge what He judges, He has a way to go on in our being and make our whole being full of light.

But if we argue with the light, if we do not agree with the Lord’s exposing and shining, the Lord is hindered in our being, and there is darkness in us. Oh, Lord Jesus!

May we be willing to judge whatever is of the flesh, the self, the old man, and the world, and may we have the Lord’s speaking and shining day by day, even moment by moment, so that we may be full of light, walking in the light, and shining forth with the divine light for others to receive the light of life and come to the Lord!

God Speaks through Negative Situations and Ministers the Riches of Christ to Supply us

The breastplate of judgment for God’s leading in the Old Testament was like a heavenly, divine, and spiritual typewriter; through it, the Lord had a way to speak to His people about what the problem was, what the solution was, and what His heart’s desire was.

However, the way He speaks through the breastplate with the Urim and the Thummim is the opposite of what we would expect.

We think that God would give us a dream to speak to us and that He opens the heavens to speak something to us.

Or we may think that, as long as we’re in church meetings, God will speak to us.

But God has His way of speaking to us.

God speaks not through the stones that are shining but through the stones that become dark.

This means that God speaks through negative situations and, because His speaking is with judgment, He exposes the situation through His shining.

All the stones on the breastplate were shining, having the Urim (the illuminator) behind them; suddenly, one or more of the stones would become dark, and that was how God spoke to His people.

Normally the twelve stones in the breastplate were under the shining of Urim, and then a piece or more would become dark; this darkening of a particular stone was God’s instant speaking.

We think that we need to be among the saints who are shining, and then we have God’s speaking, and this is correct; however, the Lord’s shining is specific, to expose particular dark situations and things.

Paul’s epistles and the seven epistles of the Lord Jesus to the seven churches in Asia (Rev. 2-3) were all written according to this principle.

Paul didn’t merely write doctrines and teachings to the churches; he read the situation of the churches in the Lord’s light and, according to the dark stones or dark situations that he saw under God’s light, he specifically wrote to the churches.

If the church did not have a problem, Paul had no reason to write to it; but when there were problems or dark situations, he would write an epistle to them.

For example, Paul wrote 1 Corinthians according to his reading of the negative situation at Corinth.

However, he didn’t just expose the negative situations and aspects that he saw or heard of in the church; he also ministered the riches of Christ to supply the saints for their going on (1 Cor. 1:9-10).

If we read the first epistle to the Corinthians, we would be amazed to see so many negative situations in this church, and we would think that our local church is much better.

However, Paul wrote to them and unveiled twenty or more aspects of Christ for our enjoyment and supply so that we may overcome the negative situations and darkness in the church.

The saints in Corinth became the letters used by Paul in the spiritual typesetting of this Epistle.

He prayed much, he looked to the Lord and he read the situation among the saints in the local church in Corinth.

Then, according to the darkened stones in the breastplate of the church, he wrote particular things to expose the darkness and supply the riches of Christ for the saints to go on.

This is how the Lord speaks to us today.

If we are doing OK, if there are no problems among us, we enjoy the Lord and everything seems to be fine. but when a dark situation happens, when something takes place to bring in darkness and death, the Lord speaks through the negative situations and supplies the riches of Christ for us to go on with Him.

May we be open to the Lord for His shining, enlightening, and exposing, and may He have a way to expose any darkness in our being, in our situation, and in the church life, so that we may partake of the riches of Christ and overcome to be the local church that shines as the testimony of Jesus on earth.

Lord Jesus, we open to Your shining. We open to Your enlightening. We do not know what our situation is and we are not aware of the darkness in our being and in our living. We just open to Your shining. Speak to us. Enlighten us. Shine in our being. Expose any darkness in us. Supply us with the riches of Christ so that we may go on with You and overcome any negative situation. Amen, Lord, may we realize that God speaks to us through the negative situations and may we remain open to His speaking! May we open and take in the riches of Christ for us to go on with the Lord and become the shining golden lampstand, the testimony of Jesus! Amen, Lord Jesus, may we be those who spend much time in prayer with You to see the situation of those we care for in Your light and minister something of Christ to them for their enlightening, supplying, and going on!

Having Much and Thorough Prayer to have God’s Shining, Know God’s Will, receive His Judgment, and go on in the Church Life

We need to realize that God’s speaking is according to the negative situations yet with the riches of Christ as the supply for us, His people, to overcome the negative situations and be the Lord’s testimony on the earth.

The problem among Christians today, however, is that there is so much darkness that there’s no way for God to expose the darkness.

In order for God to make the darkness known, there must first be the shining of the light.

There has to be the shining of the Lord in and through some saints, and then the darkness is exposed.

God speaks through things that become negative in the midst of the shining of the light (see Eph. 5:8-9).

When everything is dark, it is difficult to point out a particular matter that is in darkness, but if all the lights are shining, if all the saints are shining with Christ as light, it will be easy to find one that becomes dark.

Thank the Lord that in the church life today He is shining in us and through us, and His speaking is not rare among us.

Thank the Lord that we can walk in the light as He is in the light, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from every sin (1 John 1:7, 9).

When all the saints are shining, it immediately becomes apparent when a certain one becomes dark.

The darkness is an indicator that something is wrong.

Then the Lord has a way to speak through the saints who are before Him in much and thorough prayer to have His shining, and there is the rich supply of the riches of Christ.

The negative situations are an indicator of the shortage of Christ.

When we exercise our spirit to pray much before the Lord concerning our situation and the situation of the saints, the Lord will show us how short we are of Christ, and He will enlighten us to see that the saints also are short of Christ.

Then, through much and thorough prayer, we come to know God’s leading.

By reading the negative situations in this way, we come to know the Lord’s leading, his judgment; then, in our locality, we will know what God wants us to do, and we should then follow His leading.

Many times the Lord’s leading involves a judgment, the exposing of the negative situation; His speaking exposes the negative situation and adds the riches of Christ as the supply to overcome the negative situation.

For this, we need much and thorough prayer.

The leading brothers need to have much and thorough prayer, being blended together and being fully open to the Lord for His shining so that they may see any negative situation and follow the Lord’s leading to deal with them (Eph. 2:2; Matt. 5:14; Phil. 2:15).

We need to pray much before the Lord to read the situation of the saints we care for before the Lord.

It is not our own natural intuition or discernment, it is not our judgment, but the Lord’s shining; He’s speaking to us through the negative situations, and He shines on us.

The breastplate is the building up of the Body life and the means for us to know God’s will concerning His people.

When we have much and thorough prayer, we can experience the reality of the breastplate.

Then, we will receive the Lord’s judgment of what we have to do and what we must not do, and we will know the Lord’s way.

Then, the whole church will go on according to the judgment given by the Lord.

Such a local church is blessed by the Lord, it is a blessed church.

The elders in the church need not only the Bible and the Holy Spirit but also the brothers and sisters as the alphabet.

This means that they need to bear the brothers and sisters before God and read the condition of every brother and sister before God.

In this way, the elders’ meeting will become the watchtower of the church, and the elders will know what God wants them to do and what God’s present will is in the church life.

May we pray for the elders to have such an experience, for they watch over our souls; may we pray that they would enter into much and thorough prayer concerning each and every saint so that they may have God’s leading on what to do and what not to do in the church.

May we also be those who have much and thorough prayer before the Lord so that we may read the situation of the saints under our care, being under the Lord’s shining and having His feeling and discernment on what the saints need, what is their situation, and how can we supply them with the riches of Christ for their going on.

Lord Jesus, may we realize that God’s speaking is according to the negative situation yet with the riches of Christ as the supply for us, His people. We open to You today. We want to be persons who live in the light, walk in the light, and allow the light to shine in their being and through them. Amen, Lord Jesus, may there be much shining of Your light in us and through us today. Expose and speak through things that become negative in the midst of the shining of Your light. May the local church we’re in be under Your shining, and may all the saints be shining! Amen, Lord, may we have much and thorough prayer so that we can receive the Lord’s judgment of what we have to do and what we must not do. May we all know Your will and Your way so that the whole church may go on according to the judgment given by the Lord!

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, Life-study of Exodus, pp. 1430-1433 (by Witness Lee), 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 4, entitled, A Proper Prayer Life for a Proper Church Life.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The Wonderful Jesus Christ in Revelation 2-3 Brings Us to New Jerusalem, article via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Does Your Christian Journey Need Road Signs? Read more via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – The experience of reading the breastplate in the presence of God, a portion from, Elders’ Training, Book 09: The Eldership and the God-Ordained Way (1), Chapter 6, by Witness Lee.
  – The central work of God, article by Ron Kangas in, Affirmation and Critique.
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• Hymns on this topic:
  – O Lord, You’ve called to us, and Canaan we would win, / To be Your corporate man and dwell with You therein; / But how the darkness of this world does hold us in— / O Lord, appear to us, we pray. / O Lord, appear to us today; / We see this is the only way. / The idols to forsake / And Canaan land partake, / O Lord, appear to us today. (Hymns #1190 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – Remove my covering, Lord, / That I may see Thy light, / And be deceived no more, / But all things see aright. / Oh, may Thy living light, Lord, / Scatter all my night, Lord, / And everything make bright, Lord, / For this I pray to Thee. (Hymns #426 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – Christ as Head will be the Center; / God within will be the Light; / Christ enthroned, with God, His substance, / Will fulfill His heart’s delight. / Christ as life will be the content, / Heading up all things in light; / All the saints will be the vessel, / To express His glory bright. (Hymns #981 stanzas 2-3)