The characteristic of the overcomers in Philadelphia is their brotherly love, for they have little power but keep the Lord’s word, do not deny His name, and love prevails among them so that they shepherd people according to God; we need to humble ourselves before God and love Him to the uttermost, not looking at what we have gained but seeking to gain more of the Triune God. Amen!
We all aspire to be the overcomers in Philadelphia, the church of brotherly love. We want to pay more attention to life than to work, caring more about quality than quantity (1 Cor. 3:12).
There is a lot of work to be done for the Lord and in the church, but our focus is not on the quantity of our work but on the quality of our work, for we have little power and we do the best we can with what we have.
We do not have a lot of power; rather, the more we advance in the Lord and in church life, the more we realize that we have little power.
However, the Lord is not after spiritual giants, great spiritual warriors, or giant workers of God; He wants to gain those who have little power but do the best for Him with what they have.
May we be those who have a little power with the realization that what pleases the Lord is not our doing much for Him but our doing our best for Him with what we have (Rev. 3:8; Mark 14:8).
God cares more about quality than quantity, and He cares more for life than for work.
We may have very little, and our power may be so low, but we keep His word, we do not deny His name, and we do our best for Him with what we have.
We simply pour out everything we have for the Lord, doing what we can with what we have.
This is pleasing to the Lord.
The overcomers in Philadelphia do not deny the Lord’s name; rather, they abandon any other name besides the Lord’s name and hold only to His name.
We need to abandon all names other than that of the Lord Jesus Christ and call on His name, for He is rich to all who call upon Him (Rom. 10:9-10, 12-13).
Hallelujah, Jesus is Lord, and Jesus is the only name that we call and hold on to!
We need to openly confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:11), refusing to take any other name besides the Lord’s name.
And we do not preach ourselves but we preach Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as the believers’ slaves for Jesus’ sake (2 Cor. 4:5).
May we be recovered back to what the Bible speaks concerning what a Christian should be, what an overcomer should be; may we be those who, though they have little power, keep the Lord’s word, do not deny His name, and do the best we can with what we have.
And may we just declare to the Lord that we love Him. He is our first love and our only love. We just love Him and we exalt Him.
We do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and we are just slaves for His sake to serve the saints.
May Love Prevail Among us so that we Shepherd People According to God with Brotherly Love
The characteristic of the overcomers in Philadelphia is their brotherly love; Philadelphia is the church of brotherly love, and what prevails among the overcomers in this church is love.
Love must prevail among us so that we may shepherd people according to God (1 Pet. 5:2).
How do we shepherd people according to God? It is by cherishing them with the cheering presence of God and nourishing them with the healthy teaching of the economy of God (Eph. 4:11; 5:29; Acts 20:28).
Such shepherding and such brotherly love have been lost throughout the ages, but today the Lord is recovering the brotherly love among us today.
The Lord’s recovery with Philadelphia is a recovery in quality, not in quantity; it is a recovery of the original substance of the church, the inner substance of God, which is love (1 John 4:8).
Today we are not only standing on the genuine ground of oneness, the ground of the church, but also we choose to love all the brothers, and love prevails among us (Rev. 3:7; 2:4, 7).
On one hand, we stand one with the Lord and one with the saints on the genuine ground of oneness; on the other hand, we exercise our spirit and our heart to love the Lord and to love all the saints, choosing to love all the brothers.
The Lord’s recovery is a recovery of loving the Lord Jesus.
We are being recovered to loving the Lord Jesus with the first love and to loving the brothers with God as our love.
The overcomers in Philadelphia stand on the genuine ground of oneness and keep themselves in the love of God to love the Lord and to love all the brothers (Jude 20-21; 2 Cor. 5:14; John 12:3; Luke 7:47; 1 John 3:14-16; Psa. 133). Amen!
We do this because we keep the Lord’s word, which is the New Testament economy of God unveiled in the Bible.
The overcomers in Philadelphia keep the Lord’s word in His unique New Testament ministry (Rev. 3:8).
Keeping the Lord’s word brings us into the genuine appreciation, love, and enjoyment of the precious person of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself as our life and as our everything (2 Cor. 11:2-3).
We all can testify that, the more we come to the Lord’s word and read the ministry, the more we love the Lord Jesus and love the brothers with Christ as our love.
We realize that, in order for us to minister life to others and to maintain our victory for the building up of the church, we must have a revived living and a labor in shepherding that flows out from our love for the Lord and for the brothers (John 21:15-17).
We say Amen to God’s word, and we realize that we need to love one another, because God is love, and everyone who loves has been begotten of God and knows God (1 John 4:7).
But if we don’t love, we have not known God, because God is love (v. 8).
How can we love others? We know and have believed the love which God has in us, for God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him (v. 16).
We do not try to love others; we simply abide in the Lord and enjoy Him as love, and He in us loves the brothers.
God first loved us in that He infused us with His love and He generated within us the love with which we love Him and the brothers (vv. 19-21).
As it regards the elders and responsible ones, they should not lord it over the flock of God that has been allotted to them, realizing that the churches are God’s possession.
The church has been allotted to the elders as their allotment, their portion, entrusted to them by God for their care (1 Pet. 5:2-3).
Therefore, the elders need to be willing to serve the saints as a slave, even as the Lord came and served us as a slave (Matt. 20:26-27; Mark 10:42-45).
The elders should shepherd one another and love one another to be a model of the Body life, and the saints will follow to do the same thing; in this way, there will be brotherly love among us, and love will prevail.
We need to take care of the saints in everything and in every way for the dispensing of Christ into them.
As we love the Lord and one another, allowing the Lord as love to be expressed through us toward the brothers, we contact the saints and visit them, and we invite them to our homes for meals.
The brothers love one another, the wives love one another, and we love one another’s children.
May the Lord gain such a brotherly love among us where we shepherd people according to God by cherishing them with the cheering presence of God and nourishing them with the healthy teaching of the economy of God.
Lord Jesus, recover the original substance of the church – the inner substance of God, which is love – among us today. Amen, Lord Jesus, recover us to loving the Lord to the uttermost and to loving the brothers. We stand on the genuine ground of oneness and we keep ourselves in the love of God to love the Lord and love all the brothers! May love prevail among us. May our church life be a life of brotherly love, each one loving one another and ministering life to one another. Amen, Lord, make us those who love the saints and shepherd them according to God. May there be much visitation and enjoyment of Christ together with the saints so that the cheering presence of God would cherish the saints and the healthy teaching of God’s economy would nourish them. Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to You to have a revived living and a labor in shepherding that flows out of our love for the Lord and for the brothers!
Continuing in the Way of Philadelphia and Being Saved from the way of Laodicea
![I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am about to spew you out of My mouth. Because you say, I am wealthy and have become rich and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire that you may be rich, and white garments that you may be clothed and [that] the shame of your nakedness may not be manifested, and eyesalve to anoint your eyes that you may see. Rev. 3:15-18](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/I-know-your-works-that-you-are-neither-cold-nor-hot-I-wish-that-you-were-cold-or-hot-1-683x1024.webp?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am about to spew you out of My mouth. Because you say, I am wealthy and have become rich and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire that you may be rich, and white garments that you may be clothed and [that] the shame of your nakedness may not be manifested, and eyesalve to anoint your eyes that you may see. Rev. 3:15-18")
What the Lord desires to gain is the overcomers in Philadelphia. However, after Philadelphia we see Laodicea (Rev. 3:14-22), which is the degraded and distorted Philadelphia.
In order for us to continue in the way of Philadelphia, we must be saved from the way of Laodicea.
Laodicea is the degraded Philadelphia; when brotherly love is gone, when our fervent love for the Lord and our brotherly love toward one another is gone, what we have is Laodicea.
When we don’t have brotherly love, we have the opinion of many (the meaning of Laodicea).
If we lose the brotherly love, the brothers become “many people”, and brotherly love becomes “the opinion of the many”.
Instead of having the Lord’s present presence and His constant enjoyment, we have the opinion of many people, which is death. Oh, Lord!
When the fellowship of life is cut due to the loss of the brotherly love, the Body relationship is lost as well.
What we have is the vote of the majority, ballots, and the show of hands, not the Lord’s leading or the brotherly love being manifested.
May we realize that there is a danger for us to fall into being Laodicea; yes, the Lord has opened up the word of God to us and the riches in His word are available for us to enjoy, but we may be Laodicea by thinking we’re rich and have need of nothing.
God’s blessing is with us, but we must be careful when we say this, for if we’re not, we have the flavour of Laodicea.
We should not look at what we have and think we’re rich; there’s nothing that we have which has not been given to us.
Others around us may be full of death, but we don’t need to be conscious that we’re full of life.
Others around us may be poor, but we don’t need to be conscious of the fact that we’re rich.
We simply need to humble ourselves before God, pay the price to gain more of the Triune God, and have God’s present presence, not looking at what we have or focusing on what we have obtained.
We need to live before the Lord, not being conscious of our own riches.
May the Lord have mercy on us so that we may learn to live before Him. Oh, Lord!
May we be rich in the experience of Christ and knowledge of His word YET may we not know that we are rich so that we don’t become proud.
May we have our face shining with the Lord’s shekinah glory infused into us, yet may we not know this.
May we be saved from having so many riches in His word and in the church life yet being fervent about nothing.
May we be saved from having all things in name but not being able to sacrifice our life for anything due to our lukewarmness.
May we not remember our former glory while forgetting our present condition before God (Rev. 3:15-17).
May we humble ourselves before God and pay the price to gain more of the Triune God as gold, white garments, and eyesalve so that we may cover our nakedness, be rich toward God, and see things the way God sees them.
May we be those who have a living faith, mixing the Lord’s word with our faith so that the word would profit us and bring us on with God.
Yes, there are trials like a fiery furnace, and our faith is being purified and tested to be approved (1 Pet. 1:7).
However, we should not be proud of our experiences or puffed up because of our knowledge of the Lord.
May the Lord grant us to continue in the way of Philadelphia as we humble ourselves before God and pay the price to gain more of the Triune God in our daily living.
May we be one with the Lord as the leading Overcomer within us in order to sit with Him on His throne in the millennial kingdom (Rev. 3:18, 21).
Lord Jesus, save us from the way of Laodicea; save us from being lukewarm toward You. Oh Lord, may we treasure Your present presence. We humble ourselves, dear Lord, and we come to You to contact You in a fresh way. Save us from knowing everything but in reality being fervent about nothing. Save us from merely having everything in name but not being able to sacrifice our life for anything. Save us from remembering our former glory but forgetting our present condition before God. Keep us in the way of Philadelphia by keeping Your word and not denying Your name, and by doing the best we can with the little power we have. May we be willing to humble ourselves before God and pay the price to gain more of the Triune God as gold, white garments, and eyesalve. Oh Lord, make us one with You as the leading Overcomer within us to sit with You on Your throne in the millennial kingdom!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ed Marks in the message, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 50, “Messages for Building Up New Believers (3),” ch. 45, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Loving the Lord and loving one another for the organic building up of the church as the Body of Christ (2022 fall ITERO), week 8, entitled, Taking the God-ordained Pathway for the Church—the Way of Philadelphia—according to the Lord’s Up-to-date and Ultimate Recovery to Bring Us into a New Revival to Turn the Age.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Will you be an overcomer? / Trust the living Lord! / Keep your “garments” from the deadness, / Win the life-reward. / Will you be an overcomer? / Never lukewarm be, / Ne’er content with what you’ve gotten, / More you need to see. (Hymns #894 stanzas 6-7)
– Laodicea warns us all: / From Philadelphia some will fall. / By saying, “I am rich,” it’s then / The Lord is outside wanting in. / Lukewarmness we must ever spurn / And in the spirit always burn, / The inward life experience gain, / And pay the price with Him to reign. / Lord, shine Your light on us today / That we may fully go Your way; / Anoint our eyes and let us see / So You can have recovery. (Hymns #1274 stanzas 15-17)
– Thou, beloved Philadelphia, / Dost His Word of patience keep. / From the hour of trial He’ll save thee, / Which o’er all the world shall sweep. / Troublers too shall know He loves thee; / They to thee must then bow down. / “Hold thou fast, for I come quickly, / That no man may take thy crown.” (Hymns #1275 stanza 3)
About aGodMan
If you want to continue in the way of Philadelphia, remember to humble yourselves before God…God’s blessing is with us, but we must be careful when we say this. As soon as we are not careful, we have the flavor of Laodicea: “We are wealthy and have become rich and have need of nothing.” Please bear in mind that we have nothing that we have not received. Those around us may be full of death, but we do not need to be conscious of the fact that we are full of life. Those around us may be poor, but we do not need to be conscious of the fact that we are rich. Those who live before the Lord will not be conscious of their own riches. May the Lord be merciful to us that we may learn to live before Him. May we be rich and yet not know that we are rich. It was better for Moses not to know that his face was shining, even though it did shine! Once a person knows himself, he becomes Laodicea, and the result is lukewarmness. Laodicea means to know everything, but in reality to be fervent about nothing. In name it has everything, but it cannot sacrifice its life for anything. It remembers its former glory but forgets its present condition before God. Formerly, it was Philadelphia; today it is Laodicea. Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 50, “Messages for Building Up New Believers (3),” pp. 783-786
While we estimate the church in Philadelphia very highly, the Lord says that she had “a little power.” What pleases the Lord is not that we are strong, but that we use our little power to do the best we can. Do not try to be strong… Simply spend what you have received from Him. Do not usurp the Lord’s grace… Even the least among us has received a certain amount of grace from Him. You must spend that grace, using it to do your best. If you do this, the Lord will appreciate you and say, “Good. You have a little power, yet you have kept My word with the power you have.”…The Lord is not happy with giants; He is happy with the little ones who have an amount of grace. Although that grace may be limited in its capacity, as long as we use it, spending it to do as much as we can to keep the Lord’s word, He will be pleased. Life-study of Revelation, p. 186, by Witness Lee
Dear brother, what a warning word we see today in relation to Philadelphia and Laodicea.
May we live before the Lord and never be conscious or proud of what we have or know.
May we be fervently loving the Lord and the saints, seeking to keep the Lord’s word and not deny His name with the little power we have.
May we trust in the Lord and not look at what we have, and may we humble ourselves before the Lord.
Amen brother!
O Lord we realize we have little power but may we keep your word and deny not your name.
O also May we buy gold refined by the fire of trials and tribulations by trusting in you!
Hallelujah!
Yes, dear brother, what a sobering word!
May we just be those who enjoy the dispensing of the all-inclusive, unsearchabley rich Christ into all our being.
As the very embodiment of the Triune God and the reality of the divine life.
As we are filled with the divine life, there will be a spontaneous expression of love (the inward essence of God’s being) towards the Lord and all the brothers.
Hallelujah, this makes us the church in Philadelphia (the church of brotherly love) and will keep us from falling into Laodecia (the many people of many opinions) which is void of life and is actually dead.
Amen brother. We must use our little power, spending it to keep the Lord’s word to the best of our ability.
In the church life, the only opinion that counts is that of Jesus.
To continue in the way of Philadelphia, we need to humble ourselves before God, beseeching Him always to grant us a living faith that is able to sacrifice itself for the Lord’s interest, and that is full of fervent love for Christ and the brothers.
May the words of the Spirit which we receive become useful in a practical way, and willing to trust in Jesus in all situations.
Amen Lord. Thank you dear brother, for sharing such holy warnings in love.
Rev. 3:8, 18
8 I know your works; behold, I have put before you an opened door which no one can shut, because you have a little power and have kept My word and have not denied My name.
18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire that you may be rich, and white garments that you may be clothed and that the shame of your nakedness may not be manifested, and eyesalve to anoint your eyes that you may see.
Rom. 10:9-10
9 That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
10 For with the heart there is believing unto righteousness, and with the mouth there is confession unto salvation.
1 John 4:19-21
19 We love because He first loved us.
20 If anyone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
21 And this commandment we have from Him, that he who loves God love his brother also.
Matt. 20:26-27
26 It shall not be so among you; but whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant,
27 And whoever wants to be first among you shall be your slave;
This is the Word of God. Amen!
It is in our weaknesses where the glory of our Lord Jesus is manifested in a very strong way, that is, IF WE BELIEVE AND HAVE FAITH.
It is the trials, test, and storms in our lives that transform us day by day. The weaker we are, the stronger He becomes. He replaces us internally so we can express Him, in humble ways, externally for the building up of His Church and His Body.
“…you have a little power and have kept My word and have not denied My name.” Rev 3:8
Lord, all I want is to be weak and have little power so YOU can replace me internally and externally. I do not want to have any power, I want YOU to be my power! Amen
It does not matter what happens in our lives, He will give us always the strength to pass any storm, any trial, any test.
“…Do not usurp the Lord’s grace…Even the least among us has received a certain amount of grace from Him. You must spend that grace, using it to do your best.” Related Reading
Knowledge has poisoned the Christian life. Human beings have the tendency to gloat when they know to much. Even worse, those full only of knowledge without the experience, gloat over the lack of knowledge of others, new ones, or immature ones. They do not realized that their knowledge without the experience makes them very immature also.
“The Lord is not happy with giants; He is happy with the little ones who have an amount of grace. Although that grace may be limited in its capacity, as long as we use it, spending it to do as much as we can to keep the Lord’s word, He will be pleased.”(Life-study of Revelation, p. 186) Related Reading
“Once Philadelphia fails, it becomes Laodicea.” Related Reading
We are saved, we are a new creation. I give thanks everyday to our Lord for chosen me and giving me the opportunity to be part of the Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ. However, we cannot forget that satan is working 24/7 trying to distract us from Him. The distortion of Laodicea can come in many ways. But the most poison one is when the love for one another is lost.
“…When brotherly love is gone, Philadelphia immediately turns into the opinions of many. This is the meaning of the word Laodicea.” Related Reading
In the Body of Christ, our opinions should, must be completely banned. The only opinion that matters is Christ’s, He has to replace us. It is the only way we will be able to sincerely and genuinely love all the saints without discrimination, without gossiping, without opinions. Otherwise, we are just liars.
1 John 4:19-21
19 We love because He first loved us.
20 If anyone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
21 And this commandment we have from Him, that he who loves God love his brother also.
Do we love God? I’m sure we do
But, do we love al the saints, or we just love only those that love us, our own kind?
Luke 6:32-33
6:32 And if you love those who love you, what thanks is it to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
6:33
For if you also do good to those who do good to you, what thanks is it to you? Even sinners do the same.
Lord have mercy on all of us. Ignite in our hearts that Divine Love You infuses in us everyday we touch You through Your Word and the washing of our feet. We want to love ALL , even the unlovable ones, because they are the ones that need to be loved with that genuine love, the Divine Love. Amen!