The Lord desires to gain age-turners, a corporate age-turning dispensational instrument, and for this we need to be self-sacrificing persons with the spirit of martyrdom, and we also need to redeem the time by redeeming the opportunity that the Lord puts before us day by day.
In his time, Daniel was an overcomer; he was a dispensational instrument whom God could use to change the age from the age of captivity to the age of the return for the rebuilding of the temple of God and the city of God.
When Daniel found out in the word of God that the captivity of Israel in Babylon will only be of seventy years, he joined himself to God’s desire in His word, and he prayed according to God’s word that He would release His people and let them go back to rebuild.
Daniel was a man of prayer, so much so that he was acknowledged by God and was qualified to be used by God; he was capable to speak forth the mystery of God.
In response to Daniel’s prayer in those days in those times, God showed him visions and revelations; these visions are very crucial to our Christian life and church life.
God showed Daniel the vision of the seventy weeks, which shows us what will happen at the end of the time; also, Daniel saw and understood the vision of the great human image, and he spoke forth the divine mysteries.
In his prayer, Daniel reached the highest peak – he asked God to do something not just for His people but for Himself; he didn’t merely beg God to do something but “challenged God” to do something for His own sake, for the sake of His name.
This means that He asked God to do something for Himself, not just for His people. What a boldness this is! What a oneness he had with God!
He was truly God’s companion; he was intimate with God, he knew God’s heart, and he prayed wit boldness to move God’s hand and release on earth what God has already promised He will do.
May we be like Daniel, praying single-heartedly with an age-turning prayer, so that we too may be used by the Lord to turn this age.
May we redeem the opportunities today to pray, ask God to do something for His name, and change the age to bring in the age of the kingdom where justice and righteousness will reign.
Praying even at the Risk of our Life and having the Spirit of Martyrdom, fearing only to Lose God’s presence
Daniel was a self-sacrificing person with the spirit of martyrdom (Dan. 6:10-11); he prayed even at the risk of his life, for he cared for God and His interest on earth.
Daniel and his companions had a true spirit of martyrdom; they stood for the Lord as the unique God and against idol worship even at the cost of their lives (Dan. 3:19-23).
They were thrown at the command of the king into a blazing furnace, but the Lord was with them, and they emerged untouched.
Daniel’s three companions were thrown into the blazing furnace, but not even a cinch of their hair was burned; there was not even the smell of fire on them.
Rather, One like the Son of Man was in their midst, protecting them. These are three that truly had the spirit of martyrdom, and they didn’t love their lives even unto death.
On his side, Daniel prayed at the risk of his life; the evil intention of the chief ministers and satraps was to destroy Daniel by deceiving the king to pass a decree that no one is allowed to pray to any god for thirty days except to the king.
We may say that these ones were jealous of Daniel and wanted to destroy him, but actually Satan’s intention was to cut off the channel of prayer that God was using for the carrying out of His economy (Dan. 6:4-24).
This is what Satan is doing today; he wants to get rid of those who are channels of prayer for the carrying out of God’s economy. Satan wants to get rid of the men who pray so that the fulfillment of God’s economy would be hindered or delayed.
However, everyone whom God uses to turn the age is afraid of only one thing: offending God and losing His presence (Dan. 3:17-18; 2 Cor. 5:9-10; Psa. 51:11; Josh. 7:4).
May we be the overcomers of today who are the Lord’s witnesses, those who are real martyrs, fearing nothing else but losing the Lord’s presence.
A real martyr who dies for the Lord’s name is afraid only to offend God and to lose His presence.
We treasure the Lord’s smiling face, we treasure the Lord’s presence, and we are fearing only the loss of His presence and His smile.
The first martyr in the church age is Stephen; as he was being stoned to death, he saw the Son of Man in the heavens standing up.
On this one occasion, because one of His witnesses was about to be killed, He stood up because He was pleased and honored, so He gave Stephen His presence.
Having the spirit of martyrdom doesn’t only mean that we are about to be killed for the Lord; rather, it means that we are the Lord’s witnesses (witness is the same word in Greek as martyr, see Acts 1:8), testifying of the resurrected and ascended Christ in our living.
We may not be killed physically or be in danger of being killed, but every day we need to have the spirit of a martyr by witnessing of the resurrected and ascended Christ in our daily life; we need to bear the marks of a martyr.
We should die to our life and live unto the Lord to please Him, loving not our soul life even unto death for His sake.
There is not only the physical martyrdom but also the psychological martyrdom and even the spiritual martyrdom.
For example, in 1 Cor. 16:12 Paul urged Apollos many times to come, but Apollos didn’t consider it to be an opportune time; for Paul, this was a spiritual martyrdom.
However, Paul took the cross, accepted this spiritual martyrdom so that his attitude and relationship with Apollos kept the oneness among them.
In other words, may we be those who truly live under the shadow of the Lord’s cross, those who would die to their soul life to live Christ and express Him.
May we be those who truly put aside our way, our opinion, and even our timing, so that we may do things to take care of the Lord’s needs, the needs of the church, and the needs of the saints and the laboring ones.
Lord Jesus, we want to be those who live a self-sacrificing life for the sake of the Lord, being afraid only of offending God and losing His presence. Save us from ceasing to pray; may we be those praying for the fulfillment of God’s economy and the end of this age even at the cost of our life. Make us channels of prayer that allow You to do what You want to do on earth and not hinder You in Your move but rather cooperate with Your ultimate move on earth today. Amen, Lord Jesus, may we put aside our opinion, our way, and even our timing, and do things in the mingled spirit, taking the cross, and accepting any martyrdom for the sake of the Lord’s move on earth!
Redeeming the Opportunity to be God’s Dispensational Instrument today: May we Not Waste this Opportunity!
In order for us to be today’s overcomers as God’s dispensational instrument who turn the age, we must redeem the time (see Col. 4:5; Eph. 5:16).
To redeem the time could also be translated as to redeem the opportunity.
Brother Watchman Nee has some really good writing on this matter in the Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 55 and vol. 19 and 38, on the matter of redeeming the opportunity and numbering our spiritual days.
We could translate the word “time” in “redeeming the time” as “redeeming the opportunity”.
As those who are learning to serve the Lord, we must not let the Head have a sense that we are dull to His direction and numb to His leading.
Rather, we need to allow the Lord to train our spiritual sense and our spiritual sight to sense the opportunities whenever they come and make the most of them.
Especially in the context of answering the Lord’s call to be His overcomers today, we, His people, need to be those redeeming the opportunity to be God’s dispensational instrument in this age today.
This word, opportunity, is a very positive word; this means that again and again God presents us with opportunities, and if we take them, we are blessed by Him to be an age-turning instrument, but if we miss them, we will miss or waste this opportunity.
Do you know that today, at the end of this age, the Lord is affording us an opportunity? He wants us to play a role in His age-changing or dispensation-changing instrument; do we see this opportunity?
Opportunities like this don’t come knocking every day; this is an opportunity toward the end of an age to end it and bring in a new one.
Samuel for example redeemed the opportunity and closed the end of the age of the judges and ushered in the age of the kings among Israel.
May we not miss this opportunity; may we be those who are redeeming the opportunity to be part of the Lord’s dispensational instrument in this age today!
May we not be numb, with no feeling, or stupefied with this evil age and its lusts.
Of all the days that the Lord has ordained for us, perhaps yesterday should have been the greatest day of our life, but we may have lived yesterday in an ordinary way – this is what it means to miss the opportunity!
There is never a day without God’s arrangement for us; every day is an opportunity.
Maybe the Lord gave a thought that we should seek out a certain person who could potentially be very useful to the Lord (for example see Acts 9:10-19; 22:12-16), but on that day we didn’t go to contact this person because we were either afraid or the weather was too hot, and we were lazy. Oh Lord.
If Philip would not have cooperated with the Lord to run after the Ethiopian eunuch’s chariot, the Lord’s move would not have spread to Africa; now all the churches in Africa owe their beginnings to Philip’s redeeming the opportunity to speak the gospel.
One day we will face the Lord, and we may regret the things in our life that now provide us with satisfaction.
Many times we have to admit that we have come short of God’s will, and we have acted in a foolish way.
We need to acknowledge, under the Lord’s light, that we have not been faithful to live Christ, to grow Christ, to express Christ, and to propagate Christ in every respect for the building up of His Body (2 Cor. 5:10; Matt. 25:21-23, 25-26; Col. 1:9-10; Matt. 7:26; 25:2-3, 8).
If we read in Matthew we see that, after death, there’s some who are cast into a place of darkness to be disciplined, and one of the main things they will experience is regret, remorse; they will regret not redeeming the opportunity during their life on earth.
The rich man in Hades regretted his living on earth and wanted Abraham to send someone to his family and let them know what will happen after they die; he suffered regret for not redeeming the opportunity while he was alive. Oh Lord!
Brothers and sisters, it is possible to regret; today we may regret certain days that we have wasted, and one day we may regret missing the opportunity to be part of God’s dispensational instrument in this age!
May we ask the Lord to teach us to number our days that we may have wisdom; wisdom is knowing how to seize the opportunity and redeem the time.
Lord Jesus, teach us to number our days and seize the opportunity to cooperate with You for Your economy. Save us from missing the opportunity of cooperating with You in this age; may we be those redeeming the opportunity today to be part of Your dispensational instrument, Your age-turning corporate man! May we be faithful to live Christ, grow Christ, express Christ, and propagate Christ in every respect for the building up of His Body! Save us from being numb or senseless when it comes to fulfilling Your will; may we not be ignorant or befuddled but be keen, knowing the times, and redeeming the opportunity today!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 55, pp. 193-202, 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 5, Answering God’s Call to Be His Dispensational Instruments, His Overcomers to Turn the Age.
- Hymns on this topic:
– The day approaches; Jesus soon is coming. / Redeem the time; it must not slip away. / Lord, make us ready for the cry: “Behold Him!” / By using every moment of each day. (Hymns #1307)
– Will you be an overcomer? / On His life depend! / Dare to suffer persecution, / Faithful to the end. / Will you be an overcomer? / Testimony bear! (Hymns #894)
– By Your Spirit in our spirit— / Working, breaking through, / Free us from the self and back to You. / We redeem each precious moment, / Spending time with You, / To become the testimony of Christ. (Song on, Lord, Refine My Heart)
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