The Lord desires that all men be saved and come to the full knowledge of the truth – for this, He may take “the long route” by training us daily and shepherding us every day to get into His Word, have set time with the Lord, and fellowship with the saints in the Body.
With some though, He may “intensify” His operation and training by bringing them to the Full-Time Training, a two-year program where you learn all the above things in an “intensified way”. “The goal of the training is to foster living, functioning, overcoming members of the Body of Christ for the fulfilment of God’s eternal purpose.”
The following is a sharing by sister Magda just before she began her third term in the FTTL (the full-time training in London).
Many years ago when as teenager I consecrated myself to the Lord, my goal was also to come to the Full Time Training and to know how to serve the Lord. One year ago the Lord changed my motivation and I decided to come for FTTL just to… KNOW THE LORD (Phil. 3:10). And now, after one year of the training, I can say that the more you KNOW THE LORD the more you LOVE the Lord, and more you love the Lord the more you care for what is ON HIS HEART and you can COOPERATE WITH THE LORD!
One of the biggest and most basic help I received at the beginning of the training was when one of the brothers shared with us that in the morning we should not wake up for the Lord but wake up WITH THE LORD….Wow! Up to that time I did not realize that there are so many things I was trying to do for the Lord but without the Lord… Now I am so thankful that the Lord that He put me in place where I can learn from so many dear serving ones and other brothers and sisters – to turn to the Lord, to gain Him, and to live by enjoying the Lord in every part of my practical daily life. It is amazing!
But there was a time when I felt very discouraged – when saw myself…. I did not realize that I am so full of opinions, my own ways… etc but it was the Lord’s mercy to allow me to see that I AM NOTHING AND CAN DO NOTHING, and also to see that CHRIST IS MY EVERYTHING! Now I can pray more
Bless me with Thy shining light
And deal with every part.
That I would unreserved be
A channel of Thine heart.I am learning to simply say AMEN to whatever the Lord arranges for me in the training and in my life. My favorite prayer are words of this simple song,
Lord, keep my heart open and soft toward You.
Lord, draw my eyes to see nothing else but You.
Whatever may happen, I know You want to gain my heart.
Though I may not understand, Just keep dispensing into my every part.
Make me a believer / By looking at You.
Standing on Your Word, / Faithful and true.In such way the Bible began be so much more real for me! For example verses such as Gal. 2:20, Phil. 1:19, and Phil. 3:7-15; 4:4-9. The Lord showed me in new way how Matt 16:18 and 1 Cor 14:3-4 connected together in an amazing way – the Lord desires to build up His church through US! May more and more my attitude towards prophesying in the church will be as in 1 Cor. 14:1!
I am so thankful to the Lord that He has revealed more of His heart to us through the fellowship we had regarding preaching of the gospel. The Lord showed us footnote 3 in Rev. 22:17 “…when we have a sincere desire for the Lord’s coming, we have an earnest concern for the sinners’ salvation”. And as brother Howard Higashi said, if we really desire and pray for the Lord’s second coming we need to give the best cooperation to the Lord by just “going and loving people – through bringing Christ to them and making them part of His Bride“. Praise the Lord that when we are going to preach the gospel we don’t do it individually but corporately – in the Body and for the Body! Of course, we need to be very clear that this is something that Satan hates and trying to use EVERYTHING to break the oneness among us. That’s why we need to be watchful and stay with one another and learn to stop and through fellowship and prayer take not “my way” or “your way” but HIS WAY because THE LORD IS THE WAY!
When we read book The Mystery of Christ by brother W. Nee I was very touched that when we stay alone we just “invite” Satan to attack us, and when we refuse the help of the brothers and the sisters we actually refuse the help of THE LORD! I also appreciated very much when one of the brothers who shared with us about “being independent” – which so normal in the world… and “being dependent on the Lord” which should be our way of life…. This fellowship caused a turn in my life in the full time training – I saw that I cannot depend on myself and my plans – I need to depend on the Lord and ALLOW HIM to take care of me. Now I am learning to be more attentive whenever somebody offers some help or fellowship. There are so many more things which I would like to share with you from what I enjoyed in the training…
The Lord is so wonderful – He is so real and so rich, and it so precious to be in the fellowship of the Body. I am very thankful to the Lord for my sending local church and for the prayers all the saints. I feel that I am in the training not for myself but I am gaining Christ for His Body! This is the reason I send regular emails to the saints with sharing of my enjoyment, and also I send many requests for prayers. How supplying it is to be a member in the Body! Now, I am very happy and I cannot wait to join the 3rd term in the Full Time Training in London – Praise the Lord – spring is coming!
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Hallelujah! Amen