In order for the Lord to gain His army today to fight for His interest and protect His testimony, there’s an urgent need for the growth and maturity, so we need to grow in life unto maturity.
In the Lord’s recovery today there’s an urgent need for the growth and maturity required for the formation of God’s army; we all need to grow in life unto maturity (Exo. 30:14; Num. 1:2-3, 18; Eph. 4:12-16).
Spiritual warfare is something we experience in the fourth stage of the experience of life, and this stage begins with knowing the Body.
We need to have an intrinsic, inward, organic knowing of the Body in life, and this knowing is based upon thorough experiences of dealing with the flesh, the self, and the natural constitution.
These three are layers in our being which suppress the consciousness of the Body which is in the divine life residing in our spirit. Whatever the Lord does in the life of His believers, He does it thoroughly – this is His character.
When we go through the dealing of the cross, the dealing with the self, and the dealing with the flesh, these are thorough dealings; when the Lord’s light comes, we are being exposed, the enemy flees, and the divine life flows.
We need to deal with our natural constitution so that all our capacity – both from birth and from education – is dealt with and brought into resurrection.
Then, spontaneously, the divine life in us begins to surface and we just start to know the Body; we realise that we are members and it’s impossible for us to be independent and individualistic, and we recognize the order and authority in the Body.
Now we are in another realm – we are members of the Body, we can’t live without the Body, and we can’t even read the Bible, pray, preach the gospel. serve in the church or live our Christian life on our own – we need the Body.
Once we know the Body in such an intrinsic way, we will know ascension, and we will reign in life; now we are at the spiritual age of twenty, so we can engage in spiritual warfare. Reaching the age of twenty in the spiritual significance is entering into the fourth stage of the experience of life.
However, we don’t have to be as advanced in this stage as the apostle Paul was or even as how brother Witness Lee was; the Lord doesn’t want us to be like someone else but rather, grow in life unto maturity so that we may mature according to our portion in the Body to be formed into an army fighting for God’s interest.
We need to Grow in Life unto Maturity and be Filled with the Divine life that Changes us
Spiritually, males who are twenty years old and over signify those among God’s people who, regardless of their natural status, are strong in spirit and mature in the divine life; only these are qualified to be formed into an army to fight for God’s interest and move on earth (Exo. 30:14; Num. 1:3).
The growth in life is the increase of the element of God (Col. 2:19), the increase of the stature of Christ (Eph. 3:17a; 4:13), the expanding of the ground of the Holy Spirit (5:18), the decrease of the human element, the breaking of the natural life, and the subduing of every part of our soul (2 Tim. 1:7).
Wow, what a high, profound, and complete definition of what it means to grow in life unto maturity!
First we need to have the increase of the element of God; day by day we need to ask the Lord to increase in us, and to expand the ground of the Holy Spirit in our mind, emotion, and will.
Corresponding to the Lord’s increase in us there’s also the decrease of our human element; good news – we will decrease, and God will increase!
We may not like the breaking of the natural life, but what’s more scary than this is being in the church life for fifty years and never being broken in our natural life.
First there’s the increase of the element of God, and this is matched by the decrease of the human element; first there’s the increase of the stature of Christ; this is matched by the breaking of the natural life.
First there’s the expanding of the ground of the Holy Spirit, and this is matched by the subduing of every part of our soul.
The Lord doesn’t want to merely defeat us all the time but rather that we would be subdued; to be subdued means that there’s no resistance at all. However, probably none of us can look into the Lord’s face and say, Lord, there’s no resistance in me at all!
The Lord knows where we are; He’s not shocked that we still have the human element, the natural life, and that we are not subdued; but if we’re open to Him, we will experience the growth in life, and we will be very encouraged.
As we open to the Lord, we grow in life unto maturity, and we grow until we become a full-grown man; God is increasing in us, Christ is increasing in our being, and the Spirit is expanding His ground in us.
To be transformed is to be metabolically changed in our natural life, whereas to be matured is to be filled with the divine life that changes us; the last stage of transformation is maturity, the fulness of life (Heb. 6:1).
Therefore, let us be brought on to maturity!
The Lord is faithful to use all things, people, matters, and situations to transform us, so that His life within us would operate to metabolically conform us to the image of Christ; then, this inward operating divine life is saturating us, filling us, and permeating us to cause us to grow in life unto maturity and be formed into the army fighting for God’s interest on earth.
Our goal is not merely to be brought on to transformation but to be brought on to maturity; we want not only to grow in life and be shaped in Christ’s image but be filled with the life of God until we become grown-up mature persons having the fullness of life.
Lord Jesus, we open to You; grow in us day by day until we are mature, full of the divine life which transforms us. May we have the increase of the element of God, the increase of the stature of Christ, and the expanding of the Holy Spirit as the human element decreases, the natural life is broken, and every part of our soul is subdued. Amen, Lord, we just open our being as wide as we can for Your growth in us and for the decrease of our element; may there be a daily growth in life unto maturity for the building up of the church and the formation of the army!
Having Christ fully Formed in us and being Transformed into His Image to be Mature in Life
In the New Testament the word “mature” refers to the believers being full-grown and perfected in the life of God (Matt. 5:48; John 3:3, 5-6, 15); we need to grow in life unto maturity until we are full grown in the divine life and perfected in this life.
As believers in Christ we need to go on and be brought on to maturity by forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, pursuing toward the fullest enjoyment and gaining of Christ for the uttermost enjoyment of Christ in the millennial kingdom (Phil. 3:12-15).
May we learn to forget what is behind and freshly stretch forward to gain Christ and pursue Christ, so that we may grow in life unto maturity day by day.
The prerequisite for maturity in the spiritual life is to grow continually in the divine life; we need to grow not only now-and-then but continually (Eph. 4:15).
So day by day we need to ask the Lord to give us each day’s measure of the growth in life; only He knows how much we should daily grow, so we need to cooperate with Him in prayer so that He may cause the growth in us day by day.
So why not ask Him, Lord, give me today’s growth in the divine life so that I may grow in life unto maturity until I am raptured as the firstfruits for Your satisfaction and for the defeat of the enemy! Amen!
The ultimate issue of the believers’ growth and maturity in the life of Christ is a full-grown man – the church as the Body of Christ growing into a mature man (vv. 13, 16).
To be mature is to have Christ fully formed in us, and it also means that we have been fully transformed into His image (Gal. 4:19; 2 Cor. 3:18).
Since the time that we have been regenerated, the Lord has been working in us so that we may have His image (Rom. 8:29), and when He has fully worked His image into us and this image is fully expressed through us, we will be mature in life.
However, many times the Lord is imprisoned in our spirit, for our inner being is not open to Him spreading from our spirit to all the inward parts of our soul. It’s as if wherever He wants to go, there’s a No Thoroughfare sign in our being.
This doesn’t mean that we don’t acknowledge the Lord at all; rather, we have the Lord in our spirit, and we love to enjoy Him, but He may have no ground in our thoughts, our decisions, our choices, and our desires.
The self may have all the ground and, even though we’re saved and have the Lord in our spirit, He is limited to our spirit and has no control over our mind, emotion, and will, for we don’t give Him the ground.
For us to grow in life unto maturity so that Christ may be fully formed in us and we would be transformed into His image, we must open our heart to the Lord, and we must open every part of our heart to Him again and again.
When we’re about to decide something, when we’re thinking about something, and when we desire or love something, we should simply open to Him within and tell Him, Lord Jesus, I love You; I am willing to please You!
Opening to the Lord in this way and praying such short prayers will give Him the cooperation He needs to spread from our spirit into every part of our soul, and He will saturate our inner being with Himself.
We need to be those growing in life day by day as we open to Him again and again, having a normal growth in life int he church life for the Lord to form us into His army fighting for His interest on earth.
Lord Jesus, grant us each day the measure of the growth in life unto maturity. Grow in us each day, Lord, and cause us to grow in life unto maturity continually. Amen, Lord Jesus, we love You, and we are willing to please You. We open our mind, emotion, and will to You. Keep us turning to You and opening all the inner parts of our being to You so that You may have the thoroughfare in us and saturate our inner being with Yourself. Amen Lord Jesus, may we have Christ fully formed in us and may we be fully transformed into His image!
This article can also be read in the Romanian language / Citiți acest articol în limba română vizitând următorul link, Nevoia noastră urgentă este să creștem în viață înspre maturitate pentru formarea armatei lui Dumnezeu.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1955, vol. 3,”The Way for a Christian to Mature in Life,” chs. 18-19, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Numbers (2), week 2, The Growth and Maturity Required for the Formation of the Army to Protect God’s Testimony and Fight for His Move on Earth.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Make this poor self grow less and less, / Be Thou my life and aim; / Oh, make me daily through Thy grace / More meet to bear Thy name. (Hymns #395)
# Amen!—The growth in life! / There’s nothing that Your life can’t do; / Our every part renew. / We’ll make it, we’ll make it just by You. / Lord Jesus, grow in us. (Hymns #1132)
# We would be corporately, growing up steadily / Till we reach the stature of Your fullness; / Transforming and conforming us, Your / Manifested people. / Lord, grant me today’s supply of grace; / May Your divine life grow apace; / Little by little, day by day, to grow / More and more, into You. (Song on, Lord, grant me today’s supply of grace)
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