May we Mean business with the Lord to go Full-Time and Live to the Lord in all Things

What the Lord needs today is not just our money or what we have but ourselves, our very being, our person; being full-time means to live to the Lord with all we have and are, whether we work at a job or serve with our full time, we are to the Lord.

If the Lord would gain us all to be full-time for Him – whether we keep our job or we give up our job – He has a way to carry out His purpose and fulfill His economy! Amen!

In Rom. 12:1 we are told that we need to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord.

It pleases the Lord when we present our body – which contains our soul and spirit, our entire being – to Him as a living sacrifice.

We all have our own body, but when we offer our bodies, though we are many, there is one living sacrifice.

God is satisfied with the living sacrifice of the saints; He doesn’t want us to offer Him this or that, neither is He satisfied merely with the offering of the fruit of our labor – He desires a living sacrifice!

Christ offered Himself to God as a sacrifice and He was well-pleased with Him, and now Christ is in us living the same kind of life and causing us to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to Him.

This is well-pleasing to God. We are limited in our body and in time; we can’t get out of our body, neither can we get out of time.

So we need to redeem the time and simply offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to Him, living full-time to the Lord.

God is not looking for employees, those who live from 9 am to 5 pm for the Lord, and then they go home and live their own life; He came in us to be our life so that He may be our very living, and we need to live to the Lord and be to the Lord.

He gave up His own life for us, He came to be our very life, and He wants to be our living; He wants to live in us full-time, all the time, day and night.

Actually, our living is something that just happens all the time; we do not live in a deliberate way but in a spontaneous way, even in a habitual way.

We live because He lives, and He lives in our living; even as we live because of Him, He lives in us and through us.

On one hand, we die to ourselves, and on the other hand, we live to Him.

We live with Him and we live to Him. Hallelujah!

May this become our reality in our daily Christian life, that we would no longer live to ourselves or for ourselves, even not only live for the Lord but to the Lord. Amen!

We all need to be to the Lord, one with Him, Doing all things to the Lord and not to Ourselves

We thank and praise the Lord that He died for us and was raised, for through His death He redeemed us and paid the price for us to be brought back to God, and in His resurrection, He came as the life-giving Spirit to regenerate us.

We believers in Christ have been regenerated with the divine life, and now Christ as the life-giving Spirit dwells in our spirit; in spirit, we are mingled with the Lord to be one spirit with Him.

Christ died for us all so that we who live would no longer live to ourselves but to Him who died and has been raised.

This is what it means to be full time: to live to the Lord, to do all things to the Lord, no longer living to ourselves or doing things to ourselves.

We may be a job-keeping full-time saint, or we may be a job-dropping full-time saint in the church life, and we have the realization that we are to the Lord.

Many times, however, we are influenced by the concept in Christianity that we need to do everything FOR the Lord because He died FOR us and we should live FOR Him; this is not incorrect, it is only inadequate.

We may be able to do this and that for the Lord, even do great works in His name and for Him, but we may not be to the Lord.

To be for the Lord means that we can still be away from the Lord; if we are to the Lord, however, we can never be away from Him.

To be to the Lord means that we are one with Him; it means that we breathe to the Lord, we go to work to the Lord, we take care of our household to the Lord, and we do everything to the Lord.

To be to the Lord means that we eat to the Lord, we walk to the Lord, and we even exercise to the Lord.

We are the Lord’s and He is ours; everything we are and do is to Him, and everything He is, He is to us.

On His side, He did everything – He accomplished everything, and He is now to the church (Eph. 1-2); all He is, all He accomplished, all He attained and obtained, everything He is, is to the church.

He became the Head of the Body, and all that He is, all He accomplished and attained, and all He obtained and realized, everything is to the church.

He has come into us, and He is dispensing all that He is and has into us all the time, non-stop; on our side, we simply need to open to Him, enjoy Him, and live to the Lord.

For us to be to the Lord and live to the Lord means that we are one with Him in everything.

This is to be full-time; being full-time is not merely dropping our job and serving God in the gospel with our full time.

Being full-time doesn’t necessarily mean that you give up your job; being full-time means that whatever we do, we do to the Lord, and whatever we are and have, we are and have to the Lord.

If we remain in our job, we remain to the Lord; if we drop our job, we drop our job to the Lord.

Whether we work on a job or drop our job to be in the gospel full-time, we all should be full-timers, for we all should live to the Lord and be to the Lord.

If we are married, we are married to the Lord, and if we are single, we are single to the Lord.

Being full-time doesn’t mean that we remain single so that we serve God full time; it means that we are to the Lord, and if we get married, we are married to the Lord.

Amen, may we all be those who live to the Lord and are to the Lord in everything we are and have!

Thank You, dear Lord Jesus, for dying for us so that we may no longer live to ourselves but to the Lord! Hallelujah, all believers in Christ are full-timers, those who serve God full-time by being to the Lord! Amen, Lord, we want to live not only for You but to You. We are here to the Lord. Whether we’re married or single, we are to the Lord! Amen, whether we work on a job or we drop our job, we are to the Lord! Lord Jesus, we love You! We are one with You, and we follow Your leading in all things. We breathe to You, Lord, and we eat to You. We walk to the Lord, we exercise to the Lord, and everything we are and have is to the Lord!

We need to Mean Business with the Lord and be Full-timers who Live to the Lord

In Rom. 14:7-9 Paul tells us that none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself, for whether we live, we live to the Lord, and whether we die, we die to the Lord.

We need to mean business with the Lord by being those who live to the Lord all the way. Paul says that, even when we die, we die to Him; there is no distance or separation between us and Him – we live to the Lord, and we die to the Lord.

Because we are one with the Lord, joined to Him, we need to live to the Lord.

This means that we need to live in the mingled spirit, for it is in spirit that we are joined to Him to be one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17).

Whatever we do, whatever happens to us, and whatever we have, everything is to the Lord, for we are one with Him.

If we think that only those who give up their job to do the Lord’s work are full-time is a wrong understanding; this is a general understanding in Christianity, and it is a degraded understanding.

May we all be saved from any degradation in Christianity, and may we be full-timers, those who mean business with the Lord to live to the Lord and be to the Lord.

If we do not live to the Lord, we may hold Him back, for He wants us to carry out His commission.

He has entrusted us with the higher and deeper truths in His recovery, and we all need to be full-timers, those who go out to serve others with the truth.

The Lord commissioned us to serve the Lord’s people with food; He has entrusted us with the riches in His word and in the ministry, and we need to give them food at the proper time.

May we fulfill the Lord’s commission to the recovery by being constituted with the truth and living to the Lord, being full-time for Him, to give others food!

Amen, may our heart, our living, and our everything be in this, to give others food at the proper time!

To live to the Lord is to be full-time, and to be full-time is to give others food at the proper time, being one with the Lord to feed His people with His truth.

May we all mean business with the Lord in this matter and not let our time go by; may we rise up to go full-time by living to the Lord!

Whether He leads us to drop our job or if He leads us to remain in our job, we need to be one with the Lord!

May we all rise up to go full-time, either by dropping our jobs to go out or by remaining in our jobs to make more money and give every penny to the Lord’s move.

If we all go full-time, if we live to the Lord, we will not offer the Lord merely ten per cent of our income – we will offer everything we are and have to Him, and there will be no more needs in the church life.

What the Lord needs is those voluntarily consecrated ones, those who no longer live to themselves but to the Lord, the One who died for them and has been raised!

The wise way is that we all take the full-time way; what the Lord needs is to have all His believers be full-time, living to the Lord and being to the Lord!

The reason we are short of money in the church life as we coordinate for different needs is that not all saints are full-time.

When we offer ourselves with all we are and have to the Lord, all the needs in the church life are covered, and the Lord has a free way to move and do whatever He wants to do.

Lord Jesus, we do not want to be stuck in our ways or hold You back in what You are doing. We mean business with You: we want to be full-time serving You by living to the Lord and being to the Lord! Amen, Lord, we give ourselves to be constituted with the truth and to spread the truth, giving others food! We want to be the faithful servants to serve food to the Lord’s people at the appointed time! Amen, Lord, cause all Your saints to rise up and go full-time, either by dropping their jobs to go out or remaining in their jobs to make more money and give every penny to the Lord’s move! Amen, Lord, may all the saints offer themselves willingly to You to live to the Lord and be to the Lord in their daily living!

You can watch/listen to this article via youtube – the title there is, What does it mean to go full-time in serving the Lord? What is it to serve God as Christians? – here.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, and portions from, Elders’ Training, Book 8: The Life-pulse of the Lord’s Present Move, ch. 8 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Material offerings and the Lord’s Move Today, week 3, entitled, Material Offerings and Full-time Service.
• Recommended further reading: see the website, LivingToHim.com for more articles on living to the Lord.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Lord, anew we give our bodies; / May we be transformed to prove / All Thy will, to know Thy Body, / And therein to serve and move. (Hymns #913)
  – All for Jesus! All for Jesus! / All my being’s ransomed pow’rs; / All my thoughts and words and doings, / All my days and all my hours. / All for Jesus! All for Jesus! / All my days and all my hours. / All for Jesus! All for Jesus! / All my days and all my hours. (Hymns #444)
  – Arise! the holy bargain strike— / The fragment for the whole— / All men and all events alike / Must serve the ransomed soul. / All things are yours when you are His, / And He and you are one; / A boundless life in Him there is, / And kingdom yet to come. (Hymns #473)