Love the Lord in the Last Days and Take the Vital Way

Today’s Main Verses for Pray-reading

The Levites left their stations, and Nehemiah restored them

Nehemiah found that the Levites and singers had left their service and gone back “each to his own field” (Nehemiah 13:10).

Nehemiah contended with the rulers, asking, “Why has the house of God been forsaken?” Then he gathered the Levites and “set them in their stations” (Nehemiah 13:11).

Demas loved the present age

Demas “having loved the present age” abandoned Paul and went to Thessalonica (2 Timothy 4:10).

Consider your ways and rise up to build God’s house

The house of Jehovah lay waste while the people lived in their paneled-up houses; Jehovah charged them to “consider your ways” (Haggai 1:4-5).

Their harvests and daily provisions did not satisfy, and their wages went “into a bag with holes” (Haggai 1:6).

They were charged to “go up to the mountain and bring wood” to build the house, for Jehovah would take pleasure in it and be glorified (Haggai 1:8).

Fully accomplish your ministry and continue steadfastly in the church life

“Proclaim the word; be ready in season and out of season”; convict, rebuke, and exhort with long-suffering and teaching (2 Timothy 4:2).

“Be sober in all things,” do the work of an evangelist, and “fully accomplish your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:5).

The believers “continued steadfastly in the teaching and the fellowship of the apostles,” in the breaking of bread and the prayers (Acts 2:42).

Day by day they continued “with one accord in the temple” and broke bread “from house to house,” eating with exultation and simplicity of heart (Acts 2:46).

Today’s Prayer Burden

At the end of this age, some have loved the present age, but many more are pursuing the Lord and seeking to be overcoming ones. The coming decade is crucial to the Lord’s move on earth; every day brings us closer to the end! Companions, answer the Lord’s inward calling and migrate—on a large, medium, and small scale! Spread the new model of church life and the new way throughout the earth and into your own locality, for the fulfillment of His economy!

Today’s Prayer

O Lord Jesus, make us watchful! Demas, whom Paul counted among his fellow workers, later loved the present age and abandoned Paul for Thessalonica. Lord, deliver us from every evil work and save us into Your heavenly kingdom. Save us from deadness, lukewarmness, fruitlessness, and religious forms that cannot make us overcoming ones. Lord, give us a vital church life: burning, striving, and overcoming day by day. May the seven Spirits burn within us, the living water flow within us, and the vision govern our whole being!

Lord, we praise You for speaking to us! The coming decade is increasingly urgent; time is short, and each day brings us closer to the end. Strengthen the urgency within us. Companions, this is absolutely not the time to be slow, retreating, withholding, indifferent, or unconcerned. The coming decade is crucial and momentous. Let everyone who has an ear hear!

Fellowship

The contrast among believers in the last days: loving the world or loving the Lord

In Nehemiah 13 the portions appointed for the Levites were not supplied, so they left their stations of service and returned to their fields. Nehemiah contended with the rulers and gathered the Levites back to their original stations. In 2 Timothy 4, Paul says that Demas loved the present age and abandoned him. In the last days people will be lovers of self, money, and pleasure rather than lovers of God. They will have an outward form of godliness but deny its power. We need to consider what is drawing our heart away and whether we are still faithfully serving in the place assigned to us by God.

Everyone who loves is “crazy” about the one he loves. If a person claims to love someone while remaining entirely clear-minded, his love may be false. A saying goes, “Love is blind.” Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and their eyes were opened; when Jesus entered into Saul of Tarsus, Saul became blind. When the Lord gains a person, that person is no longer attracted by things apart from the Lord. Today’s age does not need many people who consider themselves clear-minded; it needs many young people who are crazy for Jesus. (See Witness Lee, The Living and Practical Way to Enjoy Christ, ch. 3, Collected Works, vol. 5172-1A-05.)

Hate fruitlessness and pursue vitality urgently

We all must hate deadness, lukewarmness, and fruitlessness. We must press on to seek vitality and regard it as a matter of life and death. If we take the vital groups lightly, they will not work. We need to fellowship with our companions about fruitlessness, seek the Lord’s leading, and may even be led to fast once a week. When Watchman Nee was a student, he decided to fast and pray each Saturday for the gospel preaching on the following day. The Lord may likewise lead us to fast and pray for fruitfulness. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Message 2.)

A little power, fully exercised

Revelation 3:8 shows the condition of the church in Philadelphia: she had “a little power.” We may estimate Philadelphia too highly, imagining that she was especially strong and overcoming. The Lord, however, commended her for having a little power and keeping His word. What pleases the Lord is not how strong we are but whether we use the small measure we have received from Him. Do not aspire to be a spiritual giant. The Lord is pleased when we take the grace we have received and exercise it to keep His word. (Life-study of Revelation, Message 15.)

The darker the age, the more the Lord calls for overcomers as a counter-testimony

Elijah represents a principle: he disregarded his own life in order to maintain God’s testimony, standing boldly before the king, the people, and the prophets of Baal. When the church is degraded and most believers are lukewarm, God raises up overcoming ones as a counter-testimony. They do not consider their own lives precious but care for God’s will. Antipas was the Lord’s faithful witness, killed where Satan dwells; the overcoming ones also conquer the enemy because of the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. (See Revelation 2:13-14; 12:11; 2022 Summer Training, Message 2.)

The first purpose of being vital is to answer the Lord’s calling. Our willingness to become vital and to enter into the vital groups is our answer to His calling in this age. The darker the age, the more the Lord needs and calls for His overcoming ones. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Message 1.)

Do not remain in routine; rise up and take the vital way

Many in your locality may live a routine church life. You must rise up and take the vital way, becoming a vital one who produces and establishes vital groups. Then the Lord can gain overcoming ones in your locality and have a way to accomplish His eternal economy. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introduction.)

The coming decade is crucial; every day brings us closer to the end

The coming decade may be even more crucial. We need to cooperate with the Lord and enter into the word we have heard, experiencing the Triune God through His justification, enjoying Him as grace, and passing through His dealings and discipline unto maturity. Time is short, and every day brings us closer to the end; the Lord’s people need to heed what He is speaking. (See 2026 Fall Training for Elders, Message 8.)

We have traveled a long way in the Lord’s recovery over more than a century, but we have not yet reached the goal. The Lord may use conferences and trainings to lead us step by step toward the end of this age. We should not take lightly what He is speaking to His beloved recovery. Now is not the time to be slow, retreating, withholding, or indifferent. (See 2026 Fall Training for Elders, Message 9.)

Take the new way and build a church life founded on relationships

Before the Lord returns, the church will gradually recover the pattern of the first century: it will be built through many small gatherings and the relationships among the members, rather than depending on large meetings. The most important thing is to see each member and build a personal relationship with him. To care for people, we need to go to where they are instead of merely asking them to come and support a meeting or its attendance.

The old system is built on meetings; the new practice is built on relationships. The church needs to build organic relationships like a neural network, beginning with households, vital groups, and districts, and also through other combinations of saints. We need to spend substantial time building and strengthening these organic relationships.

The world situation may increasingly restrict the church. This should not make the church weak; it should make the church stronger and spread more widely. To meet and adapt to the coming world situation and political systems, the church must take the new way, the God-ordained way. The goal is not only an increase in numbers but a new model of church life through which the Lord’s move on earth can advance. (See Yu, “In the Last Days, Taking the New Way and Building a New Model of Church Life,” February 11, 2020.)