Put Off the Oldness and Keep Pace with the Lord’s Present Move

Today’s Main Verses for Pray-reading

Forgetting the things behind and stretching forward

Philippians 3:13

Brothers, I do not account of myself to have laid hold; but one thing I do: Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before,

Pursuing toward the goal for the prize

Philippians 3:14

I pursue toward the goal for the prize to which God in Christ Jesus has called me upward.

As many as are full-grown should have this mind

Philippians 3:15

Let us therefore, as many as are full-grown, have this mind; and if in anything you are otherwise minded, this also God will reveal to you.

Walk by the same rule in what we have attained

Philippians 3:16

Nevertheless whereunto we have attained, by the same rule let us walk.

Today’s Prayer Burden

Oldness is remaining at what we have already attained and failing to advance in God’s move. By caring for the Lord’s up-to-date move, we will not be sifted out. If we remain in our oldness, we may even become a part of “the present evil age.” If we are willing to put oldness aside, the Lord will begin a new move among us. In this move He will give us fresh light from His word and show us the high truths in the Bible.

Today’s Prayer

1. Oldness is remaining at what we have attained; Lord, keep us going on

Lord Jesus, shine on us deeply! Oldness is not a lack of truth, experience, or service; it is remaining at what we have already attained and no longer keeping pace with Your move today. Lord, we may still be in the Lord’s recovery yet remain in its past; we may still hold the truth yet lose the fresh light; we may still meet and serve yet no longer go forward. Oh Lord, save us from being satisfied with our past riches or boasting in our past success. Do not let yesterday’s freshness become today’s oldness. Renew us daily and lead us step by step to follow You. Keep us from stopping and falling behind!

2. Care for the Lord’s up-to-date move and avoid being sifted out

Lord Jesus, wake us up! You are moving forward; how can we stay behind? You are making a new beginning; how can we hold on to the old way? Lord, if we do not keep pace with Your up-to-date move, we are in danger of being sifted out. If we remain in oldness, we may even become a part of the present evil age. Oh Lord, show us that lukewarmness is oldness and that oldness brings in deadness. Do not let us have the name of the recovery while losing its reality, or a spiritual history while failing to keep pace with what You are doing today. Lord, burn away our self-satisfaction, break our traditions, and remove our reservations. Make us fervent in spirit, watchful, consecrated, and ready to cooperate with Your move today. Keep none of us from being sifted out or becoming outdated. We urgently pray that not one would fall behind!

3. Put oldness aside so the Lord can move, give fresh light, and show higher truth

Oh Lord, show us that if we are satisfied with what we have attained, we become old; our knowledge, practice, prayer, thoughts, and presentation of messages can all become old. Lord Jesus, we are willing! We are willing to lay aside old concepts, knowledge, prayers, meetings, and service so that You may make a new beginning. Do not let yesterday’s light become today’s dead letter. Keep giving us fresh light from Your word and bringing us into deeper experience. Recover especially the divine speaking that You desire today. Save us from being restricted by face, our natural disposition, or traditional practices. May everyone exercise the spirit, beget and nourish new ones, perfect and build up the saints, minister Christ, reproduce vital persons and vital groups, and spread God’s kingdom. Lord, begin with us, today, and in every meeting. We put oldness aside and open our whole being to You. Make a new move, supply the saints freshly, cause every member to function, and build up the Body of Christ organically. Amen.

Ministry Fellowship

The Lord’s up-to-date move is to recover the divine speaking in the church meetings

The Lord’s most up-to-date move is to recover the divine speaking in the church meetings. The Bible reveals that whenever God’s move becomes old, He comes in to make a new beginning.

After the apostle Paul departed, many believers fell away and returned to the old religious way (see Acts 20:29–30; 2 Tim. 1:15). Throughout the centuries God has done many things to destroy the old religious ways and bring His people into the newness of His move. Yet for the most part His people have failed to cooperate with Him. Many among God’s people have even strengthened and established the old religious ways. As a result, the Roman Catholic Church formed a religious hierarchy headed by the pope. Catholicism may be considered the culmination of the old religious ways that came from Judaism and Christianity.

At the time of the Reformation, the Lord raised up Martin Luther to make a turn. However, because of the political situation, Luther wrongly allied himself with the German government and thus contributed to the formation of a state church. This shows that although Luther was initially used by God to make a fresh beginning, eventually he returned to the old religious way.

The history of organized Christianity resembles the history of Israel in the time of the judges. In Judges, whenever the Israelites were defeated by their enemies, a judge was raised up to deliver them and bring in a revival. Although each revival brought a new beginning, eventually the Israelites drifted back into oldness and failure. This cycle was repeated seven times in Judges. Throughout the centuries, especially since the Reformation, whenever believers fell away, spiritual leaders such as Martin Luther, Count von Zinzendorf, and John Nelson Darby were raised up to bring them into revival. Although the believers were fresh at the beginning of each revival, eventually they became old again.

Oldness is remaining at what we have attained instead of advancing in God’s move

If we remain at what we have attained, we become old. There have been several new beginnings in the history of the Lord’s recovery. For example, in 1949 we were sent from mainland China to begin the work in Taiwan. We put many old practices aside and had a new beginning. After a period of time, however, the saints in Taiwan became somewhat old. Similarly, the Lord’s move in the United States began afresh in 1962 with the coming of His recovery, but after a time the saints in the United States also allowed oldness to come in.

Care for the Lord’s up-to-date move so that we will not be sifted out

The saints in the local churches should be willing to put aside their old practices. We need to be warned that if we become old, we will be sifted out. In Luke 22:31 the Lord used the word sift: “Satan has asked to have you all to sift you as wheat.” Among professors at leading universities there is a saying: “Publish or perish.” To continue contributing in their fields, professors cannot remain in old knowledge; they must continually renew themselves. In the same way, if we remain at what we have attained and fail to advance in the Lord’s latest move, we will be sifted out. May not one of us be sifted out and become outdated.

We can testify that because we in the Lord’s recovery were willing to put aside the oldness of traditional Christianity, the Lord began a new move among us. He gave us fresh light from His word and showed us the high truths in the Bible. We need to be warned that if we remain in religious oldness for a period of time, we may be sifted out and become part of the degraded religious system of Christianity. We need to care for the Lord’s up-to-date move. The recovery of the small group meetings, in which all the attendants speak for the Lord, is a major move of the Lord.

We should learn never to become old. If we are satisfied with what we have attained, our knowledge, practice, prayers, thoughts, and presentation of messages will become old. To cooperate with the Lord’s present move, we need to encourage all the saints to prophesy in the church meetings. We may fail to function in the meetings because of our face, natural disposition, or national characteristics. To function in the church meetings, we need to deny our disposition and face. We should not remain in oldness but hate our oldness, becoming willing to do what the Lord desires.

John the Baptist was born a priest, yet he preached the gospel of the kingdom and charged people to repent for the kingdom (Matt. 3:2). This gospel was altogether different from what the Old Testament priests preached. John the Baptist rejected the Old Testament economy, left his old religious background, and entered into the Lord’s new move to initiate the New Testament economy. If we preach the gospel in newness, we will experience the Lord’s blessing.

We need to be warned that if we remain in our oldness, we may become a part of “the present evil age” (Gal. 1:4). God hates oldness. In His eyes oldness equals death, and death is more hateful and defiling than sin (Lev. 11:24–25; Num. 6:6–7, 9). According to the Old Testament, anyone who sinned could be forgiven by offering a sin offering. However, anyone who touched a dead body had to wait seven days to be cleansed. This indicates that in God’s eyes death is more serious than sin. Because of our ethical and moral concepts, we know that lying is sinful. If we lie to someone, we condemn the lie as sin. Yet even if we condemn our sins, we may not condemn our oldness. We need to realize that God condemns oldness. Since God is fair, He must condemn our oldness just as He condemned Judaism.

In His epistle to the church in Laodicea, the Lord condemned its lukewarmness (Rev. 3:15–16). If we backslide, we become cold spiritually; if we advance in our experience of Christ, we become fervent in spirit (Rom. 12:11). If we neither backslide nor advance in the Lord, however, we become lukewarm and remain in oldness. In God’s eyes lukewarmness equals oldness, and oldness equals deadness.

Some churches are old because controlling brothers have established a hierarchy

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, at Elden Hall in Los Angeles, we sensed a newness in the church meetings. Today, however, when we attend church meetings, we may sense oldness and deadness. Some churches are old because controlling brothers have established a hierarchy. I can testify that I pray every day, asking the Lord to save these churches from anyone’s control and to destroy any hierarchy established in them.

(Based on Perfecting the Saints to Speak for the Building Up of the Church, ch. 3.)