Seeking the Lord’s Direction and Having His Presence
“And He said, My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” (Exo. 33:14)
“The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.” (2 Tim. 4:22)
As God-men, we should practice being one with the Lord, walking with Him, living with Him, and having our entire being with Him. This is the way to walk as a Christian, to fight as a child of God, and to build up the Body of Christ. If we have the Lord’s presence, we have wisdom, insight, foresight, and the inner knowledge concerning things. The Lord’s presence is everything to us.
In order for us to fully gain and possess Christ as the all-inclusive land for God’s building, we must hold on to this principle: God’s presence is the criterion for every matter. Regardless of what we do, we must pay attention to whether or not we have God’s presence. If we have God’s presence, we have everything, but if we lose God’s presence, we lose everything.
The presence of the Lord, the smile of the Lord, is the governing principle. We must learn to be kept, to be ruled, to be governed, and to be guided, not by His secondhand presence but by the direct, firsthand presence of the Lord. His precious presence is the power for us to possess the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land flowing with milk and honey. (CS Joshua, Judges, Ruth, msg. 4, II.A.3-4, B.1-2)
ITERO
“Your kingdom come; Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth.” (Matt. 6:10)
Last weekend’s International Training for Elders and Responsible Ones was on “Meeting God’s Need and Present Needs in the Lord’s Recovery.” In order for His will to be done on earth and for His eternal purpose to be fulfilled, God needs our cooperation in the present age. He needs man to subdue the earth and recover it for Him. Furthermore, for His greatest dispensational move to end this age, God needs the man-child, the overcomers in the church, to defeat His enemy and to bring in His kingdom so that His eternal purpose might be accomplished.
Pray for the digestion and application of these messages, that the Lord would gain our prayer and practice to cooperate with God to carry out on earth what He has planned in heaven.
Church in Los Angeles Joint Meeting
The whole church in Los Angeles—all halls, districts, and languages—will meet together on Lord’s Day, October 17. Saints are encouraged to attend their regular in-person or online gathering by hall at 10:00 am, then combine together on Zoom from 10:45 am to 12:00 pm at http://tinyurl.com/churchinlosangeles. There will be translation to Chinese, Korean, and Spanish.
Please pray for a healthy attendance and blending, and for the timely speaking of the Lord as our Captain and Leader to bring all the saints in the church in Los Angeles more into a revived living.
California-wide Junior High Conference
This weekend, October 15 to 17, will be the Fall 2021 Junior High Conference. The subject of this California-wide conference is “The Church.” Pray for all our junior high brothers and sisters to be enlightened to see the church as the pearl of great value and to choose one thing—to dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of their life!
FTTA Online
The Online Full-Time Training (FTTA-OL) conducts the FTTA curriculum completely online. Online learning requires active interaction with the materials, deliberate written responses, and participation from every learner. More information is at http://www.onlineftta.org.
Each calendar year is divided into 5 terms. This year’s Term E runs from October 20 to December 14 (8 weeks). The deadline to register is Wednesday, October 13. Please pray for every enrollee to be a diligent learner to help others learn and dig into the ministry materials. By the Lord’s mercy, may more saints sanctify their time and cultivate a habit of studying the truth through a lifelong pursuit.
GTCA Cities – St. Louis, MO
The next GTCA mini-conference is this weekend, October 16 to 17, with the church in St. Louis, Missouri. This conference will cover aspects of the Lord’s present move in the United States. The Saturday session is from 5:30 to 7:00 pm PDT; the Lord’s Day session is from 8:00 to 10:00 am PDT. Recordings of previous mini-conferences and video updates may also be viewed at http://gtca.us/updates.
Please continue to pray for the saints’ migration to strategic cities in the United States for the spread of the Lord’s testimony. May many receive the grace of God in order to have great resolutions of heart and great searchings of heart for their participation in the Lord’s move through migration.
Germany
The saints in Tübingen plan to distribute Bibles in the city from October 16 to 30. They will also distribute on the university campus during its first week of classes, since students are able to attend in-person classes for the first time since Spring 2020. Please pray that we would bear remaining fruit from this freshman class and for a harmonious coordination among all the saints in and around Tübingen to labor together as one corporate priesthood.
Pakistan
Pray for the gospel and shepherding to be strengthened in Karachi, that the saints can enjoy and flow Christ for the increase and propagation of the church and for God’s move to go forward.
Announcements
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Morning Revival: Week 4 of Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, vol. 1. Next week, after our Joint Meeting, we will proceed to Week 5.
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Living Stream Ministry is offering a free e-booklet, The Bible—a Romance of a Universal Couple. Formats include PDF, Kindle, Audiobook, and more! Visit http://www.lsm.org/bible-romance.
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Bibles for America’s latest blog post is called “What Does It Mean to Be Poor in Spirit?” based on Matthew 5:3. Read and share it at http://blog.biblesforamerica.org/blessed-are-the-poor-in-spirit.
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Wednesday Night Ministry Meeting: Live broadcast this Wednesday beginning at 7:25 pm at http://lsm.org/live in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Korean. Outlines will be posted on the same site.
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North America Korean-speaking Conference: On Zoom, October 23 (5:00 to 6:30 pm) and October 24 (9:00 am to 12:00 pm). Subject: “Meeting God’s Need and Present Needs in the Lord’s Recovery.”
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Ways to Give: Information about the church’s online giving platform, Subsplash, and where to mail checks, are at http://www.churchinlosangeles.org/members/offerings.