The Development of the Divine Life and the Divine Nature for a Rich Entrance into the Eternal Kingdom
“And for this very reason also, adding all diligence, supply bountifully in your faith virtue; and in virtue, knowledge; and in knowledge, self-control; and in self-control, endurance; and in endurance, godliness; and in brotherly love, love.” (2 Pet. 1:5-7)
“For in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly and bountifully supplied to you.” (2 Pet. 1:11)
The Greek word rendered “adding” [1:5] literally means “bringing in beside.” Beside, along with, the precious and exceedingly great promises given to us by God, we should bring in all diligence to cooperate with the enabling of the dynamic divine nature for the carrying out of God’s promises.
What the divine power has given us in 1:3 and 4 is developed in verses 5 through 7. To supply virtue in faith is to develop virtue in the exercise of faith. The same principle applies to all the other items…
According to Peter’s word in 1:5-11, to grow to maturity is to develop what we have already received. We have been allotted the wonderful like precious faith, and this faith is an all-inclusive seed. All the divine riches are in this seed, but we must be diligent to develop them into virtue. Then we need to develop in our virtue knowledge; in knowledge, self-control; in self-control, endurance; in endurance, godliness; in godliness, brotherly love; and in brotherly love, love. By developing these virtues we grow, and eventually we shall reach maturity. As a result, we shall be full of Christ, and, in Paul’s words, we shall arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13). Then we shall be qualified and equipped to be kings in the coming kingdom. (Life-study of 2 Peter, pp. 45, 63)
Prayer as the Power of the Gospel
“And when they had so besought, the place in which they were gathered was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4:31)
“But we will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word.” (Acts 6:4)
If we want to preach the gospel in a fresh, living, effectual, and powerful way, we must pray thoroughly. We need to pray until we are saved. Sometimes we are not saved when we go to preach the gospel. If we are thin-skinned, we need to pray in order to be saved from our shyness and bashfulness when we want to preach the gospel…Unless we are delivered from the world, it will be difficult for us to preach the gospel with authority. Hence, we need to pray until we are saved from the world…We must not be occupied by any person or thing. Therefore, we need to pray much so that we may be delivered from any form of preoccupation. When we are released, we will be able to release others.
Before we preach the gospel, we should pray for people’s salvation; we need to pray until we are released. Then we need to pray to receive power. We need to pray for the economical Spirit to fill us and be with us. We should pray, “Lord, today I apply the economical Spirit that You have poured out upon Your Body. Clothe me with Yourself as a mantle. I am going out to speak today. Open the hearts of those whom I speak to, and demolish the stronghold of Satan within them while I am speaking.” We need this kind of prayer. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 5, “Guidelines for the Propagation of the Lord’s Recovery,” ch. 4, pp. 148-149)
Pray that the saints would see that the genuine power of the gospel comes through thorough prayer and would thus become burdened to pray—not only to entreat the Lord to do things for His move but also to cause our spirit to be exercised and strengthened so that we could speak the word of God with boldness.
ITERO
The April 2025 International Training for Elders and Responsible Ones will be held in Anaheim this weekend, April 4 to 6, as well as by video trainings around the world throughout this month. Please pray:
- For the full release of the Lord’s timely speaking with His burden to His Body.
- For the blending of the brothers in all the meetings, study sessions, and fellowship times.
- For the intensified spreading and building up of the churches throughout the earth as a result of the operating of this word in the elders and responsible brothers and in all the saints.
Cal State University Northridge (CSUN)
The Lord is moving freshly at CSUN. This semester the Christian Students Club, inactive during and since the pandemic years, has been newly approved. Saints involved in BfA distributions on campus have met twice with core students and will continue to meet with them. Starting April 10, the club will begin a weekly Bible study on campus.
Please thank the Lord for these steps forward and ask Him to continue advancing at CSUN and to gain more students for His move to consummate this age.
FTT Taipei Gospel Trips
April is the month for FTTT gospel trips to multiple nations in Europe, Africa, and Asia. The burden is to present the gospel to people, especially college students, and to blend with local saints. Such trips provide opportunities for the Lord’s further speaking and training in environments very different from the training center.
Please ask the Lord to supply the traveling trainees richly with His grace and hide them from any attack of the enemy.
Russia and Ukraine
Pray for the Lord to protect the tripartite being of all the saints and bring an end to the present conflict so that His move in Russia, Ukraine, and Europe would advance. Also pray that He would continue to bless the saints and the churches in the Russian-speaking world, and that there would be a good situation for the spreading of the truth and the building up of the churches.
Announcements
- Morning Revival: Week 6 of Living a Christian Life and Church Life Under the Government of God for the Economy of God. Next week, starting April 7, we will begin Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (2), vol. 1 (December Semiannual Training).
- No Wednesday Night Ministry Meeting: There is no ministry meeting this week due to preparations for ITERO. The meeting will resume next week, April 9.
- Memorial Day Conference: The 2025 International Memorial Day Blending Conference will be held in Phoenix, AZ at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown from May 23 to 26. Saints in LA who are considering attending in person are requested to RSVP by April 30 at tinyurl.com/memdayla.
- Semiannual Training: June 30 to July 6 in Anaheim. For LA saints, registration is now open until April 30 (live) and June 15 (video) at tinyurl.com/summertrainingla. Past issues of LSM’s digital newsletter contain helpful fellowship on the burden for semiannual trainings, the need for training and regulations, and the purpose of training donations.
- SoCal High School Brothers Conference: April 11 to 13 at Oak Glen.
- Bibles for America‘s recent blogpost “What Does It Mean to Call on the Name of the Lord?” is available to read and share at blog.bfa.org.
- LSM Radio Programs: Life-study of the Bible with Witness Lee focuses on the enjoyment of the divine life as revealed in the Scriptures. Spoken ministry portions are followed by a lively discussion. All episodes available for free at www.lsmradio.com/programs.
- Ways to Give: Information about the church’s online giving platform, Subsplash, and where to mail checks, are at www.churchinlosangeles.org/members/offerings.