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The Church as the Bride Being a Warrior to Defeat God’s Enemy

“Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” (Rev. 19:7)

“Therefore take up the whole armor of God…And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints.” (Eph. 6:13a, 17-18)

The joy set before us is the Lord Jesus, the Bridegroom, coming for His bride, who has made herself ready—the maturity of the bride, the building of the bride, the righteousness of the bride, the beauty of the bride, and the bride being a warrior to defeat God’s enemy. (The Enjoyment of Christ and Our Growth in Life unto Maturity, msg. 6, Key Statement 4)

Spiritual warfare is not an individual matter; it is a matter of the Body, a corporate entity to fight the battle against God’s enemy. No soldier in a modern army would enter into battle by himself. Rather, he would fight as part of a well-trained and fully equipped army. After we have been formed corporately into an army, we will be able to fight against God’s enemy…Therefore, it is very dangerous to be isolated from the army. Only by remaining in the army will we have the necessary protection.

In Ephesians 5 the word is for nourishment that leads to the beautifying of the bride, but in Ephesians 6 the word is for killing that enables the church as the corporate warrior to engage in spiritual warfare. Pray-reading the Word of God is the way to kill the adversary within us. Every day and in every kind of situation, we should pray-read. Whenever we are troubled by something negative within us, we should take the Word of God by means of prayer in spirit. As we do this, the negative element will be killed.

In Ephesians 6:17 Paul charges us to receive “the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God.” This means that we need to take the word of the Bible as a sword for fighting the enemy. According to Paul’s word in this verse, the word of God is the sword not directly but indirectly…The sword is not the word directly. Rather, the sword is the Spirit directly, and then the Spirit is the word. This indicates that if we would deal with the enemy Satan, the word of the Bible must become the Spirit. If we would use the word of the Bible as a sword to kill the enemy, in our experience the word must be the Spirit. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 4340-4342)

Southern California College Conference

The weekend, April 5 to 7, a conference for all the college students in Southern California will take place in Arcadia. The title of this conference is “Whose House We Are,” about the church as the dwelling place of God. Please pray for:

  • Many students (including our current high school seniors), especially those who are younger or newer, to attend at least 2 to 3 meetings.
  • The Lord to carry the students away in spirit, especially through the singing.
  • The eyes of the students’ hearts to be enlightened that they may see a vision of God’s house today!

Southern California Junior High Sisters Conference

This weekend, April 5 to 7, sisters from across Southern California will gather at Oak Glen for the Spring 2024 Junior High Sisters Conference on “The Precious Blood of Christ.” Please pray:

  • For the Lord to prepare the hearts of all of the young sisters attending the conference.
  • That they would experience and appreciate the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:19).
  • That companionships would be built through spending time together during the conference.

Also pray for the junior school brothers returning from their conference last weekend, that they would enter into the experience of applying this precious blood to deal with any sins and offenses to maintain their fellowship with the Lord in their daily life.

Santa Barbara

The church life in Santa Barbara, California consists of about 25 saints who meet regularly (10 to 15 college students, 2 elderly couples, a few younger couples, and a few working saints) in several open homes. Some other couples and students have the heart to meet, but struggle to do so with young children and school or work commitments. When the FTTA trainees visited in early February, two such couples brought their children for a short time of singing; some of the students we rarely see also joined. In brief, through the FTTA gospel trip, saints of all ages were encouraged and uplifted to go on in the church life with a view for the Lord to recover the existing saints who are not meeting as well as gain new ones for His increase.

We are grateful for the prayers of the Body! Please join us to pray for:

  • The busy saints with their children to make time for the church life.
  • The Lord to send some incoming freshmen, transfers, and graduate students to UCSB to be normal functioning members and strengthen the church life in Santa Barbara.
  • Some community saints to migrate to Santa Barbara to open their homes for the sake of the Lord’s increase and testimony in Santa Barbara.
  • More saints from nearby localities to visit and blend on Lord’s Days to strengthen the meetings and motivate existing families and new ones to participate.

Iceland

A team of 12 saints from different continents were in Iceland from March 24 to 30 to preach the gospel and distribute ministry publications. They had copies of The Mystery of Human Life in Icelandic to distribute throughout the places visited and also gave out NT Recovery Versions at the university. The saints reported that people they met on the campus were really open.

May the Lord soften the hearts of the people in Iceland, remind those who took some literature to read it and receive Him, and arrange some follow-up contact with the saints.

Announcements

  1. Morning Revival: Week 6 of The Enjoyment of Christ and Our Growth in Life unto Maturity. Next week, starting April 8, we begin the two volumes of Laboring on the All-inclusive Christ Typified by the Good Land for the Building Up of the Church… (from the December 2023 Semiannual Training).
  2. Semiannual Training: July 1 to 6 in Anaheim. For LA saints, registration is now open until April 30 (live) and June 16 (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.
  3. Memorial Day Conference: May 24 to 27 in Bellevue, WA. For LA saints considering attending in person, please RSVP by April 30 at tinyurl.com/memdayla. More information is available at that site.
  4. Wednesday Night Ministry Meeting: The ministry meeting continues this week starting at 7:25 pm.
  5. LSM Newsletter: The March 2024 issue features more encouraging FTTA Gospel Trip Testimonies and a report on the 55th Cairo International Book Fair. Go to lsm.org/daily.
  6. Bibles for America‘s blog post, What Does It Mean to Walk According to the Spirit in Romans 8?, is available to read and share at blog.bfa.org.
  7. Free e-Booklets: Living Stream Ministry offers free e-booklets to read and share. The latest release is “Magnifying Christ by Living Him” at www.lsm.org/life-study-philippians.
  8. 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.
  9. Ways to Give: Information about the church’s online giving platform, Subsplash, and where to mail checks, are at www.churchinlosangeles.org/members/offerings.