Page 135 - The Christian Life and the Church Life_Government of God

The Recovery of the Church as the Israel of God 134

Today Our Needing to Be Such an Israel, a Prince,
to Execute God’s Government on Earth

Today we need to be such an Israel, a prince, to execute God’s government
on earth. The Lord needs a church like this. How wonderful that there are
more churches in the Philippines as far as I know as there are in any other
country. Back in the 1950’s, Brother Lee devoted much time every year to
be here. This country matters to the Lord; it just matters to Him. In 1995, the
battlefield at that time was in this country, especially in Mindanao. Brother
Lee sent some of us there, in person, to fight for the truth of the high peak of
the divine revelation.
God needs this kind of church. We should not be content with the church
of our choice, the kind of church we want, or the kind of church life we
prefer. This is the church of God first, then it is the church of Christ, then we
enter into this and now it is ours. It is not the church of the elders or workers,
but the saints’. I repeat, we need to be such as Israel, a prince, even a king.
A prince is someone being trained for kingship; we need to become this. For
what purpose? To execute God’s government on earth. We can only execute
God’s government on earth after we ourselves have settled the matter that
we will live, and learn to live, and serve, and work, under the government of
God. Then, especially through the prayer ministry of the church, and through
the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom, and through the corporate God-
man living of the saints, God will have a way through the church to execute
His government on earth. This is God’s need.
In the Summer or late Spring of 1968, when I have only been in recovery
for less than two years, the book The Glorious Church came out in English
translation. And I read that first chapter when Brother Nee talked about the
work of God to cause Satan to suffer loss on the earth, so that the earth would
be recovered for God’s purpose and will. Brother Nee said that in preaching
the gospel you can reserve something for yourself, in teaching the truth you
can do that, but in doing this work, there can be nothing reserved for yourself.
I read this seriously, thoughtfully, soberly, and then I prayed, I believe in
response to His intercession, “I choose to participate in this.” This was fifty-
one and a half years ago, and since that time especially, God’s government
in every aspect of my life has been more and more real and practical because
He took me at my word that He led me to pray, “Do not spare anything in