PARTAKING OF GOD’S NATURE THROUGH GOD’S PROMISE
God has already granted to us precious and exceedingly great promises that we may escape the corruption that is in the world by lust. Then through these promises, we can partake of God’s nature and enjoy God’s essence which is love. As long as we receive these promises of God, He can cause us to escape the corruption that is in the world by lust and to practice the church life in peace, enjoying Christ and being happy and joyful.
Dear brothers and sisters, I would speak a word of love to you. You should take the attitude that as long as there are clothes to wear and there is food to eat, you should be content and carry out your duty to practice the church life and enjoy Christ according to what you have learned and experienced. All the other things are in His hand; we do not need to plan for them. Because the worldly people do not have the Lord and His promises, they have to plan and worry for everything. But we have a Father in heaven who thinks about us and bears our responsibility. All we need is to live in His promises and do our duty, restfully and stably enjoying His presence and His divine essence. What a blessing this is!
DILIGENTLY COOPERATING WITH GOD
Second Peter 1 continues by saying that we need to cooperate with God and work with God diligently. He has already allotted to us like precious faith. We have to go forward to develop this faith, to supply in our faith virtue, and in virtue knowledge, and in knowledge self-control, and in self-control endurance, and in endurance godliness, and in godliness brotherly love, and in brotherly love the love of God.
When we have such an enjoyment of God, these things will exist within us and abound. They will constitute us neither idle nor unfruitful. The Lord in John 15 says, “I am the vine, you are the branches” (v. 5). The branches are for fruit bearing. Therefore, we need only to exercise the allotted faith so that the virtues of the divine life can be developed step by step to reach maturity unto the bearing of fruit to glorify God. This will cause our calling and election to be steadfast. Eventually, we will obtain the rich and bountiful supply to enter into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the reward of the kingdom, the enjoyment of His kingship, and the joy with Him in the kingdom. These are the precious promises we received from the Lord and also the living we ought to have by the divine power of God.
(Spoken by Brother Witness Lee on April 16, 1988 in Taipei)
(Messages Given to the Working Saints, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee)
