{"id":4947,"date":"2016-08-25T04:00:30","date_gmt":"2016-08-25T09:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/twolisteners.org\/?p=4947"},"modified":"2016-08-25T04:00:30","modified_gmt":"2016-08-25T09:00:30","slug":"thursday-treasures-watchman-nee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.twolisteners.org\/?p=4947","title":{"rendered":"Thursday Treasures – Watchman Nee"},"content":{"rendered":"

Expecting The Lord’s Blessing<\/span><\/h2>\n

by Watchman Nee<\/span><\/h4>\n

Part 2 of 2<\/span><\/h4>\n

Five<\/span><\/h3>\n

Oh, that blessing might flow from us as it flowed from Abraham.\u00a0 I believe that there will soon be a great turn in the gospel work.\u00a0 May the Lord bless us and have mercy on us.\u00a0 May we regard blessing as if we were accustomed to receiving it constantly.\u00a0 We do not want to frustrate God from blessing us greatly.\u00a0 The salvation of one thousand people may hinder the salvation of tens of thousands.\u00a0 Perhaps the salvation of a few score people in one place is a hindrance to the salvation of several thousand others.\u00a0 Each time we receive one blessing, we should expect to receive a second blessing.\u00a0 We must continuously step into greater blessings from God. Each of our co-workers must look to God to do a work among us such as He has never done before.\u00a0 Immediately before us lies a work that is ten times greater, even one hundred times greater, than that which is behind us.\u00a0 Is it possible that the few people who have been saved and the meeting hall we have built have become the limits of our blessing?\u00a0 In the past the work constantly grew, but now we have tied it up.\u00a0 Our past blessings have become our present frustrations.\u00a0 This is very pitiful.<\/p>\n

Each time we come before God, we must be like we were the first time we came out to work.\u00a0 Some have been working for twenty years, yet they seem like those who are new to the work.\u00a0 Some have been working for thirty years, yet they seem like they are new in the work.\u00a0 We must set the things of the past aside.\u00a0 In difficult situations God will do more if our hopes, expectations, and hearts are large.\u00a0 We must never measure God by our capacity.\u00a0 A few loaves of bread can feed four or five thousand people.\u00a0 If the blessing is large, nothing can hinder it.\u00a0 If we who serve the Lord truly look for God’s blessing when we gather together, the future results will be more than we can ask or think.<\/p>\n

Six<\/span><\/h3>\n

God’s blessing is like a bird that will only fly from the outside into a room by itself.\u00a0 When it is at the window, we cannot call it to come in.\u00a0 If it comes in, however, it is very easy to chase away.\u00a0 God will bless what He wants to bless; we cannot force Him to do anything. Like the bird, it is difficult to lure in and easy to chase away.\u00a0 With just a little carelessness, we can chase the blessing away.<\/p>\n

Over the past two or three years, I have observed our co-workers doing many things.\u00a0\u00a0 One co-worker said something to another co-worker and they had an argument.\u00a0 He was absolutely right in what he said and did, but in my heart, I wanted to say, “Brother, you are right, but should we behave according to right and wrong?\u00a0 Or should we behave according to what will bring in God’s blessing?”\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We often may do something right, but what can we do if God does not bless us when we do things right?\u00a0 We should not ask whether our every action is right or wrong.\u00a0 Instead, we should ask whether we have God’s blessing.\u00a0 We are not here to argue about right and wrong; we are here to ask God to bless us.\u00a0 Seeking God’s blessing on our work will limit us much in our speaking and in our daily living.\u00a0 We may be right, but will God bless us?\u00a0 It is very easy for us to cut off our blessing.\u00a0 It is also very easy to cut off the blessing of others as well.\u00a0 Our standard is not right or wrong.\u00a0 We look for God’s blessing.\u00a0 Both may be right, but can God bless such a work?\u00a0 Our lives must be governed by God’s blessing.<\/p>\n

In God’s work He will not bless what is wrong, but He will not bless what is right either.\u00a0 When we stand together in one accord, the blessing comes.\u00a0 Therefore, I want us to know that is a very serious matter when the brothers argue with each other.\u00a0 We may be absolutely right in the matter, but the blessing will stop!\u00a0 Brothers, let me solemnly warn about speaking loosely or thinking that it is good enough just to be right.\u00a0 May the Lord have mercy on us.\u00a0 The brothers have to be careful about speaking among themselves and criticizing one another. It does not matter if we are not right.\u00a0 If we are right and God does not bless us, what is the use of being right?\u00a0 The work is not built upon our abilities, nor is it built upon our gifts, faithfulness, or labor.\u00a0 If we miss God’s blessing, everything is finished.<\/p>\n

Seven<\/span><\/h3>\n

What is blessing?\u00a0 Blessing is God working without any cause.\u00a0 Logically speaking, one penny should buy one penny’s worth of goods.\u00a0 But sometimes, without spending a cent, God gives us ten thousand pennies’ worth of goods.\u00a0 This means that what we have received is beyond reckoning.\u00a0 God’s blessing is any work He performs without cause.\u00a0 This work surpasses what we should receive.\u00a0 Five loaves fed five thousand people, and there were still twelve full baskets left over!\u00a0 This is blessing.\u00a0 Some people should not get a certain kind of result.\u00a0 They should only have a little, but surprisingly they have much.\u00a0 Our entire work is built upon God’s blessing.\u00a0 The blessing is the result of receiving what we do not deserve, that is, the result of receiving beyond what our gift warrants us to receive.\u00a0 The results that we get which is beyond what our strength earns is the blessing.\u00a0 Putting it more strongly, we do not deserve any results because of our weaknesses and failures, but astoundingly we obtain something, and what we obtain is the blessing.\u00a0 If we look for God’s blessing, He will give us unexpected results. In our service, do we hope for God to give us great results?\u00a0 Many brothers and sisters only look for results that can be expected from themselves alone.\u00a0 Blessing means that the results is not in proportion to the cause.<\/p>\n

If we only look for results based on what we are, if we only look for a little fruit, and if we do not hope for great results, we run the risk of losing God’s blessing.\u00a0 Since we only pay attention to the fact that we are laboring night and day, God cannot do anything beyond our expectation.\u00a0 We must put ourselves in a position in which God can bless us.\u00a0 We must say to the Lord, “Based on what we are, we should not obtain any results, but, Lord, for the sake of Your name, Your church, and Your way, we hope You will give something to us.”\u00a0 Having faith in the work is believing and expecting God’s blessing.\u00a0 In God’s work, having faith means having the conviction that the results will not be in proportion to us. When we practice this, I believe God will bless our way.\u00a0 I hope that as the brothers discuss the matter of the migrations, the Lord’s blessing will exceed our expectation.<\/p>\n

At times it seems that God not only grants no blessing, but even deliberately withholds it.\u00a0 For God to withhold His blessing is more serious than for Him to not grant blessing.\u00a0 With our strength and gifts, we should have better results, but we do not obtain them.\u00a0 We labor through the night and should obtain certain results, but if God withholds His blessing, we will obtain less than we should.\u00a0 We labor for a long time but obtain no fruit.\u00a0 We are diligent, yet there are no results.\u00a0 This is what happens when God withholds His blessing.<\/p>\n

I wonder if we feel the seriousness of this.\u00a0 We absolutely must not argue about the right way to do things.\u00a0 Being right is of no use.\u00a0 We must pay attention to whether or not God blesses us.\u00a0 Often we are very right, yet god does not bless us.\u00a0 It is right to fish all night, yet God does not bless us.\u00a0 We do not live on earth by doing what is right; we live to experience God’s blessing.\u00a0 David and Abraham both made mistakes, Isaac was not very useful, and Jacob was crafty, but God blessed them all.\u00a0 It is not a matter of being right or wrong, but of being blessed by God.\u00a0 Perhaps we who are here today are much better than Jacob, but if God does not bless us, nothing will avail.\u00a0 We must be those who can be blessed by God.\u00a0 We can argue and be right, but it is useless if God does not bless us.<\/p>\n

The entire future of the work depends on God’s blessing, not on being right.\u00a0 If God blesses, then many sinners will be saved.\u00a0 If God blesses, we will be able to send people out to the remote regions.\u00a0 If there is no blessing, people will not get saved.\u00a0 If there is no blessing, workers will not be produced.\u00a0 If there is no blessing, no one will offer anything.\u00a0 If there is no blessing, no one will migrate.\u00a0 When the blessing is here, even things that seem wrong are right.\u00a0 When God blesses, we cannot go wrong even if we try.\u00a0 One time there was a meeting in which it seemed that we sang the wrong hymn, but we had a good result because we had God’s blessing.\u00a0 Sometimes when we preach, it seems that we are speaking the wrong word to the wrong audience, but God still blesses some in the audience.\u00a0 When we speak again, we still may speak the wrong word, but God blesses another group of people.\u00a0 I am not saying that we can be loose intentionally.\u00a0 I am saying that we cannot go wrong when we have God’s blessing.\u00a0 It seems that our mistakes should be a frustration, but He cannot be hindered.\u00a0 God said, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” (Rom. 9:13).\u00a0 God blesses whom He likes.\u00a0 This is a very serious matter.\u00a0 We should not think that the blessing is a small thing.\u00a0 The blessing is souls and consecrated people.\u00a0 Behind the word blessing<\/em> perhaps there are fifty souls or one hundred consecrations.\u00a0 The words, attitudes, and opinions of certain people can stop the Lord’s blessing.\u00a0 We must ask the Lord to prick us inwardly until we obtain His blessing.\u00a0 If we do not do this, our sin of losing the Lord’s blessing will be greater than any other sin.\u00a0 The blessing could be hundreds or thousands of souls.\u00a0 We must look to God for the blessing and not let it escape.\u00a0 We must beg God to give us grace.<\/p>\n

Eight<\/span><\/h3>\n

O brothers!\u00a0 We must learn to live in God’s blessing.\u00a0 It is good to work and do things, but we must have our capacity increased.\u00a0 We must ask God to keep us in blessing in our work and actions.\u00a0 If we do not resolve this problem, our work will be severely damaged.\u00a0 Brother Witness was in Shanghai in 1945.\u00a0 One day he said that the brothers’ meeting experienced great blessing from God.\u00a0 I believe that Brother Witness has made some progress in this matter.\u00a0 We must come before God to see that we do not expect the results of our labor, but expect God’s blessing.\u00a0 Sometimes there are some results from our work, but they are dry and poor.\u00a0 If we expect God’s blessing, many things will happen that are beyond our expectation.\u00a0 If we wait upon God’s blessing, things will happen beyond our capacity.\u00a0 We must continually look for miracles and unexpected occurrences in the work.\u00a0 We should not keep expecting that we will be able to bear any fruit.\u00a0 Our expectation of that small amount of fruit limits God.\u00a0 If we do not expect God’s blessing, there is not much hope for our future.\u00a0 We will have financial difficulties, and it will be difficult for us to go on.\u00a0 Therefore, we should not look for results commensurate with our individual labor, but we should look for God’s blessing.\u00a0 If we only look for commensurate results, I do not how know many years it will take for many people to believe in the Lord.\u00a0 We must always look for God to do things beyond our expectations.\u00a0 We must ask God to give us the vision to see the meaning of blessing.<\/p>\n

Some are checking to see whether or not the young people are doing things right.\u00a0 Instead, we should be checking to see if a person is being blessed by God. If a person can be blessed by God, we do not know how much more fruit he will bear beyond just his gift and ability. If he does not have the blessing, his carefulness and labor will be in vain.<\/p>\n

Some people are blessed by God, and other people are not blessed by God.\u00a0 We may have a better temper and a larger gift than a certain brother, but he bears fruit in his work, while we cannot bear fruit in ours.\u00a0 We look down on many people because we are better, yet god blesses them.\u00a0 We cannot say that God is wrong.\u00a0 We must realize that before God, we are those whom He cannot bless.<\/p>\n

We should not become angry or jealous about this matter. Instead, we should judge ourselves soberly.\u00a0 We have many excuses, and so do our brothers.\u00a0 We are right, and so are they.\u00a0 But what can we do if God does not bless?\u00a0 We are right, but we cannot win souls. They are right, but the church is not built up.\u00a0 We are right, but it is in vain.\u00a0 Therefore, we must eliminate all the things that stop and frustrate the blessing.\u00a0 From now on we should not be those who stubbornly argue over right and wrong; we must be those who receive great blessings from God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Expecting The Lord’s Blessing by Watchman Nee Part 2 of 2 Five Oh, that blessing might flow from us as it flowed from Abraham.\u00a0 I believe that there will soon be a great turn in the gospel work.\u00a0 May the Lord bless us and have mercy on us.\u00a0 May we regard blessing as if we … Continue reading Thursday Treasures – Watchman Nee<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-godcalling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twolisteners.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twolisteners.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twolisteners.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twolisteners.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twolisteners.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.twolisteners.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4947\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twolisteners.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twolisteners.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twolisteners.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}