Friday

Related Verses
Rom. 9:23
23 In order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He had before prepared unto glory,

Gal. 2:20
20 I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

1 Cor. 2:10
10 But to us God has revealed them through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

Gal. 2:20
20 I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Phil. 1:19-21
19 For I know that for me this will turn out to salvation through your petition and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,
20 According to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I will be put to shame, but with all boldness, as always, even now Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death.
21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Phil. 2:5-6, 13
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider being equal with God a treasure to be grasped,
13 For it is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure.

Related Reading
After God created man, He put him in front of the tree of life. The tree of life was good for food. In John 6 the Lord Jesus said that He was edible, that He was the bread of life (v. 35). Therefore, we all can eat Him. Furthermore, we contain whatever we eat because it comes into our being…Whatever we eat is not only contained in us but is assimilated into our very element. It even becomes us. Therefore, dietitians say, “You are what you eat.” We are not only containing vessels; we are eating vessels, vessels that assimilate what we eat. God is desirous of being eaten by us. If we tell God that we want to eat Him, He will be very happy. We are His eating and assimilating vessels. Eventually, God will become us. Praise the Lord! We were made vessels to contain God as life. 

Romans 9:21 and 23 tell us that we are vessels unto honor, vessels of mercy prepared unto glory. This is our portion… One day I will be filled with glory and I will be in glory to express the God of glory. We all are vessels of mercy prepared unto glory. (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 121-122) 

—

The New Testament shows us that God wants a vessel loving Him and keeping itself open to Him. 

You have to realize that if you love the church but do not open yourself up absolutely, you will still love to do something for the Lord. This is of the fallen nature. This is the natural life with the fallen nature. The proper situation is that I do not need to do anything, yet I need to love the Lord to the uttermost, keeping myself wide open all the time to Him…If you take this as a key and read once again the Epistles written by Paul, you will see that this is the genuine substance in his Epistles. 

When you enter into the experience of my fellowship, you will kneel down and worship the Lord. You would say, “Lord, now I know. I must love You. I must serve You to the uttermost. I must have an open heart with an open being to You. O Lord, by Your mercy and Your speaking, You do not want me to do anything. Lord, I am here.” This would be wonderful. This is what the Lord wants today…A vessel can only contain something, and the lampstand can only keep itself open for the refilling of the oil…The lampstand does not do anything. It just opens itself to receive the oil and to shine. It receives the filling oil, and then it expresses something; it shines. Actually, a lampstand is a real vessel containing oil. 

You love the Lord, and you keep yourself open to Him all the time. Yet you would not do anything, but He would do everything. Not only is this possible, but this is also required by the Lord. The Lord requires you to stop your doing. But He does not want you to be sleepy or indifferent; He wants you to be very alert. Love Him and keep yourself open to Him. Tell Him every day, “Lord, I love You. Lord, I am here open to You. Lord, have mercy upon me, and by Your grace I do not like to have any part of my being closed to You. I like to keep myself entirely and thoroughly open to You.” 

If you really get into the Bible to see what is revealed as an underlying line, it is this: you are a vessel created by God. As a vessel full of life, you need to exercise your emotion to love Him. Love the Lord your God with all your heart (Matt. 22:37). As a vessel, you do not need to do anything, but you need to keep yourself open. We all know the principle of the free will. If you do not love Him, the Lord would not force you to love Him. If you do not keep yourself open, the Lord would never force you to keep yourself open. So you must exercise your free will to love the Lord and to keep yourself open. (CWWL, 1980, vol. 1, “Perfecting Training,” pp. 243-244, 246-247) 

Further Reading: CWWL, 1980, vol. 1, “Perfecting Training,” ch. 22