You can all prophesy one by one… —1 Cor. 12:31

2019 ITEROS Message Two

The Development of the Kingdom of God
in the Christian Life and the Church Life

Message Two
Living the Kingdom Life by Living a Hidden Life

 

Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting

Reading the verses in each day.

Reading the main points in the outlines.

Pray-reading the verses:

But you, when you pray, enter into your private room, and shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you—Matt. 6:6.

Surely You are a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel, the Savior—Isa. 45:15.

Deep calls unto deep At the sound of Your water spouts; All Your waves and Your billows Pass over me—Psa. 42:7.

Word of Appetizer

Why do the kingdom people not perform their righteous deeds (such as giving, praying, and fasting) before men?

The kingdom people, who live in an emptied and humbled spirit and walk in a pure and single heart under the heavenly ruling of the kingdom, are not allowed to do anything in the flesh for the praise of men but must do all things in the spirit for the pleasing of their heavenly Father.

The effect of doing our righteous deeds in secret is that the flesh and the self are killed; any time we exhibit ourselves in our righteous deeds, we are not healthy; such an exhibition greatly frustrates our growth in life.

Spiritual Burden

We need to learn from the pattern of the Lord living a hidden life in His going up to the mountain privately to pray; the kingdom life is a life in the depths, a life that can “take root downward and bear fruit upward”; in order to live a life in the depths, it is necessary to have direct and intimate fellowship with the Lord; may the Lord grant us grace and do a deeper work in us through the cross so that we may strike deep roots and live a hidden life in the depths to fulfill God’s requirements and satisfy His heart.

 

Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting

The Revelation of the Truth

The principle of the kingdom people is that they live a hidden life, not performing their righteous deeds before men—deeds such as giving, praying, and fasting.

“Surely You are a God who hides Himself, / O God of Israel, the Savior”; God does countless things in the midst of His people and countless things in their personal lives, yet He conceals Himself.

Psalm 42:7 says, “Deep calls unto deep”; others can respond deep within to only what issues from deep within us.

The Experience of Life

“Whom having not seen, you love; into whom though not seeing Him at present, yet believing, you exult with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory”; it is a wonder and a mystery that the believers love One whom they have not seen.

God likes concealment, but we like display; the more we serve the Lord, and the more we abide in Him, the more we realize that God is a very quiet God, so quiet that His presence is often undetected.

Practice and Application

We need to learn from the pattern of the Lord living a hidden life in His going up to the mountain privately to pray; we should pray much yet not let others know how much we pray.

To that voice, registered in the deepest depths of our being, we must say Amen, for there, secretly and ceaselessly, the God who hides Himself is working.

In order to live a life in the depths, it is necessary to have direct and intimate fellowship with the Lord; because we have been planted in Christ as the reality of the good land, we need to take time to absorb Him (especially in our times with Him in the morning).

Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline

Key Verses (1)

And immediately He compelled the disciples…to go before Him to the other side, …And after He sent the crowds away, He went up to the mountain privately to pray. And when night fell, He was there alone—Matt. 14:22-23.

But you, when you pray, enter into your private room, and shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you—6:6.

We need to learn from the pattern of the Lord living a hidden life in His going up to the mountain privately to pray

    • The Lord did not remain in the issue of the miracle with the crowds (the miracle of feeding five thousand men, apart from women and children), but He went away from them privately to be with the Father on the mountain in prayer.
    • We should treasure three phrases—to be with the Father, on the mountain, and in prayer.
    • We have to learn to leave the crowds, our family, our friends, and the saints in the church to go to a higher level on a “high mountain”; we need to get to a higher level, separated from the crowd, to be with the Father privately and secretly to have intimate fellowship with Him.

Key Verses (2)

But you, when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, So that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners, so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, They have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, enter into your private room, and shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you—Matt. 6:3-6.

The principle of the kingdom people is that they live a hidden life, not performing their righteous deeds before men—deeds such as giving, praying, and fasting

    • Regarding each of the three illustrations, the Lord used the word secret; our Father is in secret, and He sees in secret; the kingdom people, as children of the heavenly Father, must live in and care for the Father’s secret and hidden presence.
    • The effect of doing our righteous deeds in secret is that the flesh and the self are killed; the saints who grow openly do not grow in a healthy way; we all need some secret growth in life, some secret experiences of Christ; we need to pray to the Lord, worship the Lord, contact the Lord, and fellowship with the Lord in a secret way.
    • We should pray much yet not let others know how much we pray; The kingdom people must have some experience of prayer in their private room, contacting their heavenly Father in secret, experiencing some secret enjoyment of the Father, and receiving some secret answer from Him.
    • if we are serious about being the kingdom people, we must learn to live by the hidden life of our Father.

Key Verses (3)

Surely You are a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel, the Savior—Isa. 45:15.

Deep calls unto deep At the sound of Your water spouts; All Your waves and Your billows Pass over me—Psa. 42:7.

And others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much earth, and immediately they sprang up because they had no depth of earth—Matt. 13:5.

“Surely You are a God who hides Himself, / O God of Israel, the Savior”

Psalm 42:7 says, “Deep calls unto deep”

    • Believers may know God as the almighty One, as the righteous One, as the One full of grace and compassion, but as the One who hides Himself, He is unknown to them.
    • God does countless things in the midst of His people and countless things in their personal lives, yet He conceals Himself.
    • We need to realize the hidden nature of God’s working; we should not think that only mighty influences, great visions, and tremendous revelations are of God; God’s surest work is done in the secret of our beings.
    • Others can respond deep within to only what issues from deep within us.
    • The kingdom life is a life in the depths, a life that can “take root downward and bear fruit upward”.
    • In order to live a life in the depths, it is necessary to have direct and intimate fellowship with the Lord.

 

Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week

 

D1

T1   The Lord privately to be with the Father on the mountain in pray(Matt14:14~23)

(Why The Lord did not remain in the issue of the miracle with the crowds?)

T2   The kingdom people must have some experience of prayer in their private room(Matt6:6)

(Please explain that Why To pray with others is good, but often we need to pray by ourselves.)

D2

T1 We must do our righteous deeds in secret, for our Father is in secret. (Matt6:4、6、18)

(Please explain that Regarding each of the three illustrations [in Matthew 6], the Lord uses the word secret.)

T2   As kingdom people, a basic principle concerning righteous deeds is never to make a show of ourselves. (Matt6:4)

(Please explain that The effect of doing our righteous deeds in secret is that the flesh and the self are killed)

D3

T1   The saints who grow openly do not grow in a healthy way(Matt6:5~6)

(Please explain that we all need some secret growth in life, some secret experiences of Christ)

T2 we must learn to live by the hidden life of our Father(Matt6:6)

(Please explain that Our human life loves to make a display, a public show, but God’s life is always hidden.)

D4

T1   “Surely You are a God who hides Himself,”(Isa. 45:15)

(Please explain that Why did Isaiah come to this conclusion?)

T2   God was not in the great and strong wind, He was not in the earthquake, and He was not in the fire(1 Kings19:12,1John 2:27)

(Please explain that God spoke to Elijah in a “gentle, quiet voice”)

D5

T1   Faith and love are in an unseen One. (1Pet1:8)

(Please explain that God’s surest work is done in the secret of our beings)

T2 for there, secretly and ceaselessly, the God who hides Himself is working. (2Cor12:9~10)

(Please explain that When we are most conscious of impotence, God is most powerfully present)

D6

T1   four different ways for man to receive the word(Isa. 37:31;Matt.13:4~8、18~23)

(Please explain that The kingdom life is a life in the depths, a life that can “take root downward and bear fruit upward”)

T2 The law of the members of the Body of Christ, which is the law of fellowship(Rom.12:4~5)

(Please explain that He wants us to share some experience with a brother, we dare not withhold it)