Quotes from Witness Lee

Why do people attend the movies and go dancing? Because [327] they are empty. They do not have God as their joy. The reason I do not attend the movies is not because the church has a regulation against it. The church does not have a list of commandments against such things. However, although there is no such prohibition, I would not attend a movie even if you paid me thousands of dollars to do it. I have something better. I am filled with Christ and I have no capacity for anything else.

The first two chapters appear to be a record of creation, but this is superficial. The underlying thought is focused on life. These two chapters are a record of life. They are too simple and too brief to be an adequate account of creation. Genesis 1 and 2 were not intended by God to be a record of creation, but a revelation of life.

Whenever we participate in and enjoy God's provision, we have a vision. We see God and He sees us. Because we are in His provision and have the vision, everything is clear, nothing is opaque, and there is no separation between us and Him.

John 7:37-39 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Today the formation of God's people into an army is a matter of coordination, which is based on three matters: life, maturity, and confirmation. These three matters must be fulfilled in order for God's people to be properly formed, which is to be properly coordinated. (CWWL, 1960, vol. 1, "Synopsis of Numbers," p. 71)

God did not appear to Abraham without speaking to him. When He came to Abraham, He called him. God spoke to Abraham. Calling means speaking. It is not a small thing to hear God's speaking.

You can never forget His appearing and His speaking to you.

Col. 1:12-13 Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light; who delivered us out of the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.

At Babel, men built a tower to make a name for themselves. At Shechem, Abraham did not build anything to make himself a name; he built an altar for calling on the name of the Lord (12:8).

Christ is the bread of life (John 6:35). Whatever we take into us as food will be assimilated into our being. This is very meaningful and significant. God is life to us in the form of food. We need to receive Him by eating Him. Once God enters into us, He becomes the flow of life within us. For proper eating we need food and drink. John 6 covers the bread of life for our eating, and John 7 covers the living water for our drinking.

Our walk is for the fulfillment of God's purpose, our living is for the satisfaction of Christ, and our fighting is for the defeat of God's enemy.

Anything that exceeds our need becomes worldly, "Egyptian," something of Pharaoh, and it frustrates us from the economy of God's purpose....Our living and our existence depend on the provision from the heavenly source, not on the supply from the world.

The world is not a source of enjoyment; it is a place of tyranny, and every aspect of the world is a form of tyranny (Gal. 4:8).

Satan has usurped people so that they care only for their existence, not for God's purpose in their existence (Matt. 6:25, 31-33).

What is the church? The church is a part of Christ; it is nothing less than Christ Himself. The church is the element of Christ in the believers. When this element in so many believers is added together, it equals the church. The church is not a composition of Americans, Mexicans, Japanese, and Chinese. The church is the totality of the Christ in all His believers.

Dios creó al hombre con la intención de que el hombre fuese un sacerdote, es decir, una persona que se acerca a Dios, le permite a Dios fluir por medio de él, es saturado con Dios y expresa la gloria de Dios. Dios también tuvo la intención de que el hombre ejerciera Su autoridad.

The word economy is not used in the Old Testament, but it is found in the New Testament, especially in the writings of Paul....

Knowledge or religion means to be good and to do good, to worship God or to work for God without having the living presence of God.

The significance of suffering...is this, that the devastation it brings to the old creation provides an opportunity for the God of resurrection to impart Himself into His creatures so that they emerge from the death process with a divine element in their constitution.

This is the need of the church today. The church is not in great need of miracles, gifts, teachings, or knowledge. Today the church needs the ministry of Christ.

God's chosen and redeemed people need to receive the divine revelation concerning God Himself and His economy for their training and building up as His testimony....

To exist is one thing, and to fulfill God's purpose is another.

2 Corinthians 1:21-22] says that God has anointed us, has sealed us, and has given us the pledge, the foretaste, of the Spirit. If we are going to minister something of Christ to others, we have to experience Christ by the working of the cross, and the working of the cross is for the anointing, the sealing, and the pledge of the Spirit.

If we study Ephesians with a spirit of revelation, we will realize that the aim of God's plan is to have an expression of Himself in Christ the Son by the Spirit through a Body composed and built up with many regenerated and transformed people by the mingling of Himself with humanity.