Living According to a Healthy Pattern


	Message One: Living According to a Healthy Pattern Introductory Word By the Lord's mercy He has gained many precious sisters for His recovery. However, most local churches are short of the sisters' function to uphold the Lord's testimony. Many sisters have asked, "What is our function in the church life? What should we do?" When they desire to function, they are not sure whether it is something from the Lord or something from themselves. When they try to function they often become overly pressured and frustrated. They also become concerned about 'overstepping their place' as they function. What is the proper function of the sisters, and how should they operate in their local church? We will address these issues in our fellowship. Sisters Should Function According to the Operation of Life In the Lord's recovery being a sister should not be made an issue. Sisters should just function in a normal and healthy way. Sisters are simply female believers. Brothers are male believers, and sisters are female believers. All of us are saints who were purchased by the Lord's precious blood and regenerated with His life. This means that all of us are operating members in the Body of Christ. The difference between the operation of the brothers and the operation of the sisters is something that happens very naturally and spontaneously according to how God made us. Brothers and sisters should simply operate according to who they are. It is not necessary for us to dictate, "A sister should function in this way, and a brother should function in that way." The first thing we should realize is that there is no need for us to make an issue concerning the sisters' function. The sisters have been a crucial strength and blessing to the Lord's recovery. The church reaps in a great benefit when they operate healthily. However, many sisters consider themselves as "nobody." Because they feel defeated, their function is not as healthy as it could be. Sisters, when you do not function in a healthy and normal way, the church will suffer. You should not think, "I'm just a sister, so what can I do?" If you think about yourself in this way you will lose the purity and genuineness of the operation of life within you. The operation of the Lord's life within all of us is higher than our considerations. It is higher than, "Should I function or not? How should I function? Is this me or the Lord? Am I going too far?" Our function in the church life should be in a very high realm. We should not be so concerned about whether we are "qualified" or not, or whether we are going too far or holding back too much. The operation of life is higher than these matters. Sisters, your function should be according to the Lord's life, and this is higher than any doctrinal understanding. As an example, both Watchman Nee and Witness Lee were saved through the preaching of sisters. Doesn't this seem to be against the Bible? According to the Bible, women are not supposed to preach. Yet if sisters cannot preach, then how could Brother Nee and Brother Lee be saved? The Bible also says that a sister should not exercise authority over a man. Yet if a sister cannot oversee a man, how could M. E. Barber raise up Watchman Nee? But after hearing this, a sister may say, "Then the next time the church has a gospel meeting, I want to give the message!" Isn't there something wrong with such an attitude? We can see that there are actually two extremes. If we overly stress that a sister must keep her place and be limited in her function, then we will severely frustrate the Lord's move. At the same time we cannot ignore the truth of the Bible. The Bible does describe certain principles which should govern a sister's function. If we don't walk according to the truth, then we will lose our testimony. What we should realize is that there is something higher than doctrinal matters. A sister's exercise according to the operation of life is higher than our common and doctrinal understanding. For this reason, sisters, you should be encouraged to be bold and strong. You should function and exercise as much as possible in your locality, because the church will suffer when your operation is ineffective or too limited. However, as you function you must have the understanding, "I am a sister, and this is just my learning process. I am learning to operate according to the life within me." You do not need to make your function an unnecessary issue, but you must still respect your place as a sister. There is a proper balance between over-functioning and not functioning at all. In the church life we must live by something higher than a doctrinal understanding. We must live and function according to the operation of life within us. Our Pattern is More Crucial than Our Deeds There is an important principle in our learning how to function in the church life. We must learn that living according to a proper pattern is more crucial than having the proper deeds in our behavior. For example, we all have particular deeds. In the morning we may read the Bible, sing a song in the Lord's presence, and fully enjoy our spirit. Then later in the day we may take a nap, read the newspaper, and eventually be fully out of our spirit. These are our deeds. What we must pay attention to in our living is the pattern and not the deeds. What is this pattern? The pattern is that every morning we spend time before the Lord. We pray, we read some verses, or we sing a song. This is a proper pattern. But suppose one morning we are in our flesh and not in our spirit. We should still read the Bible, because the pattern is healthy. Even if we read the Bible in our flesh, or pray to the Lord in our flesh, the pattern is still healthy. Our pattern is more crucial than our deeds. In some families the children have the pattern of washing the dishes. This pattern is more important than their deeds. Suppose a teenage son is washing the dishes with an improper attitude. Should the parents stop him or let him finish? It is unlikely that the parents would say to their son, "You are in your flesh, not in your spirit. Go away. This doesn't count." Instead they would just tell him to finish the job. When he is in a proper pattern, there is no need to analyze his deeds. The pattern is that every night the children must wash the dishes after dinner. It makes no difference whether they are in a good mood or a bad mood. Everyone must do his job. This is an example of being in the right pattern. Suppose one of the children gets inspired and washes the dishes on his own at another time. Then his deeds are correct, but that may not be his pattern. When he washes the dishes every night after dinner whether he feels like it or not, then that is a healthy pattern. We shouldn't overly pay attention to our deeds. We should pay attention to our pattern. We do not need to ask ourselves, "Should I function in the meetings? Should I function in the church life? What if my function is not according to my spirit?" The only question that matters is, "According to the divine pattern of the church life, should I function?" The answer is obviously "yes." This means that we do not need to analyze ourselves so much. We should follow the pattern, and not focus on the deeds. Sisters, it is very normal and healthy for you to learn how to function in the church life. In this pattern of functioning, there are many deeds that come with the pattern. Even though you desire to carry out these deeds in your spirit, you may find yourself carrying out some of the deeds far away from your spirit. You do not need to be overly concerned, because the pattern that you are following is healthy. This is what it means to take care of our pattern more than our deeds. We must pay attention to our pattern of life. When we are in the right pattern, this pattern will generate the proper deeds. Even when we make mistakes and the deeds are not proper, we do not need to worry. That is how we learn. The next time, our deeds will be proper. For instance, to open up our homes should be our pattern. It is healthy for a sister to decide with her husband, "At least once every week we must have our home open in some way." To have that realization is to set up a proper pattern. Once this pattern is set up, there is no need to analyze whether or not we are in our spirit. If we have the healthy pattern of consistently opening up our homes, there may be times where we feel that we were in spirit, and there may be times where we feel that we were not in spirit. If we have people over and then later realize that we were not in spirit or were lacking in some way, that experience is equal to breaking a few plates while we are washing the dishes. There is no need for us to be condemned, because it is all part of the learning process. The next time we will do better. The next time we have people over we will try to be in our spirit. This exercise will keep us in a healthy pattern. Being Protected from Over-sensitivity by Keeping a Healthy Pattern Sisters, when you begin to operate and function in the church life you have to be very careful. You shouldn't let your sensitivity take over your behavior. If you are always asking, "Am I qualified? Am I in the Lord's presence? Am I worthy to pray? Am I proper?" then that is to be too sensitive. Many sisters have confronted the question, "When I function, how can I tell whether it is in my flesh or in my spirit?" We should realize that there is not one person who can know what it is to be in spirit unless they have also learned what it is to be in their flesh. We should not overly analyze ourselves. Even if we are in our flesh when we function, it is always better to be living than to be dead. There is no need to be overly conscious about whether we are functioning according to Christ or just by our natural ability. Sisters in principle are very sensitive, which is why it is so easy for sisters to be under condemnation. Once we get ourselves involved in this realm, we open a large door for the enemy. Satan is the accuser, and he will come in to accuse us about everything. Sisters in particular should therefore be very careful about being over-sensitive. They should simply function as best they can according to the operation of life within them. Sisters, because you are very sensitive by nature, you should remember the principle of caring for your pattern and not caring so much for your deeds. This doesn't mean that you should completely forget about your deeds. It simply means you should be more concerned and careful about your pattern than your deeds. It is your pattern that is crucial. When you have the right pattern, then even when your deeds are "off" it will make no difference. What matters is that your pattern is healthy. To open up your home is a healthy pattern. In the process of living according to this pattern, you may unintentionally do something that is not according to Christ. If you accidentally do something according to your flesh, you can just let it go. You don't need to make it an issue. You should still have an open home. You should still follow the same pattern, because your pattern is healthy. This will bring in the Lord's blessing. When you first came into the church life you may have had no considerations about how you should function. You just functioned normally and spontaneously, because you were in the enjoyment of life. But perhaps after some time, you ceased to function in the church life. You may have became overly sensitive, and even condemned yourself. Then the enemy may have told you that you had failed, that your functioning was lost, and that you could no longer be used by the Lord. This is what it means to be too sensitive. We should remember that the enemy is an accuser who will take advantage of our sensitivity. We should just hold to the proper, healthy pattern. If we failed in some way, we should still just go on. Our deeds may sometimes be wrong, but the pattern we live by is right. We should remain in the enjoyment of life and be free from condemnation. Suppose you have a pattern of attending a small group meeting. Maybe one morning you fought with your husband and disagreed about everything. Then the rest of the day you felt inwardly condemned. In such a situation it is likely that you will skip the meeting because you no longer feel qualified. But when you open up to the Lord, even if you are still angry, you can touch something higher. You can even pray honestly to the Lord, "Lord, I'm just in my flesh. I'm a mess. But I'm still going to my small group meeting." When you do this you are living according to a pattern, and not according to your deeds. When you go to the meeting, you will be saved. It may not seem to be something so high or so glorious. But because you lived according to a healthy pattern, you will be saved in a normal way. Often in the church life we function sporadically according to our condition. We analyze ourselves too much. If we feel we have been "good," then we function. If we haven't been "good," then we don't function. Instead we should establish the healthy pattern of functioning. For example, it is a good pattern to speak in the church meetings. Whether we speak things rightly or wrongly doesn't matter as much as establishing the pattern. If we speak and make a mistake, at least we're not just sitting there dead. The Lord will honor our keeping this pattern. We will learn how to speak in the meetings, and we will enjoy the church life much more. We should just set a healthy pattern. We don't need to ask whether we are right or wrong. Once we follow a healthy pattern everything else will fall into place. Maintaining a Pattern of Life, not of Law Maintaining a healthy pattern is different from keeping a schedule. Keeping a schedule can become a matter of law. We should not consider a healthy pattern to be the same as living by a schedule. The healthy pattern must be a pattern of life, not of law. When we exercise according to a pattern of life, we pay attention to the basic operations of life. For example, we may have a pattern of morning revival. Our pattern is to wake up at seven in the morning and to have a few minutes to pray. But suppose one morning we do not wake up until nine. If we live only according to a schedule, our prayer time is already over. Should we have a pattern of praying at seven in the morning, or should we have a pattern of praying once we wake up? When we are too concerned about keeping a schedule, we are no longer maintaining a pattern of life. This does not mean we should be loose and undisciplined. It is healthy to be consistent every morning in our prayer time. However, whether we are able to wake up at a certain time is largely dependant on the previous night. If our children keep us awake all night so that in the morning we sleep until nine, does that mean we can no longer pray? It is not a matter of waking up at seven or nine, it is a matter of having a healthy pattern. Our pattern is to be in the Lord's presence in the morning. To do this at seven is very good, but it does not have to become a law. Instead of paying our attention to what time we must get up, we should pay attention to the pattern. Our attitude should be, "I don't know if I can get up at the same time every morning, but I will learn to be in the Lord's presence whenever I get up. This is my pattern." This pattern is very different from a demanding law. It is a good pattern to have a morning time with the Lord. But if we wake up late we should still abide in the same pattern. When we wake up, we should think to ourselves, "Even though I got up late, I will still have my time with the Lord." This will keep us from being condemned according to a legal demand. Sometimes when we sleep too late we think, "I didn't get up at seven. I broke my vow. I'm not qualified to come to the Lord's presence." Then we put ourselves under condemnation the rest of the day. It is a healthy pattern to come to the Lord in the morning. It is very good to keep a set time, but when we fail, the pattern remains the same. Our pattern is not, "I must do a certain thing at a certain time." That is to keep a schedule according to the law. We should try to be disciplined, but we must also take care of our healthy pattern more than our deeds. When we take care of our pattern we will be kept from condemnation. We are usually in one of two extremes. Either we love the law too much, or we live without the law. Either we put ourselves under a high demand, or we are very loose and do whatever we like. Both are incorrect. On one hand we need the law, yet on the other hand we should not be under the law. For example, eating is a law, yet it is not a law. Sleeping is a law, yet it is not a law. These can be considered laws, yet they are in the principle of life. When we fulfill the law according to life, then we are not under the law. To follow the Lord is to live a balanced life. The Lord would tell us, "You should not be under the law." Then the Lord would also tell us, "If you are without the law you will become too loose. You will become a lawless person." This is why we should be disciplined in keeping a certain kind of practice, such as morning revival. We should not be so relaxed as to think, "I'll just pray whenever I get up." Neither should we be so legal as to think, "Since I didn't get up on time, I won't pray today." Both thoughts are incorrect. We must be balanced. Our attitude should be, "I will try to get up on time, so that I can be in the Lord's presence. But if something happens and I cannot get up on time, I will still learn how to be in the Lord's presence." Then we will be keeping a proper pattern. This will save us from being too loose or too legal. Instead, we will be regulated by life. The sisters who have children must learn this. Sisters, if you have children, try not to require anything that is too regular from yourself. This is the secret of being a happy mother. Your children's schedule is irregular, and even your husband's schedule is sometimes irregular. You may want to get up in the morning at a certain time to be with the Lord, but when your kids wake you up several times in the night, you may think to yourself, "I can't do it. It's over." Many mothers do not have morning revival because they cannot wake up early enough. But if you get up later in the morning you can still have morning revival. Sometimes you may set goals for yourself that are too high. You may think, "I must get up at seven, whether or not I get any sleep." How many days can that last? Eventually you will become frustrated. It is better for mothers, especially those with younger children, to learn not to pay so much attention to keeping a regular schedule. Instead, pay attention to the proper pattern. What is the proper pattern? When you wake up, you come to the Lord. You may try to keep a specific time, but when circumstances affect your schedule, you still come to the Lord. You maintain the pattern of praying or singing a song as soon as you wake up. Even when you have a very good morning revival, something can happen a few hours later to frustrate you. Perhaps after you pray your kids will irritate you, causing you to lose your temper. But after you have lost your temper you can still go back to enjoying the Lord's presence. That is your healthy pattern. Sisters, you will be blessed if you can learn this. Working Out the Desire in Our Heart versus Putting Ourselves Under a Demand We all desire a proper, decent humanity. There is nothing wrong with desiring our life to be virtuous and healthy. However, it is mistaken for us to allow our desire to become a demand that we place on ourselves. What is the difference between a desire and a demand? A desire is something in our heart, while a demand is a legal requirement. When something we desire becomes a demand upon ourselves, then there is something wrong. This is true even with the most spiritual things. For example, we should desire to pray in every meeting. That is a healthy desire. However, if we become overwhelmed with condemnation when we do not pray in a meeting, then that is a demand. Sisters, you should have proper and healthy desires in your heart. But if these desires bring you under condemnation, then they have become demands which are no longer healthy. In our experience we may start out with a very healthy desire, but then it becomes a demand. Once our desire turns into a demand, it can no longer be effective. The Lord does not give us demands. He gives us a life supply so that we can fulfill the proper desires in our heart. But often in our experience a desire and a demand are the same. We may desire something healthy, but then we put ourselves under a demand to carry it out. That is where we can get trapped. Sisters, it is good for you to learn how to have proper desires. As you abide in the Lord's life you will desire the things that are healthy, virtuous, and pure. But by no means should you put a demand on yourself in order to become what you desire. Eventually such demands can become asceticism, in which you are actually hurting yourself. When a desire in our heart becomes a demand, it is no longer healthy. We must learn how to discern between a demand and a healthy desire. All of the sisters should learn to be much more restful. Sisters, learn to honor the desire in your heart, but don't let that desire become a demand to you. Don't allow your conscience to become bothered all the time because you are not meeting your self-imposed standards. Learn how to abide in your desire without letting it become a demand. Let the desire gradually develop until it becomes your reality. Do this without putting yourself under pressure. Live out your desire very normally. These are secrets that we all must learn. Don't let your desire become a demand. If you put too much demand on yourself it will frustrate and even kill your growth. When you abide in your desire for the godly things without putting yourself under pressure, then this will allow you the healthy growth in life. To purchase the book Sisters' Messages