The Content of the Healthy Pattern


	Message Two: The Content of the Healthy Pattern The Healthy Pattern Being a Divine and Spiritual Pattern We have seen that sisters should pay more attention to their pattern than to their deeds. The word "pattern" is used several times in the Bible, especially in regard to the design of the tabernacle. The tabernacle was built according to a divine and heavenly pattern. "…even as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to complete the tabernacle; for, 'See,' He said, 'that you make all things according to the pattern that was shown to you in the mountain.'" (Heb. 8:5). The most important principle concerning the matter of a "pattern" in the Bible is that it is something divine. When the Israelites built the tabernacle they built it according to a divine and heavenly pattern. God instructed His people to "make all things according to the pattern that was shown to you in the mountain." This shows us that the pattern is something divine and heavenly. When we speak of a pattern in our own daily life, we would probably say, "My pattern is not heavenly. My pattern is comparatively earthly." The pattern that we live by must be a divine pattern, not an earthly pattern. For us to live by a pattern means that something divine is involved. In the first message we realized that we should not pay attention to our deeds, but pay attention to our pattern. As we practice to live a life according to a healthy pattern, we should tell the Lord, "I will not try to take care of my deeds. Rather, I will pay attention to my pattern." When we pay too much attention to our deeds, we will feel that everything about us is a mess. All that we'll be able to see about ourselves is our mistakes. Instead, we should look at our life from another angle, according to the healthy pattern. A healthy pattern is a spiritual matter. We must realize that a pattern does not mean a routine. We cannot live a routine life and call that our "pattern." We need to live by a pattern that is divine and spiritual. The spiritual reality of our pattern is based on our growth in life. Suppose a new sister has been in the church life for a few months. If she knows how to make one or two meetings a week, or if she know how to exercise her spirit and pray just a little, then the Lord will surely be satisfied. According to our personal observation this sister may be young and shallow and her prayer doesn't have much content. She may exercise her voice without using her spirit. But from the Lord's perspective, for this sister to exercise her voice without her spirit is exactly what He desires. If a sister is new, what kind of request can the Lord make of her? The most He might ask is that she preach the gospel a little, or read the Bible a little, and go to a few meetings. Based upon her growth in life, she is living according to a divine and spiritual pattern. The pattern we live by must be spiritual, and is therefore according to our growth in life. The Elements of the Healthy Pattern The 1st Element: Struggling to be in the Lord's Presence The healthy pattern that we live by has three elements. Each of these elements is actually a spiritual exercise. First, in our daily life, we must exercise to be in the Lord's presence. Second, we must exercise to have the church life in our daily life, which is especially related to the matter of companionship. Thirdly, we must exercise to have the corporate church life, which means that we should not neglect the assembling of ourselves together. All of these elements must be the pattern of our existence. The first element in our healthy pattern is that we struggle everyday to be in the Lord's presence. We must exercise ourselves unto godliness. The sisters should learn, "In the pattern of my life, I struggle to be in the Lord's presence." This will bring in the Lord's blessing. When a sister pays attention to her deeds she will often be under condemnation. If she loses her temper at her husband, she won't be able to sleep. She will think, "I've loved the Lord for so many years. How can a sister like me still have this kind of temper? How can I still get so angry at my husband?" We must realize that sometimes our deeds will be improper. We should not be encouraged to have improper deeds, but they will still sometimes come. When our deeds are improper, we should simply and quickly take the Lord's precious blood. We should try again to be in the Lord's presence. Then we should just forget about where we have been and struggle to go forward in the Lord's life. This is to come back to the healthy pattern. In this pattern, when we have deeds that are not so healthy, we just learn to let them go. We still struggle to be in the Lord's presence. Our pattern is that wherever we are, we love to be in His presence. Once we learn this, we will receive so much blessing in our daily life, our family life, and our church life. We all have our weaknesses, but what matters the most is that we have a pattern. What should be our pattern? When we are driving, we struggle to be in the Lord's presence. In our reading of the Word, we struggle to be in the Lord's presence. When we are praying with the brothers, we struggle to be in the Lord's presence. Even when we are in our weaknesses, we still struggle to be in the Lord's presence. Whether we are victorious or defeated, we don't care. We just love to be in the Lord's presence. This is the healthy pattern of our life. When we exercise this way we receive the effectiveness of the Lord's redemption and salvation. We can tell the Lord, "Lord, my deeds are sometimes not so healthy, but I am paying my attention to a proper and healthy pattern. This means that in my daily life, all the time I am struggling to be in Your presence." This is the divine and spiritual pattern we should live by in our daily life. The 2nd Element: Exercising the Church Life in Our Daily Life Sisters, in your daily life, outside of the regular church meetings, you should be exercised to be with other sisters. You must pay attention to your daily church life. Treasure the times when you are able to be together with other sisters. Unfortunately, we are somewhat short of this exercise in the church life. It seems that no sister wants to take the lead or initiate a gathering with other sisters. You may be concerned about making the function of sisters an issue. The fact is that it is a healthy pattern to be with other sisters in your daily life. When sisters come together to pray, to fellowship, and to enjoy the riches of the truth, then that is a healthy pattern. This pattern will cause you to grow, because your exercise is healthy. You may pray for specific saints, for the elders, for the new ones, for the needs of the church, for the gospel, for the Lord's move, or for however the Lord has burdened your hearts. You may come together to labor in the word and in all the riches of the truth. This is a healthy pattern. Struggle not only to be in the Lord's presence individually, but to have the church life in your daily life. Sisters, you should not just have your own private daily life. You should struggle to be in the church life in your daily life. You may visit a few saints, you may labor in the word with one sister, you may have some prayer with another sister, and you may gather with a group of sisters together. The more you can exercise in this way, the more the church life will be healthy. If a group of sisters come together consistently to pray, it doesn't matter whether their prayer is "spiritual" or not. The church will still receive the benefit. Sisters, learn to have the church life in your daily life. Exercise to be with other sisters. This should be your pattern. Try not to just live your life at home. If the Lord gives you time, learn to spend that time with other saints. Exercise to pray and labor together with other sisters. Such a positive exercise will give you the healthy growth in life. It will also strengthen the church as you pray for and stand with the burden of the leading ones and elders. Again, don't just have your own private daily life, but have your daily life in the church life. This is part of your healthy pattern. All of the sisters should be encouraged to exercise in this way. In a local church, whatever decisions the elders make need a lot of prayer. Whatever the church is burdened for needs a lot of prayer. When the elders begin to share with the church concerning a certain need, then there must be adequate prayer to back it up. Too often we treat whatever matters the elders fellowship with us merely as things we must do. We forget that we need to back up such matters with prayer. We should realize that no decision works without prayer. Any decision is dead if there is no struggle to back it up spiritually. The only way life can come in is through prayer. There must be a lot of struggling in cooperation with the Lord. There must be a lot of prayer to uphold the situation. The more we pray for the church in this way, the more something will be burning within us. We will be on fire for the Lord's interests. We will even bring this fire to the meetings, and the meetings will be made alive. Sisters, try to use whatever time you have to come together and back up the church with prayer. It is not necessary to make it too organized. You can exercise some flexibility regarding what day you meet or whose home you go to. But you should exercise to pray together before the Lord. Sometimes you may review what the leading ones have fellowshipped, so that you can stand with their burden. You may consider the church's situation, and pray to strengthen the church. You may pray and fellowship concerning some new ones who need to be properly cared for. Exercising in this way will bring in the Lord's blessing. This should be your healthy pattern. The Desperate Need for Sisters to Have Companionship We must learn to produce the healthy companionship in the church life. Many sisters in the church life are lonely. They feel that very few sisters are attached to them, and very few are their companions. Some sisters have no one to fellowship with. When a sister goes through something, she struggles by herself. When her husband goes through something difficult, she has no one to pray with. She may have been in the church life for several years, but she is still an individual. In the church life many sisters are by themselves. Why do so many sisters among us survive by themselves? Simply because there is a lack of companionship. It seems to be very difficult for sisters to have genuine companions. Often sisters only know each other through the church meetings. They aren't with each other in their daily lives. Perhaps they may have a certain kind of friendship with other sisters, but for some reason they cannot come together to be in their spirit. They have not exercised to have the church life in their daily life. When sisters exercise the pattern of a healthy companionship, that will cause them not to be so individual, and not to be so lonely. Sometimes when the Lord moves in the church, a brother may try to respond, but his wife is unable to respond. This is not the fault of the wife. This just means that she has been lonely. She may love the church, but she doesn't have the boldness to love the church to the extent where she can respond to the Lord's move. In her daily life, no one has nurtured the positive burden within her. Her church life is not a healthy pattern that she exercises. Instead, it is merely a routine in which she goes to meetings. When this is the case her operation in the church life will be very limited. She will not be able to respond to the Lord's move in the church because she doesn't have spiritual companions. If there are a few sisters who are her companions in the church life, then every time the Lord moves it will be easier for her to respond. She will also be strengthened to stand with her husband's following of the Lord. We need spiritual companionship for our own protection. When we make an important decision, we should have a sister with whom we can fellowship. When we experience a difficult stage in our spiritual growth, we should have a sister who can pray with us and help us through. This is companionship. If a group of sisters are often together, but all they do is talk and joke about different things, then this is not a true companionship. Suppose one sister among them is going through a serious problem. When she brings it up with this group of sisters for fellowship, another sister might laugh and say, "Don't be so spiritual." The sister who is in need did not receive help, and the opportunity for the other sisters to give her help has been lost. This shows that all the time these sisters were together, they did not generate the real companionship. Our companionships should not be based on natural affection or on mutual interests. Our companionships should be spiritual. It is very easy for those who have many things in common to exercise a soulish kind of companionship. Sisters who are close may even produce a small faction in the church life. We should not let our companionships become a "faction." This doesn't mean that we should avoid other sisters who we feel close to, or that we should be cold and official in our contact with one another. It just means that we should learn to be with sisters in our spirit. We should be very intimate and close, yet this is different from a worldly friendship. Our companionship is not based on soulish affection or worldly interests. Instead, we are together mutually struggling for the Lord and for His testimony. The sisters should learn to tell the Lord, "Lord, I need a few sisters who are my companions. When the difficult times come, I must have sisters who can pray with me and bring me into Your presence. I need to be with sisters who can pray together with me in spirit, so that we can seek You together." This is the healthy companionship which can bring in the real blessing from the Lord. Sisters, learn to exercise the church life in your daily life. Don't allow yourself to be alone. Don't be a lonely sister in the church life. Develop the healthy spiritual companionships. When you have some sisters as your spiritual companions, it does not meant that they are merely your friends. It means that you can pray with them, fellowship with them, labor in the word with them, and struggle together with them for the mutual growth in life. Then when you or your husband are going through something difficult, you have sisters who are your companions to help you through. Learn to pray with one another. Learn to be together. Learn to allow other sisters to "invade" your daily life, and even learn how to do the same for them in a positive way. You should not be a lonely sister in the church life. You should find some sisters to be your spiritual companions. The 3rd Element: Treasuring the Corporate Church Life In our spiritual exercise we must treasure the corporate church life, which includes being in all of the meetings and gatherings with the saints. This should be our healthy pattern. According to the Bible, we should never despise or neglect our meeting together: "Not abandoning our own assembling together, as the custom with some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more as you see the day drawing near" (Heb. 10:25). Whether it is a large church meeting or a small home meeting, this should be our pattern. In principle, we cannot neglect our gathering together. We must treasure the meeting life, which is to treasure the church life corporately. In our experience we may have picked up an unhealthy thought from Christianity. That thought is, "I only need to make a certain number of meetings a week." Some saints might even think, "I only need to come to the Lord's Table." This thought matches our fallen nature. Sisters, we need to treasure the corporate church life. This should be our pattern. We should treasure all of the gatherings, whether it is the whole church coming together or only a few saints coming together. It doesn't make a difference whether it is the elders who make the decision to call a meeting, or whether we ourselves pick up the burden to have a meeting in our home. We simply cannot ignore the gatherings of the church. If someone is not living according to this pattern, they cannot be spiritually healthy. No matter how spiritual someone is, eventually they will be dead in their spiritual experience if they abandon their assembling together with the church. They may read the Bible at home, but they will still be spiritually dead. We must see that there is a healthy pattern described in the Bible. That pattern is to assemble together with the saints in the church life. When we are not exercised properly by treasuring the corporate church life, then our pattern is not healthy. We are living according to an earthly, human standard, rather than a divine and spiritual pattern. When we attend the meetings of the church and exercise together with other saints, we are in the healthy pattern. We should not despise or look down on the meetings of the church. When we say that we don't have time for church meetings because we are too busy, we are out of the healthy pattern. The missing of meetings can itself become an unhealthy pattern, which is why Hebrews 10:25 says, "Not abandoning our own assembling together, as the custom with some is." A custom is similar to a pattern. When the book of Hebrews was written there were some saints who were in the pattern of missing meetings. They chose not to go to all the meetings or to be together with the saints, and eventually that became their pattern. We must realize that when our pattern is wrong, even if all of our deeds are right, we ourselves are still wrong. This pattern is more important than our deeds. For example, to lose our temper is not so serious, but to miss a meeting of the church is very serious. A sister may never lose her temper, but if she doesn't make the church meetings, the Lord would say, "Your good behavior doesn't mean anything." Another sister may lose her temper once in a while, yet if this sister attends all the church meetings, the Lord would say, "This is right." We should not pay attention to our deeds, but to the matter of a healthy pattern. An important part of that healthy pattern is to be together with the saints in the corporate church life. Concluding Word The pattern that we live by is a divine and spiritual pattern, not an earthly and human routine. With this pattern there are three spiritual exercises we must learn. Firstly, we must struggle in our daily life, wherever we are and in whatever condition we are in, to be in the Lord's presence. Secondly, we must be exercised to have the church life in our daily life. We should build up spiritual companionships and treasure the times we can be together with other sisters. Thirdly, we must pay attention to the corporate church life. We should exercise to be in all of the meetings and gatherings of the church. These three elements are the content of the divine, heavenly, and spiritual pattern that we must live by. Paying attention to this healthy pattern will bring in the real spiritual blessing. To purchase the book Sisters' Messages