RELATIONSHIP IN REVIVALS
A revival came to Chefoo in 1942 through practicing that blueprint. Because of that revival I suffered persecution and was imprisoned for one month in May 1943. After I was released from prison, I was severely ill of tuberculosis of the lungs. It was through that persecution, imprisonment, and sickness that I was forced to leave my hometown in 1944. I went to Tsingtao, resting and recuperating there for about two years. After Japan surrendered in August of 1945, I was invited to visit the church in Nanking in June of the next year, where I met Ruth Lee again after an absence from each other of over six years. From Nanking I proceeded to Shanghai to meet the invitation of the church there, staying there for about three weeks. I held a conference with the restored church in Shanghai on the tree of life and had much contact with Peace Wang and Yu Cheng-hwa, the eye specialist. In the same summer Watchman returned from Chungking to Shanghai and located there for his pharmaceutical business. He had still not resumed his ministry, but I had opportunity to visit and fellowship with him during this time.
Following my stay in Shanghai, I returned to Tsingtao. In the fall my wife and children were able to join me there from Chefoo. Based on the invitation and encouragement of the leading brothers in Nanking and Shanghai, I moved with my family to work in their district in October of 1946.
By being in Shanghai again, I had much opportunity to see Brother Nee after a separation of more than six years. While I was in the north, he had been in the western interior. We had had no correspondence during the war years, and I was somewhat concerned whether my practice in Chefoo had been right or not. Also, at this time Peace Wang and I were concerned for the recovery of Watchman’s ministry. For this reason we both took every opportunity to have fellowship with him. Many times we had fellowship concerning life, the Spirit, the work, the churches, and the Lord’s move in the recovery. In all these matters he helped us very much. In our fellowship I related to him all the things I had practiced during our years of separation. His response was to encourage me to carry out the same things in the other churches. We presented to him the urgent need to resume his ministry because of the restoration of the church in Shanghai and the wide doors opened in new fields. I asked him to resume his ministry, but he told me that because of certain rebellious brothers, his ministering spirit would not allow him to minister to the church in Shanghai. I realized from this that in order to recover his ministry, there was the crucial need of a revival among us.
He was fully open to both Peace Wang and me and gave us instructions concerning the Lord’s work. In his fellowship with us, he stressed again and again the need to have the outer man broken that our spirit with the Holy Spirit might be released in our public ministry and personal contact with others. This was a great help to me.
After staying in Shanghai for a short time, a revival began to come in among the saints, and the number of attendants in the meetings greatly increased. Many who were distracted by the storm in 1942, which caused the church in Shanghai to be closed, were recovered. The news spread rapidly to all the churches throughout the country. The churches in the provinces of Fukien and Kwangtung urgently invited Peace Wang and me to visit them. Co-workers and leading ones from throughout the country were coming to Shanghai for fellowship. The decision was made that in April of 1948 a conference would be held for all the seeking ones throughout the country who could come and fellowship concerning the Lord’s recovery.
(Watchman Nee—A Seer of the Divine Revelation in the Present Age, Chapter 33, by Witness Lee)
