THE MANIFESTATION OF GIFTS BEING ENTIRELY DEPENDENT UPON US
How much of our gift is manifested and how useful we can be in the Lord’s hands do not depend on the Lord but depend entirely on us. Have we given the Lord the opportunity and the ground in us? Who is reigning in us—the Lord or our flesh? These questions are too great and too crucial. If these questions have not been answered, and we have not dealt with them, even though we are saved, Christ still will not be able to grow in us or be developed in us so that our function can be manifested. The leading ones and serving ones in the church should spend much time to pray for all the saints that their spiritual gifts will be manifested and developed.
We should never think that we are not gifted; instead, we should go to the Lord and pray, asking the Lord to have mercy on us that we may be willing to hold on to Him, to give Him the ground in us, and to let Him gain us so that the life in us may be developed. Once this life is developed, the functions, the gifts, will be manifested. If someone is the feet, once he is developed, he will be able to walk. If someone is the hands, once he is developed, he will be able to do things. If someone is the eyes, once he is developed, he will be able to see. The manifestation of all the gifts depends on whether or not we are willing to give the Lord the ground for His life to develop in us.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF LIFE FOR THE EXERCISE OF GIFTS
There is no one who is saved who is not a member of the Body of Christ, and there is no one who is a member who does not have a gift or function. If there is a member who seems not to have any function, it is because he has not given Christ the opportunity to develop and mature in him. Hence, we have to pray, to come back to the Lord, to put ourselves aside, and to entrust ourselves entirely to the Lord. No matter what we do, we have to look to the Lord so that to the extent that the saints have received gifts, to that extent they will exercise their gifts. How much of our gift we can exercise is based on how much the life in us has developed. The development of this life is based on our fellowship with the Lord, and our fellowship with the Lord is based upon our love for the Lord.
Thus, we have to love Him and consecrate ourselves to Him. We have to deal with anything that we sense is not according to His heart. If our fellowship with the Lord is not that deep or intimate, we need the Lord to have mercy on us that we would strengthen our fellowship with Him and allow Him to have the ground in us in a deeper way. When the Lord has the ground in us, the Holy Spirit will have the ground in us, and our spiritual gift will be manifested. In this way the Body of Christ will function, the condition of the church will be normal, and God will be able to gain true worship.
(The Crucified Christ, Chapter 14, by Witness Lee)
