PARENTHOOD
a divine stewardship

When they asked me concerning a place for the children to meet, I said, "There is no need to go to the meeting hall, and it is not necessary to meet on the Lord's Day. You can meet on Saturdays or in the evenings. You can simply meet in the homes of the brothers and sisters. Out of the eight thousand families, you can choose three to four hundred homes to be the places for the children's meetings, with each home holding thirty children. If you continue in this work, you will see how much you can accomplish!" Starting from 1966 and 1967 I have been talking about this very matter and have been expecting the church to practice it, because we do have the basic strength to work it out. If we had worked from that time until now, 1977, ten thousand children would have become high schoolers of sixteen to seventeen years of age. Immediately, there would be ten thousand "seeds" in different high schools. At that time, I also said that we had to work on the junior highers, the high schoolers, and the college students to gain several thousand in each category. In this way, the number of children and young people added together would be at least twenty to thirty thousand. Moreover, children increase endlessly. When these ten thousand get into high school, another ten thousand will take their place. It is a pity that you did not practice what I said!

…Dear brothers and sisters, I hope that the fiery lamps of God are shining here so that your eyes will be opened. Do you know what age this is? The Lord is right before us. Look at the world situation, the condition in Israel, and the situation in the Middle East. The Lord Jesus is right before us. Now is the time for the fiery lamps to shine on us and to motivate us. When the lamps of fire shine on us, we will all move and rise up to take action….

CARING FOR NOTHING BUT BEING DRIVEN BY THE LAMPS OF FIRE

The burning of the fiery lamps is not only for shining and burning but also for motivating. Lightnings, voices, and thunders come forth out of the throne, and before the throne are seven burning lamps of fire for impelling us. Perhaps some would say that they cannot do it. The more we do not do something, the more we cannot do it. This is a principle in the Bible. To everyone who has, more shall be given, and he shall abound; but from him who does not have, that is, who does not use what he has, even that which he has shall be taken away from him (Matthew 25:28-29). We cannot do it simply because we do not do it. I can do it because I have done it many times. The more I do it, the more I can do it.

Dear brothers and sisters, today in the church the seven lamps of fire are burning not only to shine on us and to burn us, but even more to motivate us. If there were a raging fire in front of us, would we not run from it? We would not stand here to appreciate it. Once a fire starts burning, everyone moves. When the seven lamps of fire are burning in the local churches, will all the churches in the different localities start moving? Certainly they will! Today we are not only in the Holy Place; we are before the throne, which is the center of God's administration. The throne is God's move and God's economy. The seven lamps of fire are burning here to impel us. (Witness Lee, The Ultimate Significance of the Golden Lampstands, pp. 54-57)

APPLICATION

1. Why would we say that the proper family life depends on the healthy church life?

2. What can we do to effectively gain our children and young people for the church life? Are you willing to open your home for this to take place? Are you burdened to rise up and take action for this purpose?