Recently I have been wondering before the Lord why our start with the vital groups seems to be so slow. Most of us love the Lord and are seeking after Him in this age. As I was considering this matter before the Lord, He reminded me of Revelation 3:7-8. These verses say, “And to the messenger of the church in Philadelphia write: These things says the Holy One, the true One, the One who has the key of David, the One who opens and no one will shut, and shuts and no one opens: I know your works; behold, I have put before you an opened door which no one can shut, because you have a little power and have kept My word and have not denied My name.”
I want to stress this short phrase-you have a little power. Those in Philadelphia did not have much power. They just had a little power. This word was given to the best church among the seven churches-the church in Philadelphia, the church of brotherly love. The Lord first recommended Himself to them by telling them who He is-He is the Holy One and the true One who has the key of David and who opens and no one will shut, and shuts and no one will open. Surely He has a lot of power. Then Revelation 3 shows us the best church, the top church throughout the centuries. According to our concept, such a top church must be powerful, omnipotent. But how much power did this top church have? Only a little power. The Lord, on the other hand, is the One who has the key of David. He is powerful and full of authority. Yet the best church among His churches has only a little power. We should not expect that we will be greatly powerful. This realization enlightened me. I realized that we have only a little power, not much power.
The Lord impressed me that He is the One who has the key of David, being full of authority. He is the One who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one will open. But He did not demand that much of the best church. We would expect the top church, the church in Philadelphia, to have much power, but this is not the case.
We may also consider that our progress should be fast. But consider Jacob when he came back from Padanaram to the good land with his big family. It is recorded that when Jacob led his wives and children and the livestock to meet his brother, he knew that he could not journey too fast. His progress in his journeying was very slow (Gen. 31:18; 33:14). We should not expect that we can go that fast. Surely I dare not say that I am fast, so I am very sympathetic with all of us. The Lord appreciated the church in Philadelphia and opened the door which no one could shut, because they had a little power, kept the Lord’s word, and did not deny His name. This comforted me. Most of us really love the Lord and seek after Him. But I cannot say that we are powerful. All of us have only a little power.
Recently some have asked me whether or not they have had a start in the vital groups. We need to realize that our start in the vital groups is a matter of degree. Someone who is learning the English language begins by learning the ABCs. Surely he has started to learn the English language. But another one who is more proficient in English may be starting to learn at a higher stage and level. His start is to a higher degree. The learning of mathematics is another illustration of this. Math is taught in elementary school, junior high school, high school, and college. We cannot say that someone who is learning math in elementary school has not started yet. On the other hand, even someone who is working on his Ph.D. in math is still being taught.
I do believe that many of us have had a start in the vital groups to varying degrees. In recent church meetings on the Lord’s Day morning, we have seen signs of the start of the vital groups. There are signs of some increase. If the vital groups had never been started at all, not even in an “ABC” way, we could not have had such good meetings with such promising signs.
Even though we may be happy to a certain extent, we still are not satisfied. If I intended to learn English and had only learned the ABCs, I would have had a start, but I would still not be satisfied with that. I would want to learn more and improve until I mastered the English language. It is the same with the learning of math. When a student learns addition and subtraction, he has started to learn mathematics, but he needs to go on in his learning.
Many of us have been faithful to the Lord. We love Him and are seeking after Him. We need to accept what we have and where we are at the present time and aspire to go on with the Lord step by step. The church in Philadelphia was the top one, but it had only a little power. They did their best for the Lord with what they had. This indicates that what pleases the Lord is not our doing much for Him but our doing our best for Him with what we have. We have only a little power and we have done something. We have started, but we should not be contented or satisfied with what we have started.
We should be comforted. The signs showing that we have started are already among us. Our trouble is our analyzing mind. When what we do is not according to what we expect, we begin to doubt about whether we have something real or genuine. We analyze and then we check with others concerning the genuineness of what we are practicing and what we have experienced. We may ask someone, “Do you think I have started?” Then the one whom we are asking may respond, “Do you believe I have started?” Then the next question may be, “Who among us has started in full?” But to what extent do we mean when we say “in full”? Who is vital one hundred percent “in full”? Maybe only the apostle Paul was such a one. I am sharing this to show that we cannot deny that the Lord has been going on among us. In the past year, the Lord has really done something in Southern California. When we look back at our situation from the proper angle, we have to kneel down to praise Him: “Lord, I am still so weak, so down, yet I cannot deny that You have done something.”
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