Here I would like to use a new phrase: The church is the place where God transfuses. Have you ever heard such a phrase? Every time we meet together, we allow God to transfuse Himself into us. This is the reality of the church. Previously many of us were in Christianity, in the old denominations. We dressed up properly to “go to church” every Sunday morning, and near the end of the service, the offering plate would be passed and we would put money in it. Can we say from our conscience that God’s transfusing was there? I do not know what was transmitted there, but it was definitely not the place where God was transfusing. However, when we come to the church meetings, we feel that we are sitting before the Lord and that His eyes are looking at us. If we obey Him, we feel that He is lovely. If we disobey Him, He is still lovely, but we are a little ashamed. We may say, “O Lord, in the past week I disobeyed You. Lord, forgive me and wash me with Your precious blood.” We all have had such an experience. This is the transfusion and infusion of the Lord’s inner being into us for our transformation. Transformation is not a change caused by a shining light; rather, it is the transfusing of the Lord’s lovable person into us. After such an experience, we may return home with tears, saying, “O Lord! Have mercy on me this week. I don’t want to sin against You again. I want to please You.” However, we still do not know Him enough. Our heart is right, but we are wrong because we do not know that we cannot please the Lord. We are like a centipede which can only crawl on the ground but wants to fly in the air. It is as if we are saying, “O Lord, I was crawling on the ground last week; not once did I fly in the air to please You. I really sinned against You. Starting from this week I don’t want to crawl on the ground. I want to fly in the air with You.” However, after such a prayer at the beginning of the week, we may start “crawling on the ground” the same night and continue for the whole week. Then on the following Lord’s Day when we come to the meeting, the seven eyes of God may say, “Here you are again!”, and we may repeat our prayer of confession. However, the Lord may say, “Do not cry! I do not blame you at all. You are a ‘centipede,’ so I have no intention that you would fly. Do you not know that I am the flying life?” Sometimes, however, the Lord does not say anything; He just transfuses. This transfusion goes on week by week until the “centipede” begins to “fly.” This will amaze our family; they will not know what has happened. They will not be able to describe it, but they will sense that there is something wonderful in us and that we have had a great change. Such an experience is the reality of the church.
The seven eyes are in the church. We must not forget that the seven eyes are on the lampstand, and the lampstand is in the Holy Place. If we are not in the Holy Place, we do not have the lampstand, and without the lampstand, we cannot have the seven eyes. The Holy Place is the church, and the lampstand is also the church. To receive the transfusion of the seven eyes we must be in the church. To be in the church is not merely a matter of listening to messages or giving messages. These are small matters. Some elderly sisters can testify that many times after coming to the meetings, they cannot remember anything that was said. However, they do remember that when they go to the meetings, something touches them and enters into them, although they cannot explain it clearly. They feel that it is so good to go to the meetings, and it is a loss not to go. That is why after going to a meeting on the Lord’s Day, they still go on the following Tuesday, and they make it a rule to go again on Thursday. Although they cannot remember clearly what is said, they feel so good within. This is the characteristic of the churches in the Lord’s recovery.
There are some who say that the church has a way of capturing people. After coming to meet with us and listening to two messages, they say, people are “glued,” and they go to the meeting hall every day. The old ones go, and the young ones also go; the men go, and the women also go; they go on the Lord’s Day and also on Tuesday; they go in the morning and also in the evening. Someone once asked me what our secret is. The secret is the seven lamps of fire and the seven eyes.
Whether or not we are the church does not depend on outward organization; it depends on whether there are the seven eyes among us. These seven eyes are not only for shining on us but also for transfusing God Himself into us. Even if one is a highly educated and intelligent university professor, this does not mean that he has the proper understanding. In 1947 there was a revival in the church in Shanghai, where there was a university professor who loved me very much. He said, “Brother Lee, I would feel good just to accompany you and help you carry your Bible bag.” Nevertheless, the problem was that even though he was a professor in a medical school and had listened to all my messages, he understood nearly nothing at all. In contrast, I have seen some sisters in Shanghai who were quite elderly. They could not speak Mandarin properly or read the Bible smoothly, but when they listened to my messages, they understood every single one. This is the characteristic of the church. The church is not those with degrees or those with big minds. The church is a group of people who have experienced God’s transfusion. God is able to transfuse Himself into them. I can truly testify for those elderly sisters in Shanghai that they were clear within. God could transfuse His being into them.
The effectiveness of our work lies here. If we use our mind to speak mere knowledge, although we can make a professor understand us, there is no transfusion of God. The secret of our work does not lie in how many good messages we have given. Rather, it hinges on how much God has been transfused into others after each meeting or message. This is what makes a difference. Some people are very eloquent, and when they give a sermon, it is like music, but in the end there is no transfusion of God. We thank and praise Him that the seven lamps are the seven eyes. Today the Lamb has seven eyes, not seven lamps; likewise, the stone has seven eyes, not seven lamps. The eyes are here gazing at us to transfuse God into us.