"I don't think I've ever met anyone who hasn't struggled with the desire to know God's will. The problem is, this struggle often involved a great deal of confusion and worry." ?Chuck Swindoll Many people have the idea that if they could just somehow find that single planned direction, they would be effortlessly swept through life. But life is not like that. Probably the most misunderstood factor of discovering God's will is the thought that, If I do this, the struggles will end, the questions are over, the answers come, and I live hapily ever after. But that's not reality. Does that mean that God's will must remain opaque to us?that we must muddle and grope blindly through life with no clue to what He wants for us? "Not at all," says Charles Swindoll. In this groundbreaking book, Swindoll invites us to join him on a spiritual quest. "I believe God's will for us in this life is not some black-and-white objective designed to take us to an appointed destination here on earth as much as it is about the journey itself . . . and what matters to Him in our lives." The Mystery of God's Will overflows with practical insights, humor, and unforgettable stories that will de-mystify, clarify, and put your mind at ease.

The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1965, volume 1, contains messages and fellowship given by Brother Witness Lee primarily from January through July 1965. A portion of this volume contains messages given in December 1963 and in March 1966. During the period from January through July, 1965, Brother Lee traveled extensively. In mid-February through mid-March he visited cities in Texas, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Ohio. From the middle to the end of April he visited Mount Vernon, Missouri, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. At the end of May he traveled to South Carolina and Florida and then went on to Brazil, Peru, and Panama before returning to Los Angeles at the end of June. He also visited Sacramento, California, in mid-July and may have visited the Pacific Northwest. Regrettably, there is no record of his speaking in any of these places. At the end of July he held a weekend conference in San Francisco. The contents of this volume are divided into eleven sections, as follows: 1. Four messages given in Los Angeles, California, from January 12 through May 25. These messages are included in this volume under the title Exercising Our Gifts to Build Up the Body. 2. Fourteen messages given in Los Angeles, California, the first nine of which were given from January 23 through May 29, and the remaining five of which were given on March 15 through 24, 1966. These messages were previously published under the title The Vision, Practice, and Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ. 3. Fourteen messages given in Los Angeles, California, from January 31 through May 18, 1965. These messages have been previously published under the title Preaching the Gospel in the Way of Life. The published book contained thirteen chapters. However, during research for The Collected Works, an additional message was discovered. This message is included in this volume as the first chapter. 4. Four messages given in Los Angeles, California, on April 9 through 11. These messages have been previously published under the title The Experience of Christ in Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. 5. Six messages given in Los Angeles, California, from January 15 through April 2. These messages are included in this volume under the title Study on Hebrews. 6. Three messages given in Los Angeles, California, on May 7 through 21. These messages are published in this volume under the title Notes on 1 Timothy. 7. Two messages given in Los Angeles, California, on July 2 and 9. These messages are included in this volume under the title Study on Titus. 8. Four messages given in San Francisco, California, on July 23 through 25. One of the messages was spoken in Chinese and translated simultaneously into English. The English translation was edited for inclusion in this section. The messages given in this conference are included in this volume under the title Summer Conference in San Francisco. 9. One message that first appeared as an article in volume 3, number 1 of The Stream magazine in May 1965. The date and place of the original spoken message are uncertain. This message was previously published under the title The Baptism in the Holy Spirit. 10. One message that was first published as an article in volume 4, number 2 of The Stream magazine in May 1966. There is some evidence that it was spoken in Los Angeles, California, in the summer of 1965. The original article was later revised and published as a booklet entitled The Vision of the Church in 1968. This booklet is included in this volume under the same title. 11. Two messages given in Los Angeles, California, on December 24 and 26, 1963. The two messages were published in 1994 as chapters 4 and 6 of The Life and Way for the Practice of the Church Life, which is included in The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1963, volume 4. They first appeared in May 1965 in a slightly different form as a two-part article entitled The All-inclusive Spirit of Christ in volume 3, number 1 of The Stream magazine. The original article was later revised and printed as a booklet under the same title in 1969. This booklet, including the four diagrams that do not appear elsewhere, is included in this volume under the same title.

The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1956, volume 3, contains messages given by Brother Witness Lee from May 2, 1956, through January 21, 1957. Historical information concerning Brother Lee's travels and the content of his ministry in 1956 can be found in the general preface that appears at the beginning of volume 1 in this set. The contents of this volume are divided into eleven sections, as follows: 1. Two messages given in Taipei, Taiwan, on May 2 and 3, 1956. These messages are included in this volume under the title Comments on the Testimonies of the Trainees. 2. Two messages published in The Ministry of the Word in 1956. These messages are included in this volume under the title A God Who Hides Himself. Chapter 1 of this section is an unabridged version of the message included in volume 2 as chapter 1 of the section entitled The Ministry of the Word, Miscellaneous Messages, 1956. 3. Two sets of personal notes written in July 1956 and in October through December 1956. These notes are included in this volume under the title Witness Lee's Personal Notes. 4. A talk given in Hong Kong on August 15, 1956. This talk is included in this volume under the title A Talk concerning Wedding Meetings. 5. Eight messages given in Hong Kong on August 21 through 30, 1956. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Inner Operation of God and the Salvation of Man's Tripartite Being. 6. Nine messages given in Hong Kong on August 22 through 30, 1956. These messages are included in this volume under the title Transformation and Conformation in God's Salvation. 7. Five messages given in Hong Kong beginning on September 2, 1956. These messages, which appear as four chapters and an appendix, were previously published in a book entitled The Meaning and Purpose of Prayer and are included in this volume under the same title. 8. Fourteen messages given in Hong Kong on September 5 through October 4, 1956. These messages are included in this volume under the title Guidelines for the Experience of Life. 9. Ten messages given in Hong Kong in September and October 1956. These messages are included in this volume under the title Guidelines for Service. 10. Ten messages given in Hong Kong in September and October 1956. These messages are included in this volume under the title Critiques Given during the Practice of Giving Messages. 11. Six messages given in Manila, Philippines, on December 31, 1956, through January 21, 1957. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Testimony of Jesus and Our Overcoming.

Islamic Terrorists- Earthquakes and Tsunamis- Middle East Unrest- Rampant Immorality- Spiritually dead churches… As the world rocks in turmoil, people wonder what’s really going on. In Mystery God, author Scott Smith unveils mysteries hidden by God in the Bible some 3,500 years ago—messages intended to be unlocked by our generation, answering our hard questions, including these: Why is this world in uncontrollable chaos? What is really at the center of homosexuality, abortion, natural disasters and terrorism? Why does it seem the end of the world is inevitable? Amazingly, the answers to these questions are in your hands. Mystery God is an electrifying read that offers hope in the midst of fear and confusion. It's unlike anything you've ever read. Are you ready for the truth? Are you ready to meet the Mystery God? Also included in the book: * The Ancient Wedding Customs and the Rapture * Answers to Christianity's Tough Questions, like: Heaven & Hell, the Trinity, and more! * Hidden Parallels of Christ in the Bible * Unlock over 50 other mysteries in God's Word

In this book we record the five mystery gospels preached by Leader Olumba Olumba Obu, namely: Mystery of God, Mystery of Time, Mystery of Propagation, Mystery of Death and Mystery of Marriage. Several Gospels on Christ's Universal Spiritual School of Practical Christianity, otherwise known as Brotherhood of the Cross and Star, are also recorded. The Addendum contains Order of Services in Brotherhood of the Cross and Star.

Evil in Scripture denotes both suffering and behavior that causes it. Anger often follows suffering. Anger at people is condemned, but anger at God is accepted because biblical faith portrays God as inflicting evil. This faith calls for an understanding of language about God acting and a biblical theodicy revealing God's goodness; both are provided. Portrayals of God as inflicting evil do not deny that, factually, humans inflict it, so the witness about human sin is included. Final chapters offer biblical deliverances from evil.

This book is intended as an aid to believers in developing a daily time of morning revival with the Lord in His word. At the same time, it provides a limited review of the summer training held July 1-6, 2013, in Anaheim, California, on the “Crystallization-study of Genesis.” Through intimate contact with the Lord in His word, the believers can be constituted with life and truth and thereby equipped to prophesy in the meetings of the church unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

This issue of The Ministry of the Word contains the remaining eight messages given during the fall 2018 term of the full-time training in Anaheim, California. The general subject of this series of messages is "The Central Vision." There are three aspects of the central vision. The first aspect is God as our contents, the second aspect is Christ as the mystery of God, and the third aspect is the church as the mystery of Christ. Christ is the mystery of God, the church is the mystery of Christ, and Christ and the church are the great mystery.

This issue of The Ministry of the Word contains the nine messages given during the international training for elders and responsible ones held in Leipzig, Germany, from October 5-7, 2017. The general subject of this series of messages is "The Recovery of the Church." The intrinsic significance of the church is the corporate expression of Christ, who is the embodiment and expression of the Triune God. The reality of the church as the expression of Christ is heavenly, "Christly," and "resurrectionly." In time and space, however, the church can deviate and become degraded, deformed, and corrupted due to the enemy's work of producing substitutes for Christ, dividing the Body of Christ, and killing the function of the members of the Body of Christ. From the beginning, God's intention was to have the church, and this was taught by the apostles (Eph. 3:10-11). Although much of the truth concerning the church has been lost or distorted, our God is a God of recovery regardless of what the enemy has done. The Lord's recovery of the church brings us back to the beginning for the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose and original intention regarding the church. For the recovery of the church, we need to overcome the degradation of the church that was brought in according to the principle of Babylon--exercising human ability and effort, hypocrisy, self-glorification, and harlotry. The way to overcome the principle of Babylon is to take Christ as our burnt offering so that He can repeat the life of the burnt offering within us. By this way we can be "Christified" and become His duplication for the building up of the Body of Christ to consummate the holy city, New Jerusalem. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah record the return of the Israelites from Babylon to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and the city. This return signifies the Lord's recovery of a remnant out of today's division and confusion back to the original ground of oneness for the building up of the genuine church as the house of God and the kingdom of God. To strengthen and enrich the recovery of the church, the Lord needs priestly scribes like Ezra--those who contact God, are saturated with God, and are skillful in the Word of God to reeducate and reconstitute God's people for His testimony and His corporate expression on the earth. The Lord also needs those who are pure and properly aggressive like Nehemiah to build the great and high wall of the holy city for our separation unto God, the protection of God's interests, and the expression of God. Practically speaking, in the Lord's recovery today, we are mainly recovering the proper church life and the proper living of the church. The church life is the corporate living of the perfected God-men, a living in the reality of the Body of Christ. The church life is the life of Christ being lived out through His members in a corporate way. It is our being headed up under the unique headship of Christ and enjoying the mutual flowing of fellowship in oneness as the continuation of Christ's being glorified by the Father so that we may be the corporate expression of Christ. In order for the Lord to return, He must recover the life and living of the church. The church has two main aspects--universal and local. The church is constituted of the universal God, but it exists on earth in many localities; in nature the church is universal in God, but in practice the church is local, in a definite place. Without the universal aspect, the church is void of content; without the local aspect, it is impossible for the church to have any expression and practice. The genuine oneness is the Triune God who as the Spirit today is being added to us and is permeating us, taking us over, and filling us. Only the Triune God is the factor of the genuine oneness. The ground of oneness is simply the processed Triune God applied to our being. In Psalm 133 the fine oil, referring to the holy anointing oil in Exodus 30:23-33, signifies the all-inclusive compound Spirit. This anointing Spirit is the element of our oneness; when the compound Spirit applies Himself to us and spreads over and in our entire being in a gradual way, He makes us genuinely one. If we want to have the recovery of the church, we must have a clear revelation concerning the three most basic, essential, and crucial statuses of the church--as the Body of Christ, as the new man, and as the counterpart of Christ. The Body is the issue of the headship of Christ. Christ, as the One who fills all in all, needs His Body to be His fullness, the expression of the Head (cf. Eph. 1:22-23). For the building up of the Body of Christ, we need to practice the scriptural way to meet and to serve--the God-ordained way revealed in the holy Word. The new man is Christ in all the saints. This indwelling Christ permeates and replaces us to remove all natural distinctions and to constitute everyone with Himself. In order for us to experience the reality of Christ being all the members of the new man, we need to take Christ as our life and our person and live Him, not ourselves. The one new man fulfills God's eternal purpose of expressing God and dealing with His enemy. The church as the Body of Christ and the one new man will become the bride, the counterpart, of Christ. The Lord will return for His bride. The church, the counterpart of Christ, as typified by Eve, is a pure product out of Christ, built out of the uncreated life released by Christ through His death and resurrection. Only those who are regenerated of Christ and who live by Christ as the church can match Christ and complement Him. In the New Jerusalem the processed and consummated redeeming Triune God as the universal Husband will live a married life for eternity with this redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified corporate person as His wife. This will be the consummation of the universal divine romance. The Announcements section of this issue contains a list of upcoming conferences and trainings hosted by Living Stream Ministry and a website link for information related to similar events in Europe.

Samuel experienced defining moments in his life as God shaped him to be His chosen servant. Now readers can learn to take a spiritual inventory of their own lives and define clearly those moments, often during times of turmoil and crisis, that God is guiding them. Those divine moments are so incredibly different than the ordinary times that they capture our attention and lead us in our relationships with God, ministry, or life itself. In the Chosen to Be God's Prophet Workbook, Dr. Blackaby leads us through Samuel's journey and inspires us to make adjustments in our own lives.