Weekly Pursuit – Week 2 of Feb.

Verses:

Gen. 13:18 “And Abram moved his tent and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to Jehovah.”

Ministry Reading:

In this Body we spontaneously communicate and fellowship with other children of the Lord. Once we turn our back towards Ai and judge the natural life, we will enter into the life of the Body of Christ and be brought into the fellowship spontaneously. Those who truly know the Body of Christ are freed from individualism spontaneously. They do not trust in themselves, and they realize that they are very weak. They fellowship with all the children of God. God must bring us to the point where we cannot go on without fellowship. God will show us that what is impossible with individuals is possible when it is done in fellowship. This is the meaning of Hebron.

The altar has its issue in the tent [Gen. 12:8]….From then on, Abraham lived in God’s house—Bethel….Actually, he lived in a tent before, but God did not mention it. Not until he had built the altar does the Word of God bring the tent into view.

A tent is something movable; it does not take root anywhere. Through the altar God deals with us; through the tent God deals with our possessions….What was not consumed on the altar could only be kept in the tent. Here we see a principle….God leaves some of the things offered on the altar for our own use….We must apply the principle of the tent to all the physical things that He permits us to retain, because they have been given back to us to meet our need in the world. If we do not need them, we should dispose of them. We may use them, but we must not be touched by them….May we learn this lesson. We dare not use anything that has not been placed on the altar, we may not take anything back from the altar, and what God gives back must be kept according to the principle of the tent. (CWWN, vol. 37, “The Life of the Altar and the Tent,” pp. 92-93, Life-study of Genesis, msg. 41)