Luke 1:53 says, “The hungry He has filled with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.” This verse shows us that God's grace is reserved for one type of person—a hungry one. If a person comes to the meeting only for the purpose of observing and listening, he will not see anything or hear anything. If all that a person wants is some Bible knowledge, his real spiritual problems will not be solved. Only those with a pressing inward need and those who are determined to meet God will receive His blessing. We must realize that spiritual progress is based on our hunger.

All spiritual progress begins when God initiates a good work in a person through the Holy Spirit by creating a longing within. Every time there is any spiritual progress, the Holy Spirit has initiated it. The Holy Spirit makes us feel dissatisfied with our present condition; the Holy Spirit makes us feel that our present condition is wrong and that our spiritual life is too shallow. The first work of the Holy Spirit is to give us a sense of dissatisfaction and to create in us a desire to be better. Brothers and sisters, if we want to have any spiritual progress, we must first become dissatisfied with our present spiritual condition, and we must seek for something better. This is the beginning of spiritual progress. Putting it another way, all failure and decadence is the result of self-complacency. The beginning of failure is self-complacency. Our feelings of dissatisfaction with ourselves indicate that the Holy Spirit has begun His work in us and that it is the time for us to go forward.

Some brothers and sisters have a genuine desire before the Lord and are genuinely conscious of their deficiencies and shortcomings. They earnestly hope to live a better and fuller life. However, they do not know how they can achieve this, and they do not know how they can have an abundant life. Brothers and sisters, if we have such a feeling, we can rest assured that this life will be ours. This is because the desire does not originate from ourselves but from the work of the Holy Spirit in us. We should realize that God Himself fills up whatever He has emptied. God will not leave us empty forever; His purpose is to fill us. Since God has emptied us, He will surely fill us. If He did not want to fill us, He would not have emptied us in the first place. Emptying is merely the means; filling is the goal. Therefore, God never empties anyone without filling him again. If there is a longing heart in us, it proves that we are already under the operating power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit never engages Himself in a fruitless work. The only question is whether or not there is some hindrance within us. If there is a genuine desire within us, we will certainly receive what we desire.

CWWN, vol. 37, “General Messages (1),” pp. 132–133

1. For the upcoming International Chinese-speaking conference.
2. Pray for the distribution of the ministry to the Lord's seekers at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy and the related Torch Relay.
3. For the preaching of the high gospel and spreading of the deeper truths in the USA and North America in 2026.
4. Pray for the sevenfold intensified life-giving Spirit to operate in the saints through the word spoken in the semiannual training to produce them as overcomers for the Lord's return.
5. For the strengthening of existing churches and raising up of new churches in the French-speaking countries of Europe.
6. Pray for the saints to persevere in prayer for the Lord's final move to build up His Body, manifest the new man, and prepare His bride to end the age.
7. Pray for all the saints to be vitalized to carry out the God-ordained way in the vital groups for the increase and building up of the church as the Body of Christ.
8. Pray for all the saints to be enriched through their reading of the Life-study messages and the New Testament with footnotes.
9. Pray for the college students, young people and children to be preserved from the present evil age and gained by the Lord for His purpose.
10. For the enemy to be bound and the Lord to preserve the United States for His final move to complete His economy on earth.
11. Pray for those who are ill or who have lost loved ones.

The prayer meeting will be held at The Church in Anaheim District 3 meeting hall: 2528 W La Palma Ave, Anaheim. It is also available via video conference or phone.

Due to the International Chinese-speaking Conference, we will have the Lord's Table meeting at the Ministry Conference Center in Anaheim.

Week 1: The Blessedness of Being Poor in Spirit and Pure in Heart That We May Be under Christ's Heavenly Ruling as Our New King and That We May See God to Express Him in His Life and Represent Him with His Authority

Life-Study of Hebrews, Messages 19 & 20

The conference is on February 13 to 15 in Anaheim. The general subject will be “Noah, Daniel, and Job—Patterns of Living an Overcoming Life on the Line of Life to Fulfill the Economy of God.” Both the live and archived messages, as well as the message outlines, will be available free of charge at lsmwebcast.com.

The meeting schedule is as follows:

• 1st meeting: Friday, February 13, 7:30 PM
• 2nd meeting: Saturday, February 14, 9:00 AM
• 3rd meeting: Saturday, February 14, 11:00 AM
• 4th meeting: Saturday, February 14, 7:30 PM
• 5th meeting: Lord's Day, February 15, 9:30 AM

All the meetings of the conference will be held at the Living Stream Ministry, Ministry Conference Center, 2431 W. La Palma Ave, Anaheim, California.

Please pray that the Lord will take more crucial steps in the advancement of His purpose during this gathering.

Living Stream Ministry has developed a website that can be used to create a schedule for reading the Holy Bible Recovery Version regularly in a number of different ways. The scheduler is located at schedule.recoveryversion.bible.

A schedule created on this website can be used to read the Bible without footnotes in addition to reading the New Testament with footnotes according to the schedule on the first page of the Church News. If we read the Word regularly, we will fulfill Brother Lee's speaking to the elders in Anaheim in 1977 (see CWWL, 1977, vol. 1, pp. 6–7); that is, we will become what we read.

Torch Relay gospel trips have just wrapped up in Vicenza and Turin. The next cycle, which will be the final TR trip before the Olympic Games begin, will be January 30 to February 9 in Milan.

Please pray that the Lord would operate through all the tracts and literature distributed during the past week to turn the hearts of many local Italians. May the Lord continue to prepare the hearts of many seeking people to receive Christ in His word and be added to the Lord's testimony in Europe.

Saints who are burdened to give can designate offerings “Italy Olympics.”

Construction of the new Meeting and Training Facility, with a potential seating capacity of 900, resumed in March last year. Around 40% of the total funds needed to complete the construction have been received, with estimates that an additional £7.5 million is needed to complete the entire project (expected to be ready 2028).

Please continue to pray that the Lord will provide the necessary funds and serving ones to carry out the construction to completion.

Saints who are burdened to give can designate offerings “UK Building Project.”

There will be NO Wednesday night ministry meeting during the winter break.

An email was sent out describing the different ways to donate to the Church in Cypress. The attached file was titled “Donation Instructions”. If you haven't received the email, please send a note to: [email protected].