Author: livinglywrong

In order to help people, we must have spiritual experiences in addition to love

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“A member must have spiritual experiences in order for his function to be manifested. Without spiritual experiences, there is no spiritual function. For instance, I may be someone who has touched God’s love and who loves the brothers and sisters, but I may not have learned many lessons or have had many spiritual experiences. This will limit the operation of love within me and limit the manifestation of my function. Motivated by love, I may want to fellowship with a brother, but without spiritual experiences, I will not be able to help the brother. Without spiritual experiences, there will be no way to manifest my function according to the operation of love.

…. One day a sister in her fifties came to see me. As soon as she began to speak, she had only critical words for her husband, saying, “Brother Lee, my husband is so mean to me. He never gives me a pleasant look. He is away from home all day long even when he is not at work, and as soon as he gets home, he quarrels with me. I cannot bear this. Please pray that my husband would change.”

As she continued to speak, I was unsure of how to help her at first. However, I did know that this kind of disharmony in a family cannot be attributed to just one person. If her husband needed to be dealt with before the Lord, she did as well. As she spoke, I began to realize that she also had many problems. For example, she was very proud in her husband’s presence, and she was unwilling to bend or obey. If her husband was stubborn, she would be even more stubborn. If her husband was unhappy and had a long face, she would have an even longer face. When her husband came home late, she would wait to open the door and would greet him with an unpleasant expression on her face. In part, her reactions caused her husband to like her less and less and to want to be at home less and less.

After gaining a broader view of the problem, I said, “Sister, I will pray for your husband as you requested, but you must promise me that you will change your attitude toward him. As soon as he comes home in the evening and knocks on the door, you should open the door for him with a pleasant smile on your face. It would also be good if you could prepare a snack for him.” Upon hearing this, the sister said, “I cannot do that.” I responded, saying, “I know that we cannot do it in ourselves, but the Lord can. Is not the Lord in us as our life? Have a time of prayer with the Lord and ask the Lord to supply you in order to do this.”

It is not easy for a person to yield to the Lord, and it is even more difficult to yield to man. Although the sister was very troubled, she had to yield to the Lord in order for there to be any hope that her husband would yield as well. When she went home, she knelt down and wept bitterly in her room, saying, “Lord, I cannot do this. I cannot do this.” In her prayer, however, she was deeply touched by the Lord, and she yielded to Him. Then she inwardly yielded to her husband as well. That evening she dressed neatly, prepared some snacks, and waited for her husband to return. When her husband returned around twelve o’clock and knocked on the door, she immediately opened the door and had a much more agreeable attitude. This went on for several evenings, and soon there was a completely different situation in their house. After the sister yielded in this way, her husband began to yield as well.

In order to help people practically, it is not enough to have merely love; we must have spiritual experiences as well. Once there is experience, various functions will be manifested. We must learn the lessons of touching the authority of the Head, accepting the ruling of the Head, and letting the Lord subdue us in every matter. We can truly help others only in the matters in which we have been subdued. Function is based on experience.”

(Service for the Building Up of the Church, pp. 35-37)

Whether or not you are really broken is tested by the coordination with others

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“THE WAY OF COORDINATION

… In this chapter my burden is another point of the service, that is, the matter of coordination. In the service we need to be coordinated with others. I do not say that we need to be organized. To be organized is one thing, and to be coordinated is another. What we mean by the word coordination is simply to be built up together, to serve in the way of being built up together.

The more you serve, the more you will be built up together with others. In these days we are talking about the building up of the church. The building up of the church is in the service of coordination. If we are serving the Lord in the way of coordination, we are being built together while we are serving.

We need to see what this means in a practical way. Suppose that I am a sister serving the Lord among the saints in the church. I need to serve the Lord in such a way that the more I serve, the more I will be built up together with others, and the more I serve, the more others will be brought in to be built up together with me. In other words, the more I serve, the more the church is built up.

In many places today, however, the more the people serve, the more they become independent. The more gifted they are, the more they become a giant, and the more they become independent. Some of the gifted ones would think that they are so high that others cannot follow them. They consider themselves so high and everyone else so low. They would put themselves on the top and others on the bottom. As a result, they would be independent. This is not the right way.

The right way is that while you are serving, you are being built together with others. The more you serve, the more you exercise your gift, the more you will be united, the more you will be coordinated with others. In the Lord’s service you never act in an independent way. Here there are lessons for us to learn.

Let me illustrate in this way. Suppose that I am a brother with a gift, and the more I serve, the more I will learn and the more I will know how to serve. The more I serve, the more I will become strong and the more I will become great. Then I will become proud, thinking that I know this, I know that, I know everything. Therefore, I must do everything, because I am the only one who knows how to do it. In a sense, I am becoming almighty. I can do everything, and I do everything. The more I serve, the more everything comes into my pocket, and everything is in my hand. The more I can do, the more I am independent, and I can do everything in my way. I have no more lessons to learn, and no one can teach me anything. In the meeting I announce the hymn, play the piano, start the hymn, lead the prayer, and do the preaching—I do everything. There is no need for anyone else. I can accomplish the whole job. I am on the top, and I am the most independent. Others may admire me as such a wonderful brother. Nevertheless, you all need to realize that this kind of brother simply damages the church life. The more he does, the more he delays the building up of the church; he even spoils and frustrates it. Since such a brother is so capable in himself, there are no lessons for him to learn, and there is no need for him to coordinate with others. This is not the right way.

LETTING THINGS PASS INTO THE HANDS OF OTHERS

The right way is this. On the first day that I come here to serve, I may do ninety percent of the things, and leave ten percent in the hands of others. But after one month I am taking care of only sixty percent, and the other forty percent has passed into the hands of some others who have come in to serve with me. After another month I may take care of only thirty percent, and another month later maybe only five percent, then a little later only one percent. The rest of the job of the service goes to all the serving brothers and sisters. One sister takes care of the piano. A brother takes care of the hymns. Another takes care of this, and another takes care of that. To serve the Lord in this way I need to learn many lessons. Each one of us naturally thinks that he is the best and would never let others do the same thing that he does. But if you would learn the lesson to be coordinated with others, you need to learn how to look down on yourself, how to be limited by others. Otherwise, you could not bring people more and more into the building.

There was a sister in China who was quite capable, educated, and experienced in doing things, and she loved the Lord very much. However, when she came into the service of the church, the more she served, the more everything came into her hand. After two or three months it seemed that all the others had been dismissed. One day the elders asked her why it was that there were only two or three left in the Lord’s service, when a few months ago there had been quite a number. They asked where the others were. Her answer was that they did not know how to do things, and they did not do them well. The more she served, the more all the others were dismissed, dismissed because of her ability and her capability. No one could work as fast as she could. In everything it seemed that she was right because she was so capable. But in spiritual reality she damaged the church life very much. She acted independently. Later on, with this sister there was a great spiritual cancer.

A cancer is a part of the body that overdevelops, a group of cells that goes wild, that goes too far. You need to be limited by others so that you will not be a cancer to the Body of Christ. You need to be limited by others so that you will be a member coordinated with others, not a cell gone wild.

The best way for us to serve the Lord in the church is this way. The first week that you come to serve the Lord, you may take care of seventy percent of the things, and the others take care of thirty percent. The next week you take sixty-five percent, and the others take thirty-five percent. The third week you may take sixty, and the others take forty. With you the percentage is always being reduced, and with the others it is always being increased.

From another angle, the first week that you come, only five percent of the saints are serving with you. After one week there are eight percent, then twelve, twenty, and eventually, maybe after one year, one hundred percent. The percentage of the work in your hands is always being reduced, yet the number of the people serving with you is always increasing. After maybe one or two years, the service will be absolutely out of your hands and one hundred percent in the hands of all the brothers and sisters. The number of the serving ones will be increased from just a handful to more than a hundred. This is the right way.

If you take this way, you will learn to be limited, to be broken, and to submit yourself to others. If you do not serve the Lord with others, you will never know yourself, but when you serve with others, you will be exposed how “good” you really are. In this kind of service there are many lessons for you to learn.

TESTED BY THE COORDINATION

In my experience I have always been tested by the brothers in the service. This kind of testing is very hard to take, but you simply need to take it. You may tell the Lord, “Lord, this is a cup from You, and I have no choice but to take it.” This is the way for you to learn the lesson of serving the Lord in the way of coordination.

When you do things by yourself, it seems that everything is convenient. But when you do things with others, it seems that nothing is convenient. For example, I would always prefer to travel by myself in the Lord’s work. However, in China, under the Lord’s sovereignty and under the coordination of the co-workers, I always had to travel with two or more brothers and even to be the leader among them for the traveling. I am a person who always likes to have everything ready ahead of time, to leave nothing to be done at the last minute, and I would urge the brothers to have everything prepared for our trip. Every time there would be someone who was not ready. Eventually, I would need to help him get ready, take care of things for him, and do everything for him, and we would not be ready on time. I encouraged everyone to take responsibility for their own things and not to burden others, but whatever way I tried, nothing seemed to work. Eventually, I had to submit to the Lord and learn to be patient, and I had to take care of all the suitcases and all the problems for the others. The more people you have traveling with you, the more problems you have– the luggage, the things others forget, all the special needs. You have no choice but to help. It seems that the others have come to help you, but you need to help them. They become a burden instead of a help, but they are really a help for you to learn the lesson.

One of the biggest problems is to visit a church with several co-workers who are to be received for hospitality by the church. Many co-workers simply do not know how to be a guest. There are many problems and many lessons for us to learn in the coordination.

What should you do in all these situations? You cannot dismiss your co-workers and send them home. You simply need to learn the lesson in the coordination. This is the only way for you to serve the Lord with others, to build up the church. You should not be a giant. You should not be the one who is on the top. You always need to be coordinated with others. If you will try this way, you will surely see where you are. It is not so easy.

We are always ready to dismiss others. When some matters of the service were assigned to certain brothers or sisters, many times they would say that they wanted to make it clear that no one should come to the place where they were to serve. If they were to do the cooking, they would insist that no one else come to the kitchen. On the one hand, this is right. But on the other hand, they needed a few not only to help them but also to be a burden to them. Otherwise, there would be no lesson for them to learn. If you have some helpers that are a burden to you in the service, then you will be limited, broken, and adjusted. You need someone to be your burden. You may be too quick, and you need someone to burden you to slow you down. Then you will learn the lesson, and you will bring people in.

SURROUNDED BY SERVING ONES WITH THE WORK OUT OF YOUR HANDS

In serving the Lord in the way of coordination, the best test of your service is to check, after a certain time, how much of the service is in your hands and how many more people have been brought into your part of the service. After six months, if all the service is in your hands and nearly all the people are gone—you are almost the only one left—that is serious. You may be much better than others in doing the job. However, although the job is done in a much better way, the situation in the church life has actually become worse. By doing a better job by yourself, you have actually brought damage to the church life.

You need to bring more people in, and eventually, not even one percent of the work should be left in your hands. Everything should be in the hands of others, and eventually there may be hundreds of people serving with you. This is the way of coordination, the way to bring people in and to have the church built up. The more you serve, the less is in your hands. The more you serve, the larger is the number of serving ones.

You should not consider the job that you have done. Rather, you need to consider the percentage of the service that is in your hands and the number of the serving ones. There are some real lessons to be learned regarding this matter. The biggest lesson in this matter is brokenness. We may talk about being broken, but the way to be broken is to serve the Lord with your brothers and sisters in the way of coordination.

OPENNESS FOR THE COORDINATION

We need the training in this matter, and we need the practice. What we have been talking about is mainly on the practical side. If you will take these matters and put them into practice, you will realize how much is involved here. Just this little word is enough for you to practice for your whole life. You will find that there is a nature within you that is always independent, a nature that is always secretive. You do not like to open yourself to others. Something in your blood always likes to be independent and to keep things secret, hidden from others.

Some brothers and sisters are able to talk about many things without opening themselves to others. They talk, but they always keep themselves closed. You may serve the Lord with them for quite a period of time and still not know where they are.

If you will take this word to serve the Lord in a way of coordination, then you will find out where you are. By nature you are an independent person, a secretive person, even a person of mystery. You like to keep yourself hidden in yourself as a mystery. God caused the church to be hidden in Himself as a mystery in the Old Testament, but today you are keeping yourself as a mystery within yourself. It is not so easy for you to open yourself to others.

If there is no openness, this means that there is no brokenness. The more brokenness there is, the more openness, and the more openness there is, the more blending with others. Unless we learn the spiritual lesson of being broken, of being open, and of being blended with others, it will be impossible for us to have the church life. We can come together week after week, month after month, and year after year, but we can never have a church life. We can never be built up together to express Christ in a corporate way. We can never be blended as one in the spirit because our natural life, our soulish life, our human nature, has never been broken. There is only one way for you to experience the real brokenness of the natural life, and that is to be coordinated with others. You cannot merely close yourself in your room to read the Scriptures and pray and praise the Lord that you are broken. The more you declare in your room that you are broken, the more you are not broken. Whether or not you are really broken is tested by the coordination with others.

Suppose there is a sister who always likes to close herself in a room to seek after the Lord. She is very faithful to read the Word, to meditate, and to kneel down to pray day by day. Her practice is very good, but the real test is whether or not this sister is really broken. It is possible for a person to be very spiritual alone with the Lord and yet never have the self broken.

Suppose that, under the Lord’s sovereignty, this sister is placed in some kind of coordination and put among seven sisters. Each of the seven is a Martha, and they simply do not know how to be quiet. In fact, all they know is work and more work, doing and more doing. Sovereignly these eight are put into a situation where there is so much that needs to be done that there is no time for this dear sister to seek the Lord alone in her room. This will become a real test to her. She may even lose her temper because she has no time for this. This is a proof that she has never been broken. After passing through such a testing, how could this sister close herself in her room in her old way and praise the Lord that she is broken? Actually, the sovereignty of the Lord brought her into such a situation to show her that she has to be broken in this very matter.

The teachings among today’s Christians place too much emphasis on individual spirituality, making Christians into antiques and showpieces instead of preparing them as materials for the building. God never intended that you should be individually spiritual. Individual spirituality spoils and does much damage to the building of the church. If you realize that God’s eternal purpose, God’s ultimate intention, is to have a Body, a corporate vessel to contain Christ and to express Christ, you will say, “Lord, save me, deliver me from my individual spirituality. I have to be broken even in this matter of individual spirituality. I need to be delivered from this kind of individuality. I need to learn the lesson to be broken so that I could be coordinated with others, so that I could be blended with others and become a real help to them.”

The proper way for such a spiritual sister to serve the Lord is to learn the lesson of brokenness, to learn how to be delivered by the Lord from her individual spirituality, to learn to go along with others. Then, gradually, the others will learn the same lesson, and this sister will be a help to them and minister the life of Christ to them in the proper way. All of these eight will then be built up together, and they will bring more and more people to be coordinated with them. Then they will be spiritual in a coordinated way, not in an individual way. Surely this is a much-needed lesson.

We need to stress this matter so much simply because by experience we realize that if we would not learn this lesson, we can never have a real church life. Without this, our church life would be a false one. We can come together on the Lord’s Day and sing a hymn, have some prayer, and hear a message— but that is all. We can never have a church built up. We cannot have a group of believers built up together as a living corporate Body. We need to learn to serve in a way that we could be coordinated with others and others could be coordinated with us. There are many lessons here for us to learn.

Besides brokenness, you need to learn always to make it possible for others to coordinate with you. If you all would simply take this word and go on to serve the Lord in a way of coordination, there is no need for me to say anything more. There are many lessons ahead of you, but you should not give up. The more lessons you have, the more you need to learn, and the more you learn, the more the lessons will continue to come. This is the way that the Lord builds up His church.

If three persons can do a particular job in the Lord’s service, you should not reduce the number to two. It would be better to have four or even five. Never reduce the number, but always increase it, because the more the number is increased, the more lessons there are for you to learn, and the more building will be realized.

Some brothers have said, “I simply cannot do anything if some sisters are here. If you would ask me to do something, you must tell these sisters not to come to me.” I am afraid that we may still have some brothers in such a situation. If you are such a brother, the Lord will send you more sisters, and probably, under His sovereignty, He will send you the most troublesome ones. The Lord will test you to show you where you are. You need to learn the lesson to do the work in the service in a corporate way. The church is a test to you, and the real service of the church is also a test.

We all should try to know the church. We need to practice to know the way of the church service, which is a service of coordination, never a service of an individual person. All the service in the church is a service of coordination.

Many times I like to fellowship with the brothers about my message before I deliver it. This is the best way. It is good to come together with the brothers to fellowship about the message you are going to give, taking the attitude of being open to others and being ready to be adjusted. If the brothers would give you just a little hint that they would not have you minister, you should be willing to take it. You should not act in an independent way. In everything, in every job, in every part of the Lord’s service, you need to try to open yourself to others to be coordinated with them and to do everything in the service in a way of coordination. Then you will learn the lesson, and the church will be much profited in the matter of building up. Otherwise, we may have many meetings, but we could not have the real church life.”

(To Serve in the Human Spirit, chapter 8, pp. 101-109)

If our work does not bring out the one-talented ones, our work is a failure

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“THE RECOVERY OF THE WHOLE CHURCH PREACHING THE GOSPEL

In the matter of preaching the gospel, we have to recover the kind of preaching that is done by the whole church. We do not need to invite people with big advertisements. Rather, we should ask all the brothers and sisters to invite people individually. There is a difference between inviting people through advertisements and inviting them individually through the brothers and sisters. In this way the whole church will be able to rise up to serve. This kind of service will be the whole Body serving together. If we have only a few serving today, we have not reached God’s standard.

The way to go on today is to have authority plus the one-talented ones. When authority is added to the one-talented ones, we have the church. Whether or not a church is up to the standard depends on whether the one-talented ones are functioning. It is not enough just to have the two and five-talented ones. If our work does not bring out the one-talented ones, our work is a failure.

The flesh always comes with the one-talented ones. Before we have learned obedience ourselves, we will not know whether others are obeying or not. But after we have learned obedience, we will detect disobedience as soon as it is present. If we are coordinated, there will be authority among us. With authority we can deal with the rebellious and the insubordinate.

Our co-workers have been working and laboring all this time. I would like to ask if they feel tired? Perhaps God is telling us to let go now. The way today is not to struggle individually by ourselves. The way today is to do things all together and in coordination. The church is the reservoir of Christ; all the riches of Christ are stored in the Body. If one day we see the whole church rising up to preach the gospel, we will realize what a beautiful and powerful picture it is.

TAKING THE WAY OF THE WHOLE CHURCH SERVING

Today very few spiritual giants are being produced any longer. In the last century during the Keswick movement, many spiritual giants were produced. At that time people had a very shallow knowledge about the Bible. When A. T. Pierson stood up to preach, very few people knew what he was talking about. Today man’s knowledge about the Bible has increased. When a person steps up to the platform to preach today, he only needs to speak the first sentence, and everyone knows what will follow. Today there are very few five-talented ones like Paul. However, although there are very few spiritual giants, two or three one-talented ones and two-talented ones will make up for a Paul. Today we do not have many Pauls. We can no longer wait for spiritual giants to come to us. I believe the time has come for the church to rise up to serve, work, and preach the gospel. There is no way for us to go on individually any longer. This is the time for us to take the way of the church. We have to be in the same mind with God. We criticize the denominations and their system of one man monopolizing everything, but in the local churches, one co-worker plus two or three elders monopolize the services. They are replacing the functions of the saints. In principle this is the same as the denominations.”

(Collected Works of Watchman Nee, The (Set 3) Vol. 57: The Resumption of Watchman Nee’s Ministry, Chapter 11, Section 5)

Beseeching.org: Prayer for the saints to learn to function in the Lord’s table meeting in a coordinated way

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Day 412: Prayer for the saints to learn to function in the Lord’s table meeting in a coordinated way


Pray that the saints would learn to function in the Lord’s table meeting in a connected way, coordinating together like a team to pray, speak, and sing hymns and to praise and thank the Lord (Eph. 5:18b-20; Hymns, #867).

Eph. 5:18b-20—Be filled in spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming with your heart to the Lord, giving thanks at all times for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to our God and Father.

Hymns, #867:

As members of the Body
Christ we would manifest,
Each learning how to function
His fulness to express;
We would not be spectators
But each as members move,
None bringing death or damage
But each our profit prove.

As in a team we’d never
Act independently,
But in coordination,
Each would dependent be;
Not acting by our choosing
But following the flow,
Distraction never bringing,
The Spirit’s way we’d know.

On Christ we here would focus,
No other center make;
With Christ in sweet communion
His riches to partake.
He is our Head and content,
His Body we express;
Whate’er we do while meeting
Himself must manifest.

Built up in love together,
Not one would criticize;
To perfect one another,
We all would exercise.
Each one from self delivered,
The natural life forsakes;
In grace each trained in spirit
The Body-life partakes.

MINISTRY PORTION:
During the meeting we need to function in the way of coordination. Often in our meetings we are like a basketball team in which each person has his own basketball and plays his own game. On such a team no one cares for the other members, but each one is concerned solely with his own basketball. However, a proper basketball team uses only one ball and plays in a coordinated way. Likewise, in our meetings we must learn to function in a coordinated way as a team, using only one “ball.” For instance, if one brother begins the meeting by praying, another brother should follow by praying along the same line. Then a third one may choose an appropriate hymn, and after the hymn is sung, another saint may offer an explanation of the hymn. We should function in the meetings in the same way that a basketball team passes the basketball.

To meet and worship the Lord in this way requires training. In order to drive a car, we must be trained. We cannot say that we can drive simply because we have the human life, which has the capacity to drive. We need to practice driving. Only after many hours of practice can we properly drive a car. Similarly, we have been born again and have received the spiritual life that has the capacity to worship the Lord. However, it is not sufficient merely to have this life; we also need the practice. The reason we often come to the meetings empty-handed is that we do not practice preparing ourselves before the meeting. The reason our meetings are often poor is that we do not exercise our spirit to sense the atmosphere and to function in coordination. The more we practice these things, the more we will be accustomed to meeting in this way.

In order to function in a coordinated way, we first need to learn to pray. Functioning in coordination with others depends on the way we pray. Second, we need to familiarize ourselves with the hymns and know how to use them. After someone prays or speaks a word in the meeting, we may have the feeling to continue the burden by calling a hymn. To do this effectively, we must be able to find the hymn promptly. We need to realize that the hymns greatly affect the atmosphere of the meetings. A hymn can bring the meeting either up into the heavens or down into a deep pit. Thus, we need to learn to use the hymns in a proper way and at the proper time. (CWWL, 1964, vol. 3, “Basic Principles for the Church Meetings,” ch. 1, pp. 6-7)

All spiritual people are emotional

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“Let us be clear about the matter of our emotions. We need to be emotional. Some say that we are too emotional. But no one can be like the apostle Paul if he is not emotional. Paul was very emotional: many times he spoke and wrote to the saints with tears. Once he said, “What do you want? Should I come to you with a rod or in love and a spirit of meekness?” (1 Cor. 4:21). Paul could be very emotional. At another time he said, “What is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at His coming? Are not even you?” (1 Thes. 2:19). It is good to be emotional. If you can never be emotional, you can never be spiritual. But listen, not naturally emotional but emotional in the spirit; not emotional with strange fire but with heavenly fire. Our natural emotion must be consumed on the burnt offering altar. All the natural things must be consumed there. We need to offer praises, we need to be released, yet we still need to be dealt with; we need many dealings through the cross.

Do not think that to be noisy is emotional. If we can never weep publicly while preaching the gospel, I do not think we can bring many people to the Lord. I have read the biography of a brother who had no eloquence whatever. He was able to speak very little, but whenever he stood to speak for the Lord Jesus, his tears flowed down. Just by that kind of weeping, many persons were converted to Christ. All spiritual people are emotional. Learn to be emotional; then you will know how to be spiritual. Learn to laugh; learn to weep. Do not learn so much teaching, but learn the things that will help you turn to the spirit. If you exercise yourself overmuch in your mentality, you will lose the laughing spirit. Do not think you are so smart. Turn from your mentality to the spirit and praise the Lord. Learn to exercise your spirit and be happy and joyful. Rejoice in the presence of the Lord, and you will be much in the spirit.”

(How to Meet, pp.206-207)

What is the proper way to meet?

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“…In accord with the whole book of 1 Corinthians, the proper way for us as Christians to meet depends upon the proper living, the proper life. First Corinthians 14 is not the first chapter or the last chapter of this book. There are so many chapters preceding it, telling how Christ is everything to us and how we must exercise our spirit to enjoy and experience Him in so many ways. Following chapter 14, we still have two chapters, telling how Christ is the life-giving Spirit, how our spirit needs to be continually refreshed with Christ, and how we need to live, move, and do everything in love. If we are such persons, taking such a way to live day by day, we are qualified to meet together; then we have the right foundation, the right basis, for our meeting. Do not pick out a verse here and there in the book and speak about gifts, tongues, and healing, etc. That is not the message of 1 Corinthians. Where there are saints who mean business with the Lord, who have the real experience in their daily walk of taking Christ as their life, the meetings will be so proper and living. There is the life to support the meeting.

What is the proper way to meet?
(1) We must have the proper life. We must exercise our human spirit all the time to take Christ. We must be so accustomed to exercising our spirit. It is not just a matter of doing this in the meetings, but in our daily walk with our children, our husbands, our wives. We must forget about exercising our minds and turn rather to exercising our spirit. Then our spirit will be so strong, living, and aggressive. By taking Christ as our life and experiencing Him as everything day by day, we will have a spiritual savings account. We will continually deposit something of Christ into this account and have a rich surplus of our experience of Him. We will come to the meeting with a strong spirit and a rich surplus.

Then, (2) we only need to exercise our spirit to stand up in the meeting to function, to prophesy. It will be so spontaneous for us to do so; it will simply be an overflow of what we have been experiencing of Christ all day. There will be no strain; it will just be a continuation of our normal, daily experience of Christ. Whatever we do in the meeting will be living and rich with Christ in the spirit. Of course, it is also necessary in the meeting to drop all our old background. We must be delivered from the influence of thinking we are not capable of saying anything in the meetings, delivered from thinking we are not qualified, we are not committed with something from the Lord. No one else can function on our behalf in the meeting. We need to come to the meeting with a new concept, realizing that we are in something new, that we are out of the old Christianity. We need to come in a new and living way, accustomed to exercising our spirit, with Christ as our life and with a rich surplus of Christ. This is the way to meet.”

(How to Meet, pp.103-104)

To prophesy is not to wait until we are inspired

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“In so-called fundamental Christianity we are told that we must follow the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In all the meetings we must wait and not act if we do not have inspiration. If you read all the fundamental writings regarding the inspiration of the Spirit in meetings, they all say the same thing. You must confess your sins and consecrate yourself, you must pray more, and you must wait more upon the Lord; then you will feel the Holy Spirit inspiring you, and you need only follow His inspiration. Let me check with you: Can you find such a verse in the Bible? Is there a verse telling us that we must meet in this way? No, there is not.

Read 1 Corinthians 12 and 14: you will see that we must desire to be in the spirit; we must desire to prophesy. To prophesy is not to wait until we are inspired. Read the context. To prophesy means to take the initiative to exercise our spirit. It seems that we take the lead, but when we do, the Spirit of God follows and flows out, because today the Holy Spirit is mingled with our spirit. With Him there is no problem. He is always waiting for us; the problem is with us. If we would just cooperate with Him, if we would take the lead, He would follow and come forth. He would work together with us. It is not a case of us waiting for Him; it is He who is continually waiting for us. Since the time He came into us and mingled Himself with us, He has been waiting for us all the time. He has taken the initiative already; He is waiting now for us.

I do believe that if you read all these passages to which we have referred, and not only read them but pray-read them again and again, your eyes will be opened. Praise the Lord, there is no need for us to wait for any kind of manifestation or any kind of inspiration. We need only to exercise our spirit and open our mouth to say, “O Lord, O Lord!” Do you see the point? Read the context of all these passages, and you will get the proper meaning. Just exercise your spirit and say, “Lord Jesus!” Exercise something deep within you to speak for the Lord Jesus. This is the exercise of the spirit. It seems that it is out from you, but it is really something of God, because the very Spirit of God today is mingled with your spirit.

When I was a child, I participated with the other children in a certain kind of race. We divided into pairs, and two of our feet were bound together so that each pair was forced to run with three feet. I believe that in America it is called a three-legged race. When I ran this race, the other one, my mate, was always waiting for me. Eventually, I would rise and get ready to run the race. Now tell me, who was the initiator, he or I? Apparently it was I, but in fact he was the real initiator. Now we are bound together with the Holy Spirit, and not only bound together but mingled with Him. But we are so slow and slothful; He has been waiting for us all the time. When we become aware of Him, we are still ignorant, for we say, “Lord Jesus, I have been waiting for You in my spirit. I have been praying for three days, and I do not have the inspiration.” Dear ones have come to me and said, “How is it that you have such inspiration, but it is so difficult for us to obtain it? It seems so easy for you to be inspired, but so difficult for us. Why?” The answer is that they have been carried away by the fundamental teachings. Read 1 Corinthians 14 again and again. It does not say that we must wait; it does not say that we must pray; it does not say that we must fast. It says that we must take the initiative; our human spirit must take action. It seems that we are always waiting, but actually the Holy Spirit has been waiting for us all the time.“

(How to Meet, p.82)

Two kinds of eating: eating in sowing and eating in harvesting

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“Many of you have testified regarding your enjoyment of the Lord, but all that I have heard pertains to your eating, your enjoyment in sowing. You have not yet reached the level of eating with regard to harvesting. The initial sowing is easy, but the final harvesting is not so easy. After the seeds are sown, whether or not there will be a harvest is still a question. Up until now, your eating of the Lord for enjoyment has been in the initial stage, the sowing stage.

Therefore, I have to make it clear to you, brothers and sisters, that you should not stop at the enjoyment of sowing, but go on to the enjoyment of harvesting. When you sow, you simply bury the seed into the ground. After sowing, you still need to take care of the sprout that it may grow and bear fruit. Only then can you have the enjoyment of the harvest. In our enjoyment of sowing, we receive something of the Lord into us. Whenever we call on the name of the Lord and pray-read His word, we receive a portion of the Lord as a seed into us. Whether this will result in a harvest depends upon our willingness to let the seed grow. If we let it grow, it will surely yield a harvest. Otherwise, nothing will happen.

…Today I want to check with you all. Do you as sowers truly have seeds? Do you as eaters really have bread? Perhaps you have only half a bowl of rice, which is not enough even for yourself. If you cannot feed yourself adequately, how will you be able to take care of others? What is the reason for this? It is because you sow the seed, yet you do not labor to let the seed grow.

We all know that when a farmer labors on a field, he has to remove the stones, eliminate the weeds, water the soil, add fertilizer, and sometimes apply some pesticides. What do you do? You have done very well eating the Lord and pray-reading His word, but you do not remove the stones, nor eliminate the weeds, nor water the soil, nor add fertilizer, nor apply pesticides. In the end you might as well have not sown at all. If you do not sow, your seeds will remain intact, but once you sow, you lose the only seeds you have. There are some people who indeed have a reserve of a small portion of the Lord before pray-reading the Word, but after they gained the Lord through pray-reading and then are disobedient by not laboring, they lose the presence of the Lord. The Lord went farther away from them.

…Let me ask you, brothers and sisters, what do you eat today, manna or the produce of the good land? Some say they eat manna; others say they eat manna as well as the produce. This is true. However, I hope that those who eat manna will gradually stop eating it. Do you know where manna was eaten? It was eaten in the wilderness. Therefore, eating manna is a strong proof that you are a wanderer. Where was the produce of the good land eaten? It was eaten in Canaan! Moreover, the top tenth of the harvest of the land — the firstborn of the herd and of the flock and the firstfruits of the grain — were not to be eaten at home. They had to be brought to the temple and eaten before God. This shows that their wandering had ceased. Do you want to be a Christian who eats manna or a Christian who eats the produce of the good land? Everyone wants to be a Christian who eats the produce of the good land. True, manna is good; but it is not good enough because it is the diet of those who wander about in the wilderness.

…To obtain manna does not require our laboring, but to get the produce of the land of Canaan does. While we are enjoying the Lord and receiving Him into us, He often raises up circumstances and allows many things to happen for our good, so that the seed in us can grow and produce something. For example, a sister, whose husband always makes things difficult for her, prays every day, asking the Lord to cause her husband to love Him as much as she does. However, the more she prays, the less he loves the Lord; the more she calls “O Lord, Amen!” and the more she pray-reads, the more her husband is annoyed…. Let me tell you that all those things that happen are the Lord’s raising up the north wind to blow upon you (S.S. 4:16). Instead of asking the Lord to change your husband, pray that the Lord will grow in you: “O Lord, make me willing to accept Your dealing. O Lord, subdue me from within. O Lord, cause me to submit myself under Your hand and take the breaking.”

…Twenty years ago, when I saw brothers who had good character and proper behavior and who gave good impressions wherever they went, I greatly appreciated them. However, now in retrospect those brothers with good character and proper behavior did not bear any good fruit. On the contrary, some careless and sloppy ones were able to bring people to salvation. The church life, the testimony of the church, is not a matter of behaving well or not behaving well, nor is it a matter of being or not being above reproach. The church life, the testimony of the church, is a matter of eating the Lord as the seed and allowing this seed to grow. Like a farmer, you remove the stones, eliminate the weeds, water the ground, add fertilizer, and apply pesticides so that the Christ in you will gradually grow into a harvest. This is not a matter of being well-behaved or not; it is a matter in a totally different realm. Behaving and not behaving are in the realm of good and evil. What we are speaking about is the realm of Christ. You are full of Christ, and you bring in your topmost portion before God to enjoy with the saints in the meeting. This is our proper meeting today. The emphasis in the meeting is not on singing, praying, praising, speaking in tongues, or functioning; the emphasis is on bringing in the topmost portion of the Christ that you have produced. I bring my portion, and you bring yours. Apart from any forms, we all present our Christ.

…Now we all have learned to eat. We have learned that there are two kinds of eating. One is the eating in sowing, and the other is the eating in harvesting. The eating in sowing cannot constitute our worship; we need the eating in harvesting. When you bring the eating in harvesting, that will constitute the true worship and the genuine church life. The church needs this. We have to look to the Lord and open up to Him that we all may learn to be exercised in the matter of eating.”

(Eating the Lord, chapter four)

The slower, the better

/ livinglywrong
PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR VISITING PEOPLE

The instructions I am giving now concerning the new way are different from what I spoke in Taiwan. In Taiwan I charged you to visit people and to get them baptized immediately. But today I do not encourage you to get people baptized in a quick way. Also, when you visit people, do not speak too quickly to them concerning the Bible, God, Christ, or salvation. If you do, people may think that you are too religious and that they cannot come up to your standard. They may be turned away by your enthusiasm. In your first visit with someone who has been recommended to you, do not stay very long; the shorter the visit, the better. A short visit will give the one who is visited a good taste so that he will welcome another visit. Do not spoil the taste of those whom you visit. On the first visit do not speak too much concerning spiritual things.

As you visit a second or third time, you may begin to say something concerning Christ. You may need to go a few times before you are able to get a person saved. The principle is: the slower, the better; the slower it is, the safer it is. The slower the pace is, the more certain it is that you can gain that person.

(Fellowship concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, Chapter 3, Section 3)

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Something must be improper or wrong if we are not bearing fruit

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“Barrenness is an even more subtle enemy. Some married couples are not able to have children, and this becomes a big problem to them. According to human desire, the meaning of a couple’s life is to have children. Likewise, if we do not bear fruit, beget some spiritual children, there is not much meaning to our church life. Without fruit-bearing, there is no practical church life. Suppose that we baptized fifty-eight new ones in the next Lord’s Day church meeting. All of us would be excited and joyful in the Lord. But we do not have much joy, because we are barren. Barrenness is the biggest enemy that annuls the proper church life.

If we cannot have children in our human life, we can have the Lord as our replacement. But the Lord will not be the replacement for the fruit that we do not bear in the church life. We may feel that we have been enjoying the Lord every day, but a tree is known by its fruit. The real church life can be evidenced only by fruit-bearing. If we have not borne fruit for three years, for five years, or even for ten years, our enjoyment of Christ should be questioned. Something must be improper or wrong if we are not bearing fruit.

In the seven epistles to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3, the Lord touched the deadness with Sardis and the lukewarmness with the Laodiceans, but He did not touch barrenness. This is because He had already dealt with this very seriously in John 15. In the four Gospels the Lord did not deal with deadness or with lukewarmness. But He dealt with barrenness to the uttermost in one chapter—John 15. Some people would say that this is a chapter on abiding in Christ. Actually, however, it is not on abiding but on fruit-bearing. Abiding is for fruit-bearing. The Lord said, “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes it away…If one does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is dried up” (vv. 2a, 6a). For a branch to be cast out means that it is cut off from participation in the riches of the life of the vine.

If we do not bear fruit, there is a danger that we will be cut off from the vine tree. This does not mean that we will suffer eternal perdition but that we will lose our enjoyment of Christ as our portion. This proves that if we do not bear fruit, there is a problem with our enjoyment of Christ. This is just like a couple who cannot bring forth children. They may say that they do not feel that anything is wrong with them, but actually something is wrong, which is preventing them from having children. They may even go to some doctors to find out what is wrong with them. This is an illustration of our problem of barrenness. We may feel that there is nothing wrong with us, but based upon the fact that we have not borne fruit, we must realize that something is wrong with our enjoyment of Christ. If we do not have fruit, our so-called enjoyment of Christ can be a self-deceiving matter. It is not so real.

We may think that we have seen a number of saints who have not borne fruit for quite a long time, but we did not notice that they were cut off from the enjoyment of the Lord. My answer to this is that the matter of life is a mystery. There may be a couple who cannot bear children, but no one can see the reason. In the same way it may seem that we are doing quite well, but where is our fruit? This is a test. If we are not bearing fruit, this is evidence that we have lost our enjoyment of Christ. In this chapter I want us to realize that every day, day and night, these three enemies are around us: deadness, lukewarmness, and barrenness.

In the previous chapter I shared that we need to get some companions, at least two or three, with whom we can labor in the gospel. We should never work by ourselves. Instead, we should work by fellowshipping with our companions. The trouble is that we do not like to have fellowship with others. We are self-contented, and some of us may think that we are omnipotent and all-capable. But according to my over sixty years of experience, none of us is omnipotent. Each of us is very limited in his capacity and ability. You need the help, and I need the help. My helpers in the work know how much I need them. I purposely fellowship with them and ask them questions in order that I may learn. I want to be taught by them. If there is no fellowship among us in our work, there cannot be the real one accord. We need to labor in oneness through thorough fellowship. Because of our unwillingness to have thorough fellowship, we are dead, lukewarm, and barren. We must get some companions and open up ourselves to fellowship with them to the uttermost.”

(The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Chapter 3, Section 2)