Prayer

If we would bear fruit, we must do so corporately

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THE PRACTICAL WAY TO BEAR FRUIT

While we need to enjoy the Lord by pray-reading His Word, this alone is not sufficient; there should be a practical result of our exercise in the Word. The practical issue of our enjoyment of Christ in the Word is fruit-bearing. If we do not bear fruit, we will not have good spiritual digestion. To bear fruit is to pass on to others the portion of Christ that we have enjoyed. Instead of keeping Christ locked up within us, we should pass Him on to others. Bearing fruit is more than simply preaching the gospel. Bearing fruit is the result of enjoying on a daily basis the Christ whom we have received. As a result of enjoying Christ, we spontaneously pass Him on to others, bearing them as fruit.

We should check ourselves in these two areas.

  • First, we should check to see whether we are enjoying Christ throughout the day. If we are enjoying Christ, then we are a branch in the vine.
  • Second, as branches in the vine, we should spontaneously bear fruit.

We need to ask ourselves whether we are bearing fruit or not. Regarding this matter, many of us have a problem. Our problem is that we do not pass Christ on to others. To enjoy Christ is to receive Christ into us; to bear fruit is to pass Christ on to others. Fruit-bearing involves a flow: Christ flowing in through our enjoyment of Him, and Christ flowing out through our fruit-bearing. All the brothers and sisters should bear the responsibility of bearing fruit. None of us has an excuse for failing to bear fruit. We should not say that we have no possibility of bearing fruit.

Forming a Nucleus

Although we have fellowshipped in the past concerning how to bear fruit, a number of saints may not be clear concerning this matter. Hence, I wish to pass on a few points that we should put into practice if we are to bear fruit. First, we need to form a nucleus with the saints to whom we are related. The reason we need a nucleus is that as branches, we cannot bear fruit individually. Trying to bear fruit individually is not effective. If we would bear fruit, we must do so corporately, and the first step in bearing fruit corporately is to form a nucleus.

Praying Together

Once we have formed the nucleus, the primary matter that we should attend to is prayer. It would be very good for the members of the nucleus to meet once a week simply to pray. Such meetings are very important. In principle, these gatherings are just as important as the meetings of the church.

After we have formed our nucleus and have begun to pray, we should list the names of our acquaintances. Our acquaintances include our relatives, classmates, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. Each member of the nucleus may have a list that contains dozens of names.

After composing our lists, each of us should pray over our list, seeking the Lord’s guidance so that we can select two or three people—four at the most—for whom we should begin to care. By seeking the Lord’s mind in this way, we will become clear concerning which persons are the right ones for us to care for at the present time. After we have the Lord’s leading concerning certain ones on our list, we should pray for them, contact them, and try to bring them into the nucleus.

Adding People to the Nucleus

Once we begin praying, we should not expect quick results. Only after praying and endeavoring for a period of time will we bear fruit. After we have prayed together for a period of two or three weeks, we should seek to bring those for whom we have prayed into our nucleus one by one (bringing more than one at a time is generally too difficult). From then on, whenever we meet with our nucleus, we should come with new ones. This is the easiest way for us to bring people to Christ. If we succeed in bringing those for whom we are praying into the nucleus, they will be gained for the Lord.

If we put these points into practice, it will be easy for people to be gained. Of course, there are other things that the nucleus can and will do, but they are not nearly as important as the things I have outlined above: forming the nucleus, praying together, and bringing our friends into the nucleus. By praying as a nucleus and inviting our friends to it, our friends will gradually be brought to Christ and into the church life.

The nucleus is like a little fishing boat, and the members of the nucleus are like hooks that can catch people and bring them into the nucleus. To bring our friends into the nucleus is to bring them ninety-five percent of the way to Christ, Eventually, it is through this nucleus that our friends will also be brought into the church life. If we try this, we will discover that each member of our nucleus will bear at least one fruit every six months.

(Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1967, vol. 2, “Enjoying the Lord in the Word to Bear Fruit”, ch. 2)

How do we grow in life?

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“We all need to have a private time with the Lord. This needs to be built up into a daily habit. The best time for such a private time with the Lord is in the morning. Some who leave for work very early, however, may need to choose another time of the day. Nevertheless, we all need to set aside time for the Lord daily, preferably at least thirty minutes.

During this time, you should go to the Lord and pray, not for so many affairs or business matters, but to contact the Lord, asking Him to examine you, to enlighten you, and to expose your situation in His light. As the Lord enlightens you, you will need to confess one item after another. When we do not come to the light, we do not see the uncleanness, especially the offenses on our conscience. But when we are enlightened, we are aware of all the dirt. We need to confess everything exposed by the Lord’s light. Once I made a confession to the Lord that lasted more than two hours. The more I confessed, the more I needed to confess. After I confessed one thing, I had to confess another, and then another. To confess is the best way to contact the Lord in prayer for the genuine growth in life. The more we are dealt with by the Lord, the more He will be wrought into our being. This is what it means to grow.

In order to grow, we must firstly contact the Lord in our time of private prayer. I encourage all the saints, especially the young people, to build up such a habit. Every day you must have a time of prayer. Sometimes you may pray for the church or for the Lord’s recovery, if you are burdened to do so. You may also pray concerning your affairs. But the primary matter is to pray for the Lord’s enlightenment, exposing, and examining. Ask the Lord to show you what is within you and ask Him to deal with you. You should say, “Lord, expose through Your light my real situation and condition.” If you pray like this, the light will come, and you will be dealt with. Then whatever you pray will not be a performance, but a genuine prayer from your cleansed spirit.

You need to lay a good foundation in the Word of God by reading through it consecutively from Genesis to Revelation. Read book after book without selection, choice, or preference. Try to read the Bible through once every year or every two years. It is important to build up the habit of reading and studying the Word.

We need to pray and to read the Word, putting these things together.

Along with reading the Bible, we need to develop the habit of reading some profitable and nourishing spiritual books, doing this in a very balanced way and not eating too much at one time. Rather, it is better to eat several times a day. You may read four pages of a message at one time and then read more later in the day or the next day. In reading spiritual books, do not try to take in too much at once. If you build up the habit of reading the Word and spiritual books, you will be healthy spiritually and you will grow.

If you take the Word without receiving light, there must be a problem within. There can be no problem with the Word, for the Word is light. Because you do not receive light, you need to ask the Lord to show you what is wrong, to show you why you have not been receiving light from Him. When you receive light on certain matters, accept the light and confess to the Lord immediately without excusing yourself.

We need to be filled in spirit with the fullness of God. The way to be filled is the same as the way to grow in life: to pray properly, to take the Word of God, to read some nourishing spiritual books, and to be enlightened. If we pray, read the Word, and are enlightened, we shall spontaneously and immediately be filled with the Lord, and the Lord will be added to us. This is the growth in life.”

(From Life Messages vol. 1, chapter 2)

Five crucial points for our seeking in the vital groups

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“First, we need to seek to be blended with the other members of our vital group by having an intimate and thorough fellowship with much and thorough prayer.

Second, we need to seek to be filled with the Spirit inwardly and outwardly.

Third, we need to pray unceasingly by exercising our spirit to redeem the time.

Fourth, we need to learn to serve and work not in our own way but in the coordinated way by giving up our freedom.

Fifth, we need to pray for the dealing with our disposition, character, and peculiar traits.

These five items are not like lessons that we can study and courses from which we can graduate. They are five daily necessities like our drinking, eating, breathing, sleeping, and exercise.”

(Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, chapter 16)

Only prayer can make us living

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“If we do not pray, we will be abnormal. In the past we were very abnormal, because we were not living. We have the spirit within us, Christ within us, and God the father within us, but we are not living because we do not pray. Only one thing today can make us living, and that one thing is prayer. We must pray unceasingly.

… The key to make you living is for you to pray, and to pray mainly is to exercise your spirit. When you teach the Lord in your prayer, when you explain to Him, and when you describe a lot in your prayer, there is no impact because that kind of prayer is not the unlocking of the Spirit. We should pray, “Lord, I want to be living. Give me the impact, Lord.” The Lord in Gethsemane prayed three times, and each time the prayer was short. We all have to pray in these days, “Lord, I want to be living.” While the sisters are in the kitchen cooking or washing the dishes, they should say, “Lord, I want to be living. I want to have the impact, Lord.” Do not pray for too many things and do not explain to the Lord, because He already knows. Just petition Him and tell Him what you want according to His desire. We also need to give thanks in everything. On a dark day, give thanks; on a shining day, a bright day, give thanks. If good things take place, give thanks; if bad things take place, give thanks. This is what it means to pray.”

(Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, chapter 13)

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We do not open up to others, because we are afraid to be known by them

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“… When we come together in the vital groups, we should release ourselves by opening up to one another. We may have been with one another for years, but we do not really know one another. Instead, we like to hide ourselves in certain things from the saints. I am afraid that not one of us is really open. All of us are pretending to be “good” members of the vital groups. We may show up on time and behave ourselves as nice ladies and gentlemen, but this is seclusion. We do not want to talk openly with the saints in our vital group because we are secluded. To talk openly with the intimate and thorough fellowship in Christ is to be released.

We do not open up to others, because we are afraid to be known by them. As a result, we cannot receive the inner healing from the Lord. We may be sick of “gangrene,” but we want to cover and hide our sickness from others. We need to realize that the other members of our vital group are our doctors. If we open ourselves up in a proper way to the other saints in our group, we will be healed. But instead of opening up, everyone is hiding. Some of us are released, but we are not absolutely released, because we are not used to being open to others. We are not open, but closed and secluded.

When we come together, we may feel that there is not much to do. I have said that the group meetings are eighty percent of the church life, and the first item of the group meetings is to come together to fellowship in an intimate, thorough, and spontaneous way. Maybe a sister would open up by saying, “I can’t tolerate my children. Would you tell me how to overcome my temper?” Why would we not open up to one another in this way? Instead of seeing a scenery of intimate fellowship in the vital groups, I see a very behaving scenery. Everybody behaves. No one wants to make a mistake. Everyone wants to be a “good boy” and a “good girl.” I have seen this for many years, and I am disgusted with this. I want to see a group of seeking saints coming together to gain the Lord Jesus.

But where can we see a group of saints practicing the New Testament revelation today? Who is denying himself? Who is being renewed, transformed, and conformed to the image of the One who has passed through death and resurrection? Gradually, we have drifted into practicing a routine church life, but where is the Spirit and where is the leading of the Lord? There is not much leading of the Spirit among us. Instead, you act by your way, and I act by my way. You pray by your way, and I pray by my way. Who is going to be adjusted? Who is going to learn? If we are not inwardly adjusted and transformed, then where is the church life?

We have lost the impact in winning the sinners because we are a group of behaving people. We do not have the real spirituality as the power from on high, as the impact. In nearly everything, we have lost our spiritual impact. This is why we need a strict training. Otherwise, there will be no remedy to our situation. We love the recovery, we love the Lord, we love the church, and we are so good. We behave ourselves so that we do not offend anyone or make mistakes in the church life. But this is not the church life. This is a kind of top social club. The church life, however, is a group of Jesus-lovers who seek after Him.

These lovers of Jesus are ones who, after being regenerated, go on to learn the lesson of denying themselves in everything so that they can be renewed. They are living, serving, and meeting not by their doing and adjustment but by the Holy Spirit’s leading. They are being renewed even in the way they deal with their children and in the way they talk to their spouse.

… We need to be transformed in everything. The Lord needs a group of people who have been regenerated, renewed, transformed, and conformed to the firstborn Son of God so that they can be built up together. This building is the Body and the practical church life.

I appreciate that the Lord has raised up so many churches on the earth, but the actual situation of the churches with respect to the practice of the God-ordained way is not that much up to the standard. This is why we need to raise up the vital groups. The remedy is here. In our vital groups, we must have much and thorough prayer to get ourselves blended with others in love. Whenever we come together, we should open up to one another to have an intimate and thorough fellowship.”

(Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, Chapter 15)