All the believers have been charged by the apostle to pursue, to desire earnestly, and to seek to prophesy (1 Cor. 14:1, 12, 39). In verse 1 is the word “pursue.” In verse 12 is the word “seek.” In verse 39 the words “desire earnestly” are used.
We can pursue, desire earnestly, and seek to prophesy by learning (v. 31) in the Word of God, in the growth of life, and in our contact with God. First Corinthians 14:31 says that we can all prophesy one by one that all may learn. When we prophesy, others learn. This proves that before we prophesy, we have learned something. We are enabled to prophesy by learning.
At this point I would like to say a word of love to all of us. We have been chosen by God. We have been called by Him. We have been regenerated by Him and have become sons of God. We must spend sufficient time in the holy Word. We have to do it. We should not say that we do not have any time for this. As long as we have time to eat, we should have time to study the Word of God. Some saints had a proverb that said—“No Bible, no breakfast.” This proverb should always be in front of us. Perhaps we should even put it on our desk or hang it on our wall where we can see it every day—“No Bible, no breakfast.”
If we desire to prophesy, we must learn the holy Word in the Bible. We must get ourselves fully acquainted with all the terms in the Bible. We need to be soaked in the holy Word so that we can be knowledgeable of the holy Word. In Luke 1 there is a record of the Lord’s mother, Mary, visiting Elizabeth. Both of them prophesied to one another. Nearly every clause and every phrase of Mary’s prophecy was a quotation from the Old Testament. This proves that Mary as a young woman was very knowledgeable of God’s Word. We all have to learn the holy Word. If we do not have the holy Word, we do not have the expressions with which to speak. We may have the feeling and the inspiration within, but we will not have the utterances and the wording. All of us have to endeavor to learn the Word.
We also learn to prophesy in the growth of life. A person who has only been saved two months should not expect that he will be able to speak that much. In order to do things properly even in our human life, we have to grow. In the spiritual life it is the same. Spiritually speaking, we pass through stages of infancy, babyhood, childhood, teenage, and then we become a full-grown man. How much we can prophesy depends upon the degree of our growth in life. This is why we must seek the growth in the spiritual life.
We also learn to prophesy in our contact with God. We have to contact God, to fellowship with God. If we get into the Lord’s Word, pursue the growth in life, and keep ourselves in contact with God, we will learn to prophesy.
We are also enabled to prophesy by being perfected by the prophets (Eph. 4:12). There are some among us who can do the prophesying work. We should receive the perfecting from these ones. The gifted prophets among us should contact some of the dear saints. Then these saints can be perfected to prophesy. We all must have a new start in speaking for the Lord. The gifted ones among us can go to some promising saints to teach them to prophesy. After a number of weeks, a nucleus of saints can be perfected to prophesy by learning.
The saints need to be perfected and instructed, and they must put their instruction into practice. They need to practice by speaking in all the meetings. They should also tell people about Christ to practice prophesying.
In order to practice 1 Corinthians 14, there is the need for the highest meetings of the church. To nourish and cherish the new believers, there is the need of mainly the home meetings. After a person believes in the Lord and is baptized, we need to go back to his home to have home meetings with him so that he can be fed and nourished. We need to be the nursing mothers, nourishing the new ones as our babes. To fellowship with, teach, and perfect the saints, there is the need of mainly the group meetings. The group meetings are a little bigger than the home meetings. A group meeting is a gathering of about twenty saints. In this meeting the saints can fellowship with one another, intercede for one another, and care for and shepherd one another. The teaching and perfecting of the saints also takes place in the group meetings. In these group meetings, everyone teaches, and everyone learns.
To build up the church by prophesying, we need the bigger and higher meetings of the church. The church meeting must be a prophesying meeting. We need to labor together in the Lord and with the Lord so that we can have church meetings in which we all come together to prophesy. If the number in the larger church meeting is too big, we can divide this meeting into sections. In Taipei these sections are called district meetings. Each district meeting has about fifty saints. We should not set up a rule in this matter. This is not a law, but is for the convenience of our practice.
For our present church life we need three kinds of meetings. We need the home meetings in the new believers’ homes to nourish and to cherish the new ones. We need the group meetings so that the saints can fellowship with one another, pray for one another, and take care of one another. In these group meetings, the saints can ask questions concerning the truth and concerning life, and everyone can answer these questions. Thus, in the group meetings everyone asks, everyone answers, everyone teaches, and everyone learns. After meeting in the group meetings in a regular way throughout the year, all the attendants will be taught with the truth and will be built up in life. Eventually, we will all reach the high peak of prophesying for the building up of the church. Prophesying is the highest attainment in our church life.
We may feel that it is too hard for us to enter into the fellowship in this book, but one day after our resurrection from the dead, we will go to Christ’s judgment seat, and we will have to answer to Him (2 Cor. 5:10). Brother Nee wrote a hymn (not translated into English) that says for his life and for his work he is always under the light of the judgment seat of Christ. For today’s life and today’s work, we have to consider that day when we will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. We will be held accountable for what we have done and for what we have said. In Matthew 12:36 the Lord said, “And I say to you that every idle word which men shall speak, they shall render account concerning it in the day of judgment.” Our idle words, including our gossip, will be checked at the judgment seat of Christ.
During the past four and a half years, I have reconsidered the entire Bible in relation to our practice. After so much reconsideration, I am burdened to present these four major items of the advance of the Lord’s recovery today to the churches. I hope that we can spend a period of time to study the fellowship in this book with all the quotations and references of the Scripture. If we prayerfully consider the fellowship in this book, the Lord will speak to us, and this will revolutionize our concept concerning being a Christian, concerning the meetings, concerning the preaching of the gospel, and concerning Christian service. When the Lord recovers these four major items of the advance of His recovery today, that will be a big revolution to all of the Christians.