In the past we presented thirty items concerning the training of our character. Each point causes our soul to be subdued, submissive, and restrained in order that we may mature. We often describe a certain person as being “barbaric” to indicate that his character has not been properly trained. Man consists of three parts—spirit, soul, and body. All these parts need to undergo much training. However, when we go out to minister life to others, the source of supply does not depend on our perfect physique, our trained and non-barbaric soul, or even the condition of our human spirit. Our going out to minister life to others altogether hinges on the Spirit of God and the word of God.
We must pay attention to the Spirit of God and the word of God regardless of how old or young we are. How much ground the Spirit of God has within us, the condition of the Spirit of God in us, and how much we are being equipped and perfected with the word of God are the secrets to our ministering life to others. Many in Christianity often think that the prevailing of the Lord’s work in the age of the apostles was due to the power of the Holy Spirit. This is somewhat the case, but if we study Acts carefully, we will find out that it is not only the Spirit of God that is mentioned; the word of God is mentioned as well. Everyone seems to think that the most important matter in the book of Acts is the Spirit of God. They do not realize that the word of God is also very important.
There are three portions in the book of Acts that speak in the same way. Acts 6:7 says, “The word of God grew,” and 12:24 says, “But the word of God grew.” Then again 19:20 says, “The word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.” However, we cannot find a verse in Acts saying that the power of the Holy Spirit resulted in an increase in the number of people in the church. Instead, it says that the word of God flourished, multiplied, increased, and greatly prevailed.
The problem in Christianity is with opinions, and the poverty in Christianity is due to the lack of the word of God. When we visit various groups of Christians today, we find that there is a great lack of the word of God. Even among those who have the proper interpretation of the word in the Bible, what is spoken is often shallow and superficial. Many have not seen the profound truth and revelation of God and the eternal economy of God that are revealed in the Bible. They have a great lack as far as the word is concerned.
Christianity has become a religion, an organization, that practices the clergy-laity system and cares for rituals and regulations but does not have much of the word of God. At a certain point, the charismatic movement was raised up because some people felt that Christianity was short of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Spirit. These people greatly promoted and publicized, in every possible human way, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, miracles, and so forth. Although they have close to two hundred years of history, their numbers remain small. What is the reason for this? It is because they too do not have much of the word of God.
Today the life-pulse of the Lord’s recovery is the word of the Lord. But to have only the word of the Lord without the Spirit is like having the outward shell of a body without the inward content of life. This is emptiness. Thus, the word and the Spirit must work together. There must be the word of the Lord as well as the Spirit of the Lord. We must keep ourselves in a condition in which we have continuous fellowship with the Lord. We should spend at least twenty minutes each day to come before the Lord to contact Him, to empty ourselves, and to deal with ourselves thoroughly so that He can possess our entire being and so that the Holy Spirit can fill all of our inward parts. Moreover, we should exercise to remain in such a state throughout our daily living. This will keep us in union with the Spirit of the Lord.
On the other hand, we must be equipped with the word of the Lord. In particular, we need to have an in-depth knowledge of the New Testament. We should endeavor to be soaked in the word of the Lord and to let the word saturate us so that we have the word of the Lord within and without in order to cooperate with His Spirit. In this way, when we go out to perfect a home meeting, it will not matter much whether or not we have prepared any materials. As long as we are those who are full of the Spirit of God and the word of God, we will be able to supply life to others through our singing, praying, and reading the Scriptures with them. On the contrary, if we take this fellowship as a mere regulation, the result will be that there is no Spirit or life.
We have received the New Testament ministry not according to the letter but according to the Spirit. The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Cor. 3:6). Therefore, when we go out, we need not only the word but also the Spirit. To have only the Spirit but not the word is abstract and empty. We need to have the word as the reality and content in order to supply life to others and cause them to grow in life. We need both the Spirit and the word. Although the Lord has led us to compile some concise, practical, and useful materials for the perfecting of the home meetings, we cannot depend wholly on such materials. What we rely on are the Spirit of God and the word of God. Concerning the Spirit of God, we must be rich in experience and knowledge and have much reserve. Concerning the word of God, we must enter into its depth and be saturated and equipped with it. In this way, we will be those who are filled with the Spirit of God and the word of God.
If someone is a person who is filled with the Spirit and the word of God, then wherever he goes and whomever he meets, as soon as he speaks to people, the spirit will come out, and they will receive life. At the same time, the word will also come out, and life will be ministered to them. The result is that people are enlivened and enabled to grow. If we can be such persons, our visiting new believers’ homes every week for fifty-two weeks a year to perfect their home meetings will have a great impact. However, if we lack these two items, no matter how good our materials and methods are, we will be giving others only doctrines and letters. We will not be ministering life to enliven them or to enable them to grow. We should bear in mind that it is the Spirit of God and the word of God that can enliven others and cause them to grow.
The Bible is truly wonderful. Through our experience, we eventually realize that the word is the Spirit, and the Spirit is the word; the two are simply one. The Lord Jesus Himself once testified, “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63). The word is life, and the word is the Spirit. Initially, we experience only that the word is life. However, Ephesians 6:17 says, “The sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God.” Those who know Greek understand that word refers not to sword but to Spirit. It is not that the word is the sword, but that the word as the sword is the Spirit. Thus, this verse reveals to us clearly that the word has become the Spirit, and the Spirit is the word.
If we are those who are filled with the Spirit of the Lord and the word of the Lord, then when we go out to contact people, what we speak to them will be the word, but when this word is received into them, it will become spirit and life. What the Lord Jesus speaks to us is His word, but when this word enters into our being, it becomes spirit and life. Hence, the words which He has spoken to us are spirit and are life. Because the words we speak come from the Spirit, these words become spirit when they enter into people. Then when the spirit comes from them, it becomes word, and when this word enters into others, it again becomes spirit. This shows that in order to be useful in God’s hands we must have the word and the Spirit, the Spirit and the word. What we hear is the word, but what we receive into us is the Spirit. Then what we speak forth is the word, but what others receive is the Spirit.
The word is the Spirit, and the Spirit is the word; the two are one. It is the Spirit who gives life (John 6:63). To give life means to enliven someone and to cause him to grow. Someone may have a dead spirit, but when we open our mouth to supply the Spirit to him, he is enlivened. This is to give him life. Someone else may be enlivened in his spirit, but he may lack the supply and not have enough life. When we supply him with the word, this word brings with it life that enters into him to supply him. The result is that he grows in life. First Peter 2:2 says, “Long for the guileless milk of the word in order that by it you may grow unto salvation.” The milk of the word enables people to grow in life. We all know that whatever food we consume—whether it is milk, bread, meat, vegetables, or fruit—is able to supply us life and cause us to grow. That is why a small child who weighs only a few pounds at birth will weigh over a hundred pounds after a number of years. Growth altogether hinges on eating.
The Spirit gives life and enlivens; the word supplies life and causes the growth in life. It is by the word and the Spirit that we can perfect others.
(A message given on March 19, 1987 in Taipei, Taiwan)