We all are able to speak for the Lord in the meetings. You should not think that a certain brother who has much experience in the Lord and much knowledge of the Word is able to speak, but you are not able to speak. Although you may not have as many spiritual riches as this brother, you still have something. You at least have some amount of spiritual riches and you need to spend what you have by speaking forth the Lord in the meetings.
The fact that we speak freely outside the meetings is a strong indication that we are also able to speak in the meetings. However, a brother may be silent in the meeting. Then after the meeting, perhaps on the way home, he may speak freely and boldly. We need to realize that we all are able to speak in the Spirit in the church meetings. We all are able to utter at least a simple word for the Lord.
An experience I had in a meeting of the church in Los Angeles in 1968 illustrates the fact that all believers can speak in the church meetings. On a certain Lord’s Day morning I had the deep feeling that I should stand up and speak. I stood up, but I did not know what to say. Eventually, I told the saints that we all can prophesy, that we all can speak for the Lord. I went on to say that at least we all can speak four words. At this point I said to myself, “What four words? What words will you encourage the saints to speak?” Then I went on to say, “We all can speak these four words: ‘O—Lord—amen—hallelujah.’”
After the meeting, I began to consider what I had said. At first I thought that I had been mistaken regarding the sequence of these four words. I said to myself, “You spoke these words in the wrong sequence. Instead of saying, ‘O Lord, amen, hallelujah,’ you should have said, ‘O Lord, hallelujah, amen.’” But as I considered the matter further according to the Scriptures, I realized that Revelation 19:4 says, “And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God, who sits upon the throne, saying, Amen, Hallelujah!” According to this verse, “amen” comes first, and “hallelujah” follows. I was confirmed that the sequence in which I had spoken these four words was correct. I believe that I was led by the Spirit to point out to the saints that we all can say, “O Lord, amen, hallelujah!”
The words “O Lord, amen, hallelujah!” can be uttered in different ways. We may speak them strongly and loudly, or we may utter them slowly and quietly. Surely all the saints, from the youngest to the oldest, can speak these four words, especially in the meetings. The more the saints speak something for the Lord in the church meetings, the more living the meetings will be.
It would be helpful if we all practiced speaking for the Lord in our daily living. Even at home we can say, “O Lord, amen, hallelujah!” Would it not be wonderful if a sister would say, “O Lord,” the husband replied, “Amen,” and the children responded, “Hallelujah!” This kind of speaking would help to produce a heavenly family life.
In the church meetings all the saints, especially the young ones and the new ones, can speak for the Lord in a simple way. For example, a new believer may stand up and say, “Jesus the Lord is so precious to me! Every time I say, ‘Lord Jesus,’ my heart is filled with His sweetness.” After this, another young one may rise up and say, “I want to testify to you all that the name of Jesus is so sweet.” How excellent the meetings would be if they were filled with such speaking!
A genuine and typical Christian is a speaking Christian. Christians are a speaking people. However, if we do not speak, we shall not look like real Christians.
Christians are those who have been made alive. Once we were dead, but now we are living. Those who are dead do not speak. All those buried in a cemetery are silent. We should not be dead, dumb believers. On the contrary, because we are living, we should demonstrate that we are living by speaking for the Lord in the Spirit.
Suppose as an experiment you tried to refrain from speaking for twenty-four hours. I believe that you would find this extremely difficult. Because we are living persons, we have the desire to speak. Why, then, are certain ones silent in the meetings? Since we are living, we should speak for the Lord.
We have pointed out that the worshippers of the living God should not be silent. Rather, we need to speak forth the Lord Jesus in the Spirit of God. This kind of speaking is related to the exercise of the spiritual gifts. Speaking the Lord Jesus is the main function of the spiritual gifts. The purpose of our speaking in the meetings is to speak concerning the Lord.