To meet according to 1 Corinthians 14:26, we must desire and learn to prophesy. Prophesying is so that others may learn; hence, to prophesy requires learning. If we say something for others to learn, we have to learn first. We learn to prophesy through experiences. We have to love the Lord, live Him, and enjoy Him. We also learn to prophesy by being equipped with the Word (2 Tim. 3:16-17). We must get into the Word and become saturated with the Word until we are one with the Word. To learn to prophesy we need to pray unceasingly (1 Thes. 5:17-20). We need to pray ourselves into the Spirit. This kind of unceasing prayer will keep us in the Spirit all the time. We must be in the Spirit; otherwise, we cannot have God’s oracle. We must be in the Spirit; otherwise, we cannot speak something divine. We learn to prophesy by living and walking by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16, 25). We also learn to prophesy by practicing. Our learning to prophesy is for attending the meeting of mutuality to fulfill 1 Corinthians 14:26.
If we are going to prophesy, we need to live a prophesying life. First, we need to be revived every morning (Prov. 4:18; Lam. 3:22-24; Psa. 119:147-148). Proverbs 4:18 says, “But the path of the righteous is as the dawning light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day” (ASV). The way of the just is like the dawn that becomes brighter and brighter until noontime. Every twenty-four hours there is a new start, a dawn, a rising sun. This is according to the natural law in God’s creation. We have to go along with this natural law. Every morning, we have to rise early to contact the Lord, to call on Him, and to be revived by Him. In Lamentations 3:22-24, Jeremiah says that the Lord’s mercies are fresh and new every morning. His mercies are like the fresh dew in the morning. Every morning we must enjoy this fresh dew to have a new start, a morning revival.
In addition to being revived every morning, we must also live an overcoming life every day (Rev. 21:7). After the morning revival, we should not stop contacting the Lord. We can live a victorious life by fellowshipping with the Lord moment by moment (1 John 1:6). We also need to walk according to spirit (Rom. 8:4b), not doing anything outside of the Spirit. We should also speak the word (the Lord) all the time. Paul charged Timothy to preach the word in season and out of season (2 Tim. 4:2a). We should not say, “Now is not the time for me to speak to people.” Seemingly it is out of season, but even if it is out of season, we still have to speak the word. Such a prophesying life qualifies us to prophesy.
In Taipei we gave the saints some practical fellowship concerning how to prepare to prophesy in the church meetings on the Lord’s Day. Every week they will cover a chapter of a certain book of the Bible and divide this chapter into six portions for six days. In each section for each day, they choose two or three verses for pray-reading, and they enjoy the Lord with these verses for their morning revival. We charged the saints to write down a short reminder of what the Lord inspired them with in their time with Him in the morning. At the end of the week, they will have six notes of what they were inspired with during the week. On Saturday night they use these notes of their inspiration to compose a prophecy to speak for three minutes. Then they practice it in their homes. They are instructed not to be too long or too short. When they go to the church meeting on the Lord’s Day, they have something, thus fulfilling the Lord’s word in 1 Corinthians 14:26— “each one has.” They do not trust merely in instant inspiration, but they come to the meeting prepared with the riches of Christ that they have enjoyed. Certain brothers who may be considered as “tutors” will spend time with a number of the saints after they have spoken on the Lord’s Day to give them more help, adjustment, and perfection. The saints need to be perfected to enjoy the Lord, to be saturated with the Word, to pray unceasingly, to fellowship with the Lord moment by moment, to walk in the Spirit, and to speak the Lord in the Spirit at all times. Then they need to learn how to compose a prophecy for the church meetings. I hope that we all would try to practice this for our church meetings.
If only fifteen out of fifty saints prophesy in a meeting of the church, that meeting will be in the third heavens. This is what the Lord desires. Regardless of how long a message is or how good it is, it only covers one main item. But when fifteen prophesy, different points will be covered. This prophesying will touch people’s problems in a particular way. Such speaking will not only nourish the saints but also build them up. When one person speaks, only what he has experienced of the riches of Christ is released. When fifteen people speak, the riches of Christ come out of fifteen sources and fifteen portions of Christ are ministered.
I want to repeat again that we should not make a quick change from the old way of one man speaking to the new way of “each one has.” On the one hand, we have to remain in the old way to keep the saints. On the other hand, we have to take the time to train them and educate them in order to bring them into a full realization that the Lord today needs His saints to meet according to 1 Corinthians 14:26. Our teaching will stir up their appetite, and they will begin to desire to prophesy. They will seek to excel to the building up of the church. By this way I believe the entire church in our place, maybe within one year, will gradually have a radical change.
We have seen a clear view from the Lord concerning how to preach the gospel and how to have church meetings. We are still not completely clear regarding how to have the home meetings and small group meetings because the New Testament does not say much about this. We do know, though, from the Scriptures that the home meetings and small group meetings are greatly needed (Acts 2:46; 5:42; 12:12). First Corinthians 14 and Ephesians 4:11-16 give us a clear view regarding how to have the church meetings. We need to cooperate with the Lord and labor together with Him to see these portions of the Word fulfilled for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.