Question: We are taking care of a family, and the wife is very sad because her husband has an alcohol problem. Recently, she spoke to me about this problem, and I shared with her that she is now a new person because she has Christ in her and that our problems can be overcome. Then I tried to help her to know how to receive more of the Lord so that her problems would not bother her so much, but she did not understand very well. I tried to explain in a different way and read her some verses. At the end we prayed together, and in our prayer we prayed for her husband and for her further receiving of the Lord. How should we go on with this one?
Answer: When we go out to visit people we always have to exercise our God-given discernment. Even if this one is very good, her environment is hard, full of problems. It is hard for our work to overcome all of these problems. There are too many people with too many problems. If we try to solve everyone’s problems, our time will be wasted and our work will be finished. You can work on this kind of person for your whole life, and nearly nothing may come out for the practical building up of the Body of Christ. It is better to go out to visit new homes to gain more new ones. Eventually, we will find some who are very good for the church life.
It is worthwhile to sacrifice everything to work in His recovery for the building up of the Body of Christ as God’s testimony today, but we must labor wisely; we must discern the different people. America is a melting pot with all kinds of people. Some are people of problems. If we go to them, we are jumping into a pit full of problems. Therefore, we have to have some discernment concerning what community we should work in and which neighborhoods we should visit. We should make our choices wisely.
When people raise up problems, you have to consider what particular point you should strike in order to feed them. In this case, the one point you may want to strike is that she has a spirit and that she can exercise this spirit to contact the Lord, to breathe the Lord in for her enjoyment. You must leave all the problems aside. However, do not ignore or reject her problems completely. You could say, “Only the Lord can take care of all our problems. You can pray concerning this.” This is the best way to put aside the unnecessary matters. Then you may say, “I would like to help you to do something. Every day you can exercise your spirit to pray to the Lord. In your prayer you can remind Him of all these problems, but please do not be bothered by these problems. If you are bothered by them, this will kill your prayer life. Learn how to exercise your spirit to call on the name of the Lord.” Simply stress this one point, and ask her to practice this matter by praying with you. In this one point you can help her, but you should leave all the problems untouched. The enemy is always crouching, waiting for a chance to spoil our work. He does this by bringing up all kinds of problems to make the whole situation muddy or cloudy. We have to choose one point in order to render some help, forgetting all the problems.
Question: If a team of three has nine to twelve new ones to care for, should each member go out alone to care for three or four, or should all three go together to visit each of these?
Answer: Every week your team should come together to fellowship concerning all these new ones. By this you can know their situations and consider which of them may not be that promising and which of them may need some urgent care. Based upon your fellowship, you can decide which member or members should visit which new ones that week. You all must work together in this way.
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