I would like to begin this message with Hymns, #847. It will help us to read, sing, and pray over this hymn:
This hymn has six stanzas, and each stanza has a particular word. In the first stanza it would be good to highlight the word independence. The second stanza has the word seclusion, the third stanza has the word self-deception, and the fourth stanza has the word pretension. Independence, seclusion, self-deception, and pretension are four things we have to overcome. These are the elements of our spiritual cancer. Verses 5 and 6 are on the positive side. Verse 5 mentions coordination and verse 6 has the word building. After the four negative things are cut off, we have the positive things—coordination and building. We need to sing #847 with the release of the spirit. We should not sing in a dying way. We need to sing in a releasing way.
When we attend the meetings, we should always pray. We have pointed out that many of us have a bad habit of explaining in our prayer. We need to learn to drop this explaining from our prayer. We come to the Lord in prayer to ask, to beseech, to petition, to beg, Him, not to explain to Him. The Lord does not need us to explain things to Him. He knows everything. You may say, “Lord, You know we are so poor.” But you do not need to say this, because the Lord already knows. It is better to change your prayer by saying, “Lord, have pity upon my poverty.” This is a real prayer. To say, “Lord, You know we are poor” is explanation. Turn your prayer, from the first word to the last word, into petition.
Furthermore, some of us are used to praying too fast. Because of this, others are not able to follow our prayer. We have to pray in an audible and clear way so that others are able to hear us clearly. Then they will be able to say “Amen” to our prayer. We need to learn to pray without description, without explanation, and slowly and clearly enough so that others can follow us.
Another important thing is that we should not pray according to our natural way. When we pray, we have to exercise our spirit with every word. This does not necessarily mean that if we shout, we are exercising our spirit. But whenever we pray, we must exercise our spirit and the Spirit should be released out of us.
Most of us have never been disciplined in spiritual things. This is the reason for the poverty of the church. In the entire United States, it is hard to see an elder who really knows how to be an elder. This is because we have never found the time to have a training in specific things. We need such a specific training for the vital groups.
I hope that we would drop all of our old habits and our old thoughts. We should remember two things. First, when we pray, we need to petition, to supplicate, not to explain. Second, when we pray, we should pray by and in our spirit. Paul said in Ephesians 6:18 that we should pray at every time in spirit. A number of translations translated “spirit” in this verse with a capital “S.” But the spirit here is not the Spirit with a capital “S,” but our spirit. We need to pray at every time in spirit, and watch unto this kind of prayer in our spirit. If we pray without being in the spirit, we have to adjust ourselves. When we pray, we must pray from our spirit. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit (John 4:24). Whenever we come to the Lord, we must exercise our spirit.
We should learn to exercise our spirit to such an extent that even when we are quiet our spirit is exercised. According to Romans 8, we do not know how to pray as is fitting, so we groan. In our groaning, the Spirit groans also, interceding for us (vv. 23, 26). Our groaning in this way with the exercise of our spirit is the top prayer.
According to the Lord’s parable in Matthew 13:33, Christianity has been fully leavened. We have been contaminated by this leaven. The Lord Jesus told us in Matthew 13 that He came to sow the seed of the wheat, but then the enemy came in. First, the enemy came in to devour the seed sown beside the way. Then some of the seed fell on rocky places which did not have the depth of earth. Other seed was sown among the thorns. The fourth category was the seed sown in the good earth to yield the proper fruit. The seed of the wheat eventually becomes the fine flour, but the fine flour became leavened.
In Matthew 13:33 the Lord said that the entire three measures of meal, of fine flour, became leavened. This means that Christendom has fully leavened in a hidden way all the teachings concerning Christ. The truths concerning such items as the name of Jesus, the gospel, salvation, regeneration, justification, and sanctification have become leavened. These items of the truth were not received by us in a pure way because they had become leavened. The Lord said in Matthew 13:33 that the woman took and hid the leaven in the three measures of meal until “the whole was leavened.” We must realize that in Christianity everything has been leavened. Even the way to pray has been leavened. In our prayer we have to be purified and purged.
We must learn to exercise our spirit in everything that we say and do. We must learn to exercise our spirit when we are shouting or when we are quiet. We must learn to exercise our spirit when we are praying by speaking or when we are praying by groaning. Our spirit should be exercised in everything. This takes practice. Even if people are going to play basketball properly, they need the continual practice.
After attending some of the group meetings we have established, I realize that all the saints need to be re-educated, to be purged. Now is the time for us to learn to drop the old way and the old things and to release our spirit. When we pray, we are not only praying to God. Paul in 1 Corinthians 14 told us clearly that when we are praying to God, we are also praying for other people to understand (vv. 15-17). Not only God but also other people are listening to our prayer because they have to respond by saying “Amen.” Whenever we come to the meetings of the church, we should exercise our spirit to pray.
Furthermore, all the members of the vital groups should endeavor to attend the prayer meeting of the church. In the 1960s when we were in Elden Hall in Los Angeles, at least seventy to eighty percent of those who attended the Lord’s Day morning meeting also attended the prayer meeting. Why could we have such a highly attended prayer meeting at that time, but not today? Some of the mothers may take their children as an excuse, but I would encourage the mothers to get together for babysitting so they can attend the prayer meeting on a rotating basis. Of course, the mothers need to care for their children, but they should not take this as an excuse for always missing the prayer meeting.
We need to care for the Lord and His interests above our consideration for our family (Luke 14:26). Abraham is an example of this. The Lord asked him to come out of Chaldea and from his relatives into the good land. But Abraham came out of Chaldea with his father Terah and with his nephew Lot, and they stopped at Haran. Eventually, Terah died, and then Abraham came into the good land (Acts 7:2-4). When Abraham was asked by God to get out of that idolatrous country, he could not leave his father or his nephew.
Abraham’s nephew Lot also became a source of trouble to him. Lot eventually separated from Abraham and drifted into Sodom, where he became settled. He was captured and Abraham had to fight to defeat the capturing ones in order to recover Lot (Gen. 14:14-16). Later, Sodom was destroyed by God.
Before His destruction of Sodom, God came to Abraham, in Genesis 18, in the form of a man. Abraham prepared water for Him to wash His feet, and He had a meal with Abraham, prepared by Sarah. He stayed with Abraham in such a way for the purpose of rescuing Lot. We can see from the life of Abraham that we need to take care of our relatives, including our parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, nephews, nieces, and children, in a proper way. Otherwise, we will suffer some dealing.
I am saying this to encourage all of us to attend the prayer meeting of the church. I would propose that four mothers come together for the purpose of babysitting so that they can attend the prayer meeting in a rotating way. Every month one sister among the four can take care of the babysitting for one Tuesday night. Then the three other sisters can be released to come to the prayer meeting. Even the church can consider doing something to help the mothers take care of this babysitting burden. We should not easily take an excuse for missing the prayer meeting. We have to be careful before God. To please God by attending the prayer meeting is the best thing. I hope that all of us would promise the Lord that we would attend the prayer meeting of the church.
Also, when we come to the prayer meeting, we must endeavor to pray. To come to the prayer meeting and not pray is meaningless. I would suggest that each of us pray at least three times in the prayer meeting. The Lord Jesus prayed three times in Gethsemane (Matt. 26:44), and Paul prayed three times (2 Cor. 12:8). Thus, we have to come to the prayer meeting, we have to pray, and we should pray three times. Whenever we pray, we must remember that we need to exercise our spirit for the release of the Holy Spirit.
Even the sisters who play the piano in the meetings need to exercise their spirit when they play the piano. Your playing of the piano may sound like the playing of someone who is either sick, sleepy, or dormant. You need to play the piano livingly by exercising your spirit. When you play the piano, your whole being, all your muscles and all your cells, have to coordinate to release your spirit.
The practice of Christianity kills the living functions of the members of the Body of Christ. In Christianity only one person is cultivated to speak. They think that this has more impact. But actually the functioning of all the members of the Body of Christ has the most impact. If we take this training for half a year, all of us will become living ones.
When we come together to meet, our whole being with our spirit should be living. Then if any visitors come to our meeting, they will be touched and inspired. A meeting full of the exercise of the spirit and the release of the spirit is the real church meeting. This is the meeting of the Body of Christ. When we come to a meeting, we should not sit there in a dead, dying, dormant, and sleepy way. Even when we are sitting in the meeting, our entire being should be living. We should be exercising our spirit and releasing our spirit all the time, even when we are not praying aloud.
We can say “Amen” in two ways: without the exercise of the spirit or with the exercise of the spirit. When we say “Amen” in the meetings, we should always say it with the exercise of the spirit and the release of the Spirit. Even the way we come to meet must be living. If we are not shouting, speaking, or praying, we should still exercise our spirit and release our spirit. If we look at someone with the exercise of our spirit, something living from us will penetrate that person. If we are living, we will inspire other people. If we are in the presence of a living person for even a short time, it will be hard for us to avoid being inspired by him. Therefore, we all have to learn how to exercise our spirit, how to stir up our spirit, and how to release our spirit. Even if we are merely sitting in a meeting, we should release our spirit. All of us have to rise up to function in a living way in order to annul the system of one man speaking and the rest listening. We have to come to exercise our spirit and to release our spirit.