Another point I would like to make is that we must drop our own way. If someone wants to learn a trade like carpentry, he must drop his own way and pick up the trained way. He must learn the trade of carpentry according to his instructor’s way. Otherwise, he will be a failure. We should not think that it is easy to preach the gospel to get sinners saved. We should preach the gospel, but we cannot do it according to our natural way. We have to learn to preach the gospel in a trained way, not in a way that is according to our disposition, character, and peculiar traits.
All of us have our particular disposition, character, and peculiar traits. These three things annul us in everything. Some sisters among us are nurses. They cannot be good nurses if they work according to their disposition, their character, and their peculiar traits. Depending upon the nurses’ disposition, the patients can be either helped or damaged by them. A nurse with a proper disposition can make the patient happy. Many nurses, however, do not make their patients feel happy and pleasant, because of their particular disposition. This shows us that in taking care of people for the gospel, we must learn to deny our self, which includes our disposition, character, and peculiar traits. We must learn to preach the gospel, not according to our way but in the trained way.
In our prayer these days, we need to pray for three things. First, we need to pray, “Lord, teach me how to redeem my time.” The only way to redeem our time is to pray. Thank the Lord that nothing is as convenient as prayer. We can pray everywhere. While we are driving our car, we can pray. We can redeem the time throughout the day by prayer.
Second, we need to pray that our psychology would be changed. We must be prepared to realize that it will take time to gain people as remaining fruit in the church life. But there is a principle in the whole universe that as long as we preach, people will believe. This is a principle set up by God. Thus, we have to pray and to preach in a laboring way.
Third, we also need to pray that we will not preach according to our way but according to the trained way.
The members of all the vital groups also have to attend the regular church meetings. In particular, all of us have to endeavor to come to the prayer meeting. We have to do something to rescue the prayer meeting. We have been practicing the church life in the United States for about thirty years. Over this period of time a negative habit has been built up. This negative habit is that most of the church members despise the prayer meeting.
All of us need to do our best to come to the prayer meeting. Because of this training with the vital groups, the church prayer meeting here has been greatly helped and rescued. I have been praying nearly every week that the Lord would increase the attendance in the prayer meeting.
Also, when we come to the prayer meeting, we are obliged to pray and to pray not just once. Do not pray long prayers. You do not need to compose anything. Simply tell the Lord what you want. Some saints’ prayers have too much composition. Their prayers are not spontaneous. Never forget that it is easier to get an answer to a short prayer. The best prayer is one with short sentences. Some saints have long sentences in their prayer. But we do not need to give the Lord reasons and explanations in our prayer. He already knows these things, so we should simply tell Him what we want.
Some saints among us are too bold in the meetings. They are bold to direct others to sing a certain hymn and then direct them to sing it over again. But the hymn that they called and asked the saints to sing again was the wrong hymn. If we ask the saints to do this, we must have a sense that the atmosphere of the meeting indicates that all the saints would like to sing this hymn again. Then when the saints are asked to sing it again, they will be happy about it. We need to learn to sense the atmosphere and taste of the meeting. If certain bold ones would cut off their long prayers and stop giving instructions in the meeting until they learn how to sense the taste and the atmosphere of the meeting, their spirit would be built up.
The bold ones among us need to deny their bold disposition. Likewise, the timid ones among us need to deny their timid disposition. Their timidity greatly annuls their function. When they speak, they should exercise boldness to speak in a stronger tone. When they speak and function softly, that does not build up their spirit. If they try to function in a stronger way, that will build up their spirit and cause them to grow.
We have to realize that the meetings are the coming together of God’s children to worship Him. John 4:24 says that God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit. Every church meeting is a time for us to do things in the spirit, because that is the time to worship God. The only principle, the basic, strict principle, in worshipping God is that we must exercise our spirit.
We need to exercise our spirit all of the time in the meeting. Whether we speak or not, we must exercise our spirit. If we do not speak, this should be because the Spirit leads us not to speak. When we speak, we speak also because of the leading of the Spirit. Thus, all that we do in the meeting should be the issue of the exercise of the spirit. But we are so neglectful about this matter. We may exercise our spirit only when we feel we have to pray or speak something, but we must exercise our spirit at all times. I am nourished in every meeting because regardless of whether or not I function, I am in the meeting in the Spirit with the exercise of my spirit. Because I exercise my spirit, I enjoy others’ spirits. When you are in the spirit, I sense it. When you are not in the spirit, I also sense it. We all need to learn and build up the habit of exercising our spirit at all times.