Traditional meetings in Christianity follow certain procedures, but we need to be delivered from rigidly following procedures in our meetings. In the meetings we sing hymns, give testimonies, expound the Bible, and release God’s word, but we should not be influenced by traditional Christianity and follow traditional procedures whenever we meet.
We have fellowshipped concerning the exercise of the spirit and the release of the spirit since 1960. From 1960 to 1961 I wrote eighty-five new hymns in Chinese, which were mainly concerning the spirit. However, it seems as if the more I promoted the release of the spirit, the less the saints released their spirit, and eventually there was no release of the spirit. Paul says that we should not quench the Spirit (1 Thes. 5:19), because it is easy to quench the Spirit. As believers, we all have a mingled spirit—the Spirit and our spirit mingled as one spirit. The Christian life, work, testimony, and meetings depend on the mingled spirit. However, if we quench our spirit instead of exercising it, our life, work, testimony, and meetings will be empty.
If our spirit is not exercised, any work that we do will not be the work of the Spirit, and our living will be merely a religious display; we will live and walk according to doctrines. A life that is according to doctrines is not a genuine Christian life. The Christian life depends on the life of Christ, and the life of Christ is our mingled spirit. Our mingled spirit is the life of Christ (Rom. 8:10).
When I went to the United States in 1962, I began the work by speaking concerning the spirit. As a result of this clear speaking, in 1969 the Lord’s recovery in the United States reached a climax. I still appreciate the condition of the churches from 1969 to 1972. During this time the meetings in all the churches in the United States reached the highest point. The meetings did not begin in the meeting halls; they began in the homes. If a meeting began at 7:30 in the evening, the saints began to release their spirit in their homes at 6:30. Many brothers and sisters actually lived in the spirit all day long. When they woke up in the morning, they released their spirit and drew near to the Lord. That was the beginning of the evening meeting. In other words, the evening meeting began when the brothers and sisters had their morning watch. During those years the saints were filled in spirit every day.
As a result of daily exercising their spirit, the saints wrote many hymns that are in the English supplement. In addition, an hour before every meeting one could see groups of saints singing on their way to the meeting hall and shouting Amen, Hallelujah. When in the meeting, the saints did not follow any procedures. They praised the Lord and shouted Hallelujah. The meetings were living, and it was easy to release the divine word. The atmosphere of a meeting can function like a water pump and draw words out of a person. Even if a person did not want to speak, it was impossible for him to remain quiet, because the atmosphere of the meeting pulled the words out of him.
However, it is not often that such a situation is seen in Taiwan. This meeting is comparatively good, because it is better than most meetings. According to our habit, we do not testify at the beginning of a meeting. We always testify after the message. This time, we departed from tradition and testified at the beginning of the meeting. I agree with this practice, and we all sensed the freshness. Therefore, in the future we should not go back to our old regulations and follow tradition. Our testimonies should be living. We should never keep our old regulations. We need to learn to be living. Moreover, the saints who did not give a testimony should not consider themselves superior and criticize the saints who testify.