Now let me ask another question. Where is the Spirit today? Hallelujah! The reality of the name is the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit today is in our spirit. This is why we must exercise our spirit. It is very difficult to say whether the word “spiritual” in 1 Corinthians chapters twelve and fourteen refers to something of the Holy Spirit or our regenerated human spirit. The King James Version, in 1 Corinthians 12:1, says, “Now concerning spiritual gifts,” and in 14:1, “Follow after charity and desire spiritual gifts.” The word “gifts,” if you noticed, is in italics; it means that it is not in the original text; in the Greek there is not such a word. In other words, it just says, “Now concerning spiritual,” and “Follow after charity, and desire spiritual...” Of course, there is no need that the Holy Spirit be spiritual. Those who need to be spiritual are you and I. The word “spiritual” refers to us; we must learn to be spiritual. I do believe it really means that we must be in the spirit. It is rather difficult for anyone to decide whether the “s” of this spirit should be capitalized or not. We could translate 1 Corinthians 12:1 in such a way: “Now concerning being in the spirit, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.” Chapter fourteen, verse 1, likewise, can be translated as, “Follow after love, and desire to be in the spirit.” I prefer not to capitalize the word “spirit” in these verses. If you read chapter fourteen, you will see how many times the word “spirit” has been used with small letter “s.” Eventually when you come to verse 32, you read concerning “the spirits of the prophets,” the “spirits” being in plural number because the prophets are in plural number, and the spirits are the spirits of the prophets. It is exceedingly easy for anyone to see that this does not refer to the Holy Spirit, but to the human spirits of the prophets.
Now, I believe, you have the secret of how to meet. Firstly, it is to meet in the name. Secondly, to meet in the name means to meet in the Spirit. And thirdly, to meet in the Spirit means to exercise our spirit. This is the way for us to attend the meetings. The way for Christians to meet is not to have forms, regulations, programs, and so forth, but just to exercise the spirit. The Holy Spirit is mingled with our spirit; therefore, when we exercise our spirit the Holy Spirit moves with us. When the Holy Spirit moves with our spirit, we have the reality of the name. We are meeting not only by exercising our spirit, but also by being in the Spirit, and thus also in the name.
The key, the secret of our meeting together, is the exercise of our regenerated human spirit. How can we prove this? First Corinthians 14:32 is the strongest proof. Verse 31 tells us that we all “can prophesy” (Greek). Then verse 32 follows by telling us that prophesying is just the exercise of our spirit. It is not to wait until the Spirit pushes us, because the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. As the prophet, if we do not take the initiative, if our spirit would not move, then the Holy Spirit has no way out. We must take the initiative and exercise our spirit. If our spirit moves, the Holy Spirit who is within our spirit will move with us and bring in the reality of the name of Jesus. Therefore, the proper way for us as Christians to meet is to exercise our spirit. This is no small thing.
You do not know how much time we have spent searching the Bible, especially the New Testament, and reading many other writings to discover the way of meeting. By the Lord’s mercy, He showed us that the secret of meeting together is to exercise the spirit, because the reality of the name of the Lord is in the Spirit, and His Spirit is mingled with our spirit. The secret of our meeting today is the exercise of our spirit.
In today’s Christianity there is much talk about the Spirit in meetings. The so-called Pentecostal people say that we must have the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the meeting. That means, according to their teaching, that we must pray, that we must confess our sins, that we must tarry and pray with fasting for a certain time, and then suddenly in one of the meetings the Holy Spirit will descend upon us and we will have the manifestation of speaking in tongues. With them, it is quite difficult. I was in this kind of movement for some time more than thirty years ago. I spent much time praying, fasting, confessing all my sins, and so forth. I am not criticizing, but just presenting the real situation of today’s Christianity.
Then there is the other extreme. In so-called fundamental Christianity we are told that we must follow the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In all the meetings we must wait and not act if we do not have inspiration. If you read all the fundamental writings regarding the inspiration of the Spirit in meetings, they all say the same thing. You must confess your sins and consecrate yourself, you must pray more, you must wait more upon the Lord; then you will feel the Holy Spirit inspiring you and you need only follow His inspiration. Let me check with you: Can you find such a verse in the Bible? Is there a verse telling us that we must meet in this way? No, there is not.
Read 1 Corinthians chapters twelve and fourteen: you will see that we must desire to be in the spirit; we must desire to prophesy. To prophesy is not to wait until we are inspired. Read the context. To prophesy means to take the initiative to exercise our spirit. It seems that we take the lead, but when we do, the Spirit of God follows and flows out, because today the Holy Spirit is mingled with our spirit. With Him there is no problem. He is always waiting for us; the problem is with us. If we would just cooperate with Him, if we would take the lead, He would follow and come forth. He would work together with us. It is not a case of us waiting for Him; it is He who is continually waiting for us. Since the time He came into us and mingled Himself with us, He has been waiting for us all the time. He has taken the initiative already; He is waiting now for us.
I do believe that if you read all these passages to which we have referred, and not only read them but pray-read them again and again, your eyes will be opened. Praise the Lord, there is no need for us to wait for any kind of manifestation or any kind of inspiration. We need only to exercise our spirit and open our mouth to say, “O Lord, O Lord!” Do you see the point? Read the context of all these passages and you will get the proper meaning. Just exercise your spirit and say, “Lord Jesus!” Exercise something deeply within you to speak for the Lord Jesus. This is the exercise of the spirit. It seems that it is out from you, but it is really something of God, because the very Spirit of God today is mingled with your spirit.
When I was a child, I participated with the other children in a certain kind of race. We divided into pairs, and two of our feet were bound together so that each pair was forced to run with three feet. I believe that in America it is called a three-legged race. When I ran this race, the other one, my mate, was always waiting for me. Eventually I would rise and get ready to run the race. Now tell me, who was the initiator, he or I? Apparently it was I, but in fact he was the real initiator. Now we are bound together with the Holy Spirit, and not only bound together, but mingled with Him. But we are so slow and slothful; He has been waiting for us all the time. When we become aware of Him, we are still ignorant, for we say, “Lord Jesus, I have been waiting for You in my spirit. I have been praying for three days, and I do not have the inspiration.” Dear ones have come to me and said, “How is it that you have such inspiration, but it is so difficult for us to obtain it? It seems so easy for you to be inspired, but so difficult for us. Why?” The answer is that they have been carried away by the fundamental teachings. Read 1 Corinthians chapter fourteen again and again. It does not say that we must wait, it does not say that we must pray, it does not say that we must fast. It says that we must take the initiative; our human spirit must take action. It seems that we are always waiting, but actually the Holy Spirit has been waiting for us all the time.
By what way, then, can we take the action and initiative in our spirit? Praise the Lord, in these two chapters we have two ways. Just by saying, “Lord Jesus!” “No man can say Lord Jesus but in the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:3). In other words, whenever you say “Lord Jesus” in a real way, it means that you are in the Spirit. Some versions translate 1 Corinthians 12:3 in this way: “No one can say Lord Jesus except by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.” Other versions give this rendering: “No one can say Lord Jesus but in the power of the Holy Spirit.” Though such words as inspiration and power in this verse are not in the original Greek, yet this is the real meaning. To be in the Spirit really means to be in the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. When you say “Lord Jesus,” you are in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. There is no need for you to wait for inspiration; you are already in it. We all have to learn to say “Lord Jesus” in the meeting, in our home, and a thousand times a day. I hope that the sisters while they are shopping in the supermarket will say “Lord Jesus” many times. While they are walking down the aisles and considering what to buy, they must say “Lord Jesus.” We all must say this. If we are going to lose our temper, we must say, “O Lord Jesus!” Then our temper will be gone. There is no need for us to read so many books to become holy. I tell you, you can become holy just by saying “Lord Jesus.” Whenever you say “Lord Jesus,” you are in the Holy Spirit. It is wonderful.
Then in the meetings, the second way to keep yourself in the Holy Spirit is to prophesy. To be in the Holy Spirit means to prophesy. But we must realize that to prophesy not only means to foretell. Altogether, to prophesy has three meanings: 1) to foretell, meaning to predict or to speak beforehand; 2) to tell for, or to say something on the behalf of others; and 3) to tell forth, or to proclaim and declare. These are the three meanings of this one word “prophesy” in the New Testament. In Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 14, to prophesy means to tell for more than the other two meanings. It means to say something for Christ, to say something for the Lord—this is real prophecy. You may not be able to speak in tongues, but you can prophesy; you can say something for the Lord in the meetings. Everyone can. First Corinthians 14:31 says, “Ye can all prophesy” (Greek). We all can prophesy, we all can say something for Jesus. I tell you the truth, I cannot sing well at all, but I can say so many things for Christ. Sisters, you can say something for the Lord. Praise the Lord, you can prophesy. I can say something all the time for the Lord Jesus. As long as I have breath, I can say something for Him. This is real prophecy. Read 1 Corinthians 14 again and again and see if this is not the meaning.
The way to meet, therefore, is to be in the name of the Lord Jesus. And the way to be in the reality of the name of the Lord Jesus is to be in the Spirit. The way to be in the Spirit is to exercise our spirit, because the Holy Spirit is one with our spirit. And the way to exercise our spirit in the meetings is to call, “Lord Jesus!” and to prophesy, to speak for Christ the Lord.