This is not a matter of learning methods—methods do not work. In a certain place in this country I heard the following: “When we first began to meet together, all the people in the meeting were seated in one direction. Then we learned that the church in Los Angeles seated the people in four directions; so we changed the arrangement of our chairs accordingly. But we learned, however, that when the people were seated in one direction, there was only one direction of death in the meetings; then, after we changed the seating to four directions, there were four directions of death in the meetings. Therefore, do not follow Los Angeles.” They are right. Do not follow the method—the method does not work. If we are going to speak something for Christ, we must live by Christ. The meeting life depends upon this.
In the early years of my Christian life I was in a group, the dear ones of which knew nothing else but studying the Bible in a literal way. I cannot tell you how much time they spent studying the Scriptures just according to the letter of the Word. Whenever they came together, it was just to discuss the letter of the Word. Suppose that we are this kind of people; do you think that when we come together we could speak something for Christ? It is impossible. If we have nothing of Christ, how can we say something for Christ? We can only speak the letters of the Bible. I knew another group of Christians, the members of which were exceedingly clever in fighting one another with Bible verses. They beat and accused one another by using the Scriptures themselves. How can such people speak something of Christ and for Christ?
The Christian meeting is not a kind of performance, but a demonstration. To perform as an actor is simply a pretense. The Christian meeting must be an exhibition of what we are in Christ, not a performance of what we are not. Of course, if I just speak in tongues day by day, I will not be able to exhibit anything but tongues. If I am just studying the Word according to the letter, I will not be able to demonstrate anything but this. If I walk in the soul and live according to the flesh, when I come to the meeting to function, what can I demonstrate? Nothing but my soulish life, my fleshly daily walk. We cannot perform in the church; we can only demonstrate what we are. The meeting is the demonstration of what we experience of Christ; so we must have the proper walk in our daily life as a base for the meeting.
We all must practice one thing in our daily life: to exercise our spirit to contact the Lord. In my early ministry, I advised people to read through the Bible once a year, to be faithful in the morning watch, to pray at least ten minutes daily, etc. That was my teaching. Of course, there is nothing wrong with that. But now, my ministry has changed greatly. The most important thing for you and me in our daily life is to continually exercise our spirit to touch the Lord. How? Just by this simple way of calling on His name. “O Lord Jesus, O Lord Jesus, O Lord Jesus!” Say it loudly. Don’t say there is no one listening to you—there are many listening; at least the angels and the devils are listening. The more you practice in this way, the more you will be nourished. The more you speak, the more you will be inspired. The angels will listen to you, the evil spirits will also listen to you, and it will be a good exercise for your spirit.
Sisters, sometimes you must speak in your kitchen. Do not say there is nobody there. You have to say, “Jesus is the Lord! Christ is my life!” Just speak it out—you will see what victory you will have. Brothers, while you are gardening, you have to say something for Christ. You can speak to the birds: “Little bird, I want to tell you that Christ is my life. My life is better than yours. I am so proud of Him.” Tell the creatures something about Christ. I am not joking. You will learn how to function. Then, when you come to the meeting, it will be easy for you to say something.
Brothers and sisters, we all must speak for Christ. We should not be dumb people; we do not worship dumb idols, but a living, speaking God. We all can speak—Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
We are now living in the age of the book of Revelation. In this book we read a number of times of a loud voice, a voice as many waters, as mighty thunders (7:10; 14:2; 19:1, 6). We must have a loud voice for Christ. We should not be so dumb; we must learn to say something all the time for the Lord, regardless of whether we have a visible audience or not. Wherever we are, we can tell the angels and the devils, “Jesus is the Lord; Christ is my life. I am not here for myself, for my job, for my schooling; I am for Christ.” We are not speaking just to the air. We are speaking to the principalities, the powers in the heavenlies. This is the way to exercise and strengthen our spirit. We need practice to speak for the Lord, and we have many opportunities every day. By such continual exercise, it will not be difficult to speak for Christ in the meetings.
Everything we learn requires practice. At the beginning we make many mistakes, but eventually we become experts. It is the same with the matter of demonstrating our spirit. And again I say, we have many opportunities every day to practice. We may not have a human audience, but we can always speak to the beings in the air. When we speak to human beings, there may not be so much need of exercising the spirit, but when we speak to the beings in the air, the mind does not work. To exercise the mind to speak to the angels is useless; we must exercise our spirit to speak to them.
We all must learn to continually say something for Christ in our daily life. Why are you so defeated? It is because you are so silent. The subtlety of the enemy is to keep your mouth shut. Speak something for Christ to the people in your office. The more you speak, the more victorious you will be. Learn to sing the hymns wherever you are. You may say that you are not a good singer, but there is no need for anyone to be a good singer. Everyone can sing. These two things—speaking and singing—will help you be so living, active, and aggressive in functioning in the meetings.
Then when you come to the meeting, you must not come late. All late-comers are meeting-killers. If you mean business with the Lord for the meeting, you must be punctual. If it is not possible for you to come before the hour, at least you should come on time. If the meeting is due to start by 7:30, and at that time we just have a few gathered, the rest gradually trickling in thereafter, the meeting is greatly weakened. We must do our best to avoid being late to the meetings. Suppose we are a basketball team with five members, but when the time comes to play there are only two of us. After five minutes another two come, and after half an hour the fifth member arrives. What a poor game that would be! If we would play a good game, we must all be present before the time and prepare ourselves. Then when the time comes to play, we will be so alert and mutually encouraged. When we are all together in good time for the meeting, what an encouragement it is to the spirit. On the contrary, what a discouragement and shame it is when many come late. Furthermore, it is rather difficult for all the late-comers to function in the meetings. By coming late, you are out of the functioning spirit. Punctuality, however, is not a strictly legal matter: if sometimes it is really impossible for us to be on time, the Lord knows. In any case, we must do our best to avoid being late to the meetings. This will help greatly.
Another practical matter relating to the meetings is this—always come to the front. The common way is for the people to find their seats in the back rows. We hate to see this. Try to come to the front; it helps you and it helps the meeting. This is not a small matter. We should fill up the front seats first. Whoever comes first, sits foremost. It is blessed to sit in the front.
Finally, whenever you enter the meeting, learn never to be silent. You must oppose yourself; you must stand against your natural disposition. Never excuse yourself by saying that you are not an outspoken type of person. At least you can say, “O Lord Jesus! Jesus is my Lord!” Just say it; you can. Then we have a few at the other extreme. Their disposition is to be so loud. They must stand against their natural disposition, not act overmuch, and give opportunity for others to participate. We all must be different in the spirit than we are according to our natural make-up. If I am one who is not disposed to speak in public, I must continually take the initiative to speak in the meetings for Christ; I must build up another kind of disposition. If I am one, on the other hand, for whom it is so easy to speak, I must oppose myself. It is good for me to be quiet for awhile until another disposition has been built up in me; then I will function in a proper way.
If we all learn these lessons, the meetings will be uplifted, enriched, and empowered. This kind of meetings will build up the church, edify people, and attract many new-comers. Let us forget our background and have a new start. Let us all come to the pure Word of God and learn a new way in the spirit. Perhaps by next month, the Lord will show us something newer than this; then we will go along with that. Let us drop the old ways and concepts and have an altogether new beginning in our meetings for the ministering of Christ to build up the church.