The Apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy 4:7, “Exercise thyself rather unto godliness.” By reading this verse in the context of the entire two Epistles to Timothy, we see that the matter of exercising ourselves unto godliness refers to the real exercise of our human spirit. We must exercise our spirit to contact God and in so many things related to God. Meeting by praising is undoubtedly one of the major items of godliness. Therefore, coming together to praise the Lord is a matter of exercise. We need more and more practice—not just to listen, to know, or to understand, but to exercise what we have received. We need practice to build up a habit of opening our mouths; we need practice to learn how to utter praises and how to compose praises from our experiences of Christ. In other words, we must learn how to conduct our meetings, not by a leader, but by everyone. You are not used to it, I know. You feel awkward in the spirit, in the understanding, and in the utterance. So you need practice. Those who have little practice or skill in driving an automobile feel extremely awkward at times. What a frustrating experience it can be to park a car! But for those who are skillful it is done quite smoothly and effortlessly. The only need is for practice. In this final chapter I want to fellowship with you regarding the actual practice and technique of praising in the meetings.
We must be very clear firstly that the principle which must govern us in all our meetings is the principle of incarnation, the mingling of God and man. Today, in the dispensation of grace, God would never do anything by Himself; He requires human cooperation. On the other hand we can never do anything by ourselves; we require God’s cooperation. It is not that God Himself does something without us nor that we ourselves do anything without Him—it is that we cooperate with God. God is waiting to do something; if we would only render Him proper coordination, He would certainly act. It is not we that are waiting for Him, but He that is waiting for us. He desires to move in the meetings, but we do not render Him adequate cooperation. This principle has been greatly neglected by Christianity. Many Christians, indeed, are not even aware of it. It is wrong to say, as many do, that we must wait for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit before speaking in the meetings. The Holy Spirit has been waiting for years—the problem is not with Him, but with us. This is why we need training and much practice. We need skill to render proper and adequate cooperation to God. We need the experiences, we need the skill of utterance, and we need the habit of opening our mouths.
Our problem is this: firstly, most of us have come out of old Christianity, and it is really difficult to rid ourselves of the influence of our background. Secondly, we are still surrounded by today’s Christianity, by the old way; so unconsciously we have the concept fixed and established within us that we need not bear any responsibility in the meetings. This is a major problem. So many of us have little or no concept and consciousness of responsibility. This is our background and environment, and we are still under this influence. To have the proper meetings we must all learn to deal drastically with this subconscious influence and take up our responsibility.
Suppose we could go to Mongolia, where the influence of Christianity is practically nonexistent, preach the gospel to the people and bring some to the Lord. We would tell them nothing about Christianity, but just about Christ and salvation. I do believe that they would spontaneously come together in an exceedingly simple and living way. Every one would function livingly and spontaneously, praying, praising, or giving testimony in whatever way we may turn them. They would be so active, sensitive, and responsible. But in countries where Christianity has prevailed for centuries the situation is different. Brothers and sisters, if we are honest with the Lord, if we do mean business with the Lord and are faithful to His recovery, we will abandon this kind of influence and consciousness. We have to realize that when we come to the meetings we must do something. We must have responsibility-consciousness.
But to bear responsibility in the meeting does not mean merely to speak or give a message. Absolutely not. To function in the meeting, as we have seen, means principally to demonstrate our spirit. Today the Lord as the life-giving Spirit indwells our spirit. When we demonstrate our spirit the Lord will be exhibited—this is a glory to the Lord and a real shame to the enemy.
Suppose that we have four hundred people meeting together in a merely formal way: they all sing a hymn, one offers a prayer, another continues by reading a passage of the Bible, and then another rises to give a sermon. Of course, that is better than nothing. But could that put the enemy to shame? Suppose, however, that four hundred are meeting together, everyone demonstrating his spirit. What a glory that would be to the Lord and what a shame to the enemy! This is a worship and a warfare in which everyone in the entire congregation participates.
We have the deep conviction that the Lord has turned the age from the age of religion, forms, doctrines and teachings, to the age of the Spirit. Therefore, whenever we come together, we must come with the release and demonstration of the spirit. The key to meetings in such an age is the release and demonstration of our spirit. If we simply release our spirit, the Lord Jesus as the life-giving Spirit will simultaneously be released. This is the principle of incarnation. Hence, when we come together every one of us must learn to release his spirit. Of course, if we have sinned, our conscience will condemn us and our spirit will be bound. But, praise the Lord, we may apply the precious blood to our failures and be at peace in our conscience; then we will have full confidence and liberty to release our spirit.
The Lord is going to revolutionize Christian meetings. He will work this out—by what way, we do not know. The principle, however, we do know: it will be by the release and demonstration of the human spirit. The best way of demonstrating the spirit we also know—by praising the Lord, not in the old way with long prayers, but in a new way with short and living sentences. This requires firstly a daily walk in the Lord with daily experiences of Christ, and secondly, that we open our mouths to praise the Lord, not only in the meetings, but also in our homes, schools, and places of employment. If we have daily experiences of Christ and the exercise of opening our mouths to praise Him, we will have the capital with which to conduct the meetings.