Now I must speak a word concerning our utterances while pray-reading or praise-reading the Word. I do believe it would be more impressive if we would on the one hand use the very words of the verses as our prayers or praises and on the other hand mingle the Word with our fresh experiences. It is good to quote the Word and pray the very Word, but it is also good to apply it to our experiences.
For instance, suppose we are pray-reading Psalm 45. One brother may exclaim, “O my heart is bubbling over!” Then another may follow, “We do have a bubbling heart.” That is the time then for someone to continue by applying the Word to their current experience: “Lord, today my heart was bubbling over with Your presence.” You see, this is not just a kind of quotation, repetition, or interpretation of the words of the verses, but an application to experience. We must apply the words to our experiences; we must match the words with our experiences. In this kind of praising it is better to have more experiences composed into the verses. A good proportion may be to use one-third of the time for praying or praising from the wording of the verses, and two-thirds of the time for applying the verses to our experiences. We have the subject with the various points from the verses, but the content should be our experience.
Suppose then that you go on to the second point of Psalm 45, “My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.” Here you need to introduce many experiences into your praising. One may say, “Lord, You know how much I have been using my tongue all day to write something of Your goodness and lovingkindness.” A sister may say, “Yes Lord, my tongue has really been writing Your praise today for Your presence in my suffering.” We do need to put our experiences into our praises.
In our meetings we also need some variety; we should not always stick to the old pattern—the way we did it last month, last week, or even last night. Sometimes after praising a little, I may stand up to give a short testimony. Immediately following, another may call for a chorus or simply take the lead in singing. This may lead to a further release of praise. There is no need to fall into any kind of rut—that is degraded Christianity. What we have within us is a living Spirit. Do not allow your mind to be fixed; learn to be so active, so alive, and so flexible in any situation. We all must learn to be new; in every meeting there must be something new. Sometimes there is no need to pray or sing a hymn. Just get up to give a testimony—perhaps many more will follow, or perhaps the meeting will be launched into another period of praise to the Lord in a new way. Simply learn to be so sensitive that whatever you do will not damage or kill the meeting. A person who walks in the spirit is always exceedingly sensitive. Our aim must always be to uplift, enrich, or intensify the spirit, whether by singing, testimony, praise, or any other means.
We all need to learn and practice many skills in order to render the best cooperation to the Lord. He is so living and moving, yet He needs our cooperation, our skillful cooperation. We must learn how to shout, how to speak, how to testify, and how to call for a hymn or a chorus to meet the need. We must learn many things in many ways; then we will be flexible to go on in the flow. We will have nothing predetermined, nothing set or fixed; we will be so new and coordinated in one spirit, following the flow all the time.
Let me say a word now in regard to the sisters. The sisters must be bold to participate. We brothers, on the other hand, are too bold; we must give opportunity to the sisters that they also may enter in. They are the weaker vessels (1 Pet. 3:7); we should be considerate of them. The sisters, however, must be strengthened and emboldened both in spirit and voice. For some of them it is not easy; so they must practice. When we are short of the sisters’ participation, the meeting will not be as strong. Hence, the sisters must take up their responsibility and fulfill their part. They must overcome their shyness. As a matter of fact, I have noticed when attending some sisters’ meetings that the sisters then are greatly released. So I would ask them to try to cooperate better with the brothers. This will greatly help and strengthen the meetings.