Whether young or old, all of us must exercise to do one thing: from the time we wake up in the morning until we go to bed at night, as long as we are awake and breathing, we must set our minds on the Lord. Perhaps you would say, “I want to do this. But whenever I become busy, I forget about this.” I admit that sometimes I forget the Lord also. But one thing which I have learned makes it hard for me to forget the Lord: I always call on the Lord. If you would call “O Lord” all the time, you will be reminded of Him. Sometimes you also have to learn to say Amen. Many times we become busy with something. While we are busy with that thing, we become buried in it for two or three hours. The Lord is gone, and we are lost in that thing. I have learned a secret: no matter how busy I am, I would learn always to say “O Lord, Amen.” This kind of calling brings me into fellowship with the Lord.
Some of you drive to work. While you are driving, you can call on the Lord. Sometimes the road is too congested. The cars ahead of you are moving too slowly. At such times you have to exercise yourself to say “O Lord, Amen.” You may even joke a little, “O Lord, the cars are slow. But You are not slow.” The Lord is indeed not slow. He never fails us. If your mind is turned, the songs will come: “He faileth not, for He is God; He faileth not, His grace how good!” If you have such a good enjoyment during the day, you will surely love to come to the meetings. If all the brothers and sisters would live such a life, everyone would surely love the home meetings.
When we attend the home meetings, we have to be ready to speak. We all know that in the home meetings we cannot talk about the things of the world. If you speak about such things, no one would say Amen to you. But to speak spiritual things is difficult for us, because we have not learned to speak this way, and we cannot speak this way. Herein lies the key: when we come to the home meetings, everyone must learn to speak God’s word.
There is another key to the home meeting: we must be persons who read the Bible. An illiterate person cannot speak very well. Only those who are learned can speak well. A Christian’s speaking depends on his reading of the Bible. I am not asking you to read a lot. Every saved person should spend at least ten minutes a day to read the Bible. You cannot spend less than ten minutes. I advise you that the best time to read is the morning. Allocate at least ten minutes a day to read the Bible. Take all of God’s words into your being. Be filled with His word to such an extent that it is no longer you reading the Bible, but the Bible reading itself to you from within you.
If we love the Lord, we have to go to bed as early as possible. I discovered the same thing with both Chinese and American children: they do not like to go to bed. Not only do the children not like to go to bed; both young people and old folks alike do not like to go to bed early. In the evening they always want to drag on longer. In order to be able to wake up in the morning, I suggest that you go to bed early. As soon as you wake up, the first thing to do is to go to the Word. This will make a great difference. If you read ten minutes a day, you may not notice much difference; you may only have three or five verses a day. But as the months go by, there will be more of a deposit in you, and the Bible will open itself to you in a wonderful way.
Your reading of the Bible the first time will lay a foundation for you. Later when someone expounds that verse in the meeting, your impression will be much deeper. When you come to the same passage the second time, there will be more of God’s word in you. If you would do this for ten minutes a day, in ten years how rich a person you will be! The deposited word in you will make you a scholar. For example, born of a woman is a biblical expression. If you would read the Bible every day, terms such as incarnation, mingling, and other biblical expressions will be constituted into you. When you need them, they will all come back. It is correct to say that reading the Bible is a difficult thing. It is equally correct to say that reading the Bible is an easy thing. All you have to do is go and read.