We need to rise up to meet the Lord’s need, and rising up includes many aspects. A brother once said that as long as a person has a specialty, he will be able to make a living in the world. However, in the service of the Lord, we must be strong in every aspect—in our spirit, soul, and body. This is our experience. One who is useful to the Lord immediately rises up in his entire being when he receives the Lord’s command. He is able to exercise his mind, emotion, and will in the same way that he exercises his spirit. He knows how to regulate, supply, and control his body. He can rise up to meet the Lord’s need in great or small things.
After we are saved, we often feel that we are inadequate to meet the Lord’s need and cooperate with Him when He wants to use us. It is quite good to have this kind of feeling. Because some do not have this kind of feeling, they sleep peacefully when the Lord wants to use them. This is why we say that we should not sleep and eat peacefully; rather, we need to rise up and deal with ourselves in order to meet the Lord’s need.
Concerning the second point of rising up to meet the Lord’s need, there are many lessons we should learn. Even though some saints talk to people, it is not easy for them to enter into their feeling or to understand them. This is due to a lack of learning. I once saw a brother who was improper in the matter of giving hospitality, and I said to him, “Brother, you must be more prepared when you give hospitality.” He replied that he asked his guests about their needs, and they said that they did not need anything. I responded, “We should not be so foolish and accepting of their words. While our guests would not lie, they also do not want to be impolite.” Our brother was too simple and accepting, believing everything his guests said. When they said that they could do without soap or hot water, it did not mean that they had no need of them. This brother’s service shows that he did not understand people’s needs, so how could he serve people well?
When the saints come to us, we often do not understand their words, and sometimes our understanding is the exact opposite of what they mean. As Christians, we should learn to speak truthfully more than politely. I have been learning this lesson for over twenty years, and I have almost learned it. When I take hospitality in a saint’s house, I always tell them what I need when they ask, “Do you need to eat something?” As Christians, we must learn lessons. In particular, when we serve people, we must learn to know them, understand their words, and know their desires. Only then can we rise up to meet the Lord’s need.
Some brothers like to speak with their local dialect. This is not so proper. We should learn to meet all kinds of needs appropriately; only then can we rise up to meet the Lord’s need. It is not possible to give many illustrations. In short, there is much for us to learn in this second point, that is, in the matter of rising up to meet the Lord’s need. The disposition of some people makes it impossible for them to serve God. If they served God, I am afraid that they would have to “peel off their skin.” Not only would they need to change their clothes and make alterations, but even their skin would need to be “peeled off.” If one has not learned any lesson, he will not know what to do when people come to him; he will not know how to handle a matter when it is brought to his attention. This kind of person cannot serve God.
If we want to serve God, we must learn to stop our whole being before God; moreover, we must learn to cause our whole being to rise up before God. We must learn every single point that is necessary. We cannot learn them in a day or a moment; rather, every day and every moment are needed. This is a long-term matter. If the Lord arranges for us to be responsible for receiving guests from out of town, we should consider everything related to hospitality. For example, what will the guests need when they step into the house? What will they need in their rooms? What other needs will they have? We must carefully consider these matters. Only in this way can we be useful in our service.
The condition of some young people is annoying. They read the Bible in a loose way; they miss sentences or misquote verses. How can they meet God’s need? Sometimes a brother who will give a message in the meeting begins to consider what to say only at the last minute. When he suddenly remembers a verse, he cannot remember the exact verse reference; he knows it only vaguely. This proves that there has not been enough preparation. Instead of waiting until the last minute to consider what to speak, we must be so well prepared that we can open the Bible to the exact verse on which we are going to speak. This is proper preparation.
I have said repeatedly that if we want to meet the Lord’s need, we must be prepared in every aspect. Serving the Lord requires us to be all-capable. We cannot say that we are fully qualified to meet the Lord’s need, but the Lord requires us to be all-capable for His service. This requires us to be prepared outwardly and inwardly. Our spirit must be clean, fresh, full of the Lord’s presence, and strong, knowing the spiritual way. We need to learn in all these matters. My heart often grieves when I see the saints with nothing to do. How can they have nothing to do? If we are endeavoring to learn all the time, we surely will have an endless number of things to do.
We also have read too little. Our co-workers who are in their forties and fifties, for example, read too little. In principle, we should read a new book every week. We should read books published by us and from other countries. We need to see how things are done in the United States and Japan. We should not be content with what we presently have, thinking that we have done everything well. Even if we have done well, we still need to seek improvement and consult other people. Today there are many among us who have not read even one book all year. We cannot say that we are not slothful. If this condition continues, how can we meet God’s need?
If we want to serve the Lord, we must rise up and try to accomplish something. For example, if we want to clean the floor, we must study and find the proper way to clean. No one who participates in the Lord’s work can be idle and unoccupied. The practice in degraded Christianity is to hire preachers to preach, but we cannot do this. One who is truly used by the Lord must be aggressive and able to accomplish great things. In the Bible nearly everyone who was useful to God was snatched out of the world by God. If they had loved and remained in the world, they would have been quite successful. Instead, the Lord snatched them out of the world and made them useful vessels in His hands.
Many people have the erroneous concept that if they are not able to do anything else, they can be a preacher. One of my classmates became a newspaper reporter when he was about twenty years old, but later he quit his job. He came to me and asked me to introduce him to the church because he wanted a job as a preacher. At that time, if a mother had three sons, the brightest one would study medicine, the next brightest would study business, and the least bright would study theology. However, service to God cannot be like this. The brightest ones must serve God, and those who are not so bright must also serve God, but they need to overcome their lack of intelligence by spending time to learn, according to the saying: “Stupidity can be remedied by diligence.” We must have this kind of attitude and feeling.
One who serves the Lord cannot be idle and unoccupied. No one should be like this. Everyone should schedule his time properly, planning when to pray, visit people, clean, prepare for a message, and so forth. This requires learning. If we want to serve the Lord and be useful, we must learn every day. Otherwise, our destiny will be a dead end. Sometimes when I see some saints, I am truly bothered. For example, when I meet them on the street around 7:30 P.M., they tell me that they have nothing to do. Such people are surely useless. We must have a clear arrangement, a plan for doing certain things at certain times. If we are all willing to try this, our uselessness will turn to usefulness. Not enough people have risen up, and there are still many things that require our learning and many works that require our labor. In serving the Lord we must stop ourselves, but in meeting the Lord’s need we must be absolute and rise up.