How do we know whether our speaking is on the right track? As we speak, we have to be attentive to whether our burden is being reduced or whether it is becoming heavier. This is crucial. We do not have to wait until we step down from the platform to find out whether or not we are speaking on the right track; we can sense this as we are speaking. Whenever a word goes out from our mouth, our burden should be reduced a little. Three things—God’s word, His light, and our thoughts—constitute a burden. When this burden is discharged, it is discharged through outer words. Hence, every outer word should reduce the inner burden. It would be wrong if an outer word did not reduce the inner burden. One knows within himself whether the message has been delivered properly. If his burden is lessened as he speaks, he can be sure that he has delivered his message properly. If there is no reduction in his burden after speaking for a few minutes, he can be sure that he has taken the wrong direction; he has not said the right thing. It would be better for him to not say anything at all, than for him to go on for another hour without changing direction. He should say, “Brothers, what I just said was wrong,” and he should start his message all over again. The more he learns, the less problem he will have in this matter. While we practice serving as a minister of the word, we have to speak for the purpose of releasing our inner burden. We have to learn to come to a message with a burden and to walk away without the burden. If there is no burden before we speak, we cannot speak at all. But after we speak, the burden should be gone. We cannot come with a burden, speak for half an hour or an hour, and then find that our burden is still present. In such a case, God’s light has not become the word, and we will only carry the same burden back home with us. Sometimes we can have the strange experience that part of what we say is right and part of what we say is wrong. As a result, part of the burden that we bring to the meeting is discharged while another part is not discharged. We may feel that this is still not that good.
Sometimes the problem can grow worse. Instead of alleviating our burden through our speaking, we only add to our burden and make it heavier. An illustration we use in our speaking may add to our burden. We may inadvertently joke a little in the midst of our speaking, which may stir up uncontrollable laughter in the audience. The result may add more weight to our burden. Many illustrations, jokes, sudden ideas, or distracting thoughts may add to our burden. At the end of our speaking, we may feel that our burden is heavier than when we began. Our eye must be single. We should speak to discharge our burden; we should not speak for the sake of speaking.
One basic principle in speaking is that our eye has to be set on discharging our burden. Everyone carries a burden with the view of discharging it; no one carries a burden with a view to bringing it back to his starting point. Any burden that comes to us must be discharged by proper words. If we feel that our burden is increasing while we speak, we should stop speaking right away. If we do not know how to use the proper outer words, we will have quite a problem with the ministry of the word. If a sentence we utter relieves the burden, we know that we are speaking on the right track. We can repeat the same thing from different angles and in many ways. Then we will feel our burden going away, and we will know that we have said the right thing. Eventually, our burden will be gone. In our speaking, we may have only one or two sentences that we really want to say. The rest of the sentences are to carry forward and support those one or two sentences. If we can deliver these one or two sentences properly and if we can effectively release the inner word within us, our speaking will be in line with the principle of an inspiration.
May the Lord be gracious to us and grant us accurate and life-piercing words. We only need these few words. When these few words are released, we will touch the climax of our speaking. If we speak this way, we will have the ministry of the word.