The exercise of a minister’s spirit is something that demands his life. He has to put his life on the line. When a person serves as a minister of the word, he must not only have a useful spirit, but he must be willing to sacrifice and expend his spirit. Every time a person serves as a minister of the word and ministers the word to others, he has to exercise his spirit by pouring out his life, just as the Lord Jesus did when He poured out His life. The night the Lord prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, He said to the disciples, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt. 26:41). With the disciples, there was only willingness. With the Lord Jesus, there was not only willingness in His spirit but a readiness to pour out His life. This is the reason His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down upon the ground (Luke 22:44). In other words, one’s spirit is exercised by the pouring out of his very life. One has to exhaust all his energy, being spent to the point of experiencing spiritual fatigue and spiritual death. Whenever the spirit is released, it challenges the weaknesses and death in others. There is a price involved in releasing the spirit in this way; it is a release of burden, a release that results in pain and fatigue. The release of the spirit requires a sacrifice, whether in private talks or in public speaking. We have to release our spirit because many people are spiritually weak. Our spirit has to be pushed to the forefront to confront these spiritual weaknesses and to destroy them. We must wrestle with these elements and pin them down. When our spirit is released, we will find that many people have spiritual death, spiritual coldness, spiritual stubbornness, and spiritual dryness. We have to push out our spirit in order to suppress and overcome their death. We have to transcend their death and swallow up their death. As soon as we are filled with the word, we will see that those sitting before us are filled with darkness; they cannot see. We have to release our spirit in a strong way, as if we are storming the stronghold of darkness and confronting the attack of darkness. We are preaching God’s word on the one hand, and we are confronting the attack of the forces of darkness on the other hand. Such death and darkness will try to swallow up our spiritual energy. While we are standing before men, we have to release our spirit. We have to overcome their darkness and break through their shadows. This is a work that requires sacrifice. It is spiritually exhausting, and it demands a high price. While a minister of the word does not necessarily have to pay this high price every time, he must be willing to pay such a price.
In order to exercise the spirit in this way, a person must first have a proper functioning spirit. Actually, one can only exercise his spirit to the extent that it has been trained. He cannot do anything beyond this extent. But whether or not he can even exercise his spirit to that extent depends on his willingness. Sometimes a person experiences great pressure before the Lord. If he is willing to pay the price to break through, he will break through. But if he is not willing to pay a great price, he may choose to release his spirit in a common and easy way. It is not an easy thing for a minister of the word to stretch his spirit to the limit. A man may exercise his spirit very much, but he may not be willing to stretch it to the ultimate limit. It is spiritually exhausting for a brother to push his spirit to its limit or near to its limit. It is, therefore, not unusual to find a minister who is reluctant to push himself to his limit.
Those who do not know anything about paying the price for the release of the spirit will not know what I am speaking of here. A man who realizes the burden that must be borne in releasing his spirit will know what I am speaking of. A person who has never lifted two hundred pounds has no idea how heavy two hundred pounds are. Only those who have lifted two hundred pounds know how much energy is needed to lift such a weight. Whenever a person fulfills a spiritual ministry, whenever he exercises his spirit, he carries a burden that seems to demand all of his energy. In the exercise of the spirit, the amount of one’s willingness before the Lord is a controlling factor. If a man is willing, he can push the word out. The more he is willing, the more strongly the word will be released. In speaking from the platform and in conversing with the brothers privately, the strength of the word that is released depends on the amount of the spirit that is pushed out. In serving others with the word, the spirit is under the minister’s own control. A minister can withhold the spirit, or he can release his spirit. As he is speaking, he can either make his message strong or weak. If he is willing to sacrifice himself, he will strengthen the meeting. If he is not willing to sacrifice himself and is not willing to pay the price, he will make the meeting a common thing. The decision to make a meeting strong or weak is in the hand of the minister of the word.
For those who have never been trained, the work of the Holy Spirit is beyond one’s grasp. For those who have received dealings from the Lord, and in whom the Lord has done a deep work, the result of a meeting is determined by the ministers themselves. The amount of the Holy Spirit’s work is determined by the amount of sacrifice the ministers pay. If we are not afraid of exhaustion in a meeting, if we are not lazy, and if we are not affected by the audience or held back from paying the price or taking the dealings, we will release our spirit in a strong way. When the word goes out, the spirit will go out as well, and the word will have a strong impact on others. But if we are exhausted, lazy, or reluctant to do anything, we can say the same thing in a hurried way, but our spirit will be bound. The words are the same and the speaking is the same, but the spirit will not be released. Or it will be released only in a limited and weak way. Others will touch the word, but they will not touch the spirit. They will only hear the sound, but the words will not have any impact on them. The words may be accurate, but they will be weak.
In the ministry of the word, there is not only the manner of the delivery of the word but also the matter of willingness on the part of the deliverer. Are we willing and happy to push out our spirit? If we are willing, the word will spontaneously have a strong impact on others. If we do not push out our spirit, the words will not be strong. Words often are common because the spirit does not break out; rather, it flows out slowly. A gushing spirit knocks down others along the way. The prayers of some brothers can only be described as a breaking forth of the spirit. Their entire spirit bursts forth. Anyone standing in their way is knocked down. The words may be the same, but the spirit is different; it charges forth, and no one can stand in its way. Whether or not a person’s spirit is released depends on whether he is willing and ready to pay the price.
A worker has to learn to speak accurately, but this is not all. While he is serving, he has to learn to push out his spirit. If he is willing to pay the price, he can push out his spirit in a strong way. When the word goes out in this way, the spirit follows. The release will be strong, and no one can stand in its way. If, however, a man has been wounded in some kind of way or is going through some experiences, his words may produce no effect at all. The more he speaks, the worse things become and the less effect his speaking produces in others. His words may be the same, but the wound and hurt in his spirit frustrate his speaking. Under these conditions, it is not easy for a man to see God’s light. Where there is injury, the spirit is bound, and words become hollow and weak. Words can only be strong when the spirit is pushed out. The spirit has to be in the word. The spirit has to move, and it has to be released through the word. We can say that the spirit must be packaged in the word and released through the word. When one is willing to pay the price to release his spirit through the word, others will see the light and touch the reality.
The release of the spirit is one spiritual facet in the ministry of the word. In fulfilling the ministry of the word, one must do his best to release his spirit. In order to release the spirit in a high way, one has to exert all of his energy. All of the emotions, thoughts, memory, and utterance of a person must be made available and ready. There should be no interrupting thoughts; every thought should remain silent, focused, and available. The memory also has to wait on the spirit. Not a single feeling should run astray. In other words, all of one’s energy, memory, utterance, emotions, and feelings must wait on the Lord; every part of his being must be dedicated to the Lord’s use. All the activities of the self must stop; only the spirit should remain alert and ready for His use. This is like an army with myriads of soldiers and horses on a battlefield who anxiously wait for a command from the general. We have to use our mind, but our mind cannot be the master; it should only be a servant. We have to use our emotion, but our emotion cannot be the master; it should only be a servant. All of the body’s energy and strength must be headed up under the spirit. Only then will the spirit have the liberty to release itself.
If a minister of the word cannot find the right word at the critical moment, his spirit will suffer. If he cannot find the right feelings at the critical moment, his spirit will also suffer; it will not be released. No work requires a higher degree of concentration than the release of the spirit. In order for the spirit to be released, every part of a person’s being has to be focused. This does not mean that every part of a person has to be released independently. No! They should be released in conjunction with the spirit. Whatever we say should be what the spirit wants to say, and whatever terminology we use should be the terminology of the spirit. Consider again our earlier illustration. The myriads of soldiers have to wait for the commander’s word. If he wants a soldier to do something, the soldier has no choice. If he wants to direct another, that one has no choice either. When we order our spirit to be released, it has to be released. If our thoughts are a little relaxed, confused, or our memory fails a little, our spirit will be in jeopardy; it will be injured.
A minister of the word should learn not to injure his spirit in any way. When we speak, our entire person has to be made available. No part of our being should lag behind; we cannot afford to let any part drag along. No part can afford to wander off and wait for its retrieval. Every part must be on full alert so that the spirit can be released to its fullest extent. This involves a high price. Because such a high price is involved, a minister of the word may not always exercise his spirit to its maximum extent even though it is possible for him to do so. When he is willing, his spirit will be used to a greater extent. When he is not willing, his spirit will be used to a lesser extent. When he is willing, he can bring more blessings to others. When he is not willing, he will bring less blessings to others. The amount of blessing that others receive depends on the amount of his willingness. Blessing in the ministry of the word is determined by the ministers. If we are willing to give others blessing, they will receive blessing. If we want others to be stumbled, they will be stumbled. If we want a great light to shine on them, they will fall on their face. Everything depends on the amount of growth we have in God. The more lessons we have learned from God and the higher and deeper these lessons are, the more often we will be used, and we will be used to a higher and deeper extent. The more we learn from God, the more things we can do. If we have learned only a little from God, we will be able to do very little. We determine how much light others will receive. We determine whether or not others will fall on their face. We determine how much spiritual reality others will touch. The Lord has entrusted this matter to the ministers.