We all know that in God’s creation and arrangement everything has its law and principles. The center of all things is life. If our universe today has only the heavens and the earth, but does not have plant life, animal life, or human life, then the universe is void and desolate. Although mankind’s living together invariably brings in friction and arguments, where life is, there is joy, and there is pleasantness. The greatest characteristic of life is metabolism. The flowers bloom during the flowering season, and the fruit trees bear fruit during the fruit season. The plant life behaves differently according to the four seasons of the year. Likewise, the animal life has different characteristics for the four seasons of the year. In winter, many animals enter into hibernation. But when spring comes, they begin to propagate again. The human life is much higher than the plant life. It is even much higher than the animal life. Hence, according to God’s law of metabolism in creation, man’s life cannot be monotonous, having no change whatsoever from day to day.
We can discover one law from man’s physical life. The human body needs a revival every morning. After we rise up in the morning, our whole body needs a revival. We need to wash our faces. After that, all our sluggish feeling is washed away. After we wash our face and our mouth, and cleanse our lungs through deep breathing, our whole being is renewed. This proves that every morning the human body needs a renewal. The morning hour flies by quickly. One hour is over in no time. This is why the Word of the Lord says, “Redeeming the time” (Eph. 5:16). The period of time that needs to be redeemed the most is six to seven o’clock in the morning. During this hour, every minute is precious. We have to redeem this time.
If you are really busy, I would rather see you sacrifice part of your time of physical exercise and use it for spiritual benefit. When Paul wrote the Epistles to Timothy and Titus, he had the thought of the exercise of the spirit. He said in 1 Timothy 4:7, “Exercise yourself unto godliness.” The exercise here is like some kind of gymnastics. We have to exercise our spirits and to live out Christ in our daily lives. Paul said in 2 Timothy 1:7, “God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but of power and of love and of a sober mind.” All the parts of our spirit are like the parts of our body; they need exercise. There are many ways to exercise. Some Chinese like the “Eight Section Brocade” exercise, whereas others like the “Tai-chi” boxing. The Westerners have aerobic exercise, golf, and jogging. But the simplest way to exercise the spirit is to call on the name of the Lord. During the past twenty years or longer, we have learned to call “O Lord Jesus!” Every one among us knows how to call on the name of the Lord. This kind of calling is very good. But this is not the main body of our prayer; it is only the prelude to our prayer. When we call “O Lord Jesus,” what follows? We cannot simply call on the Lord without praying. There must not be a prelude without the main theme. After we call on the Lord, we have to go on to speak to the Lord. We can say to the Lord, “Lord Jesus, I love You! I want to live for You!” The first step in the exercise of the spirit is to pray, which is to speak to the Lord.
Many people pray with their mentality, in their mind. To speak to the Lord in the mind, to pray in the mind, is to exercise one’s mentality. The prayer that comes from the exercise of the spirit is different from the prayer that comes from the exercise of the mentality. When you call on the Lord Jesus and say to Him that you would love Him more and would live to Him, this is a prayer that stirs up your spirit. The more you speak this way, the higher your spirit becomes. However, you must be careful not to turn back to your mind after a while. Once you turn back to your mind, you should have a warning sign that goes up like the red signal light at the crossroad. At this time, you must immediately call on the Lord Jesus and turn to the spirit to speak in the spirit. Hence, to pray is the first step in the exercise of the spirit.