Paul said in Titus 3 that our salvation today is through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit (v. 5). The salvation here does not refer to salvation from hell. Rather, it is a daily salvation, being delivered daily from all kinds of difficulties, temptations, entanglements, and every weakness, frustration, and lust. We are those that need salvation daily. Every day we need to be saved by the Lord. This salvation is first through the washing of regeneration, and then through the renewing of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a divine person. He washes and renews us with the divine elements. When God comes into us and is mingled with our life, His life in us brings in washing. When we eat, drink, exercise, and bathe in God, our whole being is enlivened.
When the Holy Spirit washes us within, it brings in a renewing. This is the first lesson early in the morning for every Christian. I myself exercise this way. In the morning when I wake up, I do not speak to man first. Rather, I first speak to God. I would not open my mouth to any man before I open my mouth to God. I would say, “O Lord, I love You!” “Lord Jesus, I am coming to You!” Every morning, all I do are these two things: calling on the name of the Lord and pray-reading His word. These two things are the morning exercises for a Christian. If you would exercise yourself in these two things every morning, surely you will be revived. You will become the rising sun, with the shining, dawning light that shines brighter and brighter until the perfect day. Fifty years ago, I read the verse in Judges 5 that says that those who love the Lord are as the sun that goes forth in its might, and I told the Lord, “O God, I love You. May I be as the sun that goes forth in its might before You.” May this verse also become your aspiration and your daily prayer.
I have said all this to show you that we Christians are different from the people in the world. The worldly people at most meditate or contemplate in the morning. But what we are doing is not meditation. We are calling on the Lord and pray-reading His word. This fills us up with the Lord and refreshes us from within. At the same time, when we call on the Lord, the Holy Spirit comes, because today the Lord Jesus is the Holy Spirit. When we call on the Lord every morning, there is a deep realization within that the Lord Jesus has come. We have really found Him! In the end, our whole person will be changed. This is what is meant by a revival.
This revival is like our daily wash-ups; one does not do it once for all. There must be a daily washing. According to the law of nature, the sun rises once every twenty-four hours. When we move with the sun, we should also have a rising up once every twenty-four hours. Moreover, we have to be as bright as the sun shining in its might. If we are like this spiritually, every day we will surely live a renewed life. In the words of Paul, our inner man will be renewed day by day (2 Cor. 4:16). The inner man signifies our regenerated spirit within. This spirit, together with all the inward parts, is being renewed by the daily metabolism that comes about through the supply of the resurrection life.
These days we have been talking about all kinds of practices in the new way: the preaching of the gospel by knocking on doors, the home meetings, the small group meetings, and prophesying in the meetings. All these are but outward ways and activities. The new way is actually a way of life. Today, all of us have to live a life of touching the Lord every morning to be revived every day. Every morning we need a new beginning. To us every day should be new. In this revived and renewed living, we will spontaneously care for others, and we will spontaneously share with others the Christ whom we enjoy and the Savior whom we have received. In this way, others will be able to enjoy with us the portion that God has given to us. God has not given the privilege of preaching the gospel to the angels. Rather He has given this utmost honor to us. Therefore, in our daily life, we spontaneously go out to visit people. This visitation is to bear gifts to others’ homes. We politely offer the Christ that we enjoy throughout the day as a gift to others. This is our duty. It is also our honor.
We do not necessarily need to knock on new doors. Rather, we can first go to the people that we are acquainted with. For example, we can go to the houses of our cousins and in-laws. Then there are the neighbors, colleagues, classmates, and friends. Surely you will be able to open the doors of these ones. You can go through these doors one by one. This is something that you should do. You should bring people to the Lord with joy, baptizing them into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, that they may receive the Triune God as their life. After a person is saved, you have to feed him as you feed a newborn baby with water and milk. This work of caring and feeding is a great job, and a glorious one. When a person is barren, he needs to study how he can beget children. When some children are born, there is the need to study how to have the birth control, and how to take care of the feeding. In the same way, after you beget people with the gospel, you have the responsibility to feed them and to care for them.
You cannot care for too many people all at once. It is enough to have three to five. At least you should go to the new ones’ homes once a week. The home meeting is a part of a Christian’s life of revival and renewal. When you go, you can begin by singing on the way. When you arrive at others’ homes, you can knock at the door with singing. When others’ hear you from inside the door, they will come to the door singing also. The meeting will begin right there. When you go to the new ones’ homes, do not hold up the Bible in a religious way, or invite others to read with you, as if you are holding a family worship. You should not bring a religious ceremony with you. Instead you should follow the Lord’s leading and should answer the new ones’ questions. You can read the Bible a little with them, and you can explain to them a little to solve their problems. By such a way, their understanding will be opened.