This Perfecting Training is not a church meeting for any kind of edification, nor is it a ministry meeting for some kind of teaching. This is just an open fellowship with the seeking and experiencing saints. Originally I had no intention to publish our talk here because I was concerned that these talks might be misused. I don’t want our talk to be used in a wrong way, in an immature way. I don’t believe many Christians can comprehend what we are talking about here. I am even concerned that some of you are not up to the maturity that these words are really for you. The word given in the last meeting was so simple, yet unless a Christian has been seeking the Lord and experiencing the Lord for quite a definite period of time, that word may not help him. For that word to help you, you must have a certain experience, a certain seeking after the Lord, and you must have experienced a lot of failures, a lot of defeats, a lot of disappointments, a lot of endeavor yet without result. If you have experienced something, not just in your mentality, but in the real sphere of the spirit, then that word should have been precious to you.
This training doesn’t serve all Christians in a general way. It has a definite purpose with a definite goal. I don’t like to have so many in this Perfecting Training, but it is hard for us to draw the line as to who is up to the maturity and who is not. So I trust in the Lord very much for His decision. This does not mean you would not get the benefit. You would. But it depends upon the measure of the stature you have in life. Nothing can replace the measure of the stature. Even in physical life if you are two years of age, you are just two years of age. If you are twelve years of age, you are twelve. Even if you try your best to imitate one who is seventy-five, you can’t do it. If you are twenty-five now, you have to wait for another fifty years. There is the matter of the measure of the stature in life. But if such a word could be sown into you and kept within you, it may be very helpful to you after a few years.
When you are young you may pick up certain words in your vocabulary, but you do not understand what they mean. You pick them up, but they are not in your life because you do not have that measure of stature. Since we arrived at the matter of peculiarity in this training, I have had the deep sense that I should bear the burden to give messages again and again and again until you would be brought to zero, to nothing. I believe that in the past few months some of you have begun to realize that in your spiritual life and in your spiritual seeking you need to be nothing. But even today I’m not sure whether you understand my word exactly.
Let me say it in this way: when we were far off from God in sin, in worldliness, or in a kind of indifference, we didn’t care for God. We wouldn’t talk about God, and we just had no interest in God. But one day when we received the mercy of the Lord, we repented, we believed in the Lord, and we called on Him, and we received Him. From that moment we became very active. Some saints who were born with an aggressive disposition and character are very active. Whatever this kind of people do, they do aggressively. Once they turn to the Lord, this kind of character and disposition and practice becomes very precious to them. They would even boast and tell other people what kind of person they are. They are quick to tell people that formerly they were very strong not to love the Lord, but now they are very strong to love the Lord to the uttermost. I believe Saul of Tarsus was such a person. If you are not this kind of person you could never be spiritual. A jellyfish kind of person can never be spiritual. You must be a strong and aggressive person to be spiritual. When you cry, you must really cry. When you weep, you must really weep. If your tear drops are half-drops, you can never be spiritual. You need to be active; you need to be aggressive. You need to be very energetic.
But when you become aggressive and active, you are like the company of horses in Song of Songs. In Life and Building in the Song of Songs we pointed out how the Lord appraised His seeker. The Lord called His seeker a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariots (S. S. 1:9). Then the Lord said what He would do. Song of Songs 1:11 says, “We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver.” The indication here is that the horse needs some dealing. It is not to deal with the mistakes or the wrongdoings. It doesn’t mean that a bridle is put on the horse to regulate it because it is too wild. Gold and silver here indicate strongly that the Lord is going to limit and reduce the horse. Right away the next figure after the horse is a dove (2:14). Which is more aggressive and active—a horse or a dove? When a horse becomes a dove, it really means the horse has been very much reduced. If today you are a big horse and tomorrow morning you become a dove, surely this means you have been limited and reduced. When some came into the church life at Elden Hall, they were strong horses. Whenever they testified, that was a horse testimony. But although some may have been a strong horse at that time, today it is difficult for them to be a horse. This means that over the years they have been touched by the Lord, they have been reduced by the Lord, they have been stopped by the Lord repeatedly. The horse wants to go a certain direction, but the Lord stops it. The horse wants to jump, but the Lord stops it.
Everybody likes to be on fire. Even I like to see a meeting that is on fire. But the strange thing is that, although we would like to be on fire, there is no fire. You surely long to go back to the time of Elden Hall. But there’s no fire. Why? Probably you all have passed through the horse stage. It’s hard for you to go back.