We have a speaking God, and this speaking God desires to have a speaking people. God desires to speak, and His Spirit is waiting for us to speak. If all the millions of Christians in the United States would speak for God and Christ every day, the whole earth would be overturned. However, in their offices and schools, few Christians speak for God and Christ. Traditional Christianity has caused the saints to become dumb. Each Sunday morning in the cathedrals and chapels only one person is speaking, and all the others are silent. This has continued for so many years that it has become the tradition, custom, and habit of Christians to go to church simply to listen to one speaker. We all need to rise up and overthrow this custom.
When we come to the church meetings we must speak. There is more than one way to speak. Shouting, singing, praising, and praying are all different kinds of speaking. When we come to the meeting, we should come singing and praising. We should not begin the meeting in the meeting hall but in our dining room, living room, or bedroom. When we are preparing to come to the meeting, we should begin to sing, and on the way to the meeting, we should come singing, praising, praying, and shouting. We should be heard singing and praising not only in the meeting hall, but also on the streets and in the parking lot. This is the proper speaking. There is nothing wrong with shouting and crying out. Psalm 100:1 says, "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands." Our life should be one of making a joyful noise to the Lord. We have taught these things for many years, but today we still lack the proper practice of speaking.
The Spirit is always ready and expects to speak with us and through us. The speaking Spirit of God is earnestly expecting that we would speak. In the New Testament, God operates through the principle of incarnation. God does not do anything by Himself, especially in the matter of speaking. He prefers to speak through us and speak within us. Moreover, the principle of incarnation is not merely that God works with man. It is that God works within man, and the two work as one. When we speak, the very Lord whom we speak forth is speaking with us and within us. If we do not speak, God has no way to speak, but whenever we open up to speak, the Spirit who expects to speak immediately follows us and joins with our speaking. Eventually, it is difficult to tell whether it is He or we who is speaking.
The Spirit is always ready and expects to speak with us and through us, but we always would not cooperate with the Spirit to speak. Whenever we come to the meeting we must try to speak. In a good sense, it does not matter whether we speak properly or wrongly, well or poorly. As long as we speak, God will be happy. Parents always like to hear their young children speak. If a child is quiet all day, the parents will be bothered and will worry about him, but when he begins to speak, the parents will be happy. For many years our Father in heaven has not seen us speak much in the meetings, and this should have bothered Him. If we come to the meetings speaking, even in an incorrect way, He will be happy. To speak incorrectly is much better than not to speak. When someone speaks, even incorrectly, he is learning to minister to others.