To many in the Pentecostal movement, the power of the gospel is related mostly to speaking in tongues, divine healing, and casting out demons. However, the Bible does not say this. In 1932 I began to pay attention to the matter of speaking in tongues. Then in 1936 I personally attended Pentecostal meetings for over a year and spoke in tongues with them. Afterward I felt I had no taste for this, and I did not know what to think about it. I went back to the Bible and spent more time to study this matter of speaking in tongues. I discovered that the Bible does not say that speaking in tongues, divine healing, and the casting out of demons are the power of the gospel. The book of Acts specifically shows us that when the apostles preached the gospel, they drew their power from the Spirit of God and the word of God through their prayer and speaking of God’s word. I have studied this book for many years, and it is more and more clear to me that the power of the gospel lies in two items—God’s Spirit and God’s word—and it also lies in two matters—prayer and the speaking of God’s word.
The book of Acts mentions three times that the word of God “grew” (6:7; 12:24; 19:20). The Bible reveals that God’s word is the seed of life (1 Pet. 1:23-25). Because this seed is living, once it is planted it grows, increases, and spreads.
Essentially speaking, the power of the gospel is God’s Spirit and God’s word. On our side, however, we need to do something to cooperate. Today God’s Spirit is upon us and God’s word is within us. What we should do is pray that God’s Spirit will be our power. God’s Spirit is like the air, and our prayer is our spiritual breathing. The air is here, but if we do not breathe, we do not receive the sustenance. God’s Spirit is here, but we still need to breathe by prayer. Acts 1 says that the Holy Spirit would come upon the disciples, but they had to pray first. To this end, one hundred twenty saints prayed in one accord for ten days, and the Holy Spirit was poured out. The Holy Spirit has been ultimately consummated, but prayer is still needed to receive the Holy Spirit.
As for God’s word, in Acts 6:4 Peter said, “But we will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word.” This indicates that the word of God needs to be preached. On the one hand, if we do not properly read the word of God, we cannot preach it. On the other hand, if we do not preach the word of God, we cannot properly read it. We may illustrate this with teaching. On the one hand, a person cannot be a teacher unless he is first a student. On the other hand, those who are teachers know that regardless of how well they study from books, mere studying cannot be compared to teaching, because the need to teach forces them to read thoroughly. Therefore, in order to preach, one must read, and when one reads, he must preach.
In Greek, to continue steadfastly implies to continue without ceasing. When we pray, we pray with the Spirit; when we preach, we preach the word. Whether praying or preaching, we need to do it continually. The Spirit is already here, but if we do not pray, He will not move; once we pray, He moves. Prayer is to move the Spirit. The Pentecostals seem to say that only by speaking in tongues, receiving spiritual baptism, and rolling on the floor or jumping can a person receive the Spirit. Do not listen to their wrong teachings. I did some of those things, and after being in the Lord’s work for more than fifty years, I can testify that what they claim is altogether not true.
Our Triune God today has passed through all the processes and has completed everything that needed to be done. He completed creation, and He also passed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection to become the consummated life-giving Spirit. He is the essential Spirit and also the economical Spirit. He is within us as the Spirit of life, and He is also outside of us as the Spirit of power. This all-inclusive, immeasurable Spirit is our Triune God. Much of Christianity believes that the Father is on the throne, the Son is sitting at His right hand, and only the Holy Spirit comes to us. Even though doctrinally it seems this way, actually in our experience the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are the one Spirit. He is our Redeemer and our Savior; He is the consummated, all-inclusive Spirit. He is right here, and He is within us.
You young people are so blessed to get to know these truths. Today the Triune God is the all-inclusive Spirit dwelling in you. You can pray to Him and contact Him. He is the wonderful Spirit. The more you read His Word, consider His works, and preach His word, the more you will believe into Him. It is by praying sincerely that you can contact the wonderful Triune God who dwells in you. Once you pray, the wind will blow upon you. Then when the wind comes, it becomes the cloud to brood over you like a brooding hen, hatching its chicks. Once the cloud broods over you, you will have the burning within. You may often think of yourself as very clever and rational, but once the fire starts to burn, you will be fervent and become “crazy.”
The burning of the fire will purify you from sins, causing you to confess, to admit, that you are truly corrupt because you do things such as talk back to your parents, throw your chopsticks in anger, and lose your temper. Once you confess, more and more exposure will come. We may use cleaning your house as an illustration. You may think that the house is clean, but once you start cleaning, you discover dust everywhere, and it seems impossible to completely clean it. Maybe you do not sin, but since you live in a world that is filled with evil and filth, you cannot help but be defiled. Regardless of how often you have washed your hands, when you wipe them with a handkerchief, the handkerchief is dirty. You did not touch any coal, but when you wipe your hand with the handkerchief a few times, it becomes black. Therefore, do not think that you have no sin. In fact, your sins are as many as the grains of sand on the seashore. One time I confessed in this way; the more I confessed, the more confession I had to make. I confessed that everyone I contacted was offended by me, and everything I did was wrong. That confession took one hour.
Nevertheless, while you are confessing, you are breathing in the Spirit. This Spirit comes to you both as the essential Spirit and the economical Spirit. He fills you inwardly and is upon you to be your power. You can receive power without having to speak in tongues. This power comes from the wind, the cloud, and the fire. The wind, the cloud, and the fire come from your prayer and your enjoyment. In every meeting we have to pray with our spirit and enjoy the Lord. This will produce the wind, the cloud, and the fire. The more we are exercised in our spirit, the more we will ignite the fire. The result will be that both our college campuses and our neighbors will be stirred up by us.
Forty years ago, I often led the church to preach the gospel in Chefoo. Many times when we preached, there was an “ocean of fire”; the ball of fire burned everywhere. It burned to a point that the outsiders said to one another, “You had better not go to the upper floor where they meet. Once you go up there, you will not be able to withstand the fire. It will surely engulf you.” There was a power, a ball of strong fire, that was burning. This burning came from the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is already here, but we need to ignite Him by our enjoyment and prayer. Therefore, instead of listening to the wrong teachings of Christianity, we should come back to the Bible. The Bible shows us that the Spirit has already come; on the night of the Lord’s resurrection He was breathed into the disciples, and on the day of Pentecost He came upon them. Therefore, there is no need for us to beg for the Spirit to come today. Rather, we should pray that the Spirit would burn within us, causing us to deal with all of our sins that He may move and operate within us.
A certain co-worker once testified that I do not have eloquence, but if you listen to my preaching, you will be subdued. It is true that I do not have eloquence, but you cannot withstand my speaking. I simply speak, and you give in. My secret is this: Every time before I release a message, if I do not pray first, I feel incapable and powerless, but once I pray, the fire is ignited in only ten minutes. As soon as the fire starts to burn within me, I become crazy, and I have to burn you too. Therefore, the power of the gospel is the moving of the Spirit. For the Spirit to move, we need to pray and have enjoyment. If we do not pray, the Spirit will have no way to move.