I have said that you have to get a companion. But you should not go to get a companion before going to the Lord. You must have a start by going to the Lord until He enlightens you, until He shines on you. Then you will fully realize where you are and what you are. Spontaneously, you will begin to repent by saying, “Lord, I am dead.” While you are saying you are dead, the Lord will say, “You are dead because you are sinful. You are dead because you are dirty and filthy.” The Lord will shine on you and show you that you are like a person buried under the earth with layer upon layer of dirt. You have to get out of that by making a thorough and detailed confession to the Lord so that you can be forgiven, washed, and released to emerge from the depths of your fall. This thorough repentance and thorough confession will bring you into an intimate fellowship with the Lord. You must start the vital groups in this way.

If you have started from here, you then need to get a companion. Before going to get a companion, you need to pray. Do not do this hastily. If you do this hastily, you will not gain someone who is a real companion. You have to pray, “Lord, give me someone as a companion or send someone to me. Lord, You lead me. Bring me into contact with the one whom You choose.” Everything in the God-ordained way is always by prayer, not by our initiation or by our activity. Do not think you can get a companion within a short time. You need to spend more time to pray. Do not believe that just by one contact you can get a companion.

Everything that is living, that has life, always takes time to produce. For a child to be born requires nine months from his conception. If you sow a seed into the earth, it does not grow up the next day. Anything produced overnight is artificial. If you sow a seed, you have to wait awhile for something to spring up out of the earth.

I have a real concern that we have not yet started the vital groups from the root. The vital groups have not started yet because no one would start from the root by himself. A husband’s wife cannot help him in this matter, nor can the husband help his wife. Do not look for anyone to help you. The only one who can help you is the Lord Himself. You must go to Him directly by yourself.

I want to see that each of you is fully enlightened by God. You need to go to Him. Even if you have not been enlightened by Him, you still have to go to Him. He is the real source for you to start. If you go to Him again and again, He will shine upon you. He will enlighten you. He will bring you into the light. He will expose you to the uttermost. Then you will repent to the uttermost and even weep before the Lord. You will tell the Lord, “Lord, I am so dirty and sinful. I am rotten and corrupted.” Spontaneously, you will make a thorough confession to the Lord. You may confess to such an extent that you would forget to eat. While you are driving to your office, you may still be repenting to the Lord with tears. I wonder how many of us have passed through this stage. If you have not passed through this stage, the vital group has not started yet.

The God-ordained way is not a matter of hearing some teaching, going to get another brother, and then making a decision to go out to visit people. This is an outward work, not the carrying out of the vital groups. We did things like this in the past to gain people, but where are these people today? Most of them were not remaining fruit.

To have the vital groups you must be like a person sowing the seed. You have to contact the Lord. You have to be enlightened. You have to be touched by the Lord. You have to be exposed in His presence. You have to make a confession to Him. You have to have yourself fully saturated by Him. Then you will have a very close relationship with Him and an intimate fellowship with Him. This is the start of the vital groups. Then you spontaneously will pray, “Lord, I need a companion. Prepare a companion for me. I don’t like to select one. I don’t want to exercise my choice, my preference, anymore. You lead me. You bring me someone or send me to someone.”

I am very sorry today when I see your present situation. It seems that you have been moved, but you do not move. This is because you have not gone to the Lord. If you do not go to the Lord and have a thorough repentance and confession in His presence, you are deceiving yourselves. Repenting and confessing must be done by yourself. Having an intimate fellowship with the Lord must be done by yourself. Without these three things, you will remain the same until you see the Lord at His judgment seat (2 Cor. 5:10).

We should not read the Lord’s Word in a light way. Instead, we should tremble at His word (Isa. 66:5a). Ephesians 5:14 says that the sleepers should awake and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on them. We need to consider ourselves in the light of this verse. Are we sleeping? You may still be sleeping, and yet claim to practice the vital groups. That is not the practice of the vital groups. That is a new routine. According to the speaking Spirit within me, I feel that we have not yet had a real start in the vital groups.

God is the source. You must go to Him to contact Him. Please take my word and bring this word back to the Lord. You can pray, “Lord, I have heard that we haven’t started the vital groups yet. Lord, I come to You. Tell me how to start a vital group.” Right away the light will be there, because God is light. To go to the Lord is the first principle in carrying out the vital groups.
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