Third, on the positive side, we must obey the Holy Spirit. In Acts 5 Peter said, “The Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him” (v. 32). This shows that the Holy Spirit is for us to obey. Obedience is the way and the requirement for us to enjoy the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:4 says, “Do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.” This is the way to be filled with the Holy Spirit and the requirement for maintaining a life of being filled with the Holy Spirit. We should not only study these verses but also put them into practice in our daily life.
Today in the church life there is an urgent need for the filling of the Holy Spirit. Without the filling of the Holy Spirit, we lack vigor and vitality. Without vitality, we will become deadened, like a deflated tire. Today in the changing of our system we are practicing the God-ordained way to have a balance between big meetings and small meetings so that everyone can function organically. This is right. However, if the saints are not vital or vigorous in the church life, then our efforts to change the system will be futile. Today in the church life, we still lack the filling of the Holy Spirit. For this reason, I hope that all of you young people would take the lead to pay attention to the filling of the Holy Spirit and pursue to be filled with the Holy Spirit every day.
People in the Pentecostal movement speak in tongues in a miraculous way, thinking that this is the only way to receive the Holy Spirit. This is absolutely erroneous. No doubt, when the Holy Spirit was outpoured in Acts, there was truly the speaking in tongues. However, of all the Epistles, only 1 Corinthians mentions the matter of speaking in tongues, and the word there is an adjustment, a correction, and a restriction on the negative side. Speaking in tongues is not mentioned in the Epistles as a requirement for being filled with the Holy Spirit. Rather, the requirements are repentance, confession of sins, not quenching the Spirit, not grieving the Holy Spirit, obeying the Holy Spirit, and walking according to the spirit in all things.
You must reject what is taught in the Pentecostal movement. Do not speak in tongues, because once you speak in tongues, your spiritual life will be slain. However, there are a few matters which you should not refuse but should pay attention to in your practice, especially when you go to preach the gospel in the villages. These are the matters concerning healing and casting out demons, which you must do by walking according to the spirit. Do not say that you cannot do these things, because it is not you who can but the Lord Jesus, the Spirit, who can. You have to cast out demons in the name of the Lord Jesus and by relying on the power of His precious blood. All demons are afraid of these two things. When you cast out a demon, the first sentence you must say is, “The precious blood of Christ Jesus covers me.” Then you must tell the troubling demon, “Under the precious blood of Jesus I cast you out in His name.” In this way, the demon will have to obey and leave.
There are not that many demons in the large cities, but there are many in the villages. The demons will grasp the opportunity to trouble the ignorant people and to possess their bodies whenever they are ill or injured. Thus, when you go to the villages, you cannot avoid the matter of casting out demons. From now on, all the workers among us must be ready to deliberately cast out demons whenever the occasion requires. Moreover, you must heal people’s sicknesses when necessary. You do not need to worry about whether or not you can heal the disease. You simply need to do it by faith. However, do not hold healing meetings like those in the Pentecostal movement. The Lord does not want us to do this. Rather, the Lord wants us to cast out every demon and heal every disease when we preach the gospel in the villages.
There is a brother among us who can heal diseases and cast out demons. One time he cast out a demon by writing the sentence, “Jehovah sent Jesus as the Savior, and Jesus casts out demons.” Then he asked the demon-possessed person to read it and to call on the Lord. The next day, that person testified that the demon had left him. This may seem to be a joke, but this is actually the right way. Our way to cast out demons is to ask people to read the Lord’s Word and to call on the Lord’s name continuously. Once a person is saved, the demon will leave him.
About twenty years ago in mainland China, Christians who preached the gospel in the villages would encounter situations that required them to cast out demons and heal diseases. Fifty years ago there was a book concerning demon possession. The author was a Western missionary from a Presbyterian church. While he was preaching the gospel in my hometown of Chefoo, he had many experiences of casting out demons. He recorded all these experiences in detail. Mrs. Penn-Lewis also mentioned her experiences of this matter in The War on the Saints. When I saw this book, I wanted to buy it. Later I bought it in Shanghai at a bookstore that exclusively sold used spiritual books written by Western missionaries. Today when we go out to preach the gospel, we must meet this need. The way to meet this need is not to hold tongue-speaking or healing meetings but to pursue the filling of the Holy Spirit and to remain filled with the Holy Spirit. Then we may cast out every demon and heal every disease that we encounter. This is the proper practice.
Prayer: Lord, fill us with Your Holy Spirit. We do not want to merely have knowledge. We desire to be full of the Holy Spirit, full of the Triune God. Lord, we thank You for being the processed Triune God supplying us in our spirit. Every day we want to exercise to be filled with the Holy Spirit through prayer and confession. We do not want to quench the Spirit or to grieve the Holy Spirit but to obey the Spirit and to walk according to the spirit so that we may be full of the Spirit in our daily life.
Lord Jesus, we want to daily build up ourselves under Your precious blood and in Your name to meet the need in Your move. We praise You that on the cross You have already destroyed the devil, who has the might of death. Now as the life-giving Spirit You are making that which You accomplished on the cross a reality in us. Lord, remember us and cause that which You accomplished to become our living so that our living would be without sin and without death. Lord, we want to confess our sins every day and to cast out all the demons for the coming of the kingdom of God.
Lord, shine on us and cleanse us daily that we may become vessels unto honor and be completely filled with the Holy Spirit. Lord, draw us each day that we may be Your witnesses in our living. Amen.