The New Testament shows us that concerning the issues and manifestations of the filling and outpouring of the Spirit, only a small number of items are miraculous, such as tongue-speaking, healing, works of power, and predicting. In Paul’s Epistles, he did not encourage people to exercise these four kinds of gifts in the meeting. On the contrary, he said in 1 Corinthians chapter fourteen that if there is one who wants to speak in tongues in the meeting, but there is no one to interpret, then that one should be silent (vv. 27-28). We cannot find any evidence from the Bible that there definitely should be the works of power, tongue-speaking, healing, or predicting in the meetings. Therefore, we should not be disturbed by thinking that these few items must be in the meetings. What the Bible considers to be the more important issues and manifestations of the filling and outpouring of the Spirit are five items in the essential (filling) aspect:
The first is being filled with joy and the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:52). Whether you feel troubled or sorrowful, you only need to call, “O Lord Jesus!” You will become joyful and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
The second is speaking words of praise, of teaching, and of admonition (Eph. 5:18-19; Col. 3:16). These words are already in the Bible, which is the “word of Christ” mentioned in Colossians chapter three. The psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs mentioned in Ephesians chapter five are not only in the Bible, but also in our hymnal. For example, Hymns, #501, says:
O glorious Christ, Savior mine,
Thou art truly radiance divine;
God infinite, in eternity,
Yet man in time, finite to be.
Oh! Christ, expression of God, the Great,
Inexhaustible, rich, and sweet!
God mingled with humanity
Lives in me my all to be.
These well-speakings are really too good! If you cannot recite the hymns, at least you should learn to memorize what each hymn talks about. Concerning the Bible, you should at least remember what each book and each chapter talks about. For example, the first section of Matthew 5 talks about the nine blessings given by the Lord Jesus. When you come to the meeting, if you have the inspiration within, you may tell everyone, “Let us turn to Matthew 5:3.” Immediately after you find that page, you may say, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” There should be someone to continue spontaneously by saying, “for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.” When you read these nine blessings in a living way with some declarations, everyone will receive the edification. We all need to practice this. First practice in your home, using the words of the Bible or the hymns to speak one to another. When you go to the small group meeting, use these words to speak to others. In this way, the entire meeting will become living. We all need to practice speaking these two kinds of words; one kind are the words from the Bible, and the other kind are the words of the hymns.
The third is speaking the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, and the word of prophecy (1 Cor. 12:7-8, 10). This is to speak the revelation concerning God and Christ, speaking for God and speaking forth God.
The fourth is living by the Spirit and walking according to the Spirit (Rom. 8:4; Gal. 5:16, 25). As soon as we get up every morning, we should call, “O Lord Jesus!” We should practice this all day long, and gradually we will live according to the Spirit. This is also what it means to be filled with the Spirit.
Fifth, when we live by the Spirit and walk according to the Spirit, the result is that we will be able to bear the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). If we live in this way, we will surely desire to meet together. Moreover, regardless of whether we meet with family members, or with a small number of saints, or even with many saints, our meetings will definitely be living and rich.
Then, in the economical (pouring out) aspect, besides tongue-speaking, predicting, healing, and works of power (Acts 2:4; 10:45-46; 19:6; 1 Cor. 12:9-10), the most important item is to speak the word of God with boldness (Acts 4:8, 31; 13:9). As long as we live by the Spirit, walk according to the Spirit, and are overcomers, when we come to the meeting, spontaneously we will speak the word of God and testify for the Lord with boldness. These are the issues and manifestations of the filling and the outpouring of the Spirit.
A message given by Brother Witness Lee in Taipei on October 22, 1987.