Date: October 17, 1936, afternoonPlace: In the dormitory, Kulangsu, Amoy
The Christian life should not have any period of spiritual coldness. However, in order to teach us the function of faith and the will, in the practical experience of our spiritual life, God often allows spiritual depression to come to us. When our faith is put to the test, the outward, burning sensations may be gone, but we should not be discouraged. A Christian life is full of joy during times of abundance, and it is at least full of peace during other times. It is wonderful to have special joy and happiness, but it is not abnormal if one does not have these feelings some of the time. When these feelings are gone, an inward peace should be sustained. It is not necessary for us to constantly feel a sense of enlightenment and joy. It is more important to be without barrier or burden in our spirit and to have no nagging feeling that God is far from us. If there are such barriers, they must be removed.
On the one hand, it is easy to develop barriers between us and God. These barriers can be removed, and the way to remove them is by foot-washing. On the other hand, there is nothing unusual about not having third-heaven, supernatural feelings of elation. We should not seek for these supernatural experiences all the time. The first time you pass through a big crisis, you may have some supernatural sensations. If you have such an experience, you should thank the Lord. But such an experience will not last for long. For example, when you were first saved, when you first experienced the overcoming life, or when you first consecrated yourself, you may have been extremely exuberant. But these feelings do not remain with you forever. On the one hand, we have to remove all barriers in our fellowship with the Lord, and on the other hand, we have to live by faith when this special joy is absent. Special and extraordinary joy is like the over-intoxication of wine, whereas the freshness of life is like the invigoration of spiritual energy.
The Bible says, "Always rejoice" (1 Thes. 5:16). This is a matter of the will, because this is God's commandment. For example, when you get up in the morning, your heart may not be full of joy. When you read this verse, you should exercise your will to rejoice. The same is true when the Bible says, "Be strong." You can respond to God's Word by saying, "Today I will be strong." God's commandment requires only man's "amen." Once you hear God's word and you turn it into an "amen," you will receive what you said "amen" to. If you say, "Lord, I thank and praise You. I will rejoice," you will immediately have the experience of joy. Every kind of emotion in your life is sustained by the will. Other aspects of your life may require other things.
Sometimes we feel cold and sometimes we feel hot when we pray. None of these feelings matter. As long as we are clear within, and as long as we have a little revelation in the depth of our being concerning God's will, we should pray. Although many of our prayers seem to be "cold" and "indifferent," God often answers our "cold" and "indifferent" prayers. I often pray in a "cold" way for an hour to two, but I know that God answers my "hot" prayers as well as my "cold" prayers. Our submission to God's will is not based on our inward coldness or hotness, but on our obedience. We have to pray to do God's will, and it does not matter whether or not we have the knowledge or the feeling. God does not necessarily answer our zealous prayers. Yet I know that God has answered my "cold" prayers many times.
The greatest blessing of the New Testament is that man can know God's will inwardly. A brother once asked, "Can I do a certain thing? I cannot find a clear answer from the Bible, and I have asked many people. Some say that I can do it, while others say that I should not." I said, "Let us put aside what the Bible says for now. Do you have the Holy Spirit within?" He said, "Yes." I then said, "Since the Holy Spirit is within you, is He not able to instruct you in anything?" Many times, it is not the Spirit who fails to instruct us, but we who fail to seek His leading. We have not looked to Him, but have instead sought help from others. In doing a certain thing, we may have thought through the whole process and have the right doctrine and consent of everyone backing us up, but it is still possible to be wrong. We have to believe that the Spirit never forsakes His duty. He resides within us for the purpose of instructing us. Personally, I believe that even when we do not read the Bible, the Spirit will still instruct us. (I am not saying that we should not read the Bible. I am saying that we have to take care of the inner voice.)
One of my sisters was saved about three months ago. Two months ago, she had an experience. My brother-in-law took her to a holy communion in the denominations. Before she was saved, she did not feel anything when she went. After she was saved, she was uneasy when she joined the communion. She thought, "The Bible has not said anything about this. Why do I not have the peace?" Later, she found that there were unsaved ones among them taking the communion. When she tried to go again, she again had no peace. She tried to give herself an excuse, saying, "I am taking the communion for myself. Others are responsible for their own conduct." She took the communion again, but after she returned home, she felt very uneasy again. Although she had many reasons, the leading of the Spirit within would not go along with her. She knew that she had done the wrong thing. When she read the Word and prayed, the Lord showed her that it was wrong for her to partake of that kind of communion. Later, my brother-in-law got into a big argument with her and accused her, saying, "You have just been fooled by your brother." When I heard this, I told him, "I have never spoken with my sister about this matter. I had the same feeling when I was praying for her. She was following the leading of the Spirit." We cannot follow our own thoughts and reasons; we should follow the small voice of the Spirit within.
Question: What should we do when we are depressed in the meeting?
Answer: You should have a released spirit in the meeting. If your spirit is oppressed by some kind of burden, you will not be able to release others from a bound spirit. If you are conducting a meeting, and you are pressed down by some burden, it will be impossible for you to set the spirit of the congregation free. A weighed-down spirit cannot express the Holy Spirit. Only a released spirit can express the Holy Spirit. When you come to the meeting, your spirit must be released and must be without any burden. Only then will the meeting receive your help. My shoulder can only bear one burden at a time; it cannot bear two burdens at the same time. My shoulders must be empty before I can take up another burden. If a man comes to the meeting with a burden already, you cannot give him another burden.
A worker should not wait until he comes to the meeting before he unloads his burden. If you come to a meeting with a burden, you must learn to give your burden to the Lord. If there are burdens that you cannot put away, burdens that are inexplicable and hard to pinpoint, you have to push them away with your will. The words that come out of a Christian's mouth are very powerful; they can be like the orders in an army. You can tell God, "I want this burden removed. I repudiate this burden." Not only should you pray, but you must also declare to God, the angels, Satan, the evil spirits, and to everything. You must declare and command the burden to go away in the name of the Lord. When you open your mouth to repudiate it, the burden will drop.
Sometimes you may be depressed even though nothing is apparently suppressing you. Your spirit is debilitated. At these times you have to lift up your own spirit. This kind of depression of the spirit is not caused by anything outside of you; rather, your spirit is suppressed by your own feeling of coldness. A depressed spirit is different from a burdened spirit. A depressed spirit has no particular burden; it has sagged because of the coldness surrounding it. Under such circumstances, one should not deny the condition with the will, but stir up the spirit with the will. The best way to stir up the spirit is to praise. Praise can bring a person to the throne. You have to exercise your faith to lift up your spirit. You have to say to God, "Although I am surrounded by darkness, I will still praise You. Although my spirit is vacillating, You are on the throne and You never waver." If you refuse to believe in the environment and instead give praises to God, your spirit will be lifted up to the heavenlies.
When a spirit is depressed and cannot be freed, it is sometimes very effective to practice foot-washing. If a brother who is burning in spirit comes to you while you are cold, he will have the power to wash your feet, and your spirit will be lifted up by him.
Question: Sometimes I worry and do not have the peace. Prayer does not work at such times, yet my declaration does. Why is this?
Answer: One day when the Lord was going on His journey, He became hungry. He saw a fig tree from a distance, but the tree did not have any fruit. What did the Lord do? He said to the tree: "May no one eat fruit from you forever!" (Mark 11:14). The next day the disciples found the Lord's word fulfilled — the tree had withered from its roots. Why did the tree wither from its roots within a day? When the disciples saw this, they realized the power in the Lord's word, and they told the Lord what had happened. The Lord told them to have faith in God, and that those with faith could ask whatever they will and God would give it to them. Those who have faith can even ask a mountain to be removed and God will do it for them. Mark 11:23 is not an ordinary prayer, but a declaration. The Lord did not say, "Whoever kneels down to pray..." He told them to declare. He said, "Whoever says to this mountain..." Praying to God is not dealing with the mountain, but saying directly to the mountain, "Be taken up and cast into the sea." Here the Lord did not say that we would receive an answer according to what we pray, but according to what we say.
We often pray for God to remove everything that hinders, frustrates, and bars us from pressing forward, things such as anxiety, worries, and sufferings. Sometimes God will answer such prayers. But many times such prayers avail little. The Lord wants you to say to the "mountain," "I oppose and reject in the name of the Lord everything that suppresses and frustrates me." You must declare and give command. The Lord did not say to the disciples, "Dear disciples, we must pray and ask God to dry up the tree." He did not do this. He gave a command. Many troubles and sicknesses can only be driven away by such commands; they are like the marching orders that a general gives to his soldiers. These kind of words are declarations of authority.
In the book of Acts, the apostles exercised this key. Peter and John saw the lame man at the door of the temple which was called Beautiful, and they said to the lame man, "In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene rise up and walk" (3:6). They cast out demons by speaking directly to them and casting them out in the name of the Lord (16:18). This is declaring with authority. With some things you have to pray. With other things you have to declare. If you practice this, you will save yourself much trouble. The way to reject unwanted thoughts is also by declaring one's stand. When you reject Satan's thoughts in the name of the Lord, Satan can do nothing but flee away. Both Peter and James told us to withstand the devil (1 Pet. 5:9; James 4:7). This is withstanding the attack of Satan. You do not have to pray for the demons to go away; instead, declare and command them to go away in the name of the Lord.
There are certain conditions which we must fulfill before we can do things in the name of the Lord. Being in the name of the Lord means having a part in the Lord and being granted all the rights that come from the redemption of His blood. If we have such a faith, our speaking in His name will be effective. In Acts some men tried to cast out demons in the name of the Lord (19:13). Although the words were right, the name of Jesus had nothing to do with them and did not produce any effect on them. It is not the words we say that makes our declaration effective, but the union with this name through faith that makes the declaration effective. The Lord is the Christ, and we are Christians. When we are one with Him, His power will flow to us. No formula will work. The only thing that will work is faith.
After we have passed through the gate of victory, we must continually abide in Christ. Abiding is remaining, and abiding in Christ means that we remain in Christ. To abide in Christ is to consider ourselves in Christ and not in ourselves. If we consider ourselves in ourselves, we will only see ourselves. We will overcome the first time when we look to Christ as our victory. Thereafter we must continue to look to Christ as our victory. We can only have the overcoming life when we are in Christ, and we can only continue to live an overcoming life when we are in Christ.
In the meetings, there are often people who speak improper words. The workers should exhort these ones. The way to deal with spiritual problems is not to deal with the problems alone — that is the way of the law. In order to deal with spiritual problems, one must first find out the cause. For example, a brother who speaks improper words all the time may not be speaking those things consciously; his problem may be elsewhere. Chinese medicine does not deal only with the head when the head hurts; one must consider the body as a whole, because the cause of the illness may be elsewhere. Some brothers have problems with their conduct because they are sick in their spiritual life. In order to change their conduct, they must first change their whole being. It is useless to only change their conduct. Hence, in helping others, we should not try to change their conduct; we should look for the sickness within them and help them to find out the root cause.
Faith is a wonderful thing; it substantiates spiritual things and accomplishes God's Word. Satan only works in the envi- ronment and can only attack God's Word from the outside; he cannot attack God directly. God's Word demands our faith. For example, God's Word may say, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household" (Acts 16:31). Satan will tell a person that this is not necessarily so. Some brothers face hardships and oppositions at home. The way to deal with them is not by enduring the unbelief of the family members. Of course, I do not mean that one should allow his family to go on worshipping idols. The way to deal with them is to stand firmly on the promise of God and declare to Satan that one's household shall be saved. However, if one does not have the faith, he will be afraid, change God's Word, and say that His promises are not effectual. Satan will then sing and rejoice. This shows us that we fail only when we do not stand on God's Word. Satan is most afraid of us holding on to God's Word and dealing with him according to it. Hence, we have to stand on God's Word with firm faith. Even if the environment changes, we will not change. If we do this, Satan can do nothing to us. He can stir up adverse environments, but we believe that God's Word is true and unchanging. We can say to Satan, "Do all you can. Let us see what God's Word will do."
The first thing Satan does in deceiving us is to produce an environment that is opposite to God's Word. The second thing he will do is to tell us that God's promise is not real. He will base his words on the environment he has created. Once I was sick. I prayed and God promised that He would heal me. I had the faith for the healing, but after three weeks, the sickness became worse. Then Satan came and tempted me, saying, "What good is your faith? Your illness is still here." When I prayed again, God rebuked me, saying, "Why are you still praying? I have told you that I will heal you. Why do you still have to pray?" I immediately began to praise. I said, "God, I cannot sleep, and I feel much pain. Satan is troubling me all over. Yet I praise You because Your Word is true. I do not care if I suffer. Only Your Word counts; only it is trustworthy. The environment is just Satan's performance. You alone are faithful and trustworthy." I began to sing Hymn #778 on my bed. That was the best singing I ever experienced in my life. The words in stanza two were particularly precious: "For God delights when faith can praise /Though dark the night and long." Later the Lord did heal me. Satan's work produces only one result — doubting God's Word, that is, making men wonder whether or not it is true. Outward conditions are not real. If you listen to Satan and look at the adverse environment, you will think that God's Word is not true. But if you stand on God's Word by faith, you will not fear.
Faith does not require any proof or evidence. When a person has good credit in business, he does not need a guarantee. Only those who do not have good credit need a guarantee. Satan does not have good credit. This is why he asks for a guarantee for everything. He has to furnish facts to guarantee everything he says. The facts he furnishes are often the environments he creates. This is not the way our God works. Our God has very good credit. He does not need any fact, and He does not need any guarantee. His Word alone counts. What can guarantee the words of the Bible? The Bible only uses a few words to tell us the facts about God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and ascension, etc. The Bible does not need any guarantee.
Today we can commit our spirit, soul, and body to God because we have the word of the Bible. We can give up all things for the Lord because we have the word of the Bible. The Bible produces faith in us. Those whose eyes are set on the environment will not change any fact. But those who praise by faith will see fruitful results.
