Search
Scripture Reading: Col. 1:12, 15-19, 27; 2:2b, 6-7, 9, 16-17; 3:4, 10-11; 1 Cor. 12:12-13; Phil. 1:21
In this chapter I am burdened that we would see the truth of what the church is. We may know that the church is the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23a), the fullness of the One who fills all in all (v. 23b), the mystery of Christ (3:4-6), the household of God (2:19), the one new man (v. 15), the testimony of Jesus (Rev. 1:2), and the kingdom of God (Matt. 16:18-19; Rom. 14:17). These are all wonderful definitions of the church, but we need to see that the basic factor of the church is simply Christ. The church is Christ. If the church were not Christ, the church could not be the Body of Christ. Neither could it be the fullness of the One who fills all in all, the mystery of Christ, the household of God, the new man, the testimony of Jesus, or the kingdom of God. All the items of what the church is depend on one basic factor, that is, that the church is Christ Himself.
The head and the body of a human being constitute one person. It is illogical to say that a person consists of only his head and not his body. A complete person includes both the head and the body. However, although many Christians know that the church is the Body of Christ, they do not realize that the church is Christ. They hold the illogical concept that the church is the Body of Christ but that it is not Christ. We would never say that our body is not us. It would be ridiculous to point to someone’s body and say, “This is not So-and-so; this is only his body.” Nevertheless, many Christians unconsciously hold this kind of concept concerning the church as the Body of Christ, thinking that the Body is different from Christ Himself. Perhaps even some of us have thought, “To say that the church is the Body of Christ is right, but to say that the church is Christ may be heretical.” However, this thought is illogical because the fact that the church is the Body of Christ inherently implies that the church is Christ.
The church is Christ because the church is one with Christ. In the preceding chapter we saw that Christ is the vine and that we are the branches. The vine and the branches are one, for the vine includes the branches. Unlike a pine tree, which has a great trunk that shoots up and relatively short branches, a vine does not shoot up but spreads out, having a small trunk and many long branches. A complete vine includes not only the trunk but also all the branches. To say that the church is not Christ is like saying that the branches are not the vine. Therefore, we should not say, “We are merely the branches of the vine, but we are not the vine.” Although we may not say this, this erroneous concept may still be deep within us.
As we pointed out in the preceding chapter, we are one spirit with the Lord. First Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” The spirit mentioned in this verse is a mingled spirit, a compound spirit, including not only the divine Spirit but also our human spirit. This spirit is not an individual spirit but a corporate spirit, including Christ and all of us. Because we and Christ are one spirit, it is not wrong to say that we are Christ.
The apostle Paul said, “To me, to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). If we were to compose this word today, we would probably say, “To me, to live is a branch of Christ.” We would compose this very carefully because if we wrote what Paul wrote, we might be condemned for being too bold or even for blaspheming. Paul could say this because he was a branch of Christ, and a branch of a vine is a part of the vine. It is not something other than the vine itself. We too are branches of Christ, the true vine, and as branches of Christ, we too are Christ.
Some may argue with me, saying, “Brother Lee, you are too frank. You should not say that you are Christ. You must speak more carefully. You should say only that you are a part of Christ.” My answer to such persons is that a part of Christ is Christ; thus, anyone who is a part of Christ is Christ. Every part of my physical body is me. If my finger could speak, it would not need to be careful and cautious, saying, “I am not Witness Lee; I am only a part of Witness Lee.” If my finger and every other part of my body said this, there would be no Witness Lee but only parts of Witness Lee. Even my head would not be me but would be only a part of me. This again shows that we may not accurately know the truth concerning the church. We need to see that the church is simply Christ.
First Corinthians 12:12 says, “Even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ.” According to our concept, after this verse begins by describing the physical body with its many members, we would expect the verse to conclude by saying, “So also is the Body of Christ.” Instead, it says, “So also is the Christ.” This is strong proof that the church is Christ. We say that the church is the Body of Christ, but here the Word says that the Body is Christ. Hence, the church being Christ is not my teaching but the clear teaching of the Bible.
Today we are the church, but before we were regenerated, we were not the church. We became the church after being regenerated because in regeneration Christ came into us, and in baptism our original old man was crucified and buried with Christ. Galatians 2:20 says, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” Now we are not the original old “I” but the present new “I.” The old “I” has been buried, and the new “I” is here. The old “I” was not Christ, because Christ was not in us, but now Christ is in us. Thus, the new “I” is Christ.
Colossians 3:10-11 says that we “have put on the new man...where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all and in all.” We need to see that in the new man Christ is every member and is in every member. Every time new believers are baptized, we need to repeat this truth to them, telling them that the church is Christ and that their new “I” is Christ.
I can testify that I am fully different from what I was before being regenerated; I am another person. Previously, I was a satanic person, but now I am a Christian. A Christian is a Christ-man, a man of Christ. When we say that a table is a wooden table or a table of wood, we mean that the table is wood. Likewise, to be a Christian, a man of Christ, means that we are Christ. This again shows that the church is Christ.
God’s eternal purpose is simply to gain a church for Christ that has Christ as its life and content, a church that is Christ Himself. This is the church that God intends to obtain in His economy. However, not long after the church life began on the day of Pentecost, Satan injected mainly two foreign elements into the church — first Judaism and then Greek philosophy. Among the Epistles of the New Testament, Galatians deals mainly with Judaism, and Colossians deals mainly with Greek philosophy. Galatians tells us that Judaism should not be in the church and that the church has nothing to do with Judaism (1:4; 6:14-15). The church is Christ, not Judaism. When Judaism becomes prevailing in the church, the church is void of Christ and is therefore no longer the church. Furthermore, Colossians 2:8 says, “Beware that no one carries you off as spoil through his philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ.” According to this verse, philosophy may also become prevailing in the church, causing the church to be void of Christ and to no longer be the church. The church must have Christ as its unique content.
Since the time that Judaism and philosophy were injected into the church in the first and second centuries, many different opinions and concepts have also been brought into the church. Although some of these concepts are scriptural, such as baptism by immersion, they have nevertheless crept into the church to replace Christ. This is why there is a denomination called the Baptist Church. Some Baptists even insist that a person be baptized by them. Because they insist on a certain kind of baptism, their content has become this kind of baptism rather than Christ. They are called the Baptist Church because their content is not Christ but baptism.
Through the past twenty centuries many concepts have crept into Christianity. Every denomination today is the issue of a concept. Even the free groups are the issue of concepts. Recently, certain free groups have said that they do not want to have a formal church life. They prefer what they call a “home-style” church life. They meet only in small groups in homes. When they are halfway through their meetings, a cake is brought out, and everyone enjoys the cake and begins to gossip. This kind of church life is the issue of a concept and is contrary to the truth. The truth concerning the church is that the church is only Christ. We need to see that all the denominations and free groups are the issue of concepts that have replaced Christ.
To say that the church is Christ may be easy, but to put this into practice is not easy. We may know in doctrine that the church is Christ, but when we practice the church life, we may cause the church to become something else because of our concept. Everyone likes to have church meetings according to their own concept. Some among us were born as quiet persons. An audible prayer in a meeting, even in the softest voice, would disturb these quiet ones. They would like the church meetings to be so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. They say, “God is a God of order, not of confusion.” Some oppose the use of certain musical instruments. However, others were born wild and rough. They like to shout, “Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Jesus! Amen!” They consider a quiet meeting to be a dead meeting. They feel that the noisier a meeting is, the better it is. Some even like to jump around in the meetings. We need to see that the church is not silent, and neither is the church noisy. The silence must be killed, and the noise must be buried. We have no ground to exercise our preference, for the church is simply Christ.
The poor situation in Christianity today is a result of many different concepts coming in to replace Christ. Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint.” In Acts 26:19 the apostle Paul said regarding the vision he had received of Christ and the church, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” We need to be governed by the vision that the church is Christ. If we have this vision, we will not care for noise or for silence in the meetings. We will care only for Christ. We will all come to the meetings with Christ, in Christ, and for Christ. If Christ leads us to shout, we will shout. If Christ leads us to be silent, we will be silent. We are not a certain kind of church; we are only Christ. The church is only Christ.
The reason Christians have different concepts is that they are void of Christ. When we are void of Christ, we will have many preferences, but if we are full of Christ, we will bring only Christ when we come together. When the vessel of our being is filled with Christ to the brim, there will be no room for anything else. When our vessels are empty, void of Christ, all kinds of peculiar things will come in. Therefore, in order for us to have the proper church life, we must have adequate experiences of Christ so that we may be filled with Him.
Colossians unveils to us who and what Christ is. Although this book has only four chapters, the items of Christ contained in this book are profound. Colossians 1:12 says, “Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light.” The King James Version renders allotted portion in this verse as “inheritance.” However, the Greek word here means “that which is allotted as a portion.” Christ is not only our future inheritance but also our present portion. We are partakers of the portion of the saints. Day by day we are partaking of Christ as our portion by enjoying Him and experiencing Him. Let us go on to see what is included in this portion.
According to verse 15, this portion is the image of the invisible God. God is invisible, yet He has an image. Christ our portion is the image, the very expression, of the invisible God. Verse 15 goes on to say that Christ is the Firstborn of all creation, and verse 16 says that all things were created in Him, through Him, and unto Him.
Verse 17 says, “All things cohere in Him.” This clause may also be translated “all things subsist together in Him.” To cohere in Christ is to exist by Christ as the holding center, just as the spokes of a wheel are held together by the hub. If the hub is taken away, all the spokes will fall apart. The spokes cohere in the hub. Scientists have discovered that everything in the universe is held together by some mysterious force. Colossians 1 reveals that Christ is the holding center of all things. All things were created in Christ, through Christ, and unto Christ, and all things cohere in Him as the hub.
Verse 18 says, “He is the Head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that He Himself might have the first place in all things.” Thus, Christ is not only the first in creation (v. 15) but also the first in resurrection. The new creation was produced in resurrection. As the first in both the old creation and the new creation, Christ has the preeminence in all things. Verse 19 goes on to say, “For in Him all the fullness was pleased to dwell.” Colossians 2:9 says, “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” Thus, Christ, who has the preeminence in all things, is the embodiment of the fullness of the Godhead. Verse 2 says that Christ is the mystery of God. This is the Christ whom we are experiencing day by day.
Colossians 2:16-17 says, “Let no one therefore judge you in eating and in drinking or in respect of a feast or of a new moon or of the Sabbath, which are a shadow of the things to come, but the body is of Christ.” These verses reveal that Christ is the reality of every positive thing in the universe. There are many positive things in the universe, and all the positive things are shadows of Christ. The day is a shadow of Christ; He is our real day. Every kind of light — moonlight, sunlight, electrical light, the light of an oil lamp — is a shadow of Christ; He is the real light. Every kind of food is a shadow; Christ is the real food. Christ is the real water and the real air. Even the feasts, the holidays, are a shadow; Christ is our real holiday. Christ is our real Sabbath and our real new moon. A new moon signifies a new beginning with light in darkness. Christ is the real new beginning with light in darkness. Furthermore, our Christ is our real clothing and our real house, our real dwelling place. This is not my thought; it is revealed in the Bible. Psalm 90:1 says, “O Lord, You have been our dwelling place / In all generations.” Christ is our eternal dwelling place, our eternal home. Christ is everything.
Colossians 3:4 says that Christ is our life. Our life is the all-inclusive Christ. What a life! Colossians 1:27 reveals that Christ is in us as our hope of glory. Today the wonderful, all-inclusive Christ is our life. In the future He will be our glory; therefore, He is our hope.
Colossians 2:6-7 says, “As therefore you have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, having been rooted and being built up in Him.” The revelation in these verses is crucial. We not only have believed in Christ but also have received Him. To receive something is to take, possess, or lay hold of something that is given to us. We have all received Christ in this way. Because we have received Him, we can now walk in Him day by day. Moreover, we have been rooted in Christ, and we are being built up in Him. Our being rooted in Christ is for the growth in life, and our being built up in Him is for the building of God’s house. Thus, we need to walk in Christ for our growth in life and for the building of God’s house.
Christ is not a concept; He is a person. We can receive this person, walk in Him, be rooted in Him, and be built up in Him. We all need to see this Christ. If we see a vision of Christ, we will have no time or capacity to care for anything else. We will not care for our concept of what a low meeting, a high meeting, a living meeting, a silent meeting, or a loud meeting is. We will have no room in our being to care whether or not guitars or tambourines are used in the meetings. If those who would normally oppose the use of tambourines are filled with Christ, they will say, “Whoever would like to play can play. I do not care if one plays or a hundred play. I have no time to talk about that.” Moreover, if those who play the tambourines are filled with Christ, they will lay down their tambourines and say, “Christ is our real tambourine. We do not want to have the shadow; we want to have the reality.” However, if some want to keep the shadow, this is not wrong. Regrettably, because most Christians are void of Christ, they pay attention to many unimportant things. When we are filled with Christ, we have no room for other things.
Although Christ is beyond our understanding, we need to experience Him, for He is our portion. He is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation, the One in whom all things were created, the One in whom all things cohere, the Head of the Body, and the Firstborn from the dead. He is preeminent in both the old creation and the new creation, and God’s fullness, that is, God’s full expression in both creation and the church, dwells in Him. Christ is also God’s mystery and the reality of every positive thing in the universe. For the present, Christ is our life, and for the future, He is our hope of glory. Moreover, since we have received Christ and possess Him, we need to walk in Him, be rooted in Him, and be built up in Him.
Thus far in this chapter we have seen mainly the truth in doctrine. Now we come to the experience. First, we need to see what the all-inclusive Christ is today; we need to see the nature of this Christ. First Corinthians 15:45b says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit,” and 2 Corinthians 3:17 says, “The Lord is the Spirit.” Thus, the all-inclusive Christ is now the life-giving Spirit. Next we need to see where this life-giving Spirit is today. Second Timothy 4:22 says, “The Lord be with your spirit,” and Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit.” Therefore, today the all-inclusive Christ, who is now the life-giving Spirit, is in our spirit. First Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” This verse shows that these two spirits, the life-giving Spirit and our human spirit, are mingled together as one spirit. Hence, to walk in Christ is simply to walk in this mingled spirit (Rom. 8:4).
The mingled spirit is the crucial focus that we need to pay our full attention to. To walk in Christ is to walk not according to our opinions or concepts but according to the mingled spirit within us. This mingled spirit is living and working in us. When we walk in the mingled spirit, we experience Christ in everything — in marriage life, in school life, in office life, and in the church life. The more we walk in the spirit, the more we gain Christ.
Some may ask, “What does it mean to walk in the spirit?” We all have a spirit within us. As believers, we have been regenerated in our spirit (John 3:6). Now Christ as the life-giving Spirit dwells in our spirit and is even one with our spirit. If we speak, we should not speak from our emotion, mind, or will. Rather, we should speak from the mingled spirit. This is to walk in the spirit. However, we must admit that we speak and act mostly from our emotion, from our mind, or from our will. Most of what we say and do is from our natural man, not from our spirit. Whenever we go somewhere, we usually go not from our spirit but from our emotion, mind, or will — from our natural man. The saints who say that they like a silent meeting or a loud meeting speak from their preference, not from their spirit. When they speak in this way, they are not walking in the spirit. If they are walking in the spirit and say something concerning the meetings from the spirit, they will only say, “Praise the Lord! We care only for Christ.”
Recently, in certain local churches a disputation arose as to whether or not the saints should go to sporting events. Some said that those who do not go to sporting events are under a legality and that those who go are liberated. They said that those who do not go to sporting events are religious and that those who go are not religious. After the saints became bothered and confused by this matter, they presented this question to me in a meeting. I answered, “You all have one of two religions. One religion is not to go to sporting events, and the other is to go. Regardless of whether or not you think the saints should go, as long as you do not have Christ, whatever you do is a religion. We should not have a religion that says we should not go, nor should we have a religion that says we should go. Rather, we should simply take Christ.” Because Christianity is void of Christ, many things other than Christ, such as rules and regulations, have come in. If we are filled with Christ, we will have no rules and regulations. No ground will be given to such useless things.
As we have received Christ, we need to walk in Him. Today He is the life-giving Spirit indwelling our spirit, and our spirit is one spirit with Him. Hence, we simply need to live in the mingled spirit, speaking, acting, and moving in the spirit. If we live in this way, we will be full of Christ. Then when we come together, we will come together not only in Christ but also with Christ. Whatever we speak will be out from Christ. Whether our meetings are silent or loud will make no difference. I was with Brother Nee for a number of years in Shanghai. When he was not in the meetings, the saints often felt that something was lacking. However, when he was in the meetings, he would speak or pray in only two or three meetings out of ten; the rest of the time he was silent. Nevertheless, as long as he was there, we all felt that Christ was there. This proves that having a proper meeting is not a matter of shouting or being silent but a matter of bringing Christ to the meeting.
If we walk in Christ and live Christ day by day, we will be saturated with Christ, possess Christ, and be full of Christ. Then when we come to the meetings, we will come with Christ. We may not speak, pray, or shout, but others will sense that we are full of Christ. Otherwise, when we come to the meetings, whatever we do will be a performance. We will make the meeting hall a theater because we lack reality. Suppose a brother quarrels with his wife at home, and then he comes to the meeting and shouts, “Praise the Lord!” Inwardly, his wife may say, “He is a devil praising the Lord.” She will not be able to forget her husband’s behavior at home. If we do not live Christ in our daily life, but we shout, “Praise the Lord!” in the meetings, the demons will laugh at us because we will be merely performers, actors. We need to live Christ so that we can come to the meetings with Christ. Then when we speak in the meetings, there will be something weighty, something of life and of reality. What we say in the meetings will be facts in our experience, not a performance.
We need the real experience of Christ. The church is Christ, and the church meetings are an exhibition of Christ. The church meetings should be a display of what we experience in our daily life. We need to live by Christ and in Christ to be filled with Christ. Then when we come together, we can display the Christ whom we experience for His glory, for others’ edification, and for the enemy’s shame. This is the proper church life.
If we see this vision of the proper church life, we will drop all our different concepts. We will not care for having a certain kind of meeting. Because we are filled with Christ, we will have no capacity, no room, for anything else. Our whole vessel, our whole being, will be filled up to the brim with Christ. If all the saints experience this, there will be no concepts in the local churches; there will be only Christ. Then we will have the genuine oneness and harmony. Because our goal, our understanding, our realization, our daily experience, our living, and our everything are Christ, the church will shine with Christ. There will be no opinions, no concepts, no disputations, and no fighting but only oneness and harmony. The oneness and harmony that we enjoy will simply be Christ Himself. This is the Lord’s recovery of the church life. The church life in the Lord’s recovery is simply Christ lived out of us as a living testimony.
Question: Is walking in Christ related to contacting the Lord through the Word?
Answer: Yes, in order to walk in Christ, we surely need to come to the Word daily, even a few times a day, because Christ is embodied in the word of the Bible. I never knew a Christian who walked in Christ without daily contacting the Word.
We need to see this truth for the church life. The proper church life is not a matter of certain concepts or opinions about how and where we should meet. The church is a lampstand (Rev. 1:11-12, 20). The way and the place where we meet make no difference. As long as the lampstand is shining, regardless of where it is placed, it still shines. However, if it is not shining, it is in darkness wherever it is placed. As the Spirit, Christ is the oil within the lamp, and His expression is the light shining out of the lamp. Having the proper church life depends entirely upon how much Christ we have — how much oil we have and how much light we shine out. Therefore, we must live and walk in Him all the time by contacting Him through the Word.
Question: I have a time with the Lord in the Word in the morning, but I lose my contact with the Lord as the day goes on. Is there a way to stay in contact with the Lord for the whole day?
Answer: Yes, there is surely a way to remain in contact with the Lord throughout the day. Whenever we lose our contact with the Lord, we need to regain it. We may contact the Lord in the morning and receive something of Him. If after ten minutes we lose our contact with the Lord, we need to immediately pray to contact Him again.
There are two kinds of prayer. One kind is prayer at set times. This kind of prayer is for spiritual drinking. The other kind of prayer is unceasing prayer. First Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Unceasingly pray.” Unceasing prayer is spiritual breathing. Physically, we need to drink a few times a day, but we must breathe unceasingly. Spiritually, it is the same. In the morning we should have a set time to pray to the Lord for at least ten minutes. We can touch the Lord during this time by drinking prayers, and then we can maintain our contact with Him throughout the day by breathing prayers. This is the way.
Just as man cannot live physically without unceasing breathing, as believers, we cannot live without unceasing prayer. We need to breathe the Lord all day long. We should not think that because we know many things or because we have been in the church life for many years, we are safe and do not need to pray. If we do not pray, we are not breathing and are dying spiritually. Many Christians think that they know everything and therefore do not need to pray. However, regardless of how much we know or how much we have experienced, we still need to pray all the time.
Question: Do we need to have a topic or subject to pray about in our breathing prayer?
Answer: No. Actually, even in the drinking prayer it is better not to begin with a subject. Coming to pray with any subject frustrates our ability to pray properly. In order to pray properly, we simply need to go to the Lord to contact Him and allow Him to initiate what we pray about.
Question: Could you please give an example of unceasing prayer?
Answer: As we are doing a task at our job, we can pray, “Lord Jesus, be with me.” This kind of prayer rises spontaneously from within us. Although we may be quite busy, and there may be many people around us, we can still contact the Lord. We need to practice this. We need to be ready at any time to say a word to the Lord. If we are typing, we can say, “Lord, I need You in my typing.” We need to learn to pray in this way in everything. We should not trust in ourselves to do anything apart from the Lord. Even in what we know how to do, we still should not trust in ourselves. Whatever we do, we need to trust in the Lord. This is constant, unceasing prayer.
Question: In my set times of prayer, after a few minutes I run out of things to pray for. Do you have any suggestions?
Answer: The best thing to do is to pray-read some verses, making the verses our prayer. We will never be short of words to pray, because the Bible is our living prayer book. George Müller said that he needed the Bible to instigate his prayer. After a few minutes of contacting the Lord by pray-reading, we may enter into the spirit of prayer and receive a burden to pray for certain things. Then we may pray for half an hour or more if we have the time. This is the way we can have a set time of prayer for a longer time. Regularly, we may have only ten minutes of prayer. It is difficult to enter into a real burden in such a short time. It is best not to try to compose anything but rather to simply use the words of the Bible for the words of our prayer.
Question: Can we also use the words of the hymns for prayer?
Answer: To pray according to the hymns is also a help, but the best way is to pray the verses of the Bible. To pray the words of the Bible is much better than to pray the words of the hymns.
Question: Since the proper church meeting is an exhibition of the Christ we experience, if we have failed to live Christ during our daily life, should we still come to the meeting?
Answer: Even if we have failed to live Christ, we still need to come to the meeting. In the meeting we can have a good prayer of confession. We may even publicly confess our failure to the Lord and ask Him to cleanse us with His blood. Such a confessing prayer is living and will lead many others into the realization of their wrongdoings. If we take the lead to confess, many others may follow us to make confessions. This is the proper way to come to the meeting. We need to come to the meeting in a genuine way, not performing or pretending. If we are sorrowful after quarreling with a brother or sister, when we come to the meeting, we need to forget about our tears and say, “Lord, forgive me. I suffered a defeat.” This is genuine. If we are defeated, we should not perform by shouting, “Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Amen! Jesus is Victor!” Yes, Jesus is Victor, but we are defeated. As a defeated one, we need to be genuine to confess our defeat. This will bring the meeting into life.
Question: I have trouble entering into the prayer in the corporate prayer meetings because I find it difficult to follow along with what everyone else is praying. What should I do?
Answer: We do not need to be legal in trying to follow along with others in corporate prayer meetings. We should simply express whatever is on our heart. A new believer may not know how to cooperate with others’ prayers. This is not a problem. He will gradually learn how to cooperate as he participates in the corporate prayer. He will learn by doing. In the meantime, he should not be frustrated; he should continue to participate.
Question: When I come to the Lord in prayer in an open way without any subject, it seems that my prayer is often weak and directionless. As a result, I fall under condemnation. What should I do?
Answer: Our feelings are like the weather. It is difficult to know when the weather will be cloudy, when it will be clear, when it will snow, or when it will rain. However, students, businessmen, and housewives do not depend on the weather in doing their work. A housewife may say, “Dear weather, if you like to be cloudy, that is your business. My business is to cook food for my children. When you are clear, I will cook. When you are cloudy, I will still cook.” If a business manager works only when it is not raining, he is not managing but being managed. Just as these people are not managed by the weather, we should not be managed by our feelings. We are strange people — in the morning we may be so happy that we feel like we are in the third heaven, but for no apparent reason, ten minutes later we may be so low that we feel like we are in hell. We never know how we will feel. Moreover, our feelings are unreliable. When we feel good, things may actually be bad, and when we feel bad, things may actually be good. We do not know when things are truly good or bad; only the Lord knows. Therefore, we need to learn to forget about our feelings. We should not be affected by a clear sky or by a cloudy sky. We need to learn to contact the Lord regardless of the kind of feelings we have.
This matter is especially difficult for young Christians. When I was young, I also had a difficult time with this. However, now I have neither cloudy weather nor clear weather. Every day is about the same. When the saints are happy in the meeting and receive my message, I am happy, but when they drop their countenance, I am still happy. It makes no difference. In a recent training some negative things were said about my speaking. Some dear saints who heard these things were very concerned for me. They thought that I would surely be affected and that my spirit would not be released in the remaining messages. Eventually, however, they saw that my spirit was fully released. We should not care for the weather, the unreliable, changeable condition of things. We simply need to do our duty to contact the Lord each morning by ten minutes of pray-reading and five minutes of prayer.
Question: Do negative feelings within us insulate us from contacting the Lord?
Answer: Our feelings never insulate us from the Lord. What may insulate us is something negative, such as a sin that we have not confessed to the Lord.
