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Scripture Reading: John 17:19-21; 13:34-35; Acts 2:42-47
For the vital groups, the first thing is our prayer. Thus, the first matter in this training will be to train the vital group members concerning how to pray in the new way to meet the new need. First, we should not repeat our old prayers. Our way of prayer has become a form; week after week we pray in a habitual way, repeating the same prayers to the Lord. Such prayers are not genuine prayers. When we pray, we should simply tell the Lord directly what we want: “Lord, we want to be revived. We are dead and cold. We want to be burning.” To say this much is good enough. In the Bible we cannot find any example of habitually repetitious prayers. In Luke 18:41 the Lord Jesus asked the blind man, “What do you want Me to do for you?” The blind man answered, “Lord, that I may receive my sight!” The Lord said to him, “Receive your sight,” and instantly the man received his sight (vv. 42-43). In the Lord’s table meeting we can pray, “Lord Jesus, You are so fair. You are the chief among ten thousand; I love You, Lord.” That is good enough. There is no need for us to pray long prayers in which we teach, explain, and expound the Scriptures to the Lord.
We all need to pray. No one should excuse himself by saying that he does not have the burden to pray. How can human beings not have a burden to pray? We all need God. If we need to breathe, we need to pray. We need to pray just as we need to breathe. Nearly everyone eats three meals a day without having any special “burden.” Thus, we should not take the excuse that we do not have the burden to pray.
We need to learn to pray in a new way and to pray new prayers. We need the Lord to come and stir us up that we may pray in a new, refreshing, and living way. In our prayer there is no need for us to tell the Lord what to do. If we desire to be revived by the Lord, we should simply ask Him to revive us. We may pray, “Revive me, Lord. I am pitiful. I need You to revive me.” This is good enough. He does not need us to tell Him what to do. Our telling the Lord what to do is not prayer; it is instruction.
Often the prayers in the church prayer meeting are composed of repetitious words, telling the Lord what to do and explaining the situation to Him. In the four Gospels the Lord Jesus did not pray in this way (Matt. 6:7-13; John 17). In Ephesians the apostle Paul prayed two prayers (1:17-23; 3:14-21). In those prayers he did not give any instructions to God. Rather, he prayed, he begged, and he entreated. Let us learn this way.
In praying for the matter of fruit-bearing, some of the saints have prayed, “Thank You, Lord, You are the vine, and we are the branches. You are the fruitful One. We command You to bear fruit in all of us.” We do not need to tell the Lord that He is the vine and that we are the branches. There is no need for such explanation. We can simply pray, “Lord, we are so barren. We hate our barrenness. Deliver us from this sin,” or “Lord, forgive me; I do not bear fruit. Lord, have mercy on me. Burden me and even press me to bear fruit.”
We need to relearn how to pray. We have been spoiled by the condition of the church and have picked up many bad habits, yet we think that these are good. However, our habitual way is not good. We have been praying that way for years. What has been the result? In an entire year we might not have borne ten remaining fruit. In his prophecy Haggai, speaking for the Lord, said to God’s people, “Consider your ways” (1:5, 7). We surely need to reconsider our way.
Before we open our mouth to pray, we should consider carefully what we should say. We should not pray anything in the habitual way. When we say, “Lord Jesus, I praise You,” we must mean that we praise Him. Instead of “Lord, I praise You,” the Lord may lead you to say, “Lord, I just worship You.” When you say that you worship the Lord, you should mean it. Often when certain saints begin their prophesying, they say “Praise the Lord” several times. This is a bad habit. It is meaningless and simply wastes time. I beg you to take my word concerning your prayer.
Now we are desperate with the Lord to have a new beginning with a new start by first building up the vital groups. We should fully realize that the church as the Body of Christ is definitely a group of the believers of Christ who have been saved by His dynamic salvation. I believe that from the first day, the salvation that I received was dynamic. I was saved dynamically. At that time I gave up the world. I told the Lord that I did not want anything from the world. I just desired to follow Him, to take a Bible and travel through all the villages to preach Him. From that day until today I have never had any change. A dynamic motivation was in me and has been in me all the time. Even today I am here, burdened and laboring for the Lord’s interest.
The recovery has been damaged. Thus, we need a real revival. We all need to recover the situation in which we came into the recovery. That is to overcome the leaving of the first love, which is actually the best love. To recover the first love, or the best love, is to give the Lord Jesus the preeminence, the first place, in everything (Col. 1:18). If we give the preeminence to the Lord Jesus in everything, surely we will gain Him. He is the best love; He is the super-excellent love. This is all that we need.
Again I would like to say that the church is a group of people who have been dynamically saved by God. We need to be continually under this kind of dynamic motivation. A proper Christian, an overcomer, is one who is constantly under a dynamic motivation. This we must pray to recover.
In John 17:19-21 the Lord Jesus prayed, “For their sake I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. And I do not ask concerning these only, but concerning those also who believe into Me through their word, that they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that You have sent Me.” We are all members of the Body of Christ. As such, we must have the real oneness. We are really one. However, although today we are still in the recovery and in the oneness, we need to realize that the oneness among us is not a living oneness. Our oneness is not a working oneness. We all are one, but you are you and I am I. The oneness among us is a dormant oneness, a sleeping oneness. Our oneness should be very active. The genuine oneness will cause us to take action when we hear of a need among the saints in the Body. The real oneness is an active and acting oneness.
We are one, yet we may not know the eight members of our group so well. That is not the living oneness. In John 17 the Lord said that if we have this oneness, the people of the world will know that Christ is the One who was sent by the Father (vv. 21, 23). This indicates that when we go to visit people, they will realize that we are one among ourselves. They will realize that with us there is something heavenly, something divine, that the people of the world could never have. The worldly people cannot be one, yet we are one in a living way so that our oneness is expressed and is realized by others. When they meet us, people can sense that we have the oneness.
In John 13:34-35 the Lord said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” If we love one another, we do not need to tell people that we are Christ’s disciples. The worldly people will realize this.
The first thing after the training concerning prayer is to train all the saints how to have fellowship. Fellowship is altogether based on oneness and mutual love. We are one, and we love one another. These are two strong signs.
The early followers of Christ, including Peter and John, followed the Lord Jesus full time. They were fishermen, but they left their nets, their boat, their job, and their father to follow the Lord Jesus (Matt. 4:18-22). To the outsiders they were idle, not doing anything but following this One. They did this for three and a half years. Eventually, they saw the crucifixion, the resurrection, and the ascension of the Lord, and that kept them more in oneness. Thus, the beginning of Acts says that these dear ones were in one accord (1:14), not merely in oneness. Oneness is not as practical as one accord. They were in one accord with no different opinions, concepts, or insights. They were all one in one accord. They were one hundred twenty disciples, but they were just like one person, and they prayed in one accord. Here is the real prayer. Acts does not tell us what they prayed for or how they prayed, but after ten days of prayer, something happened — on the day of Pentecost Christ was poured out upon them as the all-inclusive Spirit (2:1-4), and the church was produced. This is what we need. We need to keep the oneness, we need to love one another, and we need to have the one accord.
A group may have only seven or eight members, but these seven or eight must have the one accord. By fellowshipping together in the group meetings, all the members will enter into one accord, and in this one accord they can pray. Then they will really become one. We need to pray in one accord, and one accord comes from oneness and mutual love. When we pray in one accord, we will not repeat the old, habitual prayers. We will be so much in the spirit that there will be no capacity for habitual prayers.
In the training concerning the vital groups, the first item is prayer, and the second is fellowship. We all need to realize that thus far there has been little real fellowship among us. What we have is just a kind of contact. Therefore, in every group meeting the first thing that we should practice is to fellowship. In your initial practice of the fellowship you should get acquainted with one another in every detail of your status, your spiritual condition, and your present situation in the Lord. If possible, fellowship concerning everything. When we are fellowshipping in the groups, we need to follow the inner Spirit. Furthermore, our fellowship must be living, organic, and spontaneous. We should know one another very thoroughly, in an up-to-date way.
We might have met in the same locality with certain saints for years without knowing their name or the name of their spouse. This is not real fellowship. We are merely “skating on the ice.” We never got through the ice to the bottom of the water. This time in the group meetings the fellowship should be first ice-cutting and then ice-removing. Then all of us need to dive into the current to know one another thoroughly. This is the real fellowship. The real love is here. If we do not know one another, we cannot love one another. We cannot love anything that we do not know. But the more we know one another in the proper way, the more we will love one another.
I do expect the number in the groups to double in at most one year. When the number in a group is doubled, that group should divide into two groups. Thus, in the first stage of the group meetings, everything must be worked out as a model. Otherwise, if we all are cold, even if we are able to get someone saved, that one will be the same as we are. If eight cold ones gain another eight cold ones, the coldness will be increased. Therefore, we must cut the ice, remove the ice, and throw the ice away until we get into the water and swim there and get to the bottom in knowing one another. Then when we gain the new ones, all the new ones will be the same as we are. Otherwise, the church will have no way. We need to know one another; then we can love one another.
The entire church life has been deadened because of our habitual practice. For a long time we have had very little change and very little growth. Our coming to the meetings has been habitual, merely the keeping of a schedule. Among us there is the desperate lack of the exercise of our spirit, the renewing of our mind, and the determination from our will. We all do things in a routine and habitual way. Because of this, we do not know how to fellowship.
The remedy for our condition is to remember that we are a trouble to the church. We all are a trouble. Our prayers may have troubled the saints for years. We should always remember that we are a trouble. Therefore, when we come to the meetings, we must come full of prayer. While we are driving on the way, we should pray, “Lord, save me from my habit. Lord, tonight I am going to the fellowship meeting; tell me what I should fellowship with my brothers.” The Lord is living. He will not say any word to you to tell you what to do, but He will inspire you. When you get into the meeting, He may lead you to say, “Praise the Lord. I am so happy today, brothers.” This is a good beginning to the fellowship. One of the brothers near you may ask, “Brother, may I know what you are happy about today?” You may reply, “I am just happy about the Lord. Today the Lord corrected me. I can tell you only this much. At another time I will tell you more. How about you? Are you happy with the Lord?” This is the way to have a living fellowship.
We have the living Lord, we have the all-inclusive, life-giving, indwelling Spirit, and we have a regenerated spirit. We need to do our best to use all these. We should not come to the meeting in a habitual way. When we enter into the meeting place, we should do it purposefully. As you are ascending the stairway, you may say, “Lord, how good it is to ascend with You.” Whether others hear or not does not matter. We need to get out of our habit. This depends on how much we realize concerning ourselves. We need to pray to Him and allow Him to lead us and guide us in every way.
The training concerning the vital groups will have many points. From the matter of fellowship we will go on to the gospel visitation for gospel preaching. This will require much training. In order to preach the gospel, you must know the proper verses concerning God. However, if you visit a person who appears to be very knowledgeable concerning God and very talkative about God, you should not talk with him concerning God. His being talkative about God may indicate that he is a very sinful person. A sinful, wrongdoing person who is somewhat religious is the kind of person who likes to talk about God. If you talk with such a person concerning God, you will fall into a snare. Instead, you should talk to him about the conscience.
We all need to learn by being trained. If we are going to visit people, we must know what kind of people there are in this world and what to speak to each of the different kinds of people. If we would learn all this, surely our visitation will be very effective.
Those in the groups need a time with their group to practice what they have heard: the prayer, the real revival from within, and the fellowship. This will affect their attending of the meetings. May the Lord have mercy on us that we could have a real revival in Him and through His Spirit.
