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The apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy 4:7, “Exercise yourself unto godliness.” By reading this verse in the context of the entire two Epistles to Timothy, we see that the matter of exercising ourselves unto godliness refers to the real exercise of our human spirit. We must exercise our spirit to contact God and in so many things related to God. Meeting by praising is undoubtedly one of the major items of godliness. Therefore, coming together to praise the Lord is a matter of exercise. We need more and more practice — not just to listen, to know, or to understand, but to exercise what we have received. We need practice to build up a habit of opening our mouth; we need practice to learn how to utter praises and how to compose praises from our experiences of Christ. In other words, we must learn how to conduct our meetings, not by a leader but by everyone. You are not used to it, I know. You feel awkward in the spirit, in the understanding, and in the utterance. So you need practice. Those who have little practice or skill in driving an automobile feel extremely awkward at times. What a frustrating experience it can be to park a car! But for those who are skillful, it is done quite smoothly and effortlessly. The only need is for practice. In this final chapter I want to fellowship with you regarding the actual practice and technique of praising in the meetings.
We must be very clear first that the principle which must govern us in all our meetings is the principle of incarnation, the mingling of God and man. Today, in the dispensation of grace, God would never do anything by Himself; He requires human cooperation. On the other hand, we can never do anything by ourselves; we require God’s cooperation. It is not that God Himself does something without us or that we ourselves do anything without Him — it is that we cooperate with God. God is waiting to do something; if we would only render Him proper coordination, He would certainly act. It is not we who are waiting for Him, but He who is waiting for us. He desires to move in the meetings, but we do not render Him adequate cooperation. This principle has been greatly neglected by Christianity. Many Christians, indeed, are not even aware of it. It is wrong to say, as many do, that we must wait for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit before speaking in the meetings. The Holy Spirit has been waiting for years — the problem is not with Him but with us. This is why we need training and much practice. We need skill to render proper and adequate cooperation to God. We need the experiences, we need the skill of utterance, and we need the habit of opening our mouth.
Our problem is this: first, most of us have come out of old Christianity, and it is really difficult to rid ourselves of the influence of our background. Second, we are still surrounded by today’s Christianity, by the old way; so unconsciously we have the concept fixed and established within us that we need not bear any responsibility in the meetings. This is a major problem. So many of us have little or no concept and consciousness of responsibility. This is our background and environment, and we are still under this influence. To have the proper meetings we must all learn to deal drastically with this subconscious influence and take up our responsibility.
Suppose we could go to Mongolia, where the influence of Christianity is practically nonexistent, preach the gospel to the people, and bring some to the Lord. We would not tell them anything about Christianity; we would only speak of Christ and salvation. I do believe that they would spontaneously come together in an exceedingly simple and living way. Everyone would function livingly and spontaneously, praying, praising, or giving testimony in whatever way we may turn them. They would be so active, sensitive, and responsible. But in countries where Christianity has prevailed for centuries, the situation is different. Brothers and sisters, if we are honest with the Lord, if we mean business with the Lord and are faithful to His recovery, we will abandon this kind of influence and consciousness. We have to realize that when we come to the meetings, we must do something. We must have responsibility-consciousness.
But to bear responsibility in the meeting does not mean merely to speak or give a message. Absolutely not. To function in the meeting, as we have seen, means principally to demonstrate our spirit. Today the Lord as the life-giving Spirit indwells our spirit. When we demonstrate our spirit, the Lord will be exhibited — this is a glory to the Lord and a real shame to the enemy.
Suppose that we have four hundred people meeting together in a merely formal way: they all sing a hymn, one offers a prayer, another continues by reading a passage of the Bible, and then another rises to give a sermon. Of course, that is better than nothing. But could that put the enemy to shame? Suppose, however, that four hundred are meeting together, everyone demonstrating his spirit. What a glory that would be to the Lord and what a shame to the enemy! This is a worship and a warfare in which everyone in the entire congregation participates.
We have the deep conviction that the Lord has turned the age from the age of religion, forms, doctrines, and teachings to the age of the Spirit. Therefore, whenever we come together, we must come with the release and demonstration of the spirit. The key to meetings in such an age is the release and demonstration of our spirit. If we simply release our spirit, the Lord Jesus as the life-giving Spirit will simultaneously be released. This is the principle of incarnation. Hence, when we come together, every one of us must learn to release his spirit. Of course, if we have sinned, our conscience will condemn us, and our spirit will be bound. But, praise the Lord, we may apply the precious blood to our failures and be at peace in our conscience; then we will have full confidence and liberty to release our spirit.
The Lord is going to revolutionize Christian meetings. He will work this out — by what way, we do not know. The principle, however, we do know: it will be by the release and demonstration of the human spirit. The best way of demonstrating the spirit we also know — by praising the Lord, not in the old way with long prayers, but in a new way with short and living sentences. This requires first a daily walk in the Lord with daily experiences of Christ, and second, that we open our mouth to praise the Lord, not only in the meetings but also in our homes, schools, and places of employment. If we have daily experiences of Christ and the exercise of opening our mouth to praise Him, we will have the capital with which to conduct the meetings.
Let us suppose now that we are having a meeting. We have learned already that we need not wait for the stated hour to begin — as soon as some brothers and sisters are together, we may start to praise. In fact, we may even begin the meeting on the street while we are coming in. It may be started at any time and by any way — it must be something of the Spirit without forms and regulations. We may begin with a hymn, with a testimony, by calling on the Lord, or by praising the Lord. No one is designated to lead; we are all participants. We all must get into the flow, open our mouth, and go right ahead. Do not try to analyze or consider; do not exercise the mind, but turn to the spirit and say something. Try not to use old terms in the old way. Forget about old words, old phraseology, old utterances. Simply open yourself to the Lord and utter something from deep within your spirit — short, quick, real, and fresh. Eventually, you will be led to some line, some verse, or some portion. Then just go on in that flow. Once a certain point has been begun, all should simply follow just as do the members of a basketball team. Once a certain play is initiated, the rest need only follow through. Of course, this requires much practice. Even if the meeting has been started in a poor way, you still must go along and seek to uplift and enrich it. This is not a game for everyone to play his own ball. We are all the heavenly team, coordinating together to score for the Lord. There is just one ball for the whole team, so we must play in a coordinated way. I may pass the ball to you; then you will pass it to another; then he to yet another. We do need practice. We all need to follow one another in a good continuation and coordination. Of course, this requires considerable sensitivity and life in the spirit, but by continual practice we will all improve.
Let me mention now several important points to remember in order to achieve and preserve a good coordination in praising.
First, we should never behave in the meetings in an independent and individualistic way. Seek to be sensitive in your spirit and sense the flow of the meeting. Once anything is begun in the meeting, simply follow and coordinate with others. Sometimes you may come to a meeting and begin to speak, but after just two sentences you will sense that you are out of the flow. You must stop immediately and seek to bring yourself into the flow. Forget about all your thoughts and intentions. The meetings of the church are not a place for an exhibition of your knowledge, but where we all may exhibit Christ in the flow of the life-giving Spirit.
Please note that in order to care properly for the flow of the meeting, it is not good to speak much in detail or to occupy too much time. It is better to shorten everything. There is no need when sharing to give the details of days, places, and names — the attendants have neither the mind nor the spirit for so much superfluous information. Just give the main point. Tell the people in concise and living sentences how you have enjoyed the Lord. By so doing, the flow of the meeting will be uplifted; otherwise, it will be choked and the spirits of the saints cooled. Sometimes to sense the flow we need to be balanced: we should not care for our own subjective feeling so much as for the flow in the whole meeting.
Suppose now that there is a break in the flow — the subject is suddenly changed by one who is not so well experienced in the spirit. Then you must recover the flow; you must bring it back to its course. Of course, when it has been brought back, everyone must realize that now we are back. We should not go on without coming back; otherwise, we will lose the good continuation. It is sometimes good and right for the flow to take a turn, but we need a proper progression; we cannot jump from this to that without knowing where we are going.
Second, for a good coordination we must care well for others, using not only our mouth but also our ears. If you begin to speak and you hear others speaking, immediately stop your voice and let the others finish their praise. This is quite important. After they have finished, you need then to continue in a suitable way. Perhaps what you had begun to say would not be fitting now. You need to be sensitive to the feeling both of the church and of the Spirit. This is not a small matter. Another is this: we must not only listen for others’ voices but also care for others’ ears. We are not speaking to ourselves, but to the Lord before others; so we all must learn to speak in such a way that others may hear. We should not just love our throats; we should also love others’ ears. Some brothers and sisters are bold in speaking and skillful with the materials, but their voice is not adequate. As a consequence the coordination is damaged, for others cannot properly hear and follow up.
Now I must speak a word concerning our utterances while pray-reading or praise-reading the Word. I do believe it would be more impressive if we would on the one hand use the very words of the verses as our prayers or praises and on the other hand mingle the Word with our fresh experiences. It is good to quote the Word and pray the very Word, but it is also good to apply it to our experiences.
For instance, suppose we are pray-reading Psalm 45. One brother may exclaim, “O my heart is bubbling over!” Then another may follow: “We do have a bubbling heart.” That is the time then for someone to continue by applying the Word to their current experience: “Lord, today my heart was bubbling over with Your presence.” You see, this is not just a kind of quotation, repetition, or interpretation of the words of the verses, but an application to experience. We must apply the words to our experiences; we must match the words with our experiences. In this kind of praising, it is better to have more experiences composed into the verses. A good proportion may be to use one-third of the time for praying or praising from the wording of the verses, and two-thirds of the time for applying the verses to our experiences. We have the subject with the various points from the verses, but the content should be our experience.
Suppose then that you go on to the second point of Psalm 45: My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.” Here you need to introduce many experiences into your praising. One may say, “Lord, You know how much I have been using my tongue all day to write something of Your goodness and lovingkindness.” A sister may say, “Yes, Lord, my tongue has really been writing Your praise today for Your presence in my suffering.” We need to put our experiences into our praises.
In our meetings we also need some variety; we should not always stick to the old pattern — the way we did it last month, last week, or even last night. Sometimes after praising a little, I may stand up to give a short testimony. Immediately following, another may call for a chorus or simply take the lead in singing. This may lead to a further release of praise. There is no need to fall into any kind of rut — that is degraded Christianity. What we have within us is a living Spirit. Do not allow your mind to be fixed; learn to be so active, so alive, and so flexible in any situation. We all must learn to be new; in every meeting there must be something new. Sometimes there is no need to pray or sing a hymn. Just get up to give a testimony — perhaps many more will follow, or perhaps the meeting will be launched into another period of praise to the Lord in a new way. Simply learn to be so sensitive that whatever you do will not damage or kill the meeting. A person who walks in the spirit is always exceedingly sensitive. Our aim must always be to uplift, enrich, or intensify the spirit, whether by singing, testimony, praise, or any other means.
We all need to learn and practice many skills in order to render the best cooperation to the Lord. He is so living and moving, yet He needs our cooperation, our skillful cooperation. We must learn how to shout, how to speak, how to testify, and how to call for a hymn or a chorus to meet the need. We must learn many things in many ways; then we will be flexible to go on in the flow. We will have nothing predetermined, nothing set or fixed; we will be so new and coordinated in one spirit, following the flow all the time.
Let me say a word now in regard to the sisters. The sisters must be bold to participate. We brothers, on the other hand, are too bold; we must give opportunity to the sisters that they also may enter in. They are the weaker vessels (1 Pet. 3:7); we should be considerate of them. The sisters, however, must be strengthened and emboldened both in spirit and voice. For some of them it is not easy, so they must practice. When we are short of the sisters’ participation, the meeting will not be as strong. Hence, the sisters must take up their responsibility and fulfill their part. They must overcome their shyness. As a matter of fact, I have noticed when attending some sisters’ meetings that the sisters then are greatly released. So I would ask them to try to cooperate better with the brothers. This will greatly help and strengthen the meetings.
A word now to those who are so accustomed to open their mouth in a natural way in the meetings: I beg you to be somewhat restricted. I do not believe the Lord is so happy to listen to you, because you are so used to speaking. I am afraid that may be a kind of strange fire (Lev. 10:1). On the other hand, those who are so quiet and dumb must open their mouth. I do believe the opening of their mouth is a real joy to the Lord. The Lord will say, “Look, a dumb child is opening his mouth!” This is a wonder and a miracle. So we must be careful. You know where you stand. If you are accustomed to opening your mouth in a natural way, learn to be restricted. Give more opportunity to those who are usually quiet to enter in and participate in the praise. If you are not accustomed to opening your mouth, learn to open it. Of course, we all must take responsibility to go on without undue hesitation and waiting, yet we must still care for others.
Now let us consider some examples of meetings and make a few remarks regarding them.
Suppose that we come together and are not quite clear what we should do. One may begin, “Lord, we thank You for the meeting tonight.” Then another may say, “It is good to come together.” This is not too bad, but we must go on from this to uplift the meeting. You may say, “Lord, we meet together with You.” Then someone else may continue: “With You as the center.” From this you will turn to something further till you hit some point. That point will probably coincide with the current flow in the meetings of the church. Suppose that the flow is the victory of the Lord. It may be good then to use Psalm 68. This will further uplift the meeting and release the praises.
Suppose now that you have begun your meeting with the subject of newness. Concerning this matter, you must realize, there is very little Scripture. With the doctrine of newness, you can finish in two sentences, and you may just find yourself repeating the word newness. So here you need the experiences. Without experiences you will be tongue-tied, but with them you will have many things to say. There is no need to restrict ourselves to the doctrine in such a subject. I believe that many of us have the experiences, but we have not learned how to apply them. It is better to give short testimonies telling how new Christ is according to your experiences. Two or three sentences is sufficient; you need not give a long testimony — this will kill the praising. Then others will follow to praise, taking your testimony as a base. Someone else may then share a further testimony regarding his experience of the Lord’s newness. At a certain point we will need a proper hymn to match the praise. After the singing, some will continue to praise according to the wording of the hymn. Later, we may need a chorus as an insertion to uplift the meeting even further. There should not be any rules or forms. We all must learn to be so alive. We should certainly not be praising the Lord for His newness and yet our way of praising be old.
Now suppose that in our meeting we have taken up the matter of the greatness of God. This is a good point, but there is still not much doctrine here. Yet you may have many things to say. One may rise and say, “Look at the universe; how great God is!” Another may say, “Look at the millions of saints in the earth; how great God is!” Then another may say, “Look at all the local churches. See how all the saints are being built up together in love. How great God is!” Eventually, someone may exclaim, “Look at us. See how He is building us up here as the local church in this place. How great God is!” This will release a volume of praise. When the meeting has reached the climax, we may then sing the hymn, “How great Thou art!” We will all be in the heavenlies.
Another meeting may begin with praising about the Lord’s name. Here you have one of the richest and fullest of subjects. There are many doctrines regarding His name, and, of course, it is so easy to release some testimonies on this matter. But we need the skill. With such a subject, before we get into the various aspects and our experiences concerning it, we need to give some kind of definition, some kind of exposition of the name. Someone may then follow by saying that the name of Jesus is a mighty name. This is one aspect, but to mention the aspect of mightiness first is not so fitting. It is better first to speak of the sweetness of the name. The name of Jesus is so sweet — sweet to us in this way and sweet to us in that way. We could continue our praising of the name of the Lord for one hundred days and not be exhausted, but we need the skill. We may then turn from the sweetness to the mightiness. The sweet name is the mighty name. There are many doctrines and many hymns and choruses that we can use to enrich our praising in this matter. We need the practice until we acquire the skill.
In still another meeting we may praise the Lord for His house. This also is an excellent subject: it is exceedingly rich and easy to deal with — even easier than the name of the Lord. Yet we all need more skill. If we have entered into a subject like this, we need time first of all to define what the house is. Then we need to point out in our praises the goodness of the house. From there we may go on from one aspect to another, matching each one with our experiences. Of course, there are many songs and choruses we may use to enrich the praise.
Now I do believe that we all have the idea. We need more and more practice, however, that we may obtain a better coordination one with another and render the best cooperation to God. If we learn to meet together in this way with the proper skill, our meetings will be so sweet, so rich, so inspiring, and so edifying. They will be much more effective than the meetings merely with teachings and messages.
Every time we come to the meetings, we must come fully open to the Lord, not knowing just how the meeting will be carried on. There is no need to decide that tonight we will praise the Lord for His name or His victory or some other topic. That does not work. There is no need to make up our mind in certain matters. In fact, we should not bring anything to the meeting according to our head knowledge. That will damage; that will bring death; that we must forsake. Forget about making up your mind in any way. Just keep yourself in the Lord’s fellowship; just keep yourself open to the Lord. Perhaps at the moment you enter the meeting place, you will instantly receive a certain sense deep within you. Just utter that; just follow that. You may never have dreamed of this when you were home; it is so new, so instant, so up to date. It may be a sense of the exceeding goodness of the Lord. Then you can immediately praise the Lord: “O Lord, how good You are!” Just praise the Lord according to the instant sense in your spirit. All the others will then coordinate. One has begun, and we will all cooperate to play the same ball. Then the meeting is started. The meetings in this day of the spirit should have no regulations, forms, or particular trends to follow. We all must be fully open to the Lord.
The new way of meeting is a way in the Spirit. It is not according to the teachings or doctrines of the Bible (of course, it is not contrary to the clear words of Scripture), but absolutely according to the Spirit. Do not say, “We must act in such-and-such a way according to the Scriptures.” In a sense I agree with you, but I tell you, that will kill you. The written code kills. It is rather difficult to find a verse in the Bible telling us to walk according to the Word, but there are several verses instructing us to walk according to the Spirit (e.g., Rom. 8:4 and Gal. 5:16). We must be clear, I say again, that if we walk according to the Spirit, we will certainly not act in contradiction to the Word; everything will correspond to the Word. But the Spirit must be the leading, controlling factor. Do you see the difference? Merely taking the Word in letter and seeking to walk according to it will kill us. For seven years I was with a group that attempted this, and I know too well the resulting death. The Bible tells us that we must walk according to the Spirit, without anything in opposition to the Word. This is the new way. We all must learn, therefore, how to exercise our spirit, release our spirit, strengthen our spirit, and demonstrate our spirit. Then the Lord will be exhibited, the Father will be glorified, the saints will be edified, and the church will be built up in a practical way in the locality where we live. Practice this above all, and you will be ready for the meetings.
We must lay the foundation of the meetings in such a way. Once the foundation has been laid, it will be so easy for the newly saved ones and newcomers to follow. May the Lord be gracious to us so that He may have a full recovery.
