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When we lead the young people’s meeting, our spirit should be living and released. The atmosphere in a meeting is crucial because it can either enliven or kill the saints. If we activate and exercise our spirit when we arrive at a meeting, the saints will be enlivened by the atmosphere of the meeting. Due to our background, however, many brothers and sisters are passive when they attend the bread-breaking meeting or the prayer meeting. Instead of exercising their spirit, they wait to be inspired by the Spirit. This is not a good situation. If we merely sit on chairs with Bibles and hymnals in our hands but do not exercise our spirit, it will be difficult to experience the flow of the Spirit.
If we do not stir up our spirit, the Spirit will not be able to move us. A car moves only when its engine has been ignited. If we do not “ignite” our spirit and, instead, wait for others to “ignite” it, the atmosphere of the meeting will not be living. Our meetings have suffered greatly in the past because this has been our practice. We need to break this pattern. Others always know when our spirit is not exercised. Without an exercised spirit, our spirit will be lethargic, and we will have an attitude of waiting for the Spirit’s inspiration in the meeting. Furthermore, a lethargic spirit is not a serving spirit.
We can illustrate this situation by considering a basketball game. When basketball players arrive at a game, they must be ready to play. If they come onto the court wearing long gowns instead of uniforms, they will not be prepared to play. Similarly, the meeting will be affected if we sit quietly and our spirit is not exercised through either praying or singing. However, if we exercise and release our spirit as soon as we arrive at a meeting and if all the saints bear the burden of the meeting by praying together in a blended way, the meeting will be full of power. If we are burdened, we will even arrive at a meeting five or ten minutes early, and we will begin to pray with whomever is there. Consequently, the prayer will begin spontaneously with just two or three.
Coming together to meet is a service, so we must have a serving attitude. Just like a basketball player who is prepared to play, we must be prepared to “play ball” when we arrive at a meeting. We cannot merely be spectators. When we arrive at a meeting, we should not wait for others to function. Neither should we wait for the leading brothers to pray or call a hymn. Young saints who do not pray in a young people’s meeting are like basketball players who do not play ball when they arrive at a game.
We cannot be spectators in the regular meetings of the church and then exercise our spirit when we are serving in the young people’s meeting. This kind of service cannot receive much blessing, because we cannot fool God. The law of God’s blessing is that we must exercise our spirit. We must exercise our spirit at all times in order to receive His blessing. Our spirit is strengthened whenever it is exercised. If we do not exercise our spirit during the regular meetings of the church, it will be difficult to exercise our spirit when we are serving in the young people’s meeting. The church has not advanced much because the saints are waiting to be inspired by the Spirit and thus are not exercised in their spirit. The thought of waiting for the Spirit’s inspiration is an erroneous concept.
Those who serve the young people should come together to pray for the young people’s meeting. If there is a preparation time before the young people’s meeting, the serving ones should come early and pray together. It is not good for serving ones to be singing during the preparation time while others arrive late and at a leisurely pace. Someone who comes late does not have an attitude that corresponds to a serving spirit. If a person has a serving spirit, he will arrive early because he is burdened inwardly, not because he is following a prearranged schedule. If the saints have a serving spirit, they will arrive early to pray and sing. Thus, when they go to the young people’s meeting, the meeting will be living, and the atmosphere will be absolutely different.
If the serving ones prepare material related to some points and only begin to exercise their spirit when they arrive at the young people’s meeting, this is not a proper attitude. If they do not exercise their spirit regularly, their time in the young people’s meeting will only be a performance. When some saints begin to serve with the young people, they have a burden, and they pray. However, as they continue to serve, their service becomes routine, and they do not continue to pray. Then their service becomes a duty that they force themselves to fulfill. A serving one should be a man of prayer, even if he is serving only out of a sense of duty. The Yangtze River in China flows continuously; it flows whether people need water or not. Likewise, when a serving one is preparing to give a message, he needs to pray, but even if he is not giving a message, he still needs to fellowship with the Lord. It is not enough to pray only when he has to give a message. His fellowship and prayer with the Lord should be continual, just like the continual flowing of the Yangtze River.
Even the responsible brothers who are taking the lead do not have a consistent exercise of the spirit. We need to pray desperately for this situation because this affects our work with the young people. A brother once asked me what he needed to do in order to keep his spirit fresh and living. The only answer is that we must exercise our spirit. If we do not exercise our spirit, we will become old, but if we learn to exercise our spirit, we will be fresh and living.
I would encourage you to try this: exercise your spirit in every situation, neither exhibiting nor humbling yourself in a conscious manner, forsaking both pride and humility and without any thought of being hidden or manifested in your exercise. Instead, simply exercise your spirit. Try this and see if you become fresh and living. If you exercise in this way, another person may read a verse in a dead and old way, but your reading will be fresh and living. It will be fresh and living because your reading will come out of the exercise of the spirit. When you exercise your spirit, you will be in Christ, and in Christ the old things have passed away and have become new (2 Cor. 5:17).
For example, when we are in a meeting and read a verse, we can often sense that some saints are reading in a living way and others are not. This is not merely a matter of tone or emphasis, because even the mimicking of a certain tone cannot eliminate a sense of death. The only thing that matters is whether we are exercising our spirit continually. This is the key to whether or not we are fresh and living. The church is in need of this revolutionary change, but it will not be easy for those who are not accustomed to exercising their spirit. I hope that an atmosphere of exercising the spirit will be gradually cultivated among our young people. The young brothers and sisters should have such an attitude when they come to the meeting; they should not wait for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
The concept of waiting to be inspired by the Holy Spirit is not according to the Bible. First Corinthians 14:26 says, “What then, brothers? Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.” Whenever we come together, some will have a song, a teaching, a revelation, and so forth. Brother Nee spent a great deal of time to study this verse in the original Greek language. He discovered that each one has does not mean that each one will have something after arriving at the meeting; rather, it means that each one already has something before coming to the meeting. Hence, having something is not a matter of sudden inspiration in a meeting. Our meeting can be likened to playing a basketball game. The players on the court do not play based on inspiration. They have to be ready to receive the ball whenever it is passed to them and from whatever direction it comes. They cannot say that they will catch the ball when they feel inspired to do so. This is not a proper attitude. However, some saints have this kind of attitude. They care only for the matter of their own inspiration, not for others. Consequently, when everyone is singing a hymn with full enjoyment, they are unmoved and inactive. We should meet in the same way that basketball is played. When the “ball” comes, we should respond. When a hymn is called, we should follow the movement of the “ball” and sing. After one offers a prayer, another can strengthen it with a hymn. After singing the hymn, still others can continue to pass the “ball” with additional prayer. In this way we will be coordinated together. Coordination requires initiative rather than inspiration. Actively exercising our spirit in this way is very different from passively waiting for the Spirit. Actively exercising our spirit is the scriptural way to meet.
In our experience the opening of our mouth is rarely the result of inspiration from the Spirit; rather, it is the result of simply taking the initiative to speak. Often the real move of the Spirit comes only when we open our mouth to speak. Even though some brothers pray only when they are about to give a message, the Spirit still comes when they pray. Similarly, when others bear the responsibility to pray in a meeting, the Spirit comes as soon as they pray. This is an amazing thing. If we bear no responsibility and take no initiative, it seems as if the Spirit does not move, but once we bear some responsibility, the Spirit comes. Is such a result the issue of the movement of the Spirit or of the initiative of the brother? According to our experience, when we take the initiative to serve, rather than waiting passively for the inspiration of the Spirit, the Spirit moves. I believe that we understand this key, but we need to apply it consistently.
In order to have proper meetings with the young people, we must improve in two areas. First, we must exercise our spirit, and second, we must learn and practice the skills that are needed in order to speak for the Lord. No one can do these two things for us. In regard to our service with the young people, we are not short of material. Furthermore, we have the support of the churches. However, those of us who work with the young people are short in the exercise of the spirit and in the skills needed to speak for the Lord. These two matters are crucial. If we address these two aspects in an adequate way, however, we will be able to achieve something. But if we fail to address these matters, we will not have any results. Hence, we must be trained to exercise our spirit and learn the skills that are needed in order to speak for the Lord.
The important thing in leading the young people’s meeting is not the preparation of material, because much material is already available. However, the exercise of the spirit and the skills needed to speak cannot be provided by others. Although two people may use the same material, one may produce a certain kind of flavor, whereas another person will produce a different kind of flavor. The difference in the flavor is determined by the exercise of the spirit and the skills that have been learned. Both aspects require time and energy in order to exercise and learn; no one can do this for us. Even though parents try their best to educate their children, their children must learn to read and write for themselves by devoting time and energy to practice and learn. No one can learn for them. It is not possible to learn merely by watching others; we must practice for ourselves.
I hope that all the saints are clear that leading the young people’s meeting requires much more than merely preparing material for them. Both the exercise of the spirit and the skills needed in order to speak for the Lord require time, energy, and practice. There is no shortcut or easy way. Everyone who serves must know how to use his spirit and practice speaking. If we do not practice and learn these two matters, our success will be minimal at best.
In short, with other factors being in place, the key to our success lies in the exercise of the spirit and in the practice of our speaking. If we are willing to exercise our spirit and practice our speaking, the number in the young people’s meeting will reach one thousand within a year. It is easy to gain an increase among the young people because every one of them can bring another young person to salvation each year. However, it is not easy for the young ones to lead the ones whom they have gained. If there is a meeting for them, it will be very easy to progress, and many will be saved. It would not be difficult to have a twofold increase in a year, but everything depends upon the amount of time and energy we devote. There are many basketball teams, but when some teams play, no one wants to go to their games, but when other teams play, it is hard to get a ticket to the game. The difference lies in how much effort a team has devoted to advancing. Different efforts will reap different results. We should not overlook the young people’s meeting. Rather, we should do a solid and focused work and always make progress. If our work is progressing well, however, we should be wary of becoming proud.
