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Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 3:6, 17; Rom. 1:9; 8:4-5; 12:11; 1 Cor. 5:3-4
The real function in the church is the release of the spirit. The functioning in the local church depends entirely upon the release of the spirit. “The Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6). This is another basic principle.
In our function, we must release the spirit. “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” The letter means doctrines, forms, regulations, and even ways or methods. All these things are letters. Anything other than the Spirit is a kind of letter, and the letter kills.
All of our function in the church must be out of the Spirit. It must be a release of the spirit. If we pray in the meetings, we must do it with the release of the spirit. If we share a testimony, we must do it in the release of the spirit. It must not only be in the spirit, but with the release of the spirit. Even when we go to visit a person for fellowship, we must do it with the release of the spirit. There must be the release of the spirit, because it is the Spirit who gives life.
Anything other than the Spirit is a kind of letter. We should not say that because I prayed in a certain way last night, I must do it that way all the time. This is something of the letter. It might have been living last night, but it will be dead this time. Last night it was in the Spirit, but now it becomes a kind of letter because the spirit is not released—only the way is kept. Even keeping the old way is of the letter. The basic principle is that in all the function of the church, we need the release of the spirit.
You may ask whether you should pray loudly or silently, but I cannot say. If you can pray loudly with the release of the spirit, you must do it loudly. If you can release the spirit by praying silently, then do it. There is no regulation. Perhaps yesterday I had to pray loudly, but this morning I have to pray silently. The Spirit sometimes blows so strongly and sometimes so silently. We should not have any regulation according to a certain way. It all depends upon the release of the spirit.
Others may ask whether we should call for a hymn first or pray at the beginning of our meetings. But do not talk about first or second. If you put these things into regulations, they are immediately in letters. It all depends upon the release of the spirit. If you have the sense to pray at the beginning of the meeting, you must do it; then the release of the spirit will be so prevailing. There is no need for you to wait for a hymn to be called. If you think that you should not pray because a hymn has not yet been called, you will simply kill yourself and the others. The letter kills. This is why we are fighting against formal Christianity. The leaven of formal Christianity has even crept into the meetings of the local churches.
In some of the local churches, people are used to regulations. People come in and sit, waiting for the time to start. Then they wait for someone to call a hymn. Of course, these matters are not in writing, but they are written more deeply in their mind. If anyone behaves or functions in the meetings in a way which is not according to pattern, they say it is wrong. But this is of the letter. We must not only reject this but fight against it. We must fight against formalities.
We praise the Lord that the church in Los Angeles is somewhat peculiar. But I believe that we are not yet peculiar enough. We need to be more peculiar. I expect some day to see the brothers and sisters singing hymns on the streets as they are coming to the meetings. They will start to sing hymns and call on the Lord while they are driving in the car on the way to the meetings. They will even march into the hall with a hymn. Everyone will be so happy, fervent in the spirit, and set on fire. There will be no regulations, no forms, yet no disorder. Everything will be in good order, but in the spirit, without any regulations.
Some say that the church in Los Angeles is “awful.” But it is still not “awful” enough! We need to be more “awful.” We want to frighten all of Christianity to such an extent that the whole universe will be shaken.
Look at the picture on the day of Pentecost. Within Judaism something unusual occurred that day, which I am certain was not according to the regulations of the temple. I do believe that the Lord will do the same today. Praise the Lord! Today there is something new and different, something so peculiar and strange, happening to Christianity. Yet it is so spiritual, so living, and so full of life.
We need to coordinate adequately with the Lord. In the New Testament dispensation, the Lord needs the human coordination. If we do not render any coordination to the Lord, the Lord cannot do anything, for in the New Testament dispensation there is the principle of incarnation. The principle of incarnation is that in everything God is mingled with man, and man is mingled with God. Man must cooperate with God before the Lord can work. I believe that the Lord has been waiting for a long time, even for nearly twenty centuries, for a proper coordination from man.
Do you not believe that the Holy Spirit is desirous of having a group of people singing on the streets? Do you think that the Holy Spirit is happy when so many Christians are dumb all the time? I do believe that the Lord desires Christians singing on the streets as they come to the meetings, and I believe that for centuries He has had this desire, but it has never occurred because the human coordination was lacking. If the Lord needed a kind of angelic coordination, this would have been done long ago. The angels would be so quick to afford an adequate coordination to the Lord. But we are so slow, so dull, so sloppy, and so influenced by formal religion that we think that it might not be so nice. Only a “bunch of fools” would sing on the streets as they come to the meetings.
We must learn to cooperate with the Lord. To do this, we must learn to walk in the spirit. The word walk in the Greek language means to do things, to say things, to behave and to have our being, including all the matters of our daily life. We must walk in the spirit. This means that we must have our being in the spirit. We must continually behave in the spirit. Even when we talk to our wife, we must talk in the spirit. We must not only pray in the meetings in the spirit, but even talk with our wives in the spirit. Then our spirit will be so exercised and strengthened.
Any part of the physical body needs proper exercise. Even our mentality, psychologically speaking, needs exercise. Those with a doctor’s degree have exercised their mind for many years; therefore, they are so keen in their mind. But now we need the exercise of the spirit so that our spirit will be strengthened and made strong. We do have a spirit, so we must exercise and use it. Then not only will our spirit be made strong, but we will be so accustomed to using it. Then whatever we do or say will be done or said from the spirit.
What we need is not to wait for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit but to exercise our spirit. The Holy Spirit is waiting for us to exercise our spirit. It is similar to opening a window: when we open it, immediately a draft comes in. If we close the windows and doors and kneel down to pray for a draft, we are utterly foolish. “Lord, I am calling on You for the draft; I am waiting for You, Lord. I cannot do anything, Lord, unless You give the draft.” This is an illustration of the wrong teaching in today’s Christianity. I have seen people waiting for thirty years, yet no draft has come in.
The current of the draft is there, but He is waiting for the open windows. We must render the draft adequate coordination. If we simply open all the windows, Hallelujah, the draft comes in. If we exercise our spirit, the Holy Spirit will immediately move; He is waiting within us. So we must use and exercise our spirit all the time.
I believe that this point is clear, but we need much practice. Sometimes saints will ask how to overcome their temper. Formerly, I told them a certain way, but today I simply tell them to exercise the spirit. If you are going to lose your temper, you must exercise your spirit to lose your temper. Everyone knows that if they will just exercise their spirit, they will not lose their temper. That is the way to overcome our temper. If we are going to overcome our temper, we must exercise our spirit. We must even exercise our spirit to laugh or to weep. All the time we need to practice this one matter of exercising our spirit in order that it may be strengthened. This will prepare us to coordinate with the Holy Spirit.
Brother Watchman Nee has written a book entitled The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit. I am afraid that many Christians who read this book will think that the release of the spirit means the Holy Spirit. This is wrong. Brother Nee meant that our spirit must be released. The Lord Himself as the life-giving Spirit is within our spirit. Our spirit is simply the container of the Lord as the life-giving Spirit. If our spirit is released, the Lord, who is within our spirit, will be spontaneously released. But if our spirit is closed, we imprison the Lord. He is confined in our spirit.
It is a fact that the more cultured a person is, the more self-conscious he is. Those who are not so well educated and cultured simply do not have much self-consciousness. If we are cultured, we are so careful to keep our standard. Whatever we say or do must be done in a proper way according to our standard. This just kills the spirit and builds up the outer man. All those who are cultured have a strong outer man. We all need the breaking of the outer man; the natural man must be broken. When we are in the meetings, we must function without any self-consciousness.
I was saved through the preaching of a young sister of about twenty-five years of age. She was speaking in a large meeting, which was attended by more than one thousand people. According to her natural disposition, she was exceedingly shy and self-conscious. But when she stood up to speak, she simply forgot about herself. You could sense the release of her spirit. She was not a good singer, but frequently in her preaching, she would sing songs. When she sang, the whole audience was convinced and even controlled by the release of her spirit.
We need to forget about ourselves. When we come to the meetings, we must even forget whether we are American or Chinese. We must simply be in the spirit. In some places I have met some highly qualified sisters. In all the meetings they kept their high standard. They were so highly qualified educationally, spiritually, and mentally. They had a high standard, and whenever they came to the meetings, they liked to keep it. Oh, how much they need to forget their standard so that they may learn how to release their spirit.
The natural man is the stronghold that imprisons our spirit. When the Lord Jesus as the life-giving Spirit is confined in our spirit, there is the need for breaking. Brother Watchman Nee told us that in preaching the gospel, the first lesson is to lose our face. This simply means to abandon our self-consciousness. Then the spirit will go out to reach the people. The principle is the same for functioning in the meetings. We all need to forget about ourselves; then the spirit will be released.
We still have many considerations which cause us to be bound. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor. 3:17). So where there is no freedom, there is bondage of the spirit. Our natural disposition needs to be broken. Some brothers are very quick. But when they are quick in their natural disposition, this is a bondage to the spirit. Their quick disposition must be broken. Some brothers and sisters are very slow. This slow disposition also must be broken. We all need to learn the lesson of brokenness.
We all know that it is very easy for our spirit to be bound by sinful things. Anything sinful, anything worldly, or anything of the self and the flesh will immediately bind our spirit. Many brothers and sisters cannot say anything when they come to the meetings. They do not have one bit of release of their spirit. This is simply due to the fact that they are sinful and worldly and in the self and the flesh. Being sinful, worldly, and in the natural life binds the spirit. By dealing with all our sins, the world, and our self and flesh, we will immediately see the release of our spirit.
When I was away from Los Angeles recently, I heard that the brothers and sisters here had a big burning at the beach. Over a hundred people went there to burn all the sinful and worldly things. No one told me, but I believe this caused a real release. In such a case, when you sing Hallelujah, the tune is different. Without the release, the singing is not as good; but with the release, it is wonderful, for all bondages have been broken. Jesus breaks every fetter. Then there is the release of the spirit.
It is not only a matter of walking in the spirit and having the natural man broken; it is also a matter of dealing with all sinful, worldly, and fleshly things in the natural life. All these things are fetters, and we need by His grace to get rid of them. If we are a worldly church, we will be “pew” members, because everyone will be greatly bound. It is impossible to release the spirit. We must overcome all sinful things, all worldly things, all things in the flesh, and all things of the natural life. The more we get rid of these, the more we are released.
Of course, this will create a battle with the enemy. I heard that after the burning here in Los Angeles, there was a battle. The enemy, the subtle one, the evil one, came in to accuse, saying that too much had been done. But is it too much to get rid of all bondage? No! The more that is gone, the better. The enemy knows it. He utilizes the worldly things, the things of the flesh, and the things of the natural life to bind, to damage, and to wreck our spirit. When we are worldly, we are wrecked in the spirit, and as long as our spirit is wrecked, regardless of how much we love the Lord, we are finished. Many dear brothers and sisters have been wrecked by the enemy’s subtlety so that they are simply useless. We must look to the Lord’s mercy, that by His grace we will deal with all sinful things, all worldly things, all things of the flesh, all things that satisfy the self, and all things of the natural life. We can never do too much in this matter. The more we are purged, the more we are purified and released.
One of the main principles in functioning is that we must never forget to apply the blood of Christ. It is the cleansing blood, the prevailing blood, and the victorious blood. Regardless of how much we deal with sinful and worldly things, we still need the cleansing of the blood. Whenever we are going to function, we must immediately apply the blood. “Lord, cleanse me once more, regardless of whether I sense that I am sinful or not. Cleanse me with Your precious blood. I praise You that where the sprinkling of the blood is, there is the anointing of the Spirit.”
Look into the type of the Old Testament. With any kind of service rendered to the Lord by the priest, there was always the sprinkling of the blood. Every time we come to the meetings, we must come under the application of the cleansing and prevailing blood. We must declare to the whole universe that we are released, not because we are so pure, but because we are cleansed by the blood. We can say, “I am fully released, I am powerful and bold in the spirit, not because I am so right, but because I am under the prevailing blood.” If we do this, we will see that even this declaration is a release of the spirit.
We know the subtle one too well. He has been our bad friend for years. Many times when you are burdened with something to share in the meeting, Satan comes in to damage. Just before the meeting, at the dinner table, your dear wife offends you a little, and you say something. Even if you say nothing, you are offended within. Then on the way to the meeting, Satan points out how defeated you are. He says, “Are you going to share something? A person like you?” We must realize that this is the evil, subtle accusation of the enemy to wreck our spirit. If we take it, either we will not share in the meeting, or we will share without the release of the spirit. Instead, we must declare to the enemy Satan that we know his subtlety. “Yes, I am a failure, but praise the Lord, I have the prevailing blood! I do not come to the meeting by my victory but by the blood of Christ.” This declaration will put Satan to shame.
Whenever we come to the meetings, we must apply the blood. Satan is so subtle. He is always trying to damage, wreck, and spoil our spirit. So we need the cleansing of the blood all the time.
The best way to have our spirit released is to pray-read the Word. This is because pray-reading the Word exercises our spirit and does not give us time to use our mind. The principles of pray-reading are to pray-read the Word in a quick way, with short phrases, praying something new and fresh. This keeps us from our mind and exercises our spirit. We know that the words of the Bible are living and full of nourishment. When we are pray-reading the Word in this way, our spirit becomes nourished, quickened, and refreshed. Thus, by pray-reading the Word, our spirit is exercised and strengthened.
Those of us who have pray-read the Word can all testify that this is the best way to practice the release of the spirit. We do not want to force anyone, but we want to help them to release their spirit. According to our experience, pray-reading the Word is the best way to release and exercise our spirit.
Because the function of the church requires a strong spirit, pray-reading the Word is most beneficial. It is the best way to strengthen our spirit. By pray-reading the Word, we can accomplish many things. With this one “stone,” we can “kill many birds.” So we do encourage others to pray-read the Word.
We must practice all these things so that our spirit may be released for the church life. If we are going to have a proper and living church life, we must function with the release of our spirit.
