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After a period of time many believers begin to doubt their salvation and look for proof and assurance of their salvation. Brother Nee once said that the fact a person doubts his salvation is proof that he is saved. A person who has never doubted his salvation has not been saved. This means that we should neither doubt the condition of our salvation or the fact of our salvation.
Whenever we speak of our own salvation, we do not necessarily feel that it is something tremendous. All our spiritual experiences have ups and downs. After experiencing salvation, a believer is joyful and buoyant, but after a period of time he begins to doubt his salvation and is no longer joyful. Our experiences concerning knowing ourselves, consecration, the cross, and following the Lord are similar to the experiences of a new believer. Every believer goes through a period of time when his spiritual condition is up, a time when he is willing to serve God, to take the cross, and to pray. Then after a point in time his spiritual condition goes down. Actually, his condition may not be going down, but he feels that he has not learned a particular lesson or that he is not acceptable in a particular matter.
When we feel that we have genuinely consecrated ourselves or paid a price, our feelings may not be accurate. Similarly, when we feel that there is a problem with our consecration or that we have not paid a price, these feelings may not be accurate either. Our feelings do not necessarily correspond with our condition. When we feel that we are paying a great price, it may not be so. The same applies to when we feel that we have not paid a price. We may consider ourselves to be humble, but actually we may be very proud. We may consider ourselves to be proud, but actually we may be very humble. Many times our condition is the opposite of our feelings and considerations.
Sometimes a believer feels that his spiritual condition is good, but his condition before the Lord is not so good. Sometimes he may feel that he cannot touch the Lord or that he does not love the Lord, but this may be the time when his relationship with the Lord is the sweetest. Our considerations are not reliable, and our spiritual condition is not according to our consideration.
Experiencing spiritual ups and downs shows that we are in the self. When we feel that we are doing well in reading the Bible, we are in the self. When we are not in the self, we often have no sense concerning our reading of the Bible, and when we are not in the self, we often have no feeling concerning our humility.
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, he did not know that his face was shining. It was the other Israelites who saw that his face was shining (Exo. 34:29-30). Hence, we must realize that the feelings we have related to our consecration, our paying a price, our touching a certain spiritual reality, our knowing the church, our receiving of spiritual light, our understanding of the Bible, and our touching of the Lord in prayer all come from the self. After a period of time these feelings change. This proves that these feelings come from the self. Whether our feelings are positive or negative, they are from the self. When we are not in the self, we have no feeling concerning reading the Bible or learning a spiritual lesson. On the one hand, not having a feeling about a particular matter or thing is often an indication that we are not in the self. On the other hand, a certain feeling or analysis related to our spiritual condition is often an indication that we are in the self.
In His wisdom God put us in communities and groups; otherwise, every person would think that he is the best person in the world. Every person thinks that he is the only person in the universe. Without a community our pride would not be exposed, there would not be anxiety in our environment, and we would not be provoked to lose our temper. If we did not live in a community, what is in us would not be exposed.
God is wise in what He does. Before we were saved, He placed us in communities. After we are saved, He keeps us in communities and uses various human relationships to expose our inner condition. For example, a sister may feel that she is perfect, but after she has three children, she might feel that she is not doing so well. She may wonder why the Lord did not place her in an environment where she can use her gift to stir others up to love Him. The Lord will never allow us to escape from human relationships. God intentionally put us in relationships so that through them our condition would be manifested, and we would learn the lessons of being broken.
No one can learn the lessons of being broken apart from having relationships with others. How can a saint who does not have relatives, lives alone, and does not have a service with other saints learn the lessons of being broken? If we do not learn to be broken in our relationships, our true condition will not be manifested.
The lessons of being broken are learned when we are with others. Whenever we encounter a new human relationship, there is the need for us to be broken further. The addition of another human relationship in our lives will increase the demand for us to be broken. When a person is not married, there is not much of a requirement for him to be broken. Once he is married, there is the need to be broken. After he has his first child, there is the need for further breaking. The more children he has, the more breaking he will experience. If a young brother does not live with other brothers, he will not experience much of a demand to be broken. If he lives with other brothers, he will experience some breaking. A brother who does not bear responsibility will have fewer experiences of being broken. Once he becomes a responsible brother, he will have more experiences of being broken. The more human relationships we have, the more demands there are for us to be broken. Single brothers who love the Lord, fellowship with Him, read the Bible, and pray regularly but are not elders or deacons and do not coordinate with other saints will not be broken.
However, the Lord is wise in His arrangement. He has arranged many human relationships for us from which we cannot escape. If you are not married and do not have relatives, He will give you other members in the Body so that you can serve and bear responsibility together with them. Through such human relationships, we experience being broken, and our spiritual condition is exposed.
Through our various human relationships our condition is exposed. God places us in these human relationships for no reason other than to break us. He is not interested in what we have done for Him. He cares about what He can do in us. Believers who do not allow God to work on them cannot do much for God. God first wants to work Himself in the Son through the Spirit into us. Whether or not we are willing to pay a price in our service and whether or not our consecration is genuine are small matters to Him. However, whether or not He can work Himself into us is of great importance.
God cannot work Himself into us if we are not broken. Very few Christians, including missionaries, have let God work on them. Hence, even though Christians are engaged in numerous activities, God is not fully expressed in them.
What kind of work are we doing with the young people? Are we supplying them with His pure life? Whether we can supply the young people with His pure life depends on whether we have been broken and purified by the Lord. The effectiveness of our work does not depend on persuasive messages, which can be sounding brass and a clanging cymbal. The effectiveness of our work depends on the work that God has done in us.
Our present need is not to deliver messages but to give our testimony. The young believers need to know what kind of person we are. They need to know our experiences of being broken. Such testimonies are more effective than messages. We can shepherd others only to the extent that we have been worked on by God. If we have not been worked on by God in a certain matter, we will not be able to shepherd others in that matter, even if we can speak eloquently.
God’s word and the law in the universe are definite: what we sow is what we will reap (Gal. 6:7). The seed that is sown will produce the same crop. Every serving one is like a seed. Hence, it does not matter what we say or what we do. We will bear fruit according to the kind of seed that we are. This is unavoidable. It is possible to train someone to surpass us in a skill because only knowledge is involved. However, life limits what can be produced. In order to bring forth a chicken, there must be a hen. Sheep bring forth sheep. We cannot expect sheep to give birth to cows. A monkey can learn to eat with a fork and a knife, because that is a matter of learning an outward behavior. However, a monkey cannot give birth to a human being, because that is a matter of life. It is possible for an average teacher to produce an excellent student, because that is a matter of knowledge. However, this would not be possible in relation to the divine life. The effectiveness of our work cannot surpass what we are. A believer who has not been worked on by God will not be successful in the work. A person who is useful in God’s hand faces many difficulties because God is working in him. Certain matters will be problems to him but not problems to others.
When we are in ourselves, we are often full of feelings. For example, we become elated and proud when we think that we are doing well spiritually. After a period of time, however, we become dejected and feel that we are not doing so well. These situations show that we are in ourselves. Therefore, God deals with us in order to break us and deliver us from the self. His work will bring us to the point that, whether we are touched by a certain matter or under the pressure of a problem, our feelings would not fluctuate. This indicates that we have been saved from the self.
The more God works on us to break us, the more we are delivered from the self and our feelings. We will not be focused on whether we are proud, happy, or sorrowful. We will have no ground to boast or to be discouraged, because we have been delivered from the self. This process takes place when God touches us.
There must be some spiritual pursuit in the church service. If our service consists merely of making arrangements concerning church affairs without spiritual pursuit, our service will fall into formality and will become empty and dead. If we want our service to be living and practical with a plan and a goal, we must have spiritual pursuit.
Spiritual pursuit can be carried out according to our situation. There are two aspects to our spiritual pursuit. One aspect is that the serving ones must learn spiritual lessons. It is not sufficient to be saved. We must receive the dealing of the cross in order to be broken, we must know how to fellowship and coordinate with others in the Holy Spirit, and we must be properly built up with others. The more we learn, the more spiritual insight we will have. This will enable us to see what God wants to obtain today. Then we can shepherd the saints. Without such learning, we have no way to shepherd the saints into a deeper pursuit.
The second aspect of spiritual pursuit concerns taking care of the spiritual condition of those who are under our care. For example, if a brother goes to a certain place and notices that there are not many new believers or that the new believers are not established, he will need to supply the saints by leading them to know the assurance of salvation. If he notices that some of the saints are assured of their salvation but have not consecrated themselves, he will need to lead them into consecration. If some saints have consecrated themselves to the Lord but have not yet learned to fellowship with the Lord, he will need to lead them into fellowshipping with the Lord.
Spiritual pursuit is based on what the serving ones learn concerning the spiritual condition of the saints. A teacher should first receive adequate education. If he has only an elementary education, his endeavors to teach high-school students will not amount to much, because he does not have a high-school or college education. A person must receive an adequate amount of education in order for him to teach others. Furthermore, he must observe the need of his students. On the one hand, he must receive a substantially high education, and on the other hand, he must observe the need of his students. Then he will be a good teacher.
The co-workers who serve in a local church must observe the spiritual condition of the saints. They need to understand where the saints are in order to lead the saints in their spiritual pursuit. Through fellowship the co-workers should determine which brothers should minister the word to meet the spiritual need of the saints. Suppose the saints have not learned how to be filled by the Holy Spirit or how to give the Holy Spirit the ground in them. The co-workers should fellowship concerning this matter during their service meeting. Some brothers will receive the burden to speak a word to enlighten the saints and open their understanding. On the one hand, many messages can be given concerning being filled with the Holy Spirit or concerning allowing the Holy Spirit to have the ground in us. On the other hand, the co-workers should also focus on this matter when they fellowship with the elders and the responsible ones. In this way a spiritual atmosphere will be raised up among the saints, and they will be brought into being filled with the Holy Spirit and giving Him the ground.
The full-time serving ones must bear the burden of taking the lead. They should have a spiritual pursuit, and they should also pray, even fast and pray, concerning the saints. Perhaps giving a message should not be the first step in leading the saints. Perhaps the first step should be to gather the saints into smaller groups, not for an official meeting but to fellowship in order to determine where the saints are and what their spiritual needs are. Then the co-workers should fellowship and pray concerning how to infuse the saints with a particular burden. This is the way to lead the saints step by step in their spiritual pursuit.
If the churches lack an atmosphere of spiritual pursuit, our service will lose its content and goal, and we will not make progress. For example, suppose today Brother A has a burden and gives a message according to that burden, and tomorrow Brother B has a different burden and gives a message according to his burden. Even if the messages are good, the saints may not get the help. If there is no leading in our service and meetings, that is, if there is no trumpeting of the same tune, the saints will not be able to follow, and their spiritual condition will not improve.
In terms of educational development, a student continues to junior high school after finishing elementary school. The subjects he learns in junior high school are at a junior-high level. Hence, there is a goal and a schedule in his education. After graduating from junior high school, he proceeds to high school and studies there for four years in order to graduate. After being educated in this way, a young person will have made substantial progress. He will not only know how to read and write but also have a certain amount of advanced knowledge.
It makes a big difference whether or not a co-worker knows how to serve. A co-worker can stay in the same place for three years and not have results. Such a situation can be compared to a student who studies many subjects but does not progress. The co-workers must come together and fellowship concerning the spiritual condition of the saints, the need of the saints, and how to lead the saints. Then the brothers who minister the word will have the same burden. In this way the messages will have a goal and will stir up the saints to pursue the Lord.
After three months the saints will have received much benefit, and the co-workers can consider the content for the next stage of spiritual pursuit. This should be the practice in every church, and every responsible one should practice this. This is similar to the educational system. Then every year we will perfect many young people.
I hope that the co-workers will learn how to work. They should study the situation in every locality and find out how many saints attend at least one meeting and how many attend the meetings regularly. Based on the various conditions of the saints, the co-workers can properly shepherd, teach, perfect, and build up the saints. This is a great work. The saints have been placed in our hands, and we are accountable for them. We should not be overjoyed when we are enlightened, nor should we be discouraged and consider ourselves incapable. We must realize that being overjoyed, discouraged, proud, or humble are of no avail. We must receive mercy and be delivered from our feelings. We must receive a burden before the Lord to bear the responsibility for the spiritual growth of the saints. We should know their spiritual needs and shepherd them into caring for their spiritual growth. Eventually, every church will be filled with an atmosphere of spiritual pursuit. This is the proper way to work.
Without adequate fellowship the co-workers should not expect to be able to work for the Lord. The co-workers must have much fellowship in order to determine the needs of the saints. Fellowship does not mean that the co-workers agree that this week there is a message concerning love, next week a message concerning faith, and the following week a message concerning hope or endurance. Such messages would not be fruitful; they would not educate the saints. From the viewpoint of education, this is misleading. The co-workers must observe the spiritual condition of the saints in order to understand what the saints truly need. Then the brothers responsible for ministering the word can receive a burden, and the brothers responsible for visitation should pick up the same burden. Everything the co-workers say should follow the same burden. In this way the churches will be filled with a spiritual atmosphere. When we work in this way, we will see that the Spirit will follow us and bless our labor. Many people will be saved and will consecrate themselves to take this way.
Many Christian workers labor and give messages, yet after many years those whom they gain are not clearly saved. This is an indication that those workers do not know how to work. We cannot follow that way. If we notice that the saints are not clear concerning salvation, we should give messages concerning the truth of salvation in order to lead the saints to know that they are saved. Not only so, we should lead the saints into consecration, as well as into having some dealings. When the saints enter into one matter, we can then help them to go further. This is the way we should work so that our labor is not in vain. Pride and humility are of no avail. We must bear the spiritual burden of the saints according to their actual condition. Hence, we must constantly study their spiritual condition so that they can advance. Then we will touch God’s heart’s desire, and our work will be valuable.
When the apostle Paul was in Ephesus, he met a number of disciples and immediately asked them if they had received the Holy Spirit. They replied that they did not even hear whether there was a Holy Spirit. After learning that they had received John’s baptism, Paul explained to them their need to believe into the One who came after John, that is, into Jesus. Then Paul baptized them and laid his hands on them so that they might receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:1-7). Paul did not give a message according to his burden; rather, he served according to the need of the people he met. We must learn to know the need of the people we are with so that our leading is practical. I hope that the co-workers will pay attention to this matter and learn how to work.
There are two aspects to knowing how to work: letting God work in us and studying the techniques of working. To let God work in us means that we allow God to deal with what is natural and to lead us and teach us various lessons. We should also spend time to study and improve our techniques and to understand the needs of people in general, as well as the needs of the saints. We can shepherd the saints and the people around us based on their actual need. Then our service will have a spiritual flavor and will be in life. Furthermore, our service will have a goal and will be living and practical. May the Lord have mercy on us so that we may pay full attention to these matters. Otherwise, we may serve the saints, but they will not receive any benefit. This would be a great loss.
