Local Perfecting Conference The church in Irvine April 21-22, 2012 PROPHESYING FOR THE BUILDING UP OF THE CHURCH AS THE ORGANIC BODY OF CHRIST Message One Basic Knowledge for Prophesying Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 14:3, 23-24, 3-5, 12, 31, 1, 39 I. The denotation of prophesying Eph. 3:2, 9: A. To speak for God and Christ, to speak forth God and Christ, and to minister and dispense God and Christ to people Eph. 3:2, 9. B. In 1 Corinthians 14, foretelling not being included 1 Cor. 14:3, 24. II. Prophesying in the way of 1 Corinthians 14 being carried out in the church meetings and being for the building up of the church 1 Cor. 14:3-5, 23-24: A. Building up, encouragement and consolation are Christ Himself. B. To speak building up is to speak Christ; we can only build up the Body of Christ with Christ. C. When we gain Christ, we grow and our growth is the building up of the Body of Christ. III. Prophesying being the excelling gift among all the gifts, making its seekers excelling 14:12: A. Excelling in revealing God s heart, God s will, God s way and God s economy to people. B. Excelling in convicting people, exposing people s real condition and showing people their spiritual need. C. Excelling in speaking forth Christ to minister and dispense Christ to people for their nourishment. D. Excelling in building up the church in the organic way that it may be built up as the organism of the Triune God for His fullness, His expression. IV. All believers have the capacity to prophesy 14:31: A. The capacity is in the divine life, which the believers possess and enjoy. B. The divine life needs to increase within the believers that the capacity may be developed unto their ability. V. All believers have the obligation to prophesy 14:23-24, 31: A. The obligation to prophesy is the fulfillment of our spiritual service. B. In this spiritual service, we are indebted to God s salvation Rom. 1:14-15. VI. All believers are charged by the apostle to pursue, to desire earnestly, and to seek to prophesy 14:1, 12, 39a: A. By learning in the Word of God, in the growth of life, and in their contact with God v. 31. B. By being perfected by the prophets Eph. 4:12. C. By practicing to speak in all the meetings and to tell people about Christ.
VII. The composition of a prophecy according to the way in 1 Corinthians 14: A. The knowledge and experience of God, Christ, and spiritual things. B. The utterance to speak forth what we know and have experienced of God, Christ and the spiritual things. C. The sight under the divine enlightenment concerning the situation and environment in which we are. D. The instant inspiration of the indwelling Spirit that stirs up our spirit to speak 2 Chron. 15:1; Ezek. 11:5; 2 Tim. 4:22. Excerpts from the Ministry: THE DENOTATION OF PROPHESYING To Speak for God and Christ, to Speak Forth God and Christ, and to Minister and Dispense God and Christ to People Beginning with Brother Nee sixty years ago, we have come to the clear understanding that prophesying in 1 Corinthians 14 does not denote foretelling or predicting. To prophesy in the sense of 1 Corinthians 14 denotes to speak for God and Christ and to speak forth God and Christ. To speak forth God and Christ is to minister and dispense God and Christ to people. We minister God and Christ to people in the same way that a waiter ministers food. To dispense God and Christ into people may be somewhat different from ministering to them. It is possible for a waiter to offend people in such a way that they will not eat the food that he ministers to them. Such a waiter ministers food but does not dispense it into people. Likewise, a minister of the Word may minister Christ to people but not dispense Christ into them. A nursing mother, on the other hand, not only ministers food to her babies but dispenses it into them. Babies sometimes do not want to eat the food given to them, but mothers have a way to compel them to eat. We must learn not only to speak God and Christ, but also to speak forth God and Christ. Moreover, in speaking forth God and Christ, we should not only minister God and Christ to people, but also dispense into them what we are speaking forth. (The Practice of Prophesying, pp. 8-9) In 1 Corinthians 14, Foretelling Not Being Included In 1 Corinthians 14, to prophesy does not include to foretell. This is proved by verses 3 and 24. Verse 3 says, "But he who prophesies speaks to men building up and encouragement and consolation" (lit.). Building up, encouragement, and consolation are not predictions. Building up is for the church, encouragement is for the work, and consolation is for our daily life. For the church we need the building up, for the work we need the encouragement, and for our daily life we need consolation. These definitely are not predictions. (The Practice of Prophesying, p 10) Prophesying in the Way of 1 Corinthians 14 Being Carried Out In the Church Meetings and Being For the Building Up of the Church Prophesying in the way of 1 Corinthians 14 is carried out in the church meetings (vv. 23-24). Verse 23 says, "If therefore the whole church comes together in one place..." This refers to a church meeting, not a home meeting or a small group meeting. Moreover, the prophesying in the way of 1 Corinthians 14 is for the building up of the church (vv. 4-5). According to our experience and observation, the best way to build the church is to prophesy, that is, to speak for Christ and to speak forth Christ, ministering and dispensing Christ into people. For one man to 2
speak while all the others listen is a form of prophesying, but it is carried out in a wrong way. The proper prophesying should be carried out by each attendant in the church meetings. (The Practice of Prophesying, pp. 10-11) All Believers Having the Capacity to Prophesy First Corinthians 14:31 says, "For you can all prophesy one by one." This verse is one of the clearest verses in the entire Bible. It says that all the believers have the capacity to prophesy. Capacity denotes an ability by birth. Dogs do not have the capacity to speak human language; they have the capacity only to bark. Human beings, however, have the capacity to speak. We, members of the Body of Christ, all can prophesy one by one. Many saints among us may feel that all can prophesy except them. However, there are no exceptions. We may not be eloquent, but we can still prophesy. Verse 31 does not say, "You can all prophesy eloquently." There is no such adverb in this verse. It simply says, "You can all prophesy." It does not matter how we speak; it is sufficient simply to speak. The Lord wants all of us to speak. To my observation, only a small percentage of the saints regularly speak forth Christ. In each Lord's Day morning meeting, many saints do not speak, but after the meeting they have much to say. We do not need to be concerned with how well we speak; we simply need to speak. Even if our grammar is poor, people will understand us. Many times we like to "save our face." If we do speak, we desire to be the top speaker. However, we do not need top speakers; we simply need speakers. We all can prophesy one by one. (The Practice of Prophesying, pp. 11-13) All Believers Having the Obligation to Prophesy Verses 23-24 say, "If therefore the whole church comes together...if all prophesy..." The phrase "if all prophesy" indicates that all the believers have not only the capacity but also the obligation to prophesy. We owe something to the Lord, to God's grace, and to the saints. For many years the ministry has spoken to the saints, but many saints have not responded to the speaking. We receive the benefit of others' speaking, but we often forget that we also are obliged to speak for others' benefit. We all owe much. We have the gospel and salvation, and there are many sinners around us, but we still may not go to them. We also owe something to them (Rom. 1:14-15). We owe something to Christ, to God, to the Lord's servants, and even to the sinners. (The Practice of Prophesying, p. 13) All Believers Needing to Pursue, to Seek, and to Desire Earnestly to Prophesy All believers should pursue, seek, and desire earnestly to prophesy (1 Cor. 14:1, 12, 39). Dear saints, the speaking of the Lord concerning the new way has continued in the recovery over the past five years. After hearing all this speaking, are you pursuing, seeking, and desiring earnestly to prophesy? We all have the capacity and the obligation to prophesy, and we all should pursue, seek, and desire earnestly to prophesy. (The Practice of Prophesying, p. 13) THE COMPOSITION OF A PROPHECY ACCORDING TO THE WAY IN 1 CORINTHIANS 14 The Knowledge and Experience of God, Christ, and the Spiritual Things The composition of a prophecy according to the way in 1 Corinthians 14 comprises, first, the knowledge and experience of God, Christ, and the spiritual things. If we are going to prophesy, we must have some knowledge and experience of God, Christ, and the spiritual things. 3
The Utterance to Speak Forth What We Know and Have Experienced of God, Christ, and the Spiritual Things Second, the composition of a prophecy comprises the utterance to speak forth what we know and have experienced of God, Christ, and the spiritual things. First we need the knowledge and experience; then we need the utterance, that is, the word and the expression. We can compose a brief prophecy and then practice speaking it to ourselves at home. We may even speak it to ourselves ten times. After speaking it several times, we will know how to correct and improve it. Through this kind of practice, we will have the proper utterance. The Sight under the Divine Enlightenment concerning the Situation and Environment in Which We Are The composition of a prophecy also comprises the sight under the divine enlightenment concerning the situation and environment in which we are We must have the sight to see the things taking place among us and the situation of all the saints. If we cannot see clearly, we need to pray, "Lord, show me the real situation. Shine over me and enlighten me. Give me the full enlightenment that I may know the intrinsic contents of the present situation." We must know what is happening in the church so that we may know the real situation. The Instant Inspiration of the Indwelling Spirit That Stirs Up Our Spirit to Speak The knowledge and the experience of God, Christ, and the spiritual things, the utterance to speak forth what we know and have experienced, and a clear view concerning our situation and environment are the basic preparation for our speaking. In addition, we need the instant inspiration of the indwelling Spirit that stirs up our spirit to speak. We are different from the Old Testament prophets. In the Old Testament, the saints did not have the abiding Spirit indwelling them. They had to wait until the Spirit came upon them before they could speak for the Lord (2 Chron. 15:1; Ezek. 11:5). However, the New Testament says, "The Lord be with your spirit" (2 Tim. 4:22). We do not need the Spirit to come upon us, because we always have Him in our human spirit. Therefore, we should not wait for the Spirit to come upon us; rather, we should exercise our spirit. When we exercise our spirit, the Holy Spirit who is indwelling our spirit will be moved by us, and we will have the inspiration. It is not He who moves us, but it is we who move the indwelling Spirit. If we remain clear with the Lord by confessing our failures, we will have a direct, open fellowship with Him. He is in our spirit, and we are in Him. When we come to the meeting, we need only to exercise our spirit and say, "Lord Jesus, I want to speak." Then He will rise up, and we can speak according to our experience with the utterance we have gained and with the enlightenment that we have. If we do this, everyone will have something to speak in the Lord's Day morning meeting. We need to practice composing a prophecy according to the way in 1 Corinthians 14. To help us in this matter, we have prepared the book The Holy Word for Morning Revival. If we use the contents of this book with the knowledge and experience of God, Christ, and the spiritual things, the utterance to speak forth what we know and have experienced, the sight under the divine enlightenment concerning our situation, and the instant inspiration of the indwelling Spirit through the clear and open fellowship with the Lord in the exercise of our spirit, we can easily compose a prophecy and speak it in the church meeting. (The Practice of Prophesying, pp. 13-16) 4
PROPHESYING FOR THE BUILDING UP OF THE CHURCH AS THE ORGANIC BODY OF CHRIST Message Two The Patterns and Benefits of Prophesying and the Obstacles to Prophesying Scripture Reading: Luke 1:39-45, 46-55; 1 Cor. 14:1, 3-4; 12:7; Eph. 4:16, 12 I. The patterns of prophesying: A. We need to see the pattern of Elizabeth s prophesying: 1. Living in the presence of God and in the fellowship with the Lord. 2. Possessing the spiritual knowledge and concern for the move of the Lord. 3. Being stirred up in her spirit with Mary s greeting. 4. Receiving the instant inspiration of the Holy Spirit and having the utterance by exercising her spirit. B. We need to see the pattern of Mary s prophesying: 1. First her spirit exulted in God her Savior; then her soul magnified the Lord. 2. The utterance of Mary s prophecy: a. Was based on her knowledge of the Scriptures being composed of quotations from the Old Testament. b. Was based on her knowledge and experience of God. c. Was based on her knowledge of God s dealing with people. d. Was based on knowledge of God s merciful doing to her forefathers. II. The benefits of practicing and the losses of not practicing to prophesy: A. The benefits of practicing to prophesy: 1. Promoting the believers interest in the Lord s service 1 Cor. 14:1. 2. Developing (cultivating) the believers capacity in the divine life Eph. 4:16b. 3. Manifesting the believers spiritual function to enrich the church s service in the Lord s economy 1 Cor. 12:7. 4. Building (edifying) the believers in life and in truth 1 Cor. 14:3. 5. Building them up into the Body of Christ, the church 1 Cor. 14:4. 6. Keeping the believers to live in the Body and to not be detached from the Body Eph. 4:16a. 7. Carrying out the God-ordained way for the building up of the Body of Christ in the annulling of the old way related to Christianity 4:12. B. The losses of not practicing to prophesy: 1. Cooling down the believers interest in the Lord s service. 2. Annulling the believers capacity in the divine life. 3. Burying the believers spiritual function, making the church s service to the Lord poor in the Lord s economy 4. Leaving the believers unedified in undergrowth and in ignorance. 5. Frustrating and even tearing down the building up of the Body of Christ with the believers. 6. Leaving the believers unattached in individualism. 7. Repeating the story of degraded Christianity to annul the function of the members of Christ and to build up hierarchy instead of the Body of Christ. III. The basic obstacle to prophesying and the way to overcome it: 5
A. To prophesy is to cooperate with the speaking Spirit of God and Christ. B. The Spirit is always ready and expecting to speak with us and through us. C. We always would not cooperate with the Spirit to speak. D. Our obstacle in cooperating to speak with the Spirit is our natural man with our disposition and habit. E. The way to overcome our obstacle is to be against our natural man with our disposition and habit. Excerpts from the Ministry: THE BENEFITS OF PRACTICING TO PROPHESY To practice to prophesy brings in many benefits. You have to treasure your speaking for the Lord, because the Lord treasures your speaking. You have to hate your silence. In Numbers 11:29 Moses desired that all the Lord's people would be prophets. Then in 1 Corinthians 14:31 Paul said that we all could prophesy one by one. Surely both Moses and Paul would like to see church meetings on earth in which everyone speaks for the Lord. Today, however, in our present situation, the speaking may be exhausted in less than one hour. The elders then have to consider what to do. When two hundred people meet together and their speaking is exhausted in less than one hour, is this not a shame to the Lord? Therefore, we must endeavor to prophesy one by one. Promoting the Believers ' Interest in the Lord's Service Practicing to prophesy promotes the believers ' interest in the Lord ' s service (1 Cor. 14:1). Sometimes the saints are forced to speak by being asked to speak, yet this does not stir up the interest of the believers as much as when someone volunteers to speak. When you volunteer to speak, you will be stirred up to speak more. If you speak in a meeting, that meeting, to you, is in the third heaven. If you do not speak in the meeting, and another brother or sister asks you about the meeting, you may say that the meeting was poor. The reason you say that the meeting was poor is because you did not speak. But if you had spoken in the meeting, you would say that the meeting was in the third heaven. Furthermore, if you would just say "Amen" three times in a meeting, that meeting would also be in the third heaven to you. If you would say "Amen" three times, at the beginning, middle, and end of the meeting, you would be stirred up. But if you attend the meeting and sit without saying "Amen," you will say that the meeting was poor. This shows that the practice of speaking and prophesying promotes the believers ' interest in the Lord ' s service. It stirs up your interest, and it also stirs up others ' interest. Developing the Believers' Capacity in the Divine Life Practicing to prophesy also develops (cultivates) the believers' capacity in the divine life (Eph. 4:16b). A boy may have many capacities by birth, but if he were restricted to lying on a bed, these capacities could not be cultivated. When we practice prophesying, our capacity in the divine life is cultivated, developed. The first step in learning to prophesy is to be prepared. Each Lord ' s Day morning, all of the saints should come together to practice to prophesy. You have to consider what you will 6
prophesy. For each of the messages I have given in this series, I have prepared an outline. Sometimes I prepare the outline a week in advance. When I have some free time, I pick up the outline and read it. This is part of my preparation for speaking. Sometimes I read the outline for a message before going to bed, so that if I am awakened during the night and cannot get back to sleep, I can continue my preparation. As I am preparing to speak, I may discover that I need to use certain words, so I use a dictionary in order to find the proper usage of these words. All of this is my preparation for speaking. To labor to prophesy in this way is a real cultivation of our capacity in the divine life. Manifesting the Believers ' Spiritual Function to Enrich the Church ' s Service in the Lord ' s Economy Speaking manifests the believers' spiritual function to enrich the church's service in the Lord's economy (1 Cor. 12:7). Without the believers' speaking, there is no way to enrich the church's service. If the saints do not speak, the riches of the Body of Christ will not be manifested and used. In the poor, degraded practice of Christianity, all the functions of the believers are covered. But among us in the Lord's recovery, the believers ' spiritual function should be manifested to enrich the church's service in the Lord's economy. Building (Edifying) the Believers in Life and in Truth Practicing to prophesy is for building (edifying) the believers in life and in truth (1 Cor. 14:3). Every kind of speaking should have some amount of life and truth. Silence ministers nothing of life and truth to anyone. But if you speak something for the Lord, by the Lord, in the Lord, and with the Lord, there will surely be something of life and truth in what you speak. This edifies the believers. Building Them Up into the Body of Christ, the Church Prophesying builds the believers up into the Body of Christ, the church (1 Cor. 14:4). On a building site, there may be many pieces of material lying around, which may be close to the building but have not been built up into the building. If you have never spoken in the church meetings, you have never been practically built up into the Body. The more you speak properly for the Lord, the more you are built up into the Body. Keeping the Believers to Live in the Body and to Not Be Detached from the Body By speaking we are built up into the Body. By speaking we are also kept so that we can live in the Body and not be detached from the Body (Eph. 4:16a). Many saints among us are detached. As long as you do not speak, you are detached. Many have never been attached because they have never spoken. This is why you should exercise to speak for the Lord. Carrying Out the God-ordained Way for the Building Up of the Body of Christ in the Annulling of the Old Way Related to Christianity If we practice to prophesy, we will carry out the God-ordained way for the building up of the Body of Christ and annul the old way related to Christianity (Eph. 4:12). The way to defeat the old way of Christianity is to speak. If we have a meeting full of everyone speaking, such a 7
meeting defeats the old way of Christianity and is the victory of the Lord ' s Body. (The Practice of the Church Life according to the God-ordained Way, pp. 64-69) THE WAY TO OVERCOME OUR OBSTACLE The way to overcome our obstacle is to be against our natural man with our disposition and habit. If we are quiet persons, we must be against our natural man with its quietness; that is, we must be against ourselves. The way to overcome our obstacle is also to learn to take the cross. We have been crucified on the cross (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20), and we should remain on the cross. The way to overcome our obstacle is also to exercise our spirit and to learn how to utter what we want to speak for the Lord. We may have something to speak to others concerning the Lord, but we may not know how to utter it. When this happens, we need to go back home and practice speaking. We may pray, "Lord, I want to learn to speak for You. What word would You give me, and what kind of expression do I need? " We may not speak something for the Lord because we do not know how to speak, but if we do not go back home to learn how to speak, we will not speak the following week either. If we do have something to speak for the Lord, but we do not have the utterance, the expression, or the terminology, we should not treat this lightly. We should spend some time to seek the way to speak and should even fast and pray. If we still cannot learn how to speak what we want to speak, we should go to an experienced brother and ask for help. Some may feel that learning to speak in this way will take too much time. However, educating a child takes at least eighteen years, and longer if he studies for a college degree, a master's degree, or a Ph.D. America is a leading country in the world because of its educational system. In this country a child's education is in several stages: the education at home in his family, the education in his environment in society, and the education in the schools. Likewise, the church people also have a spiritual family and a spiritual environment in the church life, so we should all be educated and should learn constantly. It is not right for anyone to be in the church for many years yet not know how to speak for the Lord in the meetings. The only way to gain the proper utterance to speak for the Lord is to practice and to learn. (The Practice of Prophesying, pp. 44-45) 8
PROPHESYING FOR THE BUILDING UP OF THE CHURCH AS THE ORGANIC BODY OF CHRIST Message Three The Basic Constituents of and the Way to Compose a Prophecy Scripture Reading: Lam. 3 : 22-23; Jer. 15:16; Eph. 6:17-18a; Luke 1:45-47 I. The basic constituents of a prophecy: A. The personal knowledge of the Scriptures: 1. We need to get acquainted with the Word of God literally. 2. We need to know the deep denotations of the Word of God. 3. We need to know the spiritual significances of the Word of God. 4. We need to receive spiritual enlightenment and see spiritual vision from the Word of God Eph. 1:17-18; Acts 26:19. B. The personal experience of life. C. Not adhering to personal experiences, testimonies, feelings, thoughts, opinions, affections, and reactions to any persons, matters, and things. II. The way to compose a prophecy: A. First, enjoy the Lord through contacting Him in a portion of the Word every morning Lam. 3 : 22-23; Jer. 15:16. B. Second, write down a short note of your spiritual inspiration, enlightenment, and enjoyment of the Lord each morning as a reminder of what you received from the Lord Psa. 119 : 147-148; cf. Lev. 11:3. C. Third, put all the notes, the "harvest" of your inspirations of the past six mornings together for a total inspiration on the last day of the week and compose a prophecy of no more than three minutes to speak in the church meetings on the Lord's Day. D. Fourth, practice speaking your prophecy especially with saints who can coach or tutor you on how to compose a prophecy with the proper length, form, and content 1 Cor. 14:29. III. Exercising to prophesy: A. We need to exercise our spirit Luke 1:47. B. We also need to exercise our mouth (our tongue) and our voice (our sound) Acts 2:26; 1 Cor. 14:7-11. C. We need to exercise our speed, our gesture and our accent 1 Cor. 14:9-11, 40. IV. Some points to help us prophesy effectively: A. We must know God s Word; and to know God s Word, first we must know the essence of God s Word being God and Christ (John 1:1, 14), God's breathing out (2 Tim. 3:16), spiritual milk (1 Pet. 2:2), our bread of life (Matt. 4:4), and spirit and life (John 6:63). B. We need to see that proper pray-reading lays a good foundation for prophesying. C. We need to grasp the meaning and function of pray-reading the Lord s Word: 1. Pray-reading is to pray with the words of the Scripture and over them, using the words of the Bible as our prayer to God Eph. 6:17-18a. 2. When we pray, we use our spirit; when we pray-read, our spirit touches the Spirit of the Bible, and we receive life John 6:63. 9
3. To pray-read is to eat, drink and breathe the Spirit and life in the Word of God Eph. 6:17; Jer. 15:16; 1 Pet. 2:2; cf. 2 Tim. 3:16. D. We need to build up a habit of speaking the word of the Lord Luke 1:45-46: 1. The only way to speak the word of the Lord is to live according to the Spirit cf. Acts 8:29-35. 2. In all the daily affairs of our daily life, we need to learn to speak the word. 3. If we do not practice speaking the word in our daily life, it will be very hard for us to speak much in the meetings. Excerpts from the Ministry: FROM OUR REVELATION GAINED FROM THE WORD OF GOD AND OUR EXPERIENCE OF THE TRIUNE GOD DURING THE WEEK, COMPOSE A PROPHECY OF NO MORE THAN THREE MINUTES TO SPEAK In order to learn to prophesy, we need to enjoy the Lord in a portion of the Word every morning. The way to do this is by pray-reading. Do not try to pray-read a whole chapter. This may be compared to eating a breakfast which is too large. We should choose a portion of the Word consisting of ten or fewer verses. Among these few verses there may be two verses which we especially enjoy, and we can concentrate on these. By doing this every morning we will receive inspiration, and we can take notes on the spiritual inspiration we receive. They do not need to be long notes; short notes with certain points as reminders are adequate. Then we should put all the notes, the inspirations of the past six mornings, together on the last day of the week to compose a prophecy for a three-minute speaking by exercising our spirit. Our speaking should not be too long or too short. Limiting our speaking to three minutes will help everyone to preserve the time in the meetings. (The Practical and Organic Building Up of the Church, pp. 86-87) If we do mean business to learn to prophesy, I would propose to you that every week you set aside two hours and come together with eight or ten to teach one another and to learn from one another. For this reason, every one of you should have a morning revival every day. There is a publication that is very suitable for this, The Holy Word for Morning Revival, which contains Scripture text, portions from footnotes, and portions from Life-study Messages for our prayreading and enjoyment of the Lord every morning. When you have a morning revival every day in this way, you will surely have some inspiration which you may jot down. When the weekend comes, you may put together the portions that you have written down, read them over, and do a little polishing so that it will be approximately three minutes long. This becomes a very good draft for your prophesying. Doing this is something very basic, and it will be of great benefit to you. (The Up-to-Date Presentation of the God-ordained Way and the Signs Concerning the Coming of Christ, pp. 47-48) I told the saints to write down a short reminder of what the Lord inspires them with each morning. After Saturday morning the saints will have six notes of the inspiration that they received during the week. I shared with them that on Saturday evening they can pray-read these six inspirations. When the saints add these six inspirations together, they will have a total inspiration. They can then compose a prophecy with this total inspiration. Some of the brothers function as tutors or coaches to help the saints compose their prophecy. These brothers may advise them to adjust their prophecy so that it is close to three minutes long. If their prophecy is too short, they will be asked to lengthen it. If it is too long, they will be asked to shorten it. The 10
brothers also help the saints with the form and content of their prophecy. (The Present Advance of the Lord's Recovery, pp. 61-62) PRACTICE SPEAKING THE PROPHECY WE HAVE PREPARED IN OUR HOME Moreover, there are secrets to proper prophesying. We can practice at home first. The husband may speak to the wife, and the wife may speak to the husband. After speaking to one another, they can criticize each other. This is a very good way of practicing, and it will improve our prophesying. It is like practicing piano; the more we practice, the more skillful we become. The less we practice, the harder it will be for us to advance. Hence, there is the need for constant practice even in the matter of prophesying. In the end, our posture, tone, air, and spirit of speaking will all become a genuine prophesying, instead of being merely a testifying or an ordinary speaking. If everyone would learn to speak for God and to speak forth God in this way, the Lord will surely be able to fulfill and recover the words in 1 Corinthians 14. (The Organic Practice of the New Way, p. 77) EXERCISING TO PROPHESY Exercising Your Spirit In the exercise of your spirit (Luke 1:47; Psa. 16:9), you must exercise your mouth and your voice at the same time. When someone exercises his spirit in speaking, he may shout. But do not consider that mere shouting is the release of the spirit. You must learn to exercise your innermost being when you speak. To lose your temper is a good illustration of releasing your spirit. When you speak in anger, without any consideration, without any fear, and without any care, you spontaneously release your spirit. Exercising Your Mouth (Your Tongue) and Your Voice (Your Sound) When you prophesy, you must exercise your mouth, your tongue (Psa. 108:1; Acts 2 : 26), and your voice, your sound (1 Cor. 14:7-11). When you speak in the meeting, you should not forget that you are speaking to the entire congregation. You are not speaking just to yourself or to the person next to you. For this reason, you must exercise your mouth and your voice. After I give a message, I often stress that in the time for testimonies the saints should speak loudly. I have stressed this matter again and again, but I have seen very little improvement among the saints over the years. Many of the brothers and sisters still remain unchanged. We should not forget that when we come to a meeting, we are coming to speak. Our singing and praying are also a kind of speaking. Even to say "amen" is a kind of speaking. Whenever we enter through the threshold of the meeting hall, we should learn to exercise our spirit. We should realize that to exercise our spirit and to exercise our mouth are part of our job whenever we come to the meetings. Whenever we meet together, we must exercise our spirit. Not only when we cross the threshold of the meeting hall, but also beginning from our homes and on the way to the meeting, we should exercise our spirit to speak to the Lord, to sing, to pray, and to praise. If while driving your car on the way to the meeting, you say in an exercised way, "O Lord! Amen! Hallelujah! " your spirit will be stirred up. When we speak, we must exercise our mouth to match the exercise of the spirit. We must learn to do this and practice it. We must also realize that when we come to the meeting, our job, our duty, is to speak The God-ordained way is for all of the believers to speak in the meetings. If we all exercise to speak in the meetings, the meetings will be in the third heaven. But if we come to the meetings without any stirring of the spirit and without any speaking, the meetings 11
will be dead and will deaden everyone. When we do not speak in the meeting, we actually kill the meeting. Such a situation will leave the meeting to those who are over-exercised. Then the meeting not only will be killed but also may become chaotic. Eventually, the entire meeting will be annulled and confiscated. We all have to learn to exercise our spirit, our mouth, and our voice. When we speak, we should exercise our voice, our sound, in a proper way. When someone does not exercise his voice in a proper way, he may speak without a definite direction, without striking a clear point, and in a halting manner. There may also be a number of obscure points in his speaking. If we exercise to speak with the proper sound and tone, the meeting will not be cooled down; rather, it will be stirred up by our speaking. (The Practice of the Church Life According to the God-ordained Way, pp. 87-88, 90) Exercising Your Speed In the previous two messages we have seen that we need to exercise our spirit, our mouth (our tongue), and our voice (our sound) in the practice of prophesying. In prophesying we also need to exercise our speed. In our speaking, we must adjust ourselves. We should not speak too fast or too slow; rather, we need to speak with a good rhythm and a proper speed. Exercising Your Gesture In prophesying we also need to exercise our gesture. Although I have been speaking for more than sixty years, I feel that I still have not learned adequately to speak with a proper gesture. This is a difficult matter. To learn to have a proper gesture requires a lifetime of exercise. Having the proper gesture is a great benefit to our speaking. If we speak with little or no gesturing, our speaking will appear to be unnatural and lifeless, and it will not be attractive. If we speak with too much gesturing, our speaking will seem to be peculiar. We all need to learn to speak with a gesture that is very spontaneous. Exercising Your Accent In the practice of prophesying, we also need to learn to exercise our accent. In our speaking we must have some crucial points with some crucial words. We need to learn to accent our speaking. Shouting loudly is not always a proper accent to our speaking. Sometimes we should speak a certain point slowly to make it a crucial point that can catch people's attention. In our speaking we should care not only for our rhythm, our speed, but also for our accent. We should learn to speak with a proper rhythm and a proper accent so that our listeners can hear every word. In speaking we must take care of others' ears. Exercising to have a proper speed, gesture, and accent is a great help to our speaking. (The Practice of the Church Life According to the God-ordained Way, pp. 106-107) 12