THE CHRISTIAN MEETING BEING A MATTER OF OUR SPIRIT
In one sense, for everyone to come together to have home meetings is an easy thing, but in another sense, it is the hardest thing. The most difficult thing is to have the home meetings. Why? Because for Christians to gather together is not a natural thing. It should not be done in a natural way but rather in the spiritual way…At this point, I can tell you that to have the home meetings depends altogether upon our spirit.
There is only one organ created by God for you to touch the Holy Spirit—your human spirit. Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit.” It is the Spirit with your spirit. The Spirit works, yet He works by a certain organ.
The problem today is not with the Holy Spirit, because according to the entire New Testament revelation, the Holy Spirit has been given and has also been poured out. The Holy Spirit today is the very consummation of the Triune God. He has gone through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. Now He is the life-giving Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God. In John 16:15 the Lord Jesus told us that all that the Father has, has been given to Him. Now all that He is and has is fully realized in the Spirit. Hence, the Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God, and this consummated Holy Spirit is ready. Today in the whole universe this consummated Holy Spirit is ready for God’s seekers to open up and receive Him. By what organ do we receive Him? By our spirit!
Today, when we preach the gospel to sinners, mainly we have to approach their conscience. If we only teach their mind to know God, to understand the Bible, and to understand the gospel, that is not adequate. The best and most effective way to preach the gospel is to touch a sinner’s conscience, for the conscience is the main part of the human spirit. When we touch a person’s conscience, we touch their spirit. This is why when we preach the gospel, we must do it with the convicting power to convince them and to convict them in their conscience. Then, when their conscience is touched, they begin to repent, to weep, and sometimes even to cry. We cannot teach people’s minds to weep; we have to touch their conscience. The conscience is the main working part of our human spirit, and when we exercise our conscience, we exercise our spirit. When we pray and repent and speak to the Lord, we exercise our spirit. When we do this, right away the Holy Spirit gets into us. This is the only way for us to touch the Holy Spirit, the consummated Spirit as the very consummation of the Triune God. But this principle has been very much neglected and even missed by today’s Christians.
Some think that the best way to get the Spirit is to pray and pray. That is right. The best way to touch the Spirit is to pray, but you have to pray with a right understanding.
Every morning you have to pray, not just to ask the Lord to give you a good day but to open yourself up again in your spirit. Open up your spirit to the Lord: “Lord, thank You.” Sometimes you only need to say, “Lord, thank You. Thank You that I can contact You here.” You can say, “Lord, thank You. Thank You that Your blood cleanses me. Thank You, Lord, that You are with me.” When you do this, you have the sense that deep within you, that is, in your spirit, you are touching the Lord, you are touching the Spirit. We all know this, but too many times we pray so many things that distract us from touching the Spirit. (CWWL, 1985, vol. 3, “The Home Meetings–the Unique Way for the Increase and the Building Up of the Church”, pp. 124-126)
The church in Zamboanga 