ABIDING IN THE LORD AND WALKING ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT TO FLOW RIVERS OF LIVING WATER (3)
Acts 4:31 says that when the disciples prayed, “the place in which they were gathered was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.” At that time the disciples were a group of Galileans living in Jerusalem under the threatening of the persecuting Jewish religionists, yet they did not care for anything except the Lord. They only loved the Lord. They were pursuing Him. They did not know anything else but Christ the Son of God. All day long, they prayed unceasingly. They gave thanks to God in everything and were happy and rejoicing. Thus, they did not quench the Spirit (1 Thes. 5:17-19). Rather, they fanned their spirit into flame (2 Tim. 1:6-7). They were such persons. They were filled with the Spirit, not only inwardly but also outwardly. They had the fullness of the Spirit…. Those dear saints in Acts 4:31 were full of Christ, so they were bubbling. They spoke the word of God with boldness.
Dear saints, this is a vital group. This is what I have seen of the Lord. This is what I expect to see—that all you dear ones who are in the recovery would be this kind of person. We are going to gain people not by rock music or by some other impure method. We are going to gain people by purely speaking Christ, speaking grace, speaking God, to everyone. In a certain sense we should not care whether or not someone understands us or apprehends what we are saying. We should just care for speaking, for flowing rivers of living water all the time.
We are branches of Christ, the great vine; this is our status. We should abide in Him to flow Him out, to branch Him out, to bear fruit by flowing the river of grace, by speaking. If no person is around, we can even speak to the angels. We can tell the angels that they are our servants and that we are the heirs of so great a salvation (Heb. 1:14; 2:3a). If no person is around us, we can even speak to the furniture in our room. Some may think that this is crazy, but actually this is the exercise of our spirit of sobermindedness (2 Tim. 1:7). It is normal for us to flow rivers of living water all the time.
I have been speaking for a number of years concerning the God-ordained way with its four steps: (1) begetting, (2) nourishing, (3) teaching, and (4) prophesying. We may have adopted all these terms, but we may also have become complicated and even confused. I have a burden to tell you not to be confused and not to be complicated. Just be simple. Just realize that you are a branch of Christ, abiding in Him, walking, living, and having your being according to the spirit. Surely you will be a praising person; you will be a thanking person, a person thanking God all the time; and you will be a person praying and rejoicing. Then you will have the fullness of the Spirit. You will pour out by speaking to others. Do not care about whether they will be saved or not. Only the Lord knows. Just carry out your commission. Your function is to bear fruit, and to bear fruit is not just a kind of doing but a kind of living. We all should say, “I am just a branch abiding in Christ and walking according to the spirit to flow Christ as rivers of living water.” (Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1993, vol. 2, “The Training and Practice of the Vital Groups”, ch. 11, pp. 351-354)
The church in Zamboanga 