The Meetings and Spiritual Exercise of the Local Church
The Meetings and Spiritual Exercise of the Local Church |
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Speaking4. SpeakingBoth Watchman Nee and Witness Lee were utterly faithful to speak for the Lord and to speak forth the Lord to minister Him to others. The apostle Paul terms such speaking “prophesying” in 1 Corinthians 14 and charges the believers to prophesy, for “he who prophesies builds up the church” (v.4). As regenerated believers with the Holy Spirit in our spirit, we all have the ability, the capability, and the responsibility to prophesy in this way. We should therefore exercise our spirit to practice speaking the Word of God in our daily life and in the local church meetings. Concerning this crucial, scriptural matter of speaking in the meetings of the local churches for the building up of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 14:3-4), Witness Lee states: Eventually, we have to help these perfected saints learn how to prophesy, how to speak for God. Prophesying in the church meetings builds up the churches for the building up of the Body of Christ. If only a few speak in the meetings of the church, the Body of Christ cannot be built up. We must try our best to perfect and to build up all the saints to prophesy, to speak for the Lord. The more speakers there are in the church meetings, the better it is. This kind of speaking edifies the saints locally and builds up the Body of Christ universally. First, we need to exercise ourselves to speak for the Lord. If we will speak for the Lord every week, we will build ourselves up and we will grow. Then we will become living members not only of one local church but also of the universal Body of Christ. (Witness Lee, Training and Practice, 14) Witness Lee elaborates below on the need for speaking, or prophesying, in the meetings of the local churches: In God’s house the saints speak of God’s glory: “In his temple doth every one speak of his glory” (Ps. 29:9). Everyone speaks. This corresponds with I Corinthians 14:31, “Ye can all prophesy one by one.” What is it to prophesy? It is just to speak the glory of God. Everyone can speak the glory of God in His house, and everyone in the local churches must speak. (Witness Lee, Christ and the Church, 63) |
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