TAKING THE SHEPHERDING WAY
TO PREACH THE GOSPEL AND REVIVE THE CHURCH

SERIES Two
The Outflow of the Vital and Revived Living—
Preaching the Gospel by Visitation Weekly

Message Three
Being Revived Morning by Morning and Overcoming Day by Day

Scripture Reading:

Prov. 4:18    But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until the full day.

Lam. 3:23     They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

NEEDING A REVIVAL EVERY MORNING

The morning hour flies by quickly. One hour is over in no time. This is why the Word of the Lord says, “Redeeming the time” (Eph. 5:16). The period of time that needs to be redeemed the most is six to seven o’clock in the morning. During this hour, every minute is precious. We have to redeem this time.

The Christian revival does not occur in the afternoon or at sunset. Rather it occurs in the morning. The Christian life is not a sunset. Rather it is a dawning of the sun. In fact, we ourselves are the sun. Judges 5:31 says, “Let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might.” Proverbs 4:18 says, “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” A Christian’s life should be one that follows the moving of the sun. When the sun rises, we should rise with it. We keep rising until the perfect day, which is noon. The Christian life does not have afternoons. Whether we are among the worldly people, or in the church meetings, we should bring the shining light to others. For this reason, it does not matter how busy we are, we have to spend some time to exercise our spirit.

In today’s world, there is no one who is not busy. We have to use our time just as we use our money. There must first be a budget. We have to devote the first part of our time to the Lord. The first thing we do every morning when we rise up is to exercise our spirit, because today the Lord is in our spirit. For us to enjoy the Lord, to receive Him, to gain Him, and to experience Him is altogether a matter of the spirit. If our spirit is not functioning today, our relationship with the Lord is through. For this reason, every morning when we wake up, the first thing we must do is exercise our spirit. We have to call on the Lord. If circumstances permit, we have to take up the Bible and pray-read. If it is inconvenient to do so, we have to pull out some verses from our memory and pray-read with them. Whatever we do, we have to spend some time pray-reading. This way of exercise is like having a thorough bath from inside out in the Lord’s word. It is like taking a spiritual shower; we are washed from head to toe in the Lord’s word, and our whole being is fully refreshed.

CALLING ON THE LORD
AND PRAY-READING HIS WORD

Our time in the morning is most precious. It is best for us to spend as little time as possible on other things and to spend this time instead on pray-reading. In order to save time, when I am dressing in the morning, I begin to call on the Lord and pray-read His word. If your wife is not awake yet, you should not shout and cry aloud. You can pray from within. While you are putting on your shirt, you can pray-read the verse you read yesterday: “In the beginning…God… created…the heavens…and the earth.” While you are washing up, you can also pray-read. You can do two things at one time. Perhaps at the beginning you do not feel comfortable doing it. But after a while, you will feel comfortable. If you would spend half an hour or even fifty minutes there praying and reading the Lord’s word, and finally mingling the praying with the reading, your spirit will be enlivened. With such a morning, your whole being will have a revival.

LIVING ACCORDING TO THE MOVING OF THE SUN

When you have thoroughly pray-read the Lord’s word in the morning, during the day this word will speak and work within you, and your spirit will spontaneously be strengthened. In the evening, you will be filled with the Lord’s word, and when you come into the meeting hall, you will spontaneously cry, “Hallelujah! In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” There will be no need for anyone to remind you. You will spontaneously stand up in the meeting to speak. The reason there is nothing to say in the meeting is that there is not enough pray-reading in our daily life. If a saint has pray-read enough, he will surely have a lot to speak when he comes to the meetings, because there is too much to speak about. The twenty-seven books of the New Testament alone provide us with enough to pray-read. If we would call on the Lord and pray-read His word every morning, our whole being will be filled with the Lord’s word spontaneously throughout the day.

When we call on the Lord every morning, there is a deep realization within that the Lord Jesus has come. We have really found Him! In the end, our whole person will be changed. This is what is meant by a revival.

This revival is like our daily wash-ups; one does not do it once for all. There must be a daily washing. According to the law of nature, the sun rises once every twenty-four hours. When we move with the sun, we should also have a rising up once every twenty-four hours. Moreover, we have to be as bright as the sun shining in its might. If we are like this spiritually, every day we will surely live a renewed life. In the words of Paul, our inner man will be renewed day by day (2 Cor. 4:16). The inner man signifies our regenerated spirit within. This spirit, together with all the inward parts, is being renewed by the daily metabolism that comes about through the supply of the resurrection life.

THE OUTFLOW OF A RENEWED LIFE

The new way is actually a way of life. Today, all of us have to live a life of touching the Lord every morning to be revived every day. Every morning we need a new beginning. To us every day should be new. In this revived and renewed living, we will spontaneously care for others, and we will spontaneously share with others the Christ whom we enjoy and the Savior whom we have received. In this way, others will be able to enjoy with us the portion that God has given to us. God has not given the privilege of preaching the gospel to the angels. Rather He has given this utmost honor to us. Therefore, in our daily life, we spontaneously go out to visit people. This visitation is to bear gifts to others’ homes. We politely offer the Christ that we enjoy throughout the day as a gift to others. This is our duty. It is also our honor.

We do not necessarily need to knock on new doors. Rather, we can first go to the people that we are acquainted with. For example, we can go to the houses of our cousins and in-laws. Then there are the neighbors, colleagues, classmates, and friends. Surely you will be able to open the doors of these ones. You can go through these doors one by one. This is something that you should do. You should bring people to the Lord with joy, baptizing them into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, that they may receive the Triune God as their life. After a person is saved, you have to feed him as you feed a newborn baby with water and milk. This work of caring and feeding is a great job, and a glorious one.

You cannot care for too many people all at once. It is enough to have three to five. At least you should go to the new ones’ homes once a week. The home meeting is a part of a Christian’s life of revival and renewal. When you go, you can begin by singing on the way. When you arrive at others’ homes, you can knock at the door with singing. When others’ hear you from inside the door, they will come to the door singing also. The meeting will begin right there. When you go to the new ones’ homes, do not hold up the Bible in a religious way, or invite others to read with you, as if you are holding a family worship. You should not bring a religious ceremony with you. Instead you should follow the Lord’s leading and should answer the new ones’ questions.

EVERYONE BEING A PRIEST OF THE GOSPEL TO SERVE GOD

Now we have to bring others to salvation. We do not need to get help from others. And we do not need to hold any big meetings. The simplest way is to go out to visit people. Earlier, we knocked on your doors and helped you to be saved. In the same way, now you need to knock on others’ doors and help them to be saved. There may be some older ones in the group who cannot go out. They can stay at home to pray. After you go out to visit people for three or four weeks, every group can bring in three or four people. Then you can start another cycle. Begin by nourishing the new ones in their homes. Then bring these new ones to the small group meetings to equip and perfect them. In half a year, the small group will reach thirty in number again, and you can divide into two groups again. No one takes the lead in the small groups. Every attendant in the small group is a leader. In this way, the church will have the increase and the spread. (The Organic Practice of the New Way, msg. 4)