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 Four
Exercising Our Spirit to Pray
for the Dynamic Impact of the Gospel
Scripture Reading:
Eph. 5:18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissoluteness, but be filled in spirit.
Acts 1:8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
THE OUTPOURED SPIRIT BEING THE IMPACT
FOR OUR PREACHING AND FOR OUR MINISTRY
The New Testament reveals that in our preaching of the gospel, we must have the Word (Rom. 10:14-15) and the Spirit (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4; 2:4). With the Word is the supply of life, and with the Spirit is the power to cast out demons and to heal (Acts 5:12-16; 16:18). If we have the Word and the Spirit, our gospel will be powerful, and our work will be living and effective.
The infilling of the Holy Spirit is the scientific way, and it is the truth revealed in the Scriptures. Today when you go out to preach the gospel, you have to be filled with the Holy Spirit, then you have to cast out demons and heal diseases. This is a law. In the past when we preached the gospel, we merely paid attention to speaking and did not rely on being filled with the Holy Spirit. Hence, we also neglected healing and the casting out of demons. The preaching of the gospel requires speaking, but in our words there must be the Spirit, with whom is the power to cast out demons and heal the sick. The Spirit is the power of the gospel. If we preach the gospel in such a way, our gospel will be powerful. (Vessels Useful to the Lord, msg. 11)
We need to participate in the outpouring of the Spirit of power as the power from on high and as the dynamic impact. The power from on high is the real dynamic impact, and this comes from exercising our spirit so that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of life, the essential Spirit, can be released. The release of the Holy Spirit will usher us into the participation in the outpouring of the Spirit of power. The outpouring of the Spirit of power as the power from on high and as the dynamic impact is for preaching the gospel and ministering Christ to others.
The Triune God Himself as the Spirit is the very essence and base of our spiritual life. Based upon this, we can go on to participate in the outpouring of the Spirit of power, who is the economical Spirit for God’s economy. The Spirit within is for our essence; the Spirit without is for God’s economy. The Spirit without is with us based upon the fact that He is the essential Spirit of life within us. Since we are regenerated, we have the first aspect of the Spirit within us as a base. Based upon this, when we exercise our spirit, the essential Spirit will be released, and this will lead us to the enjoyment of the outpouring of the Spirit of power. This outpoured Spirit is the impact for our preaching and for our ministry.
PRAYING BY EXERCISING OUR SPIRIT
FOR THE RELEASE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
The release of the Spirit leads us to the outpouring of the Spirit. We need to pray by exercising our spirit for the release of the Holy Spirit. If we do not exercise our spirit, the Holy Spirit is locked and imprisoned inside our being. He has no way out because we have cheated Him. We believed in the Lord Jesus, we received the Spirit, and the Spirit came into us. But when the Spirit entered into us, He entered into a prison. We imprison Him all the time. Now we have to exercise our spirit to release Him.
The Real Impact Coming from Our Prayer
Now that we have been regenerated, we need to realize that the Bible charges us to do one unique thing, that is, to pray. This is because to pray is to release the spirit. We may wonder what spirit we are releasing—the human spirit or the divine Spirit. My answer is this—when you release your human spirit, the divine Spirit is released, because these two spirits are no longer separate; they are one. “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit” (1 Cor. 6:17). The divine Spirit and the human spirit are now altogether mingled as one spirit.
If we do not pray, we will be abnormal. In the past we were very abnormal, because we were not living. We have the Spirit within us, Christ within us, and God the Father within us, but we are not living because we do not pray. Only one thing today can make us living, and that one thing is prayer. We must pray unceasingly.
When we go to visit people in a crazy way, we have the power and the impact. On the one hand, we should be the most crazy people, but on the other hand, we should be very formal and proper. The real impact comes from our prayer. In the entire New Testament, you cannot find a person who received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit without first receiving the essential Spirit within.
Continuing Steadfastly in Prayer with One Accord
Acts 1:14 reveals that the one hundred twenty continued steadfastly with one accord in prayer. This is not the private prayer, the individual prayer, but the corporate prayer. In our corporate prayer, we need the one accord.
Acts 2:42 tells us that the early church continued steadfastly in the teaching and the fellowship of the apostles, in the breaking of bread and the prayers. We should not think that prayer is the smallest item here since it is mentioned last. Actually, the last item is the conclusion, and the conclusion is the most important part. The prayer is more important than the teaching, than the fellowship, and than the breaking of bread. Without the prayer, we may have the teaching, the fellowship, and the breaking of bread, but we do not have a conclusion. In doing everything we need a conclusion. The prayer is the spiritual conclusion to our entire spiritual career. To our life, to our work, to everything within us, and to everything outside of us, the prayer is the conclusion. Thus, we have to continue steadfastly in this concluding prayer.
Praying at Every Time in Spirit and Watching unto This
in All Perseverance and Petition
In Ephesians 6:18 the apostle Paul charges us to pray at every time in spirit and watch unto this in all perseverance and petition. While we are persevering in prayer, we have to petition. On the one hand, we are persevering, and on the other hand, we are petitioning.
Many things rise up in our environment to swallow up our prayer time. This is why we need to persevere. When we are praying, we should forget about answering the telephone or the knocking at our door. We are busy praying. We are taking care of the business with our King. In our prayer time we should have the attitude that we are with our King and we are fully occupied with Him. Because of this, we do not have the time to answer the phone or the door. This is an illustration of what it means to persevere in prayer and watch unto prayer.
Always Rejoicing, Unceasingly Praying,
in Everything Giving Thanks, and Not Quenching the Spirit
We must always rejoice, unceasingly pray, give thanks in everything, and not quench the Spirit (1 Thes. 5:16-19). Paul puts these four things together. If you want to pray, you have to rejoice. If you want to pray, you have to give thanks in everything. And if you want to pray, you must not quench the Spirit. Rejoicing always, praying unceasingly, giving thanks in everything, and not quenching the Spirit go together. If you do not rejoice, you quench the Spirit. If you do not pray, you quench the Spirit. If you do not give thanks, you quench the Spirit. All the day long, you have to say, “Praise the Lord!” All the day long, you should give thanks in everything.
We should pray, “Lord, I want to be living. Give me the impact, Lord.”…While the sisters are in the kitchen cooking or washing the dishes, they should say, “Lord, I want to be living. I want to have the impact, Lord.” Do not pray for too many things and do not explain to the Lord, because He already knows. Just petition Him and tell Him what you want according to His desire. (Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, msg. 13)
