Basic Word

                                                                 HOW TO MEET

                                                        EXERCISING OUR SPIRIT

Now let me ask another question. Where is the Spirit today? Hallelujah! The reality of the name is the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit today is in our spirit. This is why we must exercise our spirit. It is very difficult to say whether the word spiritual in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 refers to something of the Holy Spirit or our regenerated human spirit. First Corinthians 12:1 says, “Now concerning spiritual gifts,” and 14:1 says, “Pursue love, and desire earnestly spiritual gifts.” The word gifts, if you noticed, is in italics. It means that it is not in the original text; in the Greek there is not such a word. In other words, it just says, “Now concerning spiritual,” and “Pursue love, and desire earnestly spiritual...” Of course, there is no need that the Holy Spirit be spiritual. Those who need to be spiritual are you and I. The word spiritual refers to us; we must learn to be spiritual. I do believe it really means that we must be in the spirit. It is rather difficult for anyone to decide whether the s of this spirit should be capitalized or not. We could translate 1 Corinthians 12:1 in such a way: “Now concerning being in the spirit, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.” Verse 1 of chapter 14, likewise, can be translated as, “Pursue love, and desire earnestly to be in the spirit.” I prefer not to capitalize the word spirit in these verses. If you read chapter 14, you will see how many times the word spirit has been used with small letter s. Eventually, when you come to verse 32, you read concerning “the spirits of prophets,” the spirits being in plural number because the prophets are in plural number, and the spirits are the spirits of the prophets. It is exceedingly easy for anyone to see that this does not refer to the Holy Spirit, but to the human spirits of the prophets.

 Now, I believe, you have the secret of how to meet. First, it is to meet in the name. Second, to meet in the name means to meet in the Spirit, and third, to meet in the Spirit means to exercise our spirit. This is the way for us to attend the meetings. The way for Christians to meet is not to have forms, regulations, programs, and so forth, but just to exercise the spirit. The Holy Spirit is mingled with our spirit; therefore, when we exercise our spirit, the Holy Spirit moves with us. When the Holy Spirit moves with our spirit, we have the reality of the name. We are meeting not only by exercising our spirit but also by being in the Spirit and thus also in the name.

 The key, the secret of our meeting together, is the exercise of our regenerated human spirit. How can we prove this? First Corinthians 14:32 is the strongest proof. Verse 31 tells us that we “can all prophesy.” Then verse 32 follows by telling us that prophesying is just the exercise of our spirit. It is not to wait until the Spirit pushes us, because the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. As the prophet, if we do not take the initiative, if our spirit would not move, then the Holy Spirit has no way out. We must take the initiative and exercise our spirit. If our spirit moves, the Holy Spirit who is within our spirit will move with us and bring in the reality of the name of Jesus. Therefore, the proper way for us as Christians to meet is to exercise our spirit. This is no small thing.

 You do not know how much time we have spent searching the Bible, especially the New Testament, and reading many other writings to discover the way of meeting. By the Lord’s mercy He showed us that the secret of meeting together is to exercise the spirit, because the reality of the name of the Lord is in the Spirit, and His Spirit is mingled with our spirit. The secret of our meeting today is the exercise of our spirit.

 Read 1 Corinthians 12 and 14: you will see that we must desire to be in the spirit; we must desire to prophesy. To prophesy is not to wait until we are inspired. Read the context. To prophesy means to take the initiative to exercise our spirit. It seems that we take the lead, but when we do, the Spirit of God follows and flows out, because today the Holy Spirit is mingled with our spirit. With Him there is no problem. He is always waiting for us; the problem is with us. If we would just cooperate with Him, if we would take the lead, He would follow and come forth. He would work together with us. It is not a case of us waiting for Him; it is He who is continually waiting for us. Since the time He came into us and mingled Himself with us, He has been waiting for us all the time. He has taken the initiative already; He is waiting now for us.

Read 1 Corinthians 12 and 14: you will see that we must desire to be in the spirit; we must desire to prophesy. To prophesy is not to wait until we are inspired. Read the context. To prophesy means to take the initiative to exercise our spirit. It seems that we take the lead, but when we do, the Spirit of God follows and flows out, because today the Holy Spirit is mingled with our spirit. With Him there is no problem. He is always waiting for us; the problem is with us. If we would just cooperate with Him, if we would take the lead, He would follow and come forth. He would work together with us. It is not a case of us waiting for Him; it is He who is continually waiting for us. Since the time He came into us and mingled Himself with us, He has been waiting for us all the time. He has taken the initiative already; He is waiting now for us.

I do believe that if you read all these passages to which we have referred, and not only read them but pray-read them again and again, your eyes will be opened. Praise the Lord, there is no need for us to wait for any kind of manifestation or any kind of inspiration. We need only to exercise our spirit and open our mouth to say, “O Lord, O Lord!” Do you see the point? Read the context of all these passages, and you will get the proper meaning. Just exercise your spirit and say, “Lord Jesus!” Exercise something deep within you to speak for the Lord Jesus. This is the exercise of the spirit. It seems that it is out from you, but it is really something of God, because the very Spirit of God today is mingled with your spirit.

 When I was a child, I participated with the other children in a certain kind of race. We divided into pairs, and two of our feet were bound together so that each pair was forced to run with three feet. I believe that in America it is called a three-legged race. When I ran this race, the other one, my mate, was always waiting for me. Eventually, I would rise and get ready to run the race. Now tell me, who was the initiator, he or I? Apparently it was I, but in fact he was the real initiator. Now we are bound together with the Holy Spirit, and not only bound together but mingled with Him. But we are so slow and slothful; He has been waiting for us all the time. When we become aware of Him, we are still ignorant, for we say, “Lord Jesus, I have been waiting for You in my spirit. I have been praying for three days, and I do not have the inspiration.” Dear ones have come to me and said, “How is it that you have such inspiration, but it is so difficult for us to obtain it? It seems so easy for you to be inspired, but so difficult for us. Why?” The answer is that they have been carried away by the fundamental teachings. Read 1 Corinthians 14 again and again. It does not say that we must wait; it does not say that we must pray; it does not say that we must fast. It says that we must take the initiative; our human spirit must take action. It seems that we are always waiting, but actually the Holy Spirit has been waiting for us all the time.