HOME MEETINGS
Read and pray: “But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written: I believed; therefore I spoke. We also believe; therefore we also speak,” (2 Cor. 4:13)
WE BELIEVE IN WHAT WE SPEAK
For the home meetings we need mutuality and speaking for edification. However, many of you will say: “Brother Lee, we simply do not have the gift of speaking. Thank the Lord that He has given you the gift of speaking for many hours. But I cannot do it. I am not able. I do not have the gift of speaking.”
Because of our feeling that we are not able to speak in the meetings, we need to consider 2 Corinthians 4:10-14. In these verses Paul speaks of the death of Christ and of His resurrection in a subjective way, in a way that identifies us with the death and resurrection of Christ.
Verses 10 to 12 say: “Always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death operates in us, but in you life.”
How can Paul say this? Verse 13 gives us the secret: “But having the same spirit of faith...” What is the “spirit of faith”? Dean Alford in his New Testament for English Readers says that the spirit of faith “is not precisely the Holy Spirit, nor simply a human disposition: the indwelling Holy Spirit penetrates and characterizes the renewed man entirely.”
Vicent in his Word Studies in the New Testament says: “The Spirit of faith; not precisely the Holy Spirit, nor yet a human faculty or disposition, but a union of the two.” The Spirit of faith is the mingling of the Holy Spirit with the human spirit.
We must exercise such a Spirit to believe and to speak the things we have experienced of the Lord, especially His death and resurrection. Faith is in our spirit; it is what is mingled with the Holy Spirit, and not in our mind. The “Spirit” in verse 13 indicates that it is by means of the mingled Spirit that the apostles live a crucified life in resurrection to carry out their ministry.
This Spirit of faith was Paul’s secret. Verse 13 continues: “But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written: I believed; therefore I spoke. We also believe; therefore we also speak.”
Do not believe your feelings or your customs. We must exercise the spirit to believe that we have experienced something of the Lord. Have we not experienced the death of Christ? Have we not experienced the resurrection of Christ? Of course we have!
Now we need to exercise the spirit to speak. First, we must exercise the spirit to believe what we have experienced; then we must exercise the spirit to speak what we believe. We all need to speak in this way.
Perhaps someone will say: “Well, you know that I am simply a sister. I do not know if I have anything to speak. Maybe not.” This is a lie from the usurping enemy. For years the enemy has been usurping us, the Christians. He has made us mute. For years we have remained without speaking in the meetings.
It is time to rebel, to stand up and declare to the enemy: “Get behind me, Satan. I do not believe that. I am not mute. I do not serve a mute idol. I worship a God who speaks and He is speaking within me. His speaking Spirit is mingled with my spirit. Now I can exercise my spirit to believe that I have experienced Christ. I have experienced something of Christ. I have experienced His resurrection as my patience and my endurance. I have experienced Him as life. Christ is my life. I have experienced this, so I exercise my spirit to believe and to speak what I have experienced.”
This is the secret to speaking. In the following messages I will tell you how to acquire the terminology, the terms, the expressions, the phrases, and even the prayers for your speaking. However, in this message we must learn the matter of mutuality as the factor for speaking in our meetings. The secret is to believe that we have experienced something of Christ.
Then we must exercise the spirit to speak what we believe. This speaking will build up the saints and the church. When we speak, we do so by exercising the spirit. We exercise the spirit to believe what we have experienced of Christ and to express what we believe. Seek to practice this.
🌿 Enjoy more:
Hymn: Experience of God – “By Exercising the Spirit”
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