Crystallization-Study of Ezekiel (2)
Message Two
The Practice of Prophesying for the Building Up of the Church as an Exceedingly Great Army
Scripture Reading: Ezek. 37:4-10; Matt. 16:18; 1 Cor. 14:4b; Acts 5:20; 6:4
I. Prophesying (speaking for the Lord and speaking forth the Lord into one another) in the meetings of the church fulfills the greatest prophecy in the Bible, which is to build up the church (in oneness as an exceedingly great army)—Matt. 16:18; 1 Cor. 14:4b; Ezek. 37:4-10.
II. We need to live a prophesying life by loving the Lord to the uttermost:
A. The more we love the Lord, the more we are qualified, perfected, and equipped to speak for the Lord.
B. Our love for the Lord is the factor, the element, and the very basic essence of our having the authority and impact and of our being powerful in our speaking for the Lord (Peace Wang is an example of this—see Speaking Christ for the Building Up of the Body of Christ, pp. 33-34).
C. If we love the Lord, we will be filled with Him; whatever fills us within will come out of us; the overflow comes from the infilling—John 7:37-39; Rev. 2:4-5; cf. Mal. 3:14 and footnote.
D. When we love the Lord to the uttermost, we must speak; we must release the One who has filled us within—1 Cor. 2:9-10.
III. By taking the way of PSRP (pray-reading, studying, reciting, and prophesying), we will be able to nourish people with the unsearchable riches of Christ:
A. Pray-reading is a very important part of PSRP; we study the Bible by pray-reading the Bible.
B. Prophesying requires a lot of prayer—Acts 6:4; cf. Heb. 7:25; 8:2:
1. To pray is not only to entreat the Lord to do things for His move but also to cause our spirit to be exercised and strengthened.
2. Hence, prayer should precede the ministry of the word, just as the apostles practiced; without such prayer the ministry of the word will not be enlivened and empowered—cf. John 7:37-39; 2 Cor. 2:17; 13:3; 3:6; 1 Pet. 4:10-11.
3. “This is the boldness which we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him” (1 John 5:14-15; cf. Matt. 7:7); these verses are an encouragement to pray back to the Lord the things that are according to His will in the Bible, His testament, His covenant.
IV. The opening and closing words of the prophesying meetings are very important:
A. Both the opening and closing words should be approximately five to eight minutes long.
B. The opening word ensures that the meeting starts in a strong way with a definite direction and burden from the Lord.
C. The closing word ensures that the meeting does not end in emptiness and that the meeting concludes with the fullness of the supply of reality, so that the saints are filled with the pleasantness of the Lord’s presence and the satisfaction of the Lord’s words of spirit and life (John 6:63); never let a meeting end in emptiness and without the supply of reality.
D. We must compose our prophecy with the main points and the subpoints—cf. Deut. 17:18-20 (see footnote 1 on verse 18).
E. What the Lord is mainly concerned with in the prophesying meeting is not the quantity of saints who share but the quality of what they share—Rev. 2:5; 1 Cor. 3:12.
F. On the day of the prophesying meeting, we should prepare our being for the meeting (focusing on what we will prophesy) and not be distracted by other things, even spiritual things.
V. We must see the three constituting elements of prophesying—cf. Acts 5:20; 1 Tim. 4:6-7; 1 Pet. 4:10-11; 1 John 1:3; Acts 4:20; 22:15:
A. We must possess knowledge of the Word of God—the human element of learning.
B. We must have the instant inspiration of the Holy Spirit—the divine element of inspiration.
C. We must have a vision concerning God’s interest and economy, concerning the church as the Body of Christ, concerning the local churches, concerning the world, concerning the individual saints, and even concerning ourselves—the view through the enlightening of the divine light:
1. In beseeching the saints to walk worthily of God’s calling, Paul spoke from his status as a prisoner of Christ Jesus and a prisoner in the Lord—Eph. 3:1; 4:1.
2. Sooner or later, every steward of God, every minister of God’s riches, every faithful lover of Christ, will be imprisoned not only by Christ but also in Christ; the more we love Him, the more we will be in Him to such an extent that He will become our prison for us to enjoy Him to the uttermost so that we may have a walk that is worthy of God’s calling.
3. The more freedom we have, the more blind we are, but if Christ is our prison, our eyes will be opened to see the heavenly vision, and we will receive the highest revelation of God’s economy—3:9; Acts 26:19.
VI. We must learn and be perfected to organically prophesy (to speak the Lord into others) with the constituting elements of prophesying for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ—1 Cor. 14:4b:
A. We need to redeem our time and spend our energy to be saturated and soaked with the holy Word to be equipped to prophesy—2 Tim. 3:16-17; Ezek. 3:1-4:
1. We need to be revived by the Lord every morning by enjoying Him in a portion of the Word:
a. The Lord’s lovingkindness and compassions are new every morning—Lam. 3:22-23.
b. The path of the righteous is like the rising sun—Prov. 4:18; Judg. 5:31; Luke 1:78-79; Mal. 4:2.
c. Our inner man is being renewed day by day—2 Cor. 4:16-18.
d. We should anticipate the dawning of the morning with our hope in God’s Word, that we might muse upon His word, that is, that we might receive His word with much reconsideration—Psa. 119:15, 147-148; cf. Lev. 11:3 (see footnote 1 on Psa. 119:15).
e. We should find God’s words and eat them for them to become the gladness and joy of our heart—Jer. 15:16.
2. We must study the Word by using the best help to open it, expound it, and release its unsearchable riches—the Life-study messages, the books of the ministry, and the Recovery Version footnotes—Luke 24:27, 31-32, 44-45; Acts 8:30-35.
3. We must read the Bible (“all Scripture is…profitable” and man shall “live…on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God”) regularly from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21 (2 Tim. 3:16; Matt. 4:4).
4. We must write down daily the spiritual enlightenment, inspiration, and enjoyment received from the Lord in His Word and at the end of the week put these points together to compose a prophecy of no longer than three minutes to speak in the church meeting.
5. The knowledge of the Word becomes the constant element for our prophesying.
B. We must be ready in the spirit to receive the instant inspiration of the Spirit:
1. The spirits of the prophets are the most preeminent part of their being—1 Cor. 14:32, 37a.
2. Whenever we speak for the Lord, we must exercise our spirit to speak with the Spirit and with Christ as all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge—Acts 7:10; Isa. 11:2; 2 Chron. 1:10.
3. We must pray ourselves into God to receive the unsearchable riches of the Holy Spirit in order to be fed ourselves so that we can feed those under our care—Luke 11:1-13.
4. We must abide in fellowship with the Lord by walking according to our spirit, serving in our spirit, ministering the Spirit, and serving by the Spirit of God—1 John 1:6-7; Rom. 8:4; 1:9; 2 Cor. 3:6; Phil. 3:3; cf. Zech. 4:6.
5. The Lord Jesus, as today’s Moses and Elijah, is the real Prophet in our spirit, speaking for God and speaking forth God within His believers—Acts 3:22; 2 Tim. 4:22.
6. The inspiration of the Holy Spirit is the instant element for our prophesying.
C. We must have a clear view with the insight to see through all things in all situations through the enlightening of the divine light:
1. We can receive revelation only in our spirit—Eph. 1:17; Rev. 1:10; 4:2; 17:3; 21:10.
2. We must have not only the dove’s eyes (S. S. 1:15) but also, and even more, eyes like pools (7:4):
a. Dove’s eyes signify the insight and realization of the Spirit—1 Cor. 2:11-12.
b. Eyes like pools signify the enlarged and broadened vision full of light to cover the whole universe.
3. We must have a clear view of the entire universe to see the real situation of the world, of the churches, of our fellow believers, and of ourselves.
4. We must have the heavens opened to us to see visions of God by receiving the express word of the Lord (special, fresh, and vivid words that convey divine revelation) with the hand of the Lord upon us—Ezek. 1:1-3:
a. The hand of the Lord follows the word of the Lord; if what one ministers is truly God’s word, God’s almighty hand will follow to accomplish what He speaks.
b. God’s hand upon man is also for leading man and for causing one to take action (cf. 1 Kings 18:46); after the Lord’s hand came down upon Ezekiel, he did not act according to his own choice but according to the leading and directing of the Lord’s hand.
VII. We must speak with the constituting elements of prophesying—speaking what we have seen and heard with the living words of this life under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and with His enlightenment—1 John 1:3; Acts 22:13-15; 5:20:
A. Prophesying is a miraculous normality:
1. It is normal because it requires us to learn the Word and be trained to speak.
2. It is miraculous because it is speaking with the divine element, the divine light, and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
B. To prophesy is to have the oracles of God (God’s speaking, God’s utterance, that conveys divine revelation)—1 Pet. 4:11; cf. 1 Cor. 14:24-25.
C. When we have the human learning of the Word, the divine inspiration of the Spirit, and the clear view, we will be able to prophesy.
D. Prophesying is always composed of the living words of this life, the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and the clear view through the enlightening of the divine light.
E. What a great thing it is that “he who prophesies builds up the church”—v. 4b!