APPLYING THE BLOOD
One of the main principles in functioning is that we must never forget to apply the blood of Christ. It is the cleansing blood, the prevailing blood, and the victorious blood. Regardless of how much we deal with sinful and worldly things, we still need the cleansing of the blood. Whenever we are going to function, we must immediately apply the blood. “Lord, cleanse me once more, regardless of whether I sense that I am sinful or not. Cleanse me with Your precious blood. I praise You that where the sprinkling of the blood is, there is the anointing of the Spirit.”
Look into the type of the Old Testament. With any kind of service rendered to the Lord by the priest, there was always the sprinkling of the blood. Every time we come to the meetings, we must come under the application of the cleansing and prevailing blood. We must declare to the whole universe that we are released, not because we are so pure, but because we are cleansed by the blood. We can say, “I am fully released, I am powerful and bold in the spirit, not because I am so right, but because I am under the prevailing blood.” If we do this, we will see that even this declaration is a release of the spirit.
We know the subtle one too well. He has been our bad friend for years. Many times when you are burdened with something to share in the meeting, Satan comes in to damage. Just before the meeting, at the dinner table, your dear wife offends you a little, and you say something. Even if you say nothing, you are offended within. Then on the way to the meeting, Satan points out how defeated you are. He says, “Are you going to share something? A person like you?” We must realize that this is the evil, subtle accusation of the enemy to wreck our spirit. If we take it, either we will not share in the meeting, or we will share without the release of the spirit. Instead, we must declare to the enemy Satan that we know his subtlety. “Yes, I am a failure, but praise the Lord, I have the prevailing blood! I do not come to the meeting by my victory but by the blood of Christ.” This declaration will put Satan to shame.
Whenever we come to the meetings, we must apply the blood. Satan is so subtle. He is always trying to damage, wreck, and spoil our spirit. So we need the cleansing of the blood all the time.
PRAY-READING THE WORD
The best way to have our spirit released is to pray-read the Word. This is because pray-reading the Word exercises our spirit and does not give us time to use our mind. The principles of pray-reading are to pray-read the Word in a quick way, with short phrases, praying something new and fresh. This keeps us from our mind and exercises our spirit. We know that the words of the Bible are living and full of nourishment. When we are pray-reading the Word in this way, our spirit becomes nourished, quickened, and refreshed. Thus, by pray-reading the Word, our spirit is exercised and strengthened.
Those of us who have pray-read the Word can all testify that this is the best way to practice the release of the spirit. We do not want to force anyone, but we want to help them to release their spirit. According to our experience, pray-reading the Word is the best way to release and exercise our spirit.
Because the function of the church requires a strong spirit, pray-reading the Word is most beneficial. It is the best way to strengthen our spirit. By pray-reading the Word, we can accomplish many things. With this one “stone,” we can “kill many birds.” So we do encourage others to pray-read the Word.
We must practice all these things so that our spirit may be released for the church life. If we are going to have a proper and living church life, we must function with the release of our spirit.
(The Practical Expression of the Church, Chapter 16, by Witness Lee)
