BEING FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT AND
THE WORD TO BE ECSTATIC
In principle, every New Testament believer must be "crazy," ecstatic. This is according to the teaching of the New Testament. Ephesians 5 charges us to be filled in our spirit with the Triune God as the life-giving Spirit. Colossians 3 tells us we need to be filled with the word of Christ. We have to be filled with these two elements every day. Both Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3 say that since we are so full, we will sing and speak in psalms (long poems), hymns (shorter ones), and spiritual songs (the shortest). When we are filled with the word and the Spirit, we are "crazy." It is similar to how a person would feel if he just won a prize of ten million dollars. He would be ecstatic, "crazy." Such a person is different from a formal, religious preacher. In the traditional and religious way of worship, there is no ecstasy, no "craziness," no Spirit, and no word. In this old way, the Spirit is "in the heavens" and the word is in the Bible, but they are not in us. When these two factors—the Spirit and the word—are within us, they make us crazy. We become like an "electrical toy." When the electricity is turned on, the electrical toy becomes "crazy" with electricity. We all need to be crazy people who are electrified by the Spirit and the word.
When we go to the home of some new believers in this way to have a home meeting with them, we are full of joy. We will be saying, "Amen! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!" When we get there, we will be singing. The new ones may hear us singing outside their door. When we come in, they can join us. Thus, the home meeting started before we arrived at their house. With those who have recently been baptized, we should use the time to impress them that the Lord Jesus is in them. We need to strengthen their understanding of the Lord’s presence within them.
In a home meeting, the wife may ask a question concerning a statue of Buddha in her home. She may say, "Before I was baptized two weeks ago, I was happy whenever I saw that statue. Now I am not happy. What is this?" Then we may respond, "You feel this way because that is an idol, and the Devil is involved with it. He is the enemy of Jesus." Then her husband may ask, "Is this true?" We may say, "Surely it’s true. We didn’t have a chance to tell you this." Then the husband would make the decision to smash this idol into pieces, and we would encourage him to do so right away. This is an example of what it means to nourish and cherish our spiritual children. Eventually, we can lead the new believers to go with us to another home for a group meeting.
The ecstatic way, the "crazy" way, will always make people happy. It always cherishes people. The God-ordained way revealed in the Bible saves us from any formality and religious background. But we have to be filled up. We should not go out with a "flat tire." All of our "four tires" must be full of air. We need to be like a ball full of air. If someone touches us, we will "bounce" over them.
(Elders' Training, Book 09: The Eldership and the God-Ordained Way (1), Chapter 11, by Witness Lee)
