CONTACTING PEOPLE IN A SPIRIT OF PRAYER WITH ENDURANCE
Always contact people in a spirit of prayer. I realize that we all are busy and do not have that much time. You may not have much opportunity to separate time to pray to the Lord. Of course, if you can do this, it is much better. But even while you are driving to work, you can pray, “Lord, I don’t know whom I should contact today. Give me one or two to contact.” Then you can contact people in a spirit of prayer.
Whenever you contact people, always grasp the opportunity to say something concerning Christ, to sow a seed of Christ into them. Such a sowing word can never be forgotten. People may not respond right now, but eventually they will respond. They may even respond at the end of their life, showing that the seed of Christ sown into people is never in vain. This is why Paul told us in 1 Corinthians 15:58 to “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” To abound is to increase and to multiply. In order to labor we need endurance. So in 1 Thessalonians 1:3 Paul indicated that we need to work, to labor, with endurance. This is because whatever we do in the Lord will not be in vain. If He would give us the result right now, that is good. But if not, we still have the faith that whatever we do in Him and for Him will not be in vain.
THE NORMAL CHRISTIAN LIFE
In order to live a normal Christian life, three things are very much needed: 1) seeking after the Lord; 2) coming to the meetings; and 3) going to contact people. If you want to be a normal Christian, just do these three things. First, we should seek after the Lord for His life. We should desire to experience Him, to grow in Him, to live Him, and to express Him. Paul said, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). He lives in me, so I live Him. Then we need to come to the weekly meetings of the church and go to contact people. Our meaning for being on this earth is not just to make a living for our existence. Our living on this earth is for the Lord, so that we can contact people and so that He can gain people through us. Every year we should endeavor to gain someone for the Lord. This is the real meaning of life for us Christians.
In our speaking to people, we should always remember to sow the seed of Christ. Say something from the Bible and sow the word into your contacts. This seed will remain in them, and our work will never be in vain. Also, when we go to visit people, we should bring the gospel tracts we have prepared and distribute them. Something through these pages will be sown into our contacts and also into their friends and family members. Someone to whom you give a tract may leave it on his coffee table, and the other members of his family may read it. This is the sowing of the seed of the gospel.
(The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Chapter 11, by Witness Lee)
