Ministering the Word Being to Enjoy God

Let me use myself as an example. When I began serving the Lord, the most difficult thing for me to do was to minister the word. I had difficulty selecting a subject from the sixty-six books of the Bible. I did not know which subject to choose. Should I speak on Adam and Eve or on Peter and James? Should I speak on love and humility or on light and holiness? There were too many subjects, and this was a real problem to me. Even after I selected a subject, I worried about the content. How should I begin, and how should I end? How should each section be developed, and what examples should I use? I struggled with these points. When I could not come up with the right idea, I would pray. This seemed to be the Christian thing to do. However, as soon as I knelt down and asked the Lord about a subject, my mind started to spin. Should the subject be heaven or hell, the cross or the manger, Jerusalem or Samaria? Such thoughts came all at once. Should I speak from Genesis, Exodus, Revelation, the Gospel of John, or Acts? My mind was full of subjects, but the Lord could not be found. I was often unclear even after half an hour. In the end, I would simply select a subject. But once I had the subject, I started worrying about the content and would pray again, saying, “Lord, what should the first sentence be? What should the last word be? How should I divide the message into various parts?” Since I was afraid of forgetting the points, I also prayed, “Lord, help me to remember all the points.” While I was praying, I was occupied with these things; hence, I did not touch the Lord at all. When it was time to deliver the message, I was in fear and trembling. The result was often complete failure, and I would be totally devastated. Later, I would wonder why the Lord did not answer my prayer. I suffered this agony for many years, but no one was there to help me find the right way.

After painfully searching for approximately ten years, I gradually found the key in the course of my Christian life. I found out that my experience of prayer was not prayer. Prayer is to absorb God and to enjoy Him. Let us again consider the matter of ministering the word. When praying concerning giving a message, there is no need to worry whether the message should be on Genesis, Revelation, the manger, or the cross. There is also no need to worry about what to say first and what to say second. There is no need to worry about any of these things. We need to go to the Lord to contact Him. We should forget about the message and the subject. We should simply contact and touch Him. As we contact Him, He will give us a sense that there may be problems, obstacles, and barriers between us and Him. We might be blaming others, holding grudges, or jealous of others. There may be other barriers between us and the Lord. We should deal with these barriers and remove them item by item through the blood. Then we can worship Him and, beholding His beauty in His presence, we can pray: “Lord, You are altogether lovely and sweet. You are my life and my strength. You are my word and my subject. You are everything to me.” As we fellowship with Him this way, we not only stop praying for the message, but we also forget about the message. We are fully enjoying the Lord Himself. We are connected to Him in the same way that a light bulb is connected to the power source. As soon as we are connected, “electricity” flows into us. This is the way to pray for our speaking. There is no need to worry about the subject or the content. As soon as we are connected to the Lord, touch Him, and have His presence within, we can stand because the Lord is in us as our enjoyment and our everything. Ministering the word in this way can be compared to branches of a tree bearing fruit. Inwardly, we are absorbing the Lord, and outwardly, we are speaking the message. This is what it means to give a message.

The prayer of the sister who asked for patience was wrong because patience was the subject of her prayer. All genuine prayers have God as the subject. There is no need to be concerned with patience. We should simply spend time every day to contact God and to fellowship with Him. The more we enjoy Him, the more we will be filled with Him. When we are filled with Him in this way, we may not think of the word patience at any time but nevertheless experience patience in our living. Every situation will issue in joy because the God of joy fills our heart. We can endure everything joyfully, and nothing will trouble or irritate us. Inwardly, we will be watered and filled with joy. We will not even think of patience. Although the word patience is not in our thoughts, and we do not speak of it, our daily life will be filled with patience. This patience comes from the God whom we enjoy. As we absorb Him and enjoy Him, He becomes our patience, our life, and our inward constituent. We will be inwardly watered, satisfied, and cheered. In whatever situation we encounter, there will be no need for us to exert any effort to be patient. On the contrary, patience will spontaneously be within us. This patience will not be the issue of our work; rather, it will be the living out of the God who lives within us. We might not say anything concerning patience, but everyone will say that we are full of patience. This is the wonder of the Christian life.