«　WEEK 9　DAY 6　»

　　John 15:5 ….He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.

　　1 Tim. 4:2 By means of the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, of men who are branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron,

　　To pray, to confess our sins, to deal with our sins, and subsequently to be filled with the Holy Spirit will result in boldness and confidence. If you go out door-knocking but have not prayed, your legs will be shaking, and you will not have power in your speaking. However, through prayer, confessing of sins, and being filled with the Holy Spirit, not only will you have the boldness when door-knocking, but you will also have the confidence that the person you are visiting will be saved. Once you are filled with the Holy Spirit though, not only will you have the power for speaking, but you also can determine whether or not he will be saved. If you say he will be saved, he will be saved; if you say he will not be saved and that he needs to wait awhile, then he will not be saved. This is the effectiveness of prayer, confessing of sins, and being filled with the Holy Spirit.

　　When you go door-knocking, you have to pay attention to your attitude. You should never be reckless or hasty. Rather, you should be modest, courteous, gentle, respectful, dignified, and weighty. Moreover, when you speak, you should learn to be concise instead of being wordy and to be affectionate instead of being cold. If they answer, “I do not have time,” you should not give up. Instead, you should say, “It will take you just one minute.” Eventually, the person may be saved and baptized because of this one-minute gospel preaching.

　　The booklet The Mystery of Human Life has also been greatly used by the Lord. Hence, we also have to learn to use this booklet. First, you should memorize the four main sections. The first section is on God's creation, the second section is on man's fall, the third section is on Christ's redemption, and the fourth section is on God's dispensing. You need to learn to follow the Spirit's leading within you. When you sense you need to read a certain section, then turn to that section and read it.

　　A brother once testified that the person he visited said that his speaking was very good. I instructed those present that this was the right moment to pray. If that person would pray, he would believe and receive the Lord, and then the brother should baptize him. It was the same with me in the past. When I went to lead someone to the Lord, often at the critical juncture I did not have the boldness to lead him to pray. Instead, I kept thinking that it might be too early and that I should not take the opportunity. Once I lost the opportunity, though, I may have lost it for my whole life; I may never have had the opportunity to see him again.

　　Brother Nee once told us that gospel preachers have to be thick-skinned. Those who are thin-skinned cannot lead people to salvation. Perhaps some brothers and sisters would say, “If this is the case, then since I am such a thin-skinned person, I may as well forget about going out to knock on doors.” In the past, when I saw strangers, I would start sweating, and my face would turn red. Every time my mother wanted to invite people to our home, I would be the first one to object because I did not like to meet strangers, and I disliked even more going to other people's homes. Later the Lord arranged the environment and forced me into a situation in which I had to stand and speak from the platform. It does not matter if you are thin-skinned; as long as you are willing to practice, willing to go visit by door-knocking, slowly you will have the boldness. On the other hand, while you are door-knocking, you must learn the technique of grasping the opportunity to lead a person to believe and pray. Immediately after he prays, you should show him Romans 10:13, which says, “For ‘whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.'” Then say to him, “My friend, congratulations! You are saved!” The next thing is to lead him to be baptized.

　　I hope that from now on everyone will practice door-knocking and visiting people. This is the first item we should practice. Maybe we cannot go out to knock on doors every day, but one thing we can do is spend two to three hours each week for door-knocking. We should visit not only those whom we know but also those we do not know. We should knock on all the doors in the district in which we live. Do not worry or be anxious. As long as we are willing to do it, we will be successful.