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The goal of prophesying in the church meetings is the building up of the church as the Body of Christ—v. 12.
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Prophesying requires the three constituting elements of prophesying:
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A knowledge of the Word of God—the human element of learning—2 Tim. 3:16-17; Ezek. 3:1-4.
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The instant inspiration of the Holy Spirit—the divine element of inspiration—1 Cor. 14:32, 37a; 1 John 1:6-7; Rom. 8:4.
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A vision concerning God's interest and economy, concerning the church as the Body of Christ, concerning the local churches, concerning the world, concerning the individual saints, and even concerning ourselves—the view through the enlightening of the divine light—Eph. 1:17; 1 Cor. 2:11-12.
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If we are going to prophesy, we need to live a prophesying life:
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We need to be revived every morning—Prov. 4:18; Lam. 3:22-24; Psa. 119:147-148:
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The path of the righteous is like the dawn that becomes brighter and brighter until noontime; this is according to the natural law in God's creation, and we have to go along with it.
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In Lamentations 3:22-24 Jeremiah says that the Lord's compassions are fresh and new every morning.
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We also need to live an overcoming life every day by fellowshipping with the Lord moment by moment, by walking according to the spirit, and by speaking the word (the Lord) in season and out of season—1 John 1:6; Rom. 8:4; 2 Tim. 4:2a.
Morning Nourishment
1 Cor. 14:12 …Seek that you may excel for the building up of the church.32 And the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets.
Eph. 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him.
The three constituting elements of prophesying [are]:…[to] possess a knowledge of the Word of God—the human element of learning;… [to] have the instant inspiration of the Holy Spirit— the divine element of inspiration;… [and to] have a vision concerning God's interest and economy, concerning the church as the Body of Christ, concerning the local churches, concerning the world, concerning the individual saints, and even concerning ourselves—the view through the enlightening of the divine light. (Prophesying in the Church Meetings for the Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ (Outlines), p. 33)
Today's Reading
If we are going to prophesy, we need to live a prophesying life. First, we need to be revived every morning (Prov. 4:18; Lam. 3:22-24; Psa. 119:147-148)….Every twenty-four hours there is a new start, a dawn, a rising sun. This is according to the natural law in God's creation. We have to go along with this natural law. Every morning we have to rise early to contact the Lord, to call on Him, and to be revived by Him. In Lamentations 3:22-24 Jeremiah says that the Lord's compassions are fresh and new every morning. His mercies are like the fresh dew in the morning. Every morning we must enjoy this fresh dew to have a new start, a morning revival.We must also live an overcoming life every day (Rev. 21:7). After the morning revival we should not stop contacting the Lord. We can live a victorious life by fellowshipping with the Lord moment by moment (1 John 1:6). We also need to walk according to the spirit (Rom. 8:4b), not doing anything outside of the Spirit. We should also speak the word (the Lord) all the time, …in season and out of season (2 Tim. 4:2a). We should not say,”Now is not the time for me to speak to people.” Seemingly it is out of season, but even if it is out of season, we still have to speak the word. Such a prophesying life qualifies us to prophesy.
In Taipei we gave the saints some practical fellowship concerning how to prepare to prophesy in the church meetings on the Lord's Day. Every week they will cover a chapter of a certain book of the Bible and divide this chapter into six portions for six days. In each section for each day, they choose two or three verses for pray-reading, and they enjoy the Lord with these verses for their morning revival. We charged the saints to write down a short reminder of what the Lord inspired them with in their time with Him in the morning. At the end of the week they will have six notes of what they were inspired with during the week. On Saturday night they use these notes of their inspiration to compose a prophecy to speak for three minutes. Then they practice it in their homes. They are instructed not to be too long or too short. When they go to the church meeting on the Lord's Day, they have something, thus fulfilling the Lord's word in 1 Corinthians 14:26:”Each one has.” They do not trust merely in instant inspiration, but they come to the meeting prepared with the riches of Christ that they have enjoyed….The saints need to be perfected to enjoy the Lord, to be saturated with the Word, to pray unceasingly, to fellowship with the Lord moment by moment, to walk in the Spirit, and to speak the Lord in the Spirit at all times. Then they need to learn how to compose a prophecy for the church meetings. I hope that we all would try to practice this for our church meetings. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 4,”The Excelling Gift for the Building Up of the Church,” pp. 463-464)
Further Reading: Prophesying in the Church Meetings for the Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ (Outlines), outls. 6-10; CWWL, 1989, vol. 4,”The Advance of the Lord's Recovery Today,” chs. 6-7; The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 202, 340; CWWL, 1988, vol. 1,”Speaking Christ for the Building Up of the Body of Christ,” ch. 1