A letter was received recently
which was, certainly, of more than usual interest. Because it raises a question
that may be in the minds of others, we believe it will be most worthwhile to
share it with our readers. We quote from the letter, and then from our reply.

 

"I have never, until
recently, uttered a word in an assembly meeting, and very few outside of one.
Now I am situated in a place where I am responsible for the functioning of the
assembly. I have two great things before me, the weight and influence of which
I feel increasingly as I go on in the Lord’s things.

 

"The first thing of which I
speak is the awesome responsibility of functioning as the mouthpiece of the
assembly. The other thing is the ever-present nemesis of the Christian — the
flesh. My difficulty simply stated is that I am seldom sure that my
feelings, at such a time, are those of the Spirit guiding me and not the flesh
goading me. It is for this very reason that I have said very little if
anything. I do not feel confident that, when I do speak, it is of the Spirit,
always fearing that the motive originates in the flesh. It is subtle, and even
what begins in the Spirit may end in the flesh.

 

"So my question is just
this:how does one recognize the Spirit’s guidance? I may be too occupied with
the flesh, but I don’t think this is all the problem."

 

We quote now from our reply to
this earnest soul.

 

The spiritual exercises
expressed in your letter and its question are surely precious to the Lord
Jesus, and are to be highly valued in these days of general lukewarmness.

 

What a privilege it is—an
exceedingly high and sacred one — to exercise our priestly service in the
assembly, offering the sacrifice of praise to God, giving thanks to His Name.
Only too often have we observed a lack of appreciation and of response to the
great love of God our Father and the Lord Jesus, reflected in the assembly by
the silence of many ("Ye … are … an holy priesthood." I Peter
2:5). If one has been "feeding on the Living Bread and drinking at the
Fountainhead" through the week, the Holy Spirit will most surely arouse in
that one a spirit of praise and worship on the Lord’s Day. May God grant a
distinct and gracious revival in the hearts of those who are accustomed to be
silent at the remembrance meetings when, above all occasions, our mouths ought
to be opened in prayer and praise.

 

Your question of participation
relates, however, not to silence because of spiritual apathy, but uncertainty
as to the Spirit’s leading. I am sure that your basic concern (how to recognize
the guidance of the Holy Spirit) is, commensurate with our spiritual state,
shared by many. If your heart does not condemn you, if you are conscious of
nothing unjudged in your life, you have liberty and confidence in your prayers.
So the Apostle John assures us in his first Epistle, chapter three and verse
twenty-one. Can we not say, then, and believe, that the Holy Spirit will guide
us in our participation— it having been our prayerful desire prior to the
meeting.

 

While on the one hand our cold
hearts may, on that very account, cause our silence when we ought to be
praising, they may, being deceitful, keep us silent through excessive
introspection—our examining and analyzing our thoughts unduly. We must guard
against this.

 

That we may (and often, too,
perhaps) miss the Spirit’s direction; going ahead of, or behind Him—speaking
when we ought not, and not speaking when we should—we know our own hearts too
well to deny. Here, I suggest, we must count upon the mercy and grace of our
God. He knows our desires and motives. Those that are with a view to His glory
and the edification of the saints are wrought in us by the Holy Spirit. We can
fully count on Him then to help us in this area of participation in meeting.
While we should be, of course, exercised as to the Spirit’s leading, I suggest
that it is the enemy’s work to so occupy us with our tendency to act in the
flesh that we say and do nothing. We are to act and to speak in faith. In
"that day," when all will be made plain to us and divinely appraised,
there will be revealed the extent in which we really did so and participated in
the Spirit. Meanwhile, let us keep our eyes on the Lord by faith, and, whether
in the exercise of our priestly service or in ministry, let us have confidence
in the help and mercy of God our Father.

 

FRAGMENT

May the Saviour’s love and merit

Fill our hearts both night and
day,

And the unction of His Spirit

All our thoughts and actions
sway.

May we thus, in God confiding,

And from self-dependence free,

Find our rest—in Christ abiding—

Till
with joy Himself we see.