As we are contacting people and in dealing with them, we must ask, seek, and knock in prayer for the proper way to contact them; we must receive the divine supply and minister this supply to others.
In Matt. 7 we see the way for us as kingdom people – as citizens of the kingdom of the heavens – to care for others and to deal with others.
First of all, we should not judge others, nor seek to find their faults and expose them, for we ourselves have faults, and no one asked us to judge. Actually, the judgement with which we judge others we will also be judged, and the measure with which we measure others, we also will be measured.
Secondly, we need to be careful when sharing the truth in God’s word and our experiences of Christ to others, for some of them may not be in the right condition and situation and, instead of receiving them, they may trample them and turn and tear us (see v. 7).
That which is holy refers to the objective truth belonging to God, and the pearls refer to the subjective experiences of Christ. Praise the Lord, as we pursue Him and grow in Him, we are infused and filled with His word, and the divine truth is being constituted into us to the point that we want to overflow and share this with others.
Furthermore, as we grow in life we have precious subjective experiences of Christ, and He becomes so real and personal to us; our desire is to speak of this wonderful One to others.
But simply being excited about the truth in God’s word and being happy about the experiences of Christ we had doesn’t mean that we should share these things with everyone, no matter who they are and where they are.
Rather, the law of the kingdom of the heavens – as outlined by the Lord in Matt. 7 – is that we need to refrain from sharing these holy things and sweet experiences with some who are like “dogs” and like “hogs”, some who may be believers but are religious and are ready to turn and tear us.
In speaking our subjective experiences of Christ we have to consider who we’re speaking with; especially those young ones among us, when they get excited, they speak to everyone about everything, and pretty soon some turn and trample them under foot.
When we talk to others about the truth or about our precious experiences of Christ we must first perceive and determine whether or not they have the capacity to receive what we intend to share.
What we need to do first of all – and even while we contact others – is to ask, seek, and knock for the proper way to contact them.
Learning to Ask, Seek, and Knock for the Proper Way to Contact People according to the Spirit
![The best way for the kingdom people to contact others is according to the kingdom and according to the Holy Spirit....As we deal with others, we must ask, seek, and knock. Eventually, we shall receive the guidance to deal with people according to the kingdom and according to the Spirit. Thus, the controlling principle for our contact with others is the kingdom and the Spirit. If our contact with others is based upon this principle, we shall not make mistakes...[and not make contacts that are] not profitable to anyone. Witness Lee, Life-study of Matthew, p. 291](https://i0.wp.com/agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/The-best-way-for-the-kingdom-people-to-contact-others-is-according1.jpg?resize=450%2C674&ssl=1 "The best way for the kingdom people to contact others is according to the kingdom and according to the Holy Spirit....As we deal with others, we must ask, seek, and knock. Eventually, we shall receive the guidance to deal with people according to the kingdom and according to the Spirit. Thus, the controlling principle for our contact with others is the kingdom and the Spirit. If our contact with others is based upon this principle, we shall not make mistakes...[and not make contacts that are] not profitable to anyone. Witness Lee, Life-study of Matthew, p. 291")
The truth is that we do not know how to contact people, and even having a good heart and being filled with the enjoyment of God’s word doesn’t mean that we should speak to others right away about it.
As we are contacting people and dealing with them, we must ask, seek, and knock for the proper way to contact them (Matt. 7:7-8; 1 Tim. 5:1-2). This means that we must pray; we must pray before we speak, and we must pray as we speak to others.
To ask is to pray in a common way, to seek is to supplicate in a specific way, and to knock is to demand in the most intimate and most earnest way.
When we meet someone we need to ask the Lord, Lord, what should I speak to this person? What is his situation and condition, and what should I say to him? This is a common prayer.
Then we need to supplicate in a more specific way, to have the specific words from the Lord to say to them. And even more, we need to demand from the Lord in a most intimate way that He would be the One speaking in us, and He would accompany our word with His mighty hand.
The Lord Jesus did this Himself in Matt. 11, where, as He was rebuking the cities that had rejected Him, He answered and said to the Father, Yes Father…. – as He was rebuking the cities, the Lord was asking, seeking, and knocking in prayer before the Father, and He spoke what the Father had spoken to Him.
He wanted to know how does the Father feel about this particular situation, how is He dealing with these cities, how does He rebuke them, and how to be in such a situation.
The biggest secret in contacting others is that we need to pray; we need to not rely on what we know, how we feel, and what we can see, but pray.
We need to pray at the very time that we are contacting people, and we need to learn to ask, seek, and knock for the proper way to contact people according to the spirit.
As we ask, seek, and knock in prayer, praying by asking the Lord, supplicating in a specific way, and demanding from Him in a most intimate way, we will receive guidance to deal with people according to the kingdom and according to the Spirit.
The controlling principle for our contact with others is the kingdom and the Spirit. As we ask, seek, and knock, the Father will give us good things (Matt. 7:9-10), which is the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13).
In other words, as we pray while contacting people, the Lord will give Himself to us for us to minister Him to them.
We need to spend time to seek the Lord; in contacting others, we need the asking, the seeking, and the knocking, and then the door will be open, and we will have a way to contact others in the most profitable way.
We will know how to speak with them, what to minister to them, and how to avoid mistakes; we will also know how to beware of the dogs and the hogs. As we ask the Lord, we will know how to keep the new law of the kingdom of the heavens.
As we seek Him, we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and we will find it (Matt. 6:33). As we knock, a door will be open to us, and we will enter through the narrow gate and walk on the constricted way (Matt. 7:14).
Lord Jesus, may we learn how to ask, seek, and knock in prayer for the proper way to contact people according to the Spirit. Save us from thinking we know how to contact others and what to speak to them. Save us from contacting others and dealing with them in a natural way. Lord Jesus, we ask You concerning others, we supplicate in a specific way concerning them, and we demand in the most intimate and most earnest way, so that we may minister Christ to them according to their need.
Praying Ourselves into God to Receive the Riches in His Spirit to Feed Ourselves and Others Also
If we read Luke 11:1-13, the parallel portion to Matt. 7, we see the parable of one who had a friend coming over at night and he had nothing to give him to eat, so he went to another friend to ask for food.
This second friend, though the door was locked and he was already in bed, because of his shameless persistence, got up and gave his friend what he needed.
As we contact people an deal with them, we need to ask, seek, and knock in prayer before the Lord, and this is so that we may pray ourselves into God to receive the riches embodied in His Spirit for us to eat and for those under our care to be fed.
When we pray as the Lord has taught us, Father, Your name be sanctified, Your kingdom come, Your will be done… – we will be brought out of ourselves and into God. There are a lot of kinds of prayers that do not bring us into God, but this kind of prayer will bring us into God.
As we contact people, we need to come to the Lord to ask, seek, and knock in prayer, having a shameless persistence in prayer before Him to receive the riches embodied in His Spirit to feed ourselves and all those under our care.
If we, being evil, know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will our Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him! If we shamelessly persist in prayer, the Lord will give us what we need.
If we ask, it shall be given to us; if we seek, we shall find, and if we knock, it will be opened to us. We need to pray ourselves into God, and we will receive the life supply signified by the Spirit; then, we will have food to give to the ones whom we contact.
Prayer is very important, for if we don’t pray ourselves into God, we don’t have the supply, and we can’t minister this supply to others!
On one hand we ourselves must be through the cross; we must be crossed out by Christ, for in the church there is no room for natural person, but Christ is all and in all (Col. 3:11). On the other hand, we need to be by the Spirit, and do everything in spirit to dispense Christ to others, and this has to be done for the building up of the church.
May we practice this: may we practice to do everything through the cross and by the Spirit to dispense Christ to others for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.
May we humble ourselves like Solomon and ask the Lord for wisdom in dealing with His people, how to be with them, how to go in and out among them, and how to minister to them (see 2 Chron. 1:10).
We need the Lord in speaking to others. We need to deny ourselves through the exercise of our spirit to pray, and we need to pray ourselves into God to receive His riches in His Spirit to feed ourselves and to feed the ones under our care also.
Lord Jesus, we want to pray ourselves into God to receive the riches of Christ embodied in the Spirit to feed ourselves and to feed others also. Amen, Lord Jesus, we come to You to receive the life supply; may Your kingdom come and Your will be done as in heaven so also on earth. We need Your supply, Lord; we need the Spirit as our supply, and we need to be fed and filled with the Holy Spirit. May we learn to do everything through the cross and by the Spirit in order to minister Christ into others for His Body!
This article can also be read in the Romanian language / Citiți acest articol în limba română vizitând următorul link, Cerem, căutăm și batem în rugăciune pentru a primi bogățiile lui Dumnezeu și pentru a-i hrăni și pe alții.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Mark Raabe for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Matthew, pp. 291-293 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Development of the Kingdom of God in the Church Life and the Christian Life (2019 spring ITERO), week 4, Living the Kingdom Life by Taking Care of Others according to the Spirit and by Realizing God’s Forgiveness.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Praying always in the spirit, / Never by our human thought! / Fellowship with God the Spirit / Only thus to us is brought. (Hymns #780)
# If we neglect the gospel, / If we refuse to pray, / If we neglect our spirit, / Then we have lost our way. / Oh, how our friends and neighbors, / Those in our families, / All need our interceding, / Our prayer upon our knees! (Song on, If we neglect the gospel)
# Hallelujah for life in the Spirit, / Hallelujah for newness within. / When we turn from our mind to our spirit, / We enjoy all the riches of Him. (Hymns #1141)
