We Christians are a Speaking People, Witnesses of the Living Christ Speaking for God

Christians are a speaking people; a genuine Christian is a speaking Christian, for we are witnesses of the living Christ who testify of what we have seen and heard of Him in our enjoyment and experience of Him. Amen!

How can we not speak when we enjoy Christ in His word, we contact Him day by day, and we are filled with the living word of God?

When we’re filled with the Lord’s word, we cannot but speak – we simply overflow with the enjoyment of Christ in His word.

The source of faith is the word of God, the living, spoken, instant word of the Lord.

When we first believed into the Lord it was not because we were more special or more seeking, but because the gospel reached us and the word of God infused us with faith.

Similarly, day by day we need to spend time with the Lord in His word to be continually infused with faith.

Even after we believed into the Lord Jesus, faith is not something of ourselves but of Him; the more we spend time with the Lord, the more we are infused with Him as our faith.

The more we open to Him in His word and ask Him to infuse us with Himself, the more faith increases in us.

This is why it is very good early in the morning to contact the Lord, open to Him, allow Him to speak to us, and remain in His presence.

When we touch the Lord in the morning, when we spend time praying in His word, we get a fresh infusion of Christ, and we enjoy the Lord in spirit.

Then, throughout the day, we need to continue to contact the Lord and have set times to fellowship with Him and pray.

We need to pay the price to gain the reserve supply.

We have the living word of God, we have the ministry publications, and we have the rich hymns in the hymnal – we can take all these in, little by little, day by day, until we are inwardly reconstituted with Christ Himself.

May the Lord make us such men of faith, men filled with the living word of God, men who speak Christ into others!

On one hand, we need to eat the Lord in His word and digest Him in our daily living by saying Amen to His inner speaking.

On the other hand, we need to be a speaking Christian; genuine Christians are those who speak Christ, for Christians are witnesses of the living Christ.

And it is so easy to speak for the Lord when we go through the cycle of contacting the Lord in His word, we are being infused with Him as our faith, and we exercise our spirit of faith to speak the word of God to others.

Whatever fills us, that’s what we overflow with; whatever we enjoy, we also share with others.

May the Lord’s word be our enjoyment so that we may be more than willing to share the riches in God’s word with others also!

Christians are a Speaking People, for a Genuine Christian is a Speaking Christian one with the Speaking God

Christians are not dumb people, for our God is not dumb; our God is not a dumb idol that doesn’t speak, hear, listen, or do anything.

Our God is a speaking God, and He created the whole universe by His speaking. Even today, God is still speaking, and He does all things by His speaking.

Everyone who is saved and begotten of God, everyone who has the life of God, needs to learn to speak for God and to speak His word (Acts 5:20; 2 Cor. 4:13).

The speaking God spoke in the Old Testament, and whenever He appeared to Abraham, Moses, and David, He spoke and spoke and spoke.

God makes Himself known not only by His marvellous deeds and supernatural works but mainly by His speaking.

He spoke to Abraham and attracted him to follow Him into the good land which He gave to him and to his descendants.

He spoke to Moses out of a burning thornbush. He spoke to the children of Israel when He gave them the law, which are the 10 words.

He spoke to the children of Israel when they left Him for idols, and He spoke and spoke and spoke through the prophets to bring His people back to Himself.

God Himself is the Word (John 1:1), and He became embodied to speak God and express God.

In the book of Acts, after the Lord’s ascension, the phrase “the Word of God” appears more often than “the Holy Spirit” or “the Spirit”, showing that the disciples continued to speak the word of God!

And even at the end of the Bible, the Spirit and the bride say…they speak together (Rev. 22:21). Hallelujah!

We need to realize that Christians are a speaking people, for our God is a speaking God; a genuine Christian is a speaking Christ, one who speaks the words of God by being one with God.

As Christians, we all are able to speak for the Lord (Acts 4:20, 29, 31). Amen, we all are a speaking people, and as genuine Christians, we are speaking Christians (Acts 1:8; 1 Cor. 12:3, 13; 14:19, 26; Eph. 5:18-19)!

As we come to the Word of God and enjoy Him in His word, we have something to share with others.

We can share something of Christ’s death and resurrection with our relatives, testifying to them of what we have seen concerning the death the Lord Jesus went through for us.

As we come to the Bible day by day, we are “loaded with the divine riches” and we store up the treasures of Christ in our being so that, when we meet others, we would speak Christ to them.

For example, we may enjoy from Hymns 1025 that Christ is so rich, so full, and that He supplies all our needs; when we come together, we can simply speak this hymn and declare it to the saints.

All the saints have the ability to prophesy, that is, to speak for God, for Christians are a speaking people.

In 2 Tim. 4:2 Paul charged Timothy to proclaim the word and be ready in season and out of season.

The word that Timothy was to proclaim was the sacred writings which he learned and enjoy from his youth, the writings which are able to make him wise unto salvation through the faith in Jesus Christ (2 Tim. 3:14).

As long as we have the word of God in us, we can speak it to others with the exercise of our spirit; the word of God will teach, convict, correct, and instruct in righteousness.

And we should not think that it is the wrong time or out of season; we simply need to speak! We must proclaim what we have learned from the Word of God.

In Acts 5:42 we see that the early disciples met from house to house teaching and announcing the gospel of Jesus as the Christ.

This should be our practice in our daily Christian life and in the church life; whenever we meet someone or when we meet with the saints, we as a speaking people need to speak one with the Lord concerning the things we have enjoyed and experienced of Him.

Thank You, dear Lord, for being our speaking God who does everything by His speaking! Hallelujah, our God is a speaking God and we are the speaking people of a speaking God! Amen, Lord, we want to remain in Your word, enjoying You in a living way as we pray and read and muse on Your word. Infuse us with Yourself much more today. Fill us to overflowing with Your living word. May all Scripture become the very breath of God to us so that we may be men of God with the breath of God. Amen, Lord, we don’t want to be dumb Christians who don’t speak but be the speaking people of God, testifying of the riches of Christ we have enjoyed! Hallelujah, all Christians are able to speak for the Lord by exercising their spirit of faith!

As Believers, We are Witnesses of the Living Christ, those who Speak for and of the Lord

What the Lord needs is not preachers but witnesses, those who have seen something of Him, enjoyed something of Him, and then testify to others of what they have seen and heard.

The Samaritan woman was such a one; she drank of Christ as the living water and, leaving her water pot at the well, went and testified to all to come and see the Lord (John 4).

Similarly, the Lord Jesus told the disciples to remain in Jerusalem until they are filled with the Holy Spirit and power so that they would speak and be His witnesses (Acts 1:8, 22; 2:32; 3:15; 5:32).

We need to realise that, as believers in Christ, we have been made witnesses of the living Christ.

As witnesses of the living Christ, we are speakers, those who speak for the Lord and of the Lord.

What is a witness? When TV reporters ask an eyewitness about the events they have witnessed, they just testify to what they have seen.

It would be strange for someone to be a witness yet have nothing to say concerning what they have seen.

When you see something, you cannot but speak about it.

All Christians are witnesses of the living Christ to speak of what they experienced of the Lord.

A witness is a speaking one, one who only speaks things concerning the one he is testifying.

For example, when the Lord healed the man who was paralytic for more than thirty years and the Pharisees tried to question him about this and that, all he could say is what he saw and experienced, that is, that he was paralytic but now he can walk.

When we touch the Lord, when we enjoy Him in His word, though we may not know many other things, we do know what we have enjoyed of Him and experienced of Him!

Paul was such a one; he saw a vision of Christ as the Head and the Body at the time of his conversion, and this vision governed him to the end of his life.

Even when he testified more than twenty years later before king Agrippa, he could not but be a witness of the living Christ that he saw (Acts 26:19).

We need to learn to speak the word of God in season and out of season for the carrying out of God’s eternal economy (2 Tim. 4:2).

When we’re with our family and friends, we need to speak something about the Christ we have enjoyed.

When we are with the saints, we should not only catch up and see how things are with them but even more, speak of the Christ we have enjoyed.

We shouldn’t think that, oh, it is not the right moment, we need to wait for the most opportune moment, etc.

Rather, we Christians are a speaking people, we are witnesses of the living Christ, and we should speak Christ, speak for Christ, and speak forth Christ on every occasion.

Especially in the church meetings, we need to realize that all the saints should be speakers.

According to 1 Cor. 14:19, 26, and 31, when we come together, each one has something of Christ, a word from the Bible, a song, and an experience of Christ to share for the building up of the church.

We all need to practice speaking in the Holy Spirit.

We shouldn’t speak in detail of our particular experience of Christ in this or that but simply testify that Christ empowers us, so we can do everything in Him.

We can simply testify that He is our life and life supply, and that even in difficult situations He is right there with us, strengthening us and enlivening us, giving us life and power to go on with Him.

We need to learn to be witnesses of the living Christ, a speaking people, by testifying of the Christ whom we have seen and heard.

Even the young people need to speak; though they may not have all the answers and though their living may not match what they see, they need to speak to their colleagues concerning the Christ they have enjoyed.

The more we speak for Christ and of Christ to others, the more we are empowered to be witnesses of the living Christ, testifying to Him and speaking Him to others by the exercise of our spirit of faith.

The schools and universities are the best fishing ponds for the gospel, for our colleagues are more open to us than to the adults when it comes to the gospel.

Therefore, we should take the opportunity to speak Christ to our friends and invite them to the home meeting.

We may not be able to speak that much, but we can definitely invite them to the homes of the saints for a nice meal and some fellowship; in this way, they will hear the gospel and will be infused with faith.

Lord Jesus, cause us to realize that we have been made witnesses of the living Christ! We love You, Lord, and we love to spend time with You to be infused with You in Your living word. Make us a speaking people who proclaim the word in and out of season. Keep us in Your presence, dear Lord, that we may enjoy and experience You in our daily living. Be so real to us every day, and be our enjoyment throughout the day. Lord Jesus, we want to speak of You to our friends, relatives, classmates, and workmates. Make us the witnesses of the living Christ, the speaking people of our speaking God! Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit of faith to speak Christ to others for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1985, vol. 3, “The Divine Speaking,”, pp. 289-291, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, God’s Economy in Faith (2022 spring ITERO), week 5, entitled, Speaking by the Spirit of Faith.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – If we will speak, Christ will witness in the hearts of men. / If we will speak, Christ will witness in the hearts of men. / Tell every man, / Win all we can. / Through our speaking, Christ is speaking in the hearts of men! / The harvest’s ripe! We are preaching the full gospel now! / The fields are white! We are preaching the full gospel now! / For this men search— / Christ and the church! / Let us reap the harvest, preaching the full gospel now! (Hymns #1294)
  – Lord, speak to me, that I may speak / In living echoes of Thy tone; / As Thou hast sought, so let me seek / Thy erring children lost and lone…O use me, Lord, use even me, / Just as Thou wilt, and when, and where, / Until Thy blessed face I see, / Thy rest, Thy joy, Thy glory share! (Hymns #903)
  – To the lost world minister Christ, / The very Christ you enjoy, / Imparting Christ to all your friends / As all their boast and their joy. / To the lost world minister Christ, / Who is your life and your all, / Imparting Christ to all you meet, / All fallen ones, great or small. (Hymns #922)