The Lord touches what He wants to deal with. When He says that something is unclean and we say Amen, He can deal with the matter and fill us. When we say Amen, the Lord will fill us. Do not be influenced by those who say that speaking in tongues is the way to be filled with the Holy Spirit. A few years ago, a wind of tongue-speaking blew into Taiwan. Campaigns were held all over the island to promote tongue-speaking. The saints who were in those campaigns are not here today.

The saints who were young people twenty years ago have grown up. This is normal. We should have the same attitude toward the [170] church and toward ourselves. We should not expect to be miraculously filled. However, please do not misunderstand me. I am not opposed to being miraculously filled. Some saints experience being miraculously filled, but this is inferior to the regular and normal filling of life, which is to consecrate ourselves to the Lord and hand ourselves over to Him. After this type of consecration, we will follow the Lord as our person in a normal way. When the Lord says that something is unclean, we will say Amen and ask Him to cleanse us with His blood. When the Lord tells us to get rid of something, we will say Amen. We will say Amen to whatever the Lord says. When we take the step to obey Him, He will take the step to fill us. When we take another step to obey Him, He will take another step to fill us. As often as we take a step to obey Him, He will take a step to fill us. Eventually, we will experience the genuine filling of the Holy Spirit; that is, our inner being will be completely occupied by Him.

Ephesians 3:17 says, “That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith.” The words make His home indicate that we are a house and that Christ is the Dweller in this house. A house is not a person. The person of a house is its dweller. Ephesians 2:22 says that we are “being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.” We are God’s house, God’s temple (1 Cor. 3:16). If I buy a house and it has its own person, I would not dare move in. However, even though we are God’s house, we also have our own person, our old man, who is very strong. This has caused the Lord Jesus much suffering. It is difficult for Him to make His home in us when another person is occupying the house.

A young sister said that she wanted to consecrate herself to live for the Lord and to offer everything for the Lord’s recovery and for the ground of the church. This consecration is not wrong, but it still has a slight flavor of religion. To say that we will stand on the ground of the church in order to recover the truth for the Lord is to speak from the self. The Lord does not intend for us to go to remote regions or to live in the mountains; neither does He want us to stand on the ground for Him. He is the only One who can stand firmly on the ground of the church. We may stand on the ground today but not tomorrow. However, He stands on the ground every day. Hence, it is not a matter of whether or not we stand on the ground but of whether we let Him be our person. Once we consecrate ourselves to [171] Him, we should let Him be our person. We should practice letting Him be our person in small things.

There is no need to say that we will do this or that for the Lord. We simply need to consecrate ourselves to Him and let Him be our person. Perhaps we have seen the local church and are ready to die and live for the local church. However, the Lord would say that we do not have to be so strong and would ask whether He is the person or we are the person. A brother said that he wants neither a Ph.D. nor a bachelor’s degree. However, the Lord may say that He wants the degree. Another brother said that he will serve the Lord full time. However, the Lord may say, “I do not want you to serve full time; I want you to be a teacher.” What should this brother do? It is not a matter of what we want to do; it is a matter of giving ourselves to the Lord and letting Him be our person. If the Lord says that He wants to take the ground of the church, we should say Amen. If He says that instead of teaching He now wants a brother to serve full time, he should say Amen. The key is to let the Lord be our person. If one day the Lord says that He loves the aborigines in Mount Ah-li and wants to live among them and preach the gospel to them, we should say Amen. This is consecration.

To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be completely occupied by the Lord. This is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. This kind of infilling is lasting and proper, because it is normal. If we have a genuine consecration and are thus filled with the Holy Spirit, the church where we are will be blessed. We will not be a problem in the churches; rather, they will receive the supply of life from us. This is the normal experience of life. By the Lord’s mercy, may we have this kind of consecration. We may not be so clear in our consecration, but the Lord will gain us step by step. It is not a matter of what we should or should not do but of what the Lord wants.

Please remember that we are vessels, and we should let the Lord be the person in our vessel. We are the Lord’s house, and we should let the Lord, the Dweller of the house, be the person. A dweller should not have to tell his house what he wants to do, because the dweller is the person of the house, and the property rights belong to the dweller. This is a picture of our consecration. The problem is that we are all living; we are our own person. Some of us have consecrated everything to the Lord except our person; hence, we still tell [172] the Lord what we want. Eventually, everything in our experience revolves around the self.

The Lord does not need us to be the lord. He wants us to give up our position as the person. We just need to be a clean house for Him to dwell in as the person. Then there would be no problem and no hindrance when He touches something in us. We would never delay. Rather, we would agree with whatever He touches. We would let Him be our person. In this way He can gradually fill us. Every day He can fill us until we and the Lord become one. Then we will be conformed to His image: we will express Him and we will represent Him. This is our goal.