God dispenses His grace to us through assembling together. God listens to individual prayers, but there is another kind of prayer. It must be prayed in the meetings, in the principle of two or three asking together in the Lord’s name. These prayers must be brought to the prayer meeting before we see them come to pass. God’s corporate grace comes to man only through the meetings. One person alone cannot open up some portions of the Word. Many times in the meeting, God opens up one portion of the Word through another portion of the Word. As one person speaks on one passage, light shines on another passage. In this way light is unveiled, and we receive grace in a corporate way. One outstanding characteristic of the church is that it meets! God is not that interested in individuals being “self-taught.” We must assemble ourselves together before we can receive His corporate grace. No one who forsakes the meetings will keep His grace. It is a foolish thing to abandon assembling together. A man must meet; he must come together with other children of God before he can receive the corporate grace… Christianity does not have self-taught Christians. Do not think that we can be Christians who just shut ourselves up to pray and to read the Bible alone at home.

Christianity is not built on just individuals, but also on the assembling together…The functioning of the Body is realized specifically through the meeting. The mutual help, mutual influence, and mutual care of the members (the eyes helping the legs, the ears helping the hands, the hand helping the mouth) are more clearly manifested in the meetings.

In addition to being the Body of Christ, the church is also the dwelling place of God. When the church meets together, God manifests His light. His presence here refers to His presence in the meeting. Only in the meeting can we have this second kind of presence. The Lord’s presence with and individual and His presence in the meeting are two different things. Some only know the Lord’s presence as individuals. But this knowledge is insufficient. The more compelling and powerful presence is experienced only in the meetings; we cannot experience such a presence individually. Although individually we can have the Lord’s presence, this presence is never as great or as powerful as His presence in the meetings. It is a spontaneous thing for God’s children to function in mutuality when they come together. WE do not know how this mutuality in the Body works in the meeting, but we know that this mutuality is a fact. When on brother stands up, others feel the Lord’s presence. One brother opens his mouth to pray and others touch God. Another brother speaks a few words and others feel the supply of life. This phenomenon cannot be explained by human words.

Hebrews 10:25; Matthew 18:20; Acts 2:42; 1 Corinthians 14:23,26; 1 Corinthians 12; Ephesians 3-5