However varied may be the individual needs in any company of worshippers there is common to all the need to hear the voice of the Lord, the prophetic word that comes with power from God to awaken the sense of sin, to heal the soul, to inspire with vision and hope, to challenge the complacent, to persuade the fearful, to convince the doubter--in a word, to win men and women for Jesus Christ.

One of the hardest things to learn is when you ought to speak, and when you ought to keep still in a Quaker Meeting for Worship. How ir-reverent to indulge in mere chatter or to rise quickly to utter words when God has not spoken. How tragic, however, to be disobedient and silent when God has commissioned you to deliver His message in the power of the Spirit! Hence, above all else seek to be obedient to the Living Lord, determining ahead of time neither to speak nor to refrain from speaking.

During the meeting for worship, if you feel like speaking, surrender again your impulse to the Lord saying, "Not my will but thine be done." if it is only your will that prompts you, God's grace will enable you to remain seated, with profit both to yourself and to others. However, if after an attitude of surrender you still feel the prompting of the Spirit that inner necessity to speak (sometimes with emotional "butterflies") by all means be obedient to the Lord. Rise and share at once the message that God has given.