Why? Because it brings rich supply, joy, and daily salvation.

That’s because, singing hymns and spiritual songs elevates me into the presence of the Lord.

Psalm 100:2 says,

Serve Jehovah with rejoicing; / Come before His presence with joyful singing.

Singing to the Lord with our spirit (1 Cor. 14:15b) elevates us into a divine sphere above the concerns of our daily life.

You might say, “I’m saved. I believe in Jesus as my Lord and Savior.”  Very good!  So you’re saved eternally.

But are you being saved in His life (Rom. 5:10) from the many cares of your human life? How about anxiety, anger and offenses?

They are like “little foxes that ruin the vineyards while they are in blossom” (Song of Songs 2:15).

Singing, speaking and praying back high standard hymns can preserve our present enjoyment of the Lord and His salvation.

Hymn Singing — The Pattern of the Apostle Paul

In 1 Timothy 1 :16, Paul said he was a pattern to all those who would believe on Jesus Christ unto eternal life. So we should learn from his example, including his practice of hymn singing. In Acts 16:25, it says,

And about midnight Paul and Silas, while praying, sang hymns of praise to God; and the prisoners were listening to them.

After being unjustly arrested, beaten and put in the stocks, Paul and his companion, Silas were singing hymns of praise to God! What a pattern! They were victorious over their situation.

Their singing wasn’t a performance. It was simply their way to keep enjoying Christ in the midst of their trying situation. What a testimony and what an issue!

Eventually, there was an earthquake. The prison doors were opened. The jailor, was ready to commit suicide for fear of being executed by the Romans for losing his prisoners.

Instead, Paul and Silas, full of the Holy Spirit, led him and his whole family to be saved. Their prayer and hymn singing kept them in the Lord’s victory! It can be the same with us today.

How I practice hymn singing in my daily life

Joyfully sing in the morning

In the morning, when I spend time with the Lord, I like to sing a few songs and hymns.

Psalm 59:16a says,

But I will sing of Your strength; / And I will joyfully sing of Your lovingkindness in the morning.

This simple practice often saves me from my wandering mind, leads me to Christ, and fills me in my spirit (Eph. 5:18-19).

A couple of my favorite morning hymns are: “I come to His presence afresh” and “I come to Thee dear Lord.”

Get saved by singing during the day

During the day, especially when I’m facing trials, the darts of the tempter are flying or I’m troubled by sickness, I like to follow Paul’s pattern to sing (Acts 16:25). At such times I often sing: “O let us rejoice in the Lord evermore”

Touch the sweetness of the Lord by singing at the meal time

Meals are a great time for hymn singing. I’ve found singing hymns especially before or after dinner is great way to edify my fellow believers, and family, the first being my own wife.

The dinner table is a good reminder to sing, because the Lord Jesus led His disciples in singing a hymn after His last supper (Matt. 26:30). At such times I am often touched to sing: “There is always something over.”

Uplift the praise by singing corporately in Christian meetings

The epistles to the early churches highlight a primary practice of hymn singing among the believers.

The following Bible verses point to this common practice of  hymn singing and also of speaking to one another, and teaching one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs:

• Eph. 5:19—”Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming with your heart to the Lord.”
• Col. 3:16—”Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God.”
• 1 Cor. 14:15—”What then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray also with the mind; I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing also with the mind.”
• Heb. 2:12—Saying, “I will declare Your name to My brothers; in the midst of the church I will sing hymns of praise to You.”

I hope you also will be encouraged to make hymn singing a normal part of your daily Christian life and church life!

The post Hymn Singing – A Practice for Daily Salvation appeared first on Holding to Truth.

Such spiritual breathing is a basic practice for a vibrant, healthy Christian life.  In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, the Apostle Paul exhorted the believers to “unceasingly pray.”  Such unceasing prayer is a kind of spiritual breathing.

Although, we can’t pray lengthy prayers continually, we can and should maintain a constant fellowship or contact with the Lord Jesus through prayer.

Christ breathed the Spirit into His believers in His resurrection.

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In His resurrection, Christ became a life-giving Spirit for us to receive (1 Cor. 15:45b).

On the day of His resurrection it says,  “[Jesus] breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:22)

Now He only asked us to receive. Are you daily receiving this breathed-out Spirit?

In His resurrection, Christ indwells His believers to be their life.  Romans 8:10 says, “But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness.”

But, we must realize that anything of life is dependent. (For example, we will never graduate from our physical eating, drinking or breathing.)

Whether we’ve just received the Lord Jesus or have been a Christian for many years, we still need to breathe Him to be living.

How can you practice spiritual breathing?

Use your spirit, your deepest part

The right organ for spiritual breathing is our human spirit.  We can contact and breathe His Spirit with our spirit.

John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.”

So how can we contact and receive His Spirit with our spirit. That is, how can we practice spiritual breathing?

Call on the name of the Lord

Start by calling on His name, “Lord Jesus! O Lord!” from the depth of your being. Loudly, or softly—just get your mouth open.

In Romans 10:12, Paul said, “the same Lord is Lord of all and rich to all who call upon Him.” And in 1 Corinthians 12:3 he said,

No one can say, Jesus is Lord! except in the Holy Spirit.

Even the weeping prophet Jeremiah said in Lamentations 3:55-56,

I called upon Your name, O Jehovah, / From the lowest pit. You have heard my voice; do not hide / Your ear at my breathing, at my cry.

Confess your sins

Also, if you are feeling weighed down by sins, just confess them to Jesus. This is also an excellent spiritual breathing.

It is a deep exhaling, that brings in a deeper inhaling.

In 1 John 1:9, John said, ” If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Just tell the Lord your sorrows, sins, sicknesses and longings. Give them to Him. He will give you more of Himself.

Keep continually contacting Him in our spirit

Such a Christ is our breath, drink and our food and we must live in moment by moment dependence on Him. This means that we must continually contact Him in our spirit. Even a simple, soft, “O Lord” may be adequate to breathe Christ while working.

However, it is good to do some daily deep breathing, especially in the morning so as to bring in fresh supplies for your health. A doctor will tell you, that you need deep breathing for your physical body—at least mine did. Well doctor Jesus (Matt. 9:12) also prescribed spiritual breathing to his disciples (John 20:22)

A  Wonderful Hymn on Breathing

Albert B. Simpson, (1843-1919) a minister of Christ and a prolific hymn writer, wrote a wonderful hymn on spiritual breathing that still has much benefit for us today. (You can listen to it on Hymnal.net by looking up “O Lord, breathe Thy Spirit on me.)  In his first stanza he says,

O Lord, breathe Thy Spirit on me,
Teach me how to breathe Thee in;
Help me pour into Thy bosom
All my life of self and sin.

And the chorus says,

I am breathing out my sorrow,
Breathing out my sin;
I am breathing, breathing, breathing,
All Thy fulness in.

My Daily Practice

I daily endeavor to practice this, especially upon rising in the morning.  Coming to the Lord in my spirit by calling on His name, praying short prayers and even singing hymns like the one above gives me a good start.

Confessing helps me to breathe out—to exhale, all my sorrow, sin, self, and sickness and so that I can breathe in more of His Spirit as my life divine, cleansing, fullness, joy, and comfort.

I pray that you also will realize that Christ, as the life-giving Spirit is present, available, rich and real—and “breathable.”

Call on Him, pray to Him—not mainly for things—but simply to live because of Him (John 6:57). By such spiritual breathing, He will grow in you and make you a vital member of His Body for His continuation on this earth.

May we all give ourselves to spending daily times with this wonderful One simply to breathe Him, inhale Him and absorb Him into our being.

The post Spiritual Breathing – A Daily Practice for Believers appeared first on Holding to Truth.

If you are one who is seeking a deeper knowledge of the truth in the Bible this post could be life-changing! It has for me and I hope it will do the same for you also.

First, I would like to introduce you to the Life-study of the Bible and then share my experience in using it as an opener ushering me into the deep mine of God’s living word.

What is the Life-study of the Bible

The Life-study of the Bible is a comprehensive study of every book of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation from the perspective of the believers’ experience of the divine life in Christ. It reveals the mystery of God’s economy. This divine economy is like “the picture on the box of the Bible.” Seeing this economy helps you understand how all the pieces fit together.

The four-fold purpose of the Life-study of the Bible is first to open up the divine truths, to bring the reader into the divine truth. Second, it is to provide spiritual nourishment.  Third, it is to solve the common and hard problems. Finally, it is to open up every book by giving a thorough interpretation of it.

But to really appreciate this tremendous resource for your Bible study, I would encourage you to check out life-study.com

Here’s how I would use the Life-study for a richer Bible Study

Pray first.

Since the Lord Jesus is God’s living Word (John 1:1; 1 John 1:1), we need to contact Him as the wonderful Person hidden behind the sacred pages of Scripture. Jesus told the Jewish religionists of His day,

You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that testify concerning Me. Yet you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. (John 5:39-40).

We should not waste our time by making the same mistake they made. They searched the Scriptures, but they were not willing to come to the Lord Jesus that they might receive eternal life.

To get life from the Scriptures, you first need to use your spirit to come to the Lord in prayer (Eph. 6:18). Turn your heart to Him and pray,

“Lord Jesus, as I come to the Bible, I come to You that I may have divine life. Lord, I love You and I turn my heart to You. I open to receive You in my Bible study.”

Mingle reading the Bible with prayer for nourishment.

Remember that your first order of business is not to get more Bible knowledge. Come to the Bible to contact the Lord Jesus, to feed on Him as the bread of life (John 6:35).  Receive Him through God’s word as the nourishment to feed your inner man. Even the Lord Jesus standing as a man told the devil,

It is written, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God.” (Matt. 4:4)

If the Lord Jesus lived on every word out of God’s own mouth, how much more should we.

Simply receive the Word by means of prayer, praying the Word with your spirit. In Ephesians 6:17-18, the Apostle Paul said,

And receive the…sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit.

This life-giving practice is what we call “pray-reading the Word.” Here is a post on how to pray-read the God’s word to receive spiritual nourishment. I hope you will give it a try.

Study the word with a proper opener. Life-study of the Bible is my favorite.

The Life-study of the Bible has been the greatest help to my understanding the Scriptures.

Don’t presume that if you read the Bible enough times that you will see the mystery contained in it. We need to stand upon the shoulders of  God’s loving seekers who have gone before us. Otherwise, we ‘ll waste time and miss a lot.

When Philip, the evangelist  was led by the Spirit to preach Christ to the Ethiopian official in his chariot, he saw him reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked him if he understood what he was reading.

In Act 8:31 the Ethiopian replied, “How could I unless someone guides me? And he entreated Philip to come up and sit with him. He needed someone to explain the Scripture, to help him understand what Isaiah 53 was talking about.

We should not be proud but use the best openers to guide us into the proper understanding of God’s word. This is why I highly promote the Life-study of the Bible. But how can you know what is proper interpretation.

Check with the Ethiopian’s experience. Philip’s interpreting the Scripture issued in his believing the gospel (v. 38), being baptized and going on his way rejoicing (v. 39). The proper opening of the Scriptures leads you to Christ, fills you with faith and love for the Lord Jesus so you go on your way rejoicing!

Read the life-study message title and subtitles.

This kind of pre-reading will give you an overview of the important points in the passage of Scripture you are studying. It will help you to ask questions and be more engaged in your reading of the Bible with message as an opener.

The post How I Use the Life-study of the Bible to Get More from God’s Word appeared first on Holding to Truth.

You may have even read a verse like,

You shall be holy, for I, Jehovah your God, am holy. (Lev. 19:2)

But what does that mean, and how is it even possible for us, who were fallen sinners, to be holy as God is holy?

First, we must believe that this is God’s word which expresses His desire for us. We must also believe that God would not say this without providing a way to fulfill it.

An encouraging hymn on holiness

In seeking an answer, I was comforted by the lines of a precious hymn on God’s holiness that says,

“Thou wilt make us even partakers of Thy very holiness.”

How wonderful is this promise! God will make us partakers of His holiness!

These words from the fifth stanza of the hymn, “Holy Father, we adore Thee” by Witness Lee, open a door into the revelation and experience of God’s holiness.

God does not expect us to “be holy” by our own effort. Rather, He has a marvelous plan, God’s economy, to make us the holy expression of the Holy God—to make us “partakers of His holiness.”

First, let’s consider God’s plan for holiness revealed in His word. Then we will apply this to our experience, and see how we can become “partakers of God’s holiness” (Heb. 12:10).

We need to see holiness in God’s plan – how God obtains a holy expression of Himself, the holy God

To help us see holiness in God’s eternal plan, we will follow the six stanzas of this profound hymn to give a panoramic view of God’s holiness.

First, holiness is God Himself—God’s person, indicated by His name – stanza 1 

The story of holiness starts with the “Holy Father,” God the Father Himself—the Source of holiness.

Stanza 1 of this precious hymn says,

Holy Father, we adore Thee,
Rev’rent song to Thee we raise;
Thou art holy, Thou art lofty,
“Holy is Thy Name,” we praise.

In His prayer in John 17, Jesus addressed God as, “Holy Father” (John 17:11). Since the name denotes the person, this name tells us that God in His very person is holy.

He is set apart from everything common. We can only say—”Holy is Thy Name,” we praise.

And because He is the Holy Father, His pleasure is to have holy children. So He chose us in Christ, before the foundation of the world, to be holy (Eph. 1:4).

Second, holiness is God’s nature – stanza 2 

Holiness is not a kind of outward behavior, in which a person dresses and deports themselves in a particularly pious fashion. Jesus was holy, but He looked quite ordinary. He was even called the “carpenter’s son” (Matt. 13:55).

Stanza 2 says,

Loving is Thy heart, dear Father,
Righteous ever are Thy ways;
But how holy is Thy nature,
Yet, to us Christ it conveys.

Holiness is God’s nature and Christ, as God’s embodiment, who is sanctification to us (1 Cor. 1:30), conveys this holy nature into us.

There are certain attributes of God we will never possess. For example, we will never be omniscient, omnipresent, or omnipotent. These attributes belong only to God Himself. But how wonderful that holiness is an attribute of God that can be conveyed to us!

In fact, Peter said that through the great and precious promises of God’s word, we can become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4). This is why it is so helpful to read God’s word with our praying spirit, to pray-read it (Eph. 6:17-18).

Simply tell the Lord,

“Lord Jesus, thank you for the precious promises of Your word. Through Your word, convey God’s holy nature to me for my experience.”

Third, we are made holy in our position through the blood of Christ and the truth which is God’s word – stanza 3  

With God, holiness is His nature, but with us, holiness is our sanctification, our being separated unto Him (Heb. 12:14).

Stanza 3 says,

Thou hast ever sanctified us
With the blood of Christ our Lord;
Thou hast separated sinners
Thru the truth which is Thy Word.

Hebrews 13:12 says that “Jesus, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate.” Christ’s blood sanctified us unto God the moment that we believed in Him.

Ephesians 1:13 says that when we heard the word of the truth, the gospel of our salvation, believing into Christ, we were sealed with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit’s sealing separated us, who were sinners, to be God’s inheritance. What a blessing!

In John 17:17 Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” God’s word works not only to separate us from the world and its usurpation positionally, but to saturate us in our disposition (Eph. 5:26).

Fourth, we also become holy in our disposition by the Spirit’s continuous sanctifying work – stanza 4  

Stanza 4 says,

Thou hast, by Thy Holy Spirit,
Made us holy unto Thee;
And our spirit, soul, and body
Wholly sanctified will be.

Sanctification is much more than a change in position from one that is common to one separated unto God (Matt. 23:17, 19). By His Holy Spirit, God makes us holy unto Himself in all three parts of our being—spirit, soul and body (1 Pet. 1:2; 1 Thes. 5:23).

He does this beginning from the moment we believe into Christ and are born of the Spirit in our spirit (John 3:6). Then from beachhead in our spirit, the Spirit spreads into all our other parts until we are wholly sanctified.

It is a healthy practice to pray,

“Lord, sanctify me more today. Spread from my spirit into my soul and even to my body. Saturate me with Your Holy Spirit.”

Fifth, we possess the holy life of Jesus and become partakers of God’s holiness – stanza 5 

Stanza 5 says,

Oh! The holy life of Jesus
Thru Thy grace we now possess;
Thou wilt make us e’en partakers
Of Thy very holiness.

Through God’s grace we now possess the holy life of Jesus! His holy life is the element, the supply for us to live such a holy life as Jesus lived.

By enjoying His holy life through grace, God makes us partakers of His very holiness! That is, we partake of the quality of His nature, of what He is.

Sixth, in the holy city we’ll share God’s full holiness – stanza 6 

Such a process issues in our sharing God’s full holiness in the holy city for eternity!

Stanza 6 says,

When within that holy city,
Thy full holiness we’ll share,
To the uttermost forever,
“Thou art holy,” we’ll declare.

This is the destination of God’s story of holiness —the holy city, New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2, 10). As the issue of all the foregoing points we’ll not only share God’s full holiness, but to the uttermost forever, we’ll declare—”Thou art holy!” This declaration is the expression of what we have become, a corporate expression of God’s holiness.

Becoming partakers of His holiness—Not a “how to,” but remaining in His dispensing

We’ve seen the wonderful steps God takes to gain an eternal expression of His holiness. As believers, we need to cooperate with God to become partakers of His holiness today.

We can partake of His holiness by staying in contact with the Lord by means of His holy Word and His sanctifying Spirit.

Practice to daily enjoy the Lord Jesus by feeding on Him in His word (John 6:57, 63), by pray-reading and musing on the Word. You will discover that the holy life of Jesus is supplying you, making you a partaker of God’s holiness (2 Pet. 1:4)!

Since He, as the life-giving Spirit dwells in your spirit, continue to set your mind on this spirit (Rom. 8:6) so His holy life can spread into your mind.

There is no need to try to be holy, just live and have your being in, and according to this spirit—His Spirit mingled with your spirit (v. 4).

If you have enjoyed something from this post please take a moment to share it in a brief comment.

References and Further Reading:

This post was inspired by my enjoyment of the hymn, “Holy Father, we adore Thee” by Witness Lee.

The post What is holiness in the Bible? appeared first on Holding to Truth.

I found them while singing and musing on this hymn by Witness Lee entitled: “I’ve found the One of peerless worth.”

This hymn expresses God’s desire for us! He wants us to experience and enjoy Christ as everything.

However, to adequately experience Christ in a certain aspect, we first need to see Him, to appreciate Him in that aspect from God’s word.

Once we see an aspect of Christ we should lay hold of it by praying and musing on those Scripture verses that reveal  Him as such a One.

A Hymn on The Experience of Christ as Everything: “I’ve Found the One of Peerless Worth”

Stanza one of the hymn I enjoyed says:

I’ve found the One of peerless worth,
My heart doth sing for joy;
And sing I must, for Christ I have:
Oh, what a Christ have I!

May we all make such a discovery! May we find “the One of peerless worth.”

Since this hymn has fifteen stanzas, I won’t attempt to cover each stanza individually. I will simply list the seventy wonderful items of Christ I discovered with related Bible verses that reveal such an aspect.

I encourage you to follow the Scripture links for each aspect of Christ. Pause to pray and muse over them a little at a time until your appreciation for Christ grows and you experience Christ in that particular aspect.

70 Aspects of Christ as Everything for Your Experience

Christ is…

1. The Lamb of God—John 1:29; 1 Pet. 1:19; Exo. 12:3-4
2. The Sun of Righteousness—Mal. 4:2; Psa. 84:11; Luke 1:78
3. The Tree of Life (also the Bread of life)—John 15:1; 1:4; 6:35, 57; Rev. 22:14
4. The smitten Rock, whence living waters burst—1 Cor. 10:4; Exo. 17:6
5. The fountain in my heart—John 7:37-39
6. My life—Col. 3:4; John 1:4a;
7. My light—John 1:4b; 8:12
8. My way—John 14:6
9. My comfort—Psa. 23:4; Matt. 5:4; 2 Cor. 1:5
10. My health—Luke 5:31-32
11. My peace—Eph. 1:2; 2:15
12. My rest—Matt. 11:28
13. My joy—John 15:11
14. My hope—Col. 1:27
15. My glory—Col. 1:27; 3:4; 2 Thes. 1:10
16. My wealth—Eph. 3:8; Col. 2:3 6
17. My wisdom—1 Cor. 1:24b, 30
18. My power—1 Cor. 1:24a
19. My boast—Rom. 5:2, 11; 15:17; 1 Cor. 1:31
20. My righteousness—1 Cor. 1:30
21. My victory—1 Cor. 15:57
22. My redemption—1 Cor. 1:30
23. My truth—2 Cor. 11:10
24. My holiness—1 Thes. 3:13
25. My Savior—John 4:42; Acts 13:23; Tit. 2:13
26. My Shepherd—Psa.23:1; John 10:11; Rev. 7:17
27. My Lord—John 20:28; Phil. 2:11
28. My Advocate above—1 John 2:1
29. My Counsellor—Isa. 9:6
30. My Father—Isa. 9:6
31. My God—Isa. 9:6
32. My Brother—Matt. 12:49; Luke 8:21; John 20:17; Rom. 8:29
33. My Friend—John 15:14-15
34. My Love—S.S. 2:9-10
35. My Captain—Heb. 2:10 (alternate translation for “Author”)
36. My Guard—Phil. 4:7
37. My Teacher—Matt. 10:24
38. My Guide—Exo. 15:13; Psa. 23:3; Luke 1:79; Rev. 7:17
39. My Bridegroom—Matt. 9:15; John 3:29
40. My Master—Matt. 10:25; 24:45
41. My Head—1 Cor. 11:3; Eph. 1:22
42. Who “In me doth He reside”— Rom. 8:10; 2 Cor. 13:5; Col. 1:27
43. My Prophet—Matt. 21:11, 46; Luke 7:16; John 6:14; Deut. 18: 18
44. My Priest—Heb. 7:26; 8:1
45. My King—Luke 19:38; Matt. 25:34; Rev. 17:14; 19:16
46. The Author of my faith—Heb. 12:2
47. The Perfecter of my faith—Heb. 12:2
48. My Mediator—1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 8:6
49. My Guarantee (surety)—Heb. 7:22
50. My faithful Witness—Rev. 1:5; 3:14
51. My everlasting home—John 14:23; 15:4-5
52. My all-sufficient land—Col. 2:6-7; Deut. 8:7-8
53. My fortress—2 Sam. 22:2; Psa. 18:2
54. My tower—Psa. 61:3; 94:22; Prov. 18:10
55. My hiding-place—Psa. 32:7; 119:114
56. My eternal stand—Eph. 6:11, 13; Rom. 5:2; Gal. 5:1
57. My sabbath—Col. 2:16-17
58. My new moon—Col. 2:16-17
59. My morning—Lam. 3:22-24
60. My day—2 Pet. 3:8; 2 Cor. 4:16
61. My age—2 Pet. 3:8; 2 Cor. 5:17
62. My eternity—John 3:15-16
63. My trust—Psa. 28:7; 40:3; Isa. 12:2; Jer. 17:7
64. My desire—Psa. 73:25
65. My satisfaction—Isa. 58:11
66. My delight— Matt. 3:17; 17:5
67. The all-inclusive One—Col. 1:14-19
68. The first—Rev. 22:13
69. The last—Rev. 22:13
70. All in all—Col. 3:11

Make these 70 items of Christ as everything your subjective reality

In the final stanza (s. 15) the author exclaims:

Since such a treasure I possess,
My heart doth sing for joy;
And I must sing, and sing again;
Oh, what a Christ have I!

God desires that we make His unsearchably rich Christ, “my Christ!” Make such a Christ your Christ by calling on His name to partake of all His riches bit by bit, even bite by bite.

Romans 10:13 says, that the same Lord is Lord of all and rich to all who call on Him. As you muse on this list of aspects of Christ,  call on His name, “Lord Jesus!” Then thank and praise Him for being these items to you and ask Him to make these aspects of Christ as everything your personal experience.

If you have enjoyed some items of Christ from this post please take a moment to share it in a brief comment.

References:

• This post was inspired by my enjoyment of hymn #510 in Hymns written by Witness Lee and published by Living Stream Ministry. You can listen to the whole hymn here.
• I would also encourage you to obtain a copy of the Recovery Version Study Bible with footnotes. The footnotes open up many of these precious points of Christ for your further appreciation and enjoyment. You can get a free copy from Bibles for America (in the USA) or one of its affiliates in some other countries.
• In addition, the companion exposition, Life-study of the Bible opens up many of these items of Christ for your further appreciation and experience.

The post 70 Aspects of Christ as Everything for Your Enjoyment appeared first on Holding to Truth.

Have you ever wondered what Paul meant when he made this profound statement?

If so, then I believe that you will agree with me that being “renewed in the spirit of your mind” is a mystery.  And I believe that this applies even more to experiencing such a renewing.

Yet, it is worthwhile to pursue being “renewed in the spirit of your mind” because this is the key to the daily living of the new man in Christ. It is also the secret to living the kind of church life that God desires.

But before getting into the experience let’s put this passage in its Scriptural context.

Ephesians 4:23 is not referring to making us, as individual believers, new persons in Christ. Rather, it refers to our experience of the one new man created by Christ on the cross. Ephesians 2:15 says,

“Abolishing in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, so making peace.”

One New Man Created in Christ on the Cross

This one new man is corporate, composed of both the Jewish and the Gentile believers (vv. 11-16). this reflects back to God’s purpose in creating man at the beginning of the Bible. Genesis 1:26a says,

“And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion over…all the earth.”

God’s intention in creating man was that he might become such a corporate man, expressing God and representing Him (vv. 26-28).

However, this first man utterly failed God and ultimately brought the created, yet fallen, mankind into collective rebellion against God (Gen. 11:1-9). God judged rebellious mankind by confounding their language thus dividing them.

This division of fallen mankind has developed into enmity between the various peoples of the earth that continues to this day. Consider. Where can you see people that are truly one?

As such, God’s salvation could not merely deliver us individually from God’s condemnation. Rather, His full salvation must ultimately fulfill His eternal purpose of obtaining one corporate man that expresses Him and represents Him.

Praise the Lord!  Christ’s death not only saved us, His believers, from our sins and God’s eternal judgment. It terminated all the dividing ordinances, the separating factors, that Christ might create in Himself this one new man, so making peace. This is the revelation of Ephesians 2:14-16.

Putting on the New Man Already Created in Christ

When we believed into Christ and were baptized into Him, we put off the old man (Rom. 6:6, 4) that was crucified and buried. It was also in this baptism that we put on the new man (v. 4b). We can say based on Ephesians 4:22 and 24 that this putting off and putting on is an accomplished fact.

Now we need to experience this accomplished fact by being daily renewed in the spirit of our mind (v. 23). This puts such a renewing into perspective and elevates its importance to the uttermost.

What does it mean to be “renewed in the spirit of your mind”?

First, to be renewed means that a new element, the divine element,  is dispensed into your inner being. This new element causes a kind of metabolic transformation. We can liken this to the change we experience physically when we regularly eat healthy food.

Second, this renewing is “in the spirit of our mind.” Such a spirit has its source in our regenerated spirit—the divine Spirit joined to and mingled with our human spirit through our divine birth (John 3:6). These two spirits have become one spirit in the believers. First Corinthians 6:17 says,

“But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.”

This mingled spirit then spreads into our mind, the leading part of soul, becoming the spirit of our mind. Then this renewing goes onward to reach our emotion and will.

By being so renewed in the spirit of our mind we are transformed to the image of Christ. Second Corinthians 3:18 says,

“But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.”

This fulfills the eternal purpose God made in creating us in His image.

How can you experience being renewed in the spirit of your mind?

It starts from your strengthened spirit—your spirit, indwelt by His Spirit. When you turn to this spirit and set your mind on this spirit (Rom. 8:6), a divine transmission takes place that renews you with His divine life. It is like keeping the electricity switched on. As long as you keep “your finger on the button” the electricity flows and makes your tools operate.

In the same way, the more you turn to the spirit of your mind, the more renewing you will experience.

Being Renewed in the Spirit of Your Mind by Calling on the Lord and Praying His Word

The simplest way that I have found to “press the  power button,” to contact His Spirit with my spirit, is to call on the name of the Lord Jesus. First Corinthians 12:3b says,

No one can say, Jesus is Lord [or Lord Jesus]! except in the Holy Spirit.

Try calling on the name of the Lord Jesus from deep within. You will find yourself contacting the Spirit that is joined to your spirit. As you contact Him and stay in this union, such a spirit will become the spirit of your mind, spreading into your mind, for the living of the one new man.

Along with calling on the Lord, I also find pray-reading God’s word and musing on Bible verses to be a tremendous aid to staying in this union. In this way, the daily renewing can continue uninterrupted. Psalms 119:146-148 says,

I called upon You; save me, / And I will observe Your testimonies. / I anticipated the dawn and cried out; / I hoped in Your words. /  My eyes anticipated the night watches, / That I might muse upon Your word.

Be Renewed Daily for the Putting on of the One New Man 

When we are being renewed in the spirit of our mind, we are executing the fact of our having put off the old man and having put on the new man.

For this we need to experience the renewing of our mind in all the matters of our daily life by contacting the Spirit with our spirit and allowing this spirit to saturate our mind and spread through our entire soul.

Practice this daily renewing in the spirit of your mind by continually drinking the one Spirit by calling on the Lord (1 Cor. 12:13, 3) and by daily being reconstituted with the holy word of God by praying it, musing on it, singing it and speaking it to others at every opportunity (Col. 3:16).

If you have enjoyed this post or have a question about what I shared, feel free to leave me a brief comment.

References and Further Reading:

You can read more about this topic in the Life-study of Ephesians, messages 94 and 47 by Witness Lee. You can read it online at: ministrybooks.org/life-studies

The post Renewed in the Spirit of Your Mind – What does it mean and how do you experience it? appeared first on Holding to Truth.

In John 1 there are seven great signs in the history of the universe that are milestones for us to follow.

Each milestone is a spiritual sign showing us where God is going and how we should follow Him on our Christian journey toward God’s goal.

7 Road Signs for Your Christian Journey

If you have believed in Christ, you have begun the greatest journey in the universe. But because it is so great, it needs signs to help us on our way. Thankfully, the Gospel of John is a book of signs (John 2:11). If we understand these signs they will become milestones leading us to our destination.

1. Eternity Past – “In the beginning was the Word”

Here is the starting point. God’s journey began from eternity past. John 1:1 it says,

In the beginning was the Word and Word was with God and the Word was God.

We need to start with this beginning, the eternal beginning—not a beginning in time, but the beginning in eternity. It is the real starting point for our Christian journey. Why?

It was in eternity that God made His great plan, to carry out His heart’s desire. According to His desire He chose us and predestinated us unto sonship (Eph. 1:4-5). So the solid beginning of our Christian journey doesn’t start with our choosing Christ, but with God’s choosing us.

When we see this, we will worship the Lord, We will thank Him for choosing us.

In eternity past there was only God. But this God was not simple. He is the Triune God and He has a special title—the Word.

“In the beginning was the Word.”  The Word was not only with God. The Word was God. From eternity past, the Word was with God and was God.

So when we have Him, we have the complete eternal Triune God! As the Word, He is not the invisible God but God defined, explained and expressed.  Today this Living Word of God, Christ, is contained in God’s written word, the Bible.

Do you want a solid beginning? Come to the Word each day. Then you’ll have a real beginning. This the starting point of your journey.

Open to God’s Word to begin your journey into God every day (Rom. 10:8-17).

2. Creation – “All things came into being through Him [the Word].”

Creation through the Word

However, God did not remain in eternity. He came forth in time. The first thing He did was to create all things.  John 1:3 says,

All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not one thing came into being which has come into being.

God’s creation came into being through the Word.  God didn’t need to work. He just needed to speak and it was. This is a great discovery.

But what does creation have to do with our Christian journey?

God’s speaking is very powerful.  In Romans 4:17 Paul says concerning Abraham that the “God whom he believed…calls the things not being as being.”

In our experience, we may feel that we are short of faith.  We need to say, “not being, as being through the Word.”

When we come to Christ as the living Word in God’s written Word each morning, God calls something into being in us.  The faith of Christ, or Christ as our faith is infused into us.

God creating us with three parts as a vessel to contain Him

Everything God created is for His will, His eternal purpose (Rev. 4:11). This especially applies to us.

Have you seen that you were created in a special way, with three parts—a spirit, soul and body—to contain God.

Romans 9:21 and 23 make it clear that God considers us His vessels. A vessel is a container with an opening, a mouth. God made us as vessels to contain Him that we might express Him.

Have you given the Lord Jesus the opening to fill you today?  If not, here is the simplest way I’ve found to get filled with Christ. Romans 10:12-13 says,

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all and rich to all who call upon Him; for “whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Just say, “Lord Jesus! O Lord, fill me today.”

3. Incarnation – “the Word became flesh”

Concerning God’s incarnation, John 1:14 says,

And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.

You might ask, “How is Christ’s incarnation a milestone in my Christian journey?”

To answer this question, we first need to understand what Christ’s incarnation is. Second, we need to see how it applies to our spiritual experience.

First, incarnation means that in Christ the infinite God became a finite man. This little man of flesh and blood was a tabernacle, a tent, for the complete Triune God.  He is the perfect mingling of the complete God and a genuine, perfect man…with no third nature produced.

Second, as such a One, Christ, God’s only Son, declared God to us. John 1:18 says,

No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

Christ declares God to us as the Word, the eternal life, the divine light, grace, and reality.

When we appreciate Christ by hearing the gospel or reading of Him in the Bible, He declares God to us in the way of life, light, grace and reality. When this happens to you, you can never be the same.

This is my experience, and I hope it will be yours as well.  If you have not yet experienced this milestone take a moment to pray,

“Lord Jesus, thank you that, as the eternal God, you were incarnated, becoming flesh, to declare God to man.  Reveal Yourself to me so I can know who God is.”

4. Redemption – “Behold the Lamb of God”

Concerning Christ’s redemption, John 1:29 says,

Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

John the Baptist introduced Jesus to the people with such a recommendation. He obviously is not a physical lamb. Such a title—Lamb of God—is a great sign to us!

Jesus is the unique sacrifice for sinners. As the Lamb of God, He carried up all our sins onto the cross and was judged by God as the unique sinner. He bore the sins of the whole world! He shed His blood for us—His genuine, sinless human blood.

But as God’s eternal Son, that blood has eternal value. It is as effective for us today as it was on the day Jesus was crucified for us.

Just believe it and receive it—once for all and even moment by moment!

Eternally, the blood of the Lamb purchased us for God, satisfying all the righteous demands of God’s law upon us so that God can justify us freely (Rom. 3:24).

Instantly, the blood cleanses us from every sin, the moment we confess them according to the Spirit’s shining (1 John 1:9).  Take a moment to pray,

“O Lamb of God, thank you for dying for my sins. I confess I am a sinner. Cleanse me with Your precious blood. Thank you for forgiving all my sins. I love You.”

5. Life-giving – “I beheld the Spirit descending as a dove”

Jesus was introduced by John as the Lamb with a dove. John 1:32 says,

And John testified, saying, I beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He abode upon Him.

The dove is a further sign, bringing us another step on our Christian journey.

After believing in the Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God we need to go on to experience Him as the dove for life-giving.

In His resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15:45 tells us, “The last Adam [Christ], became a life-giving Spirit.”

We not only need His redeeming and forgiving. We need His life-giving. The first step of Christ’s life-giving is to regenerate us with His divine, uncreated, eternal life.  So have you been regenerated?

If not, I would encourage you to pray,

“Lord Jesus, thank you that You not only died as the Lamb of God to redeem me and forgive all my sins. Thank you even more that You resurrected to become the life-giving Spirt to regenerate me so that I can be born anew. Come into my spirit and fill me with Your eternal life. Every day renew me with Your Spirit through Your living Word.”

Open to the Lord Jesus every morning by calling on His name and feeding on His Word. This will help you to grow in Christ in a daily way.

6. Transformation – “You shall be called Cephas” (meaning “a stone”)

We not only need Christ’s life-giving, but we also need His transforming. John 1:42 says,

Looking at him, Jesus said, You are Simon, the son of John; you shall be called Cephas (which is interpreted, Peter).

Cephas, which is interpreted, Peter, means a stone.

Jesus called Simon, Peter, indicating that he was to be a little “stone” for God’s building. This is a great sign for our Christian journey. Are you a “Peter,” a  little “stone” that God can use for building up His spiritual house?

To receive Christ’s life-giving is so that we can be gradually transformed into precious stones for the building up of God’s spiritual house. God can only build His dwelling with transformed materials. That is why Peter said in 1 Peter 2:5,

You yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house.

Every day it is good to pray,

Lord Jesus,  transform me more today with Your life so that I will become the proper building material for building up Your dwelling.

Here is a hymn that reveals God’s intention to transform us to His image. You can listen to the tune here.

7.  Building – “You shall see heaven opened and angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man”

Building is the destination of God’s work throughout the ages. In John 1:51 Jesus said,

Truly, truly, I say to you, You shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.

Christ as the heavenly ladder with angels ascending and descending upon Him was a reference to Jacob’s dream in Genesis 28. There Jacob saw a ladder set up on earth and reaching to heaven with angels ascending and descending upon it.

Jacob called the place where he saw this vision Bethel, meaning the house of God.

This building is in the proper church, the reality of Bethel today (Eph. 4:16). It will be the New Jerusalem at the end of the Bible, as God’s eternal dwelling with His people, Revelation 21:2 says,

And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Tell the Lord Jesus,

“Lord, build me up in Your Body, the church today that I may become part of Your eternal building, Your bride, the New Jerusalem.”

Please leave a comment confirming what you enjoyed from this post.

References and Further Reading:

For more on this topic, read Message 5 of the Life-study of John by Witness Lee.

The post Does Your Christian Journey Need Road Signs? appeared first on Holding to Truth.

As a believer in Christ, have you experienced inner turmoil in knowing how to face the present environment in the world around you?  I know I have.  It is easy to lose sleep over it.

Have you had the feeling that the crisis in the world is an indicator of the Lord’s coming and of the end of this age? I believe that many of us have.

But how should we respond to the present world situation such that we align ourselves with God’s purpose?

6 ways for a Christian to respond to the present world situation

1. Take the right position—in your spirit

We need to be in our spirit if we are going to see things the way God does.

Revelation 4:2 says,

Immediately I was in spirit; and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and upon the throne there was One sitting.

Only in our spirit can we have the right position to see the divine things.

To see each of the four great visions in the book of Revelation, the apostle John was in his spirit (Rev. 1:10; 4:2; 17:3; 21:10). That is because our human spirit is the organ for spiritual vision, the organ for us to receive God’s revelation (Eph. 1:17).

Take the divine elevator—your spirit—to rise above the earth, so you can look down on the world situation from God’s transcendent view.

You can get into your spirit by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus and praying to Him (1 Cor. 12:3; Eph. 6:18).

Simply ask the Lord to grant you such spirit of revelation to see the world situation as He does.

2. See from God’s perspective—read the biblical prophecies concerning the world situation

Lay hold of the biblical prophecies concerning the world situation and of Christ’s coming.

The prophet Daniel did exactly that. From Daniel 9:2-3, we can see that he read from Jeremiah’s prophecy (Jer. 25:11-12) that God would return His people to the land after seventy years. But, Daniel didn’t just take it for granted, he prayed earnestly.

It should be the same with us. The prophecies in the Bible give us God’s perspective of where we are and where we are going.

Read the prophetic writings. especially in the books of Daniel, Matthew, 2 Thessalonians, and Revelation. Doing this will give you a proper perspective with a solid direction.

If you would like help in understanding the meaning of these prophecies, I recommend reading the Life-study of the Bible  by Witness Lee. You can read enlightening messages on all of these books for free at ministrybooks.org or listen to the podcasts on these Life-studies.

Prayerfully reading the following passages of Scripture with the help of the related life-study messages will equip you with proper perspective on the world situation:

Daniel 2, 7, and 9 concern the things that are going to take place at the end of this age. Daniel 2 addresses a “vision of what we happen in the last days” and Daniel 9 speaks of the “seventy weeks” apportioned for God’s people.

Matthew 24 and 25, cover the Lord’s word concerning the signs of the end of the age and two parables on the way to be prepared.

Second Thessalonians 2:3-10, cover the apostle Paul’s warning to the believers about the things that are about to take place.

Finally, Revelation, presents four great visions to the apostle John covering the things that are about to take place.

3. Participate in the Lord’s commission—preach the gospel

We have the good news that this world needs! But are we willing to share it? 

It is not enough to just be watchful for the Lord’s coming ourselves. We need to be one with Christ in carrying out His commission to consummate this age. In Matthew 24:14 Jesus said,

This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole inhabited earth for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

This word of the Lord Jesus is not only a prophecy, but a commission to us, His believers.  It applies to every one of us today.

We need to speak the good news of Christ to our relatives, neighbors, colleagues, classmates and friends. Here are some digital gospel tracts,videos, and posts that you share with them virtually.

Revelation 6:1-8, show us that after Christ’s ascension until He returns there is four horse race—four personified things running side by side as four horses with their riders. These four personified things are gospel preaching, war, famine and death. The first horse, the white horse, is preaching of the gospel.

We need to be one with the rider of this white horse today (v. 2). Don’t be consumed by anxiety over war, famine and death. Be one with the rider of the white horse to bring the gospel to the troubled world around you!

The final chapter of the Bible ends with a call. It is not only a call for the Lord Jesus to return. It is also a call for the thirsty ones to take the water of life freely. Remember the call of the gospel should always accompany our call for the Lord’s return (Rev. 22:17).

4. Prepare for the Lord’s return—spread the divine truths  

In 1 Timothy 2:4 Paul expresses the desire of the Savior God,

Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth.

Later Paul told his younger coworker, Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2,

The things which you have heard from me through many witnesses, these commit to faithful men, who will be competent to teach others also.

For Timothy to “commit to faithful men” the things he heard from the apostle Paul was to spread the divine truths that he had received. In order to spread these divine truths like Timothy, we first need to diligently learn them ourselves (2 Tim. 2:15).

We need to prepare ourselves by spending daily times with the Lord in His word—reading the Word, praying over the Word, and studying the Word. Again, the best opener I’ve found for my serious Bible study is the Recovery Version with its companion commentary, the Life-study of the Bible.

By learning the truths and experiencing them in your Christian life, you will be equipped to spread these divine truths wherever the Lord sends you (Acts 8:4, 29-35).

5. Persevere in prayer—pray toward the interests of God

When Solomon dedicated the temple in Jerusalem, he prayed that God would hear the prayer of whoever would pray toward that land, the city (Jerusalem), and the house (the temple) which he had built for God’s name (1 Kings 8:48-49).

Daniel did this. Three times a day, he opened the windows in his upper chamber and prayed toward Jerusalem (Dan. 6:10). God intended to return His people to the holy land so Christ could be born there. Daniel did not take Jeremiah’s prophecy for granted (Jer. 25:11), he joined himself to it in prayer.

By reading God’s word we may realize what He desires to do to carry out His divine economy in this present world situation. Then we need to pray. This is not an anxious reaction to present environment.

Rather, our prayers should be toward the land, the city and temple. Spiritually, this means that all our prayers should be focused on Christ (our good land), God’s kingdom (the city), and the church (God’s temple today—Eph. 2:21).

We should never take God’s word for granted but join ourselves to it through prayer (Eph. 6:17-18). This is our most effective work. We need to persevere in prayer. As Paul said in Colossians 4:2 says,

Persevere in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving.

Here are more posts to strengthen your prayer life.

We need to persevere in prayer so that Christ can come the second time. Our prayer should echo the Spirit’s cry in Revelation 22:

“Come, Lord Jesus!”

6. Perfect younger believers—equip them to build up Christ’s Body that our Lord may come back

Our labor for the Lord is inadequate if we do not reproduce ourselves in younger believers.

Although we see increasing signs of the Lord’s soon coming, we still do not know how long it will be until He returns. However, we do know that He will not return without His Body being built up, and His bride being prepared (Eph. 4:16; 5:27).

Until that day, Christ needs a people preparing for His coming—maturing in Christ (Col. 1:27-28) and perfected and equipped to building up of the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:12).

In Ephesians  4:12 Paul said,

For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

May we who love the Lord’s appearing ourselves, pray for and feed the Lord’s lambs and sheep as the Lord charged Peter to do (Col. 1:9; John 21:15-17).

If you have been helped by this post, please take a moment to leave a comment.

References and Further Reading:

The first message from a conference on “A Timely Word Concerning the World Situation and the Lord’s Recovery” was the inspiration for me to write this post.

Bible verses quoted in these posts are from The Holy Bible, Recovery Version, published and © by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim CA, 2003. The New Testament of this Bible, with its outlines, is at online.recoveryversion.org; this too is © by LSM.

The post The Present World Situation – 6 Ways for a Christian to Respond appeared first on Holding to Truth.

Gaining Christ is not only so we will be satisfied but so that God’s eternal purpose can be fulfilled through us!

Yet, to many of us, God’s great plan may still be a mystery.

How marvelous that through the Old Testament typology—God’s “picture book”—He shows us how He wants us to gain Christ for our enjoyment!  Specifically, God  uses the picture of the good land of Canaan (Deut. 8:7-9) to portray how unsearchably rich Christ is to us (Eph. 3:18, 8).

Such an all-inclusive Christ is not only for us to receive but for us to walk in (Col. 2:6), implying to gain and possess (Josh. 1:3).

By reading the book of Deuteronomy from this perspective we can see that God’s intention for the children of Israel also applies to us.  His desire was that they would enter into the good land, live in the land, labor on the land and reap some produce of the land to offer to God and to enjoy together with His people.

Their labor on the land first issued in the temple, as God’s dwelling place for His expression.  Second, it issued in  the city, Jerusalem, as God’s kingdom, for His dominion.

In this same way, we need to receive and gain Christ with an issue—the church as God’s dwelling place and His kingdom (Eph. 2:21-22; Rom. 14:17).

Then how can we labor on Christ as our good land to gain Him for our enjoyment to fulfill God’s purpose?

First, we must receive Christ, before we can daily gain Christ as our enjoyment 

In Colossians 2:6, Paul encouraged us saying,

“As you have received the Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him.”

Receiving Christ is the base for your enjoying Him. That’s the beginning. John 1:12 says,

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name.”

If you have never done so, please stop and pray,

“Lord Jesus! Thank you that as the eternal God you became a genuine, perfect man to die for my sins. I believe that You not only died to redeem me, but also resurrected to give me eternal life. Come into me. Enliven my spirit. I receive You right now, believing into Your name. Thank you for saving me!”

If you have prayed to receive the Lord Jesus, you are eternally saved. But this is only the beginning!

It is like receiving an inheritance.  You then need to enjoy it, to apply it.

The children of Israel each received an allotment of the good land, but they still needed to daily labor on their portion of that land in order to grow something not only for their own enjoyment but for offering to God.

Now let us apply this Old Testament picture to our present day Christian practice.

Here are seven ways we can labor on Christ to gain Christ for our enjoyment

1. Consecrate sincerely

First, to gain Christ we need to consecrate ourselves to the Lord every morning. As the Israelites were commanded to offer the burnt offering to God each day, we need to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to God for His satisfaction daily (Rom. 12:1).  Our consecration is not to do some great work for God but for the purpose of simply enjoying and experiencing Him (Phil. 3:13-14).

May we be daily touched by Christ’s sacrificial love, to live to Him—a consecrated life.  As 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 says,

“For the love of Christ constrains us because we have judged this, that One died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all that those who live may no longer live to themselves but to Him who died for them and has been raised.”

Here are a couple of my favorite hymns on consecration to enrich your consecrating prayers:  Thy mighty love , O God, constraineth me  and Take my life, and let it be (with chorus).

2. Fellowship with the Lord privately

Second, each day, preferable first thing in the morning, we need to spend private time to fellowship with the Lord in an intimate way.  This is a time to turn our heart to the Lord, tell the Lord we love Him, and open fully to Him for His speaking and filling.

Matthew 6:6 says,

“But you, when you pray, enter into your private room, and shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.”

Even the Lord Jesus, standing as a man on the earth, set aside private times to fellowship His heavenly Father (Matt. 14:23; Luke 5:16).

Here are two of my favorite hymns for morning fellowship with the Lord:  I come to Thee, dear Lord  and I come to His presence afresh. (Make sure to click “view lyrics”.)

I really encourage you to pray over the lyrics of these two hymns in order to enjoy a more personal, private, and affectionate fellowship with the Lord in the morning. Such a practice has greatly enriched my Christian life and made the Lord Jesus more precious to me.

3. Enjoy the Lord in His word early

Third, to gain Christ, we need to enjoy the Lord in His word each morning. After consecrating ourselves to the Lord and opening ourselves to Him in fellowship, we need to come to His Word for nourishment (Matt. 4:4; 1 Tim. 4:6).

Psalm 119:147 says,

“I anticipated the dawn and cried out. I hope in your words.”

First, cry out to Him from your deepest part, your spirit, by calling on the Lord Jesus. Then turn the words of the Scriptures into your personal prayer, mingled with your thanksgiving and praise to the Lord. You can even sing the Word for more enjoyment.

Such a practice will not only feed you but make you joyful (Jer. 15:16). I can testify to the tremendous benefit of spending regular time with the Lord in His word each morning.

Here is a post on pray-reading the word to be nourished.  Here is also a hymn that has helped me appreciate the practice of mingling prayer and the word: My heart is hungry, my spirit doth thirst.  I especially recommend praying over the lyrics to stanzas 6-8.

The main thing is to come to the Lord when you come to His word. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall by no means hunger.” We miss the food if we come to the Scripture without coming to the Lord Himself (John 5:39-40).

4. Deal with sins thoroughly

Fourth, to gain Christ we need to deal thoroughly with any sins interrupting our fellowship with the Lord. First John 1:7 and 9 say,

“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin….If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

We don’t need to be introspective, but just be open to the Lord’s light (v. 7). When we come into His presence and sense guilt on our conscience, we should immediately confess to Him.  You may also want read this post on praying confessing prayers.

Confessing our sins, wrongdoings, failures, and shortcomings is the best exhaling. This enables us to breathe in His Spirit as the fresh air to revive us.  Such a sin-dealing life will keep us from becoming spiritually old and stale.  Here a couple of my favorite hymns for praying confessing prayers:  O Lord, breathe Thy Spirit on me and Spring up, well, with water.

5. Maintain fellowship with the Lord by praying continually

Fifth, we need to maintain our fellowship with the Lord moment by moment by a life of prayer. We may have had a good start with the Lord in the morning, but it is easy to lose our fellowship with Him.

All the things we face in the world around us—the news, our family, employment, school, etc. can quickly draw us away.  But living a life of prayer keeps the divine “power switch on,” that is, it maintains the fellowship between us and the Lord Jesus.

Throughout the day, keep your conversation with the Lord going. Speak to Him about anything and everything.  Even when you think you have nothing to pray, speak short words to the Lord like: O Lord Jesus; I love You Lord; thank you for Your grace; Lord You are so good!

Here is a short spiritual song, that expresses such a life of prayer: O Lord, I love You, I really love You.

6. Be saturated with the Lord’s word daily

Sixth, we need to go on to redeem our time and expend our energy soaking in God’s word daily. Colossians 3:16 says,

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God.”

We are not merely talking about filling our mind with Bible teachings.

Since all Scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16), its essence is the Spirit. Hence, we need to contact the Spirit of the Scriptures with our spirit whenever we come to the Bible (Eph. 6:17-18). We also need to use our mind along with our spirit to “treasure up God’s words in our heart (Psa. 119:11).

Such a practice includes reading the Bible, musing on the Word and studying the Word with much prayer. In this way we will be soaked in God’s word and able to become a man of God with the breath of God—one equipped to be a good minister of Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 4:6).

7. Be filled in spirit unceasingly

Seventh, to gain Christ we need to redeem our time to be filled in spirit by singing to the Lord, rejoicing always, praying unceasingly and giving thanks in everything (1 Thes. 5:16-19). This point is the instant practice, the continuation of what I said in point 5.  May it become like our unconscious breathing, contacting the Lord to gain Him for our enjoyment constantly.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, Paul said,

“Always rejoice, unceasingly pray, in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

You can also sing these verses as a spiritual song: Always rejoice.

If you’ve been impressed with any of these seven ways to gain Christ as your enjoyment, please take a moment to leave a comment.

References and Further Reading:

• This post was inspired from my enjoyment of Message 6 of the Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy and is based on the ministry Witness Lee.
• For more appreciation of this topic  you may enjoy reading Lee’s classic book The All-inclusive Christ. You can read it online at Ministrybooks.org or download the eBook for free from BiblesforAmerica.org/books..

The post 7 Ways to Gain Christ as Your Enjoyment Every Day appeared first on Holding to Truth.

As I was doing some Bible study in the Gospel of Luke with the help of the Life-study of the Bible, I discovered four characteristics of blessed people that  touched me very much.

I also had the thought that many believers might easily miss these “hidden blessings.”

So let’s consider four characteristics of blessed people according to the Lord’s own word.

4 Characteristics of Blessed People You Might Not Expect

But before seeing these four characteristics of blessed people, we need to pick up one principle. The principle in Luke 6 is that we who believe in Christ and who have been born of God should be a people blessed by God.

As a result of the fall, we all came under the curse. But in the jubilee of grace the Lord Jesus has rescued us from the curse and has brought us into God’s blessing.

1.  “Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God”—Luke 6:20.

The word “poor” indicates being poor in earthly, material things and also poor in heavenly, spiritual things. Often we find it difficult for those who are rich in earthly, material things to be poor in heavenly, spiritual things.

To be poor in heavenly, spiritual things is actually a good thing. In the parallel passage in Matthew 5:3 it says,

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.

This means that concerning spiritual things, we should sense that we have nothing, that we are poor. “Poor in spirit” refers to our human spirit, the deepest part of our being. Our spirit is the organ for us to contact God and to realize spiritual things. So we need to be poor, emptied, and unloaded, in this deepest part of our being so that we may realize and possess the kingdom of God.

If we would experience this spiritual blessing, we should pray to be poor in spirit.  Especially when we come to the Lord and to His Word we should pray,

“Lord I love you and I want to experience and enjoy You in a fresh way. Empty me from all my old knowledge and concepts, and past experiences. Make me poor in spirit so I can receive something new of You.  Dispense Yourself, with Your heart’s desire into my empty vessel.”

2. “Blessed are those who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied”—Luke 6:21a:

What does it mean to “hunger now”?  In Luke 6:21 the Lord speaks especially of our spiritual hunger. First, we become those who are poor in spiritual things as we mentioned above. Then we hunger after the things we lack in the spiritual realm. Such a hunger is the foremost condition for spiritual progress.

Paul was a pattern to us in this.  He was not satisfied or self contented with his spiritual attainments. In Philippians 3:8-9 he said that he counted everything as refuse in order to gain Christ and be found in Christ. May we follow his pattern.

How can we be blessed with spiritual hunger? Ask for it and receive it by faith. Open to the Lord and pray,

“Lord, grant me the blessing of being always hungry and thirsty for more of You. Enlarge my spiritual appetite. Grant me a fresh hunger and thirst for You in Your Word today.”

It is really a blessing to have such a spiritual hunger and thirst. One of my favorite hymns by Witness Lee begins with the line: “My heart is hungry, my spirit doth thirst.” You can read the lyrics here and listen to the tune here. I encourage you pray with the lyrics to receive more hunger for the Lord.

The Lord promises that those who hunger now will be satisfied. That is, we will be satisfied with the spiritual riches of Christ (Eph. 3:8).

3. “Blessed are those who weep now, for you shall laugh”—Luke 6:21b:

Who could imagine that “weeping now” could be a blessing? What does it mean to “weep now”?

To weep here means to repent and to regret.  It means that we are not happy about our spiritual situation and condition.

It is a shame that many Christians are content with their spiritual situation and condition. May we heed the Lord’s word to repent and pray,

“Lord, I repent for being a complacent Christian, wasting so much time. I’m not happy with my spiritual situation and condition. Grant me your mercy to forsake the past and have a fresh turn to You.”

4. “Blessed are you when men hate you and when they separate you from them…for the Son of Man’s sake”—vv. 22-23:

How can being “hated by men and being reproached by them” be a blessing?  Yet, according to the Lord’s word, it is a blessing to be hated and reproached for His sake.

We may like to be praised by others and to be valued, honored, and highly esteemed by them. But, we need to realize that, as believers, we will be hated and evil spoken of by the world (John 15:18-16:4).  That’s because the entire world is following Satan, and we are following the Lord to go in the opposite direction.

Because our way is opposite to that of the world, the worldly people will hate us and speak evil about us. We should expect it and even consider it a blessing.

It is a good practice, when we get into a new environment, to let those around us know that we are believers, those following the Lord Jesus.

Such a testimony for Christ may result in their rejection, but it will separate us from the world and bring us the Lord’s smiling face. At such a time the Spirit of glory and of God rests on us (1 Pet. 4:14).

“Lord, thank you that we can know the blessing of being reproached and rejected for Your sake. The world’s rejection and reproach makes Your presence more dear and precious to us. Praise you Lord for such a blessing.”

May we never be ashamed of our Lord’s name, but count it all joy to be dishonored with our rejected Lord.

If you have been helped by any of the points in this post, please take a moment to confirm with a short comment.

References:

This post was inspired by my reading of Life-study of Luke, message 14 by Witness Lee.

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