Today, I have an important message to share. I want to help you enter into experience. Having much knowledge is not enough. The key is to have experience. The knowledge is to lead us into experience. The Holy Spirit will guide you. At the same time, you may also follow my advice to practice, and enjoy the truth in the Bible. I have been influenced by many precious experiences in the Lord. The more I enjoy, the deeper I can enter into the truth. I continue to be enlightened.
Beholding the Lord and realizing that He is in glory, He is everywhere, and He is in our hearts at the same time is extremely important. When the Lord taught us how to pray, He started with “Our Father in heaven” (Matt 6:9). There is a focus when we pray. From the book of Acts, when Stephen was persecuted, he gazed into heaven and His face was like the face of an angel. I believe Stephen lived his daily life often gazing into heaven, just like the Lord lifting up His eyes to heaven. The night before the Lord was crucified, He lifted up His eyes and prayed to the Father. (John 17:1) We should follow His example. I give thanks to the Lord that I followed this example and walk on this path. Therefore, I have great improvement.
Beholding the Lord and realizing that He is in glory, He is everywhere, and He is in our hearts at the same time and relying on Him will help you to quickly recover even when you stumble. Moreover, we need to have peace. All these are connected. They help us to realize the Lord and experience Him in our hearts.
We have peace; we enjoy the Lord’s appearing; we have His words and His love in our hearts, etc, all these are our enjoyment with the Lord. John 15:5 is the key to our enjoyment. “I am the vine; you are the branches,” It’s so precious that this is a union of life. “Whoever abides in me and I in him,” The Lord is not simply in us. The vine provides the nourishment for the branches. Likewise, He nourishes us, and gives us bountiful experiences. We are united with the Lord 24 hours a day. We can experience Him regardless of where we are, or what we are doing. This is how I experience Him. This is very similar to how we interact with people. When you’re at home, your family may talk to you at any time. In fact, the Lord is more intimate with us than any other.
“Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit,” You need to enjoy Him and the nourishment He gives you, then you will bear fruit. The Lord is in our heart but some of us may not be bearing fruit. What is the reason? It is mentioned in the latter part of this verse, “for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) Even if you stumble or disobey the Lord, He is still in you. However, His nourishment to you is hindered and you are not able to enjoy the Lord much. Hence, you can do nothing.
You can recall your experience in the Lord when your spirit was in good condition. Your spirit can sense whether you are in harmony with the Lord. You need to return to that spiritual state, and continuously live in the right condition. Then the Lord will provide for you unceasingly and help you to improve in all aspects, so that you may bear much fruit.
This verse is profoundly important. If you don’t abide in the Lord, nothing else can help you. Imagine everything in the universe gives you help, you put all your efforts to strive, and you have a lot of past experiences and knowledge of the Lord, but now are you abiding in the Lord? Are you bound with Him without any hindrance? If not, all these cannot help you. It doesn’t matter how hard you try; how strong is your will; how grateful you are to the Lord; or how deep is your affection toward Him, you can still fall. This was how Simon Peter fell. Peter was sincere to the Lord. He was even willing to die for the Lord. He had encountered the Lord’s grace and tasted His love, but he could not just rely on human affection to gain victory. Having experienced the preciousness of the Lord should bring us closer to Him. However, we cannot count on the past experiences, regardless how many times and how deeply we have been moved by the Lord in the past. Paul was once caught up to the third heaven. If he did not abide in the Lord, all of his experiences from the past could not have helped him. He could stumble immediately. All these are not enough to sustain us even for a second. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. This is true, and you cannot rely on yourself.
Paul says, “And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God.” (Galatians 2:20) “By faith” is to trust in the Lord, and rely on Him. From the precious prayers, we pray, “to live by Him.” We should not rely on our own strength, nor be afraid of our weaknesses. Even if you were strong in the past, or you have everything, but right now if you are not bound with the Lord, you are weak. Nothing else in this whole universe can help you. But when we abide in Him, regardless of how weak we might be, we can be restored immediately! The Lord is the Saviour of the saints! He is living! After He ascended to heaven, our spirit can be closer to Him. What we enjoy today is far better than what the disciples experienced when the Lord was on earth. I really want you to be clear. No matter how strong you are, do not rely on yourself. This is my life experience. Apart from the Lord, I cannot stand even for a split second. What’s important is our spiritual condition at this present moment, not the past, not how much we used to have. I earnestly hope that you have a clear understanding of what I shared. There is no other way, except to look upon the Lord and rely on Him.