The Lord’s desire and the blessings of the new covenant have been fulfilled on us. I can truly see Him. It’s impossible not to see Him every day. I see Him when I leave the house, get off the bus, or lie on my bed. He also appears to me. I have experienced His appearing many times in different situations and intensity. His appearing is not static. His appearing causes me to know Him better and feel Him more. I see Him more clearly. I might not be saying anything but His words are in me. He dwells in me and His words are in me. The Scriptures are not outside of us. He speaks to me in my heart. Once He speaks to me, His words will make a difference in me. His words shine in me and go deeper into my heart. His words nourish my spirit. The encouragement is stronger because He is living. He told us that night that He will make known to us His will and put His words in us.
John 14:20 reads, “In that day”: that means the day when the new covenant is fulfilled, the day when the Holy Spirit comes. “You will know”: this is a new knowledge, the knowledge in our experience. “…that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you…”: the disciples experienced for the first time the Lord in them when the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost. They had experienced the Lord by their side before, but then they realized that when the Lord was living in them, that surpassed He being by their side physically.
The Lord later told Thomas and the disciples that Thomas believed because of what he saw. Those who believe without seeing are more blessed. We haven’t seen the Lord with our eyes but we believe in Him. We are blessed. It’s to our advantage that He went away.
John 14:21 says, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him…” I really treasure these words.
John 14:23 reads, “Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.’ ” Previously the Lord said that He would come to us. These words are all connected. It’s very clear that the Father will manifest Himself to us. It’s true that the Lord manifests Himself to me. I experienced His manifestation a lot. He does speak to us, and we do need Him speaking to us. You need to consider His words on that night. For example, the fourth blessing is: He abides in me. I’m sure you remember the last sentence of His prayer “…and I in them.” We just read that the Father and the Lord will come to us and make a home with us. The Holy Spirit came to dwell in the disciples’ heart. When we believe in the Lord, the Holy Spirit also dwells in us forever. In reality, the Father and the Lord are also in us. This is the evidence that our sins have been forgiven. The Holy Spirit does not just come and go, ever since He came on the Pentecost. This is impossible unless our sins have been forgiven. It’s so precious that His love desire has been fulfilled and He will not leave us. He wants me to have a part in Him and enjoy His provision. That’s why He said again and again that we are in Him and He in us.
John 15:7 reads, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you…” This is true. When I’m heart to heart with Him, even though I might not be reading the Bible at that moment, the Bible verses I read in the past can still enlighten me. He can teach me at any time. This is my experience. I wrote down what the Lord taught me and some of them became song lyrics. A lot of the lyrics are based on the Lord’s word. My new songs are often the results of seeing the truth when the Lord opens His word. He guides the church. We really need Him. His timely guidance is far more than what I can share. Given the situation in Hong Kong, how can we continue to rise up and move forward? He also has given us many messages. Not only does He guide us through many situations, He helps us to better understand Him as well. He feeds His flock among the lilies. You are a lily. I’m just a vessel, a coworker. Through me, He speaks to you. He is living. He confirms that His presence is with us. His mercy and love are new every day. He feeds us with green pasture. The Lord is my Shepherd. He is the Shepherd of the flock. We don’t lie down on the dry or withered pasture, but on the green pasture. We can leisurely lie down and feed on the green pasture. Where else can you find such a precious “bed”?
The first blessing is His laws in us. We have been born again and the Holy Spirit dwells in us. Before His crucifixion, the Lord made it very clear to us that the Father, the Lord and the Holy Spirit will be in us. He makes His home with me. My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. I once wrote a song saying, “My heart is His heaven.” Because of love He wants to be closest with us. His desire has come true. The first blessing has been fulfilled on us. The Lord is in you. What the Lord told us is real. If the Lord was merely a man, it would be hard to imagine how He could live in another person. But He truly lives in us! What the Lord told us about two thousand years ago is still true today: apart from Him, we can’t do anything. We might have experienced “leaving Him”, and then coming back to Him again. You were restored; you asked Him to save you and He did so. All these are our true experiences. We really need Him at all times.