The Lord’s love appearing in my life is truly precious and incomparable ! I have experienced this not only when I was a new believer, but even in recent days. The Lord 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.” (John 14:21) This is the path to experiencing the Lord—by keeping the Lord’s commandments. The Lord has given us many commandments, so how do we keep them? This is very important, so we must be clear about it.
“And this the commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.” (1 John 3:23)
This Bible verse concludes the Lord’s commandments. His commandments are not merely ordering us to work. First, we need to believe—believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ. We believe in the name of Jesus Christ—everything about the Lord Himself, which is very precious. Therefore, it is about believing and trusting in Him.
We’ll truly know Him when we experience His appearing in our heart. This is not just something you hear about. Instead, it’s your first-hand experience—you know Him and see Him in your heart. However, we must first obey His words; otherwise, we would not be able to have deep experience with Him. So, the big question is: how can we obey Him? We can’t rely on ourselves to do so. Peter said, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” (Mark 14:31) Peter didn’t want to disobey the Lord’s words, or fail, but he did fail in the end! Therefore, among all the commandments in the Bible, there is one that we have to do first, so that we will have strength to do the rest. There is an order for us to follow. What good does it do to put the cart in front of the horse? It’s important to put things in the right sequence. You must first keep the commandment of believing in the Lord. When we say, “Lord, I trust in You!” He will provide and strengthen us. He will strengthen our will and help us to see clearly. He will help our whole person, and cause us to be filled by the Holy Spirit and the Lord Himself.
Faith comes before love in the Lord’s commandments. The Bible says, “And without faith it is impossible to please him,” (Hebrews 11:6) If you don’t keep this commandment first, you are counting on yourself to do the rest. This is not what the Lord wants, and you will not be able to do it. Apart from Him, you can do nothing. When we believe in Him, we won’t leave Him, because having faith is to come before Him. The Lord said, “Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35) Coming to Him is the same as believing in Him. Coming to Him shows our desire for Him; this is faith. When we say, “Lord, I trust in You,” our spirit embraces the Lord. We live out the union by faith. He lives in us and we are united. We should enjoy the provision from this union. Trusting in Him opens a living spring that nourishes our spirit.
We absolutely cannot rely on ourselves to obey the Lord. We cannot count on our strength to live our spiritual life. We need to live a life of a union with the Lord; rely on Him, and then we will not be in shame. This is what it means to trust in Him. God commands us to believe in Him. True faith includes “trust.” Romans 1:17 reads, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith,” We shall continue to walk on this path of faith—trust in Him—until we meet the Lord. We will not fail if this trust is not disrupted. Satan often disturbs you with many thoughts, blurring your vision and distracting you. Through temptations, he affects your mind and spirit. The Spirit of Truth will guide us back to the truth. The greatest truth is the Father and the Lord, His love and accomplishment.
I hope that you have the spiritual wisdom and understanding to put all these things together, as described in Colossians. Then you will bear much fruit, as mentioned in the latter part of the book. The New Testament makes three references to Isaiah chapter 28: Whoever believes will not be in haste. The Bible has numerous mentions of faith. Hebrews chapter 11 alone mentions so much about faith. If we are to obey Him, we must first believe. Hebrews says, “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance.” (Hebrews 11:8) Abraham obeyed God so he went out. He had faith before he was able to obey God’s commandment to come out.
Psalms talk about “trust in the Lord” many times. Galatians also says, “But only faith working through love.” (Galatians 5:6) Only when we have faith can we love. Love God and man first, then we will be able to walk out other commandments. I hope you can see the whole picture. When we love God, we can walk out the truth in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. There is no need to pursue each individual quality mentioned in the chapter, for all abundance is in the Lord.
“The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.” (Psalm 28:7)
“The Lord is my strength and my shield”: How wonderful is this passage! The Lord is my strength and my shield. He cares for us and protects us from the attacks of the enemy.
“In him my heart trusts, and I am helped”: It is as simple as that: have trust in him from my heart and I am helped.
“My heart exults”: We can rejoice when we live in this way.
“And with my song I give thanks to him”: No matter how badly Satan disturbs us, as soon as we trust in the Lord, we can give thanks with singing.
“Trust in the Lord, and do good”: It’s very clear that trust comes before doing good. Faith is the first step.
“Dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness”: We enjoy His faithfulness because He promises whoever believes in Him will not be in shame.
Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:3-4) Psalms talk a lot about relying on Him and trusting in Him.
Let’s read one more verse. “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!” You need to really taste His love, then you can surely experience that the Lord is good. “Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” (Psalm 34:8)
To “trust in him” is to “believe in him.” When you trust in Him and enjoy Him, you will know that He is the best.
Today I’ve shown you the whole picture. My goal is to help you to be heart to heart with the Lord, to live out John chapter 15. On the night before His crucifixion, the Lord told us that He desires us to experience Him, to overcome the world, because He has left us with the peace and joy that no one can snatch away. The most precious is that we have the deepest relationship with Him in the whole universe. I thought about the Lord’s great desire to eat the feast with the disciples. He has given the disciples His precious words. And, He has prayed for you and me.