In John 14:25-26, the Lord says “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” John 16:12-13 reads, “ I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” It’s so precious it says here that He guides us into all the truth. John 17 mentions that we are sanctified by the truth. It’s so important that the Lord speaks to us. It is not just by us reading His words or singing the hymns that we can experience Him; we need to give Him time and space. It’s very important that He works in you so that the truth is bright and clear in your hearts, and that you see the Lord is very real, and so is His personal love for you. He opens your inner eyes to truly know the Father. Then you can be sanctified. It is not just by the truth or what the Bible says alone, but you need to let Him affect your spirit. That’s why the daughter in Psalm 45 is more beautiful when she listens, and the king will desire her beauty.
And look at Moses. When he was on the mountain, he was face to face with God. God spoke to him, and his face shone. And Stephen’s face was like the face of an angel. In Psalm 45, it says, “Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear.” You can really hear it, and that is to let His words affect your heart. When you consider and meditate, you let His words, the truth, influence your heart. We worship by the truth. So when you sing the hymns, you are not just singing, but you should enjoy the truth that touches you. The truth sanctifies you. How? The Holy Spirit opens your eyes to see the truth more vividly and you experience the Lord Himself appearing to you. He becomes very bright, clear and real before you. His love is also very real. All these will affect your heart. Your heart will be sanctified. When you know that He and the truth are so real, you will surely love Him more than all things. He opens your inner eyes. Therefore, sanctification is not just by truth alone. It is also by the Lord through the Holy Spirit speaking to you again and again. The words from His mouth are fresh every time, and it’s like me speaking to you now.
So, every day we have fresh new experiences. And every day we need God to speak to us. As David said, if God didn’t speak to Him, He was like the dead. David had Moses’ words or those from others. However, having His words doesn’t necessarily mean that He is speaking to you. For example, when nonbelievers read the Bible, they don’t experience the words influencing their hearts. The words just go through their brain. For Christians, how much they experience depends. Some might not give enough time or space to the Lord to speak to them. On the other hand, some people’s surroundings are too noisy, which affects the quietness in them. For instance, when you are on the bus and other passengers are talking loudly, the quietness in you will be disturbed. Reading the Bible in such an environment is also disturbing. But when you wear earplugs, you feel quiet. Today, I also had to wear earplugs because those sitting behind me were talking and affecting me. Once I wore earplugs, I heard no noise and I felt quiet. So, we need to avoid environmental noise.
Besides outward noise, there may be inner noise like your thoughts, memories, or things that you have watched. For instance, after watching a boxing match, your mind is filled with those scenes. When you draw near to God afterwards, these thoughts or scenes may pop up in your mind and distract you. You need to force yourself to focus. Therefore, we should not let any unnecessary things affect us in our daily life. You know it’s bad when you are disturbed by it. Whatever cannot help your relationship with the Lord but harms you, you should be sensitive and don’t let it continue to affect you. Don’t let your heart be caught up or lured away from the Lord. Your heart is more precious than all the things in the world. The Lord is most precious and your thoughts and mind are very precious too.
The way we are sanctified is not just by the truth alone, but also by the Lord and the Holy Spirit. In addition, when you draw near to God, the truth will be manifested more because He will for sure respond when you draw near to Him. He will reward those who seek Him diligently. He will speak to you. He always wants to speak to you but do you have time to listen to Him? That’s why in Psalm 45, it says, “Hear, O daughter.” This is the problem of many Christians nowadays. There is fast food in restaurants but you can’t have “fast food” in drawing near to God. You should have a leisure and quiet heart when you go to Him; Don’t rush. God has given you everything. How Abba loves the Lord, He loves you the same. This is how He loves you now, and He will continue to do so. His love for you is told in the Song of Solomon, and in fact in the whole Bible. It’s forever yours. What matters is how much you enjoy it. All spiritual blessings have been given to you! But how much do you enjoy? So, we don’t need to be anxious about what you want to get from God, because all is given to you. All things are yours; it’s how much we enjoy. So don’t be anxious, but remember, you need to enjoy it.