Let us read Psalm 45. The most loving King has a dream of love, in which you are the main character. He also has a dream of love towards the church. Let us read verses 10 and 11. Prior to these 2 verses, the psalmist describes this loving King is fairer than the sons of men. Grace is poured upon His lips. The daughter mentioned here represents you, me, and the church. It says, “Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear, forget your people and your father’s house, and the king will desire your beauty. Since he is your lord, bow to him.” These Bible verses tell us that obeying His voice and having peace in our hearts are closely related. This Song of Love particularly tells us the ways by which our spirits can become more beautiful and to progress from glory to glory. What does it say? It urges us to listen, to consider and to incline our ears. We need to be very focused, to forget about our people and our father’s house; meaning, we do not allow other relations, matters or affairs to divide our attention from Him.
This is also related to peace. A peaceful heart is a heart that is able to listen clearly. 1 Kings 19 speaks about Elijah’s experience. He had a great victory on Mount Carmel; but later, he encountered failure. He even fled and asked God to take away his life. Sometimes when our spirit is on high, we can still fall. We’ve all experienced it before. For instance, we feel very close to God when drawing near to Him, but right after, we start watching TV. Our spirit may backslide right away. Of course, we can still rise up again, but we shouldn’t allow ourselves to fall so easily. At the moment when Elijah asked God to take away his life, he felt discouraged. God spoke to him. In the beginning, there were loud and ferocious sounds, but then Elijah heard a low whisper. God spoke to him with a gentle voice.
The way God communicates is different from the way of men. Our physical eyes cannot see Him. Actually, what our physical eyes can see is limited. What can your physical eyes see now? You cannot see the organs inside your body. You cannot see your brain and many other parts of your body as well. Some things you can see, but those you cannot see are still very real. Who among us can see our DNA? What we can see is truly limited. You cannot see love either, even though there’s so much of it. Why do you like to sing love songs? It’s so precious that God created us in His image. We have a spirit, and our spirit has sense.
Before we believed in God, we were separated from God. Ephesians 2 tells us that before we believed in the Lord, we were dead in our trespasses and sins. Death means being separated from God. We were once dead in our trespasses and sins but now we live again. Those who have not believed in God are still separated from God. Their spirit has not been made alive, so they cannot feel or sense God. They cannot have fellowship with Him. They follow the prince of the power of the air, obeying Satan. They fall into temptations and indulge in the lusts of their flesh.
However, the moment we believed in God, we live again. Our spirit is alive again, so we can have fellowship with God. We have fellowship with the Father and with the Son. Before we believed in God, how could we pray to God with our heart joining to His? Not at all. Once we’ve believed in God, our spirit can touch His Spirit. Now He dwells in our heart. The Infinite God is now united with us in our spirit. Our spirit is the contact point with God. Today we live before the Infinite One, His whole self. He lives in glory. The Lord is God and He is everywhere, but He also lives in my heart. He’s not just with us, but He’s united with us. It is like the parable of the vine and the branches, but the union between the Lord and us is even deeper.
Being united with the Lord in one spirit has two meanings. Being one means that two become one flesh. Two become one flesh is the love union between two people. We are one spirit with the Lord means that we have a deep love relationship with Him. Being united in one spirit points to the fact that the Lord and we have the deepest relationship of love in our spirits. We belong to each other and we are united in one spirit.
Another meaning is that our lives are bound up with the Lord’s life. I am united with the Lord in one spirit. Our spirit can sense Him, because we have been made alive again. Our spirit is not dead anymore. We can feel God and sense Him. After we believe in God, our spirit becomes more sensitive. We can even detect the presence of the evil spirits. In the past, when I was in Shatin, Hong Kong, I labeled some communities as “demon possessed areas”. You could sense those places were filled with evil spirits. We can feel God and through this experience, you know that you are saved – you are a new person. Once you have believed in the Lord, your spirit is born again, and God lives in you. In the past, the old self was completely separated from God. Now you are a new person and you are united with God forever. When you know that you are able to feel God, you are beginning to experience what it means to be alive.
It’s wonderful and amazing that our whole body has sense. Do you know that lepers were not able to sense anything? Can you imagine how terrible it is? It’s very amazing that even animals have sense! That’s why when you come closer to them, they get alarmed and run away. Their senses help them to protect themselves. It is not just one part of the body that has sense, but the whole body has it! No matter which part of the body is being touched, you can feel it. It’s amazing! You even can feel how warm the weather is.
However, this knowledge may not affect our spirit much. The most precious is to have fellowship with God in our spirits. Fellowship with God is much deeper than all the forms of companionship in this world. He knows everything about us and inside us. Our spirit has sense, and that’s why we can have enjoyment. If we didn’t have the sense of taste, eating would be unappetizing and become mechanical. It would be like filling up our cars with gas. That would be dreadful! It’s very precious that our spirit has sense. We can feel Him and experience His love. We can apprehend His teachings in all aspects of our lives. We can experience Him opening our spiritual eyes and showing us His will in our lives. He knows all our needs. He can comfort and encourage us, and much more. His work is different from men’s, and He works in the depth of our hearts.
God’s words are truly powerful. Only when we are at peace can we hear His words. If we draw near to God with an unsettled heart, we won’t enjoy as much. We might read some Bible passages, but we don’t have much gain. Even sometimes we may have some gain, but it may not touch deeply in our hearts. We won’t have much enjoyment at all.
On the night before the Lord was crucified, He mentioned that He wanted us to be sanctified. To be sanctified is to give our whole heart to the Lord and to Abba. Abba requests, “My son, give Me your heart.” (Prov. 23:26) The Lord asks, “Do you love Me more than these?” (John 21:15) Peter had followed the Lord for a few years already, but what did the Lord ask him at the end? He asked, “Do you love Me?” And on earth, what do we need to do? We need to love brothers and sisters; we need to feed and tend the sheep.
Our spirit can receive His message and understand what He means. Sometimes He may give us an impression and we can understand what He means. It’s so precious that He opens our spiritual eyes! Sometimes we don’t even realize that He has opened them. When we were young believers, we might have felt that we suddenly became smarter, and we didn’t know He had opened our inner eyes. There are countless instances of this. Every time when we read the Bible, He opens our eyes; sometimes we may experience His greater work and sometimes may not. What makes the difference is how much time and space we give to Him. That’s why we need to find a better place and make time for Him. It takes time to experience God!