I hope that you can be heart to heart with the Lord throughout the year. It would be easier to understand if I use the word “touch”. My heart is being touched by Him, having contact with Him. This is the normal state of your spirit: having no hindrance with Him nor feeling any thirst in your heart, because He nourishes you. He can supply you all things anytime. Your heart is being touched, and nothing can hinder it. If you have experienced it, I want you to keep it. This is indeed abiding in Him, like the branches continue to be in the vine, enjoying its sap and supply. This analogy of the vine and the branches resembles our connection with the Lord. Our needs are countless but the Lord is able to provide for us. All spiritual blessings are in the Lord. When you enjoy Him, you enjoy the blessings – His joy, His peace, your inner eyes being opened, and so on. You can feel the truth.
When talking about the precious prayers, I shared about “taking a pause” and “interflow of love”. This time I specifically talk about what is “heart to heart” and this is very important. From this, you’ll know how to live in this condition. This is to abide in Him, and you can bear much fruit. You gain Him, and you can gain His provision in all aspects. Sometimes He provides for you more, but at least you should maintain a certain good condition. You will then understand what a normal spiritual condition is and what are things that disturb you. Satan doesn’t want you to abide in the Lord; he disturbs you. However, when you abide in the Lord, your heart will be very sensitive of the disturbance, aware of losing the normal condition. Then, you will react faster. Indeed, it’s very simple. You don’t have to say a long prayer. When Peter was walking on the water, he looked at the storms and then started to sink. At that time, he didn’t pray like this, “Lord, I truly give thanks to You that You are so good. Your love was from eternity past…” Instead, he just cried, “Lord, save me!” Once you feel the enemy’s disturbance or start to lose the peace in your heart, you should promptly say, “Lord, save me!” “Lord, I rely on You!” The Lord will help you immediately. He wants you to be in normal condition. Apart from Him, you can do nothing. Worse still, you might fall into temptations and sin.
I hope you understand by now what I mean by “being touched” by the Lord. Sometimes when you read the Bible, He touches you even more; or He may draw close to you. Now that you know what a normal condition should be, you become more aware of any disturbance, or things that hinder you from being free and touched by Him. This is the most important. If you stay in this normal condition, you won’t sin, for you can overcome all. Furthermore, you can bear fruit. Even if you stumble, very quickly you will rise again. So you can enjoy victory throughout the day. The faster you react, the more sensitive your spirit will become. When you become such a person, you won’t just let your heart be in chaos or far from the Lord. On the contrary, the more you let it be, the more you tend to delay coming back before Him, and the harder it would be to turn to the Lord.
Some Bible verses well explain this. In Psalm 73, it says, “Nevertheless, I am continually with You; You hold my right hand.” (Ps. 73:23) Isn’t it good? He holds our hands, supporting us. You might say, “I can’t see the Lord’s hand holding mine.” Here it refers to our spiritual condition. The Lord and we are like two hands holding together. His spirit and your spirit are knitted together. When you shake hands with others, you have feelings. Indeed, our spirit also has feelings. Therefore, your spirit knows if you are close to the Lord. Your spirit knows if anything is disturbing you. You also know when your spirit restores to the normal condition. We walk hand in hand with the Lord on this path of love. We are actually heart to heart with Him. His heart touches my heart, and that is “hand in hand”. He really treasures it. Isn’t it intimate and warm? The infinite One, the King of all, holds our hands. Not just holding hands, but His spirit joins with ours to live every day and walk on this path of love. It’s heart-warming, exceeding all human relationships. His spirit is in me. The Lord is the infinite spirit, and He lives in us. We are united with the Lord. Truly, we are one spirit with the Lord, and it’s a living union and a union of love. We are joined to Him and we can gain His all. I hope that you can grasp this point. It’s very crucial.
Then the psalm reads, “You guide me with your counsel, and afterward You will receive me to glory.” (Ps. 73:24) His word is very important. He guides us with His counsel. His word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. (Ps. 119:105) However, we have not only the Bible but the Father, the Lord, and the Spirit to teach us and help us to live out the truths. According to our condition, He guides us with His words. Also, afterward He will receive us to glory.
And it says, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You.” (Ps. 73:25) The Lord is truly incomparable; how can we not love Him! I believe you love Him more than all in the universe. It’s very precious that He gave Himself for us. We should be full of thanksgiving. When someone gives you a gift, you would also thank him. If someone gives you a house, you will be very thankful. However, even if you are given the whole country, or the whole world, or even the whole universe, it still can’t be compared with the Lord Himself. He is the One who created the whole universe. He can create another universe bigger than what we are in now. Faced with the suffering of the cross, He still gave Himself for us so that now He can give Himself to us. He gives Himself to us in such a way that we can be heart to heart with Him, closest to Him, enjoying a living union with Him. Isn’t it amazing? You can never think of anyone else who can do the same. I really feel dumbstruck if you don’t treasure Him and enjoy Him.
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Ps. 73:26) The Lord is more than the truth. Much more, He is the strength of our hearts and our portion. We can enjoy Him forever. Therefore the psalmist felt very blessed. In the beginning, his eyes saw the negative side and was envious of the arrogant (Ps. 73:3). He only saw the prosperity of the wicked, and felt God’s discipline on him. In fact, God wanted him to enjoy more blessings. Likewise, when God corrects and teaches us, He indeed wants us to enjoy Him even more. He wants us to be more blessed and glorious. Later, when the psalmist went into the sanctuary of God, then he came to realize all these. He understood that he’s so much more blessed than other people. At the end, he said, “But for me it is good to be near God.” (Ps. 73:28)