Our heavenly Father, we thank and praise Thee that Thou hast put us in this family of God. We are glad, and we are grateful to Thee for making us members of this great family.
How do we come together to offer Thee our praise and worship? There is no merit in us. We do not deserve it, but we praise and thank Thee because Thou hast given this privilege to us.
We are Thy children. Thou hast given us Thy life, even Thy Son, our Lord Jesus. We praise and thank Thee because we are accepted in Thy Beloved. We praise and thank Thee because He is the vine and we are the branches. He is in us, and we are in Him. Teach us how to abide in Him, that He may abide in us, that we may bear much fruit to the Father’s glory.
O our heavenly Father, we do praise and thank Thee for this time together. We do claim Thy presence with us through the revelation and operation of Thy Holy Spirit in each of our hearts, that Thou mayest gain something for Thyself in all of us.
Our desire is not what we can get from Thee, Lord; Thou hast given us so much. But our desire this morning is that Thou mayest gain something for Thyself in all of us. Unto Thee be the praise and the glory, in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Last night, we began with this matter of the heart. God does not want to maintain a superficial relationship with us. He wants to have a heart-to-heart relationship with His people.
It is the heart that God looks into, not the outward appearance. It is the heart with which God will deal. He is looking for a perfect heart. He is looking for a love by which we may love Him with all our heart. This is what God wants.
This morning we will probably use some of the Scriptures that we used last night, but we will try to look at them from another angle, in connection with this matter of the heart.
Please turn to Hebrews, chapter 8. We will read one verse, verse 10.
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
After those days, saith the Lord;
I will put My laws into their mind,
And on their heart also will I write them:
And I will be to them a God,
And they shall be to Me a people.”
— Hebrews 8:10
Romans, chapter 8, verse 2:
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
Made me free from the law of sin and of death.”
— Romans 8:2
The Gospel according to John, chapter 20, verse 17:
“Jesus saith unto her, Touch Me not;
For I am not yet ascended unto the Father:
But go unto My brethren, and say to them,
I ascend unto My Father and your Father,
And My God and your God.”
— John 20:17
God—your God. In the beginning, God. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. From eternity past unto eternity to come, He is God.
This is a basic fact in the universe. Nothing can change that. Nobody has made Him God. He is God by Himself. He does not depend upon any circumstance. He is not subject to any reason in order to be God. He is God from the very beginning to the very end.
What He is, nothing can change. No matter what happens, He is God. The archangel whom He made might rebel against Him, but that does not change Him as God. He is still God. The man whom He created may disobey Him, but He is still God. Nothing can change His position as God—absolutely nothing.
You may think this is too elementary, too simple. Everybody knows it. But sometimes, in our Christian life, we are tempted and tested on this point.
Sometimes we are tempted to dethrone Him as God in our lives. That is the temptation. Sometimes we are tested as to whether we really believe that He is God. So I think it is good for us to be reminded from time to time that God is God. No matter what, God is God.
A dear brother put it in a very nice way. He said that usually, when we are tempted or tested, of course we will not give up our faith in God; yet somehow we may say, “God—what?” Things do not seem as though God is God.
But he said, “It is not ‘God, but’; it should be ‘But God.’” Yes, everything may seem unfavorable. Everything may seem upside down. But God—if you will go to God, there is no change in Him. He rules and overrules over everything. He is on the throne, and His throne never shakes.
God is God. Brothers and sisters, this is an eternal fact. It never changes.
But there is something that we would like to fellowship about this morning. God is not satisfied merely to be God. God wants to be your God and my God.
The purpose of God with man is that He may be our God and that we may be His people. Now, you know, it is a little different here. God is God—that speaks of what He is in Himself. This never changes. Nothing can change Him.
But for God to be your God and my God, for God to be our God and for us to be His people, you will find that it is a relationship which needs to be arrived at. It is relational.
God does not want to be God in an absolute, unrelated way. He wants to be your God and my God. He wants you to be His people. That is God’s desire.
Look at the story of the Garden of Eden. God created Adam, and God put him in the Garden of Eden. God gave him orders: he was to till the ground and guard the garden. That was his work.
God gave him a commandment: of all the trees in the garden he might freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he was not to eat; for in the day that he ate thereof, he would surely die.
So far as the act of God’s creation of man was concerned, it was finished. God had created man. When God looked at him, God said, “Very good.” But why did God put him in the garden? Why did God give him a commandment?
Because in that commandment, God was to make Adam His people, and He was to be Adam’s God. So far as the act of creation was concerned, God was God over Adam. There was no question about that, because Adam was created by God.
But God did not want to be Adam’s God merely by the right of creation. God wanted something deeper, something better. God wanted Adam to desire to be His people by obeying Him, by taking his place as man, and by honoring God as God.
By so doing, Adam would be God’s people out of his choice, out of his free will, as it were. By this, God would be his God, and the relationship would be established.
But Adam was tempted in the garden. Do you know the meaning of temptation? Satan came in the form of the serpent—or the evil spirit entered into the serpent—and tempted Eve.
He said, “Did God really say that you cannot eat of any fruit of the trees?” In other words, “God wants to starve you to death.” Eve answered, “Certainly not. We can eat the fruit of every tree, except the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If we eat of it, we shall die.”
Then Satan said, “It may not be so. If you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, then you will know good and evil as God. You will be as wise as God.”
In other words, in that temptation, Satan tried to move man away from the position of man and to inflate his ego, to make him desire to be God himself. “You do not need God. You do not need anyone above you. You can be your own god. Act on your own, and you will be your own god.”
By eating the forbidden fruit, Adam rejected God as his God. He said that from then on he would be god himself. He did not know that he had given himself over to Satan, and that Satan had become the god of this world.
But God was still God. How do we know? Because God came and judged. God cast Adam out of the Garden of Eden. Even the rebellion of Adam did not change God one bit. He was still God.
But one thing was frustrated: the purpose of God was frustrated. Nothing changed in God Himself, but what God wanted in man was not there. In a strict sense, God was not Adam’s God, and Adam was not God’s people.
In the very beginning, the desire of God was to have a people—a people who would honor Him, respect Him, and receive Him as God. God’s desire was that He might be their God. That is His purpose.
God delivered His people Israel out of Egypt. In Exodus, chapter 19, you find God saying:
“I have borne you on eagles’ wings,
And brought you unto Myself.
Now therefore, if ye will indeed obey My voice,
And keep My covenant,
Then ye shall be Mine own possession from among all peoples:
For all the earth is Mine:
And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests,
And a holy nation.”
— Exodus 19:4-6
Here again, after God had delivered Israel out of Egypt and brought Israel to Himself, God began to reveal His mind and heart to His people. God was saying, “Do you know why I redeemed you? Do you know why I brought you to Myself? I want to make you a peculiar people, a people of My own possession.”
It is true that all the peoples of the earth are Mine by the right of creation, but I am not satisfied with that. I want you to be My peculiar people. If you will hearken to My voice and keep My covenant, then you can be a kingdom of priests to Me and a holy nation.
How? God gave them the Ten Commandments. They were written on two tables of stone. The first table probably had four commandments, and the second table had six commandments. The first table defined man’s relationship with God, and the second described the relationship among ourselves.
Remember, when God gave the Ten Commandments to Israel, He did not give them the law on the ground of creation. He gave them the law on the ground of redemption. He introduced the law by saying:
“I am the Lord thy God,
Who brought thee out of the land of Egypt,
Out of the house of bondage.”
— Exodus 20:2
God was not dealing with them on the basis of creation; He was dealing with them on the ground of redemption. “Now you are redeemed. What is the purpose of redemption? I want to be your God, and I want you to be My people.”
The first commandment says:
“Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.”
— Exodus 20:3
God is saying, “I am your God. You shall have no other gods.” In Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verse 13, which our Lord Jesus quoted when He was tempted in the wilderness, we read:
“Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God;
And Him shalt thou serve.”
— Deuteronomy 6:13
The second commandment says that we shall not make any graven image or worship an image. God is God. The third commandment says that we shall not take the name of the Lord in vain. We are to honor and respect Him as God. The fourth commandment tells us to keep the Sabbath and to accept the finished work of God.
When you gather these first four commandments together, you see one thing: God wants to be the God of the people of Israel. If the people of Israel kept these commandments, then truly they would become God’s own people. That was the reason for the giving of the law.
Unfortunately, before the law came into their hands, they had already broken it. While Moses was on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments, the people of Israel made a golden calf and worshipped Satan. The law was broken through the weakness of the flesh. The law cannot make anyone perfect.
The one thing that caused the people of Israel to be taken as captives to Babylon was their worship of other gods—the abomination of idolatry. Why? Because God is a jealous God. He redeemed this people. He wanted to be their God, and He wanted them to be His people. But they went after other gods and entered into idolatry.
Idolatry is an abomination in the sight of God. For that sin, they were taken captive to Babylon, to be cured of idolatry.
Then the promise of God was fulfilled in the coming of His Son into this world. The Word became flesh and tabernacled among men, full of grace and truth. The Lord Jesus came upon this scene, and here you find a Man—God’s Man.
Before He came into public ministry, He was tempted. Do you know what the temptation was? The temptation was this: Is God His God? Is He God’s people?
Satan tried to tempt the Lord to act independently of God. “If Thou art the Son of God, turn these stones into bread. Thou art hungry.” But the Lord answered:
“Man shall not live by bread alone,
But by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
— Matthew 4:4
In other words, He was tempted to act on His own, but He refused. He said, in effect, “I have My God. God has not spoken. I will not turn stones into bread. I would rather be hungry than act independently.”
You see, when our Lord Jesus was tempted, He kept the position of man. He honored God as His God.
When Satan showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, Satan said, “If Thou wilt worship me, if Thou wilt make me thy god, I will give everything to Thee.” The Lord said:
“Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God,
And Him only shalt thou serve.”
— Matthew 4:10
Satan was defeated. The temptation of our Lord Jesus came down to one issue: Is God His God? Satan tried to take God away from the Lord Jesus, but the Lord insisted that God was His God and that He was God’s people.
Throughout the life of our Lord Jesus, you find this principle working. The Lord Jesus could do many things, but He said:
“The Son can do nothing of Himself,
But what He seeth the Father doing.”
— John 5:19
“I have My God. I am His people. I have to do what He does. Otherwise, I cannot do anything.”
When He went to the cross, He was sorely tested. On the cross He cried:
“My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
— Psalm 22:1; Matthew 27:46
Throughout His whole life on earth, He had made God His God. Yet, even in that dark hour, He did not cease to acknowledge God as His God. If you read on in Psalm 22, you find that even though He was sorely tempted, He continued to trust God.
“Upon Thee have I been cast from the womb:
Thou art My God since My mother bare Me.”
— Psalm 22:10
Even if He did not understand, God was still His God, and He was still God’s people.
Before the Lord could bring His salvation to us, He had to prove in His own life that this was true: God was His God, and He was God’s people.
What is the salvation of the Lord that He has brought to us? It is more than just having our sins forgiven. Thank God for that. Because of the finished work of the cross of our Lord Jesus, our sins are not only forgiven but forgotten by God. That is great.
But, dear brothers and sisters, that is just the beginning. The salvation of the Lord is that we may be like Him. As He is, so shall we be. That is the meaning of salvation.
The Lord Jesus found that God was His God and that He was God’s people. The same should be true with you and me, with all of us who are redeemed. We are saved that God may be our God and that we may be His people. The Lord has made it possible.
Under the old covenant and the law of Moses, it did not work. Even though the people cried, “All that the Lord hath spoken we will do,” and they said it honestly, it did not work.
They were God’s people outwardly, yes, but in reality, no. Although the people of Israel were called God’s people, in actuality they were not, because they did not keep God’s commandments. They did not hearken to God’s voice. They rebelled against God’s government. They worshipped idols. They did not always respect God as God. They acted on their own.
But thank God: through the finished work of our Lord Jesus on the cross, He has made it possible for us.
Here in Hebrews, chapter 8, verse 10, we find the new covenant. According to the prophecies, this will happen to the people of Israel; but today, we are already enjoying the blessings of the new covenant.
On the night of His betrayal, our Lord Jesus took the cup and said:
“This cup is the new covenant in My blood.”
— Luke 22:20
He has given that to us. Hebrews, chapter 8, verse 10, says, “I will put My laws into their mind, and on their heart also will I write them: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people.”
Why does God put this law into our mind and write it upon our heart? So that He may be our God and we may be His people. By writing His law upon our heart, He can be our God and we can be His people. There is no other way.
The question is: How can God be our God and we be His people in reality—not merely in name, not superficially, and not merely according to God’s purpose, but in actual experience?
You may want to let God be your God. You may desire to be His people. But if you do not know how, if you do not know the way or the secret, you will not be able to enter into it. That is the glory of the new covenant.
How is God to be your God, and how are you to be His people? The secret is this: “I will put My laws into their mind, and on their heart also will I write them.” That is the way.
What is the law that can be written upon the heart? You cannot write the Ten Commandments upon the heart. The Ten Commandments were letters. By their very nature, they were letters, rules, and regulations. They could be written only on stone or on paper. They were external to you.
But there is one law that can be written upon the heart.
“The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”
— 2 Corinthians 3:6
There is only one law that can be written upon the heart, and that is the law of the Spirit of life.
In Christianity, there are not rules and regulations without number. In Christianity, there is only one law given: the law of the Spirit of life.
Under the old covenant, there were Ten Commandments, and these ten commandments became the basis of a whole system of law. If you read Exodus, Leviticus, or Deuteronomy, you find statutes, ordinances, precepts, rituals, and ceremonies built upon those commandments.
It became a whole system of law. You do not know how many articles there are. It deals with many details. They are written in the book. It is hard to memorize all these things. You have to refer to the book, and you have to be taught.
Even so, you do not know everything. Inadvertently, you may violate some of the laws. If it comes to your knowledge, you have to sacrifice because you have offended the law. Not only that, you do not have the power to keep the law. That is the old covenant.
But God is doing a new thing in Christ Jesus with us. He does not give us a thousand and one laws to keep. He gives us only one law—only one law. By that law, He is to be your God, and you are to be His people.
It is the law of the Spirit of life, and that law can be written upon your heart, because it is not letter; it is life. The very nature of that law is different.
When you believe in the Lord Jesus, God has put His life within you. That life which is in you is a law. God has not given you many laws and many rules. God has given you a life, but that life is a law.
How do we know that life is a law? Because every life has its own nature, and the nature of that life is law to that life. If you follow the nature of that life, you are following the law of life. Everything is natural, spontaneous, free, and peaceful.
But if you do not follow the nature of a life, and you try to act against that nature, you will struggle. You will be unnatural, painful, and frustrated.
The life of Christ in us has its nature, and this nature of life is a law to us. God has put that life in you and says, “Follow this life. Obey this life. This life in you is a law.”
He does not give you many laws and regulations written on a wall or inscribed on paper for you to memorize. No. It has been proven that this does not work. The whole history of Israel is evidence of this.
But now God puts His life in us. If you follow life, if you follow the nature of this life, then you can live naturally—or supernaturally naturally—because this life is supernatural.
There is one thing that we have to see: today, in Christianity, we are to live supernaturally naturally. In one sense, yes, we cannot live by our natural life. But we misunderstand this. We think that not living by our natural life means that we should live unnaturally.
You find Christians living unnaturally. We are all good actors and actresses. We try to act as if we are Christians. We try to keep all kinds of rules and regulations, and we are making them all the time.
We feel that by doing these things, by being unnatural, we become spiritual. The more unnaturally you live, the more spiritual you think you will become. But, you know, it does not work. It does not.
It is true that we should not live by the natural life in that sense. Our old natural life is crucified with Christ on the cross. But, dear brothers and sisters, we forget that God has given us a new life—a supernatural life.
When that supernatural life lives, it lives supernaturally naturally. It is natural. You do not act. You do not pretend. You just live naturally according to the law of this supernatural life.
A bird does not need to act in order to fly. It is natural. It is simply following the nature of a bird’s life. A Christian does not need to act unnaturally in order to live like Christ. If he follows Christ, it is natural. If he does not, it is unnatural.
There is only one law: the law of life.
Unfortunately, most Christians live by rules and regulations prepared for them by people. That is why Christian living becomes unnatural, and it is always a strain.
If we only knew that God has put one law within us—very simple, the law of life—then, as we are in touch with God, this life is a law to us. This life will tell us what God wills, and this life will give us the strength to do it.
A law is not only knowledge; a law is also power. It is wisdom as well as power. That is why Paul said that the Greeks seek wisdom and the Jews seek signs, but Christ is God’s wisdom and God’s power.
This life in you will not only tell you; this life in you will also help you. It is power—the law of the Spirit of life.
The question may be asked: Do you have this law of the Spirit of life, or do you not? How can you say that you do not have this law of the Spirit of life in you if you are a child of God?
If you say that, it is almost like saying that you do not have life, because life is the law. Every Christian has life. He who is in Christ has life. Every Christian has life, and this life is law.
God has already put this law in us. We all have the law of the Spirit of life. There is no problem about that. Do not question it. Do not doubt that you have life. If you believe in the Lord Jesus, He has given you life. It is very basic.
This life in you is a law. It has not only knowledge but also power. This is the way God is to be your God and you are to be His people.
Why is it that the law of the Spirit of life does not seem to work as it should? What is the problem? You will find that the problem is not with life. The problem is with your heart.
It is with your heart. Why? Hebrews says, “I will put My laws into their minds, and on their hearts also will I write them.” The heart is the issue.
In Jeremiah 31:33, the word law is singular:
“I will put My law in their inward parts,
And in their heart will I write it.”
— Jeremiah 31:33
The law is singular because, as Romans 8:2 tells us, it is the law of the Spirit of life. So far as life is concerned, there is one life. It is the divine life, the life of Christ given to us. It is eternal life.
But in Hebrews, chapter 8, verse 10, and chapter 10, verse 16, the word is plural: “I will put My laws into their mind, and on their hearts also will I write them.” Why?
The law of the Spirit of life is one, but when this law operates, it operates in the various parts of the heart. As it touches the different parts of the heart, it develops into many applications, many laws.
The heart is the pathway. If the law of the Spirit of life can get through the heart, then it will be expressed and manifested in our lives. If it is blocked in the heart, then you have the law of the Spirit of life, but it does not work because there is a blockage in the heart.
As we walk with the Lord, the law of the Spirit of life begins to operate in the area of our conscience. God speaks to your conscience. That is one area of the heart.
When the law of the Spirit of life comes to your conscience, it touches matters and things. In one matter, God may speak as if it is one law; in another matter, He may speak as if it is another law. Actually, it is from the same life, but as life touches different things in your life, each becomes a law to you.
If your heart is turned toward the Lord—that is to say, if you love God—then the law of the Spirit of life is able to get through your conscience. By getting through, you grow.
As this law operates, it always carries two aspects: one is the death aspect, and the other is the life aspect. It is always like that. When the law of the Spirit of life works in your conscience, it brings you to death, but at the same time it brings you to resurrection.
If your heart is turned toward God, if you love Him, it operates very naturally and smoothly. It accomplishes this work, and the result is transformation. You are transformed from glory to glory according to the image of Christ.
But if your heart is closed toward God, if your heart turns away from God, if you do not love Him, then when the law of the Spirit of life operates in your conscience, there will be a struggle. The more your heart is turned away from God, the greater will be the struggle.
Sometimes the law cannot get through. When it cannot get through, the result is that you remain where you are spiritually, or even go backward.
The law of the Spirit of life reaches into the inward part of your being—that is, your heart. It is not something that comes from outside. It is something that comes from within. It carries power with it. It not only gives you knowledge; it gives you the power to do it. That is the difference.
Sometimes our minds are occupied and set in a certain way. Then the law of the Spirit of life begins to operate. The eyes of our heart are enlightened, and we begin to see God.
Every thought is brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. When it is brought into captivity, immediately you discover that you have the mind of Christ. That is resurrection.
This life is Christ. He has no problem. Our problem is the heart—the heart. The life is already in us. The life is a law by itself. You do not need to worry about it.
People always ask, “How can I know the will of God?” It is as if knowing the will of God is the hardest thing in the world. But you know it. You know it. It is like living with a law—you know it.
You may say, “Well, I do not know.” Then the problem is your heart. Something is wrong with your heart. If you go to the Lord, you will find that invariably something is wrong with your heart. When your heart is corrected, you know the will of God. No problem.
Let me use an illustration from my own experience. When I first began to follow the Lord, I was in South China. A new work was started there, and a few of us went down to that place. The Lord began to gather His people together.
After some time, all my fellow workers left, and I was left alone there. There was another sister who was native to that place, and she remained there. I was there for five months, but I could not adjust to the climate. I came from East China, and this was South China. The climate was different, and I became sick.
An elderly sister, who was newly saved, took me to her home for rest. But I was very restless. I thought, “I have to go away from here. This place does not suit me. I have to go somewhere else.”
So I began to pray. Of course, I knew I could not go where I wanted; I had to receive permission from the Lord. But as I prayed, I had already picked out the place where I would like to go. It was a beautiful place.
As I prayed, I was hoping that God would put His seal upon it and say, “All right, go ahead.” But heaven was silent. I dared not move. There was just a little fear of God in me. Yet I was restless.
I waited and waited. Then that elderly sister began to notice. One day she came and said, “Brother, why are you so restless?”
It was like an arrow that pierced into my heart. This was a sister whom I was supposed to help, and here was my restlessness, noticed by her. I was ashamed. I was disgraced.
So I went to the Lord. I was really down before the Lord. The Lord said, “Do you know why you do not know My will? It is because you have already decided where to go. You are just waiting for My approval.”
“You have to lay everything down at My feet. You have no choice but to choose My will.”
By the grace of God, I was able to lay everything at His feet. I said, “If You want me to stay here for life, I will remain here. I will be content. If You want me to go anywhere, just tell me, and I will go. I will have no choice but that Your will be done.”
After my heart came into balance, within a few days I was in Hong Kong. How did I know? I knew. God opened the way, and there was peace and life in me.
A new work had begun a few months earlier in Hong Kong. I was there, and then the other workers left, and I was again alone there, carrying on by the grace of God.
Brothers and sisters, there is no problem with your life; the problem is with your heart. If your mind is occupied, prejudiced, and set, the law of the Spirit of life cannot get through.
But if your heart is turned toward God, if you really love God, life will operate very smoothly and naturally through your mind. To know the will of God is a natural thing.
Too many Christians think that knowing the will of God is very unnatural. But remember, it is natural. It should be supernaturally natural.
How is God to be your God? In what way is God really your God? It is when you truly honor Him, respect Him, listen to Him, obey Him, worship Him, and serve Him.
When are you truly His people? It is when you stand in your place as man before Him, fearing Him and honoring Him. It is when you follow the law of the Spirit of life.
God is God on the throne in heaven. That is what He is. His throne never shakes. But for God to be your God and my God, He must be the law of life in your heart.
It is not enough just to know that God is on the throne. Yes, that is what He is. But for God to be your God and my God, and for us truly to be His people, He must be on the throne of your heart. The law must be written upon your heart.
You remember our Lord Jesus when He came into the world. Psalm 40 prophesied of Him:
“Sacrifice and offering Thou hast no delight in;
Mine ears hast Thou opened:
Burnt-offering and sin-offering hast Thou not required.
Then said I, Lo, I am come;
In the roll of the book it is written of Me:
I delight to do Thy will, O My God;
Yea, Thy law is within My heart.”
— Psalm 40:6-8
That is the secret of our Lord’s life. The law was in His heart, and His heart was so open to God. “To do Thy good pleasure, O God, is My delight.” His heart was turned to God.
The result was that God was His God, and He was God’s people. Today, this law is already written upon our hearts. But the question is this: Is our heart turned toward God?
If our heart is turned toward God, if our heart is open to God, if we love God, then there will be no hindering obstacle to the working of the life of God. You will find that you are able to live naturally, and the end result is that we will be like Him.
This is the way that God is to be your God and that you are to be His people.
After the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, He said to Mary, “Go tell My brethren, ‘I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’”
God is the God of Christ, and God is His Father. But now, in resurrection—that is, on the ground of His finished work—God is to be your God and my God. God is to be your Father and my Father.
What is the difference between Father and God? Father is a matter of life relationship. God is a matter of position.
God has to be your Father first before He can be your God. In other words, if you do not have the life of God in you, if the Father-and-son relationship has not been established through Christ Jesus, then there is no way for you to be His people or for Him to be your God.
There is no way, because it is in the law of life that He is to be your God and you are to be His people.
On the one hand, God is our Father. This speaks of nearness and closeness. We can draw near to Him. We can cast ourselves upon Him. He is our Father. He will take care of us.
Thank God for having such a Father. I cannot forget when my grandfather passed away. My father loved my grandfather very much, even though my father had been persecuted by him when he had come to believe in the Lord.
At one time my grandfather was sick, and my father was supposed to go away to attend a conference. He refused to go because he was afraid he might lose his father. Later, my grandfather got better, so my father went away to the conference. But while he was away, my grandfather passed away.
On his way back, our family did not tell my father what had happened. I was in Hong Kong, and my father, coming back, had to pass through Hong Kong. They asked me to break the news to him.
I went to the pier to meet him at the boat. He saw the black band on my arm, and he knew. He told me one thing: “I have no more father.” That was all he said, but it touched me deeply. It was a great loss to him.
God is our Father. What grace! We have a Father.
But God is our God. That speaks of respect, honor, and knowing our position as men. The temptation is: “You can be as God.” That is the temptation. How we need to refuse to be God, to stay in the position of man, and to honor God as God.
He is God. That speaks of reverence, worship, and service. These two things must maintain a balance.
Sometimes people become too familiar with God as Father, and somehow there is a lack of reverence, fear, honor, and worship. Other people fear God so much that they go to the other extreme, and there is no longer closeness or nearness to God.
But our Lord Jesus said, “I ascend unto My God and your God, and My Father and your Father.” By the grace of God, we need to strike a good balance.
The desire of God is that He wants to be your God. He wants you to be His people. He wants you to stay in your place as men and to honor Him as God. The way to arrive at that is through the law of the Spirit of life—Christ Himself.
O heavenly Father, we do praise and thank Thee for giving us Thine own life. We thank Thee that this life in us is living. It does work. It is a law. It gives us knowledge, and it gives us power.
But oftentimes we feel as if it is not working. O our Father, show us where the problem is. Show us that it is our heart that is the problem.
We pray that Thou wilt always draw us, that our hearts may always be turned toward Thee, and that there may always be love toward Thyself.
Because our hearts are open to Thee, may Thy life be able to operate through our hearts and transform us according to the image of Thy Son.
O our Father, we ask that these may not merely be words, or even become a kind of technical approach. We pray that, by knowing the way that Thou workest, we may be able to cooperate with Thee in a better way and allow Thee to perfect Thy work in every one of us.
We commit one another into Thy hands. We praise and thank Thee because Thou hast made all things possible. It is Thy work; we are in Thy hand. May we be unto the praise of Thy glory.
In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.