THE PROPAGATION IN ASIA MINOR AND EUROPE THROUGH THE MINISTRY OF PAUL AND HIS COMPANIONS (27)
Read and Pray: "No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit." (1 Cor. 12:3)
A Necessity in Our Christian Life
I am concerned for those who are disturbed by our emphasis on calling on the name of the Lord. It is not true to say we emphasize it too much. In fact, calling on the Lord is a necessity in our Christian life. If you practice calling on the name of the Lord, you will be at the initial stage of dispensational transfer. I assure you that the more you call on the name of the Lord Jesus, the more you will be removed from old things and brought into new ones.
Some have been Christians for a long time. Over the years, their Christian life has become quite old. Due to this oldness, they need to experience a practical transfer. The best way to achieve it is to call: “Oh Lord Jesus!” I encourage you to practice this. If you call on the name of the Lord daily, you will be able to testify many things about your experience with the Lord.
Calling on the name of the Lord greatly helps Christian husbands. Married men often find it difficult to love their wives. If a married brother calls on the name of the Lord Jesus, he will experience a genuine change in relation to his wife and will truly love her.
Similarly, a married sister can be helped to submit to her husband by calling on the name of the Lord. If she does not contact the Lord by calling on Him, she may think, "It’s not fair that I have to submit to my husband. Why should I submit to him? God is not fair in ordaining that he should be the head and not me." However, God’s word cannot be changed, nor can the sister ignore the requirement to submit to her husband. How then can she be helped in this matter? The best way is to call on the name of the Lord. If she calls on Him daily, she will be able to submit to her husband.
When we call on the name of the Lord, we experience true transfer. We are brought into another realm, into the kingdom of God, which is actually Christ propagated. If we realize this, we will understand why calling on the name of the Lord is so emphasized in the Bible.
Whenever we call on the Lord, He has the opportunity and the ground to spread within us. This is not mere doctrine; it is very practical for our Christian experience. Today the Lord is the all-inclusive Spirit. As such, He is omnipresent, and He now works in us and awaits the opportunity to spread within us. When we call on His name, we give Him the way to grow in us.
To Partake of the Lord's Riches
An important verse regarding calling on the Lord is Romans 10:12: "For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich to all who call upon Him." For years, I only knew this verse in Romans 10: "For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved" (v. 13). I had been told that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved, but I had never heard that the Lord is rich to all who call upon Him.
He is rich not only in initial salvation but in all divine and spiritual matters. If we want to partake of the Lord’s riches, we need to call on Him. Day and night, we should call on His name. Even though we may call silently so as not to disturb others, we can still softly say, “Oh Lord Jesus.”
To Be Brought to Our Spirit
Once we call on the name of the Lord, we cannot remain in natural thoughts and reasonings. By experience, we know that when we call on Him, we are brought into the depths of our being—our spirit. We cannot call on the name of the Lord and remain in the mind at the same time. Those who argue about calling may say: "Is it correct to call on the name of the Lord? Is this practice biblical? If it is biblical, why hasn’t it been taught by others in the past nineteen centuries?"
If such a person calls on the Lord, they will be saved from natural thoughts and reasonings. When we refuse to call, we remain in the natural mind. However, when we call on Him, we are brought into the spirit. Oh, how we need to call on the Lord to enjoy Him!
To Experience the Lord's Nearness
Calling on the Lord is real because when we call on Him, we touch Him. In a verse related to calling, Paul says: "The word is near you, in your mouth" (Rom. 10:8). In a practical sense, the word here is equivalent to the Lord. Thus, saying the word is near means the Lord is near. Whenever we call on His name, we experience His nearness and His intimate presence.
How do we know the Lord is near us? We know it by calling on Him. We cannot convince someone that the Lord is near them by arguing or debating with them. The more we argue, the farther away the Lord seems. But if, instead of arguing, we call on His name a few times, we will feel He is near. If we continue to call on Him, we will realize that He is not only near but even within us.
The more we call on Him, the more He becomes our enjoyment. By calling on Him, He also becomes our peace, rest, comfort, and solution in all kinds of situations. This is not mere doctrine or superficial teaching; it is a truth for our experience.
REMAINING IN THE TRANSFER BY BEING FAITHFUL TO THE VISION
We all need to learn from Paul to call on the name of the Lord Jesus for a complete transfer. We also need to learn from him to be faithful to the vision. As we will see, he was able to testify: "I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision" (Acts 26:19).
We see his faithfulness when he did not avoid using the word Gentiles in Acts 22:21. May we all learn to be faithful to the vision we have gained regarding the church and Christ as the life-giving Spirit. We must learn from Paul to properly present the truth. However, this does not mean we can always avoid opposition and attack. No matter how we present the truth, some will still oppose it. Yet we must remain faithful. If at any time we are not faithful to the Lord's vision, then we will no longer be in the dispensational transfer. The way to remain in this transfer is to be faithful. First, we make the transfer by calling on the name of the Lord. Then, we remain in it by being faithful to the vision.
Enjoy More: Hymn 93
No comments:
Post a Comment