Having A Direct and Intimate Contact with the Lord to Sense His Precious Indwelling

We need to have a direct and intimate contact with the Lord, remaining in His presence, so that we may sense His precious indwelling, for He is the priceless treasure in our earthen vessel.

Only when we live in the presence of Christ, looking at the index of His being, that we sense that He is a treasure to us; to have the Lord’s shining we need to spend face-to-face time with Him so that He may shine in us and shine through us to others to become the treasure in them. Amen!

We all can testify that, as believers in Christ, we have touched the Lord. At least at the beginning of our Christian life, we had a direct encounter with the Lord, for He shone on us, He exposed our sins, and He showed us His beauty, His loveliness, and His preciousness.

Ever since, there was an impression in our being, something of Christ that has been imprinted onto us, that will not let us go.

Now day by day we are learning to contact the Lord by dropping our concepts, turning our heart to Him, and taking Him as our life and person so that He may infuse us more with Himself and impress us more with Himself.

When we touch the Lord in spirit, when we are unveiled and simply behold His beauty, we realize how wonderful He is. He is the most wonderful and most precious One. Nothing else compares to Him.

The world may offer us so many things, the phone in our pocket may give us many notifications, and those around us may invite us to do many things with them, but we love the Lord Jesus, and because we behold Him face to face, we don’t do certain things, we can’t go certain places, and we can’t say certain matters.

It is not because the Lord tells us in the Bible that we should not love the world and so we now try our best not to love the world; rather, we love the Lord and treasure Him so much that the world is nothing to us.

On the positive side, as we love the Lord and live in His presence, we are enabled to do many things for Him, out of love for the Lord, and we serve Him diligently and faithfully, for He is the serving supply for us to minister to Him.

On the negative side, we are more than willing to reject what the world has to offer and we do not participate in the same flood of dissoluteness that all people today go to.

It is all because we love to behold the Lord, look in His wonderful face, and all the things of the earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. How much we love Him!

And as we love Him and spend time with Him, we also beam Him into others, for He shines in us and through us into others for them to see something of Christ and be infused with Him to gain Him as their treasure. Oh, what a priceless treasure we have in our earthen vessel today!

Having a Direct and Intimate Contact with the Lord to Sense the Preciousness of His Indwelling as the Treasure Within us

The Christ of glory is the priceless treasure within us, the earthen vessel (2 Cor. 4:6-7). All believers in Christ have this priceless treasure, but they may not live in the sensation of the preciousness of Christ because they do not live in the Lord’s presence, even in the index of the Lord’s eyes.

Unless we believers in Christ have the index of Christ’s face, He cannot be a treasure to us in reality.

We know that He is in us, and we know that within our earthen vessel there is a priceless treasure of glory; however, we do not have the sense that He is precious to us. On the one hand, we can all declare that we are the earthen vessels and that Christ is the treasure within us (Rom. 9:21; 2 Cor. 4:4-7).

On the other hand, we need to see that only when we live in the presence of Christ, looking at the index of His being, that we sense that He’s a treasure to us (v. 10).

How can we have the instant, fresh, present shining of Christ into our being? It is only by spending time with the Lord.

We need to have personal, direct and intimate contact with the Lord to have His inner shining and infusing.

This is why we need to call on the name of the Lord again and again. When we call on the Lord, we’re brought into a direct and intimate contact with Him, even face-to-face with Him, and we can behold His wonderful face (Rom. 10:9, 13).

When we call on the name of the Lord not as a routine or practice but in a dear and intimate way, we are before the Lord’s face, and the shining of God is in our heart.

May we not only know that we have a treasure within us but even more, open to the Lord and fellowship with Him in a direct and personal way.

We need to ask the Lord to let us see His face so that we may be intimate with Him. We need to express our desire to be before Him, see Him, and behold His face.

In Psa. 27:8 the Psalmist said, When You say, Seek My face, my heart says, Your face, O Jehovah, will I seek. The psalmist didn’t say here, When You said, as in the Lord speaking to us once for all that we seek Him; rather, he says, When You say, indicating that the Lord is continually speaking to us and we continually seek His face.

The Lord seems to be in the habit of saying, Seek My face; when we hear Him, we need to tell Him, Lord, we want to seek Your face!

To seek the Lord’s face is not just to go to Him with our list of needs and desires; God is not after giving us things apart from Christ – He wants to give Himself to us in Christ for our enjoyment.

We need to bring all our needs to the Lord and make our desires known to Him, but most of all, we need to come to Him to just be with Him, enjoy Him, and behold the shining of His face.

We need to come to the Lord and take Him as the reality of all our needs. He is our real face bread – the bread of the presence, for His face is our bread. We feed on Him by beholding Him. May we not rush our time with Him.

May we not just call on the Lord a few times and then “get down to business” by asking the Lord this and that; may we rather spend time with Him in a dear and intimate way to have direct and intimate contact with Him.

Psa. 27:4 says, One thing I have asked from Jehovah, and that will I seek, to dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life to behold the beauty of Jehovah and to inquire in His temple. We want to dwell in the Lord’s presence, be in His intimate and fresh presence under His shining, so that we just behold Him.

As we behold Him, we can also bring our inquiries to Him, after we have spent adequate time to enjoy Him.

First, we behold Him, and then, we inquire of Him. We behold Him, we enjoy Him, and we receive His dispensing and shining; then, as we fellowship with Him, we may bring up some needs, but even these needs, we inquire of Him, opening up to Him to see if He wants us to bring them up to Him.

May we not jump over beholding the Lord to asking Him for things.

May we seek the Lord’s face continually – not only in the morning time but also throughout the day (Psa. 105:4). May we be the generation of those who seek the Lord by seeking His face (Psa. 24:6).

When have a direct and intimate touch with the Lord, we look at the index of His being, and we are infused with all that He is. God is faithful – He called us into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Cor. 1:9).

May we remain in this fellowship, beholding His face, and lingering in His presence. May we not be satisfied merely with a secondhand enjoyment of Christ by listening to others’ portion and sharing; may we personally come to Him and enjoy Him in a direct and intimate way.

Then, we will sense His preciousness and we will be infused with His beauty, for He shines in us and even through us for others to see Him.

Lord Jesus, thank You for coming into us to be the indwelling treasure in our earthen vessel. We want to live in Your presence today, looking at the index of Your being so that we may sense that You are a treasure to us. We love You, Lord Jesus! You are the most precious One in us. Save us from merely having the knowledge that You are our treasure; may we have a fresh taste of Your preciousness by beholding You today! We need You, Lord! We come to You to just behold You. We need to see Your wonderful face. When You say to us, Seek My face, we simply say, Amen, Lord, we come to seek Your face! We come to You just to be with You. We want to have a personal, direct and intimate contact with You today. Keep us in Your presence today. Keep us under Your shining. Lord Jesus, we want to be brought into face-to-face contact with You so that we may be infused with You and experience God’s shining in our heart! Amen, Lord, Your present, instant, shining face is our treasure. We love You, Lord!

Preach the Gospel in an Illuminating Way by Shining Christ into others to be their Treasure

We began our Christian life by beholding the Lord’s face and being infused with Him as our faith; the shining of His face became the shining of our face, and now we are learning to live in His presence day by day. As we behold the Lord, we also reflect Him.

We cannot reflect Him, however, if we do not behold Him. To reflect the Lord is to preach the gospel. Many Christians today preach the gospel by imparting doctrines to others or by declaring the word of God, but there’s no shining.

We need to preach the gospel in a very illuminating way, that is, we need to shine out Christ into others so that they may receive Him as their treasure.

First, we as believers in Christ receive the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ (2 Cor. 4:4), and then, we shine Him out to others. God wants to shine in our hearts in the illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

As we spend time with the Lord and have a direct and intimate contact with Him, He shines in us, He shines within us, and He also shines through us. Genesis shows us that God’s shining in the universe produced the old creation.

The New Testament shows us that the Lord’s shining in our hearts has produced the new creation, for we were regenerated by receiving the Lord’s shining. When the Lord shines into our being, He brings in the marvellous treasure of the Christ of glory into us! Hallelujah!

Now as we live our Christian life, we need to have a personal, direct, and intimate contact with the Lord to have His inner shining.

As we remain under the Lord’s shining daily, He will have a way to shine through us into others for them also to receive Christ as their treasure.

May we be saved from living the Christian life in a routine way, that is, in a way that is not in the Lord’s presence and without His shining.

May we treasure the shining of His face more than what we can do for Him. When we have His shining, we will speak to others in an illuminating way.

As we speak something of the Lord to them, God will shine into their hearts and they will receive an impression of Christ, the most wonderful One.

This is why we don’t need to convince others to believe; we simply need to speak something of the preciousness of Christ, the priceless treasure in us, and then help others to call on the name of the Lord and be saved (Acts 2:21; Rom. 10:9-13).

When others call on the name of the Lord, they will touch the Lord in an intimate way, and Christ will be infused into them to become their indwelling treasure.

When we speak in faith, imparting the Christ we behold face to face, others will receive an impression of Christ and they will react by believing.

May we learn to shine the Lord forth into others as we preach the gospel and then help them call on the name of the Lord so that they may be brought into the face of Christ!

When others come to see the Lord face to face, when they behold His beauty by having a personal contact with Him, they will experience God’s shining in their hearts.

This takes place not by mere presenting certain gospel truths or Bible facts; this is to dispense Christ into others by remaining in His presence and shining Him forth into others.

The result is that those who hear us, though they may not mentally agree with us or understand everything we are saying, will be infused with Christ and will become earthen vessels containing the priceless treasure.

What a privilege that we can cooperate with the Lord to impart Him as the treasure into others!

Lord Jesus, we love You and we love to behold Your face! Keep us in the shining of Your face today. May there be much shining in our being so that we may even shine You out to others around us! Amen, Lord, we love You and we want to speak about the glorious Christ as the treasure within us to those around us! Shine in us, shine within us, and shine through us! May our speaking to others be the Lord’s shining through us! Amen, Lord, while we are preaching, may there be the shining of the glory of God on the face of Jesus Christ so that others may see Jesus and receive Him as their treasure! Oh Lord Jesus, keep us calling on Your name! Keep us in a direct and intimate contact with You as we do all things throughout the day. May we be one with You to dispense the Christ of glory into others for them to also gain this wonderful Christ as their priceless treasure in their earthen vessel! Amen, Lord, may we behold You and reflect You so that others would see Your shining and call on Your name to receive You as their treasure!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ricky Acosta in the message for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3208-3209 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (2) (2024 December Training), week 17 (msg. 5), Christ as the Image of God and the Treasure.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – A life of morning revival and daily victory, a portion from, The Exercise and Practice of the God-Ordained Way, Chapter 28, by Witness Lee.
  – Help to Build Up a Personal Relationship with Jesus Christ, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – Being a person in the intimate and thorough fellowship with the Lord, a portion from, The Vital Groups, Chapter 15, by Witness Lee.
  – Seek the Heavenly Treasure, New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – What is Calling on the Lord? — Part 1, via, The hearing of faith.
  – Life-study of Ephesians, Message 30: The Way to Grow in Life, via, LSM youtube channel.
  – Man – A Vessel to Contain God, via, Living to Him.
  – Preaching the gospel in the way of life for the increase of Christ, a portion from, Preaching the Gospel in the Way of Life, Chapter 11, by Witness Lee.
  – Philippians (Program #54) – A Life Full of Forbearance But Without Anxiety (1), via, Bible study radio.
  – 7 Tips to Build up a Habit of Reading the Bible Daily, via, Bibles for America blog.
  – The treasure in earthen vessels, a portion from, The Centrality and Universality of Christ, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – I come to His presence afresh / Ere the night has passed into morning; / And His face I see as it shines on me— / The Lord within is dawning. / And He speaks to me and reveals to me / All His riches for me today; / And with sweet delight I partake of Him, / My hunger has passed away. (Hymns #554 stanza 1)
  – In such a fellowship / Thou, Lord, art grace to me; / My heart and spirit gladdened, filled, / I enter rest in Thee. / Lord, I would linger here, / Still seeking after Thee, / Continue in the Word and prayer / Till Thou dost flow thru me. (Hymns #812 stanzas 4-5)
  – By reading I’m enlightened, filled, / By prayer my thirst is quenched indeed; / Thus Thou to me may be supplied, / And Thou through me may meet the need. / I long to have such fellowship / To read and pray and blend with Thee; / I long that Thou wouldst saturate / Till Thou may overflow from me. (Hymns #813 stanzas 10-11)