Faith and Love: by Faith we Receive the Lord, through Love we Enjoy the Lord Jesus

Faith and love are two excellent virtues of the believers in Christ; they are inseparable, for through faith we receive the Lord and through love we enjoy the Lord whom we have received. Amen!

We need to cooperate with the Lord to have our faith and love developed day by day in our Christian life.

In the beginning of his first epistle, the apostle John speaks concerning the fact that he’s writing these things so that he may have fellowship with the readers, and this fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.

We need to fellowship with the Father and with the Lord Jesus Christ, and from the Father, there’s love with faith coming to us (Eph. 6:23).

Many times we simply call on the name of the Lord and we exercise our spirit to contact God in Christ as the Spirit, but do we experience and enjoy the Father as the source?

The Father knows what we need; the Father loves us and cares for us, and all the things He arranges in our life is to bring us to Him in prayer.

We shouldn’t worship the Father only after the Lord’s Table meeting, and we shouldn’t worship the Father as a form or a practice; we need to worship Him in spirit and truthfulness and seek to know the Father, His heart, His intention, and His purpose.

Our Father wants to give us more faith with love, and He wants that our faith and love would develop, for it is by love with faith that we partake of and experience Christ.

On one hand, we need to have faith by looking away from anything else unto Jesus for Him to infuse Himself into us as our believing ability.

We cannot “muster up faith” neither can we believe in and of ourselves; our faith is a reaction to seeing the Lord again and again.

We need to have the Lord’s fresh word, His fresh appearing, His shining, and His presence with us. When we see Him, everything else disappears, and all our problems are gone.

When we see the Lord, we are infused with Him, and we simply believe.

Through this believing into the Lord as a result of our seeing Him, we are organically joined to Him; it is in this organic union with the Lord that we should live our Christian life.

Furthermore, as we see the Lord, we have an appreciation for Him, and our love for Him is stirred up.

Amen, the more we fellowship with the Lord and remain under the hearing of faith, the more we love the Lord, the more we enjoy Him, and the more we appreciate Him!

We may even thank Him for all He has done and is doing for us, even though we may not understand it.

The Father knows best what we need, and we will simply worship Him when we see Him, are infused with Him, and remain in His presence.

Only Faith can make God Happy, and Faith is to believe that God is, so we Look away unto Jesus, the Author of our Faith!

As believers in Christ, we are enrolled in a lifelong class of looking away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:2).

We realize that, according to Heb. 11:6, without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing to God, and we realize that faith is not in us but in Christ, so we come to Him.

We are daily learning the lesson of looking away unto Jesus, for faith is found in Him, and only when we look in His wonderful face can we have faith, the ability to believe in Him and the organic union with Him.

For example, in the gospels, there’s the story of the disciples being on the boat late at night in the storm, and they saw someone walking on the water; Peter asked the Lord that He would say the word and he will come to Him, and the Lord told him to come.

For a while, the two of them were walking on the water, but when Peter looked at the waves and the wind, he began to sink.

When we look away from Jesus, when we look at the oh-so-real waves and storm around us, we begin to sink, and we cannot walk on the water.

But when we look at the Lord Jesus, when we look away from all the past and sin to Him, we will be organically joined to Him to face whatever happens around us.

We need to look away from our failures, from our past, and from any negative thing, and look unto Jesus.

We need to look away from others’ shortcomings according to our evaluation, look away from the present chaotic situation in society and in our country, and look away from all the things that are going on – and look away unto Jesus!

This God-man Jesus is the Author and perfecter of our faith: He initiated it, and our faith is the faith of Christ (Gal. 2:16; Rom. 3).

He wants to perfect this faith and develop it in us. Without faith, it is impossible to please God, for only faith can make God happy.

To believe means that we believe that God is; it is not I but Christ (Gal. 2:20).

This means that, as we do this and that, we believe that God is and we are not; we deny ourselves, we put ourselves aside, and we live in the intimate, organic union with the Lord.

As we comb our hair, dress up, and prepare ourselves for the day, we can tell the Lord, Lord, it is not I but Christ!

In everything we do, we need to live in faith, that is, by denying ourselves and taking Christ as our everything.

When we visit someone, we need to realize that it’s not us who is visiting that person but the Lord, for we are joined to the Lord as one spirit.

We cannot meet others’ need, but Christ can; so it is no longer I but Christ. We must deny ourselves in everything and trust Him in everything.

For us to deny ourselves and to trust in Him is faith; this is to believe that God is.

When we’re about to speak something to someone, when we’re about to share the gospel or speak concerning the Lord to others, we need to realize that it is not I but Christ – it is Christ who speaks in us, and we are one with Him.

He is the speaker, He is the One who lives in us, He is the One who does everything in us, and He is everything – we are nothing.

May we not look at ourselves or at others; may we not look at the environment to try to find satisfaction or help, but we may look away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith!

Amen, Lord, we look away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith! We do not have faith in ourselves, but we look away unto Jesus Christ, the One who infuses Himself into us to be our believing ability! Amen, Lord, we look away from our failures or success unto Jesus! We look away from our past and from any negative thing unto Jesus! We look away from others’ shortcomings and from the situation around us unto Jesus! Amen, Lord, no longer I but Christ! May it be no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us. We believe that God is and we are not. We believe that He is everything to us and He can do everything in us, but we cannot. Amen, Lord, keep us in the organic union with You, looking away unto Jesus, and living one spirit with You today!

Through Faith, we Receive the Lord and through Love, we Enjoy the Lord whom we have Received

There are quite a few verses in the New Testament that put faith and love together, showing us that faith and love are two inseparable, excellent virtues of the believers in Christ (1 Tim. 1:14; 2 Tim. 1:13; Titus 3:15; Gal. 5:6).

Faith is for receiving the Lord, for through faith we receive Him (John 1:12); love is for enjoying the Lord whom we have received (John 14:21, 23; 21:15-17).

Through faith we receive the Lord with His divine life in our spirit, and through love, we enjoy the Lord whom we have received.

Faith receives and love enjoys. By faith we receive the Lord and therefore please God (Heb. 11:6); by love we enjoy the Lord and thus keep His word (John 14:23).

These two virtues are not separate but rather, they go together; we need to both receive the Lord and His word by faith, and enjoy the Lord with His riches by love.

By faith we receive and enjoy the divine life that is revealed and ministered to us in the Gospel of John; by love we love the Lord and those who belong to Him (see John 3:16, 36; 20:31; 21:15-17; 13:34-35).

We need to exercise to have faith based on the realization that, in ourselves, we can’t do this, we can’t be this, and we can’t bear it.

We cannot do what God asks us to do; we cannot be what God wants us to be; we can’t bear what God wants us to bear.

We need to tell the Lord,

Lord, I can’t do what You tell me to do. I can’t be what You want me to be. I can’t bear what You give me to bear. I come to You: You do in me what You want me to do. You be in me what You want me to be. You bear in me what You want me to bear.

This is faith. For example, there are many commandments and charges in the New Testament, such as loving the Lord our God, loving our neighbour as ourselves, loving our enemies, husbands loving their wives even as Christ loved the church to the extent of laying his life down for her, children obeying their parents in the Lord in all things, being subject to authorities, being poor in spirit, being pure in heart, being willing to suffer persecution, and being perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect.

The New Testament is filled with these heavenly commandments that are more than impossible for us to keep, bear, fulfill, and live out.

So we need to be honest with the Lord and tell Him, Lord, I can’t do what You ask me to do. I can’t be what You want me to be. I can’t bear what You want me to bear. I just can’t. You be the One in me who is, does, and bears everything.

When we open to the Lord in such a way in specific situations where His light shines on us, a burden is taken off our shoulders, for He will be in us what we can’t be, He will do in us what we can’t do, and He will bear in us what we can’t bear.

We simply need to exercise our spirit and remain in the organic union with Him to receive Him, and we need to love the Lord to enjoy Him.

By faith, we receive the Lord Jesus and by love, we enjoy Him (1 Tim. 1:14). In 1 Thes. 5:8 Paul speaks of faith and love, encouraging the saints to put on the breastplate of faith and love.

In Eph. 6:14 we see that we need to put on the breastplate of righteousness – this is for the spiritual warfare, so that our conscience may be protected from Satan’s accusation.

In 1 Thes. 5:8, however, we need the breastplate of faith and love for our daily living; these are tender parts of our inward being which are necessary for living a proper Christian life.

We need both faith and love in our relationship with the Lord and in our living as Christians in the church life.

Lord Jesus, we exercise our spirit of faith to receive Christ and we give ourselves to love You so that we may enjoy all that You are. Amen, Lord, may our faith and love be developed and perfected for us to live a proper Christian life and church life. We acknowledge that we cannot do what You want us to do, we cannot bear what You want us to bear, and we cannot be what You want us to be, so we come to You, Lord, for You to do it, be it, and bear it in us. Keep us in the organic union with You so that we may live by faith and enjoy You in love. May faith and love cover us and be our expression day by day so that we may receive the Lord and enjoy Him in our daily experience.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a message by bro. Ron Kangas on this topic, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans“, chs. 7-8, 11 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Meeting God’s Need and Present needs in the Lord’s Recovery, week 3, entitled, The Need to Develop Our Faith in the Lord and Our Love for Him.
• Recommended further reading:
  – Look away from all the past—Hallelujah, / Look away from both the good and sin; / To the living One hold fast—Hallelujah, / Look away from everything to Him. / Look away into His face—Hallelujah, / He who’ll finish what He did begin. / O what grace to run the race—Hallelujah— / We obtain by looking off to Him! (Hymns #1206)
  – All my sicknesses I bring Him, / And He bears them all away; / All my fears and griefs I tell Him, / All my cares from day to day, / All my strength I draw from Jesus, / By His breath I live and move; / E’en His very mind He gives me, / And His faith, and life, and love. (Hymns #564)
  – All things are possible to God; / To Christ, the power of God in me; / Now shed Thy mighty Self abroad, / Let me no longer live, but Thee; / Give me this hour in Thee to prove / The sweet omnipotence of love. (Hymns #535)