God Shines in our Hearts that we may Shine on Others for them to Gain Christ as Treasure

God shines in our hearts so that we may shine on others for them to have the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; we need to spend much intimate, personal, face-to-face time with the Lord to have His shining, and then let Hhine on others. Amen!

Our whole Christian life is a matter of God’s shining.

Before we became believers, we were dead in sins and offenses, and we were in the kingdom of darkness and death; we did everything in darkness, and we didn’t know what exactly was going on. But praise the Lord, one day the Lord shone on us through the gospel.

We may not even remember how it happened, but somehow the Lord in His sovereignty through some members of the Body had a way to shine on us.

When the gospel was spoken to us by some believers who were one with the Lord, we may have not been convinced of all the facts, but we definitely saw something of the lovely face of Jesus Christ.

Oh, how wonderful is our dear Lord Jesus!

When we see Him, we cannot but fall in love with Him, for He captivates us and draws us to Himself!

God Himself is hidden, but He has an image, something that expresses Him; this is Christ, for Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.

When Christ came, He didn’t express Himself nor did He do His own work; He expressed God, manifested God, showed God forth, did the work of God, spoke the word of God, and sought the glory of God.

He was a wonderful Person, One who lived a God-man life full of love, kindness, righteousness, and holiness, serving God and serving man. He preached the gospel of the kingdom of God, and many followed Him.

The Lord’s coming and speaking was the shining of God’s light; the cities where He went to were in darkness until the Lord went there, and His going was the shining forth of light.

The preaching of the gospel is the shining of the divine light.

This means that, even though a certain part of a city seems to be so bright, with many people there being so smart, unless the gospel is preached to them and the divine light comes in, that part of the city is in complete darkness.

Praise the Lord that there’s the illumination of the gospel, the shining of the God of glory in the face of Jesus to illuminate what God is into us!

Thank the Lord that we have been illuminated, enlightened, and even more: the image of God has been imprinted into our being, impressed into us, and we’re in the process of being conformed to His glorious image!

The glory of God manifested in the face of Jesus Christ is the God of glory expressed through Jesus Christ, and we can know Him subjectively by having His shining in us and through us! Amen!

God Shines in our Hearts that we may Shine on others for them to Gain Christ as their Treasure

When the Lord shines in our hearts, He illuminates every part and exposes what He does not agree with; we need to say Amen to His shining.

As we allow the Lord to shine on us and keep coming to the light so that He may keep shining on us, we are bright, for we are people walking in the light.

We need to be those who walk in the light, that is, remain in the shining of the Lord until our whole being is full of light.

When we walk in the light, He has a way of exposing and enlightening, we confess anything that He shines on, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from every sin (1 John 1:7, 9).

May we remain under the Lord’s shining and not reject His shining, even though many times it may expose things, situations, and matters that we may hold dear to our hearts.

The more we allow the Lord to shine in our hearts, the more we will shine on others for them to also gain this glorious Christ.

The more the glory shines within us, the more it penetrates our being, saturates it, and permeates it.

Eventually, the inner glory will swallow up our entire inward being, and we will spontaneously express it.

God shines in our hearts so that we may also shine on others, for them to have the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (John 1:18).

Such a shining cannot be taught in a seminary or Bible school; it is by our experience of the Lord’s shining.

The more we touch the Lord, the more we come to the throne of grace and live before His face, the more the light of glory will shine on us, in us, and through us.

We will spontaneously shine the light of the glory of Christ, for we are filled with the enjoyment of Christ!

We can testify that this is our experience. First, when we came into the church life, we realized that the Lord is speaking to us, and all the saints love Him and want to hear His speaking.

And when we look at the saints, wow, we see shining faces, for they have God’s speaking!

When we speak to the saints, there’s a flow of life from them to us, for God shines on our hearts that we may shine on others for them to gain Christ as their treasure.

Many times we just greeted a dear brother or sister, or we had a small conversation with one of the saints, and we sensed the Lord’s shining.

That person might not have realized it, but they were living in the Lord’s presence, being full of the Lord’s shining, and they simply shined the Lord into us.

Many times we had problems and offenses, and simply by being in the meeting of the church and listening to the saints ministering Christ, we were healed, restored, and brought back to the enjoyment of Christ. This is our experience.

However, we need to go on to experience the part of shining on others also.

We need to come to the Lord day by day and experience Him shining into the depths of our being so that He may shine within us, even throughout our inward being, until He shines through us on others that they may have the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

This is the goal that God has in His economy, that we may all shine Him forth with His glory.

We need to remain under the Lord’s shining, let the Lord saturate us with Himself, and enjoy the sweetness of Christ living in us to be our life and person.

As the Lord shines in our hearts (2 Cor. 4:4, 6), there’s the illumination of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

We will have the enlightenment that causes us to know the glory of the gospel of Christ. Everything God does is through His shining.

When He shined in the universe, He produced the old creation.

When He shined in ur heart, He made us a new creation, for His shining brought into us the marvellous treasure of the Christ of glory (2 Cor. 4:7). Hallelujah!

But this is not the end; the Lord’s shining should not stop with us.

We need to daily enjoy the Lord’s shining in our hearts so that we may shine on others for them to also have the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

His shining in our hearts makes us luminaries in the world, holding forth the word of life (Phil. 2:15-16).

May we daily let God shine in our hearts so that we may shine on others for them to also know, enjoy, experience, and participate in the all-inclusive Christ who is the shining forth and manifestation of God!

Lord Jesus, we open to Your shining into our hearts! Amen, Lord, shine in our hearts and shine deeper inwardly in our hearts. May Your glory shine within us to penetrate our being and saturate it. Amen, Lord, may the inner glory swallow up our entire inward being. Shine on us, shine in us, and shine within us; shine in us, Lord, until You shine forth through us to others also! May God shine in our hearts that we may shine on others so that they may have the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ! Amen, may the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ shine out through us! We want to let You shine in us, even in the depths of our being, until our whole being is in the light and You have a way to shine through us! We want to pay attention to the inner shining of Christ as the glory within. Saturate us with Yourself and keep us enjoying Your sweetness. Shine through us, Lord, so that others may also receive and enjoy the Christ of glory as their treasure!

Experiencing God’s Shining by having a Direct and Intimate Contact with Christ and Preaching the Gospel in a Very Illuminating Way

How can we receive God’s shining? How can we experience God’s shining?

Many people think that you need to go through a lot of rigorous things, such as humbling yourself, fasting, and separating yourself from people and things and earthly pleasures, in order for God to shine on you.

What the Bible tells us, however, is that we can experience God’s shining by having a direct, personal, and intimate contact with Christ.

When we contact the Lord, He shines on us. Christ is the image of the invisible God, even the effulgence of His glory (Heb. 1:3); when we contact Christ, He as the very shining of God will shine on us to illuminate what God is into our being.

How can we contact Christ? It is not very difficult; He is not up there in the heavens in an unreachable position, nor is He in the ground, buried two thousand years ago – He’s in our very heart and spirit.

We can simply confess His name, call on His name, and He will be there with us, shining on us (Rom. 10:9-13).

When we call on the name of the Lord from the depths of our being, we are brought into face-to-face contact with Him, and we will experience God’s shining.

It is through this kind of direct, intimate, and personal contact with the Lord that we receive the Lord’s shining.

We all can testify that the Lord is so near to us and so present in us when we call on His name.

When we call on the Lord in a dear, intimate way, we’re before His face, and the shining of God is in our hearts.

When the Lord shines in us, we will also shine out to others to bring this glorious Christ to them.

This is to preach the gospel in a very illuminating way.

The preaching of the gospel is the shining of the divine light.

The preaching of the gospel needs to be in the way of shining; we need to shine the Lord forth not in a deliberate way, according to a schedule, and for a limited period of time, but in a spontaneous way, continually, and with no time limit.

Brothers and sisters, if we remain under the Lord’s shining in our spirit day by day, He will shine on us, in us, and within us, and our whole being will be shining.

Then, we will preach the gospel in an illuminating way, and while we’re preaching, God shines into the hearts of those to whom we’re speaking.

When others hear the gospel and receive the Lord’s shining, we can help them to also call on the name of the Lord Jesus so that they may enjoy Him.

We are here for this, to help others to call on the Lord to receive the face of Jesus Christ into their heart and gain Him as the treasure in their earthen vessel.

Preaching the gospel is not merely presenting certain facts but shining forth Christ through our very being so that others may see the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ.

When they see such a Christ, they will open to Him and receive His dispensing.

Like us, they will be earthen vessels containing this treasure. In our preaching of the gospel, there should be an illumination; we need to shine forth the gospel of the glory of Christ from within us (Phil. 2:15).

We don’t preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, for He is the content of the gospel (2 Cor. 4:5).

He is the treasure within us, and we learn to minister Him to others by shining Him forth!

Lord Jesus, we want to experience Your shining by coming to You to contact You in a direct and personal way. We want to maintain our contact with You daily so that we may have an intimate and personal contact with You in all that we do and say. Shine in us, dear Lord. Shine in our being through our contact with You. May we have the inner shining day by day. May our whole being be full of light and may our living be in the light. We want to be beings in the light who walk in the light and live in the light. Oh Lord Jesus, we love to call on Your name and be before Your face, having Your shining! Shine in us and through us into so many others that they may see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ! Shine through us, Lord, to illuminate the hearts of those around us to show them the glorious Christ and infuse them with the image of God! Amen, Lord, may many gain Christ as the treasure in their vessel through our shining forth Christ!

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 the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 317 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living and Serving According to God’s Economy Concerning the Church (2023 fall ITERO), week 2, entitled, The Gospel of the Glory of the Blessed God.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Although the reality of the church is a spiritual matter, that is not to say we should neglect our body and our soul and only care for our spirit. No, rather we need to care for our bodies and souls so that they can be proper vessels to contain Christ (1 Tim 4:8, 5:23, 1 Pet. 2:25). Read more via, Micah Eades: My Positive Experiences Meeting in the Local Churches.
  – The treasure in the earthen vessels, a portion from, The Centrality and Universality of Christ, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
  – Paul’s heavenly vision, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – 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.
  – How Does God’s Light Help Us Grow? Read more via, Bibles for America blog.
  – Shining as luminaries, holding forth the word of life, a portion from, The Secret of Experiencing Christ, Chapter 7, by Witness Lee.
  – Prepared unto the Glory of New Jerusalem, article via, New Jerusalem blog.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Shine Thou upon us, Lord, / True Light of men, today, / And through the written Word / Thy very self display; / That so from hearts which burn / With gazing on Thy face, / Thy little ones may learn / The wonders of Thy grace. (Hymns #902 stanza 1)
  – In tenderness He deals with me, / While I stay with joy in His presence; / And He saturates and supplies my soul / With all His precious essence. / And He speaks to me and reveals to me / All His riches for me today; / And in every way I partake of Him, / My problems all passed away. (Hymns #554 stanza 3)
  – Life is full of opportunities / Ordered by our Father’s hand: we see / Everything’s the best that it could be, / So let’s gain Christ! / Christ our content and reality / To shine out from us unceasingly: / He must have a way in you and me, / He must have a way. / Hallelujah! In the body we / Bear the death of Christ continually: / Thus His life comes forth for all to see as / The outer man is broken down, / The inner man is shining so that— / In these earthen vessels men can see / There’s the treasure of reality! / Thus the gospel’s glorious light will be / Shining out from us. (Hymns #1178 stanza 2)