God’s Companions are Intimate with God, have His Presence, and Share His Interest

For us to be led into glory as the many sons of God, we need to have the Lord’s presence in our midst, and we need to be the Lord’s companion, having the closest and most intimate relationship with God, sharing a common interest with God, and being used by Him to carry out His enterprise on earth.

Amen, Lord, make us such ones! We want to be Your companions today! We open to You and we want to speak to You face to face! We love You, Lord! May we be intimate with You, knowing Your heart, and being joined to You in Your enterprise on earth today! Amen!

Thank the Lord that Christ as the Author (the Captain) of our salvation is also the Forerunner and the Pioneer, and He is leading us, the many sons of God, into glory.

First, He took the lead to fight on earth in His ministry in the stage of incarnation for Him to enter into glory, and He made it.

Now He is the Man in the glory, the One who made it into glory as a Man, and He is on the throne in the universe! Praise the Lord!

As such a One, He is the Pioneer and Forerunner, and we are His followers. We take the same way to be brought into the same glory, which was ordained by God for us.

He came into us as the seed of glory, and Christ in us is the hope of glory. We are daily being saved into glory, the expression of God, through the process of suffering! As we go through suffering, we are perfected and we gain an eternal weight of glory.

Also, He is sanctifying us today, for through the divine sanctification we are made the same as Christ in every possible way, even in His glory.

The ultimate goal is that we would enter into His glory, and we do this the same way the Lord did, that is, by entering within the veil and going outside the camp.

We need to enter within the veil by exercising our spirit to contact the Lord and partake of His riches. We need to go outside the camp by coming out of any religion and idolatry.

The camp is religion and idolatry, and within the veil is the Holy of Holies. Hallelujah, the practical Holy of Holies today is our spirit, where the Lord dwells!

As seen in the story of the people of Israel, it is possible even for the people of God to have an idol, something that is exalted above the Lord and which we worship instead of Him.

We need to be saved from any self-beautification and we need to not usurp what God has given us in order to make it a waste by using it to worship idols. We need to be saved from worshipping any entertainment, amusement, and worship God in spirit and truthfulness.

When we Come out of the Midst of Idolatry and Religion, we have God’s Presence

In Exodus 33:7 we see that Moses realised that God’s presence would no longer be in the midst of the people, so he removed his tent and pitched it some distance from the camp.

Because the people of Israel, with Aaron, made and worshipped the golden calf, they became an idolatrous nation; God’s presence could no longer dwell with them.

Actually, God was very angry with His people and told Moses that He will wipe them out; however, Moses interceded for the people and God’s anger was appeased.

However, God cannot dwell among a people who are idolatrous or who are in religion. Oh Lord!

Whenever we have something that we exalt more than Christ, when we use something that God gave us and we beautify ourselves instead of using it in resurrection for the building up of the church, the Lord’s presence leave us. Oh Lord!

The camp signifies a religious people who belong to the Lord in name but who, in actuality, worship idols. Oh Lord!

When we worship something other than the Lord Himself and when we seek something other than God, we worship idols. Since this is a spiritual matter, we need to exercise our spirit to discern this.

It may be that, without us knowing it, we may worship an idol, even though we may think we worship God.

Even such good practices as calling on the name of the Lord, pray-reading the Word of God, and practicing the God-ordained way, if these are practiced without contacting the Lord to be one with Him in all things, they can be an idol.

Anything can become an idol if we treasure it or use it without contacting the Lord in a fresh way.

Because Moses realised that God’s presence could not be with His people since they were idolatrous, he removed his tent from the camp, and he went outside the camp.

He set up his tent outside the camp, and the Lord’s presence was there with him; the Lord’s speaking and His instant leading were there. Everyone who sought Jehovah went out to the tent of meeting, which was Moses’ tent; this tent was outside the camp.

When we say that we need to enter within the veil and go outside the camp we mean that we need to leave any idolatry and religion and simply contact the Lord in a personal, intimate, private, and spiritual way.

When we worship something else besides God, His instant leading is not with us, and His presence is removed from us. He still is with us, for we are His people, but His leading, His fresh presence, and His smile is not with us. Oh Lord!

Moses realised that the Lord’s presence would no longer be in the midst of the people of Israel because of their idolatry, and he removed his tent and went outside the camp.

We also need to move our tent outside the camp. Others may be religious and may worship things other than God, using God’s name in many things, yet worshipping idols; we do not have our tent in that camp.

We need to come to the Lord personally, intimately, and spiritually to touch Him, enjoy Him, and fellowship with Him.

No matter what others do or say, we treasure the Lord’s speaking and His instant leading. We want to have not only the Lord’s presence but also have fellowship with Him. How much we treasure our time of fellowshipping with Him!

We treasure the Lord, His presence, and His person more than we treasure what He does for us, what He gives to us, and what He does to help us.

Lord Jesus, unveil us to see that Your presence cannot be with us if we worship anything other than You. Cause us to realise that Your presence means everything to us. We love You, Lord, and we open to You. We appreciate what You do for us, what You give us, and what You speak to us, but what we want and treasure above all is Your very being, Your presence! Oh, we want to remain here, in fellowship with You! We come outside any camp of religion and idolatry, and we simply exercise our spirit to contact You. We want to remain in You, in oneness with You, within the veil. May Your presence be with us. If Your presence is not with us, we don’t want to go somewhere or do something. We treasure Your smile. We reject any idols. We don’t want anything to replace You. May nothing take Your place in all our heart! Infuse us more with Yourself and keep us intimately joined to You in all things and concerning all things! Amen, Lord, we love You! We love Your presence!

Being Separated from anything Idolatrous and being Intimate with God, knowing His Heart, and sharing His Interest to Carry out His Enterprise as God’s Companions

Exodus 33:11 and 14 show us how Moses, after he removed his tent and separated from the idolatrous camp, had the Lord’s presence, spoke to the Lord face to face, and knew God’s heart.

Verse 11 in particular says that God spoke to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his companion. The Hebrew word for “companion” is different as that for friend.

Abraham was the friend of God (2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8), and God could confide in Abraham, speaking to him what was on God’s heart, especially concerning Lot and the destruction of Sodom.

Abraham was separated from idolatrous people (Josh. 24:2-3) and he interceded for Lot (Gen. 18:16-23).

Abraham was God’s friend (James 2:23), and God regarded Abraham as a beloved one, a person whom He held in affection.

However, Moses was not just God’s friend but even more, God’s companion. We want to be the companions of God.

To be God’s companion includes being HIs friend, but it goes much further to include the thought of intimate association.

In Hebrew the word for “companion” also includes the meaning of associate. To be an associate with someone means that we have a common interest with them, partners in a common enterprise, even having a common career.

Moses and God were not just intimate friends; they were associates, companions, sharing the same enterprise.

We need to pray that the Lord would make us His companions. God has a great enterprise today, and He wants us to be His companions today.

We want to be those who are intimate with God, persons who know what is in God’s heart and share the same interests as God. So we enter within the veil, contacting the Lord and having intimate fellowship with Him.

We want to be persons who are according to God’s heart (Exo. 33:14).

We should not just agree with this and aspire or yearn to be such ones; we should pray this to the Lord and ask Him to make us His companions today.

We need to spend much time with the Lord in His word, praying His word and taking Him at His word, and we need to allow Him to saturate us with Himself, even to infuse us with His thoughts and intentions.

This is what Moses did. He just spent time with God. We don’t see much of what he requested from God, but we see that he was infused with God, he shone forth God, and he had God’s speaking and leading.

He sensed that God can no longer dwell with His people who are idolatrous, so he moved his tent outside the camp, and the Lord’s presence was there with him, at the door of his tent.

God was also with His people, but His presence and leading were with Moses.

In Christianity and in many Christian groups, there is the name of God, and He is there with them, but His presence and His leading is not there with them.

There is much idolatry among Christians today, yet God is still with them; He will never leave those who are regenerated. But what about His leading? What about the intimate fellowship with the Lord?

The Lord at one point told Moses to take the people and go into the good land, and He will make sure they get there safely and take the land, but His presence will not go with them, for they are a stiff-necked people and idolatrous.

Moses’ response was, Lord, we will not go without Your presence.

What makes us different from everyone on the face of the earth is that we have Your presence. This should be the same with us.

What we want is not just God’s help and His blessing, which He offers to all His genuine people; what we desire is His presence, our intimate fellowship with Him face to face. We want to know God’s heart.

We want to be persons according to God’s heart. We want to have the Lord’s presence even as Moses did.

We want to have God’s presence to the fullest extent. The people of Israel had God’s presence, and God was their God, but the extent to which they had God’s presence was very limited.

However, Moses was a person very near to God’s heart, even a person according to His heart.

For us to be brought into glory as the many sons of God, we need to have an intimate and personal fellowship with the Lord.

We need to enter within the veil and go outside the idolatrous camp to have the closest and most intimate relationship with the Lord so that we can be persons who share a common interest with God and who are used by Him to carry out His enterprise on the earth.

We want to be such ones. We open to Him so that He does this in us. May He gain many short prayers, living prayers, along this line, so that we cooperate with Him in this regard.

Lord Jesus, we want to be Your companions today. Make us God’s companion today! May we be companions of God, associates and partners with God, involved in the same career as God! Amen, Lord, we come to You in Your word. We want to touch You. We want to be in the most intimate and personal touch with You. We love You and we want to be persons who know God’s heart. May we be according to God’s heart today, touching God’s heart and knowing what is in God’s heart. Amen, Lord, we love You! We exercise our spirit to enter within the veil and go outside the idolatrous camp. May we have the closest and most intimate relationship with the Lord! Amen, Lord, may we be persons who share a common interest with God so that we may be used by Him to carry out His enterprise on earth! Amen, Lord, we fully open to You! Lead us into glory and make us the same as You are for You to gain your corporate expression in us and among us!

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 brother Ed Marks on this topic, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1963, vol. 1, “Spiritual Applications of the Tabernacle,” ch. 2, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (part 3 – 2025 Summer Training), week 31, The Author (the Captain) of Salvation and the Forerunner Leading Many Sons into Glory by Entering within the Veil and Going outside the Camp – day 6.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Go to Him “without the camp,” / Dear ones, relatives forsake; / He the Father’s will did mind, / In His passion I partake. / Go to Him “without the camp,” / His companion I will be; / Never join religion’s ranks / Or the world’s society. (Hymns #583 stanzas 3-4)
  – 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)