Those who Love the Lord, Wait for His Coming, and Love His Appearing will Overcome

Those who love the Lord, wait for His coming, and love His appearing will overcome; we want to be such ones, the overcomers who today love the Lord, eagerly wait for His return, and love His appearing, even live in His appearing moment-by-moment. Amen, Lord, make us such ones!

The situation today among the Christians is, sadly to say, that so many believers in Christ love the Lord but they also love the present age.

They may say they don’t love the world, but there are some things of this world that occupy them.

There are many legitimate needs that we have in this world, for things such as a job, health, food, clothing, housing, and many other similar things that are quite needed for our human life, but being occupied and usurped by these things is not what the Lord wants.

In Matt. 6:33 the Lord said that we need to seek the things of the kingdom of God first, and all these things will be added to us.

This doesn’t mean we should stop working or taking care of the needs of our family, but simply seek God and His kingdom, and somehow miraculously He will make bread rain from heaven for us.

Rather, our focus, our first order of business, and the thing we care for most is the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then we also take care of other things.

We are those who love the Lord from all our heart, and we want to be with Him, we want to enjoy Him, and we care for what He cares.

He cares for the church and for the kingdom of God, so we don’t primarily care for the things related to our daily living or to make a situation for ourselves, but we care for the church as the kingdom of God.

This means that day by day we want to be those who love the Lord and love His appearing. If we do this, if we love the Lord and also love His appearing, we will take sides with Him, and we will fight one with Him for His interests on the earth.

But if we don’t love the Lord and we do not love His appearing, it will be easy for us to care for the things of the Lord at one time, and then to be usurped by the things of this world and forget about the Lord and His interest. Oh Lord.

May the Lord show us what this age is and may we love the Lord Jesus day by day, even moment by moment!

May we be before the Lord concerning the aspects of the world that seem so appealing to us.

May we open to Him and tell Him how much we like this thing and how much we enjoy spending time in that thing; and may we let Him come in.

The more we open to the Lord and are honest with Him, the more He has a way to infuse us with Himself and to become more attractive to us.

Oh, the Lord is so sweet and wonderful! He is much better than anything the world has to offer, and the world with its lust passes away while the Lord remains forever to be our enjoyment and portion!

Loving the Lord’s Appearing issues in Living for the Lord and Living a Normal Life in His Divine Dispensing

Loving the Lord’s appearing is a proof that we love the Lord and live for Him today; hence, it also becomes a condition for us to receive His reward (see 2 Tim. 4:8, 18).

The apostle Paul love the Lord and His appearing, and at the end of his life, he knew that there is laid up for him the crown of righteousness.

The Lord, the righteous Judge, recompenses those who love Him and His appearing with the crown of righteousness on that day.

Loving the Lord and loving His appearing are inseparable; we cannot say that we love the Lord yet do not love His appearing.

If we truly love someone, we will love his presence with us; however, if we don’t love someone’s presence with us, this shows that we don’t love that person.

Loving the Lord means that we love Him to be with us; we love His presence, and we yearn to have His appearing.

All those who love the Lord and forsake everything for Him love His appearing; such ones will receive His reward.

But the believers who don’t love the Lord and His appearing but rather, love the world or love sin, are afraid of the Lord’s coming.

The Lord’s coming is both an incentive and a warning to us, for He will come not as our Good Shepherd or merciful Savior but as the Righteous Judge.

When the Lord return, He will give to each one according to his work done when in the flesh, whether a reward or a punishment.

Today we live our life the way we think or choose, but one day the Lord will return with His reward or punishment, for He is coming as the righteous Judge.

The believers who don’t love the Lord’s appearing may want to enjoy things in the world and even sin, but one day is coming when the Lord will give each one according to his works.

May we be those who give ourselves to love the Lord today.

May we love the Lord and love His appearing.

Loving the Lord’s appearing is proof that we love Him and live for Him today.

Loving the Lord’s appearing issues in living for the Lord day by day, consecrating all we are and have to Him, and living a normal life in the divine dispensing.

May we be Christians who love the Lord and love His appearing, His coming.

John 21 reveals the matter of loving the Lord; here the Lord Jesus asked Peter three times whether he loved Him (vv. 15-17).

Loving the Lord is something that is tested time and time again, and many times we can only admit to the Lord, after so many failures, that the Lord knows that we love Him.

The Lord knows that we love Him and that we also fail again and again.

Our Lord will soon come back again, and the skies will be filled with Him!

Today we have a yearning that He would return, and we love His appearing, but soon, the Lord will come back again!

1 Cor. 16:22 connects loving the Lord to His coming. The Greek says, Our Lord come.

We must love the Lord and also pray for Him to return.

Loving the Lord and His coming are connected; we need to both love the Lord and desire His coming, praying for His return.

To love the Lord’s appearing doesn’t mean that we should not live a normal life; rather, the more we love the Lord’s appearing, the more we need to live a normal life today, having many ordinary days in the divine dispensing (Matt. 24:40-42; 2 Thes. 1:10; 3:6-12; 1 Tim. 5:8).

We should not seek out-of-the-ordinary experiences or supernatural things; we simply need to love the Lord and His appearing, and remain open to His divine dispensing day by day.

Whether we are at work in the field or grinding at the millstone, as the two people were in Matt. 24, we need to inwardly love the Lord and His appearing, and we need to live in the divine dispensing, living for the Lord in our daily living.

As we live a daily life in the divine dispensing, opening to the Lord and loving His appearing, we live a most regular daily life, but the Lord becomes nearer and dearer to us.

This is our heart’s desire, for Him to return and bring in the reward, which is being in His presence for eternity.

So day by day we experience a miraculous normality in our daily living, opening to the Lord, loving Him, and living for Him, enjoying His divine dispensing.

Lord Jesus, we love You! We love Your appearing, Lord! We want to live for You today. We do not live to ourselves or for ourselves. We live for the Lord, and every part of our being is for You. Amen, Lord, we desire for You to return. We love You, we love Your appearing, and we yearn for You to return! Come, dear Lord Jesus! May our king return and may the skies be filled with Him! Amen, Lord, our earnest expectation is that You would come quickly. There’s no other joy on earth which gives our hearts delight except Your coming soon. Amen, Lord, our heart is always with You, and our eyes are heavenward. We simply live here under Your divine dispensing, and our desire is for You to return. Lord, we love Your appearing. Appear to us day by day. In all our daily activities, keep our being open to Your divine dispensing. May we have regular days in the divine dispensing, experiencing the miraculous normality of loving the Lord and loving His appearing as we take care of our daily activities!

Those who Love the Lord, Wait for His Coming, and Love His Appearing will Overcome

Loving the Lord is intimately connected with loving His appearing, and loving the Lord is also related to the Lord’s coming.

Those who love the Lord also desire for Him to return, for they want their Lover to be with them all the time.

As those who love the Lord Jesus and wait for His coming, loving His appearing, we aspire to be the Lord’s overcomers, the components of the bride that will bring Him back! Amen!

When we declare that we love the Lord, we must realize that our declaration also means that we love His coming.

The Lord’s coming in Greek is expressed by three words, which are translated as “come” in English but each refers to a particular aspect of His coming.

One of them is parousia, which means “presence”; the Lord’s coming is His presence (Matt. 24:3, 27, 37, 39).

To love the Lord’s coming is to love His presence.

On one hand, the Lord’s presence is with us all the time, for He promised us that He will be with us all the time until the consummation of the age (Matt. 28:20).

On the other hand, we desire to have the Lord’s presence in full, for His invisible presence is good, but we want to be with Him forever and all the time.

It is a fact that the Lord is with us, and it is a fact that He is coming (Acts 1:11).

When He comes, He will bring in the reward for those who have overcome.

Those who love the Lord, wait for His coming, and love His appearing will overcome.

Such ones will be rewarded by the Lord at His return with the crown of righteousness; this crown is laid up for the overcomers, those who love the Lord’s appearing.

At His coming, the Lord will transfigure the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of His glory (Phil. 3:20-21).

This is our hope and eager expectation, that He will transfigure this mortal body to be in His image, in the body of His glory, when He returns.

Furthermore, the Lord will lead us into His glory so that we may fully gain and enjoy Him (Heb. 2:10).

Today we enjoy the Lord and gain Him, but it is in part; on that day, we will be led by the Lord in His glory to enjoy Him in full. Amen!

As those who love the Lord, take Him as our life, live in Him, and magnify Him in our bodies, we should await His coming and love His appearing (2 Tim. 4:8).

This should the desire of our heart, and this should be reflected in our daily living, for we are those who expect to enter into His glory and enjoy Him.

May the Lord’s glory soon appear and change our sigh into praise. His saving arm is a refuge to us, and our God is so near and dear to us. Amen!

May we be those who love the Lord Jesus and love His appearing, and may we take Him as our life, live Him, and magnify Him.

No matter what happens to us and no matter the circumstances, may we simply take Christ as our life and live Him for His magnification.

And may our hope be in the Lord’s return, eagerly waiting for His coming and loving His appearing.

Our hope is to enter into the Lord’s joy when He comes, and to be saved into His heavenly kingdom!

Amen, our hope is like Paul, to receive the crown of righteousness, which the Lord will give to those who love His appearing.

Lord Jesus, we love You. We take You as our life. We want to live Christ and magnify Him in our daily living. Amen, Lord, we wait for Your coming and we love Your appearing. This is our heart’s desire. Oh Lord, we hope to enter into Your joy and be saved into the Lord’s heavenly kingdom! We love You, dear Lord Jesus, and we love Your appearing! We desire Your coming! Because we love You, we love Your appearing. May we live day by day one spirit with You so that we may magnify Christ in our daily living. Amen, Lord, may we live in the light of Your return today and day by day!

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, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1972, vol. 1, pp. 379-380, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Making Ourselves Ready for the Lord’s Coming (2023 ICSC), week 1, entitled, Making ourselves Ready for the Lord’s Coming by Loving His Appearing and Not Loving the Present Age.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – My King will soon come back again, / The sky be filled with Him; / The universe to be redeemed / Will see His light therein. / The Lord will soon fulfill His plan, / His footsteps now I hear; / His glorious frame I faintly see / Beginning to appear. (Hymns #960 stanza 1)
  – Lord, Thou wilt soon appear, / Thy day is almost here. / Oh, how we love Thy coming soon! / We have no other / Lord, life, or lover / Than Thou, Lord Jesus, our Bridegroom! / The hour is drawing nigh, / Soon we shall hear Thy cry / And with Thee on the clouds descend. / Oh what an hour sweet / When Bride and Bridegroom meet / And love surpassing comprehend. (Hymns #1314 stanzas 1-2)
  – Though even now I know Thy loving presence, / Yet in my heart there’s still a sense of lack. / Enlightening and tenderest sustaining / Can no more satisfy: I want Thee back. / Despite Thy peace within, I still feel lonely; / Despite Thy joy there still remains a sigh; / When I feel most content, the silent yearning / To see Thee face to face becomes an uttered cry. (Hymns #958 stanza 3)