The book of Jeremiah shows us the secret of Israel’s failures and defeats – they lost the Lord’s presence and were no longer one with God; we should always be one with our God, who is not only among us but also in us, making us men with God – God-men! Amen!
For us to take the word of God, receive His word, and keep His word, we must be absolutely one with Him.
It is easy for us to read the Bible, and we may do so dutifully, but it is not easy for us to see what is God’s hearts’ desire, what is His thought, and what is His burden behind the word, because we are not one with God when we come to His word.
We need to exercise our mind and heart and spirit to be one with the Lord when we come to His word, otherwise His word will not profit us much.
We may read the Bible and find points of view that match ours, things that match what we prefer, and opinions that match our opinions; the kind of Bible we have depends on the kind of person we are.
If we come to the Lord when we come to His word, if we exercise our spirit to be one with the Lord and to get out of ourselves and into Him, the word will become full of life, full of light, and full of revelation for us.
If we have the attitude of inner openness to the Lord so that we may be one with Him, realizing that we are one spirit with Him and living in this union with Him, then His word will become living to us, we will be infused with His element, and we will trust in Him.
May we realize that the word of God is the expression of His thought, His will, and His heart’s desire, even His good pleasure, so that when we come to the word of God we would put ourselves aside and just be one with Him to be infused with Him in His word.
May we be those who are absolutely one with God, trusting in Him, relying on Him, and not having any opinion that comes from the self.
If we are such ones, He will have a free way to speak to us, He can infuse His heart’s desire into our being, and we can match Him to be His duplication on earth, His expression and reproduction, for He in us will do what He said He will do, and we are just one with Him.
The principle of the Bible – especially of the New Testament – is that God opens Himself up to us; when we read the Bible and are one with God, we can enter into Him, we can receive Him, and He will be in us, we will be in Him, and we take Him as our everything.
God is real to us in His word when we seek Him, seek to be one with Him, and desire to hear His voice; when we put ourselves aside, when we forsake our opinions and preferences, and when we forget about ourselves and our situation but simply focus on Him, we can enjoy what He is!
When we’re not One with God, we are Stubborn in Sinning against God and we don’t Live Him
The stubbornness of the children of Israel in the time of Jeremiah in sinning against God was due to their not being one with God (Jer. 42:1 – 43:2).
If they had been one with God, they would have received God’s word and would have known His heart and His nature and mind and purpose, but they were not one with God.
For example, Johanan – who was the leader of the remnant – strongly determined to go to Egypt and take refuge, yet he still wanted to enquire of the Lord through Jeremiah…
He feared that, since Gedaliah was murdered, the Babylonians will come and avenge him, so they wanted to leave and go to Egypt. God told them to stay in the land, even promising that He will bless them, He will plant them, and He will not pluck them out…
The leaders of the forces and all the people begged Jeremiah the prophet to pray for them concerning the way in which they should go, the thing they should do, so that God would reveal it to them; they even promised that, whether it was good or evil, they will listen to the voice of Jehovah (Jer. 42:1-6).
They were expecting that Jeremiah would go along with them, and they wanted him to give them a “sugarcoated” word…however, Jeremiah was not such a person but rather, he was faithful to speak the word of God to them.
He waited for ten days, and after that the Lord’s word came to him; He promised that if they will still remain in the land, He will build them up and not tear them down, and He will plant them and not pluck them up (Jer. 42:10).
If they remained in the land and not go to Egypt, they would enjoy His blessing, but if they didn’t listen to His word and go to the land of Egypt, they would die there.
When the people of Israel heard the word, they all refused to hear him, they opposed him, and they even dragged him to go with them to Egypt!
They were stubborn in their sinfulness and were not one with God, having no heart for the word of God, and not desiring to even listen to the Lord’s word.
Once they arrived in Egypt, they started worshipping other idols and even said that, while they did this, they had plenty of food…
The children of Israel were a people who were not one with God.
If they had been one with God, there would have been no problem; rather they would have received the word of God, obeyed God, and enjoyed His blessing.
When we are one with God and receive His word, we know His heart, His nature, His mind, and His purpose; if we are one with God when He speaks to us, we will live Him and are constituted with Him to be His testimony on earth.
We are the people of God, and we need to be one with God in coming to Him in His word; whenever we come to the meetings, when we come to read the Bible, and when we’re under the hearing of the faith, we need to be one with God, and we will spontaneously be constituted with Him to be His testimony on the earth.
To sin is not merely to do something bad – to sin is not to be one with God. Have you ever considered this? If we are not one with God, we sin before Him.
This is the situation among many of the Christians today; they are not one with God but rather, they seek material blessings, prosperity, health, and riches, or even spiritual things – yet not by being one with God.
So many believers have transgressed the principle of being one with God; they may want to be His people, enjoy His blessings, and have security from Him, but they don’t really have a heart to be one with Him.
Many times we want God to do things for us, to give us things, and to care for us, but we don’t have a heart for Him; the result is that we don’t go along with His will and mind but rather, we express our opinions and care for our likes and dislikes!
The result is that we are not one with God and we also are not one with one another; this affects both our oneness with God and the oneness in the church.
Lord Jesus, save us from sinning against God by not being one with God. We come to You, Lord, and we want to be one with You to receive Your word and know Your heart, Your nature, Your mind, and Your purpose. Lord, infuse us with Yourself through Your word; we say Amen to Your word, we are one with You. Live in us, Lord, and constitute us with Yourself to make us Your testimony on the earth. Save us from doing or saying anything apart from You; keep us in oneness with You all throughout the day. Oh Lord, may we realize that we commit a sin when we are not one with You. May we just live in the mingled spirit and be one with You all the time!
Practicing being One with the Lord, Walking and Living with Him, and Having the Lord’s Presence
The secret of Israel’s failures and defeats, especially at the time of the prophet Jeremiah, was that they lost God’s presence and were no longer one with God.
When we don’t live in the Lord’s presence, when we are not one with the Lord, we experience failures and defeats.
Losing God’s presence means that we are not one with God; when we are one with God, we have His presence.
For example, in Josh. 7:3-4; 9:14, the children of Israel did things without taking the counsel of Jehovah, and they went to war without checking with Him first.
We may think we know what to do and where to go, what to say and who to contact, but unless we are one with God, we sin, we experience defeat, and we fail.
As God-men, we need to practice being one with the Lord; we need to walk with the Lord, live with Him, and have our entire being with Him (Rom. 8:4; 2 Cor. 2:10; Gal. 5:16, 25).
When we forgive others, we should forgive them in the index of the Lord’s eyes, in His presence, by looking at Him and having His smile.
When we do something, we should do it in oneness with the Lord, for we seek to please Him and remain in this organic union with Him.
Practicing being one with the Lord in our daily life is the way to walk as a Christian, to fight as a child of God, and to build up the Body of Christ.
We should always be one with our God; our God is not only among us but also in us, and we are not only men but God-men!
Hallelujah, we are men with God, for God is in us and with us, and we are God-men!
We have been joined to the Lord as one spirit; now in this one spirit we need to live our Christian life and church life, and we need to do everything in this mingled spirit.
When we are one with the Lord, practicing this oneness with Him, everything we do is something that He does in us and through us.
It is a fact that we are one spirit with the Lord, but we may not experience this in our daily life. We may have to deal with some small things, take care of some seemingly insignificant matters, and take care of our daily affairs, and we may think we know what to do, we have the ability, and…we just don’t contact the Lord. Oh Lord Jesus!
May we realize that the way for us to walk as a Christian, the way for us to fight as a child of God, and the way for us to build the Body of Christ is by practicing to be one with the Lord, walking with Him, living with Him, and having our entire being with Him!
When we have the Lord’s presence, being one with Him, we also have wisdom, insight, foresight, and the inner knowledge concerning things; the Lord’s presence is everything to us.
That is so true – the Lord’s presence is everything to us. We need not only things from the Lord, we need not only Him to do something for us or in us – we need Him!
We need to practice being one with the Lord, walk with Him, live with Him, and have our entire being with Him, so that we may be proper Christian, we may build up the Body, and we may fight for the Lord’s interest on earth.
Even in the small things, we need to seek to be one spirit with the Lord, and we will have wisdom, insight, foresight, and inner knowledge, discernment of things. It is good to tell the Lord,
Lord Jesus, we want to practice to be one with You, walking with you, living with You, and having our entire being with You. Make us normal and proper Christians, those who live one spirit with You all the time. Hallelujah, it is a fact that he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit; we want to live out this fact, have this experience, and do everything in this one spirit with the Lord! Lord, Your presence is everything to us. We want to be one with You, for it is then that we have wisdom, insight, foresight, and inner knowledge concerning things. Hallelujah, we are God-men, and God is in us to live in us as we are one with Him!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 219-220 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization Study of Jeremiah and Lamentations, week 6, The Principle of Being One with God as Revealed in the Book of Jeremiah.
- Hymns on this topic:
– I am one with Thee, Lord Jesus, / One in spirit now with Thee; / All Thyself I now possess, Lord, / All Thou art now lives in me. (Hymns #474)
– Lord Jesus, I long in Thy presence to live, / From morning to evening my one world Thou art; / O let not my heart be contented or rest / When loving or seeking what with Thee doth part. (Hymns #389)
– O Thou art ever one with me, / Unrivaled unity! / One spirit with me all the time / For all eternity! (Hymns #539)
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