The experience of a Christian has two sides: one is sweet, the other, painful. God causes us to experience a sweet and suffering life in order that Christ may have the first place in all things.
The goal of prayer to let Christ have the first place in all things must be reached, before it will be answered. Seek first God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness, then God will add to us all that we need. (To add is not to give but to add to something that is already there; while to give is to give something that is not there.) To ask in the Lord’s name is to ask the Father on behalf of the Lord that the Lord may gain something. According to this principle, those who care for the flesh have nothing to pray. They must let the cross cut away the flesh before they can become the Lord’s intercessors, praying in His will rather than praying for their own purpose. Only those who let Christ have the first place in all things can enter into the Holy of Holies. We should turn the time we pray for our own need into the time we pray for God’s business. God will listen both to the prayers that we utter (the prayers we pray that are for God’s business) as well as the prayers that we do not utter (the prayers we pray that are for our own affairs). We should let the Lord gain something first. Afterward, the Lord will let us gain something. The sweetest part of the Christian life is to receive answers to prayer continually. But God’s purpose in answering our prayers is that Christ may have the first place in all things.
Growth is also a sweet side of the Christian life. We should be like children but not be childish. Growth is not having biblical knowledge but having more of Christ, to be filled with Christ. Growth is less of self, even none of self. It is to think less of self, even to think nothing of the self. Humility is to not look at the self. To see oneself is to be relatively humble; not to see oneself is to be absolutely humble. To grow is to let Christ have the first place in us. “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). It is not how much biblical knowledge we have, but how much consecration we have, how much we have put in God’s hand, and how much we have allowed Christ to have the first place. The real growth is to let Christ be magnified.
There is also the receiving of light from God—spiritual vision—which is another sweet side of the Christian life. Revelation is something given to us by God objectively. Light is the revelation God shows to us subjectively. Vision is what we see when we are enlightened by God’s light; it includes light and revelation. First there is the enlightening, then the faith. To be continually under the enlightening we must allow Christ to have the first place in all things continually. “If therefore your eye is single, your whole body will be full of light” (Matt. 6:22). It is not that we do not understand, but that we cannot understand, because the eye is not single. “The pure in heart...shall see God” (Matt. 5:8). The heart must be pure. “If anyone resolves to do His will, he will know” (John 7:17). Only those who let Christ have the first place can have light.
Power is also a sweet side of the Christian life. In order to have power, we must let Christ be enthroned. When He increases, we have the power. Without separation, there can be no power. To be separated is not only to come out, but to come in—to be in Christ. We are different from others because we are in Christ and have put on Christ. Christ is our power.
In general all believers have financial difficulties. Perhaps this is because the things they formerly did were improper, things they now can no longer do. Or perhaps it is because of spiritual reasons, where God is behind the scene directing matters with some specific goal. God takes away our material possessions so that we will seek Christ that He may have the first place in all things. It is not impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, but it is difficult. It is not impossible for him to serve the Lord, but it is difficult. Cast your treasure in the dust, and Jehovah will be your treasure (Job 22:24-25). In the wilderness God dealt with the children of Israel by stripping them of all the earthly supply of food and clothing in order that they might know God’s riches. When the earthly supply stops, the heavenly supply comes. Difficulty in material supplies comes for the purpose that we may seek to have Christ take the first place in all things and learn the lessons of faith. When difficulty comes, we should believe that it is from God and rejoice. But we should not hope for difficulties to come. If we do, Satan also can cause difficulties to be added to us.
The reason we lose our parents, husband, wife, children, and relatives is that God wants us to take Christ as our satisfaction. God takes these away from us in order that we would take Christ as Lord and allow Him to have the first place in us. God has no intention to deal with us severely; His intention is only for us to take Christ as Lord. To weep before the Lord is more precious than to be happy before men. What we find in the Lord is what cannot be found in our parents, wife, and children. Both in creation and in His dealing with the believers, God wants His Son to have the first place. If we offer up Isaac, we will receive back Isaac. God does not let us have anything outside of His Son.
God allows sickness and weakness to come to our body in order that we may learn to (1) pray at night, (2) be watchful as sparrows on the rooftop, (3) know that the Lord makes our bed for us, (4) deal with sin, (5) wait quietly, (6) touch the hem of the Lord’s garment, (7) know that the Lord sent His word to heal us, (8) know that through sickness God causes us to become useful persons, (9) know that holiness is healing, and (10) know that the Lord’s resurrection power removes our weakness, sickness, and death. Through sicknesses, God causes us to learn to trust, rely, and obey, so that Christ may have the first place in us.
After a person is saved, he always exercises his natural virtues. But after some time, perhaps a few years, the Lord will remove his natural virtues. This will make him suffer. The Lord deprives us of our virtues in Adam that we may see our own corruption. God takes away our goodness that we may be filled with Christ.
God deprives us of our possessions, relatives, health, and goodness in order that we would take Christ as our satisfaction, be filled with Christ, and allow Him to have the first place in all things.
Whatever God gives to us, whether it be a sweet life or a suffering life, is for the purpose of making Christ the One who occupies the first place in us.
(Morning, January 30)