The divine supply that comes to us through the Word has a particular expression, and this expression is the divine light. Whenever we receive the Lord’s word into us, the essence of the divine supply comes in with light as its expression. When the supply comes, light comes with it. From experience we know that whenever we receive the Lord’s word, we have light. Light is the essence of God’s expression. In the light, that is, in the essence of God’s expression, we have love as the essence of God’s being. This is the way to enjoy the love of God. We receive the Word, and light comes. Whenever light comes, love is spontaneously present.
With this love which we enjoy in the divine light, we first love God. We love Him not by our own love, by our natural love, but by His own love which we experience and enjoy. Moreover, when we love God, we also love every one begotten of Him. This means that when we love the Father, we love His children. Therefore, in this way we love the brothers. Because we love the brothers, we spontaneously have the desire to participate in the church life. In particular, we want to be in the meetings of the church.
When we receive the Lord’s word through pray-reading, we receive light. Then in the light we have love for God and for all the saints. However, if we do not receive the Word and thus are not in the light with the love, we may be rather indifferent toward the saints and toward the church life. Should we meet a brother in the Lord, we may not even have the desire to greet him warmly. But when we receive the Word and are in the light, spontaneously we experience God’s love. We have the strong sense within that we love the Lord. Then if we meet a brother, we shall have the feeling that he is lovable and that we love him. Our response to him will be a response of love. Instead of being cold or indifferent, we shall have a genuine feeling of warmth toward him.
In order to have the fellowship that is for the church life, we need brotherly love. If we would have this love, we need to know the Lord experientially. As those who know the Lord, we need to take His word again and again. When we take the Word, we receive light. In this light we spontaneously have love. This love is a strong indication that we also have the Lord Himself, for love is the essence of God’s being. As light is the nature of God’s expression, love is the nature of God’s being. This means that when we have God’s love, we actually have God Himself. With this love, the divine love experienced and enjoyed by us, we love God and His children. When we have this love for God and for the children of God, we have the church life. As we have pointed out, this love actually is the church life.
Love is both a condition of the divine fellowship and the result of experiencing this fellowship. The love that issues from the divine light, the light that comes when we receive the Lord’s word in our knowing of Him, is the very fellowship that is for the church life. May we all have this love, the love of God, perfected in us so that we may maintain the divine fellowship for the church life.