Prayer: Lord, come and speak again tonight. Prove to us once more that You are one spirit with us. Speak in our speaking. Speak a clear word, a word of revelation. You and we are one spirit. This is not just a story of love, but a story of the spirit. Lord, we believe in Your presence. We believe that You are with us here in a rich way. Be gracious to us, and visit us. Touch the depths of our being, and speak to our depths. Grant us a new beginning, that we would learn to live a life of love and a life of being in the spirit. Lord! You should have the glory in us and should occupy the preeminent place in our lives. May we take this way all the days of our life. When we see You, may we be able to sing the song of victory. Amen.
The subject today is a normal life and service. Basically speaking, we the Christians are different in our way of life from those in the world. They belong to the world and are for the world. We belong to the Lord and are for the Lord. Every lover of the Lord is, outwardly speaking, somewhat peculiar. Every day we have the Bible in our hands. We often go to the meeting halls. All the time we say “Hallelujah” and “Amen.” In the morning we read the Bible. In the evening we read the same Bible. Sometimes we even have to read the Bible before going to bed. I advise those that have insomnia to make all necessary preparations for going to bed. Then, when they are ready to go to bed, I advise them to open up the Bible and read for ten minutes. After the reading, there is no need for too long a prayer. They may simply say, “Thank the Lord! Be with me, Lord! Amen,” and then go to sleep. Many times, in this way, they will fall asleep right away. We Christians are uncommon because we belong to the Lord Jesus. We love Him and live for Him.
The reason we are different from the others is that we have the love of the Lord in us. We are constrained by the Lord’s love (2 Cor. 5:14). The word “constrain” is difficult to translate. Its original meaning is to be pressed on all sides, holding to one end, forcibly limited and confined to one object within certain bounds, being shut up to one line and purpose as in a narrow, walled road. Since the day you first belonged to the Lord, it seems as if the Lord has put two walls at your two sides. These two walls become a narrow lane that compels you to go forward. You cannot turn or take another way. You are compelled to take this way. By our nature, we do not want God. We only want ourselves. In our studying and working, it is always ourselves that is the center, the goal, and the perspective. But after we were saved, His love began to constrain us, and we began to love Him. When I was young, China was at the period of a great reform. I was educated mostly in the Western way. I had quite a bright future. How then did I end up being a “poor preacher”? It is because there is something that has constrained me to take the way of the Lord.
The Lord’s love is too strong. He compels you to accept His love. The more you say that you would not love the Lord, the more He loves you. Wherever you go, the Lord follows you. He will not let you go until you respond to His love. The Lord’s constraining is not mainly a constraining in environments. Rather, it is an inward constraining. It makes us uncomfortable when we do not love Him. All those who belong to the Lord and who love the Lord have been constrained to take this way. Our Lord indeed loves us. Nevertheless, I have never seen another person that bothers us as much as the Lord does. One brother testified that he asked for a leave of absence from the Lord to go to a movie. But the Lord would not let him go. He followed him. When he bought the ticket and entered the theater, the Lord followed him. Even during the most exciting moment, he could not shout. When he went home, he could not sleep the whole night long. In the end, he could not help but say to the Lord, “Lord! It is not that I love You. But You have bothered me too much, and there is nothing that I can do. I cannot go to the theater anymore.” This is the meaning of constraining.
Once we submit to the Lord, He stops the constraining, and things become smooth. Formerly, I was all alone, by myself. The Lord was not there, and no one minded my business. Now the Lord is with me, and He minds my business. Thank the Lord! When our concept is changed this way, we will not feel that we are being constrained. The reason the Lord is constraining us this way is to turn us to live to Him (2 Cor. 5:15). The phrase “living to Him” is difficult to translate. It does not mean to live for the Lord. It means to live unto Him. The meaning of living to the Lord is deeper than to live for Him. To live for Him means that He and we are still two. But to live to Him means that we and the Lord are one. It is like a wife living to her husband in the marriage life. In such a way, we live a life of living to the Lord and being one with Him.
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