Friday

Related Verses
Heb. 11:5-6
5 By faith Enoch was translated so that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God had translated him. For before his translation he obtained the testimony that he had been well pleasing to God.
6 But without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to Him, for he who comes forward to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

John 8:58
58 Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Before Abraham came into being, I am.

Ecclesiastes 1:2
2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

2 Cor. 3:18
18 But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.

Rom. 12:3
3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to every one who is among you, not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to be sober-minded, as God has apportioned to each a measure of faith.

Rom. 10:12
12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all and rich to all who call upon Him;

1 Thes. 5:17
17 Unceasingly pray,

Heb. 4:16
16 Let us therefore come forward with boldness to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help.

Related Reading
God requires you only to believe that He is [Heb. 11:6]. The verb to be is actually the divine title of our Triune God. In Exodus 3 Moses asked God what His name was. God answered that His name is I Am Who I Am (vv. 13-14). Our God’s name is the verb to be. He is I Am Who I Am. He is the only One. 

The Bible says that if you do not believe in Christ, you have no life (John 3:15-16, 36)…Our life is not something that exists forever. We are today, but eventually, we will not be tomorrow. So in the whole universe we are nothing. I am nothing, our hall is nothing, Anaheim is nothing, California is nothing, the United States is nothing, and the whole globe is nothing! This is because they do not exist forever…Actually, the things that are seen are not the things that exist; they are vanities (2 Cor. 4:18). (CWWL, 1994–1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 276-278) 

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Then what is existing? Who exists? Only the great I Am—I Am Who I Am. He who comes forward to God must believe that God is. Faith is so critical. Without this, you can never make God happy. You must believe that God is. 

Faith is to stop yourself from doing anything…Faith joins you with God to make God the only One who is. I am not, so I should not be the one who loves my wife. It should be Christ loving my wife. He is; I am not. I should not be the one to go shopping. He should be the One. When you pick up something on sale in the department store, you have to check, “He is, or I am?” 

Faith is to stop you from doing anything but to make God everything to you. This equals Paul’s word in Galatians 2:20: “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. Who lives? It is no longer I. I do not exist. I was terminated. I was crucified. I am finished. It is no more I, but it is Christ who lives in me. Christ lives. Christ is. Christ exists. I do not exist. This is the very essence of the short phrase believe that He is [Heb. 11:6]. To believe that God is implies that you are not. He must be the only One, the unique One, in everything, and we must be nothing in everything. 

When you say what Paul said, “It’s no longer I, but Christ,” you believe that God is. To believe that God is, is so deep. It implies that you realize that you are not, but He is. You are not means that you do not exist. This is what the Bible means when it says to deny yourself. When a sister is about to be married, she needs to realize that she is nothing. She should not feel that she is the most beautiful and wonderful one. If she does, her marriage will be finished. That is not a believer’s marriage. A believer who is about to be married should say, “Lord, I am going to marry this man. Lord, You know I am nothing. I cannot be the proper wife. I am nothing, Lord.” What a blessing this is! This is the blessing of denying yourself in everything. 

The Lord Jesus said, “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself” (Luke 9:23). This word is the same as what Paul said: “He who comes forward to God must believe that He is” [Heb. 11:6]. To deny yourself equals to believe that God is, and to believe that God is equals to deny yourself. This is because you believe that only He is. In the whole universe He is, and all of us are nothing. I should not be anything. I should not exist. Only He should be everything. Only He should exist. So Paul says, “I have been crucified. It is no longer I, but Christ.” (CWWL, 1994–1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 278-279) 

Further Reading: CWWL, 1994–1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” ch. 7