Preaching the Gospel Being to Enjoy God

Regrettably, most of our prayers are not prayers in which we absorb God; instead, they are religious prayers. We may pray, “O God, I am going to preach the gospel today. Be with me. Give me eloquence.” While we pray, we are thinking of eloquence. “What should I say to the chemistry professor? What should be the topic of the conversation? Should I speak concerning atomic power or satellites?” Even though we may pray for half an hour, we are thinking only about eloquence and utterance. In fact, we have not really prayed. Such prayers are useless because they do not touch God, contact Him, or absorb Him.

If we want to preach the gospel, we should first spend half an hour or an hour contacting the Lord, beholding His glory, fellowshipping with Him, and praising Him. We should say, “Lord, You are too lovely. You are our Savior, and You are the Savior of all men. We come to enjoy You, to absorb You, and to live in the presence of Your countenance. We want to dwell in the house of the Lord.” There is no need for us to think about preaching the gospel. There is no need to worry about our utterance or what we should say. We can forget about all of that. After absorbing the Lord and being filled with Him, we will not be the one speaking when we contact our professor. Rather, the Lord whom we have absorbed will be the One who is speaking through us. The words that we speak will be the very Lord whom we have absorbed, and it will be impossible for others not to be blessed.

Moses spent forty days and forty nights on the mountain before Jehovah, doing nothing other than absorbing Him. He did not feel anything when he came down from the mountain, but the children of Israel saw the shining of his face. Why was his face shining? God did not do anything for him. Moses merely spent forty days before the Lord, fellowshipping with Him and absorbing Him. He forgot about everything and was fully occupied with the Lord. For forty days and forty nights, Moses was fully absorbed with God and filled with Him. As a result, his face shone. When he presented himself before men, he did not need to say anything concerning God; they saw God’s glory in his face. This is the wonder of the Christian life. The more we ask for power, the more power eludes us. But if we forget about power and instead fellowship with God, absorb Him, and enjoy Him, we will have power without being conscious of it.

Receiving Leading Being to Enjoy God

I have often heard the brothers and sisters speak of receiving the Lord’s leading. They do not understand how to receive the Lord’s leading. Some have said, “Brother Lee, the more we seek the Lord’s leading, the more confused we are, and the easier it is for us to make mistakes. Once we say that something is the Lord’s leading, we discover that it is not. How can we know the Lord’s leading?” Whenever I hear this, I ask, “Have you prayed in your seeking for His leading?” They usually respond that they have, and then I ask how they prayed. I typically find that they pray to receive leading instead of to enjoy the Lord. They pray, “Lord, should I go here, or should I go there?” While they pray, their mind is busy with these questions. They are not actually praying to the Lord; they are praying for things. After praying, they consider the options and then decide which option is according to the Lord’s will and leading. This is the way many people pray. Hence, it is not surprising that they do not receive the Lord’s leading. If we know what fellowship with the Lord is, we do not need to pray this way. We can forget about all these things and simply contact the Lord, absorb Him, and enjoy Him. This is the shortcut, the expeditious way. As we absorb Him and enjoy Him, we will have His presence, which is His leading. As long as we do not have His presence, we do not have His leading. His leading is His presence.

Let us consider the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud. Their presence led the children of Israel. The pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud are simply God Himself. Do we have God’s presence as we go to preach the gospel? Do we have His presence as we speak on a particular subject? If we are the only one active in preaching the gospel, and God neither moves nor gives us His presence, what we are doing is not under His leading. We do not have the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud if we are the only one speaking and God is not speaking. This is not His leading. He must speak in our speaking. Outwardly, we may be speaking, but inwardly, He must be speaking. Both He and we need to speak. This kind of speaking is full of the Lord’s presence, and this kind of speaking constitutes His leading. This is not a matter of right or wrong, correct or incorrect, or good or evil. Everything depends on whether we have God’s presence. With His presence, everything is right. Without His presence, everything is wrong.