«　WEEK 1　DAY 5　»

　　2 Cor. 11:2 For I am jealous over you with a jealousy of God; for I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

　　Psa. 119:147-148 I anticipated the dawn and cried out; I hoped in Your words. My eyes anticipated the night watches, that I might muse upon Your word.

　　The Lord Jesus is not a doctrine; He is not a set of gifts or a power; He is a person who needs our love, our appreciation, and our affection. How we need the sweet affection and love toward the Lord Jesus!

　　We may talk about Christ being our life, but if we do not have the real love toward Him, He is only life to us in doctrine…If we would enjoy Jesus as life, we must love Him. As long as we love Him, even if we do not know the term life, we will enjoy life. We will not know a doctrine, but we will enjoy Jesus, a living person, as our very life. We may have many teachings with all the gifts and power, and yet we would not take the personality of Christ. The Lord Jesus… needs someone like Peter to love Him, someone to tell Him, “O Lord Jesus, I love You! I follow You. I take You as my person. I take Your personality as my personality. I take Your will as my will. I take Your desire as my desire. I do not care for teachings, gifts, and power. I just care for You. I love You, and I follow You, taking You as my person.” (CWWL, 1972, vol. 1, “Life and Building as Portrayed in the Song of Songs,” pp. 234-236)

　　In John 21 the Lord asked Peter if he loved Him. Peter told the Lord, “You know that I love You.” Then the Lord answered, “Feed My lambs,” and “Feed My sheep” (vv. 15, 17). To speak is not only to edify or to teach but also to feed the lambs and to feed the sheep… For us to feed the Lord’s sheep, we must love Him. We should tell the Lord, “Lord, I love You, so I like to speak You forth to others.” The more that we love Him, the more we are qualified, equipped, and even perfected to speak.

　　We also must enjoy the Lord in the Word every day early in the morning to have a new start each day (Psa. 119:147-148). According to God’s principle in His creation, He ordained to have a new year, a new month or a new moon, and a new day. Within every year we can have three hundred sixty-five new starts. If we failed for three hundred sixty-four days, we still have one more opportunity to have a successful day. We may have failed today, but thank the Lord tomorrow is still here waiting for us. Tomorrow morning we will have another chance to have a new start. Within every twenty-four hours, there is a new chance for us to have a new start and be renewed.

　　To have a new start is not hard. It is so easy. Just rise up a little earlier and say, “O Lord Jesus. O Lord Jesus.” You do not need to shout loudly and bother others. Just say, “O Lord Jesus.” To say this makes a big difference. Sometimes I forgot to call on the Lord immediately after I woke up. That became a big loss to me. As soon as I realized this, I said, “Lord Jesus, forgive me for forgetting You.” Then we need to pray-read a short portion of the Word, anywhere from two to four verses. We can enjoy the Lord with His Word and in His Word through pray-reading. We should do this every day in the morning to have a good, new start. We can speak the Word to ourselves, to the Lord, and even to the angels. We can speak the Word to our pets and even to our furniture. When we speak the Word in such a way, we will be the first ones nourished by our speaking. We do not need to spend a long time to enjoy the Lord in the Word early in the morning. Ten to fifteen minutes is sufficient to get nourished and have a good start of a new day. We need to practice this. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, “Speaking Christ for the Building Up of the Body of Christ,” pp. 172, 175-176)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1972, vol. 1, “The Living and Practical Way to Enjoy Christ,” ch. 3; CWWL, 1969, vol. 3, pp. 474-475