We may have heard the phrase “witness for Christ.” But what does it mean? Witnessing simply means telling others what we’ve personally experienced of the Lord Jesus.
For instance, when we received Jesus as our Savior, maybe we told our friends or family about our salvation experience and how wonderful it was. That was our witnessing to them.
Numerous verses in the New Testament tell us we should witness for our Lord and Savior so sinners can be brought to salvation. Let’s get into some of the reasons why we must witness.
The resurrected Lord commissioned us
In the gospels of Matthew and Mark, the Lord’s indisputable command to His believers is recorded. Matthew 28:19 says:
“Go therefore and disciple all the nations.”
And Mark 16:15 says:
“Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to all the creation.”
Before the resurrected Jesus ascended to heaven, He gave His believers one commandment: to go and preach the gospel. This was His commission to His church, which means it includes all of us who have been redeemed and born again.
Each one of us has been commissioned by the Lord to proclaim the good news of His salvation. The Lord Jesus commanded us to go forth with His precious gospel to all the creation, meaning everywhere, and to all the nations, meaning all people of every race.
So we must proclaim the gospel because our Lord, the One who died for us and rose from the dead, commanded us to do so. He has given us the responsibility to preach the gospel to sinners all around us, and even to the whole earth.
We are branches in the vine to bear fruit
The Lord Jesus said in John 15:5:
“I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
Then in verse 16, He said:
“You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and I set you that you should go forth and bear fruit.”
The picture of branches in the vine shows us our relationship with the Lord. By staying attached to the vine, the branches enjoy the life of the vine and flourish. But the goal of this enjoyment is that the branches would bear fruit.
Fruit in John 15 refers to people who are saved through us. So we all must “go forth” to tell others about the Lord Jesus that many more can be saved.
The unbelievers need to hear the gospel
No matter who they are or what they have or haven’t accomplished, all human beings have a desperate spiritual need. Paul’s words in Romans 1:14 show us our responsibility toward them:
“I am debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to foolish.”
Every one of us believers is a debtor. We owe a great debt to the people around us who aren't yet saved. Those who haven’t believed in the Son of God will perish eternally in the lake of fire. We owe it to our relatives, friends, co-workers, neighbors, and others to tell them about the Savior so they can believe in Him and receive eternal life.
Where would we be today if someone hadn’t told us about Jesus? Romans 10:14 says:
“How then shall they call upon Him into whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe into Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without one who proclaims Him?”
If people never have the opportunity to hear the gospel, how can they believe? This is why we must proclaim the Lord and His salvation to others.
Satan’s kingdom suffers loss
Satan wants to keep people under his evil authority. But when people believe in the Lord Jesus, they're delivered from Satan's tyranny over them. In Acts 26:18, Paul described the Lord’s commission to him in this way:
“To open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.”
When we speak to people about Jesus and they receive Him as their Savior, they’re turned from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God. They receive forgiveness of their sins and obtain a rich spiritual inheritance. More captives of Satan are released and Satan’s kingdom suffers loss!
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How do we witness for Christ?
Now let’s discuss a few practical points about how to witness.
1. Consecrate to the Lord
Giving ourselves to the Lord by consecrating specific areas of our life to Him, such as our job, our family, our time, and so on, gives the Lord the way to grow in us in those areas. We can also consecrate ourselves to the Lord to be witnesses for Him and pray a simple prayer like this:
“Lord, I give myself to You in this matter. Help me witness for You to the people You’ve put into my life.”
2. Pray for people
It’s very important for us to pray for people. Our Lord wants people to be saved, and He surely hears our prayers for them. We can pray something like:
“Lord, I pray for my cousin. He’s still not saved. Show me what to say to him. Lord, please give him an open heart to hear what I say about You. Lord Jesus, save him!”
It’s helpful to make a list of our unsaved family members, friends, neighbors, classmates, and co-workers so we can pray regularly for them.
We can ask the Lord specifically who to speak to, what we should say, and when. We can even ask the Lord to give us opportunities to speak to people.
3. Be assured that being saved is the only qualification needed
Attending seminary or receiving special training isn’t a requirement to witness for the Lord. Believing in and receiving Jesus as our Savior is the only qualification we need.
This is proven by accounts in the New Testament of newly saved people immediately speaking about Christ and what He had done for them. For instance, in John 4 the Samaritan woman met Jesus at the well, and then right away told everyone in her city about Him.
4. Speak about what you’ve experienced of Jesus Christ
To witness to people, we don’t need to compose a sermon. We also don’t need to have all the answers to questions about God they might ask us. The apostle John said in 1 John 1:3:
“That which we have seen and heard we report also to you.”
John simply wrote about what he had seen and heard. In the same way, we can speak about what we've seen and heard of Jesus Christ, meaning, what we’ve experienced and enjoyed of the Lord.
For example, we can tell people how burdened down with sin and guilt we were, how Jesus died for us, and how He saved us. Or we can tell them that Jesus now lives in us and is with us all the time. Even if we’re newly saved, we can say, “I was empty and alone, but now Jesus lives in me!”
We can speak of what Jesus did for us. We can speak of His love for us, and of His care for us. If we stop to think about it, we actually have a lot to say about our dear Lord!
5. Practice speaking to people
We can’t expect to play the piano well if we never practice. Speaking to people about the Lord also requires practice. It may be helpful to set a goal of speaking to one person every week or every two weeks, for example. Otherwise, it would be easy to put off practicing and never start.
The more we practice, the more we’ll learn how to reach different kinds of people and be effective in leading them to salvation.
6. Tell people about Jesus in different ways
There are many ways and many opportunities to witness to those around us. The book of Acts is full of accounts of people being saved through different believers.
For instance, we can write a letter or email to someone we know to share the Lord Jesus with them. We can write about our experience of salvation, or how the Lord has worked in our lives.
We should also be prepared to speak about the Lord to our friends, relatives, or colleagues when opportunities present themselves. We can say something about how real the Lord is to us, and how we want them to be able to experience that for themselves also.
Giving away gospel tracts is another great way to share something about Jesus, especially if there isn't much time to speak at length. For example, we can give tracts to people while we're at the store, taking public transportation, or running errands. We can say a few words to them about the Lord based on a tract as we give it to them. Then the tract can speak to them even when we’re not with them.
Bibles for America has developed some resources on our website to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with people. You can send a digital tract, video, gospel blog post, or podcast episode to someone via text, email, Facebook, or Twitter. We encourage you to check out the page here.
We Christians have the gift of eternal life and can share that gift with our relatives, our friends, and our neighbors. May the Lord Jesus fill us with His great love as we pray for people and witness to them about our wonderful Lord and Savior.
If you live in the United States, we also encourage you to order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version, which is full of enlightening commentary and other helpful features. You can place your order here.
The terms born again and regenerated are fairly familiar to many people and are usually associated with becoming a Christian.
But what does it mean to be born again? Does it mean to have a fresh start to live a moral life? If that's the case, does a person who is already good, upright, and ethical even need to be born again?
In this post, we’ll look at what the Bible says about being born again.
Nicodemus and the Lord Jesus
Let’s look at the story of Nicodemus in John 3. Nicodemus was a moral man who was held in high regard in his community. He came to Jesus one night privately and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher.”
Nicodemus may have wanted Jesus to teach him how to improve himself even more so he could be perfect. But before Nicodemus could say anything else, Jesus told him in John 3:3:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus didn’t seem to have any moral or sinful problems. So this word may have surprised him. It might surprise us also, especially if we think only people who are obviously immoral or unethical need to be born again.
But it’s not only the sinful or immoral people that need to be regenerated. Every human being needs to be born again in order to receive the divine, eternal life of God.
No matter how noble, good, or upright we are, without being born again, we only have our human life; we don’t have the life of God. But God wants us to have His life. That’s why He created us.
So how can we have the eternal life of God? The Lord Jesus said we must be born anew, that is, born spiritually with the life of God.
Born of the Spirit in our spirit
When a baby is born, it’s born of its parents with the human life of its parents. To be born again, or regenerated, simply means we’re born of God with God’s life.
In John 3:6, Jesus explained to Nicodemus how this can be:
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
Note 2 on this verse in the New Testament Recovery Version helps us see what born of the Spirit is spirit means:
“The first Spirit mentioned here is the divine Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God, and the second spirit is the human spirit, the regenerated spirit of man. Regeneration is accomplished in the human spirit by the Holy Spirit of God with God’s life, the uncreated eternal life. Thus, to be regenerated is to have the divine, eternal life (in addition to the human, natural life) as the new source and new element of a new person.”
Our human spirit is the deepest part of our being. It was created in a particular way by God with the ability to contact and receive Him. When we believed in Jesus, our human spirit was born of the divine Spirit. Now we have the life of God!
God doesn't want ethical people who don’t have His life. He wants human beings to become His children, begotten with His life.
Being born again has nothing to do with resolving to be a better person or turning over a new leaf. It has everything to do with being born of the Spirit in our spirit with the life of God.
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Regeneration in 1 Peter
We can see more about regeneration in 1 Peter 1:3:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
The notes in the New Testament Recovery Version on this verse help shed further light on this wonderful matter. We’ll read just the first part of note 4 that explains what we gain through regeneration:
“Regeneration, like redemption and justification, is an aspect of God’s full salvation. Redemption and justification solve our problem with God and reconcile us to God; regeneration enlivens us with God’s life, bringing us into a relationship of life, an organic union, with God.”
When we believe in Jesus Christ and all He did for us, our sins are forgiven, and we’re brought back to God. This was accomplished by Christ's redemption. We’re so thankful for this aspect of God’s complete salvation.
But that’s not all. By being regenerated, we’re enlivened with God’s life. Now the relationship we have with God isn’t an objective one, like that of a creature and its Creator. Being born again brought God's life into us, and because of that, our relationship with Him is a relationship of life, or an organic union.
This is not like two inanimate objects merely joined together by glue. Instead, our relationship with God is like the union of a branch in a vine. The branch is joined to the vine organically and shares the life of that vine.
How should we live after we’re born again?
The birth of a baby is a wonderful event. But it's only the beginning of the baby's growth and development.
In the same way, being born again is just the beginning of our Christian life. So what should we do after we're born again?
After being born, a baby’s primary need is to breathe and eat. A newborn doesn’t need teachings or textbooks on how to behave. It needs air and nourishment. As long as it receives the proper nourishment, it grows spontaneously, without any striving or effort. The baby simply breathes and eats, and thus grows through all the stages of life into adulthood.
It’s the same with our Christian life. Once we’re born again, our most important need is to spiritually breathe and be nourished so this new life in our spirit can grow. We can do this by praying, calling on the Lord’s name, and spending time in God's Word. As we grow, we’ll express the life of God more and more in our daily living.
We could only touch on this wonderful matter of being born again with God’s life briefly here. The New Testament Recovery Version contains a number of rich notes on this topic, including more on 1 Peter 1:3 and the following verses. If you live in the United States, we encourage you to order a free copy so you can read them and gain a fuller appreciation of regeneration.
We also strongly encourage you to read chapter 3, “The First Experience of Life—Regeneration” in The Knowledge of Life. This excellent book on a believer’s experience of the life of God provides invaluable help. You can download this free e-book from anywhere in the world here.
Because the Lord Jesus died for our sins, when we believed in Him, we were forgiven and washed of all traces of our sins. We shouldn't feel troubled by what we did or who we were before we were saved. We must be very clear about this.
But when we were saved, we also became a new person in the Lord with a new life. We were born again with the life of God. From that point on, we have a new life, and we should also have a new living.
If we continue to live the way we did before we were saved, the things of our past life will hold us back. To progress in our Christian walk, we need to put an end to our old way of life so we’re no longer under its influence.
So how do we do this?
The feeling of our conscience
Before we were saved, our conscience was somewhat dull. One of the first things that happens after we believe is that our conscience is sensitized. So while certain things didn’t bother us before, we now realize they're sinful, unrighteous, or immoral. Without having to consult with others, we spontaneously know what’s displeasing to God in our living.
For example, perhaps our old life included using crude language. Maybe we even took the Lord’s name in vain without feeling like anything was wrong. But after we were saved, we began to have an uneasy feeling whenever we talked like that. This uneasy feeling comes from our conscience. If we go along with our conscience by ceasing to use such language, we’ll feel peaceful. Our old way of talking will no longer be one of the things that holds us back in our Christian walk.
Now, let's look at some examples in the New Testament of how the believers dealt with their old way of life in a thorough way in order to grow in Christ. These examples will help us see what displeases the Lord and help us go forward with Him.
1. Turning away from idols
The first and most important thing we should rid ourselves of is any kind of idol or objects related to an idol. First Thessalonians 1:9 says:
“You turned to God from the idols to serve a living and true God.”
Idols are lifeless images or objects, which are in contrast to the living and true God. They can include many things, like paintings or sculptures. God does not tolerate idols. For us to hold onto an idol is a serious matter. Our God is a jealous God who wants us to worship and love Him alone, the unique living and true God.
Even possessing an idol for any reason or having an inclination in our heart toward one is objectionable to God. The apostle John warned the believers in 1 John 5:21:
“Little children, guard yourselves from idols.”
We have to be decisive and absolute when it comes to an idol. It’s not sufficient just to put it out of sight. To be free from their effect, idols and anything pertaining to superstitious practices, such as fortune telling or horoscopes, need to be completely eradicated from our lives. And it’s best not to sell or give these things away.
We must immediately and thoroughly forsake anything related to idols after we believe in Christ. Even if you don’t think you have any idols around you, it’s good to take a moment to pray about this matter. You can pray:
“Lord Jesus, I don’t want to have any idols. I love You. Lord, show me if I have any idols or superstitious things that You want me to remove from my life.”
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2. Thoroughly eradicating evil and unclean things
In Acts 19, the apostle Paul preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people in the city of Ephesus. Verses 19 and 20 gives an account of what the people did after they believed in Jesus:
“And a considerable number of those who practiced magic brought their books together and burned them before all; and they counted up the price of them and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver. Thus, the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.”
Paul didn’t tell the Ephesian believers, “Now that you’re saved, you must destroy these books.” They took this action not because of an outward commandment, but as a result of the inward work of the Holy Spirit who lived in them. Their experience of God’s salvation was strong and motivated them to forsake and burn these wicked books that were once precious to them. They wouldn’t even sell them. Their absolute separation from these books freed them. And the result of their action was that the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.
This example of the Ephesian believers shows us that improper objects should be eradicated from our lives. Things that are sinful or filthy—pornographic material, indecent clothing, gambling paraphernalia, items related to drug and alcohol abuse, immoral books and pictures, and things related to witchcraft and magic—should all be destroyed. A thorough clearance of even the remnants of our godless life will release us from the hold of our old way of life. Related to this matter, you can pray:
“Lord Jesus, make my conscience sensitive. Shine on anything improper or filthy in my life, Lord. Help me rid myself of these things so I can go on with You in an unhindered way.”
3. Repaying debts and making restitution
Luke 19:2-10 records the story of Zaccheus, a tax collector who met the Lord Jesus as He passed through Jericho.
It was common for tax collectors in those days to extort money from people by over-assessing their property or income and taking the excess for themselves. Because of this, they were hated and despised.
But the Lord spoke to Zaccheus and told him that He would come to stay in his house. Zaccheus received the Lord, rejoicing, and said to Him:
“Behold, the half of my possessions, Lord, I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore four times as much.”
After meeting the Lord Jesus, Zaccheus was convicted of his sins, especially of extorting money from people. He professed his desire to repay them fourfold and give half of all he had to the poor. The Lord didn’t command him to do this. When Zaccheus met Jesus, he instantly knew what he should do to make restitution to anyone he cheated and turn away from his former dishonest way of living.
So how does the example of Zaccheus relate to us today? The Spirit within us makes us conscious of what we need to clear up from our past. Perhaps we need to repay money we borrowed from someone long ago. Or maybe we need to return items we took from our workplace. If we allow the Lord to speak to us, we’ll know what we need to deal with and how to do it.
We can seek the Lord concerning how to repay our debts, trusting Him to help us make things right, by praying:
“Lord, if I owe anything to anyone, show it to me. Lead me how to repay my debts.”
4. Putting off our former manner of life
Ephesians 4:22 says:
“That you put off, as regards your former manner of life, the old man, which is being corrupted according to the lusts of the deceit.”
Our former manner of life is a broad term that refers to how we previously conducted ourselves in every aspect of our life. It includes things like who we associated with, how we spoke, how we dressed, where we went, how we spent our time, how we spent our money, and so on.
After we’re saved, our whole manner of life should change from what it was before.
If we open to the Lord about this, we may realize there are many things in our living that are unsuitable for a child of God. For example, perhaps we wore certain kinds of clothing before we were saved. But after we believe in the Lord, we feel uneasy when we wear those clothes. In that case, we should go along with this feeling, which is the Lord within us, and either alter the clothing or replace it with something else.
We need to ask the Lord to show us if there's anything displeasing to Him in our living. As He speaks to us, we should respond to Him, discontinuing certain practices and activities from our former life.
Not a matter of outward regulation but of the new life inside us
How we deal with our old way of life isn’t according to some sort of outward regulation. It’s a matter of being sensitive and obedient to God’s life within us. So we should bring this matter to the Lord Himself. We don't need to try to figure out what things might be a problem on our own.
The One we received as our Savior and who is now living in our spirit is full of feeling. He’s also very definite and specific concerning anything that doesn't match Him. We can open our hearts to the Lord and ask Him to point out anything still present in our living that is offensive or displeasing to Him. We can pray:
“Lord Jesus, thank You for saving me. I want You to grow in me without any hindrance from my old life. Lord, show me any improper things in my living that frustrate me from going on with You. Help me remove them completely from my life.”
The Lord Jesus will surely answer this prayer. He will reveal the things from our former life that impede us in our Christian walk. By cooperating with the Lord to put an end to them, we can go on and experience Christ every day.
To learn more about being sensitive to God’s life within us, we recommend reading chapter 17 titled “The Fellowship of Life and the Sense of Life,” in The Economy of God. You can download this free e-book here.
As those who love the Lord Jesus, the One who loved us and gave Himself up for us, we want to do something for Him in return. We may ask Him, “Lord, what do You want me to do for You?” or “How can I be useful to You?”
God already has a multitude of angels who serve Him, so does God also need us human beings to serve Him and do something for Him?
The Bible reveals that what God desires isn’t that we do something for Him. He wants us to express Him. In this post we’ll read some verses and notes in the New Testament Recovery Version to explore what the Bible reveals about what God wants from us.
God created us to express Him
In another post, we discussed the great matter of God’s plan for humanity. God’s plan sprang from His desire to share His divine life with us by coming into us. By joining Himself with us inwardly, He would be our life and fill our whole being. Being filled with God, we would live by Him and spontaneously express Him.
Expressing God would be the result not of our doing something apart from Him but of our being one with Him and filled with Him.
In fact, we may perform many good deeds for God, but in doing them, we don’t express God at all. Instead, we may simply express ourselves because we do them by our natural person and natural energy, and not by the life of God in us.
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We were created as vessels
So that we can contain Him and be filled with Him, God created us a certain way. The Bible reveals God made us as vessels. One of many verses that show us this is Romans 9:23-24:
“In order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He had before prepared unto glory, even us, whom He has also called.”
God is the divine Potter, and human beings are vessels, designed with a human spirit that can contact, receive, and even contain Him.
Before we were saved, we were empty vessels. But when we repented and believed in the Lord Jesus as our Savior, we received Him into our spirit, the deepest, innermost part of our being. He came into us, lives in our spirit, and wants to fill us completely.
To express God, we must be filled with Him. What we’re filled with is what we automatically express. If we’re filled with God, we’ll express Him. If we’re filled with other things, we’ll express those things.
So God’s concern isn’t that we would do something for Him but that we would be filled with Him.
Drinking, being filled, and expressing God
Now that we’re saved, God wants us to continue to receive Him until our whole being is filled with Him and even overflowing with Him.
God not only made us with a human spirit that can receive Him but He also created a thirst in us for Himself. This thirst causes us to long for Him. Nothing but God can quench this thirst.
John 7:37-38 says:
“Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.”
Notice that Jesus didn’t cry out, “Come to Me and do something for Me.” He said, “Come to me and drink.” He wants us to come to Him and receive Him by drinking Him as the living water. When we drink Him, living water will flow out of our innermost being.
What are these rivers of living water that flow out of us?
Let’s read note 2 on rivers of living water in verse 38 in the New Testament Recovery Version:
“The rivers of living water are the many flows of the different aspects of life (cf. Rom. 15:30; 1 Thes. 1:6; 2 Thes. 2:13; Gal. 5:22-23), originating from the one unique river of water of life (Rev. 22:1), which is God’s Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2).”
Galatians 5:22-23, referenced in this note, explains what the different aspects of life are:
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
These items of the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5 are different aspects of the divine life and the expressions of the Spirit. When we drink Him, He flows out of our innermost being as rivers of love and different aspects of life to others.
Drinking the Spirit
So how do we come to Jesus and drink? Of course, Jesus wasn’t speaking of drinking physical water. Right after Jesus cried out to people to come to Him and drink, John 7:39 says:
“But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.”
The Spirit is the water we drink that quenches our thirst and fills us to overflowing.
Let’s read note 1 on Spirit in this verse. This note gives a brief yet remarkable view of the Spirit in the Bible:
“The Spirit of God was there from the beginning (Gen. 1:1-2), but at the time the Lord spoke this word, the Spirit as the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9), the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19), was not yet, because the Lord had not yet been glorified. Jesus was glorified when He was resurrected (Luke 24:26). After Jesus’ resurrection, the Spirit of God became the Spirit of the incarnated, crucified, and resurrected Jesus Christ, who was breathed into the disciples by Christ in the evening of the day on which He was resurrected (20:22). The Spirit is now the ‘another Comforter,’ the Spirit of reality promised by Christ before His death (14:16-17). When the Spirit was the Spirit of God, He had only the divine element. After He became the Spirit of Jesus Christ through Christ’s incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection, the Spirit had both the divine element and the human element, with all the essence and reality of the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ. Hence, the Spirit is now the all-inclusive Spirit of Jesus Christ as the living water for us to receive (vv. 38-39).”
The note helps us see that in resurrection, the incarnated, crucified, and resurrected Jesus became the Spirit that we can drink today. All He is and all He’s done is available to us in this wonderful Spirit as living water. Now we just need to drink Him.
We can drink by calling on the name of the Lord
How can we drink the Spirit? Since this all-inclusive water is the Spirit, we must exercise, or use, our spirit, our innermost being, to receive this water.
A simple and enjoyable way to exercise our spirit to come to the Lord and drink is calling upon His name. When we call, “Lord Jesus,” we contact the Spirit and take a drink of Him as the living water.
All day long, while we’re at work, at home, in class, anywhere, and anytime, we can call upon the name of the Lord Jesus to drink of the Spirit. For instance, we can call, “Oh, Lord Jesus, I’m on my way to work. Lord Jesus, I drink you right now.”
The more we drink, the more we’re filled, and the more rivers of living water will flow out of our innermost being to others. What people will see in us is the expression of God in different aspects of His life.
Being filled in spirit
Rather than trying to do something for God, we should simply drink the living water and be filled in our spirit every day.
Ephesians 5:18-21 says:
“And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissoluteness, but be filled in spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming with your heart to the Lord, giving thanks at all times for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to our God and Father, being subject to one another in the fear of Christ.”
Note 1 on verse 18 in the New Testament Recovery Version explains:
“To be drunk with wine is to be filled in the body, whereas to be filled in the spirit (our regenerated spirit, not God’s Spirit) is to be filled with Christ (1:23) unto the fullness of God (3:19). To be drunk with wine in our physical body causes us to become dissolute, but to be filled in our spirit with Christ, with the fullness of God, causes us to overflow with Christ in speaking, singing, psalming, and giving thanks to God (vv. 19-20) and also causes us to subject ourselves to one another (v. 21).”
And note 1 on verse 19 on speaking points out that the issue is also the way we can be filled:
“Verses 19-21 modify be filled in spirit in v. 18. Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs are not only for singing and psalming but also for speaking to one another. Such speaking, singing, psalming, giving of thanks to God (v. 20), and subjecting of ourselves to one another (v. 21) are not only the outflow of being filled in spirit but also the way to be filled in spirit.”
We can be filled in our spirit with Christ by calling upon His name to drink of the Spirit, by speaking and singing hymns, and by giving thanks to God. We can even be filled when we’re subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
The Bible is clear that God wants us to be filled with Him. By filling us with Himself, God will be expressed through us, working out His eternal purpose. Every day, we need to be filled in spirit. We encourage you to order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version if you live in the US. You can read all the commentary on these verses in John 7 and Ephesians 5 to be more deeply impressed with God’s desire that we be filled with Him to be His expression.
The name Jesus is a special name. It’s actually the most special name in the universe! Philippians 2:9 tells us that God highly exalted Jesus and bestowed on Him “the name which is above every name.”
In addition to Jesus, in the New Testament we can find many other names for our Lord that are rich in meaning and communicate a particular aspect of what He is to us.
In this post, we'll cover five names for the Lord mentioned in the books of Matthew and John, using notes from the New Testament Recovery Version that explain their meaning. Taking a closer look at these names will increase our appreciation for this wonderful Person and help us know Him in a deeper way.
Jesus
Jesus is the very first name mentioned in the New Testament in Matthew 1:1. Matthew 1:21 says that it’s the name given to Him by God. An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and instructed him:
“And she will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.”
But what does the name Jesus mean?
The first part of note 1 on this verse in the Recovery Version says:
“Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name Joshua (Num. 13:16), which means Jehovah the Savior, or the salvation of Jehovah. Hence, Jesus is not only a man but Jehovah, and not only Jehovah but Jehovah becoming our salvation. Thus, He is our Savior.”
Jehovah is the eternal, ever-existing God. Because the name Jesus means Jehovah the Savior, this indicates to us that Jesus is Jehovah Himself who became a man to be our salvation. Only Jesus can save us from sin, God’s righteous judgment, Satan, the world, a life without meaning, and other negative things. Today, we can be saved from the many things that bother us by calling on the name of Jesus.
Emmanuel
We can see another name for the Lord in Matthew 1:23:
“‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel’ (which is translated, God with us).”
Note 2 on Emmanuel says:
“Jesus was the name given by God, whereas Emmanuel, meaning God with us, was the name by which man called Him. Jesus the Savior is God with us. He is God, and He is also God incarnated to dwell among us (John 1:14). He is not only God but God with us.”
For God to dwell among us and to be with us is a tremendous thing. Before He was incarnated as the man Jesus, God was far away from us, dwelling in the heavens in unapproachable light. But the Lord Jesus, who was the very God Himself, was an approachable man. He was truly Emmanuel, God with us.
In Matthew 28:20, after His death and resurrection, the Lord Jesus reassured His disciples by saying, “Behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age.” This promise was not only for His disciples, but for all of us who believe in Him. In resurrection, Emmanuel became the life-giving Spirit to live in our spirit. When we were regenerated, we received Him into our human spirit, our deepest part. Now He lives in us, and we can experience God with us always!
Christ
Another name used in the New Testament to refer to the Lord is Christ. John 1:41 says:
“He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, We have found the Messiah (which translated means Christ).”
Note 1 on Messiah in the Recovery Version tells us:
“Messiah is a Hebrew word; Christ is the Greek translation. Both mean the anointed. Christ is God's Anointed, the One appointed by God to accomplish God's purpose, God’s eternal plan.”
Christ was appointed by God to do His will and to carry out His eternal purpose. Christ was the One foretold by the prophets in the Old Testament and whom God’s people looked for.
Luke 4:17-21 shows us how the coming of Christ fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies concerning the anointed One of God:
“And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to announce the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to send away in release those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, the year of jubilee.’ And when He rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant, He sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Christ is the One who brings the good news of His salvation to us. He heals our broken hearts, proclaims liberty to us, and opens our eyes. And when we receive Him, we receive the One who is working out God’s purpose to fulfill His desire.
[[Free Study Bible]]
The Word
Another name of the Lord Jesus is the Word.
The beginning of John chapter 1 is deep and profound. Verse 1 says:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Note 2 on Word says:
“The Word is the definition, explanation, and expression of God; hence it is God defined, explained, and expressed.”
Without Christ being the Word, God would be mysterious and unknowable to us. The Lord as the Word defined, explained, and expressed God to us. He declared to us who God is.
And note 3 says:
“The Word is not separate from God. It is not that the Word is the Word and God is God, and that they are thus separate from each other. Rather, the two are one; hence, the next clause says that the Word was God.”
The Word and God aren't separate. The Word, who was in the beginning with God, was God.
We know that the Word refers to Jesus because John went on to say in verse 14:
“The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.”
The Word, who is the very God, stepped out of eternity into time to become flesh. That is, He became incarnated as a man—Jesus. The eternal Word who was with God and who was God chose to join Himself to humanity. In the Old Testament, the tabernacle was God's dwelling place among His people. But here in the New Testament, the tabernacle was the Word who became flesh.
Lamb of God
Jesus is also the Lamb of God. In John 1:29, when John the Baptist was baptizing people in Bethany, “he saw Jesus coming to him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
Lamb of God is a particularly sweet name to all those who believe in the Lord. Hebrews 9:22 says:
“Without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
This means that for God to forgive us of our sins, it was necessary for someone to die. That Someone was the precious, spotless Lamb of God who gave His life to redeem each one of us. Because He did this for us, we can't help but love Him.
Just from the names of the Lord we’ve seen in this post, we can love and appreciate Him as Jesus, God who came to be our Savior, and as Emmanuel, God who is with us always. We can praise Him as Christ, God’s anointed One who carries out God’s purpose, and as the Word, the One who expressed God in everything He did and said. And we can thank Him for being the Lamb of God, without spot or blemish, who sacrificed Himself to accomplish redemption for our sins.
We’ve only touched upon these five names in a simple way in this post. You can order a free copy of a New Testament Recovery Version to read all the notes on these verses in your personal study and see even more of who Christ is to us. He is so wonderful!
The word life appears numerous times in the New Testament. But have you ever wondered what this word means? For instance, when Jesus said in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly,” what did He mean? Was He saying He would help us have a better life, or that He would enrich or improve our life?
The New Testament was originally written in Greek, a language richer than English in the diversity and complexity of its vocabulary. For example, there are three Greek words for life used in the New Testament: bios, psuche, and zoe. These words have different meanings, but they're all translated into English as life. So if we want to know which meaning life has in a particular verse, we need to know which Greek word is being used.
In this post, we'll explore the meaning of each of these three Greek words for life using verses and notes from the New Testament Recovery Version, with a special focus on zoe.
Bios, psuche, and zoe
Let's see some examples where bios, psuche, and zoe appear in the New Testament.
1. Bios
The Greek word translated as life in Luke 8:14 is bios:
“And that which fell into the thorns, these are those who heard and, going away, are utterly choked by anxieties and riches and pleasures of this life, and do not bring any fruit to maturity.”
Bios here refers to the life of the physical body. The English word biology comes from bios.
2. Psuche
Now let’s come to Matthew 6:25. In this verse, the Greek word psuche is translated as life:
“Because of this, I say to you, Do not be anxious for your life, what you should eat or what you should drink; nor for your body, what you should put on. Is not the life more than food, and the body than clothing?”
Note 1 on life says:
“Lit., soul. Referring to the soul-life, where the desire, the appetite, for food and clothing resides (Isa. 29:8).”
Psuche refers to the psychological life of the human soul, that is, the mind, emotion, and will. The English word psychology comes from psuche.
3. Zoe
The Greek word translated as life in John 1:4 is zoe:
“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
Zoe refers to the uncreated, eternal life of God, the divine life.
[[Free Study Bible]]
A closer look at zoe
Now, let’s take a closer look at zoe. First John 5:12 says:
“He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.”
Here the Greek word zoe is translated life. Note 1 on this verse says:
“Because the life is in the Son (John 1:4) and the Son is the life (John 11:25; 14:6; Col. 3:4), the Son and the life are one, inseparable. Hence, he who has the Son has the life, and he who does not have the Son does not have the life.”
With the help of this verse and the note, we can see that zoe is the divine person of Christ. Christ was incarnated as the man Jesus, whom the apostles could see with their eyes and even handle with their hands. Zoe isn’t something indefinite; it’s the wonderful person of our dear Lord Jesus! If we have Him, we have zoe.
Having, enjoying, and living by the divine life
Now let’s revisit John 10:10, which was mentioned at the beginning of this post. Here the Greek word zoe is used for life. Let’s read it again, replacing life with zoe:
“I [Christ] have come that they may have zoe and may have itit abundantly.”
Christ as the eternal life came so we could have the eternal, divine life. This is vastly different from thinking Christ came so that we could have a better or improved human life. He came so we could have Him, the divine life.
By our physical birth, we possess only the physical life (bios) and the soulish life (psuche). No one has the divine life (zoe) when they're born. But when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, we received Christ into us. We were born again with the divine life!
So now that we’ve received Christ, the divine life, our Christian life must be fully involved with Him. What Christ wants is for us to enjoy His life, live by His life, and let that life grow in us. Then the riches of His divine, eternal life will be expressed through us, and He will be manifested to the people all around us.
Focusing on zoe daily
When we realize that God’s desire is for us to have His divine, eternal, life (zoe), and even have it abundantly, we’ll focus on Him enjoying Him in our spirit. We can do this by feeding on the riches in God's Word, spending time with Christ in prayer, and experiencing Him day by day. As we enjoy the eternal life we’ve received, that life will increase within us, and little by little, we’ll express Christ in our daily life.
Of course, every aspect of zoe can’t be covered in any blog post. But if you live in the US, you can order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version to read the verses, their references, and the accompanying commentary to receive more light.
You were saved when you opened your heart to Jesus and believed in Him. But after a while, perhaps because you sinned or failed God in some way, you may have questioned whether you were still saved.
A believer in Christ shouldn't be tormented by this question. The Bible tells us that once we believe in Jesus Christ, we can never lose our salvation.
In this post, we’ll look at some verses from the Bible that show seven proofs of our salvation being irreversible and eternally secure.
1. Our salvation was initiated by God
Ephesians 1:4 says:
“Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before Him in love.”
God chose us before we were born, even before the universe was created. Then, when the time was right for us to be saved, He called us. Would God have chosen us so long ago, sent His Son to die for us, waited for us to be born, and then called and saved us, only to abandon us after we’re finally saved? No, He would not! God initiated our salvation before the foundation of the world and carried it out.
2. God’s love for us is eternal
Jeremiah 31:3 says:
“I have loved you with an eternal love.”
This verse says God loves us with a love that’s eternal. That means His love is unchanging. Human love can be fickle, but God’s love never changes; it isn’t dependent on what we do. God loves us with an eternal love.
[[Free Study Bible]]
3. God is righteous in saving us
Psalms 89:14 says:
“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne.”
Righteousness and justice are two of the main attributes of God’s divine nature, and they are the very foundation of His throne.
To be righteous is to be right in all things. God on His throne acts according to His righteousness and justice.
Since God is righteous and every sin is unrighteousness, God cannot tolerate or overlook sin. His righteousness requires Him to judge all unrighteousness.
Romans 6:23 says:
“The wages of sin is death.”
This means that all who sin must die. Regardless of how God may feel, His righteousness gives Him no choice. He must judge sinners and assign them their wages: eternal death.
But the Lord Jesus, the sinless One, came and bore the judgment of death for sinners on the cross. God accepted Jesus’ sacrifice as the full payment for our sins.
In a court, a judge is required by law to accept one payment for a debt. He can’t require the same debt to be paid twice. God’s righteousness is even more binding. It requires God to honor the price Christ paid for us.
So the same righteousness that obliged God to condemn and judge sinners also obliges God to accept Jesus’ death as the payment for the sins of all those who believe in Him. This means that God’s righteousness is the solid base of our salvation. Romans 4:25 assures us of this:
“Who [Jesus our Lord] was delivered for our offenses and was raised for our justification.”
Note 1 on this verse in the New Testament Recovery Version explains the marvelous proof that God’s righteousness is fulfilled and we are accepted before God:
“The death of Christ has fulfilled and fully satisfied God’s righteous requirements; hence, we are justified by God through His death (3:24). His resurrection proves that God’s requirements were satisfied by His death for us, that we are justified by God because of His death, and that in Him, the resurrected One, we are accepted before God. Furthermore, as the resurrected One, He is in us to live for us a life that can be justified by God and is always acceptable to God.”
God’s love motivated Him to save us from eternal judgment. But God’s righteousness secures our salvation and is the solid and unchanging base of our salvation.
4. We have become God’s children
John 1:12-13 says:
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name, who were begotten not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
When we accepted Jesus as our Savior, we were saved from eternal perdition. But that’s not all. These verses tell us we were also begotten of God to be His children. This is something that can’t be undone.
We all know that children misbehave from time to time. But no matter how much they may misbehave, their bad behavior can never negate the fact that they were born of their parents. Even when children are disciplined, that discipline doesn’t undo their relationship with their parents.
In the same way, our sins and failures can’t negate the fact that we’re born of God and are children of God. We may sometimes require God’s discipline, and we need to confess our sins to receive God’s cleansing, but we’ll always be God’s children, born of His divine life.
5. God keeps us in His hand
John 10:28-29 says:
“And I give to them eternal life, and they shall by no means perish forever, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand.”
All kinds of things may try to snatch us from the Father’s hand—sin, the world, difficulties, even Satan himself. But in these verses, the Lord Jesus assures us by saying that it’s impossible for us to be snatched away. No one and nothing is stronger than God.
6. God never changes
Hebrews 13:8 says:
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes, even forever.”
Everything changes: people, circumstances, environments, the weather. Even our own emotions fluctuate constantly; we can be up one minute and down the next. But the security of our salvation doesn’t hinge on our feelings. God never changes and neither does His salvation.
7. Christ has promised not to cast us out
John 6:37 says:
“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and him who comes to Me I shall by no means cast out.”
What a precious, unconditional promise from our Savior! He will never cast out or reject those who have come to Him. We can fully trust in Him and His Word to know our salvation is eternally secure.
So we shouldn’t live our Christian life in constant fear and doubt. Our salvation is eternally secure, and we can and should trust in the Word of God, which assures us of this fact.
We hope you would spend some time to read and even pray with these verses so you can establish a firm foundation for your Christian life. If you live in the US, you can order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here.
We also encourage you to learn more about the assurance and security of salvation in chapter 2 of Basic Elements of the Christian Life, vol. 1, a free e-book that has helped thousands of people. You can download it from anywhere in the world here.
Our Christian life is a life of faith, and the Bible says that as believers, we walk by faith, not by sight. But in our experience, especially when we encounter difficult circumstances, we often become discouraged and find it hard to put our trust in God. We try to believe, but sometimes it feels like we simply don't have enough faith.
Hebrews 11:1 tells us faith substantiates things we hope for and convinces us of things we can’t see. We all certainly want to experience this in our daily Christian walk, but how do we have this faith? How can we be strengthened in our faith, especially in the face of difficulty?
To answer these questions, let’s take a look at some key verses about faith.
We have a spirit of faith
Second Corinthians 4:13 says:
“Having the same spirit of faith according to that which is written, ‘I believed, therefore I spoke,’ we also believe, therefore we also speak.”
Note 2 on this verse in the New Testament Recovery Version explains what this spirit of faith is:
“The spirit of faith is the Holy Spirit mingled with our human spirit. We must exercise such a spirit to believe and to speak, like the psalmist, the things we have experienced of the Lord, especially His death and resurrection. Faith is in our spirit, which is mingled with the Holy Spirit, not in our mind. Doubts are in our mind. Here spirit indicates that it is by the mingled spirit that the apostles lived a crucified life in resurrection for the carrying out of their ministry.”
Faith is located in our human spirit. When we believed in Christ, we were regenerated; our spirit was enlivened and became a spirit of faith. Now, whenever our difficult situations cause us to experience doubts in our mind, we can and must exercise our spirit of faith to contact the Lord who is in our spirit. As a result, we will find faith in our spirit.
Day by day, we need to exercise our spirit of faith, but how do we do this?
Exercising our spirit of faith
The same verse also says, “I believed, therefore I spoke.” One of the best ways we can exercise our spirit of faith is to speak. But what should we say and to whom should we speak?
First, we can speak the Word of God to ourselves and to the Lord. The more we speak His Word, the more faith we have.
For instance, let’s say we read Matthew 28:20: “Behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age.” We can declare the facts in this verse, saying, “Thank You, Lord, You are with me all the days! Your Word says this! I believe Your Word.” As we speak the living and true Word of God, our spirit of faith is strengthened.
Second, we can also speak to others, telling them about Christ or sharing something we’ve enjoyed from His Word. When we preach the gospel to others, not only do they benefit, but so do we. In fact, as we speak, our own faith is fortified.
Faith first came to us when we heard the word of Christ. After our initial salvation, our faith continues to be strengthened as we read and speak the Word of God.
[[Free Study Bible]]
Looking away unto Jesus
In Hebrews 12:2, we find another way to be strengthened in our faith:
“Looking away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.”
What do we look away from? We need to look away from all the things in our lives that distract us from the Lord, including troubles and anxieties. Instead, we should look unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.
But how do we do this? Note 2 on "looking away" in the Recovery Version says:
"The wonderful Jesus, who is enthroned in heaven and crowned with glory and honor (2:9), is the greatest attraction in the universe. He is like an immense magnet, drawing all His seekers to Him. It is by being attracted by His charming beauty that we look away from all things other than Him. Without such a charming object, how could we look away from so many distracting things on this earth?"
As we look away from everything unto Jesus, He fills us with faith. Note 3 on this verse tells us how this happens:
“When we look unto Jesus, He as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) transfuses us with Himself, with His believing element. Then, spontaneously, a kind of believing arises in our being, and we have the faith to believe in Him. This faith is not of ourselves but of Him who imparts Himself as the believing element into us that He may believe for us. Hence, He Himself is our faith. We live by Him as our faith; i.e., we live by His faith (Gal. 2:20), not by our own.”
Some practical ways we can look unto Jesus are by praying, reading the Word of God, and singing. For instance, the chorus of a classic hymn says this:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
(You can read the rest of the lyrics and hear the tune here.)
When we exercise our spirit to turn our eyes upon Jesus, all of our troubles and anxieties fade away and we're strengthened in our faith to live the Christian life.
Usually, when we look at plants we focus on what's visible above ground. We admire a beautiful rose on a rose bush, the majesty of a redwood tree, or the fruitfulness of an apple tree.
But for any plant to grow and even thrive, it needs a healthy, extensive root system below ground. In the same way, developing a deep, spiritual “root system” in the Lord is critical for our growth as Christians.
In our Christian life, it’s easy to focus on the visible things: our behavior, church activities, and service to the Lord. But while it’s true that we should serve the Lord, these visible activities must issue from our hidden life with Him.
We’ve been rooted in Christ
Concerning the believers in Jesus, the apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 2:7:
“Having been rooted and being built up in Him, and being established in the faith even as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”
Paul didn’t simply say, “We’re being built up in Christ.” He was very particular to say “having been rooted” in Christ first. Why?
Well, without a root system hidden in the soil, a plant simply can't grow. In the same way, our spiritual growth—or being built up in the Lord—is dependent on and issues from our hidden “root system” in the Lord.
Let’s read note 1 on this verse in the New Testament Recovery Version:
“Like plants, we are living organisms. As such, we have been rooted in Christ, our soil, our earth, that we may absorb all His riches as nourishment. These riches become the element and substance with which we grow and are built up. To be rooted is for the growth in life. This rooting has been completed already. To be built up is for the building of the Body of Christ. This is still going on. Both these matters are in Christ.”
Christ is the nutrient-rich soil we’ve been rooted in. Now, in order to grow in the Lord, we need to nurture our hidden root system so we can absorb the riches of Christ as our nourishment.
The benefits of having a hidden life with the Lord
We certainly need to fellowship with other believers. But if we’re nourished only by what we get from others in the public realm, such as at church meetings, our growth will be limited. Having a private, hidden life with the Lord causes our roots in Him to develop and allows Him to nourish us personally.
A healthy spiritual root system also anchors us in the Lord. Trees with deep roots are not easily blown over when a strong wind comes. In the same way, if our roots in the Lord are deep, we can stand firm despite the winds of trouble blowing around us. Then we can draw on Him as our rich supply in every situation, no matter how difficult.
And by maintaining our private fellowship with the Lord, we’ll spontaneously live a life that pleases Him. If we spend time absorbing His riches, we’ll be able to help other believers by sharing with them the Christ we’ve enjoyed and personally experienced.
In chapter 3 of Basic Elements of the Christian Life, vol. 2, Watchman Nee points out our need for a hidden, secret life with the Lord, quoting Psalms 42:7: “Deep calls unto deep.” He then speaks of the effect this kind of life has on others:
“As we extend ourselves deeper and take root downward, we will discover that ‘deep calls deep.’ When we can bring forth riches from the depths of our inner life, we will find that other lives will be deeply affected. The minute our inner being is touched, others will receive help and be enlightened. They will know that there is something beyond their knowledge. When deep touches deep, deep will respond to deep. If our life has no depth, our superficial work will only affect other life superficially. We repeat yet again—only ‘deep calls unto deep.’”
[[Free Study Bible]]
The Lord Jesus is our pattern
When the Lord Jesus lived on the earth, He had a hidden life with God. The four Gospels tell us about the many wonderful things Jesus did in the Father’s name. He proclaimed the gospel, taught the truth, healed the sick, cleansed lepers, gave sight to the blind, fed the hungry, and much more.
All of His marvelous deeds certainly attract our attention. But the Gospels also tell us that again and again, Jesus withdrew from the crowds and went away to pray to the Father in private. Luke 5:16 even says:
“But He Himself often withdrew in the wilderness and prayed.”
To ensure that He could pray privately, Jesus would go to the wilderness or some other deserted place. Mark 1:35 says:
“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still night, He went out and went away to a deserted place, and there He prayed.”
Why did Jesus do this? Note 1 on this verse in the Recovery Version explains:
“To fellowship with God, seeking God’s will and pleasure for His gospel service. The Slave-Savior performed the evangelistic service not by Himself, independent of God and according to His own will, but according to God’s will and pleasure by being one with God to fulfill His purpose.”
The Lord didn’t assume He knew what to do. In private prayer, He deliberately sought God’s will so that in His service He would be one with God.
We may not live near a desert, but we can follow the Lord’s example by spending personal, private time with Him away from others. During that time, He can supply and nourish us and make His will known to us.
Three ways to develop a strong root system
So how can we develop and nurture a healthy spiritual root system, that is, a hidden life, with the Lord? We can start with these three things:
1. Praying
In Matthew 6:6 the Lord Jesus said, “But you, when you pray, enter into your private room, and shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.” Developing a secret prayer life with our Father who is in secret strengthens our spiritual roots. During these private times of prayer, we can pour our hearts out to our Father. We can confess our sins, invite Him into our situations, pray for people we know, and talk to Him about anything.
2. Reading the Bible
In Matthew 4:4, Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God.” This shows us that we live by taking in the Word of God as our daily bread. Enjoying God’s Word daily strengthens us to withstand the devil’s temptations and to live by the life of God to express Him.
3. Spending time with the Lord in the morning
Before we get too busy with our day, we can absorb the Lord as our nourishment by praying with His Word each morning. Combining these two—praying and reading the Bible—supplies us to face whatever the rest of the day will bring.
To read more about our need to have a hidden life in the Lord, we highly recommend reading chapter 3, “Deep Calls Unto Deep” in Basic Elements of the Christian Life, vol 2. You can download this e-book for free from anywhere in the world here.
