God is light and in Him there’s no darkness at all; when we meet God and see God, we are brought into His light and any darkness is exposed and removed. Outside of God, there is no light; God is the source of light, and Satan is the origin of darkness. Unless we meet God, know God, enjoy God, and are constituted with God, we are in darkness, we do the works of darkness, and we stumble in our daily living.
But how can we come to God to enjoy Him as the light? It is in His word, the Bible; the Bible is not merely a book with history, poetry, and exhortations, but it is the embodiment of God as light. However, merely reading the Bible with our eyes and doing our best to understand it with our mind does not bring in the divine light. In order for us to have God’s shining through His word when we come to the Bible we need to have a proper heart and a right attitude.
In Luke 8 the Lord Jesus told us the parable of the sower sowing the seed (the word of God), and depending on the kind of heart that the word of God comes into, the result is different. In order for us to have God’s shining light through His living word, we need to deal with our heart and remove any hidden desires and motives, different purposes, anxieties of the age, and anything that would hinder the word from gaining ground in our being.
We need to be pure in heart, that is, have a heart that is single for the Lord and for His purpose. If our eyes are single for the Lord, our whole being will be full of light (Matt. 6:22-24).
May the Lord have mercy on us that we may humble ourselves before Him and put aside any self-confidence so that we may have a proper heart and a right attitude when we come to God’s word. May the word of God be a realm of light to us so that we may be persons full of light walking in the light and expressing God as light.
Whether the word of God is a realm of light to us in our experience depends on our attitude and condition in coming to the Word. There’s no problem with God: He is light, He shines, He opened up His word, and He’s embodied in His word; but in order for us to receive light, we need to be open to the Lord.
If we are open from within to the Lord, there’s nothing that can stop light. The only way we can shut out light is for us to shut up ourselves. But when we are open to the Lord and have a proper heart, the Lord has a free way to shine on us.
Having a Proper Attitude and a Right Heart in Coming to God’s Word as a Realm of Light
Many times we may come to the Word of God and not receive light but rather knowledge, doctrine, and even commandments and requirements. We need to humble ourselves, have no confidence in ourselves, but look to the Lord for His mercy when we come to the Word of God. God desires to dwell with a man who is lowly of spirit and has a contrite heart, and He looks to a man who trembles at His word (Isa. 57:15; 66:2).
Do we have a trembling spirit when we come to God’s word? We may come to the Word for spiritual nourishment, but do we have a right attitude when we come to it? If we are humble before the Lord, we will tremble at His word; we have no confidence in ourselves, and we look to the Lord for mercy. We need a visitation of the Lord’s mercy to bring us into a condition of humility that we have never experienced before, and then we will clearly have the Lord’s shining.
In order for us to have the Lord’s light in His word we need to open all the chambers of our inner being to receive His shining. Our spirit is the lamp of Jehovah (Prov. 20:27), and God’s word is a lamp to our feet (Psa. 119:105); when these two – our spirit and God’s word – are mingled through prayer and reading, the light shines into all the chambers of our inner being.
We need to open all the parts of our mind, emotion, will, and conscience to the Lord’s shining, allow Him to penetrate and saturate every little part of our being. The one small part that we refuse to give entrance to the light can be the part causing us to have an obsession; in other things we may not be deceived, but in that part where the light doesn’t shine, we are deceived.
We need to allow the Lord to shine and search all our inward parts so that He may have a thoroughfare in our being and make us persons of light. It really helps to open to the Lord and tell Him,
Lord Jesus, have mercy on us. We don’t want to be covered by anything, and we don’t want to have anything between You and us that would hinder Your shining. Lord, we humble ourselves before You and we come to You with no self-confidence. Shine on us. Speak to us in Your living word. We mix Your word with our prayer and we allow You to shine in all the inward parts of our being to enlighten us and saturate us with Your divine light for our transformation into Your image!
Dealing with our Heart to have a Proper Heart toward the Lord and a Single Eye for Him
One of the main reasons we don’t see the light in God’s word is because we have many things that veil us and hinder us from seeing the Lord and contacting Him. In order for us to receive God’s shining through His living word, we need to deal with our heart and have a proper heart toward the Lord (Luke 8:15).
A constant dealing with our heart is a necessity; we need to have a dealt-with heart that is good and noble, receiving God’s word and allowing God’s light to shine. Whenever we come to the Word of God we should exercise not only our spirit but also our heart; we need to seek the Lord with all of our heart and not have a divided heart (Jer. 29:13; 24:7).
Many times we lack the exercise of our heart, we don’t have a heart for the Lord, and we don’t have a single heart for Him. We shouldn’t be half-hearted for the Lord. We need to draw near to Him and seek Him with all of our heart. Sometimes things such as our unwillingness to forgive a brother, a disobedience to the Lord’s word, some things in the world, and many other things can divide our heart.
If we would receive light through the Word of God, we need to deal with the hindrances and frustrations in our heart (see Luke 8:13-14; Matt. 18:35). The Word of God cannot grow and bear fruit in us if our heart is filled with hidden sins, pleasures, and desires (the “rocks” under the soil of our heart), or if we are full of the anxieties of this age, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts for other things (the thorns that can grow in our heart).
We need to have a noble and pure heart, a heart that is dealt with before the Lord and made single and pure for Him, so that we may receive His word and have His shining at all times.
If we want to receive blessing from the Word of God, we must first deal with our heart and turn to the Lord absolutely and with our whole heart. We also need to deal with anything in our heart that is negative or that causes separation between us and the Lord. If we deal with our heart and with the negative things between us and the Lord, our condition is likely to be normal. Then it is very possible that we shall receive help from the Word. (Witness Lee, Life-study of Exodus, p. 693)
In order for us to be full of light, our eye must be single (Matt. 6:22-24). Our two eyes can focus only on ONE thing at one time; if we try to focus on two things at once, our vision will be blurred and we are in darkness.
We cannot focus our heart on both the Lord and Mammon (the world); we cannot store up treasures both in heaven and on the earth, otherwise we will be confused and in darkness. If we focus our eyes on one thing, our vision will be single, and our whole body will be full of light (Luke 11:34-36).
May the Lord have mercy on us and may we cooperate with Him by dealing with our heart so that we may be pure in heart and single in our view for the Lord. May any veil be removed from our eyes so that we may see the Lord, and may we have a single heart for Him in His word.
Lord Jesus, we turn to You absolutely and with our whole heart. You know our heart; remove any veils that hinder us from seeing You. Lord, purify our heart from any other seeking, purpose, desire, and goal. We want to seek only You, desire to know You, and have You as our goal. Save us from having a divided heart. Save us from storing our treasures both on earth and in heaven. Lord, we focus our eyes on You and we turn our whole heart to You to behold You without any veil. Shine on us through Your living word, and keep us in Your living light!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, brother Minoru Chen’s sharing in the message for this week, and The Pure in Heart, ch. 2 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (2), week 3 / msg 3, The Word of God Being a Realm of Light in the Experience of God’s Loving Seekers.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
# In dealings with the Lord as life / We need a proper heart, / That of His riches, in His grace, / We fully may take part. / We need a heart in all things pure, / With mind both sound and clear, / To understand His mind and heart / In trembling and in fear. (Hymns #744)
# Draw me, Lord, each day. / Take my veils away. / With a pure heart will I see You; / Lord I just love You. / Nothing else I seek; / No one else for me. / I would fully and absolutely / Give my whole being unto Thee. (Song on having a Pure Heart)
# Lord, keep my heart always true to You, / Never backsliding, always viewing You, / A heart that is pure that sees only You, / A heart that loves You and treasures only You. (Song on Dealing with our Heart)
About aGodMan
Our two eyes can focus on only one thing at a time. If we endeavor to see two things at once, our vision will be blurred. If we focus our eyes on one thing, our vision will be single and our whole body will be full of light. If we store up our treasure both in heaven and on earth, our spiritual vision will be blurred. For our vision to be single, we must store up our treasure in one place. (Matt. 6:22, footnote 1, Recovery Version Bible)