VIII. CALLING ON THE LORD
In 2 Timothy 2:22 Paul charged Timothy to flee youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. This indicates that the Lord’s seekers must be His callers.
A. Out of a Pure Heart
We call on the name of the Lord by our spirit, yet it must be out of a pure heart. Our heart must be pure. A pure heart is a heart with a pure motive, a pure intention, a pure purpose, a pure will, a pure decision, a pure sensation, a pure feeling, and a pure thought. If these things are not pure, our heart is not pure. Thus, we cannot call on the Lord out of a pure heart. A pure heart is a heart seeking only God. The only goal of a pure heart is God Himself (Matt. 5:8). If we seek after anything other than God, our motive is not pure, and thus our heart is not pure. We must call on the Lord with an exercised spirit out of a pure heart. Our heart must be purified, and the heart includes all these things: motive, intention, purpose, will, decision, sensation, feeling, and thought. The heart must be pure in all of its constituents. Then we can call on the Lord purely.
B. With the Lord’s Callers
Second Timothy 2:22 implies that we need to call on the Lord with the Lord’s callers. Sometimes we call on the Lord just by ourselves. This exercises our spirit and we receive more of the Lord, but not as much as when we call with some others. To have a corporate calling on the Lord helps a lot. In order to exercise our spirit, we have to recover the practice of calling on the name of the Lord. We need to exercise our spirit so that we may receive the Lord more. Then we can live a godly life to manifest God.
(Basic Lessons on Life, Chapter 18, by Witness Lee)
