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Scripture Reading: Deut. 4:7; Psa. 99:6; Isa. 12:2-6; Acts 7:59; 22:16
We have already seen clearly that eating the Lord is the way to enjoy the Lord. Eating the Lord, which is a spiritual expression, is really calling on the Lord. Calling on the Lord is our way to enjoy the Lord. This light, this wonderful fact, was lost for many years among the Christians. For many generations, although many were seeking God, they did not see definitely that calling on the Lord’s name is the way to enjoy the Lord. If you read the whole Bible carefully, you will see that this matter of calling on the Lord was already there in the Old Testament; it began with Enosh, the third generation of mankind (Gen. 4:26). We have seen also in Lamentations 3:55-56 that our calling on the Lord is a heavenly breathing. When we call on the Lord’s name, we begin to exhale, and with the exhaling there is the inhaling. In this way of breathing, we take in the fresh air.
We can often use physical things as illustrations of spiritual matters. To enjoy the Lord in our spirit is like breathing the air physically. Just as our body takes in fresh air by breathing, so also our spirit inhales the Lord when we call on His name. I believe that all of us have had this experience. Whenever we truly open to the Lord and call on His name, we have the sense of the Lord’s presence within us. The more we call, the more we receive the supply of the Lord; the more we call, the more we are watered by Him; the more we call, the more we are filled with Him. The Lord is the Lord of all! When the Lord comes into us, whatever we need, He is. He is all that we need, and He supplies all our needs.
In Deuteronomy Moses told the people that our God Jehovah is near all those who call on Him (4:7). Do you want God to be near to you? Do you want to have the presence of God? Then you must call on Him. Try it. Whether you are sitting at home, walking on the way, riding in a car, eating a meal, or even talking with people, when you call, “O Lord!” the Lord is right in front of you. This is neither superstition nor imagination. You must practice calling on the Lord!
The Chinese Union Version of the Bible translates call on as “pray.” Actually, call on is closer to the meaning in the original language than “pray.” To call is not only to pray but also to call out with a loud voice. For example, if my house is on fire and I come to you to tell you about it and to ask for your help, this would be what it is like to pray. But if I call out loudly, “Fire! Fire! Come quickly!” this is what it is like to call. Those who have the experience can testify that calling is more practical than praying. For instance, when a sister’s child is disobedient, she brings the child’s name before the Lord by calling. After thus calling on the Lord, whether or not the Lord answers her prayer is a secondary matter; the most important thing is that she has inhaled the Lord. In this way she is touched by the Lord from within, and she receives His supply. Every one of us must practice calling on the Lord!
Many Christians can only pray but cannot call on the Lord. It is easy for them to pray silently, but it is very hard for them to call out audibly. I am concerned that even some of the brothers and sisters here at this time do not agree with calling. One time after I had spoken on the matter of calling in a certain locality, several sisters came to me, saying, “Brother Lee, is our God deaf that we have to call by shouting?” I told them, “Sisters, I don’t like to refute your argument, but I can tell you a fact: Call on the Lord and you will sense sweetness; call on the Lord and you will be watered; call on the Lord and you will touch Him! Would you like to try?” I also said to them, “If I argue on the ground of your way of reasoning, you will not win, because the Bible tells us that God knows our needs before we ask Him (Matt. 6:8). Shall we then not even pray? Therefore, we call loudly not because God is deaf but because it is profitable to us.”
Lamentations 3:55 says, “I called upon Your name, O Jehovah, / From the lowest pit.” When your wife gives you trouble at home, you get into a low pit. At such a time praying is of no avail; you need to call. If you call out loud a few times when you are pressed, you will be able to break through and rise above your feeling. Often your calling on the Lord’s name is for the demons to hear so that they can be driven off. When you are about to lose your temper, you have no time to pray, but you can quickly call on the Lord. Calling on the Lord is the best way to chase away the temper-losing demon and the trouble-making demon.
There is another matter to which many can testify. When you preach the gospel to someone, you may think that if you can make the message logical and clear to him, he will then believe in the Lord. In actuality, however, you may speak one sentence, and he will argue back with three sentences; you may speak five more sentences, and he will argue with ten. You will not win the argument. On your part you wish to make him clear by speaking to him. Yet the more you speak, the more confused he gets and the more disturbed you get. But, praise the Lord, we have now found a secret. When we preach the gospel, it is better to speak just a few words; the less we speak, the better. If someone has a demon in him, when you speak, you rouse up the demon. The best way is to help him open his mouth to call on the Lord.
There is a brother who truly knows how to preach the gospel in this way. One day he met someone on the street and greeted that person with a smile, saying, “Sir, let me tell you, I have Jesus! You also need Jesus! Will you please call with me? Call, ‘O Lord Jesus!’” Unexplainably, that person began to call with him. Then the brother asked him to call “O Lord!” a little louder. This was the way this brother preached the gospel, and many were saved. What is the reason? The reason is that when you call on the Lord, the demons are chased away. Do not think that this is superstition. The demons particularly usurp the human mind. When you call on the Lord, the demon in your mind is chased away. Moreover, when others call on the Lord with you, their spirit is unconsciously opened to the Lord. When their spirit is opened, the Lord, who is the living Spirit, enters into their spirit, and they are saved. Many brothers and sisters can testify to the fact that the quickest and most effective way to preach the gospel is to help people call on the Lord Jesus. When they call on the Lord Jesus, their reasonings are gone, and they cease their arguing.
Amazingly, when a person calls on the Lord Jesus, his speaking is changed. Before he called, he said that there was no God; but after he calls, “Lord Jesus,” he confesses that there is God.
Furthermore, the Bible shows us that when we are offering sacrifices to God, that is, when we are giving thanks to God, we must also call on the Lord. Whenever our heart is touched by the Lord’s grace and we give thanks to the Lord, we must call on the Lord from deep within. The thing that most glorifies the Lord and gives Him the utmost thanks and praises is our calling on the Lord. When we call on the Lord, the Lord truly gets the praises and thanks.
Let us look at Isaiah 12, which is a very sweet chapter. It begins with, “God is now my salvation” (v. 2). It does not say, “God has saved me”; rather, it says that God is my salvation. God Himself is the salvation. Therefore, if you want to receive the salvation of God, you have to receive God Himself. “God is now my salvation; / I will trust and not dread; / For Jah Jehovah is my strength and song, / And He has become my salvation” (v. 2). I am convinced that these words were uttered in exclamation and were cried out from deep within the spirit of the writer. Because he cried out in this way, he enjoyed the riches of the Lord in his spirit.
Thus, he went on, “Therefore you will draw water with rejoicing / From the springs of salvation” (v. 3). How do we draw this water? The well of salvation is God Himself, and we come to draw water from this well by calling, “O Lord! O Lord Jesus!” When we call on the Lord in this way, we are drawing water with joy from within. In other words, we are drinking again the water from the springs of salvation.
“You will say in that day, / Give thanks to Jehovah; call upon His name!” (v. 4a). We should not only give thanks but also call. “Make His deeds known among the peoples; / Remind them that His name is exalted. / Sing psalms to Jehovah” (vv. 4b-5a). In the original language, the last sentence means to shout loudly unto Jehovah. Therefore, do not consider that to shout is not refined; this concept is wrong. To be sure, in the Bible there are phrases such as shout with joy, cry out and shout, sing, cried with a loud voice, and call on the Lord.
Regrettably, some Christians today like to read the Bible with their mind. They read the Word but will not call on the Lord. As a result, they contact the Bible but not the Lord. Please remember that if you do not call on the Lord, the Scriptures will be merely letters and not spirit. The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. If you read the Bible with your mind, every word and sentence of the Bible will kill you. Everyone who “researches” the Bible is deadened. You have to believe me. Before you researched the Bible, you might have been a little alive; but after you search and research, you become dead in your spirit, because this is the wrong way.
This is not to say that you should not study the Bible. However, it is not the biblical doctrines that can edify you, save you, supply you, or be life to you. No! Only the Lord Himself can be your life, and only He can save you. For your difficulties you must touch the Lord Himself; for your lacks you must receive the Lord Himself. The words of the Bible are the means. In your reading you must call on the Lord with your spirit: “O Lord! In the beginning was the Word. O Lord! In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. O Lord! You created the heavens. O Lord! You created the earth.” Immediately you will see that the words of the Bible are living. As a result, what you gain is not a doctrine but a living Lord. This is what we need today.
Although many brothers and sisters have heard this teaching, the practice among us is not adequate. We are too accustomed to using our mind to understand the Scriptures, but we are not in the habit of using our spirit to call on the Lord and touch the Word simultaneously. We definitely have to build up this habit of calling on the Lord whenever we open the Bible. If we call on the Lord and pray while we read the Word, the words of the Bible will become alive. Then our darkness will be dissipated, and our weakness will be turned to strength. The Lord will supply us within in many ways. This is the right way.
Sometimes you may not remember the verses you pray-read. But, praise the Lord, whether or not you remember them, by praying and reading the Word, exhaling and inhaling, you will receive the Lord into you. To remember the words of the Bible, you need to exercise your memory, but memorizing is not necessary for you to receive the Lord. As long as you breathe in the Lord, He will operate in you to water, enlighten, comfort, and support you; He will even carry out the work of transformation in you, not to correct you from without but to change you from within.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, you must learn to call on the Lord, and you also must learn to mingle your calling on the Lord with your pray-reading of the Word. If you practice these two ways every day, you will not need to listen to the teachings concerning holiness, victorious living, or life, but you surely will be holy, overcoming, and full of life. To be sure, your entire being will be saturated with the Lord. The Lord is really the true and living Spirit. He does not care whether you understand and comprehend the doctrines; He cares only to operate in you. For the Lord to operate in you, you must learn to call on the Lord until this becomes a natural habit in your living.
Now we come to the book of Acts. When Stephen was being persecuted before being stoned to death, he was not praying but calling upon the Lord. He called upon the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” (7:59). As a result, many saw that his face was shining like the face of an angel. Why? Because when he called, the Lord filled him within, and the Lord was expressed out from him.
Then Acts 22 tells us how Saul of Tarsus went from Jerusalem to Damascus to arrest all those who called on the name of the Lord. On the way, however, after his encounter with the Lord, he repented. He was saved, but no one knew about it. Therefore, the Lord Himself went to Ananias and told him to go see Saul. What did Ananias say to Saul? Verse 16 says, “Rise up and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on His name.” Ananias did not say that to be baptized is to wash away sins; rather, he said that to call on His name is to wash away sins. In effect Ananias was telling Saul, “Saul, previously you committed sins for which the saints cannot forgive you; that is, you went everywhere to arrest those who called on the name of the Lord. You arrested anyone who called, ‘O Lord.’ You persecuted the church and opposed the saints. Now for you to wash away your sins, the best way is for you yourself to call on the Lord’s name. You also should call, ‘O Lord Jesus!’ When you call, your sins of murdering those who called on the Lord’s name will be washed away.”
Brothers and sisters, this shows us that in the first century all the proper Christians lived a life of calling on the Lord’s name. I do not doubt at all that they called on the Lord every day. They called on the Lord at home, and they called on the Lord while walking on the street. I hope that all of you also will build up such a practice.
In Los Angeles we have a taste of this. At least three hundred of us live in the neighborhood surrounding meeting hall number one, so when we go out, we frequently run into some saints, especially when we go to the supermarkets. When we see one another, we call, “O Lord Jesus!” This one will call, “O Lord!” and the other will answer, “Amen!” Many are always calling, “O Lord Jesus!” and they truly have the enjoyment of calling on the name of the Lord.
Let us apply this a little. For instance, when you are oppressed, you must call, “O Lord Jesus!” After calling upon the name of the Lord three to five times, you will not be oppressed anymore. Another example is that when you are void of light within and are not clear about what to do concerning a certain matter, you say, “O Lord! Amen!” and you are enlightened within. Furthermore, when you are depressed, and you feel that you are being burdened beyond your strength, you should call, “O Lord! O Lord!” Your inner strength will then rise up from within you.
You may say, “Brother Lee, this is too simple.” I tell you, the more necessary a thing is for life, the simpler it is. For example, breathing, drinking, and eating are all very simple practices. Breathing in the Lord is as simple as breathing in the air. The way of the Lord is a simple way.
Life is simple. A seed of grain planted in the soil will grow to yield more grains; a flower seed buried in the ground will grow and blossom. It is very simple. You simply dig a hole in the ground, put the seed in, bury it, and water it, and then you go home and sleep in peace. After a while, it will sprout. It is very simple. We thank and praise the Lord that all the matters of life are simple.
O brothers and sisters, today we are in the last days. The Lord wants to recover the church back to the beginning. That which was in the beginning was so simple. There was the tree of life for man to eat. Today, due to man’s weakness and failure, the church has become degraded, but it was not so in the beginning. In the beginning it was all very simple. We thank and praise the Lord for this. We all have to learn to be simple. Today is not the age of doctrines but the age of the spirit. Today is the age of eating the Lord, drinking the Lord, and enjoying the Lord.
