O Jesus, Jesus, dearest Lord

We should say to the Lord every day, "Lord Jesus, I thank You that You are my foundation. You are the living foundation." Whenever we say, "Lord Jesus," with a purpose, we have the feeling that He is imparting something to us and that a dispensing is going on. As we call, He imparts to us the "heat" and the "warmth." As one hymn says, we should say His sacred name a thousand times a day (Hymns, #208). This will make us overcomers. We will experience the Lord as a real foundation that holds and supports us with His impartation. This kind of dispensing of Himself as the element of life into our being will transform us into precious materials.

Christ is the resurrection and the life. He is not only life but also the life that overcomes death. He is the resurrection. He is living and powerful. If you mention His name, immediately He will "electrify" you, and you will become a different person. By calling on Him, speaking to Him, and praying to Him, you will experience and enjoy Him. Many experienced brothers and sisters have written hymns concerning their enjoyment of calling on the name of the Lord Jesus many times a day (see Hymns, #208 and #73). To call on the Lord a thousand times a day, or even every minute, is not too much. By calling on Him we enjoy Him.

We not only believe in the Lord but also love Him. In Hymns, #208, the first two lines of stanza 2 read, "I love Thee so I know not how / My transports to control." Then stanza 4 reads, "Burn, burn, O love, within my heart, / Burn fiercely night and day, / Till all the dross of earthly loves / Is burned, and burned away." We love the Lord, and we also ask the Lord to burn us; this is to be captivated by the Lord. These words give us a sense of sweetness, though they are not rich in philosophy like, "The principle of the great learning is to cultivate the bright virtue." When I first began to work for the Lord, I was burning with love for the Lord and for the preaching of the gospel. After more than fifty years, the sweetness within is still increasing, and my joy is overflowing. I feel sweet even while I am eating and sleeping. This is the difference between Christians and non-Christians. We do not accept a religion; rather, we believe in the Lord. We are not superstitious; rather, we are enjoying "super-sweetness." The more we believe, the more we feel sweet, and the sweetness becomes so great that we even become "crazy" for Him.

We should learn to speak in the meetings of the church. For instance, we may say Amen or Hallelujah in a vital way, or pray-read hymns, that is, pray with the words of hymns. However, as we function in the church meetings, we should endeavor to bring the meetings into a proper order (1 Cor. 14:33). After we sing a hymn, we should spend some time to make a joyful noise to the Lord according to the words of that hymn in an orderly way (Eph. 5:19; Psa. 95:1; 13291 98:4, 6). For instance, after singing Hymns, #208, we may pray-read the first stanza of this hymn, which says, "O Jesus, Jesus, dearest Lord! / Forgive me if I say, / For very love, Thy sacred name / A thousand times a day." In pray-reading this stanza, we should learn to follow one another. When a saint takes the lead to say, "O Jesus, Jesus," we should avoid interrupting him. Immediately after he says this, another saint may follow, saying, "Dearest Lord!" While endeavoring to speak in the meetings of the church, we should learn to continue one another's speaking in a proper way. We should also apply this principle to pray-reading Bible verses in the meetings.

I hope that the sense that Jesus is good is growing within you every day. You do not need to determine to give up mah-jongg or the Chinese opera. All that you need to do is to daily say, "Jesus is good; Jesus is really good! Although I am here playing mah-jongg, Jesus is better than mah-jongg. Jesus is truly good!" If you say this more and more every day, by the time that you have said this hundreds of times, you will no longer play mah-jongg or go to the opera. You will give up these things, because Jesus is good, and Jesus is so lovable.

Dear brothers and sisters, please do not think that it is superstitious to say this. I began hearing sermons in Christianity when I was very young, and although I have heard many of them, no one ever clearly told me that we should confess, "Jesus is good! Jesus is so good! O Lord Jesus! O Lord Jesus! Lord, You are so good!" Then one day when I was compiling the hymnal, I found a hymn that says, "O Jesus, Jesus, dearest Lord! / Forgive me if I say, / For very love, Thy sacred name / A thousand times a day" (Hymns, #208). These lines deeply touched me. I said to the Lord, "O Lord, I am truly sorry. I have been saved for so many years, but I have never said Your name a thousand times in one day."

Some say that calling "O Lord Jesus! O Lord Jesus!" is almost the same as the Buddhists' chanting "Amitabha." However, the real situation is that the more the Buddhist priests and nuns chant "Amitabha," the more their faces become downcast, the more their foreheads grow wrinkled, and the more their countenances become sorrowful. Even the rooms that the Buddhist priests and nuns live in are dark and gloomy. When they walk into them, they cannot see anything. Calling upon the name of the Lord is completely different from the chanting of the Buddhists. When you say "O Lord Jesus! O Lord Jesus! You are so good!" from morning to night, your sad face turns into a smiling face, your downcast face becomes an uplifted face, your furrowed brow loosens up, your wrinkles diminish, and even your bedroom is filled with warmth. How amazing this is! Why is there such a contrast between calling on the Lord and chanting? It is because when the Buddhists call "Amitabha," demons come. The more they say "Amitabha," the more demons there are, and demons are gloomy. However, when we say, "O Lord Jesus! O Lord Jesus! You are so lovable!" the Lord Jesus comes, and the more we say this, the more He comes. The Lord Jesus is the reality of every positive thing in this universe. Thus, when He comes, we have everything.

The fact that we are able to spontaneously call "O Lord Jesus" is a strong proof that we have been saved, that we have been delivered out of the power of Satan, and that we are now in spirit. The more Christians call "O Lord Jesus," the better. Stanza 1 of Hymns, #208 says, "O Jesus,…I say…Thy sacred name / A thousand times a day." The writer of this hymn said that he says the Lord's name a thousand times a day. Actually a thousand times is still not enough. This is just like our breathing—it is hard to count the number of times we breathe daily. We breathe continuously; we breathe without ceasing. Paul told the Corinthians that whenever they meet, instead of worshipping the dumb idols, they should speak in the Holy Spirit. "No one speaking in the Spirit of God says, Jesus is accursed; and no one can say, Jesus is Lord! except in the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:3).

Calling on the name of the Lord is not something that is done in vain, for Jesus is real and present. If a person is real, living, and near to us, whenever we call that person's name, that person will come to us. Jesus is real and living; He is present and available. Therefore, when we call His name, He will come to us and will enter into us. Hymns, #208 says, "O Jesus, Jesus, dearest Lord! / Forgive me if I say, / For very love, Thy sacred name / A thousand times a day." The words of this hymn should not be an exaggeration to us. A sister may be bored while washing the dishes at home. The best way for her to make her task a pleasant experience is for her to call on the name of the Lord while she is working. Whenever we call on the Lord's name, we taste Him, for He is living, real, present, and available.