I come to His presence afresh

I come to His presence afresh

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I come to His presence afresh
  Ere the night has passed into morning;
And His face I see as it shines on me—
  The Lord within is dawning.
And He speaks to me and reveals to me
  All His riches for me today;
And with sweet delight I partake of Him,
  My hunger has passed away.

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As Spirit He speaks thru the Word
  Till my heart in echo is singing,
And the fount of life with His grace and pow’r
  Within my soul is springing.
And He speaks to me and reveals to me
  All His riches for me today;
And I drink of Him for my every need,
  My thirsting has passed away.

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In tenderness He deals with me,
  While I stay with joy in His presence;
And He saturates and supplies my soul
  With all His precious essence.
And He speaks to me and reveals to me
  All His riches for me today;
And in every way I partake of Him,
  My problems all passed away.

Copyright Living Stream Ministry. Used by permission.

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We also need to eat the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs (Exo. 12:8; 1 Cor. 5:8). In these three items—the flesh of the lamb, the unleavened bread, and the bitter herbs—there are two kinds of lives: the animal life and the vegetable life. In the Scriptures these two kinds of lives typify two aspects of Christ's life. The animal life has blood that can be shed for redemption. Hence, the animal life typifies the redeeming aspect of the life of Christ, a life that redeems us continually (Rev. 13:8). The vegetable life is the generating life and typifies Christ's life in the aspect of generating. Christ was the grain of wheat that fell into the earth, died, and grew up to produce many grains (John 12:24). However, both the redeeming and the generating aspects of Christ's life are for sustaining, nourishing, supporting, energizing, and strengthening. Whether we eat the flesh of the animal life or the unleavened bread of the vegetable life, we will be strengthened and nourished. Christ as life to us is the sustaining and strengthening power. We need to take Christ as such a life.

We may wonder why it was necessary to eat the unleavened bread with bitter herbs. We often speak of how sweet it is to receive Christ, and a number of hymns use this expression (see Hymns, #221, 554, 1143, and 1157). But it is quite significant that in the type of the passover there are bitter herbs. While we are eating the flesh of the lamb and the unleavened bread, we need to experience bitterness also. The proper way to experience Christ as life is, on the one hand, to be sustained, strengthened, nourished, and supported and, on the other hand, to sense that we are sinful. In fact, the more we enjoy Christ, the more we will sense that we are sinful, worldly, natural, fleshly, soulish, and very much against God. The more we enjoy Christ, the more joy we will have, and also the more bitterness we will have. While we are thanking the Lord for being everything to us, we may also be confessing with tears how sinful, worldly, fleshly, and full of the self and the natural man we are, and how much we are for ourselves and how little we are for God. Before God we may feel that everything concerning us is wrong. In our experience the enjoyment of Christ as life is always accompanied by such a real repentance. This is to enjoy Christ with a contrite heart and a broken spirit (Psa. 51:17). Whenever we eat and enjoy Christ as the Lamb, there must also be the bitter herbs.

The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1964, Lord's Day Messages, chapter 3 (LSM)

Piano Hymns