First Corinthians begins with the practice of calling on the name of the Lord, which reveals that this book is about enjoying the Lord. It tells us that Christ is our wisdom and our power (1 Cor. 1:24), and that He was made our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1:30), in addition to many other aspects of Him that we can enjoy. Finally, in the resurrection, He became the life-giving Spirit of whom we can drink (1 Cor. 15:45; 12:13). We drink of Him as the life-giving Spirit when we call on His name. So, 1 Corinthians 12:3 indicates that if we say, “Lord Jesus, ” we are immediately in the Spirit. To cry, “Lord Jesus, ” is to call on the name of the Lord. Jesus is the name of the Lord, and the Spirit is His person. When we call on the name of the Lord, we receive the very person of the Lord. When we call on the Lord Jesus, we receive the Spirit. By calling on the name of the Lord in this way, we not only breathe spiritually, but we also drink spiritually. When we call on the name of the Lord, we breathe Him as the breath of life and drink Him as the water of life. The second verse of hymn 73 in our English hymnal reads:
Savior, so powerful!
You fill my need.
To breathe, Jesus, Your name
Is to drink true life.
This is the way to participate in and enjoy the Lord. We should all do this. May the Lord bless us in this matter. May the practice of calling on His name be fully recovered in these days.
Proverbs 18:10 The name of Jehovah is a strong tower; The righteous man runs into it and is safe. - Safe: Hebrew word means set aloft, inaccessibly high, lofty
Just to breathe the name of Jesus, is to drink of life indeed. “O Lord Jesus” , mighty name, glorious name, victorious name. O Lord Jesus keep me breathing your Name.
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.
When God is thus repeatedly added into our being, we will receive the life element that causes us to grow. Power does not cause us to grow. Growth requires the addition of a new element. A plant will not grow if the soil is poor and lacks nourishment. However, if the soil is rich, more nourishing elements will be added to the plant and cause it to grow. We need more than the knowledge of an objective God in our mind; we need to have the element of the subjective God added into our being. This occurs not by teaching but by experiencing. Therefore, whenever we feel weak in our spirit, mind, or body toward the things of God, we need to call on the name of the Lord. Hymns, #73 says, "Just to breathe the Name of Jesus, / Is to drink of Life indeed." To call on the name of the Lord is to breathe life into us, and this life is nothing less than Christ as the embodiment of God realized as the Spirit. This is not theory but a real fact. In this way, the divine element is added into our being, and we grow with this element. As a result, our Christian life and growth will be normal and healthy.
Do not ever consider that calling on the Lord's name is a small matter. It is a great matter! In our physical body, breathing is a crucial matter. In the spiritual things, if you have the experience, you will understand that drinking is breathing, breathing is drinking, and drinking is eating. Have you heard this kind of speaking before? Breathing is drinking, and drinking is eating. What is breathing? It is calling on the name of the Lord, as in Hymns, #73, stanza two, which says, "Blessed Jesus! Mighty Savior! / In Thy Name is all I need; / Just to breathe the Name of Jesus, / Is to drink of Life indeed." For us to breathe is just to drink, and to drink is just to eat. A baby eats by drinking milk; his drinking is his eating. We all must understand that our calling on the Lord today is our breathing the Lord, our breathing the Lord is our drinking the Lord, and our drinking the Lord is our eating the Lord. When we breathe much, that is our drinking; and when we drink much, that is our eating. All we need to do is call on the Lord's name, and we simultaneously drink and eat. The result is that we receive air, water, and food. When a person receives air, water, and food, will he not be healthy?
We believe in the processed, dispensing Triune God and realize that we have been regenerated, yet we may not breathe, drink, eat, or grow in a regular way. The root hairs of our Christian life should be like the countless root hairs of a tree. All day long, we need to breathe in the Lord. Some saints may not call on the Lord for three days or even a month. As a result, there is no growth in the Lord with them because there are no root hairs. We need to call on the Lord all the time. This is why Paul tells us to pray unceasingly (1 Thes. 5:17). To pray is both to breathe and to drink. M.E. Barber said in a hymn that "to breathe the Name of Jesus is to drink of Life indeed" (Hymns, #73). We have to call, to pray, to breathe, to drink. Then we have to eat the Lord. We also need to abide in the Lord that we may grow. If we take care of these life matters, we will be people who are in the divine dispensing of the divine Trinity to carry out the divine economy for the fulfillment of the divine purpose.
Based upon the accumulation of the good deposit of the holy Word, we have to breathe, drink, and eat the Lord. The more we practice this as the root hairs of our experience, the more we will have the dispensing of the divine Trinity. To breathe the Lord is to pray in our spirit, and eventually it is to drink the Lord. Hymn #73 (written by M.E. Barber) in Hymns says, "Just to breathe the Name of Jesus, is to drink of Life indeed." Just to mention the name "Lord Jesus" is to drink of the divine life. Paul tells us to pray unceasingly (1 Thes. 5:17). We cannot cease breathing for even three minutes without dying. In the same way, we have to pray all the time. This is very basic.
Our experience of the Lord Jesus involves three things: His name, His person, and His reality. The Lord's name is Jesus Christ, His person is His reality, and His reality is the Spirit. The Father is embodied in the Son, and the Son is realized as the Spirit. The Spirit is the reality of Jesus Christ, and this reality is His person. This is demonstrated whenever we call on the Lord's name. When we call on the Lord's name, the person comes. When we call "O Lord Jesus," the person who comes is the Spirit. Thus, the name is very important. The second stanza of hymn #73 written by M.E. Barber in Hymns says, "To breathe the Name of Jesus is to drink of Life indeed." To call on the name of the Lord Jesus is to drink of the Spirit.
Once there was a Baptist brother who heard about our teaching concerning calling on the name of the Lord. He argued that there is no need for us to call on Him in an audible way, because God is not deaf. It is true that God searches our heart and knows completely all the words that are not yet on our tongue (Psa. 139:1-4). Nevertheless, when a person gets into a car accident, he may spontaneously call upon the Lord until he reaches the hospital. We should not wait for a car accident before we call upon the name of the Lord. We need to call on the name of the Lord all day long from the time we get up in the morning. Some have criticized the practice of calling upon the name of the Lord as a mere psychological phenomenon, but inhaling oxygen moment by moment is not a psychological phenomenon; it is the vital means by which we maintain our existence. Sister M. E. Barber wrote in one of her hymns, "Just to breathe the Name of Jesus / Is to drink of Life indeed" (Hymns, #73). Romans 10:12 says that the Lord is "rich to all who call upon Him." The only way for us to receive air is by breathing. Calling on the name of the Lord is our spiritual breathing. When we call on His name, we breathe in His Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13).
We can take this dose by calling, "O Lord Jesus." It is not necessary for us to shout. If we call on the Lord repeatedly, our temper will be gone. This is why we are told to pray unceasingly (1 Thes. 5:17). To pray we have to say, "O Lord Jesus." To call on the Lord's name is to breathe in the Spirit. M. E. Barber wrote a hymn which says, "Just to breathe the Name of Jesus, / Is to drink of Life indeed" (Hymns, #73—verse 2). When we breathe the name of Jesus by calling on His name, we drink of the Spirit of life. To call on the Lord is to breathe in the Spirit (Lam. 3:55-56).
The second stanza of a song in our hymnal written by M. E. Barber says that to breathe the name of Jesus is to drink of life (Hymns, #73). This matches the thought in Psalm 116:13, which says, "I will take up the cup of salvation / And call upon the name of Jehovah." To "take up the cup" is to drink. Thus, the psalmist drinks by calling on the name of Jehovah. Isaiah 55:1 also speaks concerning drinking: "Ho! [125) Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters." Calling on the name of the Lord has to do with both eating and drinking.
When I began to speak concerning calling on the name of the Lord in order to breathe Him and to drink Him as the Spirit, I was somewhat hesitant because I had not heard anyone speak of such things, nor had I discovered any books written on the matter. Some-time later, when I was in a meeting, a brother called Hymns, #73 in our hymnal. The second stanza of this hymn says, "Blessed Jesus! Mighty Savior! / In Thy Name is all I need; / Just to breathe the Name of Jesus,/ Is to drink of Life indeed." This hymn, written by M. E. Barber, was a confirmation to me concerning the matters of eating and drinking the Lord. According to this hymn, the proper way to drink the Spirit of life is to breathe, to call upon, the name of Jesus.