The following is Chapter 6 from A Living of Mutual Abiding with the Lord in Spirit by Witness Lee, published by Living Stream Ministry, 2000

PRAY-READING THE WORD WITH OUR SPIRIT

Scripture Reading: Matt 4:4; 2 Tim. 3:15-17; John 6:63; Eph. 6:17-18a


GOD'S MEANS TO ACCOMPLISH HIS HEART'S DESIRE

The Bible shows us that God's basic desire concerning us is to work Himself into us to be our life, our life supply, and even our enjoyment that we may be full and satisfied so that He may live Himself out of us and be expressed through us.

However, for God to work Himself thus into us to be our life and life supply, two means are necessary. Our God is great and holy, and He is also very mysterious. On our side we contact Him daily and receive Him into us as our life, our life supply, and our enjoyment, while on God's side He works Himself into us. The Bible tells us that it is through His Word and His Spirit that God is able to work Himself into us to be our life and our life supply. God gave us two exceedingly great gifts: the first is God's Word, and the second is God's Spirit.

THE WORD OF GOD

The word of God is the Holy Bible. The Bible, which is the word of God, is given to us by God as an exceedingly great gift. The word of God is not abstract at all; it has been written out and solidly put into our hands, and we can read it every day. Not only so, we can also ruminate, consider, and even research the word of God. However, we must not imagine wild things about it with our mind. Rather, our thoughts must center around the words of the Bible. We should fix our mind on the words of the Bible, digest the words of the Bible, and masticate the words of the Bible. In this manner at the very least we will have touched the revelation of God and His expressed desire.

We may illustrate this as follows. This morning you may want to contact me, and I also may want to get in touch with you. However, you may sit there silently, and I may stand here mutely, neither of us speaking a word. If after an hour and a half of silence we walk away from each other, we will have received nothing. Nothing from me got into you, and nothing from you got into me. We know that it is through speaking that we contact each other and flow into each other. Sometimes we also have to use our eyes to convey our feelings. When you look at me and I look at you, we can understand each other. When you see me laugh, you know that I am happy, and when I see you shed tears, I know that you are sad. However, no matter how much we convey through our eyes, we still may not know the real situation. Therefore, we still need to talk to each other. I need to ask you, "Why are you shedding tears? Tell me about it." When you talk to me, your story gets into me, and I receive your view. Your elucidation and explanation are a revelation. After your speaking, I see your side of the story. Then I know that you were, perhaps, wrongly accused by your father this morning. At the same time I also understand why you do not shed tears in front of people on the street; rather, you shed tears before me because you know that I can show a little concern and sympathy for you. In other words, you have a place to pour out your feelings. This makes me understand why you are shedding tears. However, this is only a revelation; you still cannot come into me. Although I may say a word to comfort you that you may also have my view, I still have no way to enter into you.

THE SPIRIT OF GOD

If God gave us merely His Word, we could understand only His intention and at the most know His revelation, but He could not enter into us. Therefore, He must take the second step, that is, He must become the Spirit. I have repeatedly said that in order to redeem us the Lord Jesus was incarnated; He put on a body of flesh and blood, and then on the cross He died for us, suffered the judgment of God, and shed His precious blood to redeem us from our sins. After He accomplished the work of redemption, He resurrected from the dead and became the life-giving Spirit. First Corinthians 15:45b says, "The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit." When we believe in Him, confess our sins, and receive Him as our Savior, He as the life-giving Spirit enters into us. This truly is a mysterious matter.

In Greek the word for spirit is pneuma, which can also be translated as breath. After His death and resurrection, the Lord Jesus became the Spirit, and this Spirit is breath. In this point the Chinese language is very meaningful. When someone dies, we do not like to say that he died, but we say that he expired, that is, he breathed his last breath. To expire is to have no more breath, and to have no more breath is to have no life. Therefore, John 6:63 says, "It is the Spirit who gives life." In this verse life is connected with the Spirit. The Spirit of life is the breath of life. Breath is spirit, and spirit is breath. Our Savior Jesus is God who became a man to be our Savior. However, He did not stop there. Instead, He died and resurrected, and in resurrection He is the Spirit of life, the breath of life. Therefore, He said, "The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life" (v. 63b). Here, spirit and life are put together again. That which is spirit is life. This means that spirit, breath, and life are all one. If we do not have breath, we do not have life. Our physical body can illustrate this. Sometimes when we are sick, we may feel that we are short of breath. In the hospital patients who are short of breath are given oxygen. Another example is that when a car tire does not have sufficient air, it needs to be taken to the gas station and pumped up. Similarly, when our body is short of breath, we need to go to the hospital to be "pumped up."

CHRIST BEING THE WORD AND THE SPIRIT

We have to see that God, who is our Lord, not only speaks to us but also breathes into us. The Gospel of John has twenty-one chapters. The first chapter says that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was God. The Word is the Lord Himself. The Lord is the Word; He is the Word of God. On the surface the Bible contains stories, histories, rebukes, warnings, convictions, and teachings. However, in reading the Bible you get not only these things. What you obtain is Christ. If you do not gain Christ after reading the Scriptures, then you have read in vain. We read the Bible to get Christ into us.

The Bible is the word of God, and Christ is the living word of God. The Gospel of John first tells us that Christ is the Word. Then it tells us that this Christ who is the Word became flesh, lived on the earth for thirty-three and a half years, and eventually was crucified. John 19 tells us that blood and water flowed out from His side while He was on the cross (v. 34). Blood signifies redemption, which solves the problem of our sin. Water signifies the Spirit as living water for us to receive life. Through His death, Christ accomplished redemption, signified by the blood, and He flowed out the Spirit as living water to supply man with life.

After He accomplished these things, He resurrected in chapter twenty. In the evening of the day of His resurrection He came back and stood in the midst of His disciples. His coming back at this time was different from the previous times. Previously, before His crucifixion, He was in the flesh; now, after His resurrection, He is a Spirit. He came as the Spirit to the disciples when they met together. They had shut the doors and windows tightly for fear of the persecution of the Jews. The Lord Jesus did not even knock, and no one opened the door, but suddenly the Lord stood in their midst. Therefore, they were puzzled and thought that it might be a ghost. However, the Lord came with His resurrected body and breathed into the disciples, saying, "Receive the Holy Spirit." Therefore, the Gospel of John begins by telling us that the Lord is the Word who existed from the beginning, and at the end it tells us that the Lord is the breath, the Spirit. In chapter one the Lord is the Word, whereas in chapter twenty He is the Spirit. First is the Word and then the Spirit, and in the middle of the book there is John 6:63, which says, "It is the Spirit who gives life;...the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life." In the beginning of the Gospel of John is the Word, at the end is the Spirit, and in between are the word and the spirit. It is the Spirit who gives life, who causes people to have life. The words which the Lord spoke to us are spirit and are life. If there were only the Word, there would be only the expression of intention; if there were no Spirit, the Lord could not come into us. Thank the Lord, we now have the Word and the Spirit.

These three—the Lord, the Word, and the Spirit—are one. The Lord is the Word, and He is also the Spirit. The Word is the Spirit, and the Spirit is the Lord. Therefore, these three are just one. John 6:63 says, "The words which I have spoken to you are spirit." Many Christians admit that the words of the Lord are the Spirit, but they have a hard time believing that the Spirit is the word. Ephesians 6:17 says, "And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God." The word is the Spirit, and the Spirit is the word. John 6:63 says that the word is the Spirit, whereas Ephesians 6:17 says that the Spirit is the word. According to John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word...and the Word was God." Thus the Lord is the Word. Then in 20:22 the Lord came and breathed into the disciples, saying to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit." The breath which the Lord breathed was the Holy Spirit; this proves that the Lord is that Spirit. Furthermore, there are two other places in the Bible which say that the Lord is the Spirit. First Corinthians 15:45b says, "The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit," and 2 Corinthians 3:17 says, "The Lord is the Spirit." Therefore these three verses, John 6:63, Ephesians 6:17, and 2 Corinthians 3:17, show us that the Lord, the Word, and the Spirit are all one. This is for the Lord to work Himself into us.

EXERCISING OUR SPIRIT
TO TAKE IN THE WORD OF GOD

According to the verses mentioned above, we know that the Lord is God, the Word is God, and the Spirit is God. Therefore, God, the Lord, the Word, and the Spirit are one. In order to come into us, this God who is the Lord has to be the Word and the Spirit. Ephesians 6:18 says, "By means of all prayer and petition." Prayer and petition are the ways for us to take in the word of God. This may be compared to a meal that has been prepared and set on the table by your mother. All that is needed is that you come and take it in. The best way for you to take in, to receive, a meal is to eat it. You do not come to look at the food or to study the food; you come to eat the food. The parents know very well that many times children who are naughty and disobedient just sit at the table refusing to eat the food, instead only looking at it. Moreover, there are some nutritionists who specialize in studying food, but they themselves do not eat well. Likewise, although there is only one Bible, its readers read it differently. Dr. Hu Shih read the Bible in the way of research, so he could see the Bible only as a literary work of high quality. Many Christians in reading the Bible do not come to eat but only to look; hence, they get nothing.

I hope that we all will realize that the Bible is not for us merely to research, just as a meal is not for us to research but to eat. When you eat the food, you receive the food, and as a result you gain the food. Therefore, in Ephesians 6 Paul referred to the Spirit and to the word of God. He said that you have to receive the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God. Here he spoke of the Spirit and the word as one. Most Bible readers understand the sword of the Spirit to be the word of God. When I was young I also was taught in this way and accordingly thought that the word of God is the sword. However, here it does not say that the word of God is the sword; it says that the Spirit is the word of God. Actually, if the word of God were not the Spirit, it could not be the sword but merely words, doctrines, or black letters on white paper. The word of God must be the Spirit, and it must be living; then it can be the sword.

Paul took in, received, the word of God by means of all prayer and petition. He not only prayed in a general way, but he also petitioned in a particular way. Prayer is general, while petition is particular. Not only so, Paul prayed with "all prayer and petition." Allincludes a great number of ways. You can pray loudly, or you can pray softly. You can pray quickly, or you can pray slowly. You can pray-read not only in one way but in many ways: by yourself, with your spouse, with a group, and in the meetings. Paul said that we should receive the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition. This tells us that we pray all prayer and petition to take in, receive, the word of God. We come to the word of God neither to look nor to study but to take and receive it into us.

John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life." If you merely look at or read this verse, you may not receive anything, even though you read it ten times. Recently my two grandchildren came to see me. Their mother taught them to recite John 3:16 both in English and in Chinese. They recited very quickly, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life." After listening to them, however, I thought to myself, "You are two foolish children; you have not received anything." They not only read it but also memorized it, but they did not receive it. Therefore, John 3:16 still has nothing to do with them. On the other hand, I have taken in this verse for almost sixty years. It was this verse, John 3:16, that strengthened my faith to know that I was saved. At that time, I not only read and studied this verse; in fact I pray-read it, although I did not know what pray-reading was and had never even heard the term.

I still remember that day. I was not yet very clear about my salvation, and I felt that I should read John 3:16. At first I was only reading it, and then gradually I turned from reading to receiving. I read that "God so loved the world," so I prayed, "O God, I thank You that You so loved the world." Then I prayed again, "O God, I thank You that You loved me because I am one who is of the world. O God, thank You. You so loved me so much that You gave me Your only begotten Son." At the beginning I read the verse in its original wording, but eventually I began to take it in. Once I began to take it in, the tone of my prayer changed and the pronouns changed. I prayed, "I thank You, O God, that You so loved me and gave Your only begotten Son to me, so that by believing into Him I would not perish but would have eternal life."

Although it has been nearly sixty years, I still remember that scene very clearly. I was not only happy within, but I was full of confidence to declare to the heavens, the earth, and all things, including Satan, "I have eternal life because John 3:16 says so." This is to receive and apply the word of God. At that time nobody taught me and I did not know what pray-reading was, but I spontaneously was pray-reading without knowing it. Not only did I pray-read by myself, but I even taught others to pray-read whenever I preached the gospel. I told people, "May we read John 3:16? I will read it together with you." While we were reading, I helped them to pray-read. In this way some of them were brought in. This is to take in the word of God and the Spirit of God by pray-reading.

GOD BREATHING OUT AND WE BREATHING IN

The word of God is put before us, and its substance is the Spirit. Therefore, 2 Timothy 3:16 says, "All Scripture is God-breathed." On God's side, the Scripture is His breathing out; on our side, it is for us to breathe in. God has already breathed out. The Bible is God's breathing out, and to this day it is still God's breathing out. Therefore, whenever you come to read the Bible, if you just read the dead letters and do not breathe in what God has breathed out, then the Bible will be dead letters to you. The Scripture is the breathing out of God, whereas our prayer is our breathing in. By this breathing out and breathing in, we breathe God into us. This is the meaning of the Scriptures. However, no matter how God breathes out, if we do not breathe in, we cannot receive God as our enjoyment and supply. This is why many people come to the Bible but do not receive the life in it.

The words of the Bible are the breathing out of God, but when you turn them into prayer, they become your breathing in. Every word of the entire Scripture is the breathing out of God. How can you receive into you what God has breathed out? It is by praying the words of the Scriptures. Once you turn the words of the Bible into prayer, God's breathing out becomes your breathing in. What you breathe in is spirit and life. Therefore, the Lord said that the words which He has spoken to us are spirit and life. When the Lord's words are spirit to us, they are also life.

Thank the Lord, many of our older brothers and sisters love the Bible, which I also love. In my fifty-eight years' experience of reading the Bible I have learned a secret; that is, the most profitable way of reading the Bible is to pray-read. If you simply read in an ordinary way, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," this may be profitable, yet it is merely a revelation to let you know that the heavens and the earth were created by God, that is, to let you know their origin. However, this is only knowledge; you have not gained any supply and nourishment from it. In Matthew 4 the Lord Jesus said, "Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God" (v. 4). Every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God is the Scriptures. In Matthew 4 the Lord Jesus dealt with the three temptations of the devil by quoting the words of the Scriptures. The Lord said, "Every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God," referring to the holy Scriptures. From the first verse to the last verse of the sixty-six books of the Bible, every word is a word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. This corresponds with 2 Timothy 3:16, which says that "all Scripture is God-breathed." The words that proceed out through the mouth of God are God's breathing out. It is not enough for us just to read and to understand what God breathed out, because then it would be mere knowledge, revelation, and doctrine. Although these are profitable to us in saving us from being ignorant, we still cannot gain the nourishment. How can we gain the nourishment from the words of the Scriptures? It is by turning these words into prayer. This is pray-reading, which is different from mere reading.

The Holy Bible is the word of God, and we live on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God. Therefore, the Bible also tells us that God's word is our food. John 6 clearly tells us that the words which the Lord has spoken to us are life (v. 63). In verse 35 the Lord Jesus said, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall by no means hunger." He also said, "He who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me" (v. 57). Because of His concern at that time that the disciples who listened to Him might not understand the meaning of His words, He added the words in verse 63, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life." Therefore, you can see that the Lord's words are the food of life to us.

However, it is necessary not only for the food to be prepared in the kitchen and set on the table; it is also necessary that you come to eat it. If you do not eat, you will not get the nourishment. Therefore, we all must learn to do one thing. Every good, living, and strong Christian must learn to do this one thing, that is, to eat the word of life. The whole world today pays great attention to eating nutritiously; hence, the human life span has increased. There is an old Chinese saying which says that it is rare for one to live to the age of seventy. I praise and thank the Lord that now I am almost eighty years old. My secret is in eating; I eat properly every day. The result is that I have no less strength than those of you who are younger.

THE BEST WAY TO EAT CHRIST BEING TO PRAY-READ

Therefore, our conclusion is that to be a good and living Christian, one must eat every day. If you want to be strong and healthy, you have no alternative but to eat. However, do not eat in a haphazard way; you must eat properly, and you must also eat at the right time. I speak this word especially to the young people. I know that without exception you all are busy. Actually, everyone is busy; no one is sitting idle. Satan will not allow anyone to sit idle. It is needless to mention that you are going to school or doing a job; even if you do not do these things the whole day, you will still be busy. However, do not let your busyness be your excuse. Rather, you should remove the word busyfrom your human life. Young people, I advise you to save the time you spend on making telephone calls for gossiping. That will give you plenty of time for reading the Word and eating the Lord. Actually, this does not require very much time; half an hour a day is very good.

When we eat our meals, we should eat properly, not irregularly. For instance, I set a schedule to eat three times a day—breakfast, lunch, and dinner—and I stick to the schedule firmly. Likewise, when you come to eat the Lord's word, you must have a definite schedule. It should not be that you eat when you are happy, and you do not eat when you are not happy. Rather, you eat when you are happy, and you eat even when you are not happy. Furthermore, do not be selective in what you eat. You need to read the entire Bible. The best thing to do is to have a daily reading of some portions from the Old Testament and some from the New Testament in sequence. Begin with the first chapter of Genesis in the Old Testament and with the first chapter of Matthew in the New Testament. Obedient children eat whatever their mother serves, and they grow to be healthy. But those who are choosy in their eating are usually not healthy. I hope that you will receive my little word of exhortation.

I am telling you my experiences over scores of years. I am speaking to you not according to theology or to the teaching of Bible teachers. Rather, I am speaking to you according to the Word of God and from my experience. You all must know that the Word of God and the Spirit of God are two great means. God gives Himself to us by means of His Spirit and His breathing out. He breathes out and we must breathe in. We breathe in by praying. The best and surest prayer is to use the Lord's words as your prayer. You do not need to study hard as to how to pray; the entire Bible is your prayer book. You can read a sentence or a verse, and then you can pray these words. This is the best prayer.

When you pray, neither be too rigid nor always fluctuating. First you must use your spirit. Contact the Lord with your spirit, and ask Him to cleanse you with His precious blood. Whenever you contact the Lord with your spirit, you will feel the need for His blood to cleanse you. You may not feel that you have sinned, but you are still defiled because you are still in the old creation, in the flesh, and in the self. Even though we have not sinned, and even though we have not done anything wrong or thought anything wrong, we are still the flesh. Since we are the flesh, we need the cleansing of the blood. As those who are of the old creation, we are filthy. Therefore, every time you come to contact the Lord by reading His word, first you must pray, "O Lord, cleanse me with Your precious blood." The types in the Old Testament show us that whenever anyone went before God, he had to offer the sin offering and the trespass offering. Therefore, when you come to the Lord, you need to take Him as your sin offering and trespass offering, asking Him to cleanse you with His blood. Once you are cleansed, you will be enlivened in your spirit by the Spirit of the Lord.

When your spirit is made alive, you must learn not to speak according to your thought and your mind but according to your spirit. This does not mean that you do not use your mind any more. On the contrary, the more you use your spirit, the sharper your mind will be and the clearer and wiser your thoughts will become. Therefore, begin with your spirit; that is, touch the Lord from the deepest part of your being. Read and pray by means of His words. Just read and pray, pray and read, without trying too hard to be different or original or loud. When you are truly inspired, you may say, "Amen, O Lord, how good it is! How I praise you!" This kind of pray-reading will cause the word of God to be impressed into your whole being as your supply.

Paul said, "All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3:16). When we pray-read in this way and get the Lord's words into us, some of the words become a conviction to us, some become a teaching, some correct us, and some instruct us in righteousness. As a result, we who are men of God are made complete, fully equipped for every good work. This is different from reading the books of Confucius and Mencius and accepting their teachings on ethics and morality. Rather, we pray by means of the Word of God and the Spirit of God to take in God Himself, who is in His words and in His Spirit. In this way, His words in us not only become a supply to us, but they also convict and teach us from deep within. This is the proper way to read the Lord's Word. May the Lord give us grace and strength and lead us to practice this every day.

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