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Scripture Reading: John 1:1, 4; 14:6a; 10:10b; 6:63; 15:7a; 14:17, 20; 1 John 1:1; Rom. 8:2
The main items mentioned in the Scripture Reading above are God, Christ, the Spirit, and life. These four items are mysterious, abstract, invisible, and intangible. God is mysterious. We have never seen God or touched God. Christ also is mysterious, abstract, and invisible. Although the Spirit is in us, we have never seen the Spirit. Life is perhaps the most abstract item. Even our physical life is quite mysterious. We know that we have life and are alive, but we cannot see our life. God, Christ, the Spirit, and life are all real yet mysterious and abstract. Because these four items are invisible, unbelievers even consider them to be matters of superstition.
All believers can testify that God is in them, Christ is in them, the Spirit is in them, and life is in them. All these wonderful, mysterious, excellent, abstract, and intangible things are in us, but we cannot show them to others. However, God, Christ, the Spirit, and life are all embodied in the word of God in the Bible, which is solid and tangible. The word in the Bible is the very embodiment of these four mysterious things. God is mysterious, but He is embodied in His word. God’s word is the very embodiment of God. I recently spoke with the unbelieving mother of a Jewish brother. She made excuses for not believing in the Lord, asking, “Where is Jesus? I believe God exists, but where is God?” Eventually, I said, “Please promise me that you will do one thing: from today on read a few chapters from the Bible every day.” She immediately answered, “I promise you; I will do it.” By making this promise she was caught. I said, “Before you finish reading the Bible, you will receive something.” If we read the Bible, we will receive God, for God is embodied in His word.
The Bible is not a common writing. The Bible is altogether different from a magazine or a newspaper. Whenever we come to the Bible, even before we open it, we have a sensation that we have come into the presence of God. This is not a psychological matter, for we cannot reproduce this sensation when coming to a secular magazine or newspaper, no matter what we do. Whenever we come to the Bible, however, we sense that we are immersed in the presence of God because the word is the embodiment of God. God, Christ, the Spirit, and life are all in God’s word.
We need to realize that God, Christ, the Spirit, and life are actually all one. Christ is God (Rom. 9:5; John 1:1; Heb. 1:8; 1 John 5:20), the Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17), and life (John 11:25; 14:6a). Moreover, the Spirit is life (Rom. 8:2). The burden in this chapter is to see something concerning the word of God in the Bible, for the word is the embodiment of these four mysterious items — God, Christ, the Spirit, and life.
When I recently heard the speaking of some saints, I realized that some consider that life is liberation. They think that the more we are liberated from bondage and legality, the more life we have. However, according to this concept, the birds have more life than we do, for we are not as liberated as the birds. For instance, when we drive, we are limited and bound by the road, traffic, and the police. It is wrong to think that to be liberated is to have life. Life is not a condition or a situation. Life is a person. Through excessive interpretation of the Bible, Christians often lose sight of the simple realities. First John 5:12 clearly says, “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” The birds are much more liberated than we are, but they do not have the divine life, the eternal life, which is Christ Himself.
The life we speak of is not a condition or situation. A mistaken, damaging concept has crept into the Lord’s recovery that life is the condition of being released by shouting and jumping. If this were true, spectators at sporting events would have more life than we do, for they jump, shout, and are fully released. Although spectators at sporting events shout and jump a great deal, they do not have life. They have a perishing life, but they do not have the divine life. We need to see what life truly is. Life is not shouting, jumping, or being released. Life is a person — the Lord Jesus Christ. We may not be shouting or jumping, but as long as we have Christ, even if we are sleeping, we are full of life.
The wonderful person who is life, Jesus Christ, is composed of two natures and two wonderful facts. These two natures are divinity and humanity, and these two facts are His all-inclusive, all-accomplishing death and His excellent resurrection. Christ, who is the divine, eternal life, is an eternal, infinite person composed not only of God and man but also of His death and resurrection. Christ is an all-inclusive person. If we receive Him, we receive God, the highest humanity, Christ’s all-inclusive, all-accomplishing death, and His resurrection. By receiving Christ, we receive divinity, humanity, a positive, life-releasing death, and a germinating resurrection.
Although we have received Christ and He is now in us as our life, in our experience the life within us will gradually disappear if we do not touch the Word, the Bible. The way for us to touch life is not to meditate. As a young believer, I was taught that I needed to meditate, but the more I tried to meditate, the more my mind wandered. Though I tried my best, I could not focus my thoughts on the Lord. Because meditation did not work, I quickly dropped it. In my experience I have found that the best way and the unique way to touch life is to come to the Bible.
If a believer feels cold toward the Lord, the reason may be that he or she is not reading the Bible. We need to read the Bible as much as we can. Regardless of how cold our heart is, we need to come to the Bible. We may not love the Lord, and we may even dislike the Lord because we feel that He has not answered our prayers. Nevertheless, we need to come to the Lord just as we are by coming to the Bible. The Lord is not in our imagination or our logic; rather, He is in His word in the Bible.
Some may think that I am a brother who is always zealous and on fire for the Lord, but this is not true. Sometimes I am inwardly frozen like a piece of ice. However, regardless of whether I am on fire or frozen, every day I come to the Bible. There is no other way to go on in the Christian life. If we are dead, nothing can make us alive but the word in the Bible. If we are going to an extreme, nothing can balance us but the word. The word is all-capable and all-sufficient. We simply need to come to the Bible because the word contains and embodies God, Christ, the Spirit, and life.
The Bible is not an ordinary piece of literature like a newspaper or a magazine; rather, it is the word of God. Second Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed.” The Bible is God’s breath objectively and God’s breathing subjectively. If we come into someone’s presence, we come into that person’s breathing. God’s breathing is full of life. The Bible is God’s word, His breath, and His very breathing.
After rising up in the morning, many people like to breathe in some fresh air. They may take a walk to be refreshed by the morning air. Likewise, every morning we need to be refreshed spiritually by coming to the Bible and thereby coming into God’s presence and God’s breathing. The number of verses that we read and memorize does not matter. After a time of deep breathing, it is difficult to remember the details of our first breath or of our second breath. We do not memorize air. We simply breathe to receive the benefits of the air. The same principle applies when we come to the Bible, which is God’s breathing.
When we come to the Word, we receive life. This life is God, Christ, and the Spirit. The function of this life is rich and all-inclusive. This life nourishes, waters, strengthens, supports, supplies, enlightens, rebukes, preserves, and safeguards us. The only way to live the high standard of the Christian life is to daily come to the Word.
We should not think that to come to the Word every day is to be religious or legal. We should not care for religion or legality; we should care only for life. For the sake of our physical life, we are legal in the sense that we eat every day. We would never try to liberate ourselves from the legality of eating. Even if we dislike our food, we will eat to live. Because young children sometimes refuse to eat, their mothers must encourage them and, if necessary, force them to eat. Regrettably, some young brothers and sisters need to be encouraged and even compelled to come to the Word for the sake of their spiritual health. If we are loose about spending time in the Word, we will not be healthy. For our spiritual health we need to be legal in coming to the Word regularly every day.
The reason I am still physically strong at my advanced age is that for many years I have been legal in the matter of eating three meals a day. Every meal I eat is a large meal, and the largest one is breakfast. To be legal in this way is not bad; actually, it is necessary. Some legalities are life necessities. For our physical life we all need to keep four legalities: drinking, eating, sleeping, and breathing. If we are liberated from these legalities, we will die. We even need to be legal about when we eat and the quantity of food that we eat. We should eat three meals at the same times every day. We should not eat too much or too little, nor should we eat too much dessert. If we are legal in this way, we will be physically healthy. Our spiritual health also depends on keeping certain legalities. I encourage the young people to build up a legality of coming to the Word every morning. We should be condemned by our conscience if we do not spend ten to fifteen minutes each morning to pray over a few verses in order to eat the Word. If we make this a legality and build up this good habit, after a month we will see a positive difference in our Christian life.
We should not receive this word merely as a doctrine; rather, we should make a commitment before the Lord to practice this. As a young believer, Brother Watchman Nee read through the New Testament fifty-two times in one year. If we do not spend time in the Word every day, we cannot be healthy Christians. We will be noticeably healthier if we daily receive the food of the Word. May the Lord grant us the grace to realize our need to come to the Word. If we love the Lord and desire to glorify the Lord and live as a testimony for Him, the only way to do so is to daily come to the Word. We should not trust in so-called revivals and being stirred up. These things are vain, for they do not last. One thing is real — the continual touching of the Word of God. Every day — morning, afternoon, and evening — we need to touch the Lord through the Word.
Now that we have seen that we need to come to the Word daily, we need to go on to see the way to come to the Word. According to our experience, there are three ways to come to the Word. The first way is the way of being nourished, which is to spend at least ten minutes to read the Word and five minutes in prayer. We should take three or four verses each time to read and then pray-read. To pray-read is to make reading and prayer one thing, mingling our reading of the Word with our prayer.
In our times of coming to the Word in the way of being nourished, we should not pray for our relatives, our friends, or any situation. Rather, we should simply praise the Lord for His many wonderful attributes and virtues, give Him thanks, or talk to Him from our heart, confessing our real situation. We may pray, “Lord, You are so good. I just love You. Lord, I am sorry that I am cold toward You. Lord, stir up my love for You; kindle the fire within me.”
We do not need to compose prayers, for we already have a wonderful prayer book — the Bible. The words of the verses we read may be used to compose our prayers. If we use the words of the Bible for our prayer, we will touch God, Christ, the Spirit, and life. Moreover, we will be watered, enlightened, sustained, supported, supplied, strengthened, and nourished. Everyone can spend at least ten to fifteen minutes each morning to come to the Word in this way.
We should not read the Bible in a random order but consecutively from the first verse of a book to the last. We should first ask the Lord to show us which book of the Bible we need to read at the present time. If the Lord leads us to the Gospel of John, we should read and pray-read a few verses from John every morning, beginning with John 1:1. If we pray-read through the whole book of John, verse after verse, there will be a great difference in our life because we will be nourished every day.
I recently heard that some saints hold the concept that the more they sleep in the morning, the more spiritual they will be. This concept is absolutely wrong. If we are not already spending time every morning in the Word, we need to begin to rise up at least fifteen minutes earlier to make time to do so. Early rising will make us healthy not only spiritually but also physically and mentally. By rising fifteen minutes earlier, we can spend time in the word of our heavenly Father and thereby absorb all His unspeakable riches. This is not a one-day matter; it is a lifelong matter. If every morning we spend at least fifteen minutes in the Word, we will be satisfied. This is the way to be nourished by the Word.
Spending fifteen minutes in the Word in the way of being nourished each morning is to have our spiritual breakfast. If we do not do this, we are like a naughty child who refuses to come to breakfast. Mothers know that in order to have healthy children, they must feed them a healthy breakfast every day. The mothers of children who refuse to eat their breakfast may discipline them in order to encourage them to come and eat. Many dear saints have been disciplined by the Holy Spirit for remaining in bed too long and not spending time in the Word.
If we will rise up only fifteen minutes earlier, we will receive a great blessing. Everyone can do this. By the Lord’s mercy and grace, every day for the past fifty-four years I have spent time in the Word. I will never regret this; rather, I will always be thankful to the Lord for this. I cannot describe what abundant blessing I have received from the Word. If we come to the Word daily, we will never regret it. If we do not do this, we will suffer a great loss in our life. Spending time in the Word every day is crucial.
Every morning we need to spend at least ten to fifteen minutes in the Word, but thirty to forty minutes is better. We should never think that we do not have the time to read the Bible; this is not true. We know that this is not true because when we receive a phone call, we always have time to talk, sometimes for almost an hour. If we receive no phone calls for two days, we will wonder why. Our ears are always itching for a phone call. We need phone calls to tickle our itching ears, but we may think that we have no time to read the Bible. We may say that we cannot spend time in the Word because we are busy doing laundry and cleaning our house, but if a phone call comes, we have plenty of time to talk. We should not allow our time on the phone to replace our time in the Word, even if our conversations are about spiritual matters. There is nothing more important than spending time in the Word. We need to change our habits. We all need to pray, “Lord, rescue me from my unnecessary occupations and strengthen me to spend more time in the Word.”
The second way to come to the Bible is the way of reading. This way is to find at least twenty minutes to read several chapters during our lunch break, after leaving work in the afternoon, after dinner in the evening, or before going to bed. It is best to read three chapters of the Old Testament and one chapter of the New Testament every day. If we do this, we will read the entire Bible once a year. The way of reading enables us to pick up a general sketch of the Bible and accumulate something of the Bible within us for further nourishment.
The way of being nourished and the way of reading are the common ways in which all the believers should come to the Word. These ways are good for the older ones, the young ones, and the new ones. We can all spend at least fifteen minutes to read and pray-read a few verses early every morning. Then we can find time to read a few chapters later in the day. If we make a decision to practice this, we will be able to do it. We need to choose life by making a decision to practice this. We even need to make a deal with the Lord to spend time in the Word every morning so that we will be accountable to Him concerning this matter.
When we come to the Bible in the reading way, we should not read in a random order or according to our preference. We should not skip over Matthew 1:1-17 because we think that genealogies are uninteresting. Regardless of whether we understand or can even pronounce every word, we simply need to read the Bible consecutively — in the New Testament from Matthew to Revelation and in the Old Testament from Genesis to Malachi.
When we read the Bible, we do not need to understand everything. It is all right if we understand what we read, and it is all right if we do not understand it. We do not need to strain our mentality to try to understand the Bible. If we contact the Lord as we read, He will surely give us the needed understanding. Our Father knows our need. If we try to understand the Bible in a natural way, our effort will be a great frustration and a great disappointment. We should never expect to understand or try to understand. We simply need to continue reading. By reading, we will surely understand something, and we should be content to understand just that much.
We sometimes do not understand a verse the first time we read it, but when we read the same verse again later, we understand it. If we do not understand it the second time we read it, we may understand it the third or the fourth time. Sooner or later, we will understand it. We have a long time to understand the Bible — a lifetime. No one can fully understand the Bible. Although I have been reading the Bible for more than fifty-four years, I still do not fully understand the Bible. It is too profound for anyone to fully understand. Although I have been ministering from the Bible for more than forty years, every time I come back to a verse, such as John 1:1, I always see something new. The Bible is inexhaustible. Therefore, rather than trying to understand everything, we simply need to be faithful to continue reading; then we will understand spontaneously.
Besides the ways of coming to the Bible to be nourished and to read, ways that should be practiced by all believers, there is a special way, the way of studying. Some saints should spend time to study the Bible. This is mainly for some who could be teachers in the churches. According to the Bible, teaching is shepherding (Eph. 4:11). If we do not know how to teach, we cannot shepherd properly. Shepherding is the main function of the elders. First Timothy 3:2 says that the elders should be apt to teach (cf. 5:17). Because the Lord’s recovery is spreading and the number of churches is increasing, there is a need for more elders. All the elders must be qualified by having the proper knowledge of the Bible. In order to be prepared, qualified, and edified for future leadership, many brothers need to study the Bible.
Before we begin to study the Bible, we first need to pray to seek the Lord’s leading concerning which book we should study. To come to the Bible in the way of studying is not mainly for us to receive nourishment or simply to read, but to study in a thorough way. We need to study every word of every verse. For this, we need the Greek text. Even if we do not know Greek, we can use reference books, such as Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible, Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament, an interlinear Greek and English New Testament, and a Greek dictionary. We can also compare different versions, such as the American Standard Version, Darby’s New Translation, the Amplified Bible, and Wuest’s Expanded Translation. These references will render much help to us.
As we study the Word, we should expound each verse to find the meaning. We need to interpret a little to enter into the depths of each verse. This requires time. After we have studied an entire book in this way, we can go through it again to study certain topics. For instance, in Romans we can study the subject of sin or the subject of justification. Other subjects in Romans are being in Christ, being in the spirit, and being in the flesh, as well as the subjects of sanctification, transformation, and conformation. We can study many subjects in one book. Furthermore, we can use the Life-study messages on each book. Our study of each book will help us to realize the riches in the Life-study messages, and the Life-study messages will help us to have a thorough, clear, and rich view of each book. Any book that we study in this way will become transparent to us. Then we will surely have something with which to teach others. If we can teach others, we will be able to shepherd and will be qualified and constituted to be a proper leader in the church life. This is the way of studying the Word. I hope that some young saints will make a decision before the Lord to study the Bible in this way.
In matters related to life there are no shortcuts. Life is altogether a legal matter. Everything in the physical realm has legalities. The legalities never change; the regulations are always there. The planets are very legal in the sense that they move in a regular way. If the sun, the moon, or the earth were free like the birds, the solar system would immediately collapse. Each planet is on its proper track; each has its legality. Life is the same. Science tells us that the physical life is altogether legal. A plant will not grow if certain regulations of the plant life, such as a supply of light and water, are not fulfilled. Neither will a child grow up if certain life regulations are not fulfilled. In order to have life, we must keep regulations; there are no shortcuts.
For life, we should not depend on revivals or on being stirred up. I have been a faithful and good Christian for over fifty-four years, and I have never depended on revivals or on being stirred up. Life does not need revival or stirring up; rather, it needs proper growth. We need to grow properly. The best and most proper way for us to grow in the spiritual life is to spend time in the Word. Every morning we need to spend at least ten to fifteen minutes in the Word to receive the nourishment. We also need to read a few chapters of the Bible every day. If we practice this, we will grow. If all the saints in a locality do this, the church in that locality will have a great revival after only half a year. The saints will be stirred up, not in a superficial way but in a way full of life, weight, and depth.
