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Scripture Reading: John 15:7-8; 17:17; 6:63; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; Eph. 5:26
In John 15 the Lord said that He is the true vine and that we believers are the branches. He went on to say that we need to abide in Him that He may abide in us (vv. 1-5). As branches in the vine, we live Christ, grow Christ, and produce Christ. This is the Christian life. Therefore, we need to see the way to abide in the Lord. The word abide may seem to be an ordinary word, but it indicates something crucial for our Christian life. If a branch is separated from the vine, the branch is finished. A branch must never leave the vine. The crucial point of our Christian life is to abide in the vine. To abide in the vine means to be one with the vine. The vine and the branches are one, yet there is always the possibility, the danger, that a branch would be detached from the vine. For this reason the Lord stressed that we need to abide in Him.
Abiding in the vine is easy to understand logically, but learning how to practically experience this abiding has always been a problem to Christians. This is still a problem to us today. The picture of a vine and its branches is simple for us to comprehend, but we may not understand what it actually and practically means in our daily life for Christ to be the vine to us and for us to be His branches. We may know in doctrine that He is the vine and that we are the branches, but we may not be able to say that we have the real experience of being a branch in the vine in our daily life.
If I were to ask the saints whether they experience being a branch in the vine, I am concerned that many would answer, “No, I do not experience being a branch in the vine; I do not experience being one with the Lord. I know this doctrine, but in practice I rarely experience this.” Therefore, I am very burdened for all the saints. We have come into the Lord’s recovery, and we come together to meet as the church quite often. Besides this, we have other times in which we come together in small groups to fellowship, pray, or have morning watch. However, I have become concerned that many saints do not have a practical daily experience of Christ. In other words, many do not have enough personal contact with the Lord. What we experience on the corporate side is probably sufficient, but on the private side we are lacking. We do not have adequate personal, private contact with the Lord.
We each need to consider whether we spend even ten or fifteen minutes each day to be with the Lord privately. Many of us do not spend even a short time with the Lord. Recently, I have discovered that many saints only come to the meetings and have fellowship with other saints but do not have a personal, private, direct contact with the Lord. This is a great lack. If this is our case, it is truly difficult for us to practically abide in the Lord. Coming to the meetings surely helps us with some things, but according to my experience, coming to the meetings does not help us to contact the Lord directly in order that we may actually abide in the Lord. To abide in the Lord in a practical way requires a personal, private, direct contact with the Lord.
The Lord is mysterious and abstract. When I was a young boy, I was told that the Lord was the vine and that I was one of His branches. Since my home was near a vineyard, I knew what a vine was, but because I could not physically see or touch the Lord, I wondered how He could be a vine and I, His branch. Christ is the vine, and we are the branches. However, because we cannot see Him or touch Him, this is an altogether mysterious spiritual fact.
Second Corinthians 3:17 says that the Lord is the Spirit, and 1 Corinthians 15:45b reveals that He is the life-giving Spirit. Moreover, we have a human spirit that has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and is indwelt by Christ, the life-giving Spirit (John 3:5-6; Rom. 8:9-11, 16; 2 Tim. 4:22). Therefore, our union with the Lord as branches in the vine is altogether a matter in our spirit. First Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” The spirit mentioned in this verse is simply the vine with all the branches mentioned in John 15. The Lord, who is the vine, is the life-giving Spirit, and we, who are His branches, have a human spirit. Thus, we are joined to the Lord to be one spirit with Him. The union of the branches with the vine is in the mingled spirit. The vine is a composition of spirits — the divine Spirit and the human spirit composing one spirit. The spirit mentioned in 1 Corinthians 6:17 is not a small, private, individual spirit; it is a great spirit that is composed of the Lord Jesus and all His believers. Christ and the believers are therefore not a physical vine that can be seen and touched but a spiritual vine. The vine and the branches are one spirit.
Although 1 Corinthians 6:17 says that we are one spirit with the Lord, in our daily experience we are often not one with the Lord. Rather, the Lord is the Lord, and we are we. Therefore, we need to contact the Lord. In order to contact the Lord, we need to eliminate any kind of insulation. Electricity is a good illustration of the Lord Jesus. As the life-giving Spirit, He is real, living, and powerful. Although electricity is powerful, if we do not contact electricity, we will have no sensation that it is powerful. Electricity is not visible in a wire, yet it is real and powerful. However, to separate something from electricity does not require a large amount of insulation. Only a little insulation will stop the flow of electricity. Similarly, the power of the church, Christ as the life-giving Spirit, is always available within our spirit, but most believers are detached from this divine electricity. We do not need to be miles away from the Lord to be detached from Him. Many believers are very close to the Lord yet are not attached to Him. We may say, “I am not far away from the Lord; I am quite close to Him. Five years ago I was far away, but the Lord has gradually brought me back. Now I am very close to Him.” Regardless of how close to or far from the Lord we are, if we are not contacting Him, it is essentially the same.
A few saints may be very far from the Lord, but most are not far from Him. We may come to all the meetings and be very close to the Lord yet still be detached. However, we should not be discouraged. Some may hear this word and say, “If this is the case, I do not need to come to the meetings. Even if I come to the meetings, I am still detached.” Actually, being close to the Lord by being in the meetings does make some difference. It is very difficult for those who are far away from the Lord to contact Him. However, if we are close to the Lord by being in a meeting, perhaps we will contact Him after hearing only a few words in the meeting. Hence, to be close is much better than to be far away. Nevertheless, we need to be not merely close to the Lord but actually attached to Him. We need to have a direct contact with the Lord, just as an electrical appliance must have direct contact with electricity. There may be a strong current of electricity in a wire, but if there is no contact, no attachment, the appliance will never receive the supply of electricity.
Our contact with and attachment to the Lord is the abiding of the branches in the vine mentioned in John 15. The Lord said, “Abide in Me and I in you” (v. 4). This indicates that if we abide in the Lord, He will abide in us. Our abiding in Him is a term, a condition, of His abiding in us. Once again, we can use the illustration of electricity. If an appliance is attached to an electrical outlet, the electricity will come into it and supply it with the power it needs to function properly. If the appliance abides in the electricity, the electricity abides in it. Likewise, if we abide in the Lord, the Lord abides in us and supplies us so that we may function spiritually.
We still need to see the way to abide in the Lord. The Lord is real and living, yet He is mysterious, abstract, invisible, and untouchable in a physical sense. For many years I wondered how we can abide in such a mysterious, abstract, invisible, and untouchable One. It is easy to abide in a house. We only need to walk into a house and remain there in order to abide in it. Because the house is physical, we can easily see it, touch it, enter into it, and abide in it. The Lord, however, is not like a physical house. How can we abide in such a One?
According to our experience and the experience of many others, in order to abide in the Lord, we must rely on the word of the Bible. In John 15:7 the Lord said, “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will.” Comparing this verse with verses 4 and 5 reveals that the Lord’s words are equivalent to the Lord Himself. Our words represent us. If people reject our words, they reject us. Others accept us by receiving our words. When we say that someone has rejected us, we often mean that someone has rejected our words (cf. 12:48; 2 Tim. 1:15). This shows that our words are us. The Lord’s words are the Lord Himself.
The Bible reveals that Christ is the embodiment of God. Colossians 2:9 says, “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” God is mysterious, yet all His fullness is embodied in Christ. Christ also is mysterious, but the mysterious Christ is embodied in the word (John 6:63; 1 Cor. 15:45b). The word is not mysterious or abstract. The word, which is solid and concrete, is the embodiment of the mysterious and abstract Christ. Through the word Christ has been made solid and tangible. We Christians should daily handle the word as the solid embodiment of the abstract Christ. Our contacting the Lord in order to abide in Him depends upon our handling of His word.
The Lord’s living and solid word is contained in the Bible as the written word of God. We all need to learn how to handle this written word. We should not read the Bible as we would read a newspaper. The Bible is not merely a piece of literature; it is the word of God, which is the very embodiment of the mysterious and abstract Christ. Hence, the Bible is altogether different from other written materials.
That the Bible is a unique book is proved by the fact that anytime we come to the Bible with a seeking heart, we immediately have the sensation that we are in the presence of God. Perhaps before we even open the Bible or read from it, as soon as we pick it up, we have the sensation that we have come into the presence of God. We cannot experience the same thing by picking up a secular magazine, even if we say, “Lord, I am coming into Your presence.” The sensation we have of the Lord’s presence when we come to the Bible is not a psychological matter or something superstitious. When we come to the Bible, our psychology is involved in receiving the sensation that we are in the presence of the Lord, but this sensation is based on the fact that we are indeed in His presence. When we read a magazine, however, even if we exercise our psychology to try to produce the same sensation, we will not be able to do it. Actually, the more we try this, the less we will have God’s presence.
Second Timothy 3:16a says, “All Scripture is God-breathed.” The word of the Bible is God’s breath and even God’s breathing. This is a great matter. Whenever we come to the Bible, we come under God’s breathing. Although we may have never realized this, we have probably experienced it many times. When we come to the Bible, we often receive inspiration. This inspiration is God’s breathing. If we come to a table or a blackboard, we could never receive inspiration through these objects. However, when we come to the Bible, we are filled with inspiration. We receive inspiration when we come to the Bible because the Bible contains God’s breath.
I have been coming to the Bible for over fifty years. Since the day I was saved, this book has never left me. Whenever I come to the Bible, I am immediately under God’s inspiration. This inspiration always enlightens me and supplies me. It often rebukes me, corrects me, adjusts me, and shows me all my wrongdoings. The word of the Bible is living. Many of us can testify that when we come to the Bible, even before we open it, we are inwardly rebuked. We may suddenly realize, “Last night I was too strong with my wife. I insisted that I was right and that she was wrong. I told her that even with the help of a group of angels she could never subdue me. However, this morning I came to the Bible, and after simply picking it up, the light shined within me and exposed my shortcoming. There was no need for a group of angels to come — merely a little breathing subdued me. O Lord, forgive me for my behavior last night.” Many of us have had this kind of experience. This proves that the Bible is not an ordinary, common book but something divine.
We can all testify that the Bible is truly God’s breathing. It is not only the breath of God objectively; it is actually God’s breathing subjectively. Whenever we come to the Bible, we receive the breath of God. If we do not come to the Bible during the week and only pick it up on Lord’s Day morning before we come to the meeting, there will be no way for us to abide in the Lord. To pick up the Bible is one thing, but to come to the Bible is another thing.
In order to abide in the Lord, we need to come to the Word time after time, day after day. This is not a superstition; it is a spiritual fact. The Bible is the word of God, and the word of God is God’s breathing. The way to contact the Lord is through His word. Someone may ask, “Where is God today that I may touch Him?” We should answer, “He is embodied in the words of the Bible, and the Bible is His breathing. In order to contact God, simply come to the Bible.” According to my experience of many years, there is no better way to contact the Lord.
Some Christians say that we should be silent in the morning. They say that being silent is the best way to contact the Lord. I was taught this as a young believer, and I tried to practice this. However, I found it difficult to be silent. Moreover, when I was silent, many evil thoughts came into my mind. Others told me, “You need to learn to calm yourself down and reject all the evil thoughts.” I tried many times, but I never succeeded. Being silent is not the way. The way is to come to the Word. When we come to the Bible and read it, the word of God repels all the evil thoughts and chases away all the demons. This is a fact that we can all testify of. We do not need to exercise to be silent. Rather, we simply need to come to the Word. When we touch the Lord’s word, we contact the Lord Himself. When we take in the Lord’s word, the word abides in us, and this abiding word is the Lord Himself.
The Lord said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63). In our experience the word and the Spirit are not two but one. The written word is outside of us, but when the word is spoken into us by the Lord, it immediately becomes the Spirit within us. When the Spirit is spoken out from within us, He once again becomes the word. When we read the words of the Bible, they are words on a printed page, but when we take them in, they become spirit. We may rise early in the morning to pray-read a few verses. Before we pray-read the verses, they are words, but when we take them in, the rest of the day they are in us as the Spirit. It is in this way that we can abide in the Lord and He can abide in us.
I am burdened to encourage all the saints to spend time in the Word every day. Many saints may say, “Brother Lee, all that you say is right, but we just cannot find time to spend in the Word every day. Even once a week is not easy. We must either go to work early or stay home to take care of the children. We have so many other things to do. It is too difficult to spend time in the Word every day.” On one hand, I agree that our busy schedules make it difficult to spend time in the Word daily; on the other hand, I do not sympathize with those who have this complaint. Actually, it is not difficult if we have the proper realization. I have never heard of someone who could not find time to eat every day. No one has ever told me, “Brother Lee, I have been so busy that I could not eat once this week.” Even the busiest people still keep one practice — eating every day. I do not believe that in the entire history of mankind there has ever been one person who could not find the time to eat. Everyone finds time to eat because he realizes that eating is a necessity of life. In a sense, we are threatened to eat, for we know that if we do not eat, we will die. In like manner, finding time to spend in the Word depends on our realization of its importance.
Many saints today are spiritually sick and dying because they do not spend adequate time in the Word each day to contact the Lord. If we realize that touching the Word of God is a necessity of life, our concept will be changed. Many young people today are late risers and do not have time for a good breakfast. They have time only for a cup of coffee and half a donut. This kind of breakfast is not good for their health, but it is better than nothing. Despite having little time, they still eat something in the morning. It is different with me. Breakfast is the most important meal to me. I always eat a large, rich, nourishing breakfast, which is why I am still strong and energetic at my age. Of course, it is the Lord’s mercy that I am healthy. However, even if the Lord has great mercy upon us, if we do not eat, we are rejecting the Lord’s mercy and committing gradual suicide.
We all need to spend at least ten minutes in the Word every morning. Everyone can do this. We can all spare ten minutes, regardless of how busy or tired we are. Setting aside ten minutes will make no difference in how busy or tired we are, but spending ten minutes in the Word will make a great difference in our spiritual life. To find this time we need only to rise ten minutes earlier in the morning. We need to practice to build up this healthy habit. We should consecrate ourselves to spend ten minutes in the Word before leaving for work or beginning the day’s activities. If possible, we should set aside another five minutes to pray, to mingle what we have read in the Word with prayer. We need to build up a habit of pray-reading. We should read only a few verses. Recently, because of the time constraints of traveling and visiting the churches, I have not had a long time in the mornings to spend in the Word. Nevertheless, I have always had time to read and pray-read at least two or three verses. If every morning we spend ten minutes reading the Word and five minutes pray-reading to contact the Lord in the Word, we will see a difference in our spiritual life.
Spending time in the Word in the morning is the greatest honor we can give to the Lord. Every day before doing anything else, we should pray, “Lord, I come to You. I give You the honor.” In this way we respect Him. If we are faithful to practice this, we will surely receive much blessing, not only blessing on our physical life but also blessing in our spiritual life. Spending time in the Word in the morning will also bring blessing to our environment. If we contact the Lord in His Word before we go to work, our attitude will change, which will change our environment. Thus, the blessing will come even to our environment. Suppose we do not contact the Lord before we go to the office; rather, we simply go by ourselves in a poor way. When we arrive at the office, we may quickly become angry with someone. To be angry in business is a great loss; it ruins the environment, and because we become angry, we may eventually damage our health. However, if we spend ten minutes with the Lord before going to the office, we will not easily become angry. Something within us will sustain us, keeping us in the joy of the Lord.
Being angry in anything always causes a loss, and being happy always brings in a great blessing. We need to learn this secret. In ourselves we cannot be happy all the time, but it is easy for us to be angry. Without the Lord’s presence we may be angry with everyone. Our dishes and eating utensils have never offended us, but when we lose our temper, we may throw them against the wall. Furthermore, our anger may cause us to become foolish. However, when we have the joy of the Lord, we will be the wisest persons. When we have the joy of the Lord, everything is lovable. We can thus see the positive effect of spending time in the Word every morning before doing anything else. We need to build up this good habit.
Some may say, “Brother Lee, this is too legal. Spending time in the Word every day is a legality.” It seems that the word legal is not good and that legalities should be terminated. However, in a certain sense, if there is no legality, there can be no life. If we consider carefully, we will see that four legalities are needed for our physical life — eating, drinking, breathing, and sleeping. These legalities are actually necessities of life. If we do not eat, drink, breathe, and sleep, we will not live long. No one would say, “Eating, drinking, breathing, and sleeping are too legal. I want to be liberated from the bondage of these legalities.” If we are liberated from the “legality” of breathing for only five minutes, we will die. We should not be liberated from these legalities. We need to keep these legalities.
We need to change our concepts regarding spending time with the Lord in the Word every morning. First, we need to see that it is possible for everyone to set aside the time in the morning to come to the Word. Where there is a will, there is a way. Second, we should not consider this a legality. Reading the Bible is not a legality; it is a necessity of life. However, in a sense, it may be good to apply the word legality to this matter. We need to be bound by the practice of daily spending time in the Word. We should take this bondage as a necessity. Apart from the Word there is no way for us to receive life, light, strength, or power from the Lord.
To spend time in the Word is to enter into God’s breathing. More than anything else, we surely need God’s breathing. Whether or not we fully understand the words of the Bible, as long as we read them with a sincere heart and an open spirit, we will enjoy God’s breathing. Many people walk outside in the morning to be in the fresh air. We do not need to understand the air in order to breathe it in and be refreshed by it. Likewise, we all need to be refreshed each morning by enjoying God’s breathing.
Many of us do not have a good memory. We may forget the first verse we read while we are reading the second. Then if we read a third verse, the second may be gone. Many saints are faithful to try to memorize the verses as they read them, but we do not need to do this. Trying to remember every verse will prevent us from having the proper Bible reading. When we come to the Word, we should not worry about memorizing. If we can remember what we read, this is good. If we cannot remember what we read, this is all right also. Forcing ourselves to memorize as we read will deaden our Bible reading.
Forty years ago in Shanghai, a sister inquired of Brother Watchman Nee, “Brother Nee, I have a poor memory. I immediately forget whatever I read from the Bible. It seems to me that I do not need to read the Bible, because the words of the Bible just come and go. Is it not a waste of time for me to read the Bible?” Brother Nee gave this sister a very good answer. He described how the women in southern China wash their rice by placing it in a basket made of willow branches, which serves as a strainer. They repeatedly dip the basket into the water and pull it out, and the water immediately flows out. Thus, the water comes and goes, but no water remains in the basket. No one would say that this method does not work because no water remains. Actually, because all the water comes and goes, all the dirt is washed away. Not only is the rice washed, but the basket is cleansed as well. Brother Nee shared that we are like these baskets, and the word of God is like the water. We cannot retain every verse in our memory, but we nevertheless receive a great benefit from reading the Word and being cleansed by the water in the word (Eph. 5:26).
This fellowship from Brother Nee has been a great help to me, and I can testify from my experience that it is true. If we do not come to the Word of God for one week, our thinking, our will, and our emotion will be very dirty spiritually. However, if we read the Bible day by day, even if we have no intention to be cleansed, the word will spontaneously pass through our mind, our emotion, and our will to cleanse all our inward parts. As the water of the word comes and goes, we will be cleansed. We can never exhaust the benefits we receive from reading the Word.
Reading the Word of God is a necessity of life. We have two lives, the physical life and the spiritual life, and we must take care of both. If we do not take care of the physical life, we will be weak and dying physically. In the same principle, if we do not care for our spiritual life, we will be weak and dying spiritually. We need to realize that reading the Bible is not something religious or legal; rather, it is a necessity of life. In order for us to maintain these two lives, we must eat both kinds of food — physical and spiritual. We also must breathe both physically and spiritually. Furthermore, we need both physical and spiritual washing. We all wash physically at least once a day, but some people wash three or four times a day. Likewise, every day we need to wash ourselves spiritually in the morning by contacting the living word. This is a life necessity.
Healthy people eat not only breakfast but also lunch and dinner. Some, like the British, also take afternoon tea, and others, such as the Cantonese, take a night snack. This makes them healthy. If we eat properly, we will be healthy. The principle is exactly the same with the spiritual life. We should build up a habit of spending time in the Word at least three times a day. We can take a small New Testament to school or work and spend ten minutes reading one chapter during our lunch break rather than wasting our time gossiping. In the morning we need to come to the Bible to be nourished by pray-reading three or four verses. At lunchtime we may not pray-read but may come to the Bible to read a chapter. We can set aside another time in the evening after work to read a few chapters of the Old Testament. This is easy to do.
Spending time in the Word of God is always profitable. It is an excellent habit. This habit keeps us in the Lord’s presence and saves us from wasting our time. Some sisters may think that they are too busy taking care of their husbands and children to spend time with the Lord in the Word every day. Although it seems that they have no time to pray or read the Bible, when they are talking on the phone, it seems that they have all the time in the world. Therefore, saying that we do not have time to pray or read the Bible is only an excuse. Many of our phone calls may not be necessary. If we redeem the time by reading the Word, we will grow and be healthy in the spiritual life.
If I do not eat, drink, breathe, sleep, or exercise, yet I believe that the Lord will have mercy on me to cause me to be healthy and live a long life, I am being superstitious. Likewise, if we think that we can neglect spending time in the Word and simply depend on the mercy of the Lord for the church to be healthy, rich, and living, we are being superstitious, because we are not fulfilling the principles of life. We should trust in the Lord, yet we need to fulfill the principles that He has ordained for life. Eating, drinking, breathing, sleeping, and exercising are principles ordained by God. Therefore, in order to be healthy, we surely need to keep these principles. Reading the Word, praying to the Lord, and contacting the Lord to deal with Him are divinely ordained principles that we need to observe. If we do not, we can never be healthy in the spiritual life.
We need to take time to read and pray-read the Word every day. Of course, we can be flexible about the exact times, but it is good to pray-read a few verses in the morning, read a chapter of the New Testament at lunchtime, and read a few chapters from the Old Testament in the evening. If we are faithful to practice this, we will grow spiritually and be fully and thoroughly revived. If all the saints do this, the whole church will be revived, and the meetings will be enriched and enriching. This is not a way of excitement or stirring up; it is the way of life. We should make a vow to the Lord to daily contact Him through His Word. If we build up such a habit, it will be a real glory to the Lord.
Question: What is the best way to spend time in the Word in the morning?
Answer: From our experience we have learned that there are two profitable ways of handling the Bible — the way of being nourished and the way of reading. The way of being nourished is to spend at least ten minutes to pray-read a few verses. We can first read not more than ten verses and then pray every word of each verse to digest them. We will be enlightened and can pray according to the enlightenment we receive. This is to mingle our reading of the Word with our praying, and it is truly nourishing. If possible, it is better to do this in the morning before doing anything else. Of course, we can be flexible about this. For instance, it may be difficult for someone who works a night shift to do this. In any case, the principle is to begin our day by being nourished through pray-reading the Word. To come to the Bible in the way of reading is to read a few chapters. If we have set aside thirty minutes to come to the Word in the morning, we can spend the first ten to fifteen minutes to be nourished and then spend the remaining time to read a few chapters. We could also divide our time into two or three sections in which we first pray-read and then read. The principle is first to be nourished and then to read.
To come to the Word for nourishment, we should not randomly select verses to pray-read. After selecting a book of the Bible through the Lord’s leading, we should pray-read from the first verse to the last consecutively. Our reading should also be consecutive. We need to read one chapter in the New Testament each day beginning from Matthew 1 until we finish the last chapter of Revelation. Then we should begin again from Matthew 1. Likewise, in the Old Testament we should begin reading from Genesis 1 until we finish the last chapter of Malachi. Consecutive reading is the most balanced and safest way to read the Bible.
Question: Is there another way to come to the Bible besides the way of being nourished and the way of reading?
Answer: Everyone needs to read and pray over at least a few verses every morning and then read a few chapters later in the day. Our time in the Word in the morning should be in the way of being nourished, and our time later in the day should be in the way of reading. These are the common ways of reading the Bible, which all believers should practice. Besides these two ways, some saints should also take a third way, the way of studying. This way is to study a particular book of the Bible. In order to study the Bible, we first need to ask the Lord what book we should study. If the Lord tells us that we need to study Romans, we should study Romans in a thorough way. We should first study every word according to the Greek text with the help of concordances and lexicons. After we study Romans in this way, we should expound each verse. By expounding each verse we will get into the depths of the Bible. After we finish studying a book by finding the meanings of each word and expounding each verse, we should study the entire book according to some of its main topics. For instance, sin and sins are two topics that we could study in Romans. Then we could study righteousness and justification. Other topics include being in Christ, being in the spirit, being in the flesh, and being in our old man. If we study Romans according to forty or fifty topics, it will become transparent to us. We can also use the Life-study messages in our study of the Word.
Question: You have previously shared concerning our need to have a time with the Lord in which we are open to be enlightened by the Lord concerning our condition. How is that word related to our contacting the Lord through the Word?
Answer: When we contact the Word either to be nourished or to read, we will spontaneously be enlightened. Through our reading of the Word, our condition will be exposed in the light of the Lord. If we only pray for the Lord to shine on us but do not come to the Word, it will be difficult for us to be enlightened concerning our condition. Without the Word there is no instrument, no means, that the Lord can use to enlighten our situation. Many saints are daily enlightened and have their true situation and condition exposed in the light of God through their reading of the Bible.
Question: When I feel that I am aware of my condition, I sometimes try to find a portion in the Bible for my reading that relates to my condition. However, you have shared that we should read through the Bible consecutively. As we are reading consecutively, will the Lord shine on our condition regardless of the portion that we are reading?
Answer: Sometimes light comes when we are reading, and sometimes light does not come. However, light may come through a portion of the Word days, weeks, or even years after we read it. This is up to the Lord, but we need to be faithful to accumulate, to store up, the Lord’s word in our being.
Question: Does the time we have with the Lord in reading the Word need to be individual?
Answer: To have a corporate time of reading the Word, such as in a corporate morning watch, is beneficial. However, having a private, personal contact with the Lord by reading the Word is more important. Neither one of these two aspects can replace the other. We need both the private aspect and the corporate aspect of contacting the Lord through the Word. According to God’s ordained principle, nearly everything has two aspects. This principle is even visible in our physical bodies — we have two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, two arms, and two legs. We need the corporate contact with the Lord, and we also need the private contact. However, if we cannot have both, it is better to have the private contact.
Question: What does it mean that spending time with the Lord in the morning is the greatest honor we can give to Him? Also, because I was recently saved out of the world, I do not know how to pray. What should I do?
Answer: Going to the Lord first thing every morning is a great honor to Him. We should pray, “Lord, before I do anything, I come to contact You.” Even to utter only a few sentences of prayer in the morning is very pleasant to Him. We do not need to know a particular way to pray, because we can simply pray-read the Word. It is best to use the same book of the Bible every day until we pray-read from the first verse until the last. Every morning we can come to the Lord by pray-reading three to five consecutive verses. This may be a little awkward at first for new believers, but they will gradually learn by doing. If we honor the Lord in this way, we will surely receive a reward.
