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In this chapter we will fellowship concerning how to turn our reading of the Scriptures into prayer so that we may help the young people to use their spirit to pray and touch the Lord. Even though the Bible contains teachings, we should explain to the young people that the purpose of the Bible is not to give us teachings but to supply us with food. The Bible is more than teachings; its teachings are merely a means to supply our spirit with God’s word as food in order for us to be nourished with life.
We need to be rescued from the natural concept that a book is an instrument of teaching to convey knowledge. On the surface, the Bible is a book like any other book in the world, with black letters printed on white paper. Hence, when a person receives a Bible, he often regards the Bible as if it were the same as any other book that can impart some knowledge. Many Christians have this concept. However, we must show the young people that the Bible is different from any other book. The Bible is not a book that contains merely teachings. Rather, the Bible supplies us with spiritual nourishment by means of its teachings. Hence, when we stress the matter of reading the Bible, we should not emphasize the matter of receiving teachings but the matter of receiving spiritual nourishment.
We should explain that the nourishment we receive from the Scriptures is not food for the soul. Newspapers, magazines, novels, or scientific studies provide food for the soul or for the mind because these printed materials convey knowledge and theories about the world. In contrast, the Bible supplies us with Christ, the Lord Himself. We should read the Bible in order to receive spiritual nourishment related to life. This means that when we read the Bible, we should receive the Triune God. The Triune God — the Father in the Son as the Spirit — is embodied in the words of the Bible. Hence, when we contact the Bible, we need to read the Bible with prayer so that we may receive spiritual food by touching Christ and receiving the Lord Jesus in our spirit.
When we speak of touching the Lord as we read the Bible, some may say that this is not possible, because there are many portions in the Scriptures that do not contain teachings related to Christ. For example, 2 Corinthians 6:14 says, “Do not become dissimilarly yoked with unbelievers,” which concerns marriage and friendship. Such a word seems to be unrelated to Christ. The Bible also speaks of diligence in Romans 12:8 and in 2 Peter 1:5 and 10, which again seems unrelated to Christ. It is possible to cite numerous examples in the Bible that do not appear to be related to Christ on the surface. However, we must realize that Christ is the center of the Bible; all the words in the Bible take Christ as the center and extend outward to the circumference of every matter. If our thought in reading the Bible is limited to merely receiving teachings, we will not touch Christ or see the relationship between teachings and Christ.
When we read the Scriptures, we should take Christ as the center in order to see the connection between a teaching and Christ. Christ can be compared to the hub of a wheel. Many spokes spread out from the hub of a wheel to the rim of the wheel, forming a complete wheel. The truths in the Bible should be considered from the standpoint of a complete wheel, that is, Christ being the center of the wheel and all the teachings coming out of Him as spokes and being related to Him as the rim. Some teachings are directly related to Christ, and others are indirectly related; however, all are connected to Him. If we have such a concept, we will discover the proper place for each teaching in its relation to Christ.
If we read the Scriptures with the intention of touching Christ and contacting Christ, we will receive the Lord as our food. Thus, when we read 2 Corinthians 6:14, which says, “Do not become dissimilarly yoked with unbelievers,” we will clearly realize that believers and unbelievers should not have intimate friendships or be dissimilarly yoked in marriage, because this will hinder us from experiencing Christ. When a believer marries an unbeliever, it will not be a help to the believer in gaining more of the Lord; rather, it will hinder his experience. Hence, a believer not being dissimilarly yoked with an unbeliever will keep the believer in the best possible condition to experience and enjoy Christ.
It is in this regard that the Bible speaks of virtues such as diligence and prudence. A slothful person will miss numerous opportunities to experience Christ, and a careless and sloppy person will not be able to grasp many opportunities to experience Christ. A person who experiences Christ must be diligent, quiet, careful, and prudent. This does not mean, however, that a person who has these qualities will experience Christ automatically. It only means that a person who does not have these qualities will have great difficulty in experiencing Christ. If we read the Bible in this way, we will realize that it contains many teachings that will keep us in a condition to experience Christ.
If we desire to remain in a condition that is most favorable to experiencing Christ, we need to receive the teachings in the Scriptures. If we go against these teachings, we will not be protected, restricted, or regulated. As a result, we will lose our ground to experience Christ. The Bible contains many teachings that serve to protect, restrict, and regulate us in order to keep us on the proper ground for the experience and enjoyment of Christ. If we touch the Bible in this way, the connection between these teachings and Christ will gradually become clear. For example, we may read 1 Corinthians 1:2, which speaks of Jesus Christ as being “theirs and ours.” This word means that Christ is the portion of all the believers. Verse 30 continues, saying, “Of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” This shows that all the teachings in 1 Corinthians are related to the believers’ being in Christ. We can connect all the teachings in the Bible directly or indirectly to Christ because He is the center of the Bible.
Since the Bible is not merely a book of teachings, receiving teachings from it should not be our first consideration. Rather, we should read the Bible by praying over it to absorb the Lord. The Bible is a book that supplies life; the Bible is the bread of life. When we read the Bible, we should receive a supply of life from it. This supply of life is Christ Himself. Although there are many items in the Bible that do not speak directly about Christ, they keep us, restrict us, and put us in a position to experience Christ and turn our being toward Him. Hence, all the teachings in the Bible are related directly or indirectly to Christ.
Now we must speak concerning the practical exercise of coming to the Scriptures in prayer. When we come to the Scriptures, rather than giving priority to expounding or studying the Scriptures, we should pray using the words of the Scriptures in order to open up the Bible. This kind of reading does not emphasize studying or even discussion and fellowship. Rather, it emphasizes the absorption of the spiritual content of the Scriptures. With this kind of reading, exposition and discussion are not critical.
If there is a sense while we are reading that some point should be expressed, it is best to express it through prayer. For example, if four brothers are reading the Bible together, a brother who has a certain sense about a verse should express it through prayer. When he prays in this way, another brother may receive some inspiration, which he, in turn, can express through prayer. In this way the meaning of a portion of the Bible will become even clearer than if he tried to express the meaning through explanatory words. We will also gain more than a mental understanding of the Word; instead, the words that we read will become a supply in our spirit. When we read the Word, we should emphasize prayer much more than just explanation and discussion.
Second, when we use the Scriptures to pray, we should not use too many verses. It is difficult to absorb many verses. This is like trying to eat a meal when there is too much food on the table; it is easy to be distracted by the choices, and it also causes those who are eating to not fully taste or appreciate the food. It also encourages one to take big bites or to eat too quickly so that the food is not digested properly. The amount of food is not important; rather, eating in the proper way is important. Likewise, when we pray over the Bible, there are certain skills that we need to learn. Sometimes we may need to read through an entire section of verses and then pray over a few verses within the section. For example, if we read only two or three verses of the genealogy in Matthew 1, we may feel very dry. It would be better to read through the entire genealogy and then select a small section to pray over. This requires discernment, because in other sections the verses are so rich that it is enough to read and pray over just one verse.
It is best if a serving one can give a little explanation of the verses that the young people will pray over. This is not a matter of giving a long exposition or message; a brief point or two will be sufficient. For example, if the selected verse is John 1:1, it is enough to point out that the Word was in the beginning, that the Word is the Lord Himself, and that all things came into being through the Lord as the Word. We can also point out that in the Lord is life and that this life is the light that shines in us. It is sufficient to point out these crucial points.
Concerning the genealogy in Matthew 1, we can point out that the Lord Jesus is the son of David and the son of Abraham and that there are forty-two generations from Abraham to Christ in the genealogy. The first section is from Abraham to David, the next section is the genealogy of the kings from David until the time of captivity, and the last section is of the forefathers who lost the kingdom from the time of captivity until Mary’s husband, Joseph. Perhaps the serving one can point out that this genealogy mentions five women. Among them, only Mary was a chaste virgin, while the other four were not so good. These four were Tamar, the daughter-in-law of Judah; Rahab, the wife of Salmon; Ruth, the wife of Boaz; and Bathsheba, whom David married and who had been the wife of Uriah the Hittite. We can also point out the reason that the Lord Jesus is called the son of Abraham and the son of David. Abraham is the father of faith, whereas David is the beginning of the generations of the kings. On one hand, the Lord Jesus is the son of Abraham, typified by Isaac; on the other hand, He is the son of David, typified by Solomon. In short, the entire genealogy shows that the Lord Jesus is God coming to be a descendant of man. Furthermore, He is the One who receives the inheritance as well as inherits the throne. The son of Abraham receives the inheritance, whereas the son of David inherits the throne. It is good enough if these crucial points are mentioned briefly.
We must lead the young people to pray. In the past when we asked them to pray, they would say that they did not know what words to pray or that they did not have any feeling to pray. Now that we are practicing praying the Word, there are no excuses because they do not have to compose any prayer. Instead, they can simply pray according to the words in the Bible. For example, using John 1:1, someone can pray, “Lord, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” He can use the verse as his prayer, or he can change the wording a little. The excuse of having no feeling to pray has also been solved because as soon as we pray with the words from the Bible, we are full of feeling. We can say, “Thank You, Lord. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was You.” Sometimes when we just read the Bible, we may not have any feeling, but when we pray using the Scriptures, we receive a supply in our spirit. When we pray according to the words in the Bible, there are words in our spirit that are full of feeling. Thus, it is easy to pray, saying, “Lord, You are the Word of God. You explain God to us, and You also speak to us from within all the time.” This kind of spontaneous speaking to the Lord is not difficult at all.
When we lead people to pray, we should teach them not to pray over too many points. Each person should pray one point. Occasionally, someone may pray concerning two points but no more than what is needed. No one should attempt to cover all the points in his prayer. For example, John 1:1-4 has several crucial points: “in the beginning was the Word,” “the Word was with God,” “the Word was God,” “all things came into being through Him,” “in Him was life,” and “the life was the light of men.” A person does not need to cover all these points in one prayer. It is best to pray over one point or, at most, two points. We should cover one point in our prayer and then let others have the opportunity to pray. When we all pray one point, all the points will be covered by all the saints. However, if someone still has some feeling, he can pray again.
When we take turns to pray in this way, our spirit will have instant feeling. Some feelings may come directly, and other feelings may come from hearing the prayers of the other saints. Some feelings arise out of a sense of mutual inspiration. As a result of such prayers, a portion of the Bible will be thoroughly opened and imparted into the young people. Furthermore, all the young people will be exercised in their spirit and supplied with spiritual food. This kind of supply from the Bible contains Christ Himself. We must explain these matters to the young people and lead them into this practical exercise.
