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I. Reading the Word of God
II. Pray-reading the Word of God
III. Studying the Word of God
А. Knowing the facts of the Bible
B. Helpful materials
C. An example — a way to use a Life-study Message to study the Bible
D. Having study companions
E. Being definite
IV. Memorizing the word of God
V. Speaking the word of God
А. Speaking the word in our daily life
B. Preaching the word in season and out of season
C. Prophesying in the meetings to build up the church
D. Speaking by the spirit of faith with boldness
VI. Singing the word of God
VII. The need to practice
Since the Bible is the word of God, its nature is divine and spiritual. We must read it with every part of our being. There is milk for our soul in the Word. It is for nourishing our inner man through the understanding of our rational mind, and it is assimilated by our mental faculties (1 Pet. 2:2 footnote 5). The milk of the word eventually nourishes our spirit, making us spiritual (1 Pet. 2:5 footnote 3). [Therefore, in reading the Bible, after we have understood the meaning of the text by our understanding and have apprehended the truth of the text with our wisdom, we should use our spirit by prayer to receive the truths in the Scripture into the deepest part of our being, that is, our spirit. In other words, after we understand the text and receive the truth therein, we still must exercise our spirit to turn what we have understood and realized into prayer that it may be assimilated in our spirit, becoming our life supply and the basis of our spiritual experience.]
We need to read the Bible sequentially from cover to cover. By reading the Bible in this way, we can better understand it (Col. 3:16; 2 Tim. 3:15; Psa. 119:11, 130). The foregoing lessons have given you a guided tour of the Bible. This overview of the Bible and of its sixty-six books has given you a bird’s-eye view. The more you read the Bible and compare your reading to these lessons, the more you will understand. Some of you may like to read the Old Testament at one rate and the New Testament at another. For example, if you read a chapter a day, you can finish reading the New Testament in nine months. Brother Watchman Nee read the New Testament through fifty times in one year. That became his foundation in the Bible. Most of us may not be able to read the New Testament as frequently as he did, but we can at least read through it once a year. We all need to decide on how much to read every day, schedule the time to read, and develop a habit to read.
[Another simple, spiritual, and most beneficial way to read the Bible is pray-reading. We take the Bible text as prayer and pray-read with it. Not only do we read and pray simultaneously, or pray and read, read and pray; but also we directly turn the text we are reading into the very words of prayer to pray with. At times we may apply the text to ourselves through prayer. The more we repeat this kind of pray-reading, the more uplifted and released our spirit becomes and the greater, deeper, and richer the benefit is which we receive.]
The apostle Paul told us to receive “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit” (Eph. 6:17-18). When we pray-read this way, we get nourished with the Spirit and we maintain the fellowship with the Lord (1 Pet. 2:2; 1 Tim. 4:6; 1 John 1:3). As we pray, the Lord may expose our shortcomings through His word; then, when we confess, He will forgive and cleanse us (1 John 1:9). We may also use the Word to pray for others and for the Lord’s move (1 Tim. 2:1; Col. 4:3-4). Pray-reading is very useful.
By reading the Bible sequentially, we obtain the breadth of the Word. By pray-reading the Bible, we are able to enjoy the Lord in His word. However, we need to study the Bible to grasp the depth of the truth in His word (1 Tim. 5:17b; 2 Tim. 2:15).
Before we fellowship on studying the truth, there are some preliminary points we need to address. We need to know the basic facts of the Bible. We should remember all the names of the books and their sequence so we can locate specific verses. We should know the fundamentals of each book, such as the points in lessons eleven through twenty-one. It is also helpful to memorize the first verse of every book so that we know how every book begins. In addition, it is good to familiarize ourselves with the key people and the key events which take place in each book so that we know the background as we are studying the truth. These basic facts should have been acquired before we entered junior high school. If we have not yet learned them, then we must do some remedial study.
First, we need a good translation of the Bible, such as the Recovery Version of the New Testament. The outlines guide our study. The footnotes open up the Word to us. The cross references direct us to other verses similar to the verses that we are studying.
Second, the Life-study Messages open the Word further to us. They explain the verses in the New Testament. The Life-study Messages are likened to footnotes on the footnotes in the Recovery Version. If we do not understand the footnotes in the Recovery Version, then we should refer to the corresponding sections in the Life-study Messages. Better yet, we should study the Bible sequentially with the aid of the Life-study Messages. (There are also Life-study Messages for some of the Old Testament books, such as the Pentateuch.)
Third, there are lesson books which teach us the truth step by step in a progressive way. There are the Life Lessons consisting of forty-eight lessons. The Life Lessons instruct new believers in the basics of the Christian life. The Truth Lessons are six volumes containing twelve lessons each. The Truth Lessons teach us various truths concerning the Bible. The six levels of lessons designed for the summer school of the truth teach us the basic truths of the Lord’s recovery in an abbreviated format.
Fourth, other books of truth written by Brother Watchman Nee and Brother Witness Lee teach us the truth by topics. Books such as The All-Inclusive Christ and The Economy of God are very helpful. In the Lord’s recovery, we have an abundance of good books that reveal the truth to us.
Fifth, one of the most commonly used study aids is a concordance. A concordance such as Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible is very helpful in finding verses. A concordance is arranged like a dictionary; it lists all the verses in the Bible that contain a certain word. For example, we may want to find some verses that explain the meaning of “truth.” We would then look up the word “truth.” We would find that there are 114 verses in the Old Testament and 108 verses in the New Testament listed under “truth.” By reading through these verses, we would be able to locate the ones that address our question.
Let us suggest a way to use a Life-study Message to study the Bible.
First, pray to open to the Lord. This is crucial because you need to use your spirit to study the Bible. You do not need to pray for a long time.
Second, read the title and the subtitles of the message to get an overview of the content.
Third, read and pray-read the verses, being careful to manage your time wisely. If there are too many verses to cover in the allotted time, just pray-read the key portions of the key verses.
Fourth, try to identify the main point covered in each verse as outlined in the title and subtitles. The title and the subtitles are there to guide you in studying the verses; therefore, you must know how they relate.
Fifth, read the text of the message section by section and underline the crucial points related to the title or corresponding subtitle.
Sixth, pray with the crucial points as you are reading. Go to the Lord with these points in confession and in fellowship that He may fill you with His Spirit to renew your mind.
Seventh, write one or two sentences to summarize each section. This will keep your mind focused on your reading.
Eighth, at the end of the message, write a conclusion summarizing what it has revealed to you in the verses.
Ninth, pray with the content of the message. This will help you assimilate the main points.
Tenth, speak to others about what you have seen. You may use your conclusion as a prophecy in the Lord’s Day meeting.
You can modify this example to best suit your needs. Whichever method you use, you need to exercise your whole being to study the Word of God.
It may be more enjoyable to study with several companions. Pray with your companions and encourage one another to pursue the truth (2 Tim. 2:22). Your companions will help you persevere.
It is necessary to be definite. Everything in your human life is definite. The sun rises and sets at definite times. School starts and ends at definite times on definite days. Airline departures and arrivals adhere to clearly defined schedules. Therefore, you need to be definite in studying the Bible (Eph. 5:16). Set up a definite time and day for studying the truth. Determine what materials you will use and your rate of progress. It is not only prudent to have study companions, but it is also good to tell your elders and serving ones of your plan of study, so that they may guide you. If you receive any enlightenment, be sure to share it with them. If you have any questions or difficulties while studying, be sure to fellowship with the elders and serving ones. This will help keep you on course.
If you are definite in your pursuit of the truth, you will be constituted with the truth gradually.
It is very beneficial to memorize some of the key verses in the Bible. There are approximately 1,200 chapters in the Bible. If you can memorize one key verse from every chapter, you will have a rich reserve to draw upon when you speak (1 Tim. 6:20). Your mind will be constituted and saturated with His word (Deut. 11:18; Rom. 12:2; Col. 3:16). A psalmist prayed in Psalm 119:11, “Thy word have I laid up in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.”
After getting filled with the word of God, we must speak the word to others. [We must see a principle, a fundamental, a law: you must speak if you want to be healthy. You will be the most healthy person if you speak unceasingly each day. But you must speak the word of the Lord. When you speak the Lord’s word, you have joy. People may oppose you, but everyone has a conscience within him; there is an element of fairness in the human heart. A brother who once worked in the telegraph company spoke Jesus whenever he met his colleagues; that is, he spoke for God. Then the others looked down at him, saying in a derogatory way that he was Jesus. But when they had difficulties or when they needed someone to take care of certain important documents for them, they all came to him. Whenever these colleagues faced difficulties, the gospel they had heard operated in them.]
[Dear saints, now we are in the Lord’s recovery and I do believe that now is the time for the Lord to carry out His up-to-date move. All of us in the Lord’s recovery have to speak Christ in our daily life to our parents, our children, our cousins, and our in-laws. We all owe so much to our relatives. Try to write a list of all the names of your relatives. Among these names maybe twenty percent are saved, and the rest are remaining in unbelief. They need your speaking. All of your relatives need the real help rendered by your speaking of Christ. Do not preach in a religious way, but speak Christ to your relatives in a living way. Speak to your father. Speak to your mother. Speak to your aunt. Speak to your uncle. Speak to your brother. Even if both you and your brother are Christians, you still need to speak one to another. Let your parents hear your speaking. Do not talk about computers, physics, or mathematics, but only Christ. He is the unique treasure! Speak about Jesus, Christ, the life-giving Spirit, the all-inclusive, processed Triune God. Your parents would marvel at such a speaking.
Continue to speak Christ every day. All human beings today need Christ, yet we need to speak to them. Speak in a living way, in a practical way, according to your experience of Him.] Speak in your school, in between classes, in your study groups, during your lunch break, and after school at least five minutes every day, five days a week, four weeks a month. In this way, you can speak Christ to others at least twenty times a month (Isa. 59:21).
In 2 Timothy 4:2, Paul charged Timothy to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season.” The word of God that we have learned makes us complete and equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:15-17). This is the word that we preach. If we do not know the Bible, what word can we preach? [We must preach the word that we have learned from the Word of God. This is what the early believers did in Acts 5:42 when they met from house to house “teaching and bringing the good news of Jesus as the Christ.” In the home meetings they taught and preached what they had learned concerning Christ.
Paul charged Timothy to be ready “in season and out of season,” to preach the word. Many times we say that now is not the time to speak; that it is out of season. That is the right time for us to speak. We all must speak out of season. I surely treasure all the young saints and desire to rescue them from the pastoral system. The young ones who are still in school have the most people around them. Every school is a big fishing pond full of fish. This is an environment arranged by God for speaking to others. Students always enjoy listening to their classmates much more than to their teachers or parents. We have to learn to catch these fish by speaking Christ to them. We have to be made the fishers of men, bringing people to Christ and to the home meetings. For this, I do not trust in any human arrangement, but in the young saints’ acting, behaving, working, endeavoring, and struggling to contact their fellow students. If we would do this, within a short time many would be baptized and added to the churches.]
Another place to speak is in the meetings of the church. The apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14:1, “Desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy.” In verses 3 and 4, he said, “He who prophesies speaks to men for building up and encouragement and consolation...he who prophesies builds up the church.” We need to see that the most important part of our meeting is the prophesying, which is to speak for the Lord, to speak Him forth, and to speak the Lord into people. Through the speaking of the Lord’s word, the riches of Christ are released and are dispensed into all the attendants. To prophesy is to speak for the Lord and to speak forth the Lord. It is to supply Christ to others. This is the main work in the church meetings. After having been constituted with the truth in the Word and filled up with the Spirit, we should prophesy in the church meetings to build up the church. The Lord’s goal is the built up church. Our studying is not only for ourselves but for preaching the gospel to produce members for the Body of Christ and to build up the church. We need to have such a view and practice it.
The apostle Paul said that we can be filled in spirit by speaking (Eph. 5:18-19) and by praying (Acts 4:31). On the one hand, we get filled to speak. On the other hand, we get filled by speaking. The more we are filled with the word of God, the more we like to speak and the more we have to speak. The more we speak, the more we are filled in spirit. The more we pray according to the Word, the more we get filled with the Spirit. The apostle Paul also said that we need to speak by the spirit of faith (2 Cor. 4:13). After our spirit is strengthened by prayer and we are enriched by the word of God, we will be full of faith. We must speak and we will speak the word of God with boldness (Eph. 6:19).
[I hope you can see that for everyone to speak the word of God, you need to pray, to be filled in the spirit, and at the same time to learn to speak the proper words. When you speak, you need to be filled with the riches of the words of the Bible and the experiences of life. You need to know the person you are speaking to. You need to approach people, help people, and know people, and to deal with each kind of person with a certain kind of word. In this way, you will never miss the mark, and you will be certain to be successful.] If this is the case, the church surely will be propagating, and the number surely will increase.
There are times when we enjoy the word of God so much that we spontaneously sing it out loud. You can sing verses to a familiar tune or make up your own tune. This type of spontaneous song does not need to have a proper tune nor does it have to rhyme. It is a spiritual song you make up to sing to the Lord (Eph. 5:19). Another good way to be filled with the Spirit is to sing or speak the rich hymns in our hymnal which are composed with the Word, especially the ones marked with an asterisk or dagger. Praise the Lord we have so many ways to enjoy the word of God!
Each morning, we need to pray-read two or three verses from the Bible to revive our spirit (Psa. 119:47; Jer. 15:16). Many saints like to use The Holy Word for Morning Revival. If you do this, you can pray-read through the New Testament verse by verse in about six years. You should write the verses you pray-read in the morning on a card and carry it with you. Whenever you feel depressed, think evil thoughts, or are tempted to do something not of the Lord, pull out your card and pray-read. You will overcome Satan, and he will have to retreat from you (Rev. 12:11; 2 Cor. 10:4-5; Eph. 6:16; James 4:7). Each night, before you go to bed, read one or two chapters of the New Testament. This practice will enable you to begin your day by being revived with the word of God, to overcome the evil one throughout the day with the word of God, and to end the day with the word of God. Your whole life will be enveloped with the word of God. Your speaking will be the word of God. How wonderful your living will be.
You should set up regular times to study the truth with the help of the outlines, footnotes, cross-references, Life-study Messages, lesson books, and other recovery books.
Learn to speak the Word all the time. This practice will fill and constitute you with the word of God. Wherever you go, the Lord can flow out of you through your speaking. Your friends and relatives will be saved to become sons of God and members of the Body of Christ.
