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In the previous lesson, we covered the first means of fellowship with God, which is prayer. Now we come to the second means, which is reading the Bible.
We do not need doctrines concerning reading the Bible. Rather, I want to point out a practical method for us to practice so that we can fellowship with God through Bible reading. Therefore, this kind of reading of the Bible is different from a common way of reading it. Whenever we speak of reading the Bible, our natural concept is that it refers to understanding the Bible and knowing the contents of the Bible. However, reading the Bible as a means to fellowship with God is neither for understanding the Bible nor for knowing the contents of the Bible; rather, it is entirely for fellowshipping with God and contacting Him. When we read the Bible in this way, we need to remember the following points.
When we read the Bible for the purpose of fellowship, we should not read for the purpose of seeking to understand it. This seems to be a contradictory statement. If we do not seek to understand the Bible, why should we still read it? Apparently, everyone who reads the Bible seeks to understand it, but reading the Bible for fellowship is different from a common reading of the Bible. This kind of reading is absolutely not for knowing the Bible but for contacting God Himself and having fellowship with Him. If we read the Bible with the intention of understanding it, it will be difficult for us to enter into fellowship. Therefore, we need to resolve the matter that in reading the Bible to fellowship with God, we should not intend to seek an understanding of it. Even if we do not seek to understand the Bible, we will still understand a little as a result of reading in this way. This will be spontaneous. But before we begin to read, we should not have the intention to try to understand and know it.
If we come to the Bible with such an intention, we will encounter a great hindrance, a distraction, in our fellowship with God. An intention to understand the Bible in our fellowship with God makes it difficult for many of us to have good fellowship with God. Therefore, we must give up this intention whenever we come to God for fellowship through reading the Bible; we should simply come to fellowship with God through His Word without caring whether or not we understand it.
It is not easy to let go of this intention; it requires much consideration and practice. However, only when we learn to be delivered from this intention to understand the Bible can we properly learn to fellowship with God. In addition, only through reading the Bible in this way can we truly understand the Bible. Only those who do not seek a hasty understanding of the Bible will eventually know the Bible well. This is amazing. Many people can confirm this through their experience.
When reading the Bible to fellowship with God, we need to avoid study and research. We should not study, nor should we research; we simply need to read it. We still need to study and research the Bible, but this should be done at another time when we can use reference books, such as concordances and Bible dictionaries, in order to study the Bible in a detailed way. This is called studying the Bible, not reading the Bible for fellowship with God. We should never study the Bible when fellowshipping with God. This also requires much practice. Although I have been practicing this for a long time, I am still often tempted to study the Bible when fellowshipping with the Lord. At times I consulted a concordance, and at other times I referred to footnotes. As a result, even though I was studying the Bible with my mind, there was no fellowship with the Lord in my spirit, and thus, the fellowship with the Lord that morning was ruined.
Hence, we must avoid studying during this kind of reading of the Bible. If we understand the Bible when we are reading it, this is fine, and if we do not understand it, we should not be concerned. Some may ask, “What if I cannot correctly pronounce the words?” If you cannot pronounce the words correctly, just pronounce the words incorrectly. This is not a problem. We must absolutely, completely, and wholly let go of studying and researching. The less effort we exert in reading the Bible, the better and the more spontaneous our reading will be. Do not seek to understand, study, or research. The more spontaneous we are, the better will be our fellowship with God. We need to put all our efforts, energy, and intention into fellowshipping with God rather than studying the words of the Bible. If we read a portion of the Bible in a spontaneous way, we will definitely touch God in our fellowship.
We also should not read the Bible too fast, and neither should we read it too slowly. We should read as much as we can, without intending to read too much. There is what I would call a temptation to read the Bible too fast. Everyone who reads the Bible is tempted to read fast. After reading the first verse, we are tempted to quickly go on to the second verse, or we are tempted to quickly finish reading one portion in order to read the next portion. When we read concerning the death of Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10), we are tempted to read faster in order to know what their father said concerning their death. When we read Numbers 17 where God told Moses to put twelve rods before Him, we are tempted to learn the result related to these twelve rods. This kind of fast and quick reading is common, but it is a great interruption to our fellowship with God. Therefore, we must practice to be calm, spontaneous, and not hasty when we read the Bible to fellowship with God. We should simply read according to the time we have available, not intending to read fast or to read too much. We may read one chapter, one paragraph, one verse, one sentence, or even a few words. What matters is that we touch God in fellowship.
To ponder is another temptation when reading the Bible. It is strange that when we read fast, we cannot stop our mind, but when we read slowly, we often ponder. For example, when we read, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” we begin to consider what the beginning refers to and how many places the heavens and the earth include. We may consider different things and draw analogies. This is a great hindrance to our fellowship. Therefore, we should exercise not to ponder. Does this sound strange? We do not need to understand, research, study, read fast, read much, or ponder in order to fellowship through reading the Bible.
On one hand, reading the Bible in this way is spontaneous, but on the other hand, it may not be so easy. Can we come to the Bible without intending to understand or to research and study? Can we come without haste or the desire to read too much or too little? Can we instead read spontaneously and not ponder over the word? If we practice these things over a period of time, we will find that it is not easy. I do not believe that out of one hundred believers, three know how to fellowship with God in this way. Someone may occasionally touch God in fellowship through reading the Bible, but he cannot constantly and confidently have good fellowship with God whenever he reads the Bible. This inadequacy shows that there is a need for more practice.
When I was young, I was taught an ancient Chinese exercise called the “eight-section medley,” which is a kind of calisthenics. When I was first shown how to do it, I thought that it was easy. But when I began to practice, I found that it was not easy. A few years ago, when I was in a workers’ home in Manila, a young brother saw me practicing the eight-section medley. He also thought that it was easy and asked me to teach him. But as I taught him the exercise, he realized that it was not so easy or simple to learn. The exercise is a spontaneous and slow-motion type of calisthenics, but it requires much practice. In the same way, we should not think that it is easy to read the Bible in the way of fellowship. It may be easy to read a newspaper, but it is not easy to read the Bible. There are two difficulties in reading the Bible. First, it is not easy to understand the Bible and receive something from it. Second, it is not easy to fellowship with God through reading the Bible. These points are not related to reading the Bible for understanding but to reading the Bible for fellowship with God. Both ways of reading the Bible require practice. It would be very good for a believer to practice both aspects of reading the Bible.
We sincerely hope that every new believer will learn how to fellowship with God through reading the Bible. Every time they sit down to read God’s Word, they should consider the four “nots,” that is, not trying to understand, not studying or researching, not reading too fast or too much, and not pondering. It is not necessary to understand, to study, to read fast, to read much, or to ponder. We should let go of these things and only fellowship with God in a simple and spontaneous way through reading the Bible. I say once again that this is not easy, and it requires much practice.
The previous four points are things that we should not do; now we must consider things that we should do.
We need to have the intention to seek the Lord and contact Him. Our intention is not to understand the Bible but to seek and contact the Lord. We come to the Bible in order to contact the living God, not to read dead letters.
The Lord is in His Word, and the Lord Himself is the Word. A person can touch the Lord in two places — the Word and the Spirit. The Lord is in the Word, and the Lord is the Word. The Lord is also in the Spirit, and He is the Spirit. We thank Him that we have the Word outside of us and the Spirit inside of us. We have the Lord’s Word in our hand, and we have the Lord’s Spirit in our spirit. These are the two places where we can contact the Lord. Even though the Lord is omnipresent, invisible, and intangible, we can surely locate Him in these two places. We can say that the Lord is in His Word and that the Lord is in the Spirit. We can also say that the Lord is the Word and that the Lord is the Spirit. We can contact Him only in these two places. On the one hand, we come to His Word, and on the other hand, we come to the Spirit. Therefore, when we read the Bible for fellowship, our concept should never be that we are merely reading a book or some words. Our concept should be that we are contacting the Lord Himself, because we know that the Lord is in the Word and also that He is the Word.
We should read the Bible slowly in order to give our spirit the opportunity to contact the words in the Bible. This is related to the earlier entreaty to not study, not research, not read fast, and not ponder so that we can touch the words in the Bible with our spirit.
New believers may ask, “What does it mean to use our spirit?” Let me explain with an example. When conversing with those close to us, whether it is our parents, our children, our husband, or our wife, what the mind understands is not as important as how much the emotion functions and is contacted. We speak with our emotion; we touch and contact the words with our emotion. In the same principle, when fellowshipping with God through reading His Word, it is not important to understand, study, or ponder with our mind but to contact and touch God with our spirit.
Reading with our spirit does not necessarily mean that we read only a short portion. It is possible to read three chapters in fifteen minutes without being too fast or too slow and without pondering over the contents. Sometimes after reading in this way, it seems as if I am not very clear about what I have read, but I feel as if I have taken a bath. Although no water remains on our body after we take a bath, there is a difference between taking a bath and not taking one. In the same way, if we contact the Lord’s Word with our spirit, though it may seem as if nothing remains in our mind, the feeling in the spirit is very different.
We fellowship with God with our inner man, not with our outer man. The outer man is in the mind, but the inner man is in the spirit. When we fellowship with God and contact His Word in this way, we should read the letter with our mind outwardly, but we should contact the Lord’s Word with our spirit. We should always have the intention to touch God Himself and not care for understanding or retention. Only in this way can we have good fellowship with God.
Therefore, I recommend that we have two ways of reading the Bible — one for fellowship and one for understanding. When reading for understanding, we need to exercise our mind. Although our mental capacity may not be large, the more our capacity, the better. It would be best if our capacity was greater than Solomon’s and larger than the ocean. We also need to have a good collection of reference books. The more reference books we use in our time of study, the better. This is the way to read the Bible for understanding. The way to read the Bible for fellowship, however, is different because we are not trying to understand the Word with our mind but contacting the Word with our spirit. Whether or not we understand is not the point, neither is whether or not we remember. We should simply exercise our spirit in order to have good contact with God in His Word. This is to contact the Bible with the spirit.
When reading the Bible in this way, we also need to pay attention to maintaining constant contact with the Lord and not being distracted by the outward letters. We should not pay attention only to reading but forget to contact the Lord. It is not easy to maintain our fellowship with the Lord when reading the Bible for ten to twenty minutes in this way. Some people can contact the Lord without reading the Bible, but once they start reading the Bible, their contact with the Lord is interrupted. Thus, to read the Word and still be able to maintain contact with the Lord is a spiritual skill that requires much practice. We need to practice reading while contacting the Lord and contacting the Lord while reading so that our contact with the Lord is not interrupted by our reading. In our reading, we need to maintain and remain in fellowship with the Lord. If we read the Bible in this way for twenty minutes, we will have contact and fellowship with the Lord for twenty minutes. This will be a great benefit.
When we touch the Lord’s Word with our spirit and remain in continual fellowship with Him, our spirit should have a feeling of being bathed, as if our whole being were taking a bath in the Bible. This is refreshing, comfortable, and joyful. We should have this kind of feeling when we fellowship with God through reading the Word. If we do not have such a feeling, our fellowship with the Lord has ceased; otherwise, we would certainly have such a feeling. When we pass through God’s word, we should be like a person who has taken a bath, a person who has been soaked in water.
Not only so, we should feel warm, as if we were sitting under the sun, and we should also be inwardly refreshed. The more we read, the more we should be refreshed. If we read for five minutes, we should be even more refreshed. Some may ask us to describe this freshness. Although it is difficult to fully describe this freshness, it is like the freshness of the morning dew. Consequently, we will also be moistened. We may not know what has touched us, what has enlightened us, or what we have learned, but we will be moistened. As we read verse by verse, we become moist, and we will be full of an inward sweetness. In addition, we will sense a supply. The more we read, the more we will be inwardly satisfied, filled, empowered, and strengthened. There will also be light. But I am not stressing light because light implies understanding, and we have said that seeking to understand often becomes a hindrance to our fellowship.
This is the way we should read the Bible for thirty minutes in the morning. Although we may not understand anything, we will take a bath in God’s Word and feel warm in our spirit. We will not have the sense of being hot, scorched, or burned, but we will have an indescribably warm feeling and be refreshed, moistened, supplied, and satisfied. This is good Bible reading.
This can be compared to eating a rich breakfast. We may not remember exactly what we ate, but we will feel full and energized. We will be satisfied without any hunger or thirst. This is an indescribable feeling. The more we read the Lord’s Word and fellowship with Him in this way, the more we will know how real and sweet it is to read the Bible.
We will then receive inspiration. Inspiration is not understanding. Understanding comes from the mind, but inspiration is a feeling in the spirit. For example, when we read 1 Peter 5:5, which says, “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble,” we may receive inspiration in our spirit that touches us deep within, causing us to see that we are proud and that we do not know the meaning of humility. We must accept this inspiration and remain in this portion of the Word, without reading further. When we read Genesis 1:2, which says, “But the earth became waste and emptiness,” we may receive the inspiration that there is just waste and emptiness within us. In this case, we must open to this inspiration and let it touch us even more deeply.
In addition to the functions of bathing, warming, moistening, refreshing, and supplying, reading the Bible to fellowship with God has a great function of giving inspiration. When we read the Bible to fellowship with God, it is easy to receive inspiration. In fact, we will receive much more inspiration when we read the Bible in this way than when we read it for understanding. This is because when we read the Bible for understanding, we mainly use our mind, but when we read the Bible for fellowship with God, we use our spirit to touch God’s moving in our spirit. Once the Holy Spirit moves, there is inspiration. We should not regard the inspiration we receive lightly but should open to it in a deep way.
We should meditate on the inspiration we receive. At this stage of our fellowship with God through reading the Bible, we should not ponder, but we should meditate. Once we touch the inspiration, we need to meditate on it and then turn it into prayer. For example, if we receive inspiration and sense that we have lost the opportunity to be blessed because of our pride, we should immediately stop and meditate, saying, “Yes, I am self-satisfied in some aspects, and I am not humble enough.” However, it is not good to meditate too long. Hence, we should turn the inspiration we receive into prayer and confess before the Lord, saying, “Please forgive me. There is pride within me. Have mercy on me and let me touch humility.” This kind of prayer that comes out of inspiration and is through meditation is good fellowship. In this crucial stage, reading the Bible and prayer are now mingled together. Reading the Bible becomes our praying, and gradually, our praying becomes a reading of the Bible. We will cover this point in greater detail in the next lesson.
We need to receive inspiration, meditate on the inspiration, and then turn it into prayer. Sometimes this type of prayer is intercessory in nature; that is, we pray for others. Although we receive inspiration for ourselves, the prayer can result in intercession for others. This kind of intercessory prayer is often valuable, and God answers it.
This type of prayer should not be long. After praying, if there is still time, we should read more from the Bible. We should never think that our fellowship with God is finished after we have read and prayed. In this type of fellowship, reading the Bible and prayer should continue side by side. We read and then we pray, and then we read again. We do not need to be clear whether we are reading the Bible or praying because we are reading with prayer and praying with reading. We are not merely concluding our reading with prayer. This is not sufficient. Whenever we read, we should be ready to receive inspiration and then turn the inspiration into prayer and then continue to read after praying. However, this is not a law. Sometimes we may not be able to continue reading because the Holy Spirit touches us and asks us to pray. Very often, however, we will first receive inspiration, meditate on the inspiration, and then turn it into prayer. After praying, we should continue to read. As long as time allows, we should simply continue to read and pray and to pray and read.
Although this type of reading and praying and praying and reading will come to an end, the feeling that we receive from reading the Bible should not end. We may stop our reading of the Bible, but the feeling should not come to an end; we must keep this feeling in our heart. In other words, if we read the Bible in the morning, we should learn to abide throughout the day in the feeling we received. We should live in the feeling we receive through our fellowship with God in the morning. This is a precious and important matter.
