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John 15:7 says, “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you...”
Colossians 3:16-17 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or in deed, do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
This Scripture first tells us to let the word of Christ dwell in us. Then it says that we need to have singing, thanksgiving, and praising, which are all related to the matter of prayer. When there is the indwelling of the word, there is prayer.
Ephesians 5:18b-20 says, “Be filled in spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming with your heart to the Lord, giving thanks at all times for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to our God and Father.”
This portion of the Scripture first says that we should be filled in spirit. It goes on to say that we need to have prayer by singing, praising, and giving thanks. We all know that these two books, Ephesians and Colossians, run parallel to one another. They contain many similar points that are expressed in slightly different words. For example, the passages quoted here say that Christians should always sing, praise, and give thanks to God. Colossians tells us that this is the issue of the Lord’s word indwelling us. Ephesians says that this is the result of our being filled in spirit. Although these verses express it in different ways, in reality they refer to the same thing from the same source, which is the Lord Himself. Because the Lord fills you within, singing, giving thanks, and praising come forth from you. This Lord who is in you is both the Spirit and the Word. When you are filled with His words, you are filled in spirit. When you are filled in spirit, you are filled with His words. Hence, His words in us are spirit.
Now we will look at the relationship between prayer and the Lord’s word.
Prayer is a moving of the Lord in man. True prayers are God speaking forth His words from within man and through man. In the matter of prayer, nothing is more crucial than the understanding of this point. From the beginning we have pointed out clearly that prayer does not mean that man has a need and thus asks God to fulfill it. This is the human concept. The prayer which the Bible speaks of is that God has a need, and He enters into man, causing him to be conscious of that need. Then He operates within man, moves man, and places a burden on man to pray forth that particular need. This is prayer. We need to start from here if we wish to see the relationship between prayer and the Lord’s word. Because God moves in us, we can pray. Prayers that come out of ourselves are of no spiritual value. What God wants are prayers that issue from His moving within us — prayers that are initiated by Him.
In order to move in us God must come to us. If there is still a distance between Him and us, He will not be able to move in us. But when He comes to us to motivate us, He does not take the position of God or of the Lord but of the Spirit. Whenever God comes to us, He is the Spirit.
Due to a lack of understanding of the mysterious things of God, men are often confused and therefore debate a great deal concerning the trinity of the Godhead. We can understand the mystery of God’s coming to man in a very simple way. Whenever the New Testament speaks of God coming to man, entering into man, descending upon man, or operating, moving, and stirring within man, it always speaks of the Spirit. If God does not have any dealings with man, He is simply far off and outside man. But as the Spirit, He comes to enter into man and have dealings with man.
In the New Testament the first mention that God is Spirit is in John 4. There the Lord Jesus said, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit” (v. 24). The emphasis of this verse is His contact with man. God coming to man and entering into man is Spirit.
The Holy Spirit coming to man and entering into man is not just for the infilling and the outpouring. It is also for Him to become the indwelling words of God. If God’s coming to man were merely His coming, with no words, there would be no way for man to understand His intention. There is no way that His intention can be explained without words. Suppose someone comes into my home, but he does not say a word. That would be quite difficult for me. John 14:17 says that when the Spirit comes, He enters into us; 15:4 says that we abide in the Lord, and the Lord also abides in us. Then verse 7 says, “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you...” Here the Lord becomes the words and explanation in us.
Likewise, Colossians says that our giving thanks and our praises are due to the word of the Lord. Ephesians says that we thank and praise due to the Spirit. If there is only the filling of the Spirit but there is no word, how can you have psalms and hymns? You cannot, for there is only the stirring but not the explanation. For example, this morning I may feel the need to pray, but there is no word or explanation in me telling me what to pray for or how to pray. The best I could do would be to weep or to shout a few Hallelujahs. I could not pray thoroughly.
Hence, the Spirit who comes to us must become the explanation in us. Once it becomes the explanation, it is the word. The Gospel of John says clearly that the words which the Lord speaks to us are spirit. When the Spirit in us causes us to understand, then it is the word. Sometimes we may have inspiration inside, but we cannot understand because the Spirit has not yet become words, and there is a lack of explanation. Then one day He explains it to us; that is, the Spirit becomes the word. Then, and only then, can we understand His intention.
One who ministers the Word usually has this experience: When he is about to stand up to speak a word, he feels that he has the inspiration and the burden within him. However, he still does not know specifically what he should speak. Then, as he stands and speaks, he has an inner sense, and the more he speaks, the clearer he becomes. The Spirit within has become the word. The same is true with prayer. For example, someone waking in the morning may feel the burden to pray, but he does not know for what he should pray. He thus goes before God, and as he prays, he tries to sense his inner feeling. As a result, the inner consciousness becomes the word, and the word is then expressed. One sentence comes forth, and the next one follows immediately. After the prayer is finished, the inner burden has been discharged. This means that the Spirit has become the word.
Real prayers, therefore, are the outcome of God’s moving within us. This moving is carried out through the Spirit, and the Spirit needs to become the word, the explanation. Thus, we are able to express our prayers.
Explanation is an inward understanding, whereas expression is an outward declaration. Every true prayer is just like a weighty message, all the words of prayer being the expression of the Spirit. It can almost be said that the words of prayer are the very Spirit. No wonder the Lord Jesus said that His words are spirit, for whatever He speaks, it is the expression of the Spirit. In principle, our prayers should be the same.
In prayer we have often really touched the spirit, enjoyed the Lord’s presence very much, and had the anointing of the ointment. At other times we would have to admit that our prayer was not so good. The more we prayed, the more dry and dead we were inside. The more we prayed, the fewer words we had. Where does the difference between these two conditions lie? The basic issue is: while we were praying, did the Spirit come to us and explain God’s intention to us? If we have such an explanation, then we can express it accordingly. Thus, the more we pray, the more we are inspired; the more we pray, the more we have the anointing; the more we pray, the more we touch the spirit and the fresher and livelier we are, for in that prayer the Spirit comes forth with the words that we express. On the contrary, at other times there may be no moving of the Spirit while we pray, and thus our words are not the expression of the Spirit. Then it is simply we ourselves speaking, and such a prayer will spontaneously be dried up.
Real prayers are the result of God’s moving in us. God’s moving starts with the Spirit first coming to us and then going a step further to become the explanation. The explanation is the word. Once the words are present in our consciousness, they must be expressed. When we speak forth those words, that is prayer.
The Lord’s word to us comes in two stages. One stage is the words in the Scripture, and the other stage is the words in the Spirit. Colossians says that we should let the word of Christ dwell in us richly. We must believe that this refers to the words in the Scripture. We often encourage the brothers and sisters to saturate themselves with the Scriptures. The reason for this is that we might remember the words of the Lord and thus retain them within us. Then at a certain time, when the Spirit comes to us, He will express Himself with the Scripture words that we have remembered and retained within us. At this time these words will become the words of the Spirit.
When we speak of the relationship between prayer and the Lord’s word, it includes these two aspects: the words of the Spirit and the words of the Scripture, or the Lord’s word in the Scripture and the Lord’s word in the Spirit. In reality, these two words are just one. However, if the words in the Scripture do not become the words in the Spirit, then they are words merely in our memory and in our intellect but have not entered into our spirit. It is only when the Spirit comes to mingle with these words that these words become the words in our spirit. This is the relationship between the Word and the Spirit.
There are two steps in receiving the Lord’s word. The first is to receive the word of the Bible, and the second is to receive that word explained by the Spirit. Or we may say that first we receive the Lord’s word from the Bible into us, and then we receive the Lord’s word from the Spirit. Without the first step it is very difficult to have the second. Whoever is very poor in receiving the word from the Bible cannot be rich in receiving the word from the Spirit. To obtain the word richly from the Spirit, one needs to receive the word of the Bible richly into himself. Hence, we declare that we need to read the Bible, understand the Bible, and remember its words. This is to allow the words of the Bible to be stored in us richly.
Dear brothers and sisters, not only prayer but the ministry of the Word also requires this deposit. If one who ministers the Word does not regularly store the words of the Bible within him, his ministry will not be powerful. When others minister on the same topic, the more they minister, the richer they are, and the more words flow out. When you minister, you cannot speak much, because you quickly exhaust your words. What is the reason? It is because you do not have a sufficient deposit inside. Therefore, everyone who ministers must be diligent to read the Bible.
A leading brother once conversed with me about the matter of ministering the Word. He said that there are two prerequisites to a proper ministry. First, there should be the rich, regular storing of the Word. Second, when the time comes, there should also be the ability to receive instant utterance, burden, and inspiration. After he had told us these two principles, he said, “Look at Brother A. When he speaks, you can tell that, although he has the inspiration, there is not enough storage in him to match the inspiration. Then look at Brother B. He really has an adequate supply within him, but he is not able to receive the instant inspiration. As a result, his ministering is very stiff.” That conversation left me with a very deep impression. Truly, a proper, powerful, and living ministry must possess both of these requirements: sufficient storage and the ability to receive instant inspiration.
These two steps apply not only to the ministering of the Word but also to prayer. We feel sorry for some brothers who always pray the same old words because they neither have the reserve nor the inspiration. What is the reserve? The reserve is the Lord’s word in the Bible having been stored in our being. What is inspiration? Inspiration is the Lord’s word received from the Spirit. Day by day, read the Bible thoroughly, proficiently, and properly. Receive and store it within you. Then when the time comes for you to minister or pray, as the Spirit moves in you, the inspiration will come and mingle with the reserve within you. Once you receive such inspiration, it is hard to say whether it is the word of the Bible or the word of the Spirit. You can say that the word of the Bible is the word of the Spirit and vice versa. At this point the Word has become spirit. We must, therefore, learn to receive the Lord’s word. Otherwise, we will not know how to minister or how to pray. If we want our ministering to be weighty and our prayers valuable and suitable to God’s heart, then it is absolutely essential that we learn to receive the Lord’s word.
I repeat, there are two steps in the receiving of the Lord’s word. One step is to read the Bible and receive the Lord’s word therein. The other is to be inspired and receive the Lord’s word in the spirit. The former requires the long-term effort of reading the Bible daily and thoroughly getting it into you. The latter requires you to be able to receive inspiration at any time. Thus, whenever inspiration comes, you will be able to express it with the words of the Bible that you have received. If you have this ability, then you are able to minister and to pray. First, take in the words of the Bible; then when inspiration comes, the words will become the words in the spirit. At that time what you pray forth is prayer, and what you speak forth is ministry.
Read the Scriptures well, and you will be able to pray well. But this does not mean that simply by being well-versed in the Scriptures, you will be able to pray very well. Some know the Bible by heart. In their prayer they can quote from Genesis to Revelation. But while listening to their praying, you realize that it is issuing altogether from their dead mind with dead letters and is not in life at all. This is not what we mean by receiving the word of the Lord. What we mean is that you must daily receive the word of the Bible into you through the Spirit. Then at a certain time, when you receive inspiration, the Holy Spirit will make the words that you received of the Bible His words. He will interpret and speak them once more into your spirit. Then these words will become spirit, the living word, and the word of life. This is what we mean by receiving the Lord’s word.
We have previously fellowshipped the matter of the spirit becoming the word. Now let us examine the matter of the Word becoming spirit. Words becoming spirit means that the words of the Bible that you have read, or the words of expounding the Bible that you have heard, have become spirit in you. The words that you have received will, at a certain time, become spirit in you. Brothers, please recall your experiences of prayer, and you will realize that a good, spiritual prayer is the issue of the Spirit of God mingling with you. You are not reciting the Bible but rather praying the words with which the Spirit has touched and moved you. What you pray is a mingling of the words of the Bible and of the Spirit. At this point the words that you have formerly received and stored in you will become the words in the Spirit. This means that the words in you have become spirit.
