Search
Scripture Reading: 2 Tim. 3:15; 2:2; Col. 3:16; 4:16; Psa. 119:147-148
The verses in the Scripture Reading above show us how to deal with the word in a balanced way. Psalm 119:147 speaks of rising in the morning, saying, “I anticipated the dawn and cried out; / I hoped in Your words.” Simpler translations, such as the New American Standard Bible, render the first phrase as, “I rise before dawn.”
There are two kinds of reactions to the message in the previous chapter concerning reading the Lord’s Word by exercising our spirit to take it as food. This is because there are at least two categories of people among us. One reaction is to say, “Hallelujah, praise the Lord! This is a release from burden and bondage.” Another reaction, however, is to be bothered by that message. Those who are bothered may not say anything, but their mentality is turning, and they ask, “Is there no need to know the Word? Is there no need to understand the Scriptures?” I sympathize with both kinds of brothers and sisters.
Consider how many ears we have. We have two ears, one on each of the two sides of our head. Is one bigger and the other smaller? No, they are of equal size. Likewise, we have two eyes of equal size and two nostrils of the same size. We also have two shoulders, two arms, and two hands, each on two sides. They are all balanced. We stand solidly and strongly because we have two legs and two feet. If we were made with one leg and one foot, we could not stand for long, and we would be shakable. We are not shakable, though, because we are balanced on two legs, not one. We can apply this principle to almost all things. In almost everything in the universe there is the principle of two for balance.
In contacting the Lord by reading the Word and by prayer, there is also the balance. Some say that the morning is the best time to come to the Word and pray, and some say that the evening is better. In this also there is a balance; we need the evening to balance the morning and the morning to balance the evening. In the previous message I stressed that we should not exercise the mind but exercise the spirit to pray about what we understand in the Word. I did this because people in Christianity have gone too far in one direction in an unbalanced way. That is why we must first do our best to bring people back.
Many brothers and sisters have gone too far in one direction in dealing with the word of the Lord. In Christianity many are careless about the word of God, so they are dead. A small number of Christians, however, care for the word so much that they are unbalanced. In their Bibles there are many notes and marks in different colors. I too have a number of Bibles like this. In a sense this is good, but in another sense it is not so good. Many have been spoiled by coming to the Bible in this way. Hosea 7:8 says, “Ephraim is a cake / Not turned.” The sisters who cook know that they must turn a cake. To cook the cake is good, but too much cooking on one side spoils it. Some younger believers are proud of the marks and notes in their Bible and are willing to show them off. Those notes, however, simply show that they are cooked too much on one side. They exercise their mind too much in reading and understanding the Word, and that spoils them.
Cooking is necessary, but it must be proper. Too much on one side spoils the cake. Have we realized that we may be cooked too much on one side? We may read much, but we do not pray much. We may know the word so much, but we do not pray much about the Word. We may read the Word, understand it, study it, and search, even research, it much by exercising our mind, but we may not pray much by exercising our spirit. Therefore, we are unbalanced. There is too much cooking on one side with respect to the Word.
Some Christians give up the Bible and leave it on the shelf. They do not touch it or even bring it to the meeting. They are unbalanced in this way. The Bibles of certain persons, however, especially of those who have a background of one-sided cooking, may have many notes and marks. They think, consider, and meditate on the verses. They are unbalanced in another way, and they may need to exchange their Bible for a new, clean one with no notes and marks. I say again, to cook a cake is not only right but necessary, but to cook it too much on one side is wrong. This is a “cake not turned.”
How many hours have we spent in reading, studying, searching, and researching the word? And how many hours have we spent in prayer? If in our Christian life we have spent ten thousand hours in reading, studying, searching, and researching the Word but only one hundred hours in prayer, we are in debt. We have a credit on one side and a debit on the other side, and the balance is wrong. If someone would say that he has spent ten thousand hours for reading and eleven thousand hours for prayer, I would praise the Lord for that. This is a small imbalance, but it is a credit, not a debit, of only one thousand hours. Some brothers, though, have no desire, no burden, and no “bondage.” They are one hundred percent “released” and “free.” They have a blank account with no credit and no debit. They say that it is too much to carry both a Bible and a hymnal, but they themselves carry neither a Bible nor a hymnal.
If we mean business with the Lord, if we seek Him, love Him, and desire to know Him, we need two ways to deal with His Word, and we need two ways to pray. The first way to deal with the Word is to come to feed on it, to take it as food. This is a basic, important matter. We may illustrate reading and feeding in this way: In order to eat, we must first go to the supermarket, buy the food, and then cook it. Then we have to sit down and eat it. To buy groceries is one thing, but to eat is another. Which is more important, to buy the food or to eat it? On the one hand, if we do not buy it, we will not have anything to eat; on the other hand, there is no point in buying it but not eating. Just as our two ears are equally important, both buying the food and eating it are just as important.
Why then did I stress eating the word in the previous message? It is because of the unbalanced situation in today’s Christianity, and perhaps among us also. We have been too much on one side, just “buying the groceries” and not eating them. In this message, however, I would like to stress buying and preparing the food. In order to have the proper eating, we have to do the shopping and the cooking. In other words, all the brothers and sisters need to learn how to read and study the Word.
A proper Christian who intends to lead a proper Christian life needs two times daily to deal with the Word, one for eating and the other for studying and learning. The first time is in the morning to eat the word. The other time may be at noon, in the evening, or late at night. This is especially true for a young Christian, a new convert who has just started to seek the Lord. More than thirty years ago I received the help that I needed to have two Bibles, a clean one without notes, marks, or diagrams, and another one with marks. In the morning when we come to contact the Lord by eating the word, we should use the clean Bible, and at the other time, when we come to study the Word, we should use the one with notes, marks, and diagrams.
In the Bible there are passages concerning the first way of coming to the Word. As we saw in the previous message, some verses show us that the word of God is food for our spirit. Jeremiah 15:16a says, “Your words were found and I ate them,” and 2 Timothy 3:16a says, “All Scripture is God-breathed.” This is one side. On the other side, there are the verses in the Scripture reading at the beginning of this message. Second Timothy 3:15 says, “From a babe you have known the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through the faith which is in Christ Jesus.” In Colossians 3:16 the apostle tells us to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, and in 4:16 he encouraged the church to read his epistles and to cause others also to read them. On this side, we must learn to study the Word.
In order to better study the Word, we should arrange a way to finish reading the entire Bible once a year. This requires that we read three chapters in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament each day. On the Lord’s Day, however, we can skip the reading of the chapter in the New Testament and just review what we read in the past six days. This is because there are three hundred sixty-five days in a year but only a little more than two hundred chapters in the New Testament. This is not a hard task. If we desire to do it, we will be able to. It takes about five minutes to read one chapter, eight minutes at most. We can test this by reading Genesis 1; five minutes is enough to read the whole chapter. This means that it will take only half an hour to read the four chapters. I would suggest that the young brothers and sisters obtain a pocket-sized Bible, or if that is too thick, buy a Bible and take it apart to separate the books. We may, for example, carry only the book of Genesis in our pocket, and while we are waiting for someone, we can open it and read a few chapters. This will save us time.
If we have the heart to do this, I have the assurance that we will be able. We should not say we are too busy. We are not too busy. Some brothers put a chapter in front of them and enjoy it while they are eating. That does not hurt their digestion; that helps it. We have the way to work it out. If a young believer were under my training, I would require him to read the Bible in a year.
Every day we should spend about half an hour in the morning to feed on the word. At this time we should not read too much. We simply should read and pray according to our understanding. This is the way to eat the word. Then every day we need another half hour to read three chapters of the Old Testament and one chapter of the New Testament, using a few minutes on the Lord’s Day to review what we read throughout the past week. Even in this kind of reading, we should stay in balance and not try to know too much. If we read three chapters in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament, we should not be tempted to do more. To be tempted to do more does not help; it only causes us to be cooked too much on one side—to be burned on one side and raw on the other. Rather, we should keep the rule of reading three chapters plus one.
When we take five to eight minutes for each chapter, we will learn something. Here again we can apply the principle that if there is something that we do not understand, we can just let it go. If we understand something, we understand it, but if we do not, we do not; we should leave it and not spend too much time there. However, I am sure that we will understand something. We can spontaneously keep in mind what we understand and remember it. By reading a chapter we will get the general idea, the general thought, of it. Then we can also keep that in mind. In the same principle, we should not try to remember more than we are able. If we simply read, spontaneously we will remember something. Over the long term, this will help us. If we practice these two kinds of reading—the reading to feed on the word and the reading to understand something—we will be wonderful Christians after only one year. We will have the proper and genuine knowledge with the adequate growth in life. This is the balanced way to deal with the Word.
Some may still say that they are too busy. I sympathize with them. I admit that some are busy, but they still have vacations. In their vacation time they can try their best to make up their account of the three chapters plus one daily. If someone is too busy for one week and has no time to read anything, then he loses twenty-seven chapters, but if he has a day of vacation on the following week, he can read these chapters. This will be easy. I am older than many of you, so the experience of my age allows me to say this. Many dear ones spend more time in reading secular writings, such as newspapers and magazines, than the Holy Scriptures. Therefore, to say that we have no time is a lie. If we have the heart, we can do this. If we will, we can. Do we not have even twenty minutes? We do have it.
If possible, we should buy Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible or Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible. We should also buy one of the better Bible dictionaries and a Greek text with an interlinear translation. We need these. However, we should not lose the time for reading the four chapters. We need to keep this account daily. If we do not finish the four chapters, we will lose something. Sometimes in the four chapters there may be some special terminology, such as reconciliation. There is no need to go to the dictionary right away; that will waste our time. We simply should keep the word in mind. Then at the end of the week we can go to the concordance or the dictionary to find the meaning. To gain understanding is for the long term; we cannot make it within a day. We do not need to drive ninety miles an hour; we simply should drive a few miles an hour over the long term. Eventually, we will arrive at the goal, but those who try to go too fast will not advance properly.
Over the long run we will grow in life, and we will have the capacity to know more. While we are growing, our capacity will increase. All the time we will be learning something, feeding on something, and growing in what we learn and in what we feed on. Again I say, this is a matter for the long term. We must learn to read and study the Word in this way. Then after a year’s time we will see the difference. We will be “cooked” on both sides adequately, properly, and in a balanced way, not like those who read the Word in an unbalanced, overcooked way. I hope that the churches will be built up in such a good condition that whenever new converts come in, we can immediately help them to deal with the Word in this way.
This way to deal with the Word is like walking with both feet, the right and the left foot one after the other. It is not like walking only on the right foot or only on the left. If we walk properly little by little, we will walk straightly and successfully. If we learn to deal with the Word in this way, just consider what kind of marvelous, wonderful Christians we will be. There is no need to go to the seminary. That is to put ourselves into the oven to be overcooked in an unbalanced way. There is no need to be in a hurry to know the Word. Rather, we must know the Word in a proper way.
We should train the new converts by fellowshipping with them about the proper way to deal with the word. We can tell them that starting on the following day they should eat the word, beginning, for example, with the Gospel of John. In addition, they should start reading three chapters of the Old Testament, beginning from Genesis 1, and one from the New Testament, beginning from Matthew 1. We can ask them to give us a report of their progress, if not monthly then at least quarterly. They should also stand in the meeting to give a testimony of how they have been feeding on the word and how they have been reading. They can tell people what chapters they have read and what chapters they have fed on. If we bring the new converts into this way, they will grow quickly.
There is no need to recommend a synopsis or exposition for the new ones. We can forget about that at first. Perhaps after half a year a few will come to say that there are many terms, phrases, and names in the Bible that they do not understand. Then we can tell them, “Do not try to understand too much. Simply read four chapters a day and feed on the Lord in the word every morning. Then understand whatever you understand.” In addition, though, we can give them Strong’s concordance as a gift, and after another half year we can give them Young’s concordance. In this way we will care for them gradually, just as a mother takes care of her family. Then one by one they will grow. A mother does not put all the food that she has into the mouth of her small child. Rather, she gives him the proper proportion daily, and after one, two, and eventually eighteen years, he grows up. This is the right way for the church as a family, a home, to bring up the new converts. Regrettably though, after many of us were saved, we did not have a proper home and family to take care of us. If we all learn this proper way, we will lay a foundation for the proper church life. Just as a sister who is trained under her mother knows how to care for her children, we also will be able to care properly for the new ones who are brought in among us.
How poor today’s Christianity is. Almost nothing proper has been built up there. People establish seminaries and Bible colleges, and some attend them to learn a trade, a profession. However, I have no intention to criticize. My intention is that we learn the proper way to deal with the Word. The way that we have fellowshipped here is the proper way. All the responsible brothers and sisters who take the lead need to practice this way. On the one hand, they need to learn this, and on the other hand, they need to set up an example.
The proper way is that we first feed on the word so that our spirit will be nourished. Then we study, we learn the word, so that our mind may be renewed and enlightened. We are not beings who are only spirit, like the angels. We are persons with a spirit and a mind. For our spirit we need nourishment, and for our mind we need enlightenment, teaching, and education. We should not be unbalanced. We have to be balanced. In this way our mind will be enlightened day by day by learning the word, and also our spirit will be nourished day by day by feeding on the word. We need to practice these two sides.
Likewise, there are two ways to pray. One way is to breathe in the Lord. In this kind of prayer we should care not for affairs or business but for breathing. We can pray in this way at the same time that we feed on the word. As we have said, to feed on the word requires much prayer, contacting the Lord by thanking, praising, and praying with what we understand from the Word. This “hits two birds with one stone”; on the one hand, we feed on the word, and on the other hand, we breathe in the Lord. Every morning we should not pray for affairs, burdens, or needs; we simply leave those to the Lord. Rather, early in the morning we need to contact the Lord by breathing Him in. We read His Word, understand something, and put it into prayer to digest what we read by prayer. This kind of digestion is both to feed on the word and to breathe in the Lord.
In our morning watch, it is better not to pray for affairs, business, or needs. We simply pray to breathe in the Lord, look unto Him, contact Him, praise Him, thank Him, and have a talk with Him. We should learn to forget about our needs and simply praise Him for His kindness, goodness, greatness, and for so many other aspects.
We also need another kind of prayer. Before or after noon, in the evening, or even at night, we need a time to bring all our burdens to the Lord. This is the time to pray for affairs, business, and needs, to discharge our burdens, to pray to tell the Lord whatever is on our heart or in our environment. If possible, we should do this daily. In whatever we do or need, we must speak with the Lord first; we have to tell the Lord. Sometimes we have to thank Him for His answers, and sometimes we have to remind Him of His promises. This is easy to teach, but it requires our entire lifetime to practice.
If we are a proper Christian, then even when we go to buy a pair of shoes, we have to tell the Lord. On the one hand, the Lord will take care of everything that we need. On the other hand, though, in everything that we need and do it is better to tell the Lord first. This will not only bring many answers from the Lord and many blessings, but it will also help us to grow.
We need to put all these things into practice. We should keep the rule of spending twenty to thirty minutes with the Lord every morning, forgetting about and not caring for our needs, but simply praising Him, thanking Him, contacting Him, and digesting the word by praying about what we understand from our reading, in order to fellowship with Him. Then later in the day we must find a time to tell the Lord. Some may say that here again is the problem of time. Again I say, if we will to do this, we can. While we are driving, we can say, “Lord, I need a pair of shoes.” Simply tell the Lord in this way. You may say, “Lord, next week I will go north to visit some people. Please prepare their hearts.” This is easy. The Lord is not a judge, so we do not have to go to court with prepared phrases, sentences, and terminology. There is no need to do this. We can talk with the Lord in any place, under any kind of circumstances, and with any kinds of terms, expressions, and utterances. We must learn to pray in this way. If possible, of course, it is good to find a time to be alone with the Lord, but often time does not allow us to do this; however, we can still pray.
We need the morning, and we also need the evening. In the morning we have to contact the Lord, and in the evening we also have to do something with the Lord. This is the balance. The proper Christian life is a life to contact the Lord in the morning and spend time with Him in the evening.
There is another need for balance. We need to pray privately, and we also need to pray publicly. If we can only pray privately but not publicly, we cannot grow adequately. Some brothers like to pray only publicly. They say that they cannot pray by themselves. This is to be lazy. They must also practice to pray privately. However, some, especially sisters, do not pray publicly. If their voices are never heard in the public meetings, they are a “cake not turned.” Some Chinese brothers and sisters make the excuse that they cannot express themselves in a foreign language. In this case, I would suggest that they pray in their own language. No one will be bothered. In Taiwan we sometimes had prayers in Japanese, Mandarin, and other dialects. In Taipei we can hear many dialects during the prayer. We need to utter something publicly.
We need all of the above balances: the balance in reading the Word, the balance in prayer, the balance in our morning and evening, and the balance in public and private prayer. If we have the proper balance, we will grow. I am not passing on more doctrines. Rather, if we will take this word as an instruction and put it into practice, we will see wonderful progress within only one month. This will be a great help for our times together; it will prepare us very well and even change us. I would ask that we would earnestly promise to do this. We must try to read the Word and pray, spend time in the morning and the evening, and have the proper Christian activity in private and in public in a balanced way.
I do not like to be legalistic, but it helps to make a decision. It would be good to make the decision to spend at least twenty to thirty minutes to contact the Lord by feeding on His word, to read three chapters plus one daily, to pray publicly once a week, and to give a testimony in the church once a month. This would be very helpful. Make a decision with the Lord to practice this way. Then we will see the growth, and we will drop the excuses. I am not criticizing or condemning, but I am sorry to say that week after week and month after month we can never hear certain ones’ voices in prayer or in testimony. Therefore, we need this kind of encouragement. We must try to make these four decisions: every morning to feed on the word to contact the Lord, every day to read four chapters, every week to pray one public prayer, and every month to give a testimony in the meeting. Then we will see the change.
Sometimes in our trainings we have helped the young brothers and sisters to keep a record of how many times a day they are under the regulation of the inner law and to record how many times they have the inner anointing. In 1949 when we started the work in Taiwan, we printed forms related to these matters and gave them to the new converts to fill out. This practice truly helps people; otherwise, we are too loose. Still I do not like to be legalistic. I like to give people the freedom. However, I hope we will be a little strict with ourselves. Then we will receive the help and bring in the blessing.
