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Many saints acknowledge that pray-reading is simple and practical, and they testify that pray-reading fills them with satisfaction when they touch the Lord. Presently, our practice is in a beginning stage, but as we go deeper and progress further, we will realize that pray-reading is not a rigid matter; there are many details that we need to consider.
The more we practice pray-reading and the more we touch the Lord’s word, the more we grow. This fellowship is not based on human imagination, nor is it just a theory; rather, it is based on experiences gained through practice. To pray-read means to turn the word of the Lord into prayer while reading the Bible. Although it is simple to practice, it involves many items. In this chapter we will fellowship about some of these items.
The Bible is the word of the Lord, and it provides life as spiritual food to man. It contains many elements. A good meal includes various dishes, such as fish, meat, and vegetables, but cooking a meal is not always easy. For example, simmering meat in a soup or frying it in a pan will produce different results. Different foods also require different cooking methods. Even eating food involves the use of different utensils. Western cuisine is eaten with a knife and a fork, whereas Chinese food is eaten with a pair of chopsticks. Different utensils require different ways of eating. Likewise, there are also many details related to “cooking” and enjoying the word of the Lord.
The words in the Bible can be categorized in many ways, and we need to consider and digest the riches contained in these words. There is not a single, uniform method that we can use to digest the words in these various categories; rather, we should digest them according to their differences. Just as different types of food require different ways of eating and different utensils, different categories of words in the Bible also require different ways of digestion. This is a general principle. The words in the Bible can be divided into many different categories, but we will cover only a few prominent categories.
The first category of words in the Bible concerns the Lord’s person and work. The Bible reveals the person of the Lord, and it also shows the Lord’s acts and deeds, His work. Whenever we touch words in this category, we need to worship, praise, and give thanks. For example, John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” and verse 14 says, “The Word became flesh.” These verses speak of the person of the Lord. We need to digest and assimilate these words in prayer through worship, praise, and thanksgiving. We can say, “Lord, You are the Word that was in the beginning; You are worthy of our worship. Lord, You were with God, and You are God. We praise and worship You.” We need to use words of worship, praise, and thanksgiving to digest the words concerning the person and work of the Lord.
When the Lord ate the bread and drank the cup with the disciples, He broke the bread and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is My body.” And He took a cup and gave thanks, and He gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many for forgiveness of sins” (Matt. 26:26-28). When we read these verses concerning His work, we need to pray with praise, saying, “Lord, we praise You. Thank You for giving up Your body for us and for shedding Your precious blood to establish a new covenant so that our sins could be forgiven.” We need to turn the Lord’s word into prayer with a spirit of worship, praise, and thanksgiving in order to digest the Lord Himself and to receive Him with His work.
After receiving, we can enjoy what He is and what He has done. The Lord’s word is the bread of life, the living water, light, and life for our enjoyment. For example, when we see that the Lord stretched out His hand to touch the leper and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed!” (Luke 5:13), we need to say, “You are the Lord who is able to cleanse people. I worship and praise You. I receive You as such a Lord into my being. Remove all my uncleanness. Thank You for being willing to stretch out Your hand to touch and cleanse me. Lord, please touch me and cleanse me.” This is to enjoy the Lord’s person and work. With regard to words concerning His person and work, we need to worship, praise, receive, and enjoy.
The second category of words in the Bible concerns our living and conduct. When we read such words, we need to receive their teaching and correction. For example, there are many places in the Bible that speak of our need to be humble, meek, or watchful. Some portions tell us that we need to honor our parents, nurture our children, and deal with others properly in the Lord. There are numerous portions in the Bible concerning our living and conduct. When we read such words, we need to receive their teaching and correction. These words also have the ability to enlighten us. When we receive their enlightenment, we are receiving the Lord’s correction and teaching. After we receive the Lord’s teaching, we should confess our impotence, saying, “Lord, this is Your command, but I am unable to do it. I need to receive You into my being.” We must confess our impotence to fulfill His words and teachings, and then we must receive the Lord as our power to fulfill them. We need to say, “Lord, I cannot do this. I cannot make it, but I want to receive You into my being. Lord, be my inward strength to keep Your word.”
Romans 12:11 says, “Do not be slothful in zeal.” As soon as we read this word, there is correction. We should not think that we have no need of correction because we love the Lord, know the Lord, and enjoy the riches of the Lord. According to experience, we need these teachings. Although we have been saved and are enjoying the Lord and tasting His riches, we still need to see that we are very slothful. We need the correction that comes through the Lord’s word. We are short in meeting many of the Lord’s commands. Even in reading the Bible and in praying, we are lacking in zeal. When we touch these words, we can pray, “Lord, in my practical living I am still slothful and lacking in zeal. I cannot meet this demand. Only You are not lacking in zeal. Be the One keeping this word in me.”
When we read words concerning our living and conduct, we need to receive their correction, we need to confess our inability to meet these requirements, and we need to receive the Lord as our power. We must digest these words in this way. Even those who have been recently saved can digest words in this category with simple prayers. They can say, “Lord, I thank and praise You. Your Word says that we should not be slothful in zeal. Supply me so that I am not slothful in zeal.” Even this simple prayer will have impact. We must come before the Lord, confess our shortage, receive His correction, and acknowledge that we are unable to keep His word. Our willing and our running do not work (9:16), but we can still say, “Lord, only You can keep these words. If You do not come into me, I cannot do it. I want to receive You into my being as the power to keep these words.”
There are many portions in the Bible that speak of God’s plan, work, and purpose. Whenever we read such words, we need to praise Him. This also shows a proper attitude of fear before the Lord. We should praise God for His plan, His work, and His determined will to gain the church as His glorious purpose. After praising, we need to intercede. For example, when we read of “the church...His Body” (Eph. 1:22-23), we need to praise the Lord and say, “You have purposed that the church would be Your Body. You are the Head, and the church is Your Body. We are joined together in life, just as the head and the body are joined together.” Then we should intercede, saying, “Lord, cause the church to be manifested as the Body, with the function and measure of the Body.” This is to intercede for the church. After we praise and intercede, we need to inquire of the Lord, saying, “As a member of Your Body, how should I function? What responsibility should I bear? How should I be joined with others in Your Body?”
Matthew 24:14, which speaks of God’s purpose and plan related to the gospel, says, “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole inhabited earth.” After reading this, we can pray, “Lord, praise You that You have purposed and revealed that the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole inhabited earth.” Then we can intercede, saying, “Lord, there are still many places where the gospel has not been preached. The gospel has not even been preached thoroughly in the areas surrounding my locality. Lord, cause the preaching of Your gospel to spread further to reach more places.” Last, we can inquire, asking, “Lord, what responsibility should I bear toward Your gospel? How should I participate in its spread?” When we read portions concerning God’s plan, work, and gospel, we need to praise, intercede, and eventually inquire of the Lord.
Another category of words in the Bible concerns words of direct enlightenment. These are words that specifically shine upon us. When we read words in the Bible that shine upon us, we need to have a receiving spirit. In our prayer we should express our willingness to receive the light. For example, the Lord said to the disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself” (16:24). This seems to be a word of teaching and instruction, but it can also shine upon us to expose our unwillingness to deny ourselves. There are also words of exhortation in the Bible. For example, James 1:21 speaks of “putting away all filthiness.” Under the shining of this word, we may realize the need to keep ourselves pure before the Lord. We can be enlightened concerning our condition when we read words of exhortation, and when we are enlightened, we need to pray, confessing our mistakes to receive the benefit of the enlightenment. It is not enough to pray, “Lord, thank You for showing me that I should deny myself and put away all filthiness”; we also need to accept the Lord’s enlightenment, saying, “Lord, in the light of Your word, I see that I still love myself. I do not even abhor what is filthy in me. I still am full of filthy things that have not been put away completely.” When we encounter the Lord’s direct enlightenment in our reading of His words, we need to respond.
After we receive enlightenment, we need to confess our sins. This is necessary. Words of enlightenment will cause us to see our shortages and to sense our need of confession. After we confess, we should seek forgiveness and apply the efficacy of the Lord’s precious blood by faith so that we can go on, knowing that God has forgiven us.
Another category of words in the Bible concerns our responsibility before God, or God’s requirement of us. When we read such words, we should express our willingness to meet the Lord’s requirement. For example, the Bible explicitly says that we need to leave all and follow the Lord (cf. Matt. 19:27-28) and that we need to present our “bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing to God,” which is our reasonable service (Rom. 12:1). Words like these speak of God’s requirements and of our responsibility to fulfill them. Therefore, when we pray-read such words, we need to express our willingness to meet these requirements and to pay the price. We cannot read these words with an unwilling attitude. We should even acknowledge our agreement to the Lord, saying, “You have asked us to present our bodies, and I am presenting my body. You have asked us to leave all, and I am willing to say yes.” After we express our willingness, we also need to entrust ourselves to Him, saying, “Even though I am willing, I cannot do this by myself. I entrust myself to Your hand and to Your ability to fulfill it in me. Be my supply.” We need to utter words of agreement and dependence in order to digest these requirements and responsibilities.
There are also words concerning our fellowship with the Lord, such as waiting for God (Psa. 130:5-6), panting for God, thirsting for God, and appearing before God (42:1-2). These words help us to fellowship with God, cause us to rejoice, and allow us to see God’s light in fellowship. As we are digesting words related to fellowship, we should have the same attitude of those who uttered these words, praying to the Lord with the same words: “My soul pants for You, O God. Here I wait for You. I come and appear before You.” We should utter and digest words of fellowship with the same attitude, the same spirit, and the same words as those who spoke these words in the Bible.
There are many patterns mentioned in the Bible, such as Abraham and Enoch in the Old Testament and the apostles in the New Testament. When we read words concerning patterns, we need to thank God for the patterns. For example, the Bible speaks of how Paul was faithful, lived before God, did not account his own life as precious for the gospel of God, and cared for and loved the church. When we read these words, we need to pray, “Thank You for giving us such a pattern. You chose Paul, and You equipped him, supplied him, established him, and presented him as a pattern for us.” Then we need to ask for grace to follow these patterns, saying, “Lord, I am willing to receive the same grace. If it pleases You, grant me the same grace so that I may follow Paul’s pattern.” We should praise, and then we should beseech the Lord concerning our willingness to receive the same grace.
There are also words in the Bible concerning God’s promises. When we read words of promise, we need to give thanks in order to digest these words. We need to thank the Lord and say, “Thank You for giving us these precious, sweet, and rich promises. Thank You for these words.” Then, with an attitude of receiving, we need to say, “Lord, I want to receive these promises.” However, we also need to acknowledge our limited faith, even our inability to believe. Since we do not have the ability in ourselves to believe, we need to say, “Lord, all my believing ability comes from You. I am unable to believe Your promises in myself. I need You to be my believing ability. I entrust myself to You and receive You into me as my believing ability.” We should praise and thank the Lord for His words of promise, and then we should receive His words with a believing attitude by acknowledging Him as the believing One in us.
I hope that the saints will receive more help to enjoy the supply of the divine word in the Bible through pray-reading in this way.
