In this message I would like to point out the correspondence between the vision in Rev. 12 and the book of Ephesians. In Revelation 12 we all have been impressed with the vision of the woman with her stronger part, the man-child, fighting against the enemy by means of the word. In the book of Ephesians we also have the woman. As we all know, Ephesians is a book on the church, which is the greater part of the woman in Revelation 12. In Ephesians this woman is the wife of Christ.
In Eph. 3:16 Paul prayed that the Father would grant us, “according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man.” This strengthening takes place in our inner man, which is our regenerated spirit indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The more we are strengthened in our inner man, the more we become the stronger part within the woman. The key to becoming the stronger part within the woman is being strengthened in our inner man. In verse 18 Paul continues to pray that we would “be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth.” Although the King James Version uses the word able, the Greek word translated able means to be strengthened with power. We must be empowered to know the dimensions of the riches of our Christ. In order to be the man-child, we must be not only strengthened in our inner man, but also nourished with all the riches of Christ. Furthermore, Ephesians 6:10 tells us to “be empowered in the Lord and in the might of His strength.” According to this chapter, the way to be strong is to put on the whole armor of God (vv. 11, 13), which is the all-inclusive Christ. To put on the whole armor of God is to put the all-inclusive Christ upon us. Every aspect of the all-inclusive Christ must become our covering. Thus, in Ephesians 3:16 and 18 and 6:10 and 11, we see that the way to become the stronger part within the woman is to be strengthened in our inner man, to be empowered to experience the riches of Christ, and to be strong through putting on the all-inclusive Christ as our armor. Hence, in the book of Ephesians we find the aspects of both the woman and the man-child.
In the book of Ephesians we also have the warfare against spiritual darkness, against the principalities and powers in the heavenlies (Eph. 6:12). These evil powers are, of course, the powers of the enemy, Satan. Therefore, in this book we see not only the woman and the man-child, but also the third party, Satan, the serpent. Ephesians reveals that a warfare is raging between the stronger part within the woman and the enemy and, furthermore, that this fighting is carried on by praying. The way the man-child fights against the enemy is by prayer. Eventually, the entire book of Ephesians brings us to one climactic point — watching and praying.
At this point we need to present a literal translation of Ephesians 6:17 and 18. “And receive the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit, and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints.” According to these verses, the way to fight is to take the word of God by means of all prayer. We should not simply have one way of prayer, but every means of prayer, exercising our spirit to pray in various ways to take the word of God. This portion of the Bible speaks about pray-reading, about taking the word of God by means of all prayer. It is of no avail to fight against the enemy with our own thoughts and words. We cannot use our mind or utterance to do battle against him. The most effective way to war against the enemy is to pray-read the Word, and the best portion of the Word to pray-read is the book of Ephesians. If you pray-read this book in a concentrated way for a period of time, you will be strengthened. Instead of trying to understand the book of Ephesians, you should pray-read it, even covering the whole book in two weeks. If you do this, you will be able to testify that you are becoming the stronger part within the woman.
The word in John 6 is for nourishing. In John 6:57 the Lord said, “He who eats Me shall also live because of Me,” and in 6:63 He said, “The words which I have spoken unto you are spirit and are life.” The word in John 6 is for nourishing, whereas the word in Ephesians 6 is mainly for killing. The word in John 6 is bread, but the word in Ephesians 6 is a sword. A sword does not nourish; rather, it kills. But this sword does not kill you — it slays the enemy and all the negative things within you. If we would fight against the principalities and powers in the heavenlies, we must firstly kill all the “bugs” within us.
You may wonder what these “bugs” are. Speaking in terms of doctrine, you may say that these “bugs” are your mind, emotion, and will. But to be practical, the “bugs” that most need to be killed are our opinions. We need an intensified enlightenment to see that we are filled with opinions. When you listen to a message, fellowship with the saints, or read the Bible, you cling to many opinions and concepts. Nearly every saint holds on to some opinion or concept. My point here is this: If we would be the stronger part in the woman, fighting against the enemy by praying, we must take the word of God by renouncing every opinion. In other words, the way to take the word of God by pray-reading is to have our opinions slain. In message eighty-seven of the life-study of Genesis we pointed out that to keep the word of the Lord means to take in the Lord and to have all our opinions killed. If it were not for the Lord’s mercy, we would all frustrate the word of the Lord by our opinions. How we need to pray-read the killing word, the word that kills our opinions and concepts!
In my experience in the church life, many times I have frustrated the Lord by my opinions. The problem with everyone in the Lord’s recovery is this matter of opinions. I am not saying that we should be without feeling, like a wooden log. When you come to the Word, as a living person who is strong in thought, feeling, and judgment, you must ask the Lord to slay your opinions. Not many saints have prayed in this way. But we must say, “Lord, I am about to pray-read Your word. Lord, kill my opinions.” What has frustrated you from being built up with others is not mainly your weakness or even your worldliness — it is your opinions. We all have a heart to love the Lord and a desire to be built up into the church. Often, however, the outcome has not been according to our desire. Some have been in the church life for more than ten years, but they are still not a part of the actual building. Although they are very close to the building, they are detached from it. No matter how close they are to the building, they are not actually built into it. Their opinions have hindered them from being built up with others. Thus, we all must pray, “Lord, I want to be strengthened in my inner man; I want to be empowered to realize the riches of Christ; and I want to be strong by putting on the whole armor of God. But my problem is that I haven’t yet allowed Your word to kill my opinions.”
Occasionally, some friends have asked me why I receive so much light from the Word and why they receive very little. Although we read the same Bible, they do not receive much light. Here is the secret to receiving light from the Word: Allow the Word to kill your opinions. Many read the Word in a selective way, taking whatever matches their opinion and rejecting whatever does not match it. Genuine pray-reading, on the contrary, is taking the Word itself and letting it kill your opinions. Ephesians 6 does tell us the way to pray-read. It is to take the Word by means of all prayer. As we pray-read, the first thing the Word will do is kill our opinions. If you do not allow the Word to slay your opinions, you will not be able to reach the enemy in the air to do battle with him. Our experience proves that pray-reading does not firstly nourish us; it firstly kills our opinions. Every time we have some practical pray-reading, our opinions are put to death.
You may be wondering what your opinions are. The brothers hold on to one opinion, and their wives hold on to a different opinion. You may think that you are a good husband, but you do not realize how strongly you cling to your opinions in relation to your wife. You love her and you may rarely argue with her, but, deep within, you treasure opinions that differ from hers. Of course, the same is true with the wives. Therefore, the husbands and wives hold to different concepts. As a result, they have not only been hindered from being built up with the brothers and sisters in the church life, but they have not even been built up with each other in their married life. Although you and your wife may have been saved for many years and may have spent those years loving the Lord and seeking the truth, up until this very moment you may still be clinging to your opinions. You love the Lord, you love the church, and you love each other, but you still hold to your opinions. And these opinions hinder you from being built up in the church.
Every one of us is opinionated. I confess that I used to be very opinionated, but I praise the Lord that my opinions have undergone a good deal of killing. Although I do not boast that I do not hold on to anything, I can say that, by His killing, it is difficult for me to cling to anything. According to the implication of Ephesians 6, by pray-reading we take the killing word as the sword that is able to slay all our opinions.
If we hold to our opinions, we shall not be able to put on Christ as our armor. In order to put on the whole armor of God, our opinions must be killed. Instead of having Christ as their armor, many have their various opinions. Their thinking, desiring, and choosing are governed by their opinions. Because they have all these opinions, they do not have the whole armor of God. They may have opinions in their mind, but they do not have Christ as their helmet covering their head. The only way to put on the helmet of salvation as our covering is to have our opinions and concepts subdued and killed. We need to pray, “O Lord, have mercy on me and slay my thoughts, opinions, and concepts.” If we sincerely pray in this way, we shall be under the covering of the helmet. The same is true with respect to the breastplate. You may have your own tastes and choices, and you may be strong in certain likes and dislikes. But if this is your condition, you cannot put on the breastplate. Only when your choice is killed will you be able to put on Christ as your breastplate to cover your conscience.
Although I knew Ephesians 6 in a doctrinal way years ago, I thank the Lord that today I know this chapter in the way of experience. I have seen that, if we would put on the all-inclusive Christ as the whole armor of God, all our thoughts, concepts, opinions, affections, and choices must be put to death. Only then shall we be completely under the covering of the all-inclusive Christ. Having this armor upon us, we shall be able to fight the evil powers in the heavenlies.
Many are disqualified from fighting against the principalities and powers in the heavenlies because they are entangled by their concepts, opinions, and choices. The only fight they know is the fight within themselves, not the warfare in the air. They are not able to get out of themselves and penetrate into the enemy’s territory in the air. They are like a fighter plane that is grounded because of bad weather. This “bad weather” is the self, full of opinions, choices, intentions, decisions, likes, and dislikes. Because many are entangled with these things and thus have not put on the all-inclusive Christ as the armor to cover and equip them, they cannot soar into the air to war against the enemy in the heavenlies. Rather, they are still enveloped in all their own opinions and concepts.
In Revelation 12 we have the vision, and in Ephesians we have the practical way to come into the experience of this vision. Although Revelation 12 unveils the stronger part within the woman, it does not give us the way to become this stronger part. The way, unfolded in the book of Ephesians, is to be strengthened in our inner man, to be empowered to experience the riches of Christ, and to be strong through putting on the armor of God by pray-reading the killing word. The word we take in by pray-reading will kill every negative element in our being. The more these negative elements are killed, the more we shall be equipped with the armor of God. After we have been thus equipped, we shall be able to take off from the ground and fight against the principalities and powers in the heavenlies. Hence, the way to fight the battle as the man-child is found in Ephesians 6.
Because I realize that everyone in the churches in the Lord’s recovery loves the Lord, I have been burdened to fellowship with you in this way. Although you love the Lord, you still have many opinions that need to be killed. The killing word must do its work within us. This cannot happen by teaching or by listening to messages; it is the result of a proper pray-reading of the Word. As word after word penetrates into our being, our opinions, concepts, desires, and choices are slain. I suggest that you take two weeks to prove this by pray-reading the entire book of Ephesians. This pray-reading will expose all your opinions and concepts, and it will bring you to the point where you will be willing to renounce them all. Then you will be able to say, “In the church life with the brothers and sisters and in my married life, I do not hold on to any opinions. Lord, because I am no longer entangled by anything on earth, at any moment I can take off from the ground and soar into the heavenlies to fight against the enemy. Nothing can hold me down.” If you pray-read the book of Ephesians, you will see where you are and you will know what you need.
