What is the old way of knowledge? We may illustrate this with John 1:1, which says, “In the beginning was the Word.” If a person who reads this verse studies it only with his mind, he will ask what “in the beginning” is. When is “the beginning”? What does “the beginning” mean? As a result, he may go to check with the dictionary and discover that in Chinese there is only “in the ancient times” and not “in the beginning.” We may use another example in which a person reads Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” He may ask, “What is this God? How did He create the heavens and the earth?” As a result, after thinking for half a day, he still will not understand anything. This is the old way of knowledge, a natural and lifeless way of reading. A person may read the Bible for half a year or a full year and not receive any life at all.
It is this old way of knowledge that we have to reject. When we open the Bible, we should care for nothing else. The Bible says, “In the beginning,” and we should follow to say, “In the beginning. Amen, in the beginning. Amen! Oh, the beginning is the starting point. In the beginning was the Word. Amen! Oh, at the starting point was the Word. Amen! The Word was God. Praise the Lord, at the starting point was God! Oh, in the beginning was God, and God is the starting point, the origin, and the source!” If we read in this way, we will receive life. We can use another example. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” We may pray, “Oh, God created. Praise the Lord, God did not form or make the heavens and the earth, but He created them! Oh, God created the heavens. God created the earth. Eventually, He created me!” In this way the Bible, the word of God, is applied to us. This is the proper way to read the Bible, reading it in the way of life.
Over thirty years ago we began to have a “life-study” of the Bible. Previously such a thing could not be found in the history of Christianity. From that day onward, our study of the Bible has been a study in life, not in knowledge. We study with our spirit, not with our mind, and we study by prayer, not by thinking. If we study by thinking, we would use our mind to explain. This is the old way of knowledge. Instead, we study with our spirit, which requires us to pray. What do we pray with? We pray with the Scriptures that we read. For example, in the sentence, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” there are five excellent words or phrases: “in the beginning,” “God,” “created,” “the heavens,” and “the earth.” Although we do not read mainly with our mind, this does not mean that we do not use our mind at all. We still have to use our mind to understand the text. We need to understand the literal meaning of this sentence—“in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”—by using our mind. Therefore, when we read the Bible, we read with our eyes, then comprehend with our mind, and then receive what we read with our spirit.
Reading with the eyes, comprehending with the mind, and receiving with the spirit are the three steps of reading the Bible. A big mistake of the old way of knowledge in general is that after people read with their eyes, they think too much with their mind without going on to the third step of receiving with their spirit. The ones who read in this way do not seem to have a spirit, or their spirit seems to be dead, so they rely entirely on their mind. Consequently, after studying for a long period of time, they are killed and do not receive any life supply. Whatever we do, we need to use the right organ. Therefore, when we read a verse like Genesis 1:1, we read first with our eyes, we understand the text with our mind, and then we receive and assimilate these words with our spirit. How do we use the spirit? It is by praying. We can compare this to walking. Can we forget about our legs and use our nose, ears, shoulders, or head to walk? We all would say that this is foolish. In order to walk we must use our legs. When we step out with our legs, we spontaneously are walking. It is the same with spiritual matters. Once we pray, we are using our spirit: “O Lord Jesus! In the beginning. Oh, in the beginning God! God created. Oh, God created the heavens, the earth, and man! God also created me. Thank You, God, You created the heavens and the earth, and You also created me.” In this way our spirit is activated.
When we are sad, we should not try to listen to joyful messages. The more we listen to them, the sadder we may become. Neither should we use our mind to look for some verses in the Bible about rejoicing. We simply need to open up the Bible. When we read, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” we can say to the Lord, “O Lord, in the beginning! O Lord! In the beginning! In the beginning God created.” Once we use our spirit in this way to touch God, we will spontaneously rejoice. It is not by reading the word rejoice that we rejoice. Rather, we rejoice when we use the spirit to touch God. Similarly, some people say that Christians should have power, but we do not have power by talking about power. Instead, power comes from our touching God through pray-reading. This is a very wonderful matter.
In the past some people said that what we are saying here is merely a kind of psychology. They say that when a person calls on the Lord and pray-reads, he is only emotionally released and uplifted. If this is only psychological, they can try praying to George Washington, calling, “George! O George! O Washington!” He can also try calling on Confucius or a popular Chinese idol to see if he will receive an inner feeling. It is remarkable that the more a person calls on an idol or George Washington, the less of a joyful feeling he has. However, when he calls, “O Lord Jesus! O Lord Jesus!” the more joyful and powerful he feels within. This is absolutely not a matter of mental response, because calling other names has no effect. Only by our calling on the unique name of the Lord Jesus will something happen inwardly.
If pray-reading is entirely a matter of mental response, a person can also try to pray-read the newspaper and see what happens. For example, a newspaper headline may read, “Government decides to suspend foreign exchange controls.” One can start to read aloud, “Oh, foreign exchange controls! Government suspended!” Consider what the result will be. However, if we open up the Bible, even only to Matthew 1 which contains the genealogy of Jesus Christ, we can pray-read, “Abraham begot Isaac, and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers.” If we pray-read in this way, we will all be enlivened.
We all must realize that in order to use our spirit we have to pray. If we do not pray, we will have no way to use our spirit. It is impossible to use our spirit with our mouth shut and our eyes closed. Suppose I try to walk, but my two feet determine not to move. No matter how hard you command me to walk, it will be futile. As long as you use your spirit to pray, that is sufficient. It is not necessary to continually command ourselves to move our legs; as long as we walk, we are moving our legs. Similarly, it is not necessary to cry and shout in order to pray. Even if we speak to the Lord gently from within, “O Lord Jesus, O Lord Jesus, O Lord Jesus,” our spirit will be activated. Once we pray, our spirit moves.
I hope that every time we lead a home meeting, we will do this. Then others will spontaneously follow. A mother teaches her child to speak not by reasoning but by speaking to him directly. When she says, “A rubber ball,” the child says, “A rubber ball.” When she says, “Play the ball,” the child says, “Play the ball.” When she says, “Kick the ball,” the child says, “Kick the ball.” As the child gradually understands, he will speak. Then when he grows older, he can speak everything. He will know how to say something even though no one has taught him to say it. This is very wonderful. Do not worry that you and other people do not understand the Bible. You simply need to pray and pray-read more and teach others to do the same. Then spontaneously and gradually they will understand.
We have to exercise to rely less on our mind and more on our spirit, rejecting the old way of knowledge and paying attention to the new way of life, by pushing out the word we read, sentence by sentence, by the spirit which brings life. Life is Christ, and Christ is in our spirit. When we use our spirit and push out our spirit, Christ is brought out. By using the spirit which brings life, we can push out the Spirit of God. Here we need to “push” and not merely to think. In this way we can touch others’ spirit so that they may receive the pneumatic Christ as the life supply.
We need to learn this particularly when we read with others in the home meetings. We must exercise to depend less on the mind and more on our spirit, reading sentence after sentence. Not only should we read the words, but we also need to use our spirit and push out our spirit to turn the words into prayer, which will bring forth Christ. Then our spirit will touch others’ spirit. When we use our spirit to read the Scriptures to others, this kind of reading will touch the spirit in them. This will affect them. We all need to learn to pray and read the Bible with our spirit to push out the word. The word entering into others will become the Spirit, which touches the spirit within them so that they can gain Christ in the spirit as the life supply. This is very important.
The Bible verses in Life Lessons may not be quoted in their entirety but only in part, economically according to the need. Therefore, the verses are quoted concisely, not too much or too little, and adequately, being most suitable for the new believers. Furthermore, their explanations are both concise and adequate, having no need for further explanation. The only need is to repeat-read and emphasize-read. To repeat-read is to read with repetition, and to emphasize-read is to read with stress.
Besides repeat-reading and emphasize-reading, we also need to “vitalize-read.” To vitalize-read is to do what we mentioned before in the example of Genesis 1:1. As we read this verse, we can give thanks to God, thanking Him for creating the heavens, the earth, you, and me. Reading in this way will vitalize us. This is to apply the word in a flexible way without diverging from the subject and main points. We have seen the need to repeat-read, emphasize-read, and vitalize-read. Now we also have to add pray-reading.
If we want to read the Bible in a living way, none of these four ways of reading can be omitted. For example, when we read a verse and find it very good, we can first repeat-read it, then emphasize-read it, then vitalize-read it, and then pray-read it. These four ways combined together form an effective method for reading. Pray-reading contains repeat-reading, emphasize-reading, and vitalize-reading. These four ways mingled together is the best reading method. This does not come merely from our thinking but from our experience.
In the home meetings, hymns are also indispensable. Hence, there is a hymn attached to every lesson. We need to learn to use the hymns in a flexible way and not to sing in a rigid way every time. For example, if a hymn has six stanzas, you do not need to sing all six stanzas. You may sing only the stanza that is suitable. If only the chorus is suitable, you can sing only the chorus. Sometimes you need to match the singing with a small testimony, not a lengthy one that will use up the time. Never extend the meaning of the text or develop an understanding based on inference. Never think that you are experienced. Once you extend and infer, you will easily be side-tracked from the subject and the central lane.