Reading the Word of God is a necessity of life. We have two lives, the physical life and the spiritual life, and we must take care of both. If we do not take care of the physical life, we will be weak and dying physically. In the same principle, if we do not care for our spiritual life, we will be weak and dying spiritually. We need to realize that reading the Bible is not something religious or legal; rather, it is a necessity of life. In order for us to maintain these two lives, we must eat both kinds of food—physical and spiritual. We also must breathe both physically and spiritually. Furthermore, we need both physical and spiritual washing. We all wash physically at least once a day, but some people wash three or four times a day. Likewise, every day we need to wash ourselves spiritually in the morning by contacting the living word. This is a life necessity.
Healthy people eat not only breakfast but also lunch and dinner. Some, like the British, also take afternoon tea, and others, such as the Cantonese, take a night snack. This makes them healthy. If we eat properly, we will be healthy. The principle is exactly the same with the spiritual life. We should build up a habit of spending time in the Word at least three times a day. We can take a small New Testament to school or work and spend ten minutes reading one chapter during our lunch break rather than wasting our time gossiping. In the morning we need to come to the Bible to be nourished by pray-reading three or four verses. At lunchtime we may not pray-read but may come to the Bible to read a chapter. We can set aside another time in the evening after work to read a few chapters of the Old Testament. This is easy to do.
Spending time in the Word of God is always profitable. It is an excellent habit. This habit keeps us in the Lord’s presence and saves us from wasting our time. Some sisters may think that they are too busy taking care of their husbands and children to spend time with the Lord in the Word every day. Although it seems that they have no time to pray or read the Bible, when they are talking on the phone, it seems that they have all the time in the world. Therefore, saying that we do not have time to pray or read the Bible is only an excuse. Many of our phone calls may not be necessary. If we redeem the time by reading the Word, we will grow and be healthy in the spiritual life.
If I do not eat, drink, breathe, sleep, or exercise, yet I believe that the Lord will have mercy on me to cause me to be healthy and live a long life, I am being superstitious. Likewise, if we think that we can neglect spending time in the Word and simply depend on the mercy of the Lord for the church to be healthy, rich, and living, we are being superstitious, because we are not fulfilling the principles of life. We should trust in the Lord, yet we need to fulfill the principles that He has ordained for life. Eating, drinking, breathing, sleeping, and exercising are principles ordained by God. Therefore, in order to be healthy, we surely need to keep these principles. Reading the Word, praying to the Lord, and contacting the Lord to deal with Him are divinely ordained principles that we need to observe. If we do not, we can never be healthy in the spiritual life.
We need to take time to read and pray-read the Word every day. Of course, we can be flexible about the exact times, but it is good to pray-read a few verses in the morning, read a chapter of the New Testament at lunchtime, and read a few chapters from the Old Testament in the evening. If we are faithful to practice this, we will grow spiritually and be fully and thoroughly revived. If all the saints do this, the whole church will be revived, and the meetings will be enriched and enriching. This is not a way of excitement or stirring up; it is the way of life. We should make a vow to the Lord to daily contact Him through His word. If we build up such a habit, it will be a real glory to the Lord.