1. “Meditates by day and by night”; “Muse upon”; “Consider” (Psa. 1:2; 119:15, 95; see also Matt. 9:13).
When we read the Bible, we need to meditate and consider. Sometimes we need to muse upon the Word. This requires carefulness and time. It also requires quiet concentration. Many times we need to meditate, consider carefully, or concentrate quietly in order to understand the Bible and touch its essence.
1. “Slow of heart to believe” (Luke 24:25; see also John 2:22).
We must believe when we read the Bible. Sometimes we understand, and then we believe and receive. Sometimes we believe and receive, and then we understand. In any case, we must always believe. Whoever does not read the Bible in faith, whoever is slow of heart to believe, cannot understand the Bible in a clear way. Even if we could understand some portion, we would not receive much benefit. We must mix faith with the word of the Bible in order to understand the Bible and receive the benefit (Heb. 4:2).
1. “Cried out...hoped” (Psa. 119:147).
Reading the Bible also requires cooperation through prayer. Reading the Bible and prayer cannot be separated. Therefore, the early psalmists called on the Lord on the one hand and hoped in the Lord’s word on the other. Before we read the Bible, we should pray and ask the Lord to cleanse us, to open the eyes of our heart, to prepare our spirit, and to open His Word and shine His light upon it to reveal His truth in it by the Spirit. As we read, we should turn the inspiration that we receive into prayer, praying for ourselves and for others. After we finish reading, we need to continue to pray, asking the Lord to preserve what we have understood so that we might keep it in faith and love and to give us strength and grace so that we might practice what we have seen. Thus, reading the Bible should begin with prayer, be accompanied by prayer, and end with prayer. Reading the Bible must be accompanied by prayer.
1. “Receive...the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition” (Eph. 6:17-18).
Our reading of the Bible should not only be with prayer but should be mingled with prayer. Any portion or sentence of the Bible can become our prayer. This is not simply to read the word of the Bible; this is to pray the word of the Bible. We should not use our mind to understand the Word but our spirit to taste and chew a portion of the Word so that it becomes our supply. Paul refers to receiving the word of God by means of all prayer and petition in Ephesians 6:17-18. This kind of praying and reading, that is, pray-reading, enables us to not only understand the true spiritual meaning of the Bible—the will of God—but also to enjoy the reality of the content of the Bible—God Himself. This is the most beneficial way to read the Bible for our spiritual growth.
1. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom” (Col. 3:16; see also Psa. 119:98).
We should let the word dwell in us when we read the Bible. If we read it and forget it, it will be difficult for us to thoroughly understand the Word. If we let the important points, the important chapters and verses, and the important truths of the Bible dwell in us, the Holy Spirit can enable us to understand the meaning of the Bible. Moreover, He can reveal the truths of the Bible to us at any time and in any place. Therefore, we must let the word of the Bible dwell in us richly in all wisdom and by all means. Remembering the Bible and memorizing the Bible are necessary to reading the Bible and a way to read the Bible. We should practice this, especially the young brothers and sisters. We should memorize one book of the Bible or choose a few golden verses from our daily reading to remember and memorize. Regardless of how well we remember or memorize the Word, this is always beneficial.
Reading the Bible also involves some practical points.
1. We should have two copies of the Bible. One copy should be used to record inspiration and to underline important points; the other copy should not contain any of our writing. It should remain clean. When we read, we should read from the clean copy and record inspiration or underline a portion in the writing copy.
2. We should read two lines at the same time. One line should be the New Testament, which can be called the line of life because our emphasis should be on the nourishment of life. It is best to read one chapter of the New Testament every morning for twenty to thirty minutes, choosing one or two verses to pray-read. The other line should be the Old Testament, which can be called the line of knowledge because our emphasis should be on knowing the Bible. We can read from this line every day during the daytime or in the evening for thirty or forty minutes. We should read about three chapters of the Old Testament a day. In this way we can read from both the Old and New Testaments every day, and in one year we will read through the whole Bible. When we read from either the Old or New Testament, it is best to read from the first book to the last, chapter by chapter. It is best if we read it according to the number of chapters and sections laid out in the book Once a Year through the Bible published by the Gospel Book Room (see The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 2, pp. 191-234).
3. We should pay attention to and remember the main points of every chapter. We should receive inspiration and turn this inspiration into prayer as soon as we sense it. We should remember and memorize the important phrases in the Bible. For example, when we read Matthew 1, we should see that the first section is on the genealogy of Christ, and the second section is on the birth of Christ. We should remember these two points. Then we may have a feeling about verse 21: “You shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.” We can immediately turn this inspiration into prayer, asking the Lord to save us from our sins, according to the meaning of His name. We also can ask the Lord to save a brother or sister from their sin, according to the meaning of His name. Finally, if we have a sense of the preciousness of the Lord’s names in verses 21 and 23, we should memorize these two verses.
4. We should not seek deep explanations. We can be easily distracted when we read the Bible if we are seeking deep explanations. We should try to understand what we read, but we do not need to seek deep explanations. Such explanations distract and hinder us from understanding. We should guard against this. We need a certain level of spiritual life to understand the Bible because our understanding is proportional to our level of spiritual life. Given the present stage of our spiritual life, some parts of the Bible will not be understandable. However, as our spiritual life grows, we will spontaneously understand more of the Bible. Thus, when we read the Bible, we will have some understanding, but we should not feel the necessity to understand everything that we read at any given moment. We should not seek explanations that are beyond our spiritual comprehension. Instead, we should realize that we may understand a portion the next time we read the Bible.