God’s intention is to give Himself to us as our enjoyment in Christ through the Spirit. Therefore, we have to know how to enjoy Christ. Then we will have the proper Christian life. Both the Christian life and the church life depend on one thing: the enjoyment of Christ. To enjoy God in Christ is simply to deal with two things—the word and the Spirit. We have the holy Bible in our hands, and we have the Holy Spirit in our spirit. Both the holy Bible and the Holy Spirit are the means for us to enjoy Christ. Christ is the Word, and He is the Spirit. Therefore, in order to enjoy Christ we have to deal with the word and the Spirit.
There are two different ways to read the word. One way is to read the word but not contact Christ. Too many Christians read the word without ever contacting Christ. This is the wrong way. The right way to read the word is to realize that the word is not mainly for knowledge but for food. “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). Jeremiah 15:16 says, “Your words were found and I ate them.” We need to eat the word, because the word is food.
Physical food is for our body, so we have to eat it with our body and take it into our body. In the same principle, the word is spiritual food, food for the spirit, so we have to eat it with our spirit and take it into our spirit. We all have to learn how to take the word by our spirit and into our spirit. There is no other way to do this but by praying. We must pray over, pray about, and pray with whatever we read and understand. This is something that is very much overlooked by Christians today. Many Christians read the Bible, but not many read the Bible in this way.
We need to buy physical food, prepare it by cooking, and set aside fifteen to twenty-five minutes to eat it. We should not eat too fast. We need the adequate time to eat properly. We can rush into a supermarket to buy something hastily, and we can throw something on the stove quickly, but we cannot throw something into our stomach too quickly. We need the time to chew and eat in a fine way. In the same way, we need some time day by day to take the word finely, not by exercising our mind to understand but by exercising our innermost part, our spirit. To take the word in this way, we need to pray over what we read and understand, that is, to pray-read. We must learn to pray, not in a formal way by composing a prayer but in an informal way, just as we talk with our loved ones.
Sometimes we may need to read the Bible to gain some knowledge of the Bible. We may also need to go to the dictionary to learn the meaning of new words that we find. However, this is not the main way to deal with the word. The main thing we need is to take twenty to thirty minutes, at least once a day, although three times is better, to deal with the word not merely to know it but to eat it, digest it, and transfer it into the Spirit. Do not say that you have no time to do this. If you do not have the time to spend in the word, it is better not to spend your time on a physical meal. Rather, spend one physical meal time for a spiritual meal. Do not be afraid that you will be short of one meal. I assure you that you will be more healthy. In order to be spiritually healthy, we need to take at least one spiritual meal day by day.
We cannot expect a brother to be normal and healthy in his Christian life if he does not know how to eat the Lord by dealing with the word. Regardless of how many messages we give people and of how good those messages are, if those who hear them do not know how to eat the Lord, drink the Lord, and feast on the Lord, the messages will not work for them. We may have messages on the cross and about many other things, but we still need to feed on the Lord, drink of Him, and feast on Him. This is of the greatest importance. I hope that we all will practice this day by day, especially in the morning. We need to spend at least ten minutes with the Lord to feast on Him by eating the word.
The way to eat the word is first not to read too much. Our time in the word is not to buy something from the supermarket; it is to eat a breakfast. Therefore, we should not take too much, just an adequate portion. Second, we should not try to understand too much. At other times we may need to exercise our mind by reading, but our time for eating the word is not for exercising our mind. We should simply read and understand whatever we can understand. We need not try to understand more than that; this will frustrate us. If we read a few verses or even half of a chapter and do not understand it, we should leave it and continue to read. Perhaps in the following verses we will understand something.
Third, once we understand something, we should ponder over it a little. I do not like to use the word meditate, because that word has been wrongly used. Sometimes to meditate is merely to exercise the mind. In that case, it is better not to meditate. When some Christians meditate too much, they travel throughout the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, back to the Psalms, and then back to Genesis. That does not help. However, when we are inspired with something from the word, we should consider it.
Then, fourth, right away we should pray over what we understand. It is by this kind of prayer that we have a fresh contact not only with the word but also with the Lord Himself through the word. Eventually, the Lord and the word, the word and the Lord, become one to us. In this way, our prayer and reading will be mingled. While we read and consider, we speak something to the Lord, and while we are speaking something to the Lord, we ponder on the word and consider what we understand. This is praying and reading, reading and praying, mingled together.
Matthew 8:1 to 4 says that the Lord Jesus “came down from the mountain” and healed a leper. When we read this portion, we may be inspired that the Lord came down from the mountain. Then we can say, “I praise You, Lord, that You have come down from the mountain. You have come down to the place where I am. O Lord, come down once again today that I may be healed. If You come, my leprosy will go away.” It may not be possible to read and pray in this way for an hour, but to take twenty minutes is possible. Try to do this in the morning and again during the day. I would suggest, especially to the young ones, that you keep a small Bible in your pocket. Throughout the day or during recess or rest you can open it and read two or three verses. Then you will get something, and you can pray over it.
Some may ask, “How can I read and pray? If I read, I have to open my eyes, but if I pray, I have to close them.” Forget about opening or closing your eyes. If you need to close your eyes, close them spontaneously, but if you do not need to close them, do not make that a form. Even when we close our eyes, we still can “read,” because the word has already gotten into us.
It is very convenient to have the word within us. Many times people do not realize that I am reading the word, because I am not reading a Bible outwardly. However, many times I “read” inwardly. I recall Romans 8:1 and 2: “There is now then no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death.” Spontaneously I say to the Lord, “Praise You, I am in Christ. Hallelujah, I am not in Los Angeles; I am in Christ!” When I am bothered by something, I say, “I am not in this place. I am in Christ. Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! I am in Christ.” We have to be beside ourselves in this way, to say, “Oh, praise the Lord, the Spirit of life! O Lord, You are the Spirit of life, and this life-giving Spirit is in me. With this Spirit there is the liberating law, setting me free from the law of sin and of death.” We can also turn to the enemy and say, “Satan, I am not afraid of you any more. I have another One who is stronger than you. If you come to fight with me, you will be defeated.” This is the living way to read the word.