Second, we need to use our spirit to pray-read the Word of God. To comprehend the Word literally we first need to read the black and white letters with our eyes as well as with our mind. Second, we need to pray-read, converting all that we see and all that we comprehend into prayer. When we pray, we use our spirit. At first, we may use our mind to pray, but after three to five sentences our spirit will rise up. This is a definite fact. Therefore, never forget that the essence of the Word of God is God’s breathing out. When you read it, you should breathe it in. On God’s side, it is a matter of His breathing out; on our side, it is a matter of our breathing in. The spiritual breath comes out of Him and enters into us. That which comes out of Him and enters into us is the spiritual breath. The Word of God is spirit and life. Our mind cannot touch the Spirit; only our spirit can touch the Spirit. If we do not touch the Spirit, we do not have life. Only by touching the Spirit can we have life. Ultimately, this life is Christ, and it is also God Himself.
In the previous message we pointed out the essence of God’s Word. This message teaches us how to practice to touch this essence. At first, we do not need to explain what we read, nor do we need to understand it; we only need to pray-read the Word literally. When we pray-read, our spirit touches the Spirit of the Bible, and thus we receive life. Many of you can testify to this. For example, a newly saved person may read the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. He may not read the footnotes, and he may not read the Life-studies. He may simply begin to pray-read from verse one: “Oh, Abraham; Oh, the son of Abraham. O Lord, You are the son of Abraham, the son of David. Jesus Christ-Oh, Jesus; Oh, Christ; Jesus Christ. Abraham begot Isaac. Praise the Lord! Isaac begot Jacob...” If he prays like this for five or six minutes, his whole inner being will be very bright and clear, even though he may not understand anything. This is neither imagination nor superstition. We can prove this with the fact of our experience. The Bible is the Bible. Even if you pray-read Genesis 3:1-2, “Now the serpent was more subtile than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said...,” your spirit will be nourished. This is truly marvelous.
The matter of pray-reading to eat, drink, and breathe the Spirit and the life in the Word of God is seen in the word of the Bible; hence, pray-reading is not superstitious. When we pray-read, the word in letters becomes spirit and life, that is, the Lord Himself. To pray-read is to receive “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition” (Eph. 6:17-18). Whenever we receive the Word of God by pray-reading, the result is that we eat, drink, and breathe in the Spirit and the life in God’s Word. Even an Old Testament saint, Jeremiah, also said, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them” (Jer. 15:16). The Word of God is edible; hence, it is our food. Therefore, we must “long for the guileless milk of the word” (1 Pet. 2:2). In Hebrews 5:12 we are told that the Word of God is of two kinds: milk for those who are babes, and solid food for those who are mature. In addition, God’s Word is also God’s breathing out. When we breathe in God’s Word, breathing in what God has breathed out, we receive Him. It is clear, then, that to pray-read is to eat, to drink, and to breathe, and the more consistently we practice it, the better. If we eat a little, drink a little, and breathe a little, as time goes on we will be purified. Furthermore, we will go beyond the letter, the historical events, and the people and things, and we will obtain the revelation of life.
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