Second Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed.” This verse is unique in defining the Bible as God’s breathing. We would not normally say that what we speak or write is our breath. However, Paul introduces the thought that the Word of God is God’s breath. The word in the Bible is not simply an utterance; the Bible is the breath and even the breathing of God. When we come to the Bible, we come into God’s breathing. When we enter into God’s breathing, we enter into His presence.
Since the Bible is God’s breathing, the best way to take in the word of the Bible is by breathing. The Bible is God’s breathing out, and we need to breathe it in. Breathing as a physical activity never ceases. Even when we are asleep or sick, we are still breathing. Whether or not we are conscious of it, we unceasingly breathe to stay alive. First Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Unceasingly pray.” This indicates that our praying is our spiritual breathing. The way to take in God’s breath is to breathe by praying.
We breathe in God’s breathing by praying the word of God into us. This is pray-reading. We did not use the term pray-reading until about ten years ago, but a number of spiritual persons in past centuries wrote about reading the Word of God prayerfully, which is pray-reading. George Müller said that in his morning time in the Word, he would read a verse and then turn the words into prayer. Afterwards, he would go on to the following verse and continue to pray. He did not separate his reading of the Bible from his prayer; rather, he mingled these two things together.
When contacting the Lord through the Word, we should not separate the Word from prayer. When we read the Word, we may have an inward feeling to pray. Whenever we receive some inspiration from the Word, we will instantly desire to pray. We need to practice to pray every time we come to the Word. We do not need to interpret the Word in order to compose a prayer; we can simply use the words of the Bible as the words of our prayer. To pray the words of the Bible is to breathe in God’s breath. This is a mingling breathing—God is breathing, and we are breathing. God breathes out, and we breathe in. This mingled breathing makes us spiritually healthy.
In his Epistles to Timothy and Titus, Paul used the terms healthy teaching and healthy words six times (1 Tim. 1:10b; 6:3; 2 Tim. 1:13; 4:3; Titus 1:9; 2:1). In order to be physically healthy, we need to take care of our breathing. We also need to take care of our spiritual breathing by breathing in the word of God in the Bible. When we come to the Bible, we need to realize that we are coming into God’s breathing. Because the Bible is living breath, rather than merely studying it, we mainly need to pray over it. When we pray over the Word from deep within, we breathe in the divine breathing. We need to exercise to come into God’s breathing every morning in this way. Deep breathing brings a supply of fresh air into our body and also discharges negative elements, thus cleansing our body. If we would practice to breathe in God’s breathing every morning, our whole being will be cleansed. This is a healthy practice.
When we breathe in God’s word, we do not need to study, learn, or memorize. Too much memorizing can frustrate our breathing because we are exercising our mind rather than our spirit. When we take a breath of fresh air, we do not memorize the air—we simply breathe. Likewise, we need to enjoy breathing in God’s word to be spiritually healthy.
In the Epistles to Timothy and Titus there are certain positive terms used to describe the healthy word, such as the words of the faith (1 Tim. 4:6), healthy words...of our Lord Jesus Christ (6:3), the word of the truth (2 Tim. 2:15), and all Scripture (3:16). However, there are also several negative terms describing things that are versus the healthy word. We need to see these things.
First Timothy 1:6 says, “Some, having misaimed, have turned aside to vain talking.” Vain talk is empty talk. Those who speak in this way have turned aside from God’s economy (v. 4), which is to dispense Christ into others. We need to consider how many of our conversations are vain talk. Other speaking that is versus the healthy teaching includes the law (v. 7), myths and unending genealogies (v. 4), profane and old-womanish myths (4:7), and gossip (5:13). We can see a contrast in 6:3-5, which says, “If anyone teaches different things and does not consent to healthy words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the teaching which is according to godliness, he is blinded with pride, understanding nothing, but is diseased with questionings and contentions of words, out of which come envy, strife, slanders, evil suspicions, perpetual wranglings of men corrupted in mind and deprived of the truth, supposing godliness to be a means of gain.” Second Timothy 2:16-17 says, “Avoid profane, vain babblings, for they will advance to more ungodliness, and their word will spread like gangrene.” Verse 23 says, “Foolish questionings and those arising from an untrained mind refuse, knowing that they beget contentions.”
Such unhealthy kinds of speaking existed in the degraded church at the end of the first century. Under such a poor situation the apostle Paul charged Timothy to refuse, avoid, and even flee these things (1 Tim. 4:7; 2 Tim. 2:16; 1 Tim. 6:11) and to care instead for the healthy words and the healthy teaching (1:10b; 6:3; 2 Tim. 1:13; 4:3). Today we need to refuse, avoid, and flee from negative speaking and receive only the healthy word. The healthy word is always the word of the truth, the words of the faith, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the word of the Scriptures. We should not care for any speaking concerning concepts, opinions, or ways. We should care only for the healthy word.