The Holy Spirit is matching our spirit with the spirit of the Bible. This refers to a match in quality, not to a match in capacity. The spirit of the Lord Jesus is thousands of times greater than our spirit. He is the only begotten Son of God! Sameness in quality means that we have a little share in the spirit that He possesses. They are the same in kind, but they are not the same in degree. However, the discipline of the Holy Spirit can carry us further, from just a qualitative matching of our spirit with the spirit of the Bible to an actual increase in the capacity in our spirit. The Lord increases the capacity of our spirit with His Spirit. This involves a process that goes on continuously like feeding. Today the Lord dispenses something to us. Tomorrow He will dispense more things to us. As the dispensing increases, the capacity of our spirit increases. As we begin to understand the Bible, we begin the process of feeding, and as we are fed, our capacity increases. The starting point in our understanding of the Bible is a matching in the quality of the spirits, while the consummate issue of our understanding of the Bible is an increase in the capacity of our spirit.
Suppose a man has a terrible temper. He cannot read God’s Word no matter how hard he tries. After God disciplines him, he will have a little patience. This patience is not the result of a conscious effort on his part, nor is it a kind of manmade endurance; it is the spontaneous result of the work of the Holy Spirit. After he acquires this kind of spirit, his reading of God’s Word will result in the ministration of Christ. God’s word will supply his spirit and enrich it. He will receive more and more, and his capacity will increase little by little. The discipline of the Holy Spirit first brings a man’s spirit into harmony with the spirit of the Bible as far as the quality is concerned. Then there can be an increase in capacity as well. This increase in capacity comes from the discipline of the Holy Spirit through the environment, as well as through the words of the Bible. The Holy Spirit does the breaking work through His discipline in the environment. At the same time, through the words of the Scripture, He brings us the supply so that our capacity will increase. The more the Holy Spirit ministers His word to us, the richer we become. Every ministration of the Holy Spirit brings more riches to us. Through the continual ministration of the Holy Spirit through the word, our capacity is continually expanded.
If we are continually fed by the word, the Bible will be continually fresh to us. In the eyes of man, the Bible was completed eighteen or nineteen hundred years ago, and it bears no more significance to us than just a recapitulation of the thoughts and concepts presented at the time of its writing. In reality, however, the Spirit that was present at the time of the writing of the Scriptures is still with us today. When we read the Bible today, we should read it as if it was written today. Whenever we read the Bible with our spirit, it is a new book to us. Although historically this book was completed over eighteen or nineteen hundred years ago, it is not old in any way, because it is a book written in spirit. We become tired of many books after reading them a few times. But we are not tired of the Bible even after reading it dozens of times. This is because it is a book in the spirit. If we touch the Bible according to the letters or according to our thoughts, it will become old to us before very long. But if we read it by the spirit, it is new to us every time. Whenever we find a portion of the Word tasteless, it is not the portion itself that is tasteless but our spirit that has failed to function. Every portion of the Bible is full of the spirit. If our spirit is strong enough, every passage will be precious to us. But if we do not read the Bible with our spirit, even a book as precious as Romans or a passage as wonderful as the sermon on the mount will be tasteless and meaningless to us. Actually, it is not the Bible that has become meaningless, but our spirit which has become fallen. Once our spirit becomes fallen, the Bible becomes tasteless to us. When our spirit is not strong, we lose the taste for reading. But when our spirit is strong, the Bible will be a fresh book, as one that has just been completed.
The spirit of the Word is indeed rich. A man should not presume that his spirit is strong and that he can meet all the demands. Only those who have passed through the dealings will know a little about the Bible. The amount of dealing one experiences dictates the amount of his understanding. Because we have only experienced limited dealing, we remain at the place where we were before, being ignorant of many things. It is imperative that we pass through the discipline of the Holy Spirit. The more discipline we go through, the more we learn. At a certain point, when our spirit somewhat matches the spirit of God’s word, we will see light. Revelation will come, and we will be fed.
Home | First | Prev | Next