May we look at an illustration confirming this matter. In Ephesians 5, from verse 18 through verse 20, immediately after it says we should be filled with the Spirit, it tells us that we should speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming with our heart to the Lord, and give thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord to God. Again, in Colossians 3:16 and 17, after it says we should let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, it goes on to tell us that we should sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with grace unto God and in all things give thanks to God in the name of the Lord. While both portions of the Word speak of how Christians praise and thank God, the reasons they do so are different. One is due to the infilling of the Spirit, while the other is due to the infilling of the Lord’s Word. By comparing these two portions of the Scriptures, you can see that both the reading of the Word and prayer are something which men experience in the Spirit. You can never separate the Word from the Spirit. For the Word is the embodiment of the Spirit, and the Spirit is deposited in the Word. Under normal circumstances, whenever you have the infilling of the words of the Bible, you also have the infilling of the Spirit. And once you are filled with the Spirit, you cannot help but pray. There are various forms of prayer, such as giving thanks to God, blessing God, singing praises to God, weeping and calling before God, fasting and supplicating before God, etc. All these prayers are due to the Spirit’s moving within man. When you touch the Word, you will surely know the presence of the Spirit within you. Once you realize the presence of the Spirit, you cannot help but pray; otherwise, you are one who quenches the Spirit. Hence, we must always match our reading with prayer.

On the contrary, if you pray but do not read the Scriptures or touch the Word of the Lord, your prayer will inevitably come out of your own idea, thought, view, opinion, and inclination. In order to pray out from the Spirit and not out from yourself, you must have the Lord’s Word. Now, you can understand why in John 15:7 the Lord Jesus first says, “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you;” then He says, “Ask whatever you will, and it shall come to pass to you.” These words show us that if a man learns to always fellowship with the Lord and live in the Lord, His Word will abide in him. One who reads the Word properly is one who abides in the Lord. One who abides outside the Lord is definitely not able to read the Word spiritually; the best he can do is to exercise his mentality to understand; he can never use his spirit to touch the Word. One who abides in the Lord, however, can easily have the Lord’s word abiding in him. Since the Lord’s word thus abides in him, he cannot help but touch the Spirit, for the Lord’s word is spirit. And once he is filled with the Spirit of the Lord, he cannot help but pray. The Lord promises that whatever such a one shall ask, it shall come to pass to him, for at this point, whatever he desires in his heart is not of himself but of the Lord’s word and His Spirit-that is the Lord Himself. Hence, in order to have the proper prayer, you must first have the proper reading of the Word.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, proper reading of the Word is surely accompanied by prayer, and proper prayers will surely issue forth from the reading of the Word. Both matters are equally important; neither should be unduly stressed. Moreover, it is also not possible to decide which of the two should be first; they must go hand in hand. When we read the Lord’s word in John 15:7, it seems that we should first read the Word and then pray. But in Psalm 119 it says, “I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped in thy word.” That seems to indicate that prayer comes before reading the Word. Therefore, it is not necessary to make a rigid decision concerning these two matters; you just need to allow them to proceed in a spontaneous way.

People have often asked me, “Brother Lee, during morning watch, is it better to read the Bible first and then pray or pray first and then read the Bible?” This is hard to answer. I have been living many years, but to this day whenever I walk I am still not certain whether I should start with my right foot or with my left. May I ask you, are you certain? This morning when you rose up and started to walk, did you start with your right foot or with your left? If there is someone who whenever he starts walking would first consider whether to start with the right foot or the left, you would surely suspect that he is a mental case. Whenever we walk, we just do it naturally without caring whether the right or left foot goes first. Please remember, it is also unnecessary for you to decide every morning before the Lord whether to read first and then pray or vice versa. Just remain before the Lord in a normal way. Sometimes you may read the Word first and then pray, while other times you may pray first and then read the Word. You do not need to set up a dead regulation. Sometimes after rising in the morning, you may simply pray a few sentences first and then read the Bible. But other times you may have an inner desire to open the Word and read a few sentences; following the reading, the feelings may come and then you may start to pray. These two things usually occur the same number of times and occupy the same length of time. For the purpose of illustration, let us cite Brother Muller, who operated an orphanage in Great Britain. He was someone in the last century who prayed and read, read and prayed. In his autobiography he told us that every morning he spent some time to draw near to God. You cannot say that during that time he was only reading the Word, nor can you say that he was only praying. In his coming before the Lord every morning he gave equal attention to both reading and praying and kept both in balance. Hence, almost everyone acknowledges that, with regard to the practical aspect of reading and praying, during the last century Muller was the most normal example. He did not have the problem of being one-sided. He was one who used his mind to understand the Bible and exercised his spirit to contact the Word. Furthermore, he was also one who matched his reading with praying. Therefore, he was very living and fresh, as well as steady and solid before the Lord. Brothers and sisters, I wish to ask you to first give attention to this matter before we go on to the lessons of prayer.
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