How can we have our will strengthened?

The Lord’s presence, as you receive the Word and touch the Spirit, will benefit you in every way. This habit of contacting Him will make your mind sober, without your even thinking about it. It will affect your emotions too. You may not ask the Lord to strengthen your will, but contacting Him will strengthen it unconsciously.

How is it that after so many years of being a Christian, there doesn’t seem to be any change in me? Why do I still lose my temper? Should we expect to improve?

I understand your problem. Day after day a mother takes care of her children, but she can see very little change in them. She does not do anything purposely to make them grow, but by feeding them properly and by regulating their behavior, exercise, and sleep, little by little they are changing. The time will come when they will be full-grown.

Why is our Christian growth stunted? It is from our failure to take in the Word. Our eating and drinking are deficient. If the main point of our meetings is guitar playing and singing the Psalms, we may enjoy ourselves, but year after year there will be no change in us. Just as our human life requires that we eat, drink, sleep, and breathe, so for our spiritual life we must contact the Lord and take in His Word. Our meetings must also supply us with the solid food. The result will be transformation, not by any outward doing, but by the life supply dispensed into us from within. We shall change.

What is the proper way to handle saints who would push “windy teachings” on you?

This requires wisdom. Arguing with them is worthless. If you realize they cannot take your word, don’t say anything. But you must be nourished with the good things of the Word and be faithful to attend all the meetings. Time will show how you have grown, while those who persist in looseness remain degraded.

A new sister is having a hard time reading the Word. How can I help her?

Help her to pray-read. All the new ones need such help to open them up.

How does a young person get started on studying the Word?

As I have previously mentioned, you must have your morning nourishment and your daily reading of four chapters. For study, you first select a book. To get into it thoroughly, studying every word, you need reference books and some good translations, like Darby’s and the American Standard Version. A Greek-English interlinear translation is a help, as is Young’s or Strong’s Concordance. By these means you will find out the proper meaning of the words. This will help you to interpret and expound the verses. You must do this consecutively and continually, not according to your whim. After you have studied the book in this way, you may come back to study the major topics of that book. Romans, for example, has such topics as justification, reconciliation, sanctification, and glorification. You can study the distinction between sin and sins, between being in Adam and in Christ, etc. By going through a book verse by verse and then studying its major subjects, you will become thoroughly familiar with it and gain the proper knowledge. Then take another book. It would especially benefit you to go through Matthew, John, Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Hebrews, 1 John, and Revelation.

In reading through the Old Testament, sometimes you go through a dry period. How can we get through this?

If this reading is part of your four chapters, just let it be dry. The genealogy in Matthew 1 may be a frustration to you, but reading it still profits you. The Scripture is God’s breath; it refreshes you whether you understand it or not. Further, when you come around to read it the next time, or the third time, you will find that it is less and less dry. I have come to cherish those first seventeen verses in Matthew 1; they are rich and solid.

When you read the Bible, don’t try to understand it. You may even need to pray sometimes, “Lord, help me not to try to understand Your Word”! Just understand as much as you can; the next time you read it, you will have more understanding.

How can we gain more knowledge of the Son of God (Eph. 4:13)? Would it be through studying, memorizing, pray-reading, or how?

I encourage you to read and study as much as you can. This is better than memorizing. From your reading and studying you will spontaneously remember. The study of the Bible requires your whole mentality and much of your time. Whatever we do with the Bible is a benefit, but spending the time to study is more useful, I think, than exercising so much to memorize.

Your study of the Scriptures will be helped by referring to other books too, especially the recovery books that we have printed.

When we come to contact the Lord, is it better to pray first or to read first?

Usually I find that I contact the Lord before I get to the Bible on my desk. By saying “O Lord” I am in the spirit already, before I open my Bible. Please do not think that meditating on Him is helpful. You will no sooner close your eyes to meditate than your thoughts will travel to your nagging mother-in-law, then on to London, to Hong Kong, or elsewhere. The prevailing way to touch the Lord is to be in the spirit and in the Word; then you will fully enjoy Christ.
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