As we have already indicated, we may receive the Spirit by using the Bible in a proper way. However, when most Christians come to the Bible, they exercise their mind much more than their spirit. This is a serious mistake. To read the Bible without praying is to make the Bible merely a book of knowledge in dead letters. Whenever we read the Scriptures, we need to pray. Ephesians 6:17 and 18 say, “And receive the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit.” These verses indicate that we should take the Word of God by means of prayer. Let us use the reading of John 1:1 as an example. We may be tempted to exercise our natural mind to ask doctrinal questions concerning this verse. We may wonder what the beginning is, and ask about the distinction, if any, between the Word and God. We may go on to ask how the Word can be with God and also be God. If we do nothing except raise questions about this verse, we shall not receive the Spirit. But if we pray with the words of John 1:1, we shall receive the Spirit, for in our experience the Word will become spirit.
I know of a recent situation where one brother suggested to another that he could overcome his feeling about being mistreated when he was an elder if he would recognize that this whole experience came to him according to the Lord’s sovereignty. Apparently this is good advice, a sound teaching according to Romans 8:28. There seems to be nothing wrong with advising a brother to overcome his feelings about being mistreated by recognizing that everything is according to God’s sovereignty. Such advice, however, may encourage others to be religious and may not help them in life. If the brother who has been mistreated takes this advice from one who seems so knowledgeable and who seems to know God’s sovereignty, he may become a religious hero instead of one who receives the Spirit. He may be able to boast that even though he had been mistreated, he recognized that this mistreatment came to him under the Lord’s sovereignty, and therefore he does not blame anyone. In such a case the brother is helped in a doctrinal way to become religious, but he is not helped to receive the Spirit. Actually, in applying the doctrine of God’s sovereignty in such a way, this brother practices asceticism. The proper way to help one who has been suffering from mistreatment is to encourage him to open to the Lord and contact Him. He should not pay attention to the mistreatment, but should concentrate on the Lord Himself. Not even the teaching about the sovereignty of God should distract him from the Lord. As he opens to the Lord and contacts Him, he will receive more of the Spirit. As a result, his problem concerning any past mistreatment will be solved. We do not need doctrine to build us up as religious heroes. We need the life-giving Spirit to flow into us to kill the negative things, the “germs,” and to supply us with life. Only the life-giving Spirit can kill the germs within us and make us healthy spiritually. Through the supply of the Spirit, our spiritual sicknesses are healed. Therefore, day by day we need to receive more of the Spirit.
Another illustration of the proper way to receive the Spirit is related to married life. During a wedding ceremony, it is common for a pastor, according to Ephesians 5, to charge the bride to submit to her husband, and the groom to love his wife. Although both the bride and the groom may promise the pastor that they will carry out his words, they will find that they are not able to do so. However hard they may try, the wife will not be able to submit, and the husband will not be able to love. This will always be the case when the teaching about submission of wives and love of husbands is isolated from the context of Ephesians 5, which speaks of being filled in spirit. Instead of trying to submit or to love, a husband and wife should simply contact the Lord directly, exercising their spirit to call on His name. If they do this, they will receive the Spirit, and the Spirit will become their supply. Then automatically the wife will submit to her husband, and the husband will love his wife. Instead of being sickened by religious teaching, they will be supplied with life by receiving the Spirit. This is another illustration of the fact that what we need is not doctrine to make us religious, but the receiving of the Spirit that we may have life.