When we contact the Word in a proper way by reading and praying, we experience the current of the divine electricity. This is God operating in us both the willing and the working for His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13). If we do not experience God operating in us when we spend time in the Word, we must be wrong in some way. Probably something is defective in our experience of the antenna, the Spirit, leaving us with only the Word as the ground wire. But if we have both the Spirit and the Word, we shall experience an inward divine activity. Something in us will move, and we shall be strengthened, comforted, nourished, supplied, and refreshed. This is God operating in us.
As a result of God’s operating in us, we spontaneously have a life in which the word of life is held forth to others. To hold forth the word of life is to present it to others, to offer it to them, to apply it to them. If God operates in us and we are filled with the Word, then wherever we are and whatever we say or do, we shall be an expression of the living God. This is to hold forth the word of life. This is also to live Christ.
I believe that most of us have experienced that when we are right in our spirit and pure in our heart, and then come to the Word with our whole being open to the Lord, we have the sense that we enter into a sphere of light. Then as we pray-read a portion of the Word, we sense that something inwardly is moving, operating in us to comfort, strengthen, satisfy, and refresh us. Sometimes we may want to shout for joy. At other times we may sing and praise the Lord. Those around us may be surprised at the change which takes place in us as a result of contacting the Word in this way.
We need to have this kind of contact with the Lord day after day, hour after hour, and even moment by moment. For this reason, it is helpful to carry a pocket version of the New Testament in order to take advantage of opportunities to pray-read the Word during the day. The more we pray-read with a right spirit and a pure heart, the more we shall enjoy the heavenly electricity and experience the living God operating in us. Then if we are sorrowful, He will comfort us; if we are dry, He will water us; if we are hungry, He will satisfy us; and if we are disappointed, He will encourage us. Spontaneously, what we say and do will be a holding forth, a presenting, of the word of life. This means that in our daily living there will be a divine expression. This is to live Christ that He might be magnified in us. Truly this is the proper Christian life.
The Christian life is intimately related to the life-giving Spirit and the word of life. As the consummation of His process, God is now the life-giving Spirit. Furthermore, in His speaking He is the Word. He has given us the Spirit and the Word as two wonderful gifts. Now we have both the antenna and the ground wire, both the Spirit and the Word, for us to contact and enjoy the heavenly electricity. The enjoyment of the divine electricity is very different from traditional Christianity and theology. It is to contact God subjectively as the One who dwells in us as the life-giving Spirit through the Word. The more we experience the word of life as the embodiment of the living God, the more God will become our enjoyment. Then we shall hold forth the word of life. This is to live Christ that He may be magnified in us.