The New Testament assures us that the Word and the Spirit are one. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word.” But in John 20:22, the Lord Jesus breathed upon the disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” At the beginning of the Gospel of John, Christ is the Word, but at the end of this Gospel, He breathes out the Spirit. In 6:63 He says that the Word is the Spirit. Through the Word and the Spirit God reaches us.
If God were not the Word and the Spirit, He could not reach us. The Spirit is God reaching us. Whenever we touch the Lord or the Lord touches us, we experience a divine reaching. God reaches us as the Spirit. However, according to the concept of some Christians, the Spirit is simply a means used by God to reach us. No, the Spirit is God Himself reaching us. We may use the flow of electricity as an illustration. God is like the electricity, and the Spirit is like the electric current. Surely it is wrong to say that electric current is different from electricity itself. When electricity flows, it becomes the current. Hence, the current of electricity is electricity itself in motion. When the current reaches us, it is still electricity, not something apart from electricity. However, some Christians insist that when the Spirit comes to us, God the Father is left on the throne in heaven. No, when the Spirit reaches us, that is God Himself reaching us.
The Spirit is mysterious, abstract, and difficult to understand. But along with the Spirit, we have the Word. Once again using electricity as an example, we may speak of the antenna and the ground wire. The Spirit can be compared to the antenna, and the Word, to the ground wire. By the antenna and the ground wire we experience the transmission of electricity. If we have the Spirit without the Word or the Word without the Spirit, we shall not be able to receive the divine transmission. Both the Spirit and the Word, both the antenna and the ground wire, are necessary.
Among Christians today, Fundamentalists represent one extreme and Pentecostalists another. The Fundamentalists care for the Word, but often neglect the Spirit. This is one extreme. On the other hand, many Pentecostalists care for the Spirit, but neglect the Word. This is another extreme. We should not be at either extreme, but should be balanced, caring both for the Spirit and the Word. Within, we have the Spirit, and in our hands we have the Word, the Bible.
In Ephesians 6:17 and 18 Paul tells us to receive the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition. Here Paul covers the aspects both of the Word and of the Spirit. Furthermore, he tells us to receive the Word of God by means of all prayer, praying at every time in spirit. We may receive the Word of God by means of all kinds of prayer: audible prayer and silent prayer, long prayer and short prayer, quick prayer and slow prayer, private prayer and public prayer.
To take the Word of God by means of prayer is to pray-read the Word. Whenever we come to the Word of God, we should not merely exercise our eyes to read or our mind to understand, but also exercise our spirit. I can testify from experience that if we touch the Bible without prayer, using only our eyes and our mind, the Bible will be dead letters to us. Our reading of the Bible should be mingled with prayer. This is pray-reading. For example, in pray-reading Genesis 1:1, we may say, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In the beginning, amen. Thank You, Lord, in the beginning. Oh, God was there in the beginning. Thank You, Lord, that You are the beginning, the origin.” When we pray-read the Word in such a way, the Word becomes to us the living breath of God, the Spirit. As a result, we are watered, nourished, refreshed, and enlightened. Far from being a book of dead letters, the Bible becomes in our experience the nourishing Spirit.
In Ephesians 6:17 and 18 Paul definitely charges us to receive the Word of God by means of prayer. Some who oppose the practice of pray-reading insist that these verses cannot be applied this way. However, according to the Greek text, we must say that we should receive the Word of God either by means of prayer or through prayer. Here Paul tells us to receive the Word of God and also gives us the way to receive it—by means of prayer. Therefore, we cannot deny that in the Bible there is such a thing as pray-reading the Word.
We need to read the Word and receive it by prayer. Throughout the centuries many saints have practiced this in principle. Some have said that we need to pray when we read the Bible. Others have pointed out that we should read the Bible prayerfully. To read the Bible prayerfully is to pray-read the Word. Many of the Lord’s people have practiced pray-reading without knowing this term. Spontaneously in coming to the Word they have prayed with the Word and over the Word. I believe that before you heard of pray-reading, you may have pray-read John 3:16. You may have read the words, “God so loved the world,” and then prayed, “O God, thank You for loving the world. Father, I thank You that You loved me. You even loved me to such an extent that You gave Your Son for me.” This is pray-reading.
When we pray-read the Word, we exercise our spirit. As saved and regenerated ones, we have the Spirit of God in our spirit. Thus, when we exercise our spirit in pray-reading the Word, we apply the Word to us and mingle the Word and the Spirit. Immediately, we receive the bountiful supply of the Spirit.
The Bible reveals that Christ is God and also the embodiment of God. One day, Christ became a man. During His years on earth, He lived the highest human life. Through His crucifixion and resurrection, His humanity was uplifted and brought into divinity. After living a marvelous and perfect life on earth, the Lord Jesus went to the cross and died there for our sins, accomplishing a full, complete, and perfect redemption. On the third day, He was resurrected. In His ascension He was glorified, crowned, and enthroned; He received the headship, the lordship, and the kingship. In addition to these crucial matters, the Bible also reveals that Christ in His resurrection became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). Now this life-giving Spirit indwells our regenerated spirit.
The life-giving Spirit contains Christ’s divinity, His uplifted resurrected humanity, His perfect human living which was the expression of God, the effectiveness of His all-inclusive death for the accomplishment of redemption, the power of His resurrection which imparts into us the divine life and nature and Christ’s uplifted human nature, and His ascension with His headship, lordship, and kingship. All these are elements of the compound Spirit. However, if we did not have the Bible, we would not know about these things. We would not know what ingredients are contained in this all-inclusive dose. Oh, what marvelous riches constitute the bountiful supply of the Spirit! We may apply the riches in the bountiful supply to all our circumstances.
Praise the Lord that we have the Spirit and the Word! As we have pointed out repeatedly, the Spirit and the Word are one. The Word is the prescription, and the Spirit is the application. Through reading the Word we know what we are receiving in the bountiful supply of the Spirit. Through the Word we realize that we receive Christ’s divinity, humanity, human living, all-inclusive death, resurrection, and ascension. Furthermore, we understand that we are one with Christ in His headship, lordship, and kingship. All these elements are included in the compound Spirit. All are aspects of the bountiful supply of the Spirit. Hallelujah, we may now live Christ by receiving the Word through the Spirit!