In 2:14 through 16 there are many important words and phrases: murmurings, reasonings, blameless and guileless, children of God, without blemish, crooked and perverted generation, shine as lights, holding forth the word of life. We need to pray-read these words again and again. For example, if we pray with the words murmurings and reasonings in 2:14, we shall breathe in the breath of God. Furthermore, we shall come to hate our murmurings and reasonings and aspire to be saved from them. By pray-reading the Word, we respond to it. Then in our experience the Word is not a book in dead letters; instead, it is God’s breath, even His breathing.
Sometimes when we pray-read the Word, we may pray a whole verse at one time. However, often it is better to pray-read word by word or phrase by phrase. No one can eat a whole chicken at once. Instead, we eat a little at a time. In the same principle, we should pray-read the Word a little at a time, perhaps even word by word. If we pray with the words murmurings and reasonings in 2:14, we shall receive a divine injection, a heavenly inoculation, which will save us from our murmurings and our reasonings.
In our physical body, we sometimes develop a problem with our skin, perhaps an infection or a fungus. In some cases, neither cleansing nor application of medications to the skin will bring about healing. However, a physician may prescribe medication to be taken internally which will clear up the whole problem. The Bible is a divine medication, the most effective antidote to all negative things. The way to apply the Word as an antidote is not merely to think about it, consider it, or analyze it. We receive the antidote of the Word by exercising our spirit to pray-read it.
Jeremiah 15:16 says, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them.” Like the prophet Jeremiah, we also would eat the Word of God. Some Christians, however, oppose this concept, claiming that the Bible is good only for reading and studying. But the Bible is not only for reading and studying, but also for eating. The Lord Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). This indicates that every word of the Bible, even words such as murmurings and reasonings, can supply us with life. Hence, we may pray-read a verse like 2:14 word by word. In this way, we shall live by every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God.
We may not realize how much we are influenced by traditional Christianity even in the way we read the Bible. Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God.” Here Paul does not speak of reading, analyzing, or meditating on the Word. Instead, he encourages us to sing the Word. We should receive the word of Christ not only by reading, but also by singing, psalming, and praising. Whether or not we sing well, the Lord is pleased to hear us singing the Word. He is happy when we sing from our spirit and from our heart. If we do not know a melody to use in singing a particular verse, we may make up one of our own. The important thing is that we learn to sing the Word of God. I believe that one day in a meeting we may spend most of the time singing a book like Ephesians.
We have pointed out that the Lord Jesus said that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. The Word, however, is not only food to us and our life supply; it is also a spiritual antibiotic. We should not only be fed by the Word, but should also be inoculated with it against many different kinds of troubles, problems, weaknesses, and “diseases.” Murmurings and reasonings are spiritual diseases against which we need to be inoculated by the Word. Day by day we need to pray-read the Word and sing the Word in order to receive further inoculations. If we pray-read 2:14, we shall be inoculated against murmurings and reasonings.
We need to take the Bible as a book of life. The whole Bible is the word of life. As the word of life, the Bible is food to us. Would it not be foolish only to study food and not eat it? If we would study our food and refuse to eat it, we would eventually die. Likewise, if we do not eat the Word, we shall die spiritually. It is crucial that we eat the Word by pray-reading it and by singing it.
In pray-reading 2:14 through 16, we should not simply pray-read these verses as a whole, but should concentrate on the important words and phrases. We need to pray-read the words murmurings, reasonings, blameless, guileless, without blemish, children of God, crooked, perverted, generation, shine, lights, world, holding forth, word, and life. We may strongly dislike murmurings, reasonings, and the crooked and perverted generation. Nevertheless, the words murmurings, reasonings, and crooked and perverted generation in these verses can supply us with life if we pray-read and sing them. We should hate murmurings, but we should appreciate pray-reading the word murmurings. Furthermore, we should not only eat these words, but also digest them and assimilate them so that they may become part of our constitution.