It is not easy to speak the word of the Lord. This is because we do not have this concept or practice in our daily life. To speak the word of the Lord is to speak forth something concerning God’s mystery, God’s will, something concerning His riches and His truth, and especially something concerning Christ. It is rather easy for us to speak ordinary words, but to speak spiritual words, words that speak of Christ and speak forth Christ, requires special practice.
The title of this message is “Practicing to Speak the Word of the Lord.” To speak the Lord’s word does not mean that you recite the words of the Bible verse by verse. Neither does it mean that you quote some Scriptures to support what you are speaking. Rather, it means that when you have some experience of the Lord and some understanding of God, you relate to others your experience and understanding by biblical words and spiritual expressions (1 Cor. 2:13). When you speak, you should not speak as if you are writing a formal composition; rather, you should speak in an ordinary way. This kind of speaking is not easy, but this kind of speaking is the speaking by the word of the Lord.
A proper Christian life that is up to standard is a life of speaking the Lord’s word. In other words, if we have been a Christian for many years, but we still cannot speak the Lord’s word today, we are not proper and are not qualified. After many years of observation, I have found this to be a fact.
There are many kinds of Christians today. First, there are the pastors, evangelists, and preachers. To put it in a simple way, preaching is their profession. Most of them can go up to the platform and give a sermon, but many of them cannot speak the Lord’s word in their daily life. This is like some Chinese scholars in the old days. They might have ranked first in the national examinations, but it is possible that they could not write a letter home. When asked to compose a classical writing, these scholars could easily do that; but when they were asked to write a letter home, many of them could not do it. Today many preachers and pastors can preach on the platform, but when they talk with people in their daily life, they cannot speak the word of the Lord. The main reason is that they are short of experience. They lack the understanding of God and the experience of the Lord.
Another reason for this inability is the lack of prayer. How much a man can speak for the Lord depends on how much experience he has. But even if he has the experience, if there is no prayer, his experience cannot be converted into speaking. It is by prayer that his experience is converted into words. But even if a man has the experience and also has prayed, still he needs to digest the Lord’s word and have the word of the Lord constituted into him. Only then can he speak the word of the Lord in his daily life.
Verse seven of Hymns, #811 says:
Feeding and drinking, Lord Jesus, of Thee,
Feeding by reading, and drinking by prayer;
Reading and praying, I eat and I drink,
Praying and reading—Lord, Thou art my fare.
The third line of this verse speaks of reading and praying, and the fourth line speaks of praying and reading. To pray-read is to eat the Lord, and to read-pray is to drink the Lord. In pray-reading the emphasis is on reading, and this reading is an eating. In read-praying the emphasis is on praying, and this praying is a drinking.
In the Bible spiritual breathing is linked to spiritual drinking. This is very meaningful. In the air there is water. Air would be harmful to us if it did not have water in it. In one sense, when a man breathes in air, he is drinking in water. The Bible likens prayer to breathing. Since breathing also includes drinking, prayer is also a kind of drinking. This is not my experience alone; sister M. E. Barber in one of her hymns also said, “Just to breathe the Name of Jesus, / Is to drink of Life indeed” (verse 2 of Hymns, #73). Her experience also confirms that to breathe is to drink.
If you want to digest the word of the Lord, you need to pray-read; that is, you must first read and then pray. To pray-read is to turn what you read into prayer. Then you also need to read-pray, which is to mingle the Lord’s word in your prayer. To pray-read is to eat; to read-pray is to drink.