The initiation of life begins with the Spirit, but the word is needed for the growth, spread, and expansion of life. Although the initiation of life is through the Spirit, the growth of life is through the word. We know that the Lord is the Spirit in our spirit, and we can enjoy Him by calling on His name. As we call, we are breathing; that is, we are receiving Him as air. As we breathe more, our breathing becomes our drinking. Sister M. E. Barber wrote a hymn that says, “Just to breathe the Name of Jesus, / Is to drink of Life indeed” (Hymns, #73). As our breathing increases, it becomes our drinking. However, in addition to breathing and drinking, we must eat. Our physical body needs both air and water. However, in order to receive a rich supply of nutrients for our growth, we need food. Hence, we should not only breathe and drink but also eat in order to receive the necessary nutrients. We must have the Lord’s Word in order to eat. Thus, eating is related to pray-reading the Scriptures.
Some have said mistakenly that we only need to call on the Lord’s name, that we do not need to listen to messages or read the Bible. This is not true; we need the Bible more than anyone else. Many people read the Bible only with their eyes; others study it with their minds. However, when we pray-read the Lord’s Word, we receive the words of the Bible into our spirit. We want and need the Bible very much. It is the Bible that we want, not man’s nonsensical words. We also need the ministry of the Word. We do not reject the practice of ministering the Word; rather, we reject only messages that do not supply life.
If the Lord has mercy, the churches in every place should receive several messages every week that are living, strong, and fresh. The church in Los Angeles does not reject the ministry of the Word. On the contrary, at least four messages are given every week. I am not boasting; I can testify that every message is a living message. We need the ministry of the Word, a ministry that is living. In the Gospel of John there is the Spirit, and there is also the word. It is not enough to have just the Spirit. It is not enough to just breathe and drink; there is a need to eat. We need to breathe moment by moment, drink seven or eight times a day, and eat at least three times a day.
In the church there should be at least two to three messages a week to supply God’s children. Some may ask, “What if we do not have living messages?” If our messages are not living, we should go to Joseph to buy grain. We may encounter a great famine, but there is enough supply in Joseph’s storehouse. We should go to Joseph to buy grain. Who is Joseph? Joseph is the glorified Lord Jesus, the Christ on the throne.
We should not have our spirit merely enlivened or our thirst quenched. Our hunger also needs to be satisfied. The church needs solid food; all the local churches need this. We do not need to spend as much time eating as we do breathing, because we need to breathe every second. Hence, several messages a week will be adequate to feed and satisfy the saints with food. Everyone needs to bear responsibility in this matter; everyone needs to pray and ask the Lord to release His speaking among us, asking that His Word would be open to us.
We must eat the Lord’s Word. I once drew a diagram of a triangle with the words God, Spirit, and Word at the corners. God is Spirit (4:24), and God is also the Word (1:1). Furthermore, the Word is Spirit. The words that the Lord has spoken to us are spirit (6:63). Hence, the three are one. We cannot contact God without breathing in the Spirit. Neither can we contact God and breathe in the Spirit without dealing with the Word. None of us can live apart from the Bible. We should have more than one Bible so that we can have the Word with us at all times. We should never be separated from the Word. All day long we should eat the Lord’s Word, because the Lord Himself is the Word, and His words are spirit and life. When we open the Bible, we should not focus on understanding but on eating and being nourished in our spirit. It is one thing to understand the food that we eat for breakfast, but it is another thing to eat and digest the food. In the same principle we need to digest the words of the Bible. Pray-reading the Bible is to eat the Lord’s Word. As long as we take in the Lord’s Word, our spirit will spontaneously digest the Word.
Two different Greek words are translated as “word” or “words” in the Gospel of John. For example, the Greek word for words in 6:63 is rhema, which is different from the Greek word for Word in 1:1, which is logos. The former refers to the instant word, and the latter, to the constant word. The Lord gives us both the instant word and the constant word. For example, John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.” This is an example of His constant word. However, when the Lord spoke to the man who had been impotent for thirty-eight years, saying, “Rise, take up your mat and walk” (5:8), He was speaking an instant word to him. All the words in the Bible are constant; however, when the Lord repeats a constant word to us, it becomes an instant word. Whether the Lord’s words are constant or instant to us, we should receive His words constantly.