Today God is still a mystery. It is difficult to understand and apprehend God. But the Bible says clearly that this God who is incomprehensible and mysterious is the Word. The Greek word for “word” means the expression of the thoughts formed in the mind. Actually, what is God? Man cannot utter what God is; yet God expresses Himself through the Word, and He uses the Word to represent Himself. God said that He is the Word. Hence the Bible says, “The Word was God.” In the original Greek, this sentence was, “God was the Word.” Both of these expressions are correct, because in Greek both the Word and God are subjects. God is the Word, and the Word is God; these two are one. If there is only God without the Word, then man has no way to understand; if there is the Word, then God can be described and expressed.
But how could this expressed God enter into us? The Lord Jesus said, “The words which I have spoken unto you are spirit and are life.” It is indeed wonderful that the word is spirit. Once the word enters into us, it becomes spirit, and it is life. Therefore, God is the Word, the Word is the Spirit, and the Spirit is life. We contact God first through the Word, and second, through the Spirit. The result is life, and life is simply the grace and reality we have enjoyed. This is my main point. Do you want to contact God? You need to know the Word. If you know the Word, the Word will become the Spirit. Once the Word in you has become the Spirit, you have life within. This life within us is the grace and reality we have enjoyed.
The most important thing for the young people who came here to be trained is to deal with the Word. Where is the word of God? It is in the Bible. In the universe there is a book called “God, having spoken” (see Heb. 1:1-2), which is the Bible. The Bible is not merely the word of God; it is even the more God’s speaking, that is, God’s breathing (2 Tim. 3:16). God’s speaking is God’s breathing. Therefore, whenever you read the Bible, you need to breathe in the word of God. “In the beginning was the Word. Amen! In the beginning was the Word!” This is to breathe in. What God breathes out is the breath, and what you breathe in is also the breath. Once this breath enters into you, it is the Spirit. Christianity is too shallow. Some Christians there actually do not deal with the Spirit. Some deal with the Spirit, but in a nonsensical way by speaking in tongues. The Bible, however, shows us that the proper way is to read and pray the word of God.
The first emphasis in reading the Bible should not be to understand it. When I was newly saved at the age of nineteen, I had a strong desire to obtain knowledge, and I loved to read the Bible very much. I was resolved to understand every verse, and even every word in the Bible. But when I came to the Gospel of John, to the verse, “In the beginning was the Word,” I was stumped by this sentence. What is the beginning? I searched many reference books, but still did not understand. Furthermore, did the Chinese character for “Word” in that verse refer to the same Chinese character used for doctrine, or for morality, or for pathway? I studied, but at the end, I still did not get anything. I thought I could study the Bible the way I studied Chinese classical writings. Eventually I discovered that man can understand Chinese classical writings, but he has no way to understand the Bible.
Then what shall you do? If you do not understand, do not try to understand. Pray-read one portion—“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Amen! The Word was God. Amen! In the beginning. Amen! In the beginning was the Word. Amen! Was the Word. Hallelujah!” If you pray-read in this way, after only ten minutes, you will be satisfied within. This is the best way to read the Bible.
The Bible is God’s breathing out, so that you can breathe it in. This Word is God, and it is the breath. When you breathe this breath into you, it becomes the Spirit. Once it becomes the Spirit, it is life. This life becomes the grace and reality in your daily living. This is the Lord’s salvation. This is not religion. Religion’s way can be compared to teaching a child not to tell lies. Soon after such a lesson, the child will commit some wrongdoing and then immediately fabricate a story to tell you another lie. Hence, such teaching is useless. Rather, we need to lead the little children to pray-read the Lord’s word and let this word become the breath to enter into them. This breath entering into them is the Spirit. The Spirit becomes life, and this life within them is the grace and the reality. Then when such a child wants to do something wrong, within him something will not allow him to do it, rather, will require him to abide in reality. As a result, what he lives out will be God. This is altogether different from religion.
I hope that you would practice dealing with the word and the Spirit every day. To deal with the word is to read the Bible; to deal with the Spirit is to pray. You may say that you do not have many words to pray with. Actually, the entire Bible is your prayer book. You can turn to any page and use it to pray. When you read the Bible, you are dealing with the word; when you pray, you are dealing with the Spirit. Eventually, the word and the Spirit become life, which is your enjoyment and your gain. This enjoyment and gain are grace and reality.
A message given by Brother Witness Lee in Taipei on August 20, 1987.