May 23, 2017
This is the last podcast in a special series on reading the Bible. These podcasts include helpful excerpts from books by Watchman Nee and Witness Lee that provide insight about reading the Bible.
In the foregoing podcasts in this series, we’ve seen that God gave us two precious gifts—His Word and His Spirit—and that these two are actually one.
It is a glorious fact that God has become accessible and communicable to us as the Spirit embodied in the Word, but this fact remains objective to us if we do not exercise our spirit to contact the Spirit in the Word. In this podcast, we’ll take a look at how we can receive the Spirit in the Word through the exercise of our human spirit.
It’s best for believers to have two times each day to read the Bible—one to meditate on and pray over the Word to receive spiritual nourishment, and one to study and understand the Scriptures. At all times, however, we must remember that the Word and the Spirit are one. We must continually endeavor not merely to touch the letter of the Bible, but to touch and receive the Spirit in the Word.
In Life Lessons, Witness Lee says: “In reading the Bible, after we have understood the meaning of the text by our understanding and have apprehended the truth of the text with our wisdom, we should use our spirit by prayer to receive the truths in the Scripture into the deepest part of our being, that is, our spirit. In other words, after we understand the text and receive the truth therein, we still must exercise our spirit to turn what we have understood and realized into prayer that it may be assimilated in our spirit, becoming our life supply and the basis of our spiritual experience.”
In the Life-study of Philippians, he writes: “The Word becoming the Spirit in our experience can be illustrated by the lighting of a match. The head of a match is a ball made of phosphorus. When we strike a match in a proper way, the phosphorus bursts into flame. Is the flame different from the phosphorus? No, it is simply the explosion of the phosphorus. In like manner, the Spirit is the ‘explosion’ of the Word. When we experience this explosion, we are ‘burned’ by the ‘fire.’ This burning is faith.”
How can we exercise our spirit to receive the Spirit in the Word? Here are five ways that we can practice:
First, according to the Bible, we need to pray in order to receive the Word of God. By exercising our spirit through prayer, we touch and receive the Spirit in the Bible.
Ephesians 6:17-18 says, “And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints.”
In his book, Enjoying Christ as the Word and the Spirit through Prayer, Witness Lee says, “The way to transfer Christ as the Word into the Spirit is to open our heart, open our spirit, and exercise our spirit to pray.”
Second, we can be filled in spirit by speaking and singing the Word. God is a flowing and filling God, and by getting into the Bible daily, we can enjoy this flow.
Ephesians 5:17-19 says, “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissoluteness, but be filled in spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming with your heart to the Lord.”
Third, the apostle Paul charged the Colossian believers to let the word of Christ dwell in them richly. The way to let the Lord’s word dwell in us richly is by teaching, admonishing, and singing.
In Colossians 3:16, he wrote, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God.”
Fourth, we need to keep and obey the Word. The truth can become a part of us only by our reading and experiencing it. As we dig into the truth in the Word, we are both unveiled to see it and equipped to keep it.
In John 14:23 Jesus said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him.”
And 1 John 2:5 tells us, “Whoever keeps His word, truly in this one the love of God has been perfected. In this we know that we are in Him.”
So, to receive the Spirit in the Word, we need to pray and petition with it; speak and sing it; teach and admonish it; and keep and obey it. And, finally, we also need to exercise our spirit to mix the Word with faith. This can be as simple as saying, “Amen,” to God’s Word, even when we don’t understand it.
Hebrews 4:2 says, “For indeed we have had the good news announced to us, even as they also; but the word heard did not profit them, not being mixed together with faith in those who heard.”
We hope you’ve enjoyed this special series on reading the Bible. As we put these five ways to exercise our spirit to receive the Spirit in the Word of God into practice, we’ll turn God’s Word into our daily life supply.