Day: December 19, 2021

Turning Mental Understanding into Meditation and Prayer

It is impossible for us not to receive any understanding when we contact the Bible. There will be some amount of comprehension no matter what chapter of the Bible we read. Once we receive some comprehension, we need to meditate on our understanding. At this point we need to exercise our mind. In the previous step we exercised our spirit, not our mind, to contact the Word. But in this step we need to involve our mind. However, this is meditation, not wild and unrestrained thinking. We should consider what we have touched and received and turn it into prayer. For example, there is no need for us to try to understand Genesis 1:1. Spontaneously, there will be a realization within us that God is the beginning and that He is the Creator. At this juncture we can muse and consider and even turn our thoughts into prayer, saying, “God, may You be the beginning in all my ways. May my whole life and the beginning of everything that I do be filled with Your divine element.” In this way we will be able to apply our realization of the Word to our daily living. When we do this, we are absorbing God.

We need to learn this lesson. Especially in the morning when we are reading the Word, we should not occupy our mind with reference books. This will not benefit us. Instead, we should practice this fellowship by exercising our spirit to contact the living word of God. When we contact Him, we should spontaneously turn our understanding into meditation and prayer and concentrate on absorbing God Himself.

Receiving More of God

We also need to realize that the issue of our musing and our prayer must be more of God in our inner being. Since the Bible is God’s breath, His breathing out, and His spoken word, which is God Himself, whenever we receive Him, the result should be more of God in us. We should never congratulate ourselves for merely understanding some truths that we formerly did not understand. There is not much value in this. If the result of our coming to the Word is to receive knowledge, teaching, or truth, not the Lord Himself, our reading is a failure. When we read the Word, the ultimate result should not merely be the acquisition of more truth but the gaining of the Lord Himself. We are contacting the Lord, receiving the Lord, and praying to the Lord; therefore, in the end we should gain the Lord.

Let me elaborate on this point. If in praying for our business we take our business as the subject of our prayer, we have failed. The subject of every prayer should be the Lord Himself, not other things. All those who take other things as the subject of their prayer err in a fundamental way. This type of prayer never makes us clear; instead, it often makes us unclear. Even if we think that we are clear, we are actually quite confused. This type of prayer often results in a wrong impression of the Lord’s leading. When we pray, we must first set aside our business and simply touch the Lord, breathe Him in, and contact Him. As we touch the Lord, we may feel peaceful and sense that the Lord’s presence is with our business, enabling us to proceed with our business. Or we may lack peace and not sense His presence. In this case there is no need to pursue the matter further; we should simply drop it. This type of leading does not become clear to us as we pray about it. It becomes clear to us as we touch the Lord and gain Him in our prayer. The Lord becomes our very leading within us.

Most brothers and sisters have the same problem in reading the Bible. When they encounter problems that need to be solved, they go to the Lord to inquire concerning the matter. They also search the Scriptures to see what the Bible says concerning the matter. For example, when a brother is looking for a job, he may search the Scriptures for something related to jobs and careers. He may even use a concordance to find verses. He may eventually say that he is clear concerning the Christian perspective about a job. He may even say, “Lord, thank You for showing me Your will.” However, this brother has received merely doctrine that can be retained in his mind. His mind may be somewhat corrected, taught, and educated, but this is the wrong way to read the Word.

When we have a problem with our job or when we are looking for solutions to other problems, we should not make these things an issue when we go to God. The Lord should be the subject of our prayer, and He should also be the subject of our reading. When we study the Word, we should say, “Lord, I want to contact You through Your Word. Your Word is Your very self.” We should exercise our spirit to contact the Lord. Genesis 1 says nothing about jobs or careers. Verse 1 simply says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” However, if we touch God and contact Him through this word, it will turn us to meditate and pray so that we can absorb God and receive Him and His element within us. We will not need to say anything related to our business. However, after reading in this way, we will sense the Lord’s presence within as we proceed with our business affairs. His presence will cause us to consider whether He has initiated our work and whether He is involved in it. In this light we may realize that we initiated our business, not the Lord. We may realize that we, rather than the Lord, are the founder of our business. He is not involved in it, but we are fully occupied with it. Then the Lord may give us a clear feeling that what has not been initiated by Him is not His will. In this way we will be clear about the Lord’s will. This is not a matter of understanding the truth but of gaining the truth. As we contact the living Lord and as His element within us increases, He, the living God Himself, becomes our living guidance. He teaches us to understand God’s will.

Being Enlivened and Shining in Spirit

Finally, if our reading of the Bible is proper, our inner being will be enlivened whenever we touch the Word. If our inner being is not enlivened, our reading is wrong. God’s word is living (Heb. 4:12). His words are spirit and life (John 6:63). Whenever our spirit touches the living word of God, we will surely be enlivened, refreshed, enriched, enlightened, and empowered. In other words, when we read the Word in a proper way, our spirit will be filled after reading, our life will be strengthened, and we will be enlightened. This enlightenment is not related to the clarity of our mind. This is an entirely different thing. Some people become very clear in their mind after they read the Word, but their spirit remains dull. Others may not be that clear in their mind, but they are very clear in their spirit. They have discernment in their spirit. This is wonderful.

For example, the friends of a new believer may try to persuade him to go to a movie. He may decline because he is very clear in his spirit that he should not go, yet at the same time he is unable to explain his reason for declining. He simply knows that he should not go. If we would learn to live in God’s word and learn to contact Him through His Word, this will be our story. Although we may not understand many things and we may not know many doctrines, our spirit is clear. We are clear concerning what brings us into the Lord’s presence and what causes us to lose His presence. We know when the Lord is walking with us and when He is far from us. We know when we are being mingled with Him and when we are separated from Him. Even though this type of knowing is not dependent upon our understanding, there is a clear shining in our spirit. This is the normal result of reading the Word.

When we read the Bible, we should realize that God is contained in His Word, and we should contact it in this way. We should exercise our spirit to touch the living Word. When we touch something in the Word, we should turn it into meditation and prayer. Consequently, we will gain more of the Lord, absorb more of Him, and our inner being will be enlivened, refreshed, strengthened, and enlightened. As a result, we will gain more God and enjoy more of Him. I hope that we will all learn to exercise ourselves in these two areas. We should exercise to have the kind of prayer we described in the previous chapter, and we should exercise to read the Word as described in this chapter. We should absorb God, gain Him, and enjoy Him through praying and reading. If we do this, we will express much glory, riches, and divine fullness. Furthermore, the church will rise to a higher plane. May we be faithful to continually learn to take this way and to live this life.

Reading the Word to Contact God Himself

When we contact the Word, we need to be clear that we are contacting God Himself. Whenever we open the Bible, our first thought should be to contact the living God. The living God has breathed out all that is within Himself as the Word. All the riches within Him are breathed out in the form of the word. Every word of the Bible, from the first to the last, is the breath of God. The Bible is not for us to study philosophy or literature. It is for us to contact what God has breathed out, what He has exhaled.

Brothers and sisters, this is not a light matter. Unless we have the concept that we are coming to God and contacting Him, our focus will be wrong. The first thought we should have, the first step we should take, when we open the Scriptures is to prepare ourselves to contact God. We are reading what God has breathed out. God has breathed His breath upon these words. We should not have the thought that we are reading teachings or literature. Rather, we are altogether contacting the manifested God, the God who has revealed Himself through His speaking. The God who dwells in unapproachable light, who cannot be touched or known, has revealed Himself through the Word. In fact He Himself is the Word, and He is embodied in the Word. Now He has put the Word, which is His breath, before us. When we study the Word, contact the Word, we are actually contacting God Himself.

Many people ask why they do not receive anything when they read the Word. I would like to ask, “When you read the Word, do you have the thought that you are coming to a book of letters, or do you have the thought that you are coming to the living word that has been breathed out from God?” This thought is very crucial. Many brothers and sisters do not have this thought when they come to the Word. They think that they are reading merely words printed on paper. At the most they think that they are studying teachings, commandments, or doctrines. It is no wonder that they do not receive a living supply. We need a consciousness that the Bible is the Word of God; it is God’s speaking. God has released Himself through His speaking. He is embodied in the Bible. Hence, when we come to the Bible, we should have the consciousness that we are contacting the revealed and released God. We are not touching merely letters; we are touching the living God. We are not touching merely teachings; we are touching a God who has breathed Himself out. In order to properly approach the Word, we must have this thought and prepare ourselves accordingly.

Exercising the Spirit Rather Than the Mind

With this initial understanding we can proceed further. We need to exercise our spirit rather than our mind whenever we study the Word. This is a trying lesson for many people. They may not agree and say, “Who can study without using his mind?” It seems as if this is an unreasonable demand. But I would ask, “Is there a difference between reading the Bible and reading a newspaper?” We will derive no value from exercising our spirit to read a newspaper. We should exercise our mind when we read a newspaper, asking ourselves about the content of an article or an editorial. We need to use our mind to analyze and understand international news, politics, and financial reports. But we must take a different approach when we read the Bible. When we come to the Word, our first thought should be that God can be released through these pages because these words are the very breath of God. God has spoken and revealed Himself through these words. We need to exercise our spirit, not our mind, when we read the Bible because God is Spirit (John 4:24). We must believe that the more we turn from our mind to our spirit, our reading of the Scriptures will be proper.

A brother once said that he received much light in his study of the Bible one morning. When I asked what light he had seen, he replied that he realized that Adam lacked one rib. I asked how he came to this conclusion, and he said that as he was reading Genesis 2, he pondered on how Eve could have been made from Adam’s rib. He concluded that Adam must have lacked one rib. I pointed my finger at his head and said, “Brother, your mind has killed you! If you study the Bible in this way, you will never receive genuine light. You will forever be in darkness.”

This is not the way to study the Bible. In reading the Word, we must turn from our mind in order to release our spirit. It is very difficult for one who has never received any education, who is illiterate, to read the Bible. However, those who are able to read the Bible need to turn from their mind and exercise their spirit in order to receive any benefit. There is much to learn in this matter.

Let us use an example to see the difference between reading the Bible with the mind or with the spirit. If a person exercises only his mind when reading Genesis 1 concerning God’s creation of the heavens and the earth, he may wonder when the creation occurred. Was it six thousand years ago, or was it ten thousand years ago? There is no limit to the questions one can ask. If a person is a geologist or has books on geology, his mind will dominate. He may set the Bible aside and pull out a book on geology to investigate the subject. With ten minutes or even ten hours of this kind of reading, he will not touch God. On the contrary, he will lose God’s presence when he reads in this way. His mind will be full of knowledge, but his spirit will be dry. When he comes out of his library, he will be irritable; any slight provocation will cause him to lose his temper. This shows that his reading did not bring God into him. Rather, it brought him into his flesh. This is not an exaggeration. God’s children commonly face this difficulty when they come to the Word.

Even I studied the Bible in this way after I was saved. When I opened the New Testament to Matthew 1:1, which speaks of the son of Abraham, I asked, “Who was Abraham?” If I could not determine this, immediately I looked it up in reference books. I eventually determined that Abraham was the father of the Jews, the father of Isaac and the grandfather of Jacob. Then more questions came. Who was Isaac? Who was Jacob? I was so completely occupied with reference books that there was no time remaining to continue reading the Bible. The more I looked in reference books, the more confused I became, and the more I was distracted from the verse itself. My spirit was dry, my heart was ill-tempered, and I received no supply. If this is the way we read, there is no value to it. Many new believers and even some long-time students of the Bible have only this kind of experience.

When brothers ask me to recommend reference books, I am reluctant because my recommendation could damage them. It is better to have fewer books at our disposal when we come to the Word. It is best if we have only one book—the Bible. We do not need to refer to any other material. If there is a need for a reference, that reference should be God. When we come to the Bible, our first thought should not be that we are coming to a book on knowledge or ethics; instead, we are coming to God who has revealed Himself through His speaking. When we come to the Word, we are contacting the living God. We do not need reference material, and we do not need to struggle with our mind. We only need to contact the living God by exercising our spirit.

If we read Genesis 1:1 with the exercise of our spirit, we will worship God, saying, “Praise You. You are the beginning. Without You there is no beginning. Everything begins with You.” This will enable us to immediately touch God in our spirit, not in our mind. This is altogether a matter of our spirit touching the Spirit. We may read the verse again: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This may prompt us to worship God, saying, “You are the Creator. Everything is of You. You are the Initiator, the Inaugurator, of everything. Without You there is no beginning. Without You there is no heaven, and there is no earth. Without You there is no universe.” This does not require the exercise of our mind. It is fully a matter of contacting the living God with our spirit. Studying the Bible in this way does not require ten minutes. Rather, our spirit can be filled in five minutes. As we leave for work in the morning, we still may be saying, “In the beginning God. In the beginning God. God created. God created. Praise You. You are the beginning of everything. You created everything.” Just a few minutes and a few words enable us to touch God. Our inner being will touch God, and we will enjoy Him.

God’s children need to see that whenever we come to His Word, we should be convicted in our heart that this Word is the speaking forth of the living God. We should not study it with our mind; instead, we should contact it with our spirit. There is no need to understand the Bible too much. Please give me the liberty to say that for many people, the more they understand the Bible, the worse their spiritual life becomes. This is not a matter of “understanding” the Bible but a matter of “contacting” the Bible. The Bible is indeed a wonderful book. The way to approach it is not to understand it but to contact it, touch it, and enjoy it.

Once a young brother asked me whether reading the Bible was useful since he did not understand much of what he read. He said, “I read the second half of the book of Exodus, and all I saw was the materials, the construction, and the dimensions of the tabernacle. The more I read, the more confused I am. What is the purpose of reading?” I answered, “Dear brother, let me suggest an experiment. Tomorrow morning when you wake up, change the way that you read, and see if there is a difference.” The next day he came to me and said, “Brother Lee, there is a difference. This morning when I opened up the book of Exodus, I still did not understand much of what I read, but I had the intention of coming to God and putting myself under His shining.” I said, “Brother, this is very precious. This is the right way.” When we read the Word, we should place ourselves under the shining of God’s light. We may read twenty-five chapters of Exodus, and our mind may lack understanding and be totally confused. However, after fifteen minutes of coming to the Word in this way, we feel as if we have passed under God’s shining. We will be inwardly refreshed, cleansed, and enlightened. This is the most valuable kind of reading.

This does not mean that we do not need to understand or remember anything when we read the Word, but understanding and memorization are secondary. Our primary need is to pass through God’s shining whenever we read the Word. The Bible is a book for us to contact rather than to understand. We contact sunshine every day even though we do not understand it. We do not understand water, but we contact it every day. To contact is one thing, and to understand is another. Similarly, to receive is one thing, and to comprehend is another. The Bible is not primarily for comprehension but for communication and reception. Whenever we read God’s Word, if we acknowledge that it is His very speaking and contact it with our spirit, our inner being will touch God and receive Him.

CHAPTER SIX

HOW TO ENJOY GOD IN READING THE WORD

Scripture Reading: 2 Tim. 3:16; John 1:1, 4, 14; 6:63; Matt. 4:4; Heb. 4:12

In the previous chapter we saw how to enjoy God in prayer. In this chapter we will consider how to enjoy Him in reading the Word. In other words, we want to see how we should study the Bible. Since this is a broad subject, we will focus only on how to absorb God through reading the Word.

Whoever is experienced in fellowshipping with God knows that the way to receive and assimilate God is either in prayer or in reading the Word. Prayer and reading the Word are the two best ways for man to contact God. Although many people pray, they do not contact God, and although many people study the Word, they do not absorb God. There are different kinds of prayer, and there are different ways to read the Bible. In order to know how to assimilate God when reading the Bible, we need a basic understanding.

READING NOT FOR TEACHING 
BUT FOR ASSIMILATING GOD

In the last chapter we pointed out that prayer is not asking God to do many things, but it is breathing in God. Similarly, reading the Word is not digging out many teachings from the Bible but assimilating God. Although the Bible is full of teachings, and it is difficult to find another book that contains as many teachings as the Bible, when we seek God through the Word, we should realize that the Bible is not merely a book of teachings. When we study the Word, we should not look for teachings, just as when we pray, we should not ask for many things. The purpose of our prayer is to breathe in God. Similarly, the purpose of our reading the Bible is to assimilate God. The subject and the center of prayer is God Himself. The subject and the center of reading the Word should also be God Himself. Just as we breathe ourselves out and breathe in God through prayer, we deny ourselves and receive all that God is through reading the Word. The real reading of the Word has nothing to do with acquiring teaching in the mind. Rather, it is a fresh assimilation of God in the spirit.

God’s children need this basic understanding. Whenever we come to the Bible, we should not have the concept that it is for the purpose of gaining some teachings. Instead, we should have the concept that we are here to touch God Himself. Instead of being taught by the Bible, we are here to assimilate God Himself through the Bible. Whenever we open the Bible, we should not desire teachings; our desire should be to gain God Himself. Considering the Bible as a book of teachings is not the proper Christian attitude in reading God’s Word. The proper attitude for every child of God when coming to the Word is to consider it as another opportunity to contact God Himself. We should be deeply impressed by this, and we should have this basic change in concept. Let us now consider how to study the Word.

THE BIBLE BEING GOD’S BREATH

We should realize that the Bible is God’s word, that is, His breath. In the universe words are a mysterious yet tremendous thing. The Bible says that God created all things by His word. By God’s word we have the heavens and the earth. Not only are all things created by God’s word, but the very existence of all things is also sustained by His word. Both the old creation and the new creation came into existence through His word. We are regenerated by His word, and every spiritual experience we have after our regeneration comes as a result of God’s word. Our entire Christian existence is involved with God’s word.

Unbelievers may consider us to be very odd people. Even though they may be attracted by movies, an avid movie goer will still be bored if he visits the theater every day. We Christians, however, meet every day, and the more we meet, the more we love to meet. Unbelievers wonder what we do in our meetings. In our meetings the only thing we do is speak and speak and speak. I spoke the night before last, I spoke last night, I am speaking this morning, and I will speak again next Lord’s Day. We speak in the prayer meetings, and we speak in the fellowship meetings. We speak in the bread-breaking meetings, and we speak on Lord’s Day morning. There is no place on earth that has as much speaking as in our meetings.

There is no end to our speaking. If we spoke every day for a thousand years, we would still be unable to exhaust our speaking. Speaking is a wonderful thing. Words can kill a person, and they can give life to a person. We can incite people to anger with a few words, and we can also make them happy with a few words. We can cause people to sit still with a few words, and we can cause them to stand up and leave with a few words. This shows the power of words.

God is the Word. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. He was not only with God; He was God Himself (John 1:1). The Bible is not a book of knowledge, science, or philosophy. The Bible is called the Word. The original meaning of the word Bible is “book,” which is a collection of words. The Bible is a collection of words that were first spoken and then written. It is a collection of God’s words, not man’s words. In fact, these words are the embodiment of God Himself.

A man’s words represent and express him. If I stood here without saying a word, everyone would see my outward form but not know what is inside of me. In order for others to know and clearly understand what is inside of me, there is a need for words. Once words come out, my desires and intentions are expressed. After speaking for an hour, others begin to know what is inside of me. In the same way, the whole Bible is God’s word, His breathing. Every word in the Bible, from the beginning to the end, is God’s expression, His embodiment. In spirit these words become God Himself. Please do not misunderstand my words. This does not mean that the physical Bible is God Himself. That is mere superstition.

Waiting

We should learn to wait on God. This is a trying lesson. Even in human relationships waiting is an important element. Suppose I want a brother to help me. If he is busy when I go to see him, I cannot make my request. I must wait until he is no longer busy before I can open my mouth. We should not think that we can skip this step when we pray. Many times when God asks us to do something for Him, He does not force us. He waits until we are ready. If God can wait on us, should we not wait on God?

The book of Psalms is filled with the matter of waiting on God. In the prayers of the psalmists the word waiting is uttered numerous times. We need to wait on Jehovah (37:9). Our soul should wait in silence for God alone (62:1). We cannot breathe in God without first waiting on Him. Waiting on God is to allow Him to determine the timing. We cannot dictate the time; He dictates the time. We need to wait. When we pray, we need to inquire of God, and we also need to wait on God.

Musing

We also need to learn to muse or meditate on everything about God. We must meditate on God’s loveliness, His lovingkindness, His dignity, His glory, His attributes, and His acts. We must learn that when breathing in God through prayer, we should not only inquire of Him and wait on Him but also meditate on Him and ponder His acts.

We should not think that it is a waste of time to temporarily set aside other matters in our prayers while we meditate on God. God already knows our needs. What touches His heart the most and gives Him the sweetest thought is our musing on Him in His presence. This is the reason the psalmist says, “May my musing be sweet to Him” (104:34). We should remain in His presence and behold Him in silence. While we behold Him in this way, we inquire of Him, wait on Him, and muse on Him. We can muse on His dealings with us and on His dealings with the saints of old. We can also muse on the sweetness of His person. We can meditate on His desire, love, patience, character, glory, and sweetness. In this musing, we absorb God, and His elements fill us. We should gain this experience and learn this lesson.

Please trust in my word. We must leave our many affairs, our business, health, family, finance, and livelihood, in God’s hand and remember His promise that our heavenly Father knows that we need all these things (Matt. 6:32). We must cast all our anxiety on Him (1 Pet. 5:7). There is no need to spend much time praying for these things. There is no need to pray for every point. We should believe that He bears the responsibility for all our needs. In our prayers we should forget about ourselves and spend more time to muse on Him, allowing Him and His acts to fill our spiritual eyes and inward senses. God treasures this type of musing; He appreciates this kind of meditation. When we enjoy Him in this musing, He dispenses Himself into us and takes care of all our other needs. We should be at peace and focus on His sweetness instead of focusing on our own affairs. We need to spend time to muse upon His sweetness.

Worshipping

As we touch Him, remain in Him, behold His loveliness, converse with Him, inquire of Him, wait on Him, and muse upon Him, we should worship Him. We should worship Him in our spirit and with our whole being. We should attune our entire being to His holy splendor and worship Him in holy splendor (Psa. 29:2). We should prostrate ourselves before Him and offer Him our worship.

Praising

We should also praise God. Praise always follows worship. As we muse upon a certain matter, praises should flow forth from within us.

Interceding

We also should learn to participate in intercessory work. If time permits and we are able to spend more time before God, He will surely tell us things that concern Him. As soon as we know these things, we need to do the work of intercession. Abraham stood before God. As he remained in His presence, God seemingly said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? I have to let him know that I will destroy Sodom. But there is a child of mine in Sodom. On the one hand, I will destroy Sodom; on the other hand, I want to save Lot. This is My desire.” Once Abraham heard this, he immediately began his intercessory work before God. In his prayer he said, “Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed destroy and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?…Shall the Judge of all the earth not do justly?” (Gen. 18:24-25). Abraham’s intercession was absolutely in the form of inquiring; he did not ask or beg. Abraham kept inquiring all the way to the end. This is the best kind of intercession. As we remain in God, muse upon Him, worship Him, and praise Him, He reveals His desire to us, and we intercede by inquiring. This kind of prayer is sweet.

Allowing God to Finish His Speaking

We also need to allow God to finish what He is speaking. This was what Abraham did. He prayed, but God spoke. The Scripture says, “Jehovah went away as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham” (v. 33). Many times in our prayers we go away as soon as we have finished speaking rather than letting God go away when He is finished speaking. In our prayers we have no thought of God’s speaking. We simply speak what we want. After praying, we say, “In the name of Jesus, Amen.” Then we leave. We do not care if God is leaving or staying. Let me say this jokingly: It is perhaps a good thing that God’s presence is not with us during this type of prayer. If God were with us, He would feel very lonely. It is very impolite to meet someone, not allow him to speak, and leave as soon as we are finished speaking. This, however, is the way many people pray to God.

Although Abraham inquired in his prayer, God was the One speaking. In his prayer Abraham did not finish speaking and then walk away. Rather, Jehovah finished speaking and then left. After Jehovah departed, Abraham left. Can we wait for God to finish speaking before we say, “In the name of Jesus, Amen”? Many times as soon as we finish our speaking, we say Amen. We may say Amen to such a prayer, but has God said Amen? We have finished, but God has not finished. This is a pitiful condition. We have never learned to absorb God, to receive God, and to breathe in God. We pray in a wild and reckless way. We have never been trained in the matter of prayer. We have never surrendered in this matter. We have never allowed God to speak. Consequently, we do not gain much God at the end of our prayers. We have not absorbed Him or received very much of Him.

In summary, when we come to God to breathe Him in, we must first turn to our spirit to touch Him. We should be calm, behold Him, inquire of Him, and learn to wait on Him. We should also muse upon Him, worship Him, praise Him, and learn to intercede before Him. Later, we should allow Him to finish His speaking. Then we can let Him know that we are satisfied. This is the best kind of prayer. It is a prayer that receives and absorbs God. If we always pray in this way, we will surely receive and appropriate much more of God, and He will surely be our real enjoyment. This is what it means to enjoy God through our prayer. May the Lord graciously enable us to live in this reality!