Examples of Enjoying God 
through Mingling Reading with Praying

For example, when we spend time with the Lord, whether in the morning or at any other time, we should have two kinds of Bibles. We should have the Bible that is engraved on our heart and sealed by the Holy Spirit, and we should have a visible Bible that we hold in our hand. It is preferable for the visible Bible to be a pocket-sized version so that we can take it with us and read it wherever we may be. In our reading we can mingle praying with reading; we can pray-read and read-pray the Bible. This kind of reading can be done at any time. It is not legal. However, according to our experience, morning is the best time.

Meditating to Turn the Word into Prayer

When we are ready to enjoy God through prayer, we should be calm, call our entire being back to our spirit, and touch the Lord. Spontaneously, we may utter a prayer, saying, “Lord, as I read Your Word, open it to me.” After praying, we can then read. We may read Romans 8:1-2, which says, “There is now then no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death.” We should not read these verses quickly. These two verses are sufficient for us to muse on. We should not muse merely on the words themselves; rather, our musing should be based on these words. In other words, we muse through and by God’s Word. We can muse on the Lord, His redemption, His indwelling, our union with Him, and His being life to us. We should read the verses again, not merely with our mind but by absorbing the riches in the Word with our spirit. We may say, “There is no more condemnation in Christ. How sweet it is to be in Christ! In Adam I was condemned and destined to die, but now I am in Christ. I am a person in Christ! In Christ there is no more condemnation. Therefore, in Christ there is no death!” After musing and meditating in this way, we will spontaneously be filled with thanksgiving and praising. We may say, “Lord, I praise You that I am in Christ. I am in You. Thank You! There is no condemnation in You.” It is difficult to determine whether this is reading or praying. Within the praying there is reading, and within the reading there is praying. It is our prayer, but the words are from Romans 8:1. This is to pray-read and read-pray. The two are mingled as one. The best way to absorb, eat, and drink God is to mingle our prayer and our reading in this way.

If we merely read the Bible, it will remain in our mind and be dead letters to us; we will not touch, eat, or drink God. When we turn the words that we read into prayer, the letter of the Word is brought into the realm of the Spirit and becomes a spring of water in our spirit. Hence, we are inwardly nourished and watered. After praying and reading in this way, the Spirit comes to us with the Word. We are enlightened and become clear concerning many things. By having the Spirit and the Word in this way, we enjoy God in a rich, deep, clear, practical, and strong way. We eat and drink Him and are filled with His Spirit and His word.

After some time we may proceed to verse 2: “For the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death.” We may speak to the Lord in the way of praying and reading, saying, “Lord, I know that the Spirit of life is within me. This Spirit of life is the Spirit. This Spirit is within me as my life. He enlivens and invigorates me. The Spirit is the Spirit of life within me. Thank You that there is a law, a spontaneous power, within the Spirit. This law is within me, causing me to overcome the law of sin and of death. Lord, my will can never deliver me from the law of sin and of death. But I thank You that You are within me as the Spirit of life. You are the law of life, the power of life, that spontaneously delivers me from the law of sin and of death.” This can be compared to reading, but it is also praying. In this way we touch God. This way of reading the Word is nourishing; it is not dull or dry. Through this way of reading we touch God, and His word is brought into His Spirit. The words of the Bible are like fine flour, and the Spirit is the oil. This kind of reading mingles the fine flour with the oil and mingles the oil with the fine flour. As a result, we are nourished and watered. This is the most profitable way to read the Word.