EXAMPLES OF READING THE BIBLE
Some may understand this fellowship in theory, but they do not know how to practice it. They may not know how to restrict their mind and exercise their spirit, allowing it to take the lead when they read the Bible. A brother may be touched in his inner being and moved when he reads Romans 4:17, which says that God gives life to the dead and calls the things not being as being. Then he may immediately exercise his mind to understand this verse. He is pursuing the doctrine of this verse. Because he does not realize the weakness of the mind, he is unconsciously distracted even though he had a good beginning. Although his mind may have more ideas, his spirit is empty.
The proper way for a person to read the Bible is to guard his thoughts when touched by a verse. A person should not ask what it means to give life to the dead or to call the things not being as being. Rather, he should simply eat the Word and receive it into his spirit. He should immediately exercise his spirit to pray, saying, “Lord, You give life to the dead, and You call the things not being as being. I thank You that You are inside me and have become everything to me.” When he prays in this way, he is contacting God with his spirit rather than considering doctrines with his mind. He might not understand much, but his spirit has eaten and enjoyed God because he has touched God. This is what it means to read the Bible with our spirit.
Whenever we read the Bible, we must guard ourselves against arguing over doctrines. We will not touch God if we study doctrines, because we are exercising our mind. If something touches our spirit, we must control our mind. It is true that when reading a verse, we may be led to consider a second verse. However, this must be initiated by the Spirit; we should not initiate it. We must control our thoughts and not consider doctrine when we read the Word. Rather, we should exercise our spirit, and turn the word that has touched us into prayer so that we can breathe in God. While we are praying and breathing, the Spirit may point out our true condition. When reading Romans 4:17, the Spirit may point out that we are dead and that we are in a state of “not being.” We should respond immediately and pray, “God, that is right! I am in a dead condition, a condition of ‘not being.’ But I praise and thank You because the deadness and the nothingness afford a basis for Your resurrection life to abound.” In such a prayer we are not exercising our mind; rather, we are taking the Word as food and eating it with our spirit. In this way we will discover that God is the element within this food. We are contacting and enjoying God.
In another situation the Holy Spirit may point out that instead of being dead and nothing, we are alive and full of many things. We have not died and have not been brought to the point of nothingness. For this reason God cannot work in us; He cannot manifest the power of resurrection within us. We may respond, “Lord, be merciful to me! I have not been brought to the point of death, to absolute desperation. I still have my natural strength. I am neither like Abraham nor like Sarah.” We do not need to memorize these prayers. Such prayers will be given to us by the Spirit as we breathe in God.
This is different from merely studying doctrine. As a verse touches us, we should digest it with our spirit and turn it into prayer. When we pray in this way, and the Spirit speaks to us, we should again turn the words into prayer. In the end, we will be inwardly satisfied even though we may not understand much doctrine.
Brothers and sisters, this is a crucial point. If we do not practice this, we will not eat much God when we read the Bible; we will not receive much genuine supply in our spirit. We may be familiar with the Bible, knowing how one verse relates to another, but our spirit will be empty. We will not have received the supply. Hence, we must always guard against our mind when we read the Word to enjoy God. We must guard against studying doctrine. We must exercise to be limited by our spirit, and we must exercise our spirit to breathe in God by means of the Word. We should pray and digest the words of the Bible with our spirit.
If we read a portion that we do not understand, we should let it go. Even if we understand what we read, we should not consider it. Whether or not we understand a passage, we should not spend time to consider it; rather, we should restrict our mind. We should not dwell on our thoughts, nor should we try to understand too much. These are the activities of the mind. We must learn to be restricted by our spirit even when we understand what we are reading. We should exercise our spirit and turn the Word into prayer. In this way we will enjoy God through the Word.