Brothers,
Many of you indicated that you would like to have a few times each week when we can read the Bible together.
Starting this week, we will have a pickup Bible reading time for the brothers every Monday and Thursday at 3:30 pm MDT (4:30 CDT), for about 10 or 15 minutes. Please set an alarm on your phone and dial in 3-4 minutes early so you can start on time and read your chapter together.
The Zoom meeting credentials were sent to you all by email.
Song: Jesus, O Living Word of God ( https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/ns/74 )
John 5:39-40 You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that testify concerning Me. Yet you are not willing to come to Me that you may have 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.
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. (How to Enjoy God and How to Practice the Enjoyment of God, Chapter 6)
Questions
The Precious Word of God, Message Two
The Bible—God’s Breathing
Day 3
A. Truth—truth replaces the vanity of corruption with the reality of all the divine riches
Ephesians 5:26 That He might sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of the water in the word.
John 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.
Titus 3:5 Not out of works in righteousness which we did but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit,
Read over the outline points and verses above and use these for your prayer to spend time with the Lord in the Word in the morning. After your prayer time, jot down in your notebook one or two things that the Lord touched you with. Afterward, read the following portion, either in your morning time or sometime later in the day.
Reading Portion:
THE CLEANSING OF THE CHURCH BY THE WASHING OF THE WATER IN THE WORD (Ephesians 5:26)
We must notice this phrase “by the washing of the water in the word.” In the New Testament two Greek words are used to denote word. One is logos, referring to the word in a general sense; the other is rhema, which although translated as word in Scripture, means something quite different from logos. Logos refers both to things which have been eternally determined and to things used in an objective way. This is word, as we generally use it, and word, as it is generally known in Christianity. But rhema refers to words which are spoken. This is more subjective than logos. Let us look at several passages in the New Testament where rhema is used.
In Luke 2:29 Simeon said, “Now You release Your slave, Master, according to Your word, in peace.” “Word” in this verse is rhema. Before the Lord Jesus came, God spoke His word to Simeon that he would not see death until he had seen the Lord’s Christ. But on the day he saw the Lord Jesus, Simeon said, “Now You release Your slave, Master, according to Your word, in peace.” Simeon had rhema from the Lord. It was not according to a certain chapter or a certain verse in the Bible, but it was according to the word spoken to him on that day by the Lord. Merely having the word from a certain chapter and verse in the Bible is not sufficient. Only the word which the Lord speaks to us is of any use. The rhema reveals something to us personally and directly; it shows us what we need to deal with and what we need to be cleansed from. We must specifically seek after this very matter, because our Christian life is based on this rhema. What word has God really spoken to us, and how has He spoken to us?
We will always treasure the fact that the Lord still speaks today. He not only spoke in the Scriptures, He not only spoke to Paul and John, He is also speaking to us today. The word of the Lord has never ceased…. May God have mercy upon us and give us rhema. May He speak personally and directly to us today. Only when we have rhema can we move ahead and have the living water to supply to others. What we need is rhema. (The Glorious Church, Chapter 3)
The Precious Word of God, Message Two
The Bible—God’s Breathing
Day 2
III. God’s breathing to sustain us
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. 17 That the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.
IV. God’s breathing brings the element of God into us
John 4:24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.
John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
Hymn 255: (To learn the tune, you can go to https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/255)
Stanza 1
O Lord, breathe Thy Spirit on me,
Teach me how to breathe Thee in;
Help me pour into Thy bosom
All my life of self and sin.
Chorus
I am breathing out my sorrow,
Breathing out my sin;
I am breathing, breathing, breathing,
All Thy fullness in.
Simple prayers:
“Lord, teach me how to breathe You in! I open to breathe in all Your fullness!”
“Lord sustain me, maintain me all day by Your breathing. Breath Yourself into me throughout the day. I love You! Thank you for being my breathable God!”
Use the outline points, verses and hymn above for your prayer to spend time with the Lord in the Word in the morning. After your prayer time, jot down in your notebook one or two things that the Lord touched you with.
Reading Portion
The Scripture – All God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
The expression “God-breathed” indicates that the Scripture, the Word of God, is the breath of God. God’s speaking is God’s breathing. Hence, His word is spirit (John 6:63), pneuma, or breath. Thus, the Scripture is the embodiment of God as the Spirit. The Spirit is therefore the very essence, the substance, of the Scripture, just as phosphorus is the essential substance in matches. We must “strike” the Spirit of the Scripture with our spirit to kindle the divine fire.
As the embodiment of God the Spirit, the Scripture is also the embodiment of Christ. Christ is God’s living Word (Rev. 19:13), and the Scripture is God’s written word (Matt. 4:4)
To Complete the Man of God
Many Christians misuse 3:16 and 17. They point out that the holy Scripture is for teaching, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness and that it enables the man of God to be equipped, completed, and perfected. Although all this is true, it neglects the element of life in the Word. Those who regard the Bible as a book of teaching, reproof, correction, and instruction often ignore the life essence of the Word. As human beings we have a physical body outwardly, but inwardly we have a spirit and a soul. Our person is composed not mainly of the outward part, the body, but of the inward parts, the spirit and the soul. The principle is the same with the Bible. The Bible has not only a “body” of letters in black and white; it also has a spirit, because it is God-breathed. If in reading the Bible we exercise only our mind to study it, we shall not receive the life supply.
Most Christians neglect the spirit and take the Bible as a book of letters. The Lord Jesus once said, “The words which I have spoken unto you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63). Furthermore, we have pointed out that every word of the Bible is part of God’s breath. Thus, we should not only study the Word, but also breathe in the divine breath embodied in the Word. If we do not breathe the divine breath by exercising our spirit, we shall not receive life from our study of the Bible. But when we breathe in God’s breath, we are enlivened by a divine, heavenly, and spiritual element.
We thank the Lord for showing us that in reading the Word we need to exercise our eyes, our mind, and our spirit. We may say that with the eyes we contact the body of the Word, that with our mind we contact the soul of the Word, and through the exercise of our spirit to pray the Word, we contact the spirit of the Word. Then we not only understand the meaning of a certain portion of Scripture; we also inhale the divine breath to receive the life supply.
Many of us can testify that a certain verse of the Bible may be very precious to us as we read it. However, disciples of Confucius may also regard certain statements made by him as precious. But with the teachings of Confucius there is no divine breath. God’s Word contains His breath. Within the letters of the Bible there is the Spirit who gives life. This is the reason that in reading the Word we must exercise our spirit in addition to our mind. Then the verses we read will be not only precious to us, but they will nourish, refresh, and water us.
Actually, the function of the Word in teaching, reproof, correction, and instruction is all related to transformation. The Bible corrects us not primarily outwardly, but inwardly in the way of transformation. This means that the word of Scripture works within us in a metabolic way. Just as the food we eat and digest nourishes us from within, metabolically changing and transforming us, so the Word of God transforms us by inwardly teaching, reproving, correcting, and instructing us.
Note: Here is the entire outline for Week 2 if you’d like to have it or print it for your reference.
The Precious Word of God, Message Two
The Bible—God’s Breathing
Day 1
I. God’s breathing in creation
Genesis 2:7 Jehovah God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.
Job 32:8 But there is a spirit in man, And the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding.
II. God’s breathing in the new creation
John 20:22 And when He had said this, He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.
Read over the outline points and verses above and use these for your prayer to spend time with the Lord in the Word in the morning. After your prayer time, jot down in your notebook one or two things that the Lord touched you with. Afterward, read the following portion, either in your morning time or sometime later in the day.
Reading portion:
The old creation of man came out of the breathing in Genesis 2:7. The new creation also came out of a breathing. In Genesis we can see only the breathing of a breath, not of the person of the Divine Trinity, for the creation of man as a part of the old creation. The breathing in John 20:22 took place after Christ had passed through the processes of incarnation, human living for thirty-three and a half years, crucifixion, and resurrection. Before His ascension, on the day of His resurrection, Christ came back to His disciples. He did not teach them, but He breathed something into them. What He breathed into them was the Holy Spirit, who is the life-giving Spirit whom Christ became. This Spirit who was breathed out by Christ was the ultimate consummation of the Triune God. When God breathed His breath into Adam to animate the man of clay with a human spirit, He consummated the old creation. But the breathing in John 20:22 was after Christ had accomplished His New Testament work.
The Old Testament work of God’s old creation was to create the physical things. But the New Testament work of Christ was not like that. Christ’s New Testament work was of four steps. First, He became a man in incarnation. Before His incarnation He was the only begotten Son of God (John 1:18) with divinity only, but through incarnation He put on blood and flesh (Heb. 2:14a) as His humanity. Then He lived with the disciples for three and a half years. This living was His working. After this He entered into an all-inclusive death, and then He entered into resurrection. His incarnation was to bring God into humanity; His crucifixion was to terminate that humanity; and His resurrection was to bring the crucified humanity into divinity, that is, to bring man into God. In His resurrection Christ’s humanity was “sonized,” and in His “sonized” humanity He was born to be the firstborn Son of God (Acts 13:33). Christ’s coming from God to become a man to bring God into humanity and His going through death and entering into resurrection to bring humanity into divinity was a blending, a mingling, a compounding of God with man and man with God. It was in such a condition that Christ came to the disciples and breathed Himself into them, to compound, mingle, and blend Himself with them.
When Peter, John, James, and the other disciples were meeting in that small room, they represented the entire Body of Christ. When the Head breathed into the Body and told the Body to receive the Holy Spirit, we were there also. After this breathing and receiving took place, the compounding, blending, and mingling of God with man was consummated. At the time of the incarnation there was only one God-man. After John 20:22, however, there were at least one hundred twenty God-men. Today this God-man has replenished the whole earth. Everywhere we can see God-men, who are the blending, the mingling, the compounding, of God with man. The realization that we are the blending of God with man should uplift our estimation of our worth. We are the blending, the compounding, of God with man. No words can tell how great a blessing this is. (The Central Line of the Divine Revelation, Chapter 10)
Morning Time With the Lord
Hymn #1048 (Stanzas 3 & 5)
Just as I am, though tossed about
With many a conflict, many a doubt;
Fightings within, and fears without,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!
Sometimes as we try to come to the Lord, we may feel like a small boat being tossed about in the open sea. In these days, our hearts may be weighed down and burdened with inward conflicts about the things we have lost and are missing during this time of social distancing. There may be doubts about our future and safety or feelings of uncertainty. These are fightings within and fears without. As we draw near to the Lord using this song, the Lord helps us to realize how much of a heavy load we are bearing inside. We can then open to Him and tell Him about these things that are weighing down our heart. In this way we are casting all our anxieties on Him because it matters to the Lord concerning us (1 Peter 5:7). We are, little by little, item by item, being unloaded. Without being unloaded, it is very difficult to really pursue the Lord. This is the Lord’s way of caring for us, so that we can pursue Him with all our heart and strength.
Just as I am, Thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
Because Thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!
In this way, we may be led to stanza 5 in this song. We sense the Lord receives us, welcomes us just as we are. He cares, He cleanses, He relieves us of all that weighs us down. At the same time, we also sense an inward rich supply that causes us to float, to rise, to strengthen us to go on for the day. As we experience the Lord in this way, our appreciation and love for the Lord spontaneously increases. Feel free to thank the Lord and tell the Lord you love Him at this time.
This coming to the Lord, opening to the Lord, touching the Lord, being supplied by the Lord, and enjoyment of the Lord is morning revival.
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A Time with the Lord is where we will post tips and hints on how to spend time with the Lord in the morning.
Song:
Hymn #806 Break Thou the Bread of Life ( New Tune: https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/nt/806 )
Break Thou the Bread of Life,
Dear Lord, to me,
As Thou didst break the loaves
Beside the sea;
Beyond the sacred page
I seek Thee, Lord;
My spirit pants for Thee,
O Living Word.
Take a little time to pray to open to the Lord and to read and pray over the verses below.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, That the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.
HOW TO ENJOY GOD IN READING THE WORD
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.
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. (How to Enjoy God and How to Practice the Enjoyment of God, Chapter 6)
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