Companion Meetings

With your companions, read the following portion together. Then, when you have finished, discuss the question that follows the reading.

THE THREE PARTIES IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN

At the very beginning of the Scriptures there are these three parties in the garden of Eden. Adam stood in front of two trees, which represent, or symbolize, two parties—God and Satan. The tree of life represented God, Adam was there representing man, and Satan was there as well represented by the tree of knowledge. This clear picture shows us that both God and Satan became a choice to man. God Himself was there with Satan in front of man, and God gave man a volition to allow him to make a choice. Therefore, in the garden there are three parties, three wills, three lives.

THREE WILLS IN THE UNIVERSE.

We must remember well that in this universe there are three parties—God, Satan, and man. With these three parties there are three wills—the divine will of God, the devilish will of Satan, and the human will of man. From the Scriptures it is easy to realize that the devilish will is always struggling to frustrate the divine will; Satan’s will always tries to damage and hinder God’s will. Therefore, in the universe there is a battle raging. Even science tells us that there is something contradictory in the universe, like a battle, a warfare. This is because there are two wills—the divine will and the satanic will—contradicting one another and fighting against one another.

In addition, God created a third will, that is, the human will. God created this will with the intention that this will would stand with Him. However, God did not force the human will to stand with Him; God gave man a free choice, his own volition. Therefore, this will can choose either side. If man so desires, he can choose God. However, if he likes, he can also choose to stand with Satan. If man chooses God and stands with God’s will, God can then accomplish His purpose. However, if man chooses to stand with Satan, then Satan can do something to frustrate God’s will. Therefore, there are three parties and three wills.

THE MEANING OF DOING GOD’S WILL

Accomplishing the Will of God

1. “I do not seek My own will but the will of Him who sent Me”(John 5:30).

Doing the will of God means to not seek, follow, or accomplish our own will but to only seek, follow, and accomplish God’s will. People often say that they have prayed and that they are clear that the will of God is for them to go to a certain place or for them to do a certain thing. Some say that it is God’s will for them to run a business. Some say that it is God’s will for them to get married. But is this reliable? Is the one who thinks that he is acting according to God’s will consecrated to God, and is he living for God? Is he truly not seeking, following, or accomplishing his own will but seeking, following, and accomplishing God’s will? This is not a small matter. Many who claim to be acting according to the will of God are not truly practicing the will of God, because they have not consecrated themselves to Him to live for His will. They still hold on to themselves, keep things in their own hands, and live according to their own will.

A person who truly does the will of God does not seek his own will. He only seeks the will of God. This was the Lord Jesus’ pattern when He was on earth as a man. In all of human history, only Jesus the Nazarene sought only the will of God and not His own will. Although He was one with God and equal to God, He willingly came to earth and stood in the position of one who was sent to do the will of God. In all things He only sought the will of Him who sent Him; He did not seek His own will. This is the meaning of doing the will of God.

2. “‘Behold, I have come (in the roll of the book it is written concerning Me) to do Your will, O God’”(Heb. 10:7).

When He came to earth, the Lord spoke the words in this verse to God. This shows that the Lord did the will of God according to what was written in the Scriptures. Consequently, we should realize that any practice of the will of God must be according to the Word of God, the Bible. The Bible reveals the entire will of God in all its aspects. Whatever He wants to complete in us, whatever He wants us to do, and how He wants us to do it are revealed, in principle, in the Bible. If we truly want to do the will of God, if we truly want to seek His will, we must know the Bible and consider what the Word of God says concerning every matter. We must find God’s will, in principle, concerning every matter from the Bible. Those who want to do the will of God and act according to God’s will cannot be sloppy with the Bible but must spend a considerable amount of time to read it carefully.

If we want to do the will of God, we cannot simply do what we think is the will of God. We cannot simply pray a few times and say with certainty that this or that is the will of God. Such a way is not reliable and is quite dangerous. We often are easily deceived by our own opinions and captured by our own thoughts and views. We must bring our opinions, thoughts, and views before the Bible and let them be judged by the Word of God. Whoever is not willing to let his “in my opinion,” “I think,” and “to my point of view” be conquered by the Word of God cannot do the will of God. We must put our own things aside in everything and see what the Word of God says and commands. In some things God tells us His will in detail; in others He reveals it only in principle. For example, the Word of God contains a great principle that believers should not be dissimilarly yoked with unbelievers. Consequently, we can know the will of God in many things related to this principle. In marriage, we know that a believing brother should not marry an unbelieving woman, and a believing sister should not be given in marriage to an unbelieving man. If we practice according to God’s Word, we will be able to practice the will of God.

Now, fellowship your response to the following discussion questions together.

The course of our personal life, our Christian life, God’s purpose, and even (quite literally) the fate of the universe depends on how our choice responds to God’s will and Satan’s will. And, the key to choosing and practicing God’s will is the Word of God.

• How has this Spring Pursuit changed your view of God’s Word?
• How has this Spring Pursuit changed your personal choices and habits related to God’s Word?
• Is there anything in this Spring Pursuit that you would like to continue (personally or with your companions) in the coming weeks?

Week 4, first companion meeting

With your companions, read through this short, three-page booklet called A Time with the Lord, found on this website:

https://www.ministrybooks.org/

If you have time, share with one another (3-4 sentences) what you learned, enjoyed or were touched with.

Week 3, Second Companion Meeting

Read through the following portion and then discuss it with your companions:

There are two different ways to read the word. One way is to read the word but not contact Christ. Too many Christians read the word without ever contacting Christ. This is the wrong way. The right way to read the word is to realize that the word is not mainly for knowledge but for food. “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). Jeremiah 15:16 says, “Your words were found and I ate them.” We need to eat the word, because the word is food.

Physical food is for our body, so we have to eat it with our body and take it into our body. In the same principle, the word is spiritual food, food for the spirit, so we have to eat it with our spirit and take it into our spirit. We all have to learn how to take the word by our spirit and into our spirit. There is no other way to do this but by praying. We must pray over, pray about, and pray with whatever we read and understand.…

…We cannot expect a brother to be normal and healthy in his Christian life if he does not know how to eat the Lord by dealing with the word. Regardless of how many messages we give people and of how good those messages are, if those who hear them do not know how to eat the Lord, drink the Lord, and feast on the Lord, the messages will not work for them. We may have messages on the cross and about many other things, but we still need to feed on the Lord, drink of Him, and feast on Him. This is of the greatest importance. I hope that we will all practice this day by day, especially in the morning. We need to spend at least ten minutes with the Lord to feast on Him by eating the word.

THE PRACTICAL WAY TO EAT THE WORD

The way to eat the word is first not to read too much. Our time in the word is not to buy something from the supermarket; it is to eat a breakfast. Therefore, we should not take too much, just an adequate portion. Second, we should not try to understand too much. At other times we may need to exercise our mind by reading, but our time for eating the word is not for exercising our mind. We should simply read and understand whatever we can understand. We need not try to understand more than that; this will frustrate us. If we read a few verses or even half of a chapter and do not understand it, we should leave it and continue to read. Perhaps in the following verses we will understand something.

Third, once we understand something, we should ponder over it a little. I do not like to use the word meditate, because that word has been wrongly used. Sometimes to meditate is merely to exercise the mind. In that case, it is better not to meditate. When some Christians meditate too much, they travel throughout the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, back to the Psalms, and then back to Genesis. That does not help. However, when we are inspired with something from the word, we should consider it.

Then, fourth, right away we should pray over what we understand. It is by this kind of prayer that we have a fresh contact not only with the word but also with the Lord Himself through the word. Eventually, the Lord and the word, the word and the Lord, become one to us. In this way, our prayer and reading will be mingled. While we read and consider, we speak something to the Lord, and while we are speaking something to the Lord, we ponder on the word and consider what we understand. This is praying and reading, reading and praying, mingled together.

Matthew 8:1 to 4 says that the Lord Jesus “came down from the mountain” and healed a leper. When we read this portion, we may be inspired that the Lord came down from the mountain. Then we can say, “I praise You, Lord, that You have come down from the mountain. You have come down to the place where I am. O Lord, come down once again today that I may be healed. If You come, my leprosy will go away.” It may not be possible to read and pray in this way for an hour, but to take twenty minutes is possible. Try to do this in the morning and again during the day. I would suggest, especially to the young ones, that you keep a small Bible in your pocket. Throughout the day or during recess or rest you can open it and read two or three verses. Then you will get something, and you can pray over it.

 (Enjoying Christ as the Word and the Spirit through Prayer, Chapter 6, pp. 53-56)

PRACTICING AND DEVELOPING OUR PRAYER
WITH THE WORD TO FEAST ON THE LORD

John 14:1 through 3 says, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe into God, believe also into Me. In My Father’s house are many abodes; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will receive you to Myself, so that where I am you also may be.” This is a good portion of the word to pray with. To pray over this portion requires a certain amount of practice, development, and consideration. We should not go too fast here. We need to taste this portion by “chewing” it. We may say, “Lord, I thank You that You went to pave the way, prepare a place, and gain the ground that I may be in the Father, that I may be in the place where You are. Lord, I do realize that today I am in the place where You are, yet I need more realization of this. Grant me more and more to experience that I am in the Father, just as You are.” We should learn to apply such a portion by saying, “Lord, today keep me in the place where You are. Now I am going to my office. Keep me in the Father. Grant me the sense that I am with You in the Father all the time.” When we take the word in this way, it is not merely words in black and white letters. Rather, it is living. It is in this way that we exercise our spirit and have a fresh contact with the Lord. In this way it is easy to use our spirit to pray.

As we practice to take the word in this way, we should learn to pray not merely from our knowledge but by exercising our spirit to say something from within to the Lord, to have a real contact with the Lord. We need to exercise the spirit to bring ourselves into the presence of the Lord and speak something in His presence directly, face to face. This is real prayer, not merely a prayer for affairs, business, or burdens, but a prayer to contact and digest the Lord. This is the way to feed on the Lord through the word. At the same time, while we are praying, we are drinking of the Lord.

(Enjoying Christ as the Word and the Spirit through Prayer, Chapter 3, pp. 60-61)

Week 3, First Companion Meeting

Read through the following portion and then discuss it with your companions:

The right way to receive the word is to take it as the breath of life from God (2 Tim. 3:16). This is the life food by which man lives, not by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4). This is food for the spirit, so we have to exercise our spirit to take it. To receive food for our physical body, we have to exercise our mouth, but to receive spiritual food for our spirit, we have to exercise our spirit. Whenever we come to the word, we need to realize that it is spiritual food. We must exercise our spirit to eat it, not merely to know it. We should forget about knowing and simply eat Christ. This word is the written word of the living Word. It is the expression, the revelation, of the living Word, who is Christ. He is our food, our bread of life, so whenever we come to the Bible, we come to food, not for the body but for the spirit, so we must use our spirit to take it. This is clear to us, but we have to practice to receive the word in this way, not merely to read the Bible for knowledge but to read it for feeding on it.

Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Most people who read this verse are tempted to know who was there in the beginning and whether the beginning was thousands, millions, or billions of years ago. This is the way to read the Bible to seek knowledge, to know by exercising the mentality. This is the wrong way. The right way to read the Bible is to exercise our spirit. If we do this, right away we will pray, “O Lord, You are the One who created all things. Everything was created by You, so everything has been initiated by You. Lord, I want You to come into my life to initiate everything.” To take the word in this way is not mere knowledge. Rather, it is nourishment.

Matthew 8:1 through 3 says, “When He came down from the mountain, great crowds followed Him. And behold, a leper, coming near, worshipped Him, saying, Lord, if You are willing, You can cleanse me. And stretching out His hand, He touched him, saying, I am willing; be cleansed! And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” Someone may take this word as knowledge and even criticize, saying that this does not sound like a proper teaching in the Bible. Rather, we should take this word by praising and praying: “Lord, come down again today to the place where I am. I am in the place of failure, in the place of leprosy, and I cannot deliver myself. Lord, if You come to the place where I am, I will be delivered. O Lord, I have been cleansed by You, but I still need You more and more. Come down, Lord, to the place where I am.”

THE WORD BECOMING THE SPIRIT TO US
THROUGH OUR PRAYER

If we read the word in the morning in this way, these few verses will be a very adequate and rich breakfast. They will even be good enough for the whole week. Every day that week we can pray, “O Lord, You have come down from the mountain to the very place where I am. I have been cleansed by You. Lord, I believe, even today, that You are still coming to me. Meet me here.” While we are at work, we can pray, “Lord, there is leprosy here. Come down to the place where I am.” Throughout the entire day we will receive not the word only but the Lord Himself. The word will be transferred into the Spirit by our prayer. The word is black and white outside of us, but after we have prayed, it becomes the living Spirit within us, nourishing, refreshing, strengthening, and delivering us all the day.

We may further illustrate the way of life to read the word with 1 Timothy 1:1. This verse says, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope.” A brother may read this verse, praying with praises to the Lord for being our Savior and our hope. Later in the day something disappointing may happen to him, but the more he prays, “Lord, You are my hope,” the more the Spirit within him will strengthen him. In this way the word hope becomes the Spirit to him.

In order to pray to transfer the word into the Spirit, we must learn how to exercise, release, and uplift our spirit. Our prayer over the word also should have some understanding or inspiration in it. If we do not receive something when we start to read, then we should read further. We do not need to force ourselves to get something from every portion we read. The Bible is very rich. It is like a feast on the table. When we come to a feast, we need not force ourselves to enjoy a piece of bone that has no meat. If we were poor, we would have to break the bone to get to the marrow. However, we are not poor; the Bible is very rich. At first we may not get something from what we read, but later when we return to that same passage, we will receive something from it.

We all need to practice this way to receive the word, because we are accustomed to receiving something of knowledge. After a certain period of practice, however, we will be more accustomed to receiving something of life. Even if it is easy to get something merely of knowledge from a certain portion of the word, we would not do it. If we understand something from a portion of the word, we should not pay attention to the mere knowledge. Instead, we should receive something of life. Again I say, we need not force ourselves to get something from every portion we read. If we come to a “bone,” we can forget about it for now and go on to a tender, meaty portion to get something of life. To come to the word to feast on the Lord is like coming to the dining table. We must learn to find something that we can eat.

It is too easy to get something of knowledge, but it is not as easy to get something of life. We are familiar with the bones, but we do not know the meat as well. We all must learn this proper way to read the word. This will help us to enjoy the Lord, to experience Him, and to live by Him. The Lord Jesus told us, “He who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me” (John 6:57). The proper reading of the word helps us to realize the Lord, enjoy Him, experience Him, and live by Him, and it also helps us to exercise our spirit, because in this way we pray much. Then our spirit is strengthened, uplifted, exercised, and made alive. When we come to the meetings, it will be easy to pray, because our spirit has been exercised, strengthened, and uplifted. In addition, we will have some content to pray. We will have something stored within our spirit, and our spirit will be living, because day by day we have been feeding on Christ. This is the proper, normal way for us to enjoy the Lord.

(Enjoying Christ as the Word and the Spirit through Prayer, Chapter 3, pp. 32-35)

Week 2, first companion meeting

Song:

Hymn #806 Break Thou the Bread of Life ( New Tune:  https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/nt/806 )

1. 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.

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)

Questions

1. What are your biggest challenges to reading the Bible? What has helped you or worked for you? Share these with one another.
2. What is your main goal when you come to the Word of God? Did the reading today help you to come to the Bible in a different way?
3. How is the truth pursuit going for you? What are you enjoying? Are there difficulties? Perhaps you can pray for one another based on what was shared.