Hymn 811
Scripture Reading:
Eph. 6:17-18 And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God, By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints.
USING THE WORDS OF THE BIBLE AS OUR PRAYER TO GOD
The antecedent of “which” in Eph. 6:17 is the Spirit, not the sword. This indicates that the Spirit is the word of God. Both the Spirit and the word are Christ (2 Cor. 3:17; Rev. 19:13). We need to receive the word of God by means of all prayer and petition. According to verses 17 and 18, we are to take the word of God by means of all prayer. These verses indicate that we may take the word by pray-reading, that is, by praying with the words of Scripture and over them, using the words of the Bible as our prayer to God. The term pray-reading is not found in the Bible. However, the fact of pray-reading is according to the Scripture. (Life-study of Ephesians, p. 817)
READING THE WORD WITH PRAYER AND BY PRAYER
BEING THE BEST WAY TO READ THE WORD
To read the word with prayer and by prayer, to pray-read the word, is the best way to read the word. Mere reading only needs our eyes and our understanding, our mentality. But to receive God’s word into the depths of our being, our spirit is needed, and the prevailing way to exercise our spirit is by praying. Whenever we pray, we spontaneously exercise our spirit. Then what we read with our eyes and understand in our mentality will go into our spirit through our prayer. Every word in the Bible needs our pray-reading. (The God-ordained Way to Practice the New Testament Economy, p. 80)
PRAY-READING THE WORD OF GOD WITH OUR SPIRIT
We need to pray-read, converting all that we see and all that we comprehend into prayer. When we pray, we use our spirit. At first, we may use our mind to pray, but after three to five sentences our spirit will rise up. This is a definite fact. Therefore, never forget that the essence of the Word of God is God’s breathing out. When you read it, you should breathe it in. On God’s side, it is a matter of His breathing out; on our side, it is a matter of our breathing in. The spiritual breath comes out of Him and enters into us. That which comes out of Him and enters into us is the spiritual breath. The Word of God is spirit and life. Our mind cannot touch the Spirit; only our spirit can touch the Spirit. If we do not touch the Spirit, we do not have life. Only by touching the Spirit can we have life. Ultimately, this life is Christ, and it is also God Himself. At first, we do not need to explain what we read, nor do we need to understand it; we only need to pray-read the Word literally. When we pray-read, our spirit touches the Spirit of the Bible, and thus we receive life. (The Full Knowledge of the Word of God, p. 23)
PRACTICE OF PRAY-READING THE LORD’S WORD
Personal Pray-reading
Now we have to see what is the proper way to receive God’s word. We must read Ephesians 6:17 and 18…. According to these verses, what is the way for us to receive God’s word? It is by means of all prayer and petition. This is what we said by pray-reading. We must receive God’s word by means of all prayer.
Whether in the morning or in the evening, we have to pray-read a few verses in God’s word. Do not need to exercise your mind to “squeeze” out some words or think what you have read. You simply pray what you read. You can have some living prayers on every page, every verse. You do not need to close your eyes to pray-read. When you pray, you gaze on the word of God…. We must realize that when we pray, we do not necessarily close our eyes. It is even better if we can close our mind…. We do not need any organized phrases or a manufactured prayer. Simply pray-read the word of God. Based on what you read, pray with the word of the Scriptures. At the end, you will see that the entire Bible is a prayer book! You can pray over any page, any portion of the Bible… Perhaps you are very familiar with the whole book of Romans. But even today, you still need to pray-read one or two verse from Romans. We may know everything about food, but we still need to eat it. No matter how much we know, we still need to eat. It is one thing to know, but it is another thing to eat and enjoy. You may have been a Christian for years, but no matter how long you have been a Christian or how many times you have read a certain book, you not only have to read it but to pray-read it. You must eat it, take it, and enjoy it.
Pray-reading with the Saints
In order to have more enjoyment and nourishing from God’s word and have an adequate amount of pray-reading, we need the Body, the church. We may enjoy pray-reading by ourselves, but if we try to pray-read with a group of Christians, we will be in the third heaven. This is because the food is for the whole Body and not merely for an individual member. Hence, the best way to pray-read the Word is to be with other members in the Body. You can also be benefited by your personal pray-reading, but once you pray-read with other brothers and sister, you will see the difference.
The Four Keys to Pray-reading
When we pray-read with other brothers and sisters, we have to remember four words: fast, short, genuine, and new. First, our prayer has to be fast, not hesitating. Once we pray fast, we will not have the time to consider with our mind. Second, our prayer has to be short because long prayers require composing. We have to forget about organizing a long prayer, but we need to say only a short sentence or a phrase. Third, we also need to be genuine without pretense. Say it in a genuine way. Lastly, our prayer has to be fresh and not old. For us to have fresh prayers, the best way is not to use our own words, instead, pray with the words of the Bible. Every part, every line of the entire Bible can be used in our prayers; this is the freshest prayer!
Over tens of thousands of people have proved that this is the best way to read the Bible. This method has caused them to have a revolutionary change in their life. As long as you are willing to practice with a sincere heart, you will touch the living Spirit! If you try pray-reading both personally and corporately, you will be able to testify that the riches of Christ has dispensed into you through pray-reading the word of God. You will receive the blessing and growth in your spiritual life, and you will experience a great change. Through pray-reading the word of God, you enjoy Christ and receive His nourishing, and you will grow unto maturity, fill with life, and be saturated with the eternal one. (How to Enjoy the Spiritual Food, pp. 9-13 in Chinese)
References: Life-study of Ephesians, msg. 97; The God-ordained Way to Practice the New Testament Economy, ch. 8; The Full Knowledge of the Word of God, ch. 2; How to Enjoy the Spiritual Food (in Chinese), ch. 2.
