LESSON EIGHT – PRAY-READING GOD’S WORD

Eph. 6:17-18 — 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

[Ephesians 6:17] 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 Ephesians 6:17 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 Scriptures. (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 needs only 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. (CWWL, 1987, vol. 2, “The God-ordained Way to Practice the New Testament Economy,” p. 375)

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. (CWWL, 1985, vol. 4, “The Full Knowledge of the Word of God,” p. 145)

THE PRACTICE OF PRAY-READING THE LORD’S WORD

Personal Pray-reading

We must now see the proper way to come to the Word. What is it? We must look at the Word of God as recorded in Ephesians 6:17-18.…In what way are we to take the Word of God according to this passage? It is by means of all prayer and petition. This is what we call pray-reading! Again, we must repeat—the Word of God must be taken by means of all prayer. Simply pick up the Word and pray-read a few verses in the morning and in the evening. There is no need for you to exercise your mind in order to squeeze out some utterance, and it is unnecessary to think over what you read. Just pray with the same words you read. On every page and in every verse there is a living prayer. There is no need to close your eyes when you are pray-reading. Keep your eyes on the Word as you pray.…We must realize that there is no need for us to close our eyes when we pray. It is better for us to close our mind! There is no need for you to compose any sentences or create a prayer. Just pray-read the Word. Pray the words of the Bible exactly as they read. Eventually, you will see that the whole Bible is a prayer book! You can open to any page of the Bible and start to pray with any portion of the Word.

Perhaps you are quite familiar with the entire book of Romans. But even today, you still need to pray-read one or two verses of it. Though we may know all about food, yet we still must partake of some food daily. Regardless of how much we know about it, we still must eat it! To know is one thing, but to eat is another.…You may have been a Christian for many years, but regardless of how long you have been a Christian and regardless of how many times you have read this book, you must not only read it but pray-read it! You must eat it, partake of it, and enjoy it day by day.

Pray-reading with Other Christians

For more enjoyment and nourishment and to pray-read the Word properly and adequately, we need the Body, the church. We may enjoy pray-reading the Word privately, but if we try it with a group of other Christians, we will be in the third heaven! The explanation of this is that food is for the whole Body, not merely for one member alone.…Therefore, the best way to pray-read is with other members of the Body. You will profit by pray-reading alone, but you will see the difference when you come together with other brothers and sisters.

The Four Keys to Pray-reading— Quick, Short, Real, and Fresh

When we come together to pray-read with other brothers and sisters, there are four words we must remember: quick, short, real, and fresh. First, we need to pray quickly, without hesitating. When we are quick to pray, we have no time to use our mind and to consider. Then our prayers must be short, because long prayers need some composition. We must forget about composing a long prayer and just utter a phrase or a sentence. Do it in a quick and short way. And we also need to be real, not pretending. Say something in a real way. Finally, our prayers must be fresh, not old. The best way to be fresh is not to pray with our own words but with the words of the Bible. Every part and every line of this book can be used as a prayer, and it will be the freshest prayer!

Thousands have proved that this is the right way to come to the Word of God. It has revolutionized their lives. It may seem awkward at first, but with practice and a sincere heart, you will touch the living Spirit. If you will try this both privately and corporately, you will be able to testify of the riches of Christ that have been imparted to you by pray-reading the Word of God. You will see blessing and growth in your spiritual life. There will be a great change. By contacting the Word in this way to enjoy Christ and be nourished by Him, you will be a person growing to maturity, full of life and saturated with this living One. (Pray- reading the Word, pp. 7-13)

References: Life-study of Ephesians, msg. 97; CWWL, 1987, vol. 2, “The God-ordained Way to Practice the New Testament Economy,” ch. 8; CWWL, 1985, vol. 4, “The Full Knowledge of the Word of God,” ch. 2; Pray-reading the Word

MY HEART IS HUNGRY, MY SPIRIT DOTH THIRST

Study of the Word— Feeding on the Word – 811

•  My heart is hungry, my spirit doth thirst;
  I come to Thee, Lord, to seek Thy supply;
  All that I need is none other but Thee,
  Thou canst my hunger and thirst satisfy.

Feed me, Lord Jesus, give me to drink,
Fill all my hunger, quench all my thirst;
Flood me with joy, be the strength of my life,
Fill all my hunger, quench all my thirst.

• Thou art the food and the water of life,
  Thou canst revive me, my spirit upbear;
  I long to eat and to drink here of Thee,
  Thyself enjoy through my reading and prayer.
• Thou art the Word with God’s fulness in Thee,
  Thou too the Spirit that God my life be;
  Thee in the Word I enjoy as my food,
  Thou as the Spirit art water to me.
• Thou from the heavens as food camest down,
  Thou to be drink hast been smitten for me;
  Thou as the food, my exhaustless supply,
  Thou as the water, a stream unto me.
• Thou in the Word art the Spirit and life,
  Thus by the Word I may feed upon Thee;
  Thou dost as Spirit in my spirit live,
  Thus I may drink in the spirit of Thee.
• Now to enjoy Thee I come to Thy Word,
  On Thee to feed till my hunger is o’er.
  Now in my spirit I turn unto Thee,
  Of Thee to drink till I’m thirsty no more.
• Feeding and drinking, Lord Jesus, of Thee,
  Feeding by reading, and drinking by prayer;
  Reading and praying, I eat and I drink,
  Praying and reading – Lord, Thou art my fare.
• Here, O my Lord, may I feast upon Thee;
  Flood with Thy Spirit and fill by Thy Word;
  May, Lord, Thou be such a feast unto me
  As man hath never enjoyed nor e’er heard.