DRINKING OF THE SPIRIT
Besides being the word for you to eat, Christ is also the Spirit for you to drink. To drink, spiritually speaking, is to breathe. To breathe is to pray. By praying you breathe. By breathing you drink. Mingle your reading of the Bible, then, with praying. In your ten minutes in the morning, read your verses, then reread them with prayer. There is no need to compose a prayer. Simply pray the words of the verses. Repeat them as your prayer. Use the text of the Bible as your prayer book! If you are reading in John 1, you can say, “In the beginning. Thank You, Lord, You were there in the beginning. In the beginning was the Word. Lord, You were the Word and You were in the beginning.” By pray-reading in this way you will be eating and drinking. To eat without drinking is dry. Our reading needs to be mingled with our praying. After you pray and read, read and pray, you will be full of food and water. You will have taken in Christ Himself.
PAYING ATTENTION TO CHRIST
It may have been your former practice to seek the Lord’s will, to find out what is right or wrong, and what you should or should not do. Do not follow that way any longer. Simply keep your whole being turned to Christ. Do not ask, “Lord, should I stay here or go?” or “Lord, what shall I speak?” Pray rather in a simple way, “Lord, are You staying here, or are You leaving? Lord, are You going to speak? I am not interested in whether this is right or wrong, whether I should speak or not speak. I only want to know, is this You?” If your wife offends you, check with the Lord, “Lord, I’m annoyed with my wife. Are You mad at her too?” The Lord will say, “No, I am not annoyed with her.” Since the Lord is not annoyed, there is nothing for you to do.
DOING EVERYTHING WITH HIM
Learn not to do anything without the Lord. Do everything with Him. In God’s economy it is not a matter of what to do and what not to do. The question is, Who is doing it, you or He? Even when it comes to loving others, your love is not acceptable to God. It must be Christ who loves. Whatever you are doing, keep checking with the Lord, “Lord, is this You or me?” Do not be concerned about the world, Satan, your sins, weaknesses, and mistakes. Keep your whole attention centered on Christ. “Lord, apart from You I would not do anything. I would not even say a word to my wife. I would not hate people; neither would I love them. I would do nothing without You. Apart from You I am jobless; I have no life to live; I am through.”
We have tried other ways. We read and practiced what Christian books advocated as the way to victory or holiness. The books were of little help; the ways did not work well. Eventually we found out that Christ is the only way that really works. When you do everything in Him and with Him, the flesh, sin, and worldliness will flee away.
“Lord, grant me the grace that day by day this matter of doing everything with Christ may not be a mere teaching. I want it to be my moment-by-moment practice. All day long I would not live apart from You. I want to do everything with You and in You.” If you will practice this daily and hourly, you will find that Christ will be your life practically. Apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:5), but we can do all things through Him who empowers us (Phil. 4:13, Gk.). This is the Christian life.
(Life Messages, Vol. 1 (#1-41), Chapter 41, by Witness Lee)
