PRAY-READING TO ENJOY CHRIST
The Lord has shown us in a definite way that we must practice pray-reading. In my Christian experience no other way can replace pray-reading. The best way to have the enjoyment of Christ is to pray-read. We all have to try it and see.
The Bible is the embodiment of Christ. All the riches of Christ are embodied in the Bible. The Bible has many pages, and each page contains the riches of Christ. Therefore, day by day, we have to pray-read. Eventually, through our pray-reading we will see that Christ is God, the Lamb, the Creator, the creature, the Father, the Son, the Spirit, life, light, love, the King, the Priest, the Prophet, every kind of tree, wheat, corn, milk, honey, water, green grass, tender pasture, and the cattle. We will discover that Christ is every positive thing in the universe. This Christ is also the building, the house, the bedroom, the living room, the kitchen, the window, and the door. We will also find that Christ is the good land, the sun, and the morning star.
After pray-reading for half a year, we will be disgusted with every kind of religious service. We may say, “I don’t need to listen to a sermon or a message. I have something better. I have something richer. I have something sweeter.” All the riches of Christ are in the Bible. However, we cannot merely meditate over it. Meditation is too poor. Rather, we should open the Word and eat it by pray-reading. We may say, “O Lord, Your words were found and I ate them” (Jer. 15:16). In this way we take in the riches of Christ. The riches of Christ are in every verse.
DIGESTING THE WORD OF GOD FOR THE INCREASE OF THE MEASURE OF CHRIST
Good digestion is always needed with eating. In our physical body, good digestion gives the food a free way throughout the body. The best digestion occurs when the food that gets into our stomach has a free course to get into our whole system. This affords us the best nourishment. On the other hand, we have indigestion when due to some blockage our food does not have a free course in us.
I must warn you. Pray-reading is wonderful, but we also have to pray, “Lord, clear a way within me. O Lord, have a free course within me.” Pray-reading does not help us to obtain mere knowledge; rather, it brings many things of the Lord into us. Therefore, we need to give the things of the Lord a free course within us. This affords us the best spiritual digestion, assimilating what we have pray-read. Never say no to the Lord; learn always to say amen.
Whether or not we understand what we pray-read, it always brings something of the Lord into us. When these things get into us, they need a free course. Thus, we always have to say amen. The Lord, the Word, and the Spirit are one. The Lord is the Word, the Word is the Spirit, and the Spirit is the Lord. When we get the Word into us, we have the Spirit and we have the Lord. Therefore, we must be warned. If we pray-read for ten minutes, we may not understand much, but we will sense that something is within us. We may say that it is the Word, we may say that it is the Spirit, or we may say that it is the Lord. Whatever term we use, there will be something moving within us and adjusting us.
After pray-reading, we may have the intention to go fishing, but something within us indicates that we should not go. Is it the Word, is it the Spirit, or is it the Lord? It is hard to say. It is not even a “gentle, quiet voice” (1 Kings 19:12). In Christianity many like to talk about the gentle, quiet voice, but that is something of the Old Testament. What is within us is not a voice or a clear word such as “don’t” or “do.” There is simply a sensation within us, indicating that we should not go. What should we do at that time? We have to say, “Amen, Lord. Amen.” However, nine out of ten times we may still go. This blocks the course within us. Then after two or three times like this, we may realize that our pray-reading does not work very well, and we may even lose our appetite for pray-reading. The reason for this is indigestion. When we try to pray-read, it does not taste as sweet. However, if we will say, “Amen, Lord,” every time something within us forbids us, restricts us, adjusts us, or corrects us, we will be hungry for pray-reading.
Sometimes when I am at home, I suddenly say, “Amen.” My family may check with me and ask, “What happened? To whom are you saying amen?” In response to them I say, “You don’t know, but I know.” I am saying amen to the word of the Spirit, the Lord within me who is moving, speaking, anointing, and adjusting. If we would say amen in this way once, twice, or even three times, we will be hungry for pray-reading. Then pray-reading will taste so good. We will have a good appetite because we have had the best digestion. Later, others will see a change of life in us. No one has taught us, rebuked us, corrected us, or instructed us, yet there is a change. Even as we are changing, we do not realize the change. Something subconsciously and unconsciously is changing us. This is the growth in life, and this is the increase of the measure of Christ. This proves that some of the riches of Christ have been dispensed into us.
Reading a message like this may help us, but the best way to pick up the riches of Christ is pray-reading. By pray-reading two birds are killed with one stone. When we pray-read, we pray and at the same time we read. This is why it is called pray-reading. This kind of prayer is not a peculiar prayer or a prayer with vain words. It is prayer using the wonderful Word. In this way we get into all the riches of Christ. This is what we need in our Christian life. Pick up pray-reading and try it. It will turn us around a hundred and eighty degrees. If we would pick up pray-reading in a proper way, we will be another kind of Christian after only one week. We will see the Lord’s recovery, we will see God’s will, and we will see the church. Then we will see that Christ is so different to us. This is the means that God uses to dispense Christ into us.
(Enjoying the Riches of Christ for the Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee)
