Among the young people today there is a great lack regarding the Word. The Spirit and the Word are like two feet to stand on. However, many of the young people may not be standing Firmly on either foot. We must be deeply rooted in the Spirit and in the Word.
The holy Word is very profound, and many Christians in the past may have known it only according to the letter. In their small groups, the young people should learn the secret of getting into the Word and knowing it, not merely according to the letter, but deeply, according to the spirit. This requires that they receive help from others, but the proper help is not easy to find. This is why we are burdened to publish many messages. These messages will help them to know the spiritual things of life from the Bible and will impart to them the secret of how to get into the depths of the holy Word. This secret cannot be imparted merely by teaching. It is imparted through our practice of reading the messages. Listening to the messages causes our spirit to be stirred up, but simply to listen is not adequate. To get our spirit rooted in the Word, we need to read the messages.
One effective and practical way to read the messages is to keep them in every room of your house. Every time you sit in your living room, dining room, or bedroom, you may read a few pages. In this way, you can finish one message every three days. The young people should purpose not to read anything other than the messages whenever they have the opportunity. After two weeks of practicing in this way, they will see a difference in their experience.
Do not read too slowly or too quickly. Simply read four or five pages each day. Sometimes when you come to a certain point, you may need to consider it for a while, and sometimes you may need to pray about it. You may need to fellowship about some points. To read a few pages in the morning in addition to your morning watch will help you for the whole day.
If we practice in this way, we will read over one hundred messages a year. We will learn the secret of how to know the Bible. Many books have been written on how to study the Bible, but very few are prevailing. No way is so prevailing as the practice of reading a few pages of the messages every day. The messages will help us to digest the verses and chapters of the Bible. Spontaneously the truth of the Word will be impressed and wrought into our being. After one year, many portions of the holy Word will be as transparent as crystal to us. To read a few pages in addition to our morning watch is not burdensome. We simply need to build up a good habit.
Before giving a message, I have much preparation for it. After I give the message and it is polished, I read through it carefully and even add more to it. Even though I work so much on each message, I still enjoy reading them again. When I read the messages again, they are so fresh, new, and nourishing to me, and I receive new enlightenment.
We must deal with the Word in a very living way. We should read through the Bible in small portions whenever we have a little time. It is best to read it in sequence, starting from the first page. It is not necessary to determine how many times we will read it. Perhaps we may read the New Testament once or twice every year and the Old Testament once every one or two years. When we finish reading it once, we should start over and read it again. It is best to read a few verses every day. Before or after a meal we may read some. On work days we may have less time, but on weekends we will have time to read more. Even to read for five or ten minutes is helpful. The important thing is to build up a proper habit. However, we will still need the messages to help us to understand the whole Bible. The young people should practice reading in this way by themselves and with one another in their small groups.
(Fellowship with the Young People, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee)