SPENDING TIME IN THE WORD
Spend time with this book. Besides your ten minutes in the morning, take a few more minutes at noon, and a few more in the evening. As you open this book, open yourself also. Read, understand, and pray. As you pray, you are drinking the water, eating the food, and breathing the air. You will grow. The more you take Christ into you in this way, the more Christ you will have growing in you. You will become another person. Do not expect quick results; growth takes time. It does not come about from a few concentrated days of praying and fasting and then having something fall upon you from the heavens. Take time to water the little seed of life sown into the soil of your heart. Not only will you grow; the church will also grow and be built up in this way. In the church meetings Christ will come forth in the teaching, the preaching, and the testifying. Such riches in the church life will convince and attract new ones.
REGULAR GROWTH
Do not be concerned about how much you understand of what you read. What matters is that you faithfully open the Word, open yourself, and read and pray. This is not a once-for-all procedure. It is not like being born, but like breathing. Growth, like breathing, is continual, day by day and even minute by minute. You will grow by coming regularly to the Word. Carry a pocket version of the Word with you. Wherever you are, when you have a few minutes, open it and read a chapter or so, then pray over what you have read. There is little need for you to pray about your grades at school, or for your business to be successful, or for guidance when you go shopping. Simply pray the Word. In this way you will receive and enjoy God Himself.
PRAYING THE WORD
What do you think makes you healthy and strong? It is by eating, drinking, and breathing. When it gets close to meal time you probably feel weak; you need to eat to regain your energy. The same is true spiritually. You are weak if you have not been eating, drinking, and breathing Christ in the Word. In fact, it is a mercy that you are still here. Do not try to run the race without food, drink, and air any longer! Come to the Word. Open to the Lord. Speak to Him the words you read. “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. Lord, thank You, You are the Word. You became flesh. Thank You that You tabernacled among us. Among us! Amen. Full of grace. Hallelujah, grace! Grace and truth. Amen, grace and truth! Of His fullness we all received. We all received. We have received, Lord, and we are receiving even now. Praise the Lord!” Does praying the Word in this way seem like foolishness to you? I tell you, it is the way to eat, drink, and breathe Christ. This is how we can live Christ, rather than living morality or ethics. Read and pray the Word!
(Life Messages, Vol. 2 (#42-75), Chapter 2, by Witness Lee)
