Christians on Campus
Christians on Campus
Have you ever asked
As people who have God living within us, we need to set aside some time each day to come to the Word of God to enjoy Him, to feed upon Him, and to receive spiritual nourishment. From the experiences and testimonies of others, it is clear that we need to spend at least thirty minutes with the Lord each day to contact Him and be strengthened by Him. During this time we need to read and to pray and this cannot be done adequately in ten minutes. A longer time is necessary in order to read an pray properly. Even half an hour for reading and praying is too short, but surely we can spend half an hour with the Lord every day to pray-read His word, and the best time for this is in the morning.
If by the Lord's mercy and grace we desire and agree to spend more time daily in the presence of the Lord, what shall we do? By what means can we touch the Word of God for nourishment and enjoyment? We must learn to do only one thing - we must mingle our reading with our praying. We must contact the Lord by mingling our reading of the Bible with prayer, and by mingling our prayer with reading. This is why a new word, pray-read, has been used. We must pray-read the Word.
First, begin by spontaneously offering a short prayer to the Lord. Then open your Bible and start to read. While you are reading, spontaneously respond to the Lord with what you read. Do not read too many verses, such as a long paragraph or a long section, before praying. While you are reading, respond to the Lord by praying.
(A Time with the Lord, p2-4)
What is the substance, the essence, of God's Word? The answer is found in 2 Timothy 3:16: "All Scripture is God-breathed..." The King James Version says "given by inspiration of God," but the meaning in the original language is "God-breathed". All Scripture is God's breath.
We know that God is Spirit (John 4:24); the Spirit is God's essence and nature. God is Spirit (ju
st as a table is wood). Since the Word is the breath of God, and God is the Spirit, whatever is breathed out of God must be Spirit! So the essence or nature of the Word of God is Spirit. It is not just a though, revelation, teaching, or doctrine, but Spirit. The Spirit is the very substance of the Word of God. Now we see why the Lord Jesus told us that the words which He spoke are "spirit and life" (John 6:63). A revelation, thought, or teaching could never be life. The nature of this book is the very essence of God Himself. Whenever we deal with this book, we must realize that we are touching God and dealing with Him!
(Pray-reading the Word, p. 6-7)
We need to consider ourselves and who we should take the Bible. The entire Bible is a book of life; on every page of this book there is life. Therefore, we should take it as life and as the life supply.
(Finding Christ by the Living Star, p. 2)