Let's move on to discuss how reading God's word, serving as His ministers, and sharing the gospel will be impacted by the shattering of the external man.
READING THE BIBLE: It goes without saying that what we take away from the Bible depends on who we are. How frequently does man, in his arrogance, read the Bible with an unregenerate and bewildered mind? Nothing but his own mind is the fruit. He doesn't make contact with the Holy Spirit. If we want to encounter the Lord through His word, God must first break our preconceived notions. Although we may think highly of our intelligence, God finds it to be a severe hindrance. It will never take us inside of God's mind.
There are at least two fundamental prerequisites for reading the Bible: first, our thoughts must align with the Bible's ideas, and second, our spirits must align with the Bible's spirits. When the author of God's word, whether Paul, Peter, or John, writes, you must imagine yourself in their shoes. Your thought must start where his mind starts and develop together with it. You must be able to think like him and urge others in the same way. To put it another way, you need to think as he does. By doing this, you'll give the Spirit a chance to explain the Scriptures' exact meaning to you.
Consider a person who approaches the Bible with preconceived notions. To reinforce his predetermined views when he studies the Bible. After listening to one of these talks for five or ten minutes, an experienced listener can tell whether the speaker is misusing the Bible for his own purposes or whether his thoughts have permeated the Bible's ideas. Here, the realms are different. One may stand up and deliver a persuasive speech that appears to be scriptural, but in reality, his ideas are at odds with those of the Bible. Or we might hear a sermon from someone whose ideas are in harmony and agreement with the Bible since they are the Bible's ideas expressed. Even though this state ought to be the norm, not everyone achieves it. We need to have the outside man broken in order to align our mentality with the thought of the Bible. Do not assume that a lack of instruction is the reason for our bad Bible reading. Instead, we are the ones with the flaw since God has not yet tamed our thinking. Therefore, to be broken is to stop engaging in our own activities and thinking subjectively and gradually start to touch the mind of the Lord and think according to the logic of the Bible. We cannot enter the thought of God's word until the outward man is broken.
Even while this is significant, we haven't yet addressed the main issue. The Bible is more than just words, notions, and concepts. The Bible's ability to channel God's Spirit is perhaps its most remarkable quality. When the Holy Spirit inspires a writer, whether it be Peter, John, Matthew, or Mark, his regenerated intellect follows the inspired concept and his spirit is liberated with the Holy Spirit. The existence of a spirit in God's word and the possibility of its release, much like how it manifests itself in prophetic ministry, are concepts that the world cannot comprehend.
If you are listening to a prophetic message today, you will notice that something mystical is present in addition to words and thoughts. You can definitely feel this, and you could even refer to it as the spirit of God's word.
The Bible contains more than just thought; it also contains manifestations of spirit. Therefore, you can only comprehend what the Bible says when your spirit is able to emerge and connect with the spirit of the Bible; the Holy Spirit.
To be continued in the next episode
Author: Watchman Nee
Compiled and edited by: Peter O. Olutoyese
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