The Meetings and Spiritual Exercise of the Local Church

Pray-reading

9. Pray-reading

Receiving the Word of God by all means of prayer is a practice that has been enjoyed by many Christians throughout church history (Eph. 6:18). In this section, Witness Lee and Watchman Nee speak of the benefit of receiving the Word through prayer, i.e., pray-reading.

Witness Lee explains below that pray-reading the Word is the way to take in the Word as our nourishment through prayer:

Having seen that the Word of God is the very essence of God Himself and that it is for our spiritual enjoyment and nourishment, we must now see the proper way to come to the Word. What is it? We must look at the Word of God as recorded in Ephesians 6:17-18: “Receive…the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the Word of God.” It is the Spirit that is the Word of God. Then verse 18 continues: “By means of all prayer and petition.” The verses then together are: “Receive…the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition.” In what way are we to take the Word of God according to this passage? By means of all prayer and petition. This is what we call pray-reading! Again, we must repeat—the Word of God must be taken by means of all prayer.

(Witness Lee, Pray-Reading, 8)

In this portion, Witness Lee defines pray-reading as simply praying the words of the Bible, resulting in our nourishment, enlightenment, and strengthening:

There is no need for you to compose any sentences or create a prayer. Just pray-read the Word. Pray the words of the Bible exactly as they read. Eventually, you will see that the whole Bible is a prayer book! You can open to any page of the Bible and start to pray with any portion of the Word. The Bible is the Book, the Holy Book. Every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God is different from anything else, even the best of the world. The world has only the words of human beings, but the Bible has the Word of God! Every word in this Book is the Word of God. Although you may not understand a certain passage, still you are nourished while pray-reading it, because there is really something of God in His Word; the Word of God is His very breath. There is no need to explain or expound the Word; simply pray with the Word. Forget about reading, researching, understanding, and learning the Word. You must pray-read the Word. Then eventually you will really understand it. If you will practice this you will receive something so nourishing and strengthening within which will empower you and give you life all the time.

(Witness Lee, Pray-Reading, 10-11)

Main

Meetings

Lord’s Table

Prayer

Prophesying

Small Group

Gospel

Children’s

OT Type

Spiritual Exercise

Reading

Praying

Singing

Speaking

Thanksgiving

Praising

Serving

Calling

Pray-Reading

Bibliography

Links