Hello brothers and sisters of The Church of New Hymn,
I am confronted with a problem, which is how I should read God’s words to achieve good results. Although I have kept on reading the Bible and God’s words every day in all my years of believing in the Lord, after reading God’s words I merely understand some literal meanings and nothing more. I’m very worried about it, so I want to seek for fellowship: How can I read the words of God to have good results? I look forward to receiving your reply as soon as possible. Thank you!
Sincerely yours,
Brother Liu Chen
Hello Brother Liu Chen,
Thank God for His love. You said that you don’t have a way to achieve good results from reading God’s words. Now you are anxious to seek. We can see from this that you are a person who seeks truth with a humble heart. The Lord Jesus said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).
As Christians, it is truly very crucial to know the right way to read God’s words to achieve the proper effect. This is important, as it concerns whether we can obtain truth and grow in life. We used to be like you: We persisted in practicing spiritual devotions and reading God’s words every day, but only understood a bit of the literal meaning of God’s words. Because of this, we were troubled. However, afterward, through God’s words and the fellowshiping of other brothers and sisters, we found the right way and learned how to read God’s words to achieve good results.
The first aspect: When reading God’s words, we should pay attention to quieting our hearts before God, and pondering His will and His requirements of us from His words.
God’s words say: “Wholehearted devotion to the words of God primarily involves seeking the truth, seeking God’s intentions within His words, focusing on grasping the will of God, and understanding and obtaining more truth from God’s words. When reading His words, Peter was not focused on understanding doctrines, much less was he focused on obtaining theological knowledge; instead, he concentrated on comprehending the truth and grasping God’s will, as well as achieving an understanding of His disposition and His loveliness. Peter also attempted to understand the various corrupt states of man from God’s words, as well as man’s corrupt nature and actual shortcoming, thus meeting all aspects of God’s requirements of man in order to satisfy Him. Peter had so many correct practices that abided by the words of God; this was most in line with God’s will, and it was the best way a person could cooperate while experiencing God’s work.”
From God’s words we can see that when reading God’s words, we shouldn’t merely understand their literal meaning, but must also seek which aspects of the truth they are related to, what God’s intention is, what God’s requirements for us are, and how we should practice to be in line with His will.
For example, we read these words of the Lord Jesus: “But let your communication be, Yes, yes; No, no: for whatever is more than these comes of evil” (Matthew 5:37). How should we ponder the inner meaning of these words spoken by the Lord Jesus? Why does He require that of us? In addition, which aspects of the truth are these words related to? We should be quiet before God and ponder carefully. Through contemplating, we can see that these words concern the truth of being an honest person, and of living in the likeness of a real person, and that they are also directed at our corrupt disposition. We have been corrupted by Satan too deeply, so we often put fame and gain, status, personal benefit, etc. above all else. When we do something that involves them, in order to protect our own interests we will lie and cheat involuntarily. This is the natural expression of our craftiness and selfishness. For instance, we didn’t spread the gospel recently due to having worldly matters to attend to. But when the church leader asked us whether we had spread the gospel recently, we were afraid that if we spoke truthfully the leader would blame us for not shouldering enough of the burden and being unfaithful to the Lord. So, in order to maintain our face and status in the leader’s eyes, we said that we did. This was not telling the truth; it was lying and deceiving. It was because of our cunning nature that we said these things. In other words, we were exhibiting satanic behavior and had no human likeness. This kind of behavior leads to distrust among people and is despised by God. After pondering all this, we had some understanding of these words of the Lord Jesus, and realized that it’s very important to speak honestly and to be an honest person. When encountering something concerning our own personal benefits, we are now willing to betray our satanic nature, be honest people, and live in the likeness of real human beings. This is how a person loved by God is.
When we read God’s words, if we frequently practice quieting our hearts before Him to ponder His words, we will gradually gain some insight into His intentions, His requirements for us, and what we should do. This is the result that can be achieved through quieting our hearts before God and pondering His words.
The second aspect: When reading God’s words, we should integrate them with our own situation and problems, seek God’s will in everything, and practice in line with His requirements in order to enter into the reality of the truth of His words.
God’s words say: “Is your understanding of truth integrated with your own states? In real life, you first have to think of which truths relate to the people, events, and things you have encountered; it is among these truths that you can find God’s will and connect what you have encountered with His will.” From God’s words we can see that it is critical that when pondering God’s words, we need to integrate into our personal situation the people, things, and objects that we encounter in our everyday life to seek the truth. When encountering practical situations and difficulties, we should integrate into our personal situation the problems to seek the relevant truth, pray to God and grasp His will. Then we should check our opinions and viewpoints on people or things, as well as our speech and behavior, to see whether they are in line with the truth and God’s words, how we should deal with God’s requirements, and how to practice properly. Only by practicing to ponder God’s words in this way can we obtain benefits and good results in understanding truths and entering into the reality of God’s words.
For example: Of all God’s requirements for us, there is a most crucial one. God says: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment” (Matthew 22:37–38). If we ordinarily don’t integrate these words with our real life situations, we won’t easily understand the truth within, and we’ll sometimes even believe that we have been someone who loves the Lord and that everything we do has been in line with God’s will when we have done a bit for God. It is just like when we here worked and expended ourselves for God, gave up a lot, and endured some suffering in the midst of the work, we felt that we were qualified to be elected as church leaders. However, during the church elections, we were not selected for leadership. After that, our strength to expend ourselves for God decreased, our motivation for the work was lost, our situation got worse and worse, and our spirits became darker and darker. But when we prayed to and turned back to God, we thought of God’s words: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). Pondering God’s words, we reflected upon ourselves: Where did we express any love for the Lord with all our hearts? Our working and sacrificing were all a transaction with God. We wanted to win fame and fortune and position by paying a price, but as a result, when we failed to reach our aims, we lost our enthusiasm. Only through this did we see clearly that our sacrifices were all for our own benefit. We thought of the story of Peter recorded in the Bible. When the Lord Jesus committed the church to him and asked him to shepherd God’s sheep, Peter neither laid down conditions nor made a deal with the Lord. Instead, he only sought how to bring the brothers and sisters before God, and sought to satisfy God’s will in his work. Therefore, he could bear the testimony of loving God to the utmost and submitting, even to death. From this, we can see that all those who love and satisfy God with all their hearts and minds expend themselves for God without involving their own intentions and objectives, and that everything they do is completely for loving and satisfying God. At that time, we understood God’s requirements and got some practical knowledge of how to love God with all our hearts and minds. We were willing to repent to God, betray our own intentions and purposes, and practice according to God’s requirements. Later on, when we saw ourselves reveal wrong intentions and desires in our expending for God, we would consciously forsake them and pursue to satisfy God with all our hearts and minds. Therefore, when reading God’s words, we should integrate them with our real-life situations and ponder God’s words. Only in this way can we easily obtain the work of the Holy Spirit and understand God’s will.
Brother Liu Chen, we hope our fellowshiping can help you a bit. In reading God’s words, may all of us maintain a heart of seeking the truth, carefully ponder His words, and pay attention to seeking each of God’s words to see what intentions and requirements of God are involved within His words. Meanwhile, we should also integrate them into our real-life situations, and ponder and seek according to God’s words. As we practice constantly in this way, we will truly enter into God’s words and gain the truth and life that God bestows upon us. Thank God! All the glory be to God!
The Church of New Hymn
