As believers in Christ, we live not by bread alone, but by everything that proceeds out from the mouth of God; when we’re pray-reading the word of God to inhale the breath of God, for all Scripture is God-breathed. Hallelujah!
And the word of God is not far from us; God is not merely up in the heavens ruling over the whole universe – He is so close to us, so available to us, that He has become our very breath.
In Deut. 30:11-14 Moses spoke of the commandment of God, which is not far away for someone to bring it near, it is not up in the heavens for someone to bring it down, and it is not in the abyss for someone to bring it up. Rather, the word is our heart and in our mouth.
Paul interpreted and applied this portion in Rom. 10:6-9 where he said that Christ as the word of God is not far from us; we shouldn’t say, Who will go up to heavens to bring Him down? or, Who will descend to the abyss to bring Him up?
Rather, we should realize that Christ already went through a process: He as the Word of God came down on earth through incarnation, and then through death and burial He went to the abyss, the place of the dead, and He was raised to become a life-giving Spirit to be in our heart and in our mouth.
Whenever we confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, we are saved; whenever we call on the name of the Lord, we enjoy all His riches, for the same Lord is rich to all who call on His name (Rom. 10:12-13). Hallelujah!
What a full picture we see concerning Christ: He is the word of God being incarnated, crucified, buried, resurrected, and becoming the life-giving Spirit; in resurrection He came and breathed Himself into His disciples saying, Receive the holy breath (John 20:22).
How can we enjoy God and be filled with His life and element? It is by breathing Him in. How can we breathe God in? Well, He has become the living air for us to breathe in by calling on His name.
Also, all Scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16); we need to breathe in the breathed out word of God, inhaling what He has exhaled, so that we may be perfected, convicted, corrected, instructed in righteousness, and equipped for every good work.
Today the Lord is so near and available to us – we can receive Him as our life supply, our strength, and our everything just by calling on Him and praying His word!
Breathing in the Breathed out Word of God by Pray-reading the Word to enjoy Christ
The Lord Jesus applied the word in Deut. 8:3 to Himself (and to us all) when He said, Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes out through the mouth of God.
When Moses spoke of this, he was referring to the law, the ordinances, the statutes, and the commandments that God gave to His people; these are all the word of God.
The totality, the aggregate of the word of God is Christ, who is the Word of God becoming flesh, going through a process to become a life-giving Spirit, for us to breathe Him in (John 1:1, 14).
For us to live by every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God is to live by Christ, the embodiment of the divine breath.
Where is Christ today? He is in His word, He is embodied in the words of the Bible, and when we pray over the word of God, when we pray-read the word, we breathe Him in as the breathed out word of God.
All the words in Deuteronomy are God’s breathing, and God’s breathing is altogether embodied in Christ.
As we read Deuteronomy (and every other book of the Bible), we need to inhale all that God has exhaled, all that He has breathed out. As we inhale the divine breath of God in His word, we will enjoy Christ, who is the embodiment of the divine breath.
The more we receive Christ as the breath of the speaking God, the more we will enjoy Christ.
We not only breathe in the word of God by calling on the Lord’s name, but also by pray-reading the word of God. Praying over God’s word should never become old to us; we need to take in the word of God by means of all prayer and petition (Eph. 6:17).
We need to be in an atmosphere of prayer as we come to the word of God, realizing that it is not merely black-in-white letters that we read but even more, it is the breathed out word of God, even the breath of God (2 Tim. 3:16).
In our personal time with the Lord, we need to breathe in the word of God and operate in us, confessing what the word exposes, and dealing with anything that the Lord shines on.
The children of Israel were charged to keep the commandments, statutes, and ordinances; since all these are the word of God, and the word of God is Christ, we today need to keep Christ!
We need to keep Christ as the word of God by taking Christ, keeping Christ, holding fast to Him, so that we may gain Him, enjoy Him, and live Him. We need to love Christ, keep Christ, teach Christ, wear Christ, and write Christ (Deut. 6:1, 5-9; Phil. 3:9; 1:19-21a).
In Deut. 6 it says that we should love Jehovah our God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our might, and we should keep the commandment God gives us into our heart, repeat it to our children, speak about them when we’re in our house and when we journey, when we lie down and when we rise up.
We should bind these words on our hand as a sign and between our eyes, we should write them on the doorpost of our house and our gate.
Since the commandment is Christ, we believers in Christ should love Christ as the word of God, keep Christ, teach Christ as the word, wear Christ as the word, and write Christ as the word of God.
We need to take in the word of God by means of all prayer and petition, pray-reading the word of God to breathe in the breathed out word of God!
Lord Jesus, we exercise our spirit to pray-read the word of God so that we may breathe in the breathed out word of God! Hallelujah, all the words in the Bible are God’s breathing, and God’s breathing is altogether in Christ, so we can come to the word and inhale the divine breath by exercising our spirit! Amen, Lord, we want to enjoy You in Your word. We want to receive the breath of the speaking God in His word so that we may enjoy Christ! Make us those who love Christ, keep Christ, teach Christ, wear Christ, and write Christ as the word of God daily!
Enjoying Every Word that Comes out of the Mouth of God to be Supplied to Gain Christ as the Good Land
How can we as God’s people enter into the full possession of the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land? It is by enjoying every word that comes out of the mouth of God so that we may be sustained and supplied on our journey into the land.
God was leading His people into the good land (which is a type of Christ) by Christ, and He was sustaining them on their way by Christ (who is everything that proceeds out through the mouth of God).
Hallelujah, every word in the Bible is Christ who is the word of God for us to receive as our life and life supply (Psa. 119:1, 9)!
We simply need to pray-read the word of God so that we may enjoy every word that comes out through the mouth of God; this will supply us to gain the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land.
On one hand Christ is the good land, and on the other, He is the food which sustains us on the way to the good land. He is the good land, He is the food to sustain us to get into the good land, and He is the One who can make it into the land; we need to be filled with Christ, saturated with Him, and even become Him so that we may enter into the full enjoyment of Christ as the good land.
God never intended it that we would make it in ourselves; He called us into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as the good land, and He has given us Christ to be our supply in His word for us to be sustained and enter the good land.
The Lord is leading us into the good land by Christ, and He is also sustaining us by Christ, who is everything that proceeds out of the mouth of God; Christ is sustaining us to enter into Himself.
So we should learn to inhale the breath of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit; if we breathe the processed Triune God, the grace of Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Spirit will be with us (2 Cor. 13:14).
When we enjoy every word that comes out of the mouth of God, we will be able to do in Christ what we cannot do in ourselves.
In Phil. 4:13 Paul declared that he is able to do all things in Him who empowers him; these things are itemized in v. 8, which are things that are true, dignified, righteous, pure, lovely, well spoke of, any virtue and any praise.
How can we live out such virtues? How can we live out Christ for the corporate expression of God?
It is only in Him, in Christ; it is only by breathing in the word of God, inhaling what God has exhaled in His word, through pray-reading the word.
When we pray over God’s word, His element is infused into us, and we enjoy Christ; He in us will be able to do what we cannot do, and He leads us into the full enjoyment and experience of Himself as the good land. Amen!
Because all Scriptures are the breathing out of God, the exhaling of God (2 Tim. 3:16), we should inhale the Scriptures by receiving the Word of God by means of all prayer (Eph. 6:17-18).
As we are teaching the Bible, we should be exhaling God into people. In caring for others, we need to not just give them Bible verses but exhale God into them, that is, breathe out the word of God that we have breathed in through our pray-reading the word of God.
Lord Jesus, we come to You in Your word to enjoy You as everything that proceeds out through the mouth of God! Only You can sustain us, supply us, and enable us to enter into the full enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land. Lord, we exercise our spirit to pray-read Your word so that we may inhale the Scriptures by receiving the word of God by means of all prayer. Amen, Lord, we want to be men of God with the breath of God, those who inhale God in His word and exhale God into people!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Deuteronomy, pp. pp. 7-8, 22-23 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy, week 1, on the topic of, The Intrinsic Significance of Deuteronomy — a Book concerning Christ.
- Hymns on this topic:
– ”Man shall not live by bread alone, / But by each word which doth proceed / From God’s own mouth”; these we must eat / And let them be our life indeed. (Hymns #814)
– It is only knowledge to us / If we in the letter read, / But when reading in the spirit / It is truly life indeed. / All the knowledge in the letter / Only brings us into death, / But the Word in spirit taken / Gives to us the quickening breath. (Hymns #816)
– It is the breath of God for us to breathe, / That as our portion God we may enjoy; / Receiving it by spirits exercised, / Our need is met, His wealth we may employ. (Hymns #799)
