Singing and Psalming the Word with the Exercise of our Spirit to Enjoy the Living Word

For us to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly is pray-reading the word, sing-reading the word, psalming the word, singing the word, and doing all these by opening our being to the Lord and humbling ourselves to have His fresh and instant speaking in His living word.

Thank the Lord for His word, which is living and operative, working in us to minister the riches of Christ into our being.

A very enjoyable way for us to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly is by using the life-studies of the Bible and the Recovery Version Bible.

The Lord is richly speaking to us in the church life, and we need to dig into the word of God to get the riches, and we also need to use the tools, the helpers, the openers, to the word of God.

The footnotes in the Recovery Version Bible are so rich, for they open up not only the historical facts and meaning of the words but even more, the spiritual significance and the practical application of these words to our life.

We need to not passively come to God’s word to read it but exercise ourselves, even exercise our whole being, to come to the Word of God in a deeper and more exercised way.

We have to come to God’s word in a diligent way, with the exercise of our spirit, so that we touch the Lord in His word and be filled with His riches.

If we allow the word of the Lord to inhabit us, dwell in us, and make its home in us, this indwelling word – which is the indwelling Christ – will function in us.

The functions of God’s word are to impart the riches of Christ into our being and to operate in us to uplift our being and experience to match God’s word.

But if we only read the Bible without the exercise of our spirit, without touching the Lord, we will miss the supply, the riches, and the strengthening.

May we take the way of coming to the Lord’s word by opening to Him to absorb Him, take Him in, and be constituted with Him.

May we allow the word of God to dwell in us and make its habitation in our being so that the Lord would use His word to operate in us and dispense all that He is into our being.

The word of God is living and operative, functioning like a two-edged sword (Heb. 4:12).

This means that our soul and our spirit are divided by our coming to the Lord’s word in an exercised and diligent way, and we will gain what is of God.

Singing and Psalming the Word with the Exercise of our Spirit to Let the Word Dwell in us Richly

Col. 3:16 speaks of letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly “teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace” in our heart to God.

The word of God needs to dwell in us richly; we need to not only have some knowledge of God’s word but rather, allow the word to dwell in us richly. How? By singing the word and psalming the word with the exercise of our spirit.

The inhabiting word of God will work within us and overflow from us in teaching, in admonishing one another, and in so many ways.

One way to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly is by singing it; we need to not only read and pray God’s word but even more, sing the word (Psa. 119:54).

We may not be a musically inclined person and our voice may not be the best voice, but we can still sing the word.

Actually, one of the best and most enjoyable ways for us to let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly is to sing and psalm with the Word of God.

We lack in the enjoyment of Christ because we lack in our singing and psalming with the word of God. Sometimes we may not sing at all during the day.

In Ephesians, we are told to be filled in spirit by singing and psalming. We need to be filled in spirit and seek to be filled by singing and psalming with the word of God.

Our enjoyment in the word many times results in us singing the word, for the Lord is so rich and so sweet to us in the word.

If we let the word of Christ inhabit us, there will be an overflow; we will sing the word.

Even if we do not remember the melody but compose one, we should simply exercise to sing and pray and psalm with the word of God.

Psalming the word of God includes dwelling upon it, musing on it, and enjoying it; as we do this, the word of God saturates us.

Singing and psalming the word are excellent ways for us to exercise our spirit and to be ushered into the Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45; Psa. 47:6-7).

While we are doing our chores, as we take a walk, when we do some jogging, or when we travel, we can simply sing the word.

The best hymns in the hymnal are all full of the word of God. They not only have nice tunes; they have a lot of God’s word.

May we commit these hymns and spiritual songs to our memory, and may we sing them.

As we are singing and psalming the word of God, we let the word of Christ dwell in us richly.

Singing the word, even composing songs with the word and our own tune, is not undignified; it is an enjoyable way for us to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly.

May we learn to do this in our daily life.

The more we sing and psalm the Lord’s word, the more we give the opportunity to the word of Christ to dwell in us richly. And the spontaneous result is that we live Christ.

How can we live Christ? It is not by gritting our teeth and trying very hard; it is by letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly as we are singing and psalming the word of God.

As we do this, we enjoy the Lord, and we spontaneously live Christ.

When we enjoy the Lord, when we love Him, when we sing to Him, we will live Him.

The psalmist testified that the Lord’s statutes have become his songs of praise in the house of his pilgrimage (Psa. 119:15).

If we take even a little time to sing the word, we will sense that we’re inwardly filled and saturated with the word of God. Then spontaneously, we will live Christ.

Lord Jesus, we want to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly by singing and psalming the word of God! Amen, Lord, we want to learn not only to pray and pray the word of God but even more, sing and psalm with the word of God! May we be so full of the word that we teach and admonish one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our heart to the Lord! Amen, Lord, increase our singing the word of God! Increase our psalming the word of God! We want to read and sing-read the word of God. We want to dwell upon the word of God, muse on it, and enjoy it so that the word would have more opportunity to saturate us! Saturate us, dear Lord, with Your word! We exercise our spirit as we come to Your word so that we may be ushered into the Spirit through our reading, praying, singing, and psalming!

Open to the Lord, Deal with anything that Separates us, humble ourselves, and Exercising our Spirit to enjoy the Living Word Applied to us

We need to daily practice coming to Christ as the living word in God’s written word so that He may speak to us personally as the applied word of the Spirit for Him to be infused into our being (Rev. 19:13; John 5:39-40; 6:63; 8:31-32; 15:7; Deut. 17:18-19).

This should be our daily practice.

We need to come to the Lord in His word in a living way, dealing with our being and taking care of anything He shines on so that there would be nothing that blocks or hinders His divine dispensing.

We need to learn to open our entire being to the Lord for the inner shining of the divine light and the supplying of the divine life (Psa. 119:105; Prov. 20:27; Psa. 139:23-24).

The person who experiences the greatest amount of transformation is the person who is absolutely open to the Lord.

If we learn to open to the Lord and even open to Him in an absolute way, we will experience transformation.

May we be those who seek the Lord with all our heart (Psa. 119:2; Mark 12:30), and may we learn to deal with anything that separates us from the Lord (Acts 24:16; 2 Tim. 1:3; 1 John 1:9; Ezek. 1:22, 26).

May there be a clear sky between us and the Lord.

Many times the condition of our being, our heart, is not normal; there are clouds between us and the Lord, and many things need to be confessed and dealt with.

The word of God is the breathing out of God, and the words in the Bible are God’s breath (2 Tim. 3:16).

The Lord Jesus is called the Word of God (John 1:1, 14; Rev. 19:13), for He is the embodiment of God (Col. 2:9).

Coming to the word of God is equivalent to coming to the Lord Himself.

When we come to God’s word, we need to come to Him as a person.

When we touch the Lord in His word, we sense that the Lord is so rich, so living, and so enlightening. But if there are problems in us and there are hindrances to the Lord’s speaking, we may not enjoy the Lord that much.

Sometimes there may be a sin that besets us, captures us, and possesses us. Such sin is a hindrance to enjoying the Lord in His word.

We do love the word of God, but because there is a certain sin that lies hidden within our heart, and we are not willing to deal with it, the Lord may not be able to shine in us.

Hidden sins, selfish desires, and loving the pleasures are things that hinder us from receiving blessings from the Lord in coming to His word.

May we be willing to deal with our hearts and turn to the Lord absolutely and with our whole heart.

May we allow Him to shine on the negative things that are between us and Him, and may we say Amen to His shining, agreeing with His exposing of the matters that hinder His dispensing.

Then, our condition will be normal, and we will receive help from the Word; in this way, the Word of Christ will dwell in us richly.

May we humble ourselves before the Lord, putting aside our self-confidence and self-assurance, and looking to Him for His mercy and grace (Isa. 66:1-2; 1 Pet. 5:5).

May we pray and open to the Lord to have mercy on us so that we would not be covered by anything but rather, have a clear sky.

And may we humble ourselves before the Lord to receive His fresh speaking, His shining, through His living word.

When we humble ourselves before the Lord as we come to His word, we will not trust in ourselves but rather, we will just open to receive something fresh and new from Him.

The Lord resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).

If the attitude of our heart is one of being open to the Lord, the word of Christ will inhabit us.

May we have a condition of humility when we come to God’s word, even being poor in spirit, so that we may receive something from the Lord.

May the Lord shine on us and expose how much time we waste; may we come to the Lord to redeem our time, spending our time not just doing things but singing and psalming His word.

Even when we are relaxing or doing some exercises for recreational purposes, even when we take a walk or rest a little, we can open to the Lord to enjoy Him in His word.

By allowing the Word of God to inhabit us, we can become a man of God filled with the breath of God so that we can be fully equipped with God’s word as the divine antidote against the decline of the church (2 Tim. 3:14-17).

The antidote to all the things happening in the world today is in the word of God.

We need to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly so that we may be filled and equipped with the breathed-out word of God and thus have the antidote against the deterioration and the decline of the church.

Lord Jesus, we want to practice coming to Christ as the living word in God’s written word so that He may speak to us personally as the applied word of the Spirit! Lord, infuse us with Yourself as we come to Your word! We open our entire being to Your divine light. Shine in us and shine on us through Your word. Cause us to be absolutely open to the Lord. We want to seek You with all our hearts and deal with anything that separates us from You. Oh Lord, shine on anything negative, any hindrance, anything that separates us from You. May there be nothing between us and You. Amen, may we have a clear sky to see You and be infused with You. We humble ourselves before You, dear Lord, and we put aside our self-confidence and self-assurance. We look to You for Your mercy and grace. We exercise our spirit to pray over and with God’s word, and we exercise our whole being to sing, psalm, and muse on your word!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Exodus, pp. 690-694, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing, Experiencing, and Living the All-inclusive Christ for the Genuine Church Life (2023 spring ITERO), week 6, entitled, Allowing the Peace of Christ to Arbitrate in Our Hearts, Letting the Word of Christ Dwell in Us Richly, and Persevering in Prayer for the Genuine Church Life.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Feeding and drinking, Lord Jesus, of Thee, / Feeding by reading, and drinking by prayer; / Reading and praying, I eat and I drink, / Praying and reading-Lord, Thou art my fare. / Here, O my Lord, may I feast upon Thee; / Flood with Thy Spirit and fill by Thy Word; / May, Lord, Thou be such a feast unto me / As man hath never enjoyed nor e’er heard. (Hymns #811 stanzas 7-8)
  – Whene’er the Spirit lights the Word / The Word becometh life to us; / When Word from Spirit is divorced, / ’Tis empty mental stimulus. / When we the Word in spirit touch, / As life the Spirit it becomes; / The Spirit, when expressed from us, / As words of life to others comes. (Hymns #815 stanzas 4-5)
  – As Spirit He speaks thru the Word / Till my heart in echo is singing, / And the fount of life with His grace and pow’r / Within my soul is springing. / And He speaks to me and reveals to me / All His riches for me today; / And I drink of Him for my every need, / My thirsting has passed away. (Hymns #554 staza 2)