Lesson Thirteen: Experiencing Christ By Calling and Pray-reading


	Lesson Thirteen Experiencing Christ By Calling and Pray-reading In this lesson, we will cover: I. Seeking to Experience Christ (Matt. 7:7) II. Calling on the Name of the Lord A. Scriptural Basis for Calling (Psa. 116:1-4, 12-13; 145:18, Rom. 10:12-14) B. The Proper Way to Call on the Lord (2 Tim. 2:22, Ps. 145:18) C. Groaning (Rom. 7:16-20, 24; 8:20-23, 26-27) III. Pray-reading the Word of Life (1 John 1:1; Eph. 6:17-18; John 5:39-40; 6:53-63) Witness Lee's First Calling On The Lord The ministry of Witness Lee (1905-1997) lasted more than 60 years and spanned 5 continents of the earth. A striking feature of Lee's ministry is his emphasis on the believers' experiences of Christ as life. As a young Christian, Lee did not receive much help to experience Christ in a living way. He elaborated, "I was raised in the Southern Baptist Church. After I was saved, due to my seeking after the Word, I stayed for several years with a very strict Brethren Assembly. ...Although I loved the Lord and the Word, I did not receive the proper help of life." Notwithstanding, the Lord led Lee to experience Him by way of calling on His name. Lee testified, "One day, in August 1931, while I was walking on the street, the Spirit spoke within me, 'Look at yourself. You have so much knowledge. You know the prophecies and the types, but look at how dead you are.' Immediately deep within I was conscious of a thirst and a hunger. Something within wanted to burst out. However, because of my religious background, I would not do that on the street. I restrained myself, suffering for the remainder of that afternoon, evening, and night, waiting for morning to come, when I would be able to release myself before the Lord. My home was at the foot of a small mountain. When morning came, I ran to the top of that mountain and released what was on my heart. I had no intention to shout, but something burst forth from within, saying, 'O Lord Jesus.' I spontaneously called on the Lord. No one taught me to call on the Lord, and I had not seen anything in the Bible regarding it. I simply did it spontaneously. "Nearly every morning thereafter I went to the top of the mountain, calling on the Lord each time. By calling on the Lord I was filled with the Lord. Each morning as I descended from the top of that mountain, I was filled with joy. I was in the heavens, and the whole earth with everything in it was under my feet." Reference: Witness Lee, Life-Study of Genesis, p. 336 Seeking To Experience Christ As genuine believers we should be seekers of God. The Bible tells us that God is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Heb. 11:6). According to 2 John 1:8-9, God Himself is the very reward to His seekers. This means that if you seek God, you will surely find Him (Matt. 7:7b). The apostle Paul was a seeker of God (Phil. 3:8b-9a). He pursued Christ in order to gain Him and be found in Him. For this purpose he counted all things loss. In the Old Testament, when David was charging Solomon his son to serve God and to build God's temple, he told Solomon, "If you seek [God], He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever" (1 Chr. 28:9b). Hence the Bible warns about king Rehoboam who "did evil because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord" (2 Chr. 12:14). As a believer you should be a seeker of Christ. But in today's world, you may find yourself occupied and distracted by the troubles, distresses, sorrows, and pains of daily life. You may say, "How can I ever seek Christ in this world of misery?" Remember, in Paul's day the believers also faced similar hardships. Paul told them, "The sorrow of the world produces death" (2 Cor. 7:10b). But Paul also said, "Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted" (v. 10a). Paul meant that the believers could turn their sorrow of the world into godly sorrow. Today this can also be true. All the unpleasant sufferings that you encounter in the world are really opportunities for experiencing the wonderful Christ. Seek Christ through all these opportunities and you will discover that He is everything you really need. Seeking Christ is a matter of seeking life. "Christ...is our life" (Col. 3:4). In other words, to experience Christ is to experience life. When you have touched Christ, you would have also enjoyed the abundance of His life (John 10:10). This is to experience Christ as life. That's why the Bible charges you to "lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called" (1 Tim. 6:12a). As Isaiah 55:6-13 points out, seeking God is a matter of returning to His name and to His word. In the remainder of this lesson we will consider how believers can experience Christ by calling on His name and pray-reading God's Word. Calling On The Name Of The Lord Scriptural basis for Calling According to the Bible, calling on the name of the Lord began with Enosh, who was of the third generation of mankind (Gen. 4:26). This calling occurred at a time when men were falling further away from God and God's own people had become weak. The meaning of calling is to make a cry with a voice that can be heard by others. The Old Testament tells us that God's people made such audible cries whenever they were troubled. For example, one psalmist said, "The pains of death surrounded me, and the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of the Lord" (Psa. 116:3-4a). God's people also called on His name in appreciation for what He had done for them. "What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me? I will take up the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord" (Psa. 116:12-13). The Old Testament believers knew that the Lord's name could meet all their needs, so they called on His name. The same psalmist testified, "I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live" (Psa. 116:1-2). The New Testament also speaks of calling on the name of the Lord. Call on the Lord and you will be saved (Rom. 10:13). Furthermore, He will be rich to you (Rom. 10:12b). This means that He will supply you richly with all His provisions so you can experience His salvation. In addition, calling on the Lord demonstrates that you are His believer. Paul says, "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?" (Rom. 10:14a) In other words, you can only call on the One in whom you have believed. When you call, you experience God the Spirit, the One who indwells all the believers (Rom. 8:9, 11). "No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:3b). According to 1 Corinthians 1:2b, genuine believers are callers who "in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord." Many mature Christians who have gone before us testify that calling on the Lord is one of the best ways to touch Him. Call on Him and you will: (1) experience His deliverance and salvation - Psa. 50:15; 55:16; (2) receive His forgiveness and abundant mercy - Psa. 86:5; (3) find that His name is most excellent - Psa. 8:1, 9; (4) put your trust in Him - Psa. 9:10. Thank the Lord that He has given every one of us this great privilege to call on His name at any time in any place! The proper way to call on the Lord According to 2 Timothy 2:22, you should call on the Lord out of a pure heart. A pure heart is single, seeking God alone. Hence, the reason you want to call on the Lord is because you desire only God Himself and you want to match the purpose of your human life with His eternal purpose. If you call out of a pure heart, you will surely touch God. The Lord says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matt. 5:8). Here, to see God means to experience God. Furthermore, when you call out of a pure heart, you become a healthy spiritual companion to any Christian who wants to pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace (2 Tim. 2:22). According to the Bible, you must not only call out of a pure heart but also call in truth (Psa. 145:18b). To call in truth is to call with genuineness and sincerity, without falsehood, hypocrisy, or any impure motive. Call upon the Lord in truth and He will be near to you (Psa. 145:18a). The apostle Paul wrote that the Lord will be "near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (Rom. 10:8). He will not only be near to you in time and space, but He will also be intimately related with you. Groaning Sometimes, instead of calling, you may groan. When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He groaned too (Mark 7:34; 8:12). Groaning is especially useful when you are experiencing excessive sorrow and find yourself wordless in prayer. Romans 8:23a says, "We also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves." Here we see that genuine believers - those "who have the firstfruits of the Spirit" - groan within themselves. This groaning does not come from a long day of work. Rather it comes from oppression arising from the sufferings that we have to bear due to our flesh - the sinful nature of our body. As a result, we have to struggle with temptations and sins (Rom. 7:20). Although our spirit longs to follow Christ and live Christ, our flesh causes us to do things that are even against our own will (Rom. 7:16-20). Because of this, we groan in ourselves to be free from this suffering and to enter into glory. This explains why Paul would groan, "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Rom. 7:24). Romans 8:23 also shows that we will groan as we eagerly await the redemption of our body. At the end of this age when our Savior comes back, our body of humiliation will be changed to become a spiritual body, one that is conformed to the body of the Lord's glory (1 Cor. 15:44; Phil. 3:21). This body will become our heavenly clothing and eternal tabernacle (2 Cor. 5:1-4). But until then, we may be weak, not knowing how to pray as is fitting. The Spirit therefore joins in to help us in our weakness and intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be uttered (Rom. 8:26). We thus groan with the Spirit, whose groaning is according to God (Rom. 8:27). Pray-reading The Word Of Life As mentioned before, the Bible is God's word - a book of life (1 John 1:1). This means that if you come to the Bible properly, you can experience God's life. Consider the Pharisees at Jesus' time (John 5:39-40). They excelled in the knowledge of the Scriptures, which at that time was limited to the Old Testament. They thought that they would have eternal life in the Scriptures. But the Lord rebuked them for their way of searching the Scriptures. The Lord told them that they should have used the Scriptures to come to Him so they might have life. In fact, the Scriptures themselves testify that He is the unique source of eternal life. Hence, when you read the Bible today, do not repeat the Pharisees' mistake. Instead, come and seek Christ in the Bible. Christ is the very Word of life (John 1:1). According to Ephesians 6:17-18, the way to receive this Word of life is by means of all prayer and petition. Thus, in order to receive the Word into you, you must exercise to pray. This is to pray-read the Bible - that is, to read the Bible and at the same time pray to the Lord based on what you have read. In this way you will come to Christ and receive life from Him. Experientially, pray-reading allows you to receive much spiritual nourishment from the Lord. Another way to come to the Word prayerfully is to read-pray. This is to read the Bible until a verse or a phrase inspires you. Since "all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God" (2 Tim. 3:16a), you can be inspired by the Bible when you read it. Furthermore, the Word is "living and operative...and piercing...and able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Heb. 4:12). When you read the Bible, you can therefore receive an inner shining from the Lord. It may be a word of comfort, a revelation, a light that exposes a sin, or a supply of faith. You can then turn whatever you have received into prayers. Pray-reading and read-praying help us to exercise our spirit to receive the Word of life. They also allow us to "let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly" (Col. 3:16). Thus, our personal relationship with the Lord will be strengthened and deepened. Discussion Questions 1. Have you experienced calling on the name of the Lord? If so, describe your experience. 2. Have you ever groaned within yourself toward God? If so, describe your experience. 3. Can you show that pray-reading the Bible is scriptural? Practical Tips Calling and Groaning The writer of Psalm 116 said that he would call on the Lord as long as he lived (v. 2). This means that calling is a life-long practice. Begin by making calling a regular habit. Call by crying out, "O Lord Jesus! O Lord Jesus! O Lord Jesus!" Call until you are refreshed. Do not be afraid to open up your mouth when you call. However, if you find it hard to call on the Lord, especially when you are facing a difficult situation in your life, try groaning to the Lord instead. Pray-Reading It takes a little practice to learn how to pray-read the Bible. A good beginning is to take a small portion of the Bible, perhaps one verse or two, and spend time praying over each word and phrase in those verses. Through this exercise, you will find that you can be buoyant in your spirit and you can rejoice in the Lord! Oftentimes, merely repeating the words of the Bible prayerfully can make it a rich source of nourishment and refreshment. Read-Praying It is a good habit for Christians to read through the Bible regularly. As you read through the Bible, pause after each chapter and re-read those verses that inspire you. Then turn the words in those verses into prayer.