Imagine you haven’t eaten for a while; you’re hungry and weak from the lack of food. Suddenly, a delectable aroma floats by. It makes your mouth water, but simply smelling the aroma of food doesn’t satisfy you. You’re still as hungry as you were before.
Simply reading something in the Bible and being temporarily inspired is kind of like smelling a delectable aroma. It’s not that we don't receive anything at all, but the inspiration quickly fades. Nothing solid actually “sticks to our ribs” or satisfies us inwardly. For that, we need to eat the Word of God.
“Eating” the Word of God may sound strange to us. But as we saw in a previous post, God gave us His Word to be food to us. It’s by eating the Word of God that we can be spiritually nourished and strengthened in our Christian life.
But to eat the Word of God, we must go deeper than simply reading it. So in this post, we’ll discuss how to eat the Word of God.
Using the right organ
Physically speaking, we need to use the right organ of our body to perform particular functions.
For instance, our nose is the organ we use to smell the aroma of food. But we can’t eat with our nose. And we certainly can’t eat with our ears or our eyes. The proper organ for eating is our mouth. We have to use our mouth to take the food in.
All of this may seem very obvious, but we need to realize that eating the Word of God also requires us to use the right organ. We may be accustomed to exercising our mind to learn something or our emotion to feel something when we open the Bible. But neither our mind nor our emotion is the right organ for receiving the Word of God as food.
We need to exercise our spirit
The words in the Bible are just black and white letters on a page in and of themselves. If we only use our mind to understand them, that’s all they’ll ever be to us. But the Bible is more than that. The very essence of the Word of God is Spirit.
The Lord Jesus said in John 6:63:
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”
The Spirit who gives life is embodied in the Word. But to contact the Spirit in the Word and receive life, we need to use the proper organ. That organ is our human spirit.
The Bible reveals that our spirit is the deepest, innermost part of our being. God created our human spirit with the unique ability to contact and even receive Him. By using our spirit, we can contact the Spirit in the Word.
For the Bible to become the food that fills our inner hunger and gives us life, we must exercise our spirit to contact the Spirit in the Word. So how do we exercise, or use, our spirit? Just as we exercise our feet by walking, we can exercise our spirit by praying.
The Spirit, the Word, prayer, and our spirit
In Ephesians 6:17-18 the apostle Paul puts the Spirit, the Word, prayer, and our spirit together:
“And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit.”
This verse makes it clear we must receive the Spirit in the Word of God by means of all prayer, praying every time in our spirit. This is how we eat the Word of God. When we exercise our spirit by praying as we read the Bible, we touch the Spirit in the Word—and it’s the Spirit who gives life. We’re nourished and supplied to grow in the life of God and live a healthy Christian life.
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Having the proper focus
We certainly need to read and even study the Bible for our enlightenment and understanding. But when we come to the Word to feed on it, we don’t need to be so concerned about whether we fully understand the verses. Understanding will come; during these times, we should simply concentrate on exercising our spirit in prayer with the Word.
It helps to pray out loud. It isn’t that God doesn’t hear our silent prayers, but praying audibly helps us exercise our spirit more strongly, focus on the Word, and be less distracted by our thoughts.
Even before we even open the Bible, it’s also good to take a moment to pray. We can utter a simple prayer like this:
“Lord Jesus, I come to Your Word. Lord, I want to exercise my spirit to receive Your Word as food. Feed me, Lord Jesus, in Your Word.”
Then we simply open the Bible to read. Let’s say we’ve been reading through the New Testament and come to John 1:4:
“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
We can pause and pray with the words of this verse. Our prayer may be something like this:
“In Him was life. Life is only in You, Lord. Thank You, Lord, now that I have You, I have life. Lord, keep me enjoying You as life today. And praise You, Lord, You are the light of men. Oh Lord Jesus, You are now my light. Shine on me, Lord. Don’t let me be in any darkness.”
Perhaps as we’re “eating” the word light, the Lord may begin to shine on a sin we committed that we were unconscious of.
We should confess that sin right away to be forgiven and cleansed, and then we can continue eating. When we exercise our spirit to contact God’s Word, we often experience God shining on us, and we can instantly respond to Him. This is all part of our eating the Word of God.
If we have more time, we can go on reading until another verse strikes us. We can stop and pray spontaneously with what arises from our heart and our spirit.
Some helpful points
Here are a few points that can help us practice to feed on the Word of God:
- During these times of eating, we don’t need to feel compelled to finish a chapter or section. We can take our time to read and pray, pray and read.
- Just as physically overeating is bad for us, we shouldn’t try to take in too much when we eat the Word. Enjoying a few verses at one time is usually plenty.
- By repeating God’s Word back to Him and turning it into our prayer, we can be set free from praying formal, routine prayers.
- We can be saved from thinking too much about ourselves and our situation by including thanking and praising the Lord as we pray with His Word. This will also uplift our appreciation of Him.
- We can pray with the very same verse at different times in our lives and experience something new because the Spirit is living. As we exercise our spirit and contact the Spirit in the Word, we receive a fresh supply of life and appreciation for that verse.
We hope you begin to enjoy eating the Word of God every day. May His words be spirit and life to you, enlivening you and satisfying your hunger. If you live in the US, you can order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here.
Prayer is a fundamental part of our Christian life. It’s how we contact God, converse with Him, and enjoy fellowship with Him. But have you ever considered that prayer is our spiritual breathing?
Today we’ll look at some key verses from the Bible to see what this means, and how we can practice this kind of prayer in our daily life.
Physical breathing
Physical breathing involves both inhalation and exhalation. As we breathe in, we receive oxygen, which is vital to every part of our body. And as we breathe out, we exhale carbon dioxide, a waste gas that needs to be expelled from our system.
We all know breathing is indispensable in sustaining our physical life. We can survive for a period of time without eating or drinking. But if we stop breathing for just a few minutes, we’ll die.
The same is true spiritually. We were saved eternally when we believed in Christ, and we received the divine life when we were born again. But now we need to continue to breathe spiritually to maintain our spiritual life.
What is spiritual breathing?
The regular intake of oxygen is an absolute requirement for our bodies. What then is the “oxygen” we believers must breathe spiritually?
Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 15:45 to find out:
“So also it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living soul’; the last Adam [Christ] became a life-giving Spirit.”
The Greek word translated as Spirit in this verse is pneuma. This word is also translated as breath. The Lord Jesus is the last Adam who was crucified for our sins. Now in resurrection He’s the life-giving Spirit, or breath. The life-giving Spirit is the “oxygen” we must breathe in to live.
This section of note 1 on this verse in the Recovery Version explains what happened in Christ’s incarnation and resurrection in order for Him to become the Spirit:
“Through incarnation He [Christ] had a soulish body, as Adam had; through resurrection He has a spiritual body. His soulish body has become a spiritual one through resurrection. Now He is a life-giving Spirit in resurrection, with a spiritual body, ready to be received by His believers. When we believe into Him, He enters our spirit, and we are joined to Him as the life-giving Spirit. Hence, we become one spirit with Him (6:17).”
Christ in resurrection is now the life-giving Spirit with a spiritual body. This is how we could receive Him when we believed in Him. As the Spirit, He came into our spirit.
Now because He’s in us, He’s so available to us. We can breathe the life-giving, indwelling Spirit anytime, anywhere, and receive more of His life.
So how do we inhale this life-giving Spirit?
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We have to use our spirit
Just as we have to use our lungs to take in oxygen, we have to use our human spirit to breathe in the Spirit. Our spirit is the part of our being created by God that has the ability to contact and receive Him. So exercising our spirit is necessary in order for us to breathe spiritually.
And the best way to exercise our spirit is through prayer. Prayer isn’t a formal or ritualistic activity; it’s how we contact the Spirit to breathe Him in. So when we pray, we just need to be simple, genuine, and open to the Lord.
Breathing anytime, anywhere
We can breathe the Lord in by praying simple, short prayers.
One of the best and simplest ways to pray is to call upon the name of the Lord.
In fact, in Lamentations 3:55-56, the prophet Jeremiah equated calling on the Lord with breathing. He said:
“I called upon Your name, O Jehovah, from the lowest pit. You have heard my voice; do not hide Your ear at my breathing, at my cry.”
Jeremiah wrote these verses when he was suffering and very discouraged. Yet even in the midst of his discouragement, he called on the name of Jehovah.
Sometimes we may also feel like we’re in a low pit; our hearts are heavy and we don’t know how to pray. But we can simply call, “Oh, Lord Jesus.” As we do this, we exhale our discouragement and sadness, and we inhale the Lord’s encouragement and hope.
At other times, we may feel weak, even lifeless. At such times, our primary need is to breathe in the “fresh air” of the life-giving Spirit. If we just call upon the name of the Lord Jesus, we’ll be revived and enlivened.
Calling on the name of the Lord is an enjoyable and practical way to breathe in the Spirit. No matter what condition we’re in, where we are, or what we’re doing, we can call, “Lord Jesus!” We can do it aloud if we’re alone, or softly to ourselves. This is the best way to keep breathing anytime, anywhere.
Breathing is critical
In our fast-paced, busy lives, it’s easy to find ourselves “holding our breath.” No wonder the “carbon dioxide” of negative things builds up in us, and we’re weak and susceptible to sin. We need to take a breath! We need to exhale and, at the same time, absorb the Spirit in order to live the Christian life.
Since prayer is our spiritual breathing, we must build up the practice of breathing all day long. It’s wonderful to realize we can breathe God in moment by moment to be refreshed, strengthened, and filled with Him.
Many seekers of God throughout the centuries have written about their experiences of breathing in God by praying. A hymn by A.B. Simpson eloquently describes his own experience. The first two stanzas and chorus read:
O Lord, breathe Thy Spirit on me, Teach me how to breathe Thee in; Help me pour into Thy bosom All my life of self and sin.
I am breathing out my sorrow, Breathing out my sin; I am breathing, breathing, breathing, All Thy fullness in.
I am breathing out my own life, That I may be filled with Thine; Letting go my strength and weakness, Breathing in Thy life divine.
To see the full hymn and listen to the tune, visit this page.
May we all practice breathing in the Lord by prayer every day. And if you live in the US, you can order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version to read the entire note on 1 Corinthians 15:45.
Over the span of thousands of years, God gave us His precious Word. Now we have His complete revelation in our hands: the Bible. History tells us that the Bible has profoundly affected countless people throughout the centuries. It has served as a guide for how to live, and it has even been taught in schools as great literature.
But the Bible isn’t merely a book full of doctrines about God and the Christian faith, a work of literature, or a self-help manual telling us how to have a good life.
Actually, God’s intention in giving us His Word is that it would be our spiritual food to nourish us. How do we know? The Bible itself reveals this to us.
Key verses that reveal the Bible is our food
Numerous verses throughout the Bible describe God’s Word as food to His people.
For instance, in the Old Testament, Jeremiah 15:16 says:
“Your words were found and I ate them, and Your word became to me the gladness and joy of my heart.”
Then, at the very beginning of the New Testament, the Lord Jesus was tempted by the devil to turn stones into bread after He had fasted for 40 days. In Matthew 4:4, Jesus responded:
“It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God.’”
Then in 1 Peter 2:2, the apostle Peter exhorted the believers:
“As newborn babes, long for the guileless milk of the word in order that by it you may grow unto salvation.”
These and many other verses show us God gave His Word to us to be our spiritual food. So we need to keep this in mind when we approach the Bible. God wants His precious Word to be the food we eat and live by.
Eating is critical for us to live and grow
Physically speaking, we can do without many things, but none of us can go very long without food. Eating is necessary for our survival.
But none of us would be satisfied with mere survival. We want to thrive and grow. The growth of any life form is utterly dependent on receiving the proper nourishment. As we eat, our bodies are constituted with the food we take in. This is how growth happens.
In the same way, nothing is more important to our Christian life than being nourished with the Word of God for both our sustenance and spiritual growth. When we were born again, we received the divine life of God into us. Now, that life must grow in us and increase to fill every part of our being.
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How the Word of God can be food to us
In order for something to be food, it must be composed of organic material. Inorganic matter, like a rock, for instance, can’t feed us. An apple can nourish us because it’s organic, that is, something of life.
The same is true spiritually speaking. Our spiritual food is something of the divine life.
In John 6:63, the Lord Jesus said:
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”
Since the Lord’s words are spirit and life, they can feed us.
How can we experience the Lord’s words being spirit and life to us when we read the Bible? Note 3 on words in this verse in the New Testament Recovery Version says:
“The Greek word for words, here and in v. 68, is rhema, which denotes the instant and present spoken word. It differs from logos (used for Word in 1:1), which denotes the constant word. Here the words follows the Spirit. The Spirit is living and real, yet He is very mysterious, intangible, and difficult for people to apprehend; the words, however, are substantial. First, the Lord indicated that for giving life He would become the Spirit. Then He said that the words He speaks are spirit and life. This shows that His spoken words are the embodiment of the Spirit of life. He is now the life-giving Spirit in resurrection, and the Spirit is embodied in His words. When we receive His words by exercising our spirit, we get the Spirit, who is life.”
Physically, in order to receive food into our bodies, we need to use our mouth. Spiritually speaking, in order to receive the Lord’s words, we must exercise our spirit, the deepest part of our being. The best way to exercise our spirit is to open our mouth to pray.
In Ephesians 6:17-18, the apostle Paul tells us this:
“Receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition.”
Paul encouraged the believers to receive the Word of God not just by using their minds but by means of all prayer. When we pray, we exercise our spirit. By using our spirit when we read the Word, we contact the Spirit in the Word.
As we read God’s Word with prayer, the black and white words on the page become spirit and life. This is how the Bible becomes nourishing food to us.
We can all eat God’s Word
Believers throughout the centuries have testified to feeding on the Word of God through this enjoyable practice of praying while reading the Bible.
And just as physical eating is something anyone can do, we all can spiritually eat by praying with the Word of God. No special ability is required. We don’t need to pray long, complicated prayers. We can pray simple, short prayers as we read the Word.
As we experience eating the Word of God as our food, Jeremiah’s testimony will become ours: “Your words were found and I ate them, and Your word became to me the gladness and joy of my heart.”
For more on this subject, you can read chapter 3 of Basic Elements of the Christian Life, vol. 3, a book that has helped thousands of believers. You can download this book from anywhere in the world here.
Have you ever wondered what spiritual growth is? As believers, we may have heard people mention spiritual or Christian growth. But what is Christian growth?
The matter of growth is a tremendous subject in the Bible. But in this post, we’ll look at a few key verses in the New Testament to get an overview of the growth that God desires to see in us believers.
What is growth?
Both the tiniest insect and an enormous whale grow and develop according to their species. How is that possible? They both have life. No matter how beautiful a rock may be, it’s lifeless and can’t grow. Growth only occurs in things that have life.
And according to the Bible, the growth of believers in Christ is also entirely a matter of the growth of life. But what does this mean?
Growing in the divine life
To answer these questions, we must realize what happened when we first repented and believed in Jesus Christ. We were forgiven of our sins and saved from eternal judgment. But that’s not all. Something monumental took place within us: we were born again of the Spirit of God in our spirit, the deepest part of our being. This birth brought the very life of God into us.
John 1:12-13 says:
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name, who were begotten not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
Since we were begotten of God with His life, we became children of God. What a wondrous thing this is! But we shouldn’t remain as children. The life of God in us must grow and increase. This is true spiritual growth.
Our dear Father God wants to see all His children grow by the increase of His life in us. We need to grow day by day, year after year, until we reach maturity. This is how His great plan for us is fulfilled.
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Spiritual growth according to the Bible
The apostle Paul addressed the need for believers to grow in the divine life in several places in his epistles. In fact, the life we received when we were born again is a wonderful Person, Jesus Christ. So Paul spoke of growth as being the increase of Christ in us.
For example, in Galatians 4:19, Paul wrote:
“My children, with whom I travail again in birth until Christ is formed in you.”
Paul had traveled through Galatia on one of his gospel-preaching journeys. As a result of his labor, some there believed in the Lord Jesus and were born again. Later, he wrote this epistle to the Galatians. In this verse, Paul indicates that being reborn was only the beginning. He continued to labor so that Christ would increase and grow within them.
Note 4 on this verse in the New Testament Recovery Version explains:
“When the Galatian believers were regenerated through Paul’s preaching of the gospel to them the first time, Christ was born into them but not formed in them. Here the apostle was travailing again that Christ might be formed in them. To have Christ formed in us is to have Christ fully grown in us. First, Christ was born into us at the time we repented and believed in Him, then He lives in us in our Christian life (2:20), and, finally, He will be formed in us at our maturity. Christ’s being formed in us is needed that we may be sons of full age and heirs to inherit God’s promised blessing, and that we may mature in the divine sonship.”
This note helps us to see that we shouldn’t be content with just having Christ born into us. We need to experience Christ living in us daily until Christ is fully formed in us, that is, fully grown in us. As Christ grows in us, we express Him through our living instead of ourselves.
We all have to admit that Christ hasn’t yet been fully formed in us. Our thoughts and viewpoints are often still our own, not Christ’s. Our feelings about people, our desires, and our reactions are still mostly not Christ’s. And too many of our aims, intentions, and decisions are our own. As a result, how we live in our daily life falls very short of expressing Christ to others.
So Christ needs to increase, that is, to grow, in all these areas of our being so He can be fully formed in us. The increase of Christ in us is the growth God wants to see.
Growth requires nourishment
How can Christ grow in us? Nourishment is a necessity for any form of life to grow.
For instance, a baby’s primary need is nourishment. Almost immediately after birth, a baby begins to eat. By being nourished, it grows a little each day. And as the child grows, it doesn’t ever “graduate” from eating.
The apostle Peter connects spiritual nourishment and spiritual growth in 1 Peter 2:2:
“As newborn babes, long for the guileless milk of the word in order that by it you may grow unto salvation.”
The Word of God isn’t just for our knowledge. Actually, Peter’s thought here is that the Word is nourishing milk for us to take in so we can grow.
Certainly, we should know and even study God’s Word, but our greatest need is to be nourished with the Word. Every day, we need to long for and feed on the milk of the Word, so we can grow until Christ is fully formed in us.
Note 4 on grow in the Recovery Version explains this succinctly:
“To grow is a matter of life and in life. We received the divine life through regeneration, and we need to grow in this life and with this life by being nourished with the milk conveyed in the word of God.”
Just as the food we eat builds up our bodies, the spiritual milk of the Word will cause us to grow in the divine life.
Growing day by day
Seeing that God’s life in us must increase helps us realize the importance of taking the time to feed on the Word of God as our spiritual food.
A good way to begin our day is to eat a hearty spiritual breakfast. We can also feed on the milk of the Word during our lunch break and at night before we go to bed. Being nourished regularly strengthens us to live a healthy Christian life and gives the Lord a way to grow in us.
Of course, many other factors also affect our spiritual growth. But being nourished by the Word of God is absolutely crucial. So let’s come to the Bible daily to feed on the milk of the Word. If you live in the US, you can order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here.
To get a more detailed view of spiritual growth in life, we also encourage you to read The Knowledge of Life. You can download this free e-book here from anywhere in the world.
The Bible tells us we believers have an excellent remedy that’s more than able to deal with the sins we commit: the blood of Jesus Christ.
When we first believed in Jesus as our Savior, God forgave us and washed us of our sins. This is because the blood Christ shed on the cross satisfied all God’s righteous demands that were upon us.
And the same is true after we’re saved. We’re forgiven of our sins not because of anything we can do but because of the precious blood of Jesus.
But have you ever wondered whether you were really forgiven after you sinned? Have you felt troubled by the fear that the stain of your sin would be with you forever?
To address this problem, we need to see the powerful effectiveness of the blood of Christ in dealing with our sins. For this, we need to know the truth from the Word of God regarding this matter. Then we’ll put our complete faith in the blood of Jesus.
The blood of Christ is truly precious, and the Bible reveals many marvelous aspects of what it does for us. In this post, we’ll focus on just four of these aspects by looking at verses and notes from the Recovery Version. This will fortify our faith in the blood of Jesus and its effectiveness for our whole Christian life.
1. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from every sin
In order for us to experience God’s forgiveness and cleansing when we’ve sinned, we need to confess our sins to God. To confess means we admit what we’ve done and agree with God that it is sin. This is an indispensable requirement.
First John 1:9 says:
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
When our conscience alerts us that we’ve done something wrong, we can simply say something like, “Yes, Lord, I’ve sinned in that way. Forgive me.” And when we confess, the result is that we’re forgiven and cleansed.
What are we cleansed by?
First John 1:7 tells us:
“The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin.”
So when we confess our sins to God, we’re forgiven of our sins and cleansed from them by the blood of Jesus. This is a marvelous fact!
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2. The blood of Christ purifies our conscience
None of us can go through the day without getting our hands dirty. Similarly, none of us can live a single day without committing a sin, whether it’s big or small. Just as we must wash our hands when they’re dirty, we should confess our sins whenever our conscience tells us we’ve offended God.
Hebrews 10:22 says:
“Let us come forward to the Holy of Holies with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”
When we sin, our conscience is weighed down by guilt, which negatively affects our faith. We simply don’t have the assurance that we can come to God; we may think we have no right to.
But this verse tells us we can come forward to the Holy of Holies, that is to God, with the full assurance of faith when our hearts are sprinkled from an evil conscience. What sprinkles our heart from an evil conscience?
Hebrews 9:14 says:
“How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
The Word of God assures us that the pure and sinless blood Christ shed on the cross sprinkles our heart from an evil conscience and even purifies our conscience.
So we confess our sins, and the blood of Christ thoroughly purifies our conscience from any guilt or stain! This wonderful fact should give us the full assurance of faith to come to God.
3. The blood of Christ speaks for us
The blood of Jesus is powerful and effective in cleansing us from our sins when we confess. Did you know the blood of Christ even speaks to God for us? This is the speaking that God hears and takes heed to.
Hebrews 12:24 says:
“And to Jesus, the Mediator of a new covenant; and to the blood of sprinkling, which speaks something better than that of Abel.”
In Genesis 4, Cain killed his brother Abel. God then told Cain, “The voice of your brother's blood is crying out to Me from the ground.” Hebrews 12:24 tells us that today the blood of Jesus speaks something better than Abel’s blood.
What does the blood of Christ speak to God? Let’s read the first part of note 3 on this verse in the Recovery Version:
“The blood of Christ not only redeems, sanctifies, and purifies; it also speaks. It is the speaking blood, speaking something better than the blood of Abel. Abel’s blood speaks to God for accusation and vengeance (Gen. 4:10-15), whereas Christ's blood speaks to God for forgiveness, justification, reconciliation, and redemption.”
Nothing we speak can ever justify us before God. But the blood of Christ powerfully speaks to God of forgiveness, justification, reconciliation, and redemption for us, taking care of our problems before God.
And that’s not all. The blood of Christ speaks even more. Let’s read the second part of the note:
“Moreover, this precious blood speaks to God on our behalf, saying that by the blood (as unveiled in this book [Hebrews]) the new covenant, which is eternal, has been enacted, and that in this new covenant God must give Himself and all His blessings to the believers in Christ who receive this covenant out of faith.”
A covenant is something binding. The Lord’s blood speaks to God that He must give Himself and all His blessings to us, not because we’re worthy, but because Jesus enacted the new covenant by the shedding of His blood.
Just before Jesus went to the cross to die, He told the disciples in Matthew 26:28, “For this is My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”
Note 2 on covenant in this verse explains:
“Some MSS insert, new. The Lord’s blood, having satisfied God’s righteousness, enacted the new covenant. In this new covenant God gives us forgiveness, life, salvation, and all spiritual, heavenly, and divine blessings. When this new covenant is given to us, it is a cup (Luke 22:20), a portion for us. The Lord shed His blood, God established the covenant, and we enjoy the cup, in which God and all that is of Him are our portion. The blood is the price that Christ paid for us, the covenant is the title deed that God made for us, and the cup is the portion that we receive from God.”
Today the blood of Christ also speaks that the new covenant has been enacted. God’s righteousness has been completely satisfied by the blood of Jesus, and we’re the beneficiaries. Because of this, we can enjoy God and forgiveness, life, salvation, love, peace, grace, and all other spiritual blessings in the new covenant.
The wonderful blood of Christ does so much for us! Surely we can and should rest on this fact seen in the Bible.
4. The blood of Jesus Christ releases us
Perhaps after we’ve confessed our sins, we still feel as if we’re bound and subdued. We don’t feel free from them.
Instead of relying on how we feel, we should believe and stand upon this clear word in Revelation 1:5:
“And from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has released us from our sins by His blood.”
We are released from our sins by the Lord’s blood that He shed for us on the cross. Jesus paid the full penalty for all of our sins by dying for us. When we confess our sins, we must realize that we’re no longer held by them, because the blood of Jesus frees us.
The blood of Jesus is a releasing blood! We can declare this great fact found in the Word of God:
“Lord Jesus, thank You for releasing me from my sins by Your blood! Because of Your blood, they no longer hold me!”
Believing and standing on the Word of God
When we confess our sins, we should believe in the Word of God and put our trust in it, not in our unreliable thoughts or feelings. Since the blood Christ shed for us is enough for God, it should be enough for us.
God wants us to come to Him all the time to enjoy Him as our life and everything, and the blood of Christ is our way to do that. His Word is unchanging and trustworthy and tells us the blood of Christ cleanses us, purifies our conscience, speaks for us, and releases us. We can have absolute confidence in it.
Instead of being filled with fear and doubt, let’s stand upon God’s Word and declare the facts in it. This will fill us with faith and thanks to the Lord!
In this post, we only briefly discussed four wonderful aspects of what the blood of Jesus Christ does on our behalf. We hope these verses and notes have helped you. If you live in the United States, we encourage you to order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here to read all the notes and cross-references on this crucial subject.
To learn more about the precious blood of Jesus, you can also read 3 Problems Only the Blood of Jesus Can Solve.
You tried to avoid it, but somehow you’ve picked up that cold that's going around. Sniffling, headachy, and congested, you feel awful. So you drag yourself to the store to get one of those multi-symptom cold relief medications, take the first dose, and start to feel a little better.
Nobody likes being sick. But have you ever felt as if you have a spiritual “cold”? You want to express Christ to people, but you find you’re not able to. Maybe you try hard to be patient with someone, but in the end, you’re so exasperated you say something unkind and immediately regret it afterward.
Experiences like these make you realize you’re “ailing” from a shortage of patience and kindness, so you ask the Lord to give you more patience or help you be kind.
But this doesn’t seem to help. The more we ask the Lord to give us patience or to help us be better, the worse we become. But there’s good news: we have a multi-symptom spiritual “medicine” for everything that ails us in our Christian life.
In this post, we’ll discover this effective spiritual medicine God has given us by reading some excerpts from the book The Economy of God by Witness Lee. This book opens up God’s Word in a way that provides tremendous help for setting the direction of our entire Christian life.
The economy of God
Let’s first address the meaning of economy in the book’s title. In Greek, the original language of the New Testament, the word oikonomia is translated into English as economy. This Greek word appears in a few places in the New Testament, such as Ephesians 1:10:
“Unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him.”
Witness Lee also authored the study notes in the New Testament Recovery Version. In note 1 on this verse, he explains the meaning of economy:
“Or, plan. The Greek word, oikonomia, means house law, household management or administration, and derivatively, administrative dispensation, plan, economy (see note 43 in 1 Tim. 1). The economy that God, according to His desire, planned and purposed in Himself is to head up all things in Christ at the fullness of the times. This is accomplished through the dispensing of the abundant life supply of the Triune God as the life factor into all the members of the church that they may rise up from the death situation and be attached to the Body.”
God’s economy, or God’s plan, is to dispense the abundant life supply of the Triune God into human beings.
In the book The Economy of God, Lee lays out in detail God’s economy, which issues in God obtaining an expression of Himself in the universe through His chosen people.
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Our all-inclusive spiritual dose
Chapter 2 of this book, titled “The All-sufficient Spirit,” unveils the riches in the Spirit. Lee writes on page 17 that the Spirit, which we received when we were born again, “is in us as the very transmission of God, transmitting constantly all that God is and has in Christ.”
Lee then continues on page 18:
“Have we ever realized that the Holy Spirit is the best ‘dose’ in the whole world? Just one dose is enough to meet all our needs. All that the Father and the Son are and all that They have are in this wonderful Spirit. Consider how many elements are within this dose: God’s divine nature with Christ’s human nature, His human living with its earthly sufferings, the wonderful effectiveness of His death, His resurrection, His ascension, and His enthronement. Oh, we cannot imagine what kind of dose this is! Yet, praise the Lord, every day we may enjoy it.”
Just one pill of that multi-symptom cold medicine works because it contains a variety of ingredients that target different problems. It’s all-inclusive. It’s a good illustration of the Spirit as an all-inclusive dose that meets all our needs. In the all-sufficient Spirit are many rich aspects of the Father and the Son that we can enjoy daily.
The solution to our problems isn’t to ask God to give us more patience or kindness, but simply to take the dose. When we realize our lack, we simply need to take the all-inclusive dose of the Spirit. According to God’s economy, God wants us to receive and enjoy the abundant life supply that’s in Him.
Learning more teachings doesn’t help
Lee contrasts enjoying the effective dose of the Spirit with merely learning doctrines and knowing teachings about how we should live as Christians. He shares his experience of being taught according to Romans 6 that we have been crucified with Christ and must reckon ourselves dead. On page 18, Lee writes:
“The more I did so [reckon myself dead], the more I became alive. It did not work, because it was the wrong formula. One day, after many years, the Lord opened my eyes to see that the reality of His death is not in my reckoning, but in my enjoyment of the Holy Spirit. This is revealed in Romans 8. Romans 6 gives only the definition, but Romans 8 gives the reality of the death of Christ, because the effectiveness of Christ’s death is in the Holy Spirit. The more we fellowship with Christ in the Holy Spirit, the more we will be slain.”
The point Lee makes here is that the actual application in our experience of Romans 6 is found in Romans 8, a chapter full of the experience and enjoyment of the indwelling Spirit.
Then on page 19, Lee gives more details of his experience:
“Formerly when I hated a brother, I was told that the ‘hating I’ was crucified, and instead of hating him I should love him. So I tried to reckon myself dead, but it did not work. The more I reckoned myself dead, the more I hated him. Then one day, while fellowshiping with the Lord, I was filled with His Holy Spirit. How the tears flowed! I knew the killing power was within me, killing my hatred and my pride. Automatically, love mingled with tears welled up from my heart for this brother. What was this? This was the killing element in the wonderful dose, the effectiveness of Christ’s death in the Spirit.”
Many of us have found that trying to mentally apply a teaching we’ve learned—such as we’re crucified with Christ, we shouldn’t hate anyone, and we should love our Christian brothers—doesn’t work. But we’ve also experienced that when we take the dose of the Spirit by contacting the Spirit, the “ingredient” of Christ’s death that’s in the Spirit spontaneously operates in us; our hate is killed, and His love fills us.
The contents of the dose
Let’s find out more about the contents of the dose of the all-inclusive Spirit. First, let’s look at Philippians 1:19:
“For I know that for me this will turn out to salvation through your petition and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.”
Now let’s read this paragraph on page 19 in The Economy of God:
“Within this Spirit of Jesus, there is an all-sufficient supply. The word ‘supply’ in Philippians 1:19 is a special Greek word meaning ‘the bountiful or all-inclusive supply.’ The Spirit of Jesus is an all-inclusive supply in which all our needs are met. What do we need? Do we need comfort? No one can truly comfort us—not even our children, our parents, or our dear wives. Real comfort comes from the indwelling Spirit of Jesus. When we fellowship with Jesus in this Spirit and when we live in this wonderful Spirit, we automatically have inward comfort. Regardless of the outward environment, there is inward rest and comfort.”
We can replace comfort in this paragraph with whatever we need at any time: patience, kindness, love, longsuffering, peace, even self-control. All are now available to us in the Spirit.
We need to remember that God’s economy, God’s plan, is to dispense Himself as the abundant life supply into our being. So God doesn’t give us a thing such as love or patience, nor does He merely want to help us be loving. Instead, we need to realize He’s the Spirit in us, and in Him is everything we need in any situation. What God wants is for us to simply enjoy the Spirit. When we do, we enjoy Him as the all-inclusive dose that meets our every need.
How we can take this dose
Unlike the cold medicine, if we want to enjoy this wonderful Spirit, we don’t need to go anywhere to get it. We already have this dose! The Spirit isn’t far away from us. In fact, no one can be nearer to us than He is because He’s in us.
Before we were saved, the Lord was outside of us and separate from us. But when we were saved, that changed. The moment we repented and believed in Jesus as our Savior, we were born again, and the Spirit came to live in our spirit, the deepest part of our being.
And 1 Corinthians 6:17 declares:
“He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.”
God’s Word tells us that the Lord is not only in us, but that we are actually one spirit with Him! He dispensed Himself into our spirit to live in us and to be one spirit with us. So to enjoy Him as the all-sufficient Spirit, we simply need to contact Him in our spirit. Instead of remaining in our thoughts or feelings, we need to learn to contact the Spirit in our spirit.
Focusing on God’s economy
Now, let’s read this paragraph from the book on page 20:
“Too many doctrines in Christianity are distracting the Lord’s people from the Lord Himself, causing them to miss the mark of God’s economy. What is this mark? It is simply the all-inclusive Holy Spirit dwelling in our human spirit.”
Doctrines or teachings can actually distract us from and make us miss the target, the mark, of God’s economy. Instead, we must focus on the wonderful, all-inclusive Spirit dwelling in our spirit.
The paragraph continues:
“During the whole day, we need to learn how to contact and follow the Holy Spirit. We need to learn how to fellowship and deal with Him. Christianity teaches us to deal with forms, regulations, and doctrines. Even the Scriptures are read in a wrong way, since little or no contact is made with the Holy Spirit in the reading. We merely learn doctrines in black and white letters. We need to read the Scriptures by exercising our spirit to contact the Holy Spirit, not by using our eyes to see the words and exercising our minds merely to understand its teachings. From morning to evening we must deal with the One dwelling in us, for He is the bountiful supply of the Lord Jesus.”
This paragraph mentions several things that help us focus on and enjoy the all-sufficient Spirit:
Contact Him: we can contact Him by praying, not just during time we set aside for prayer but constantly throughout the day. We can do this by praying short prayers, calling on His name, and even singing to Him.
Follow Him: when the Lord speaks to us within, we should go along with Him and obey Him.
Fellowship and deal with the Spirit: we can fellowship with Him by talking to Him about anything in prayer.
Read the Scriptures by exercising our spirit to contact the Holy Spirit, praying with the Word of God.
As the Spirit in our spirit, Christ Himself is everything that’s required for us to live our Christian life. Our unique need is to contact and enjoy the Spirit daily, and even constantly.
We encourage you to read chapter 2 of The Economy of God in its entirety and learn more about the tremendous matter of God’s economy. You can download the book for free here from anywhere in the world.
If you live in the US, you can also order a free New Testament Recovery Version and read the note mentioned in this post with all its references on the economy of God.
Nowadays, it’s not unusual to hear someone described as being a “spiritual person.” But if you ask people what they mean, you’ll probably hear different things.
For instance, some would say a spiritual person acknowledges the existence of a higher power in the universe, which may or may not be defined as God. Others say spiritual people are those who cultivate their inner feelings and thoughts to love themselves, other people, and the planet. Some might say someone who is spiritual rejects materialistic values and engages in humanitarian works.
Many find it hard to define what they mean or what their view is based on.
But as those who believe in Jesus Christ, our definition should come from what God says in His Word. If we know the biblical meaning of what it is to be spiritual, we won’t spend time pursuing something that’s not according to God.
In this post, we’ll look at verses and read some notes from the New Testament Recovery Version to help us understand what being spiritual means according to God’s Word.
What is the spirit?
The word spiritual is the adjective form of spirit. That tells us that being spiritual must be related to the spirit.
So what is the spirit?
The Bible reveals God created human beings in a very particular way with three parts: a spirit, a soul, and a body.
We contact the material realm with our body, and we perceive things of the psychological realm with our soul, which is composed of our mind, emotion, and will. And most crucially, we can contact, receive, and even contain God with the deepest part of our being, our spirit. This is why God created us in such a wonderfully complete and detailed way. He wants us to receive Him as our life so that we would express God with our whole being, fulfilling His eternal plan.
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The result of the fall of mankind
But after God created the first man, who represented all humanity, God’s plan for man was interrupted by Satan, God’s enemy. Satan tempted man to disobey God, causing man to fall away from God. Instead of receiving God, man took in Satan’s evil nature of sin.
Consequently, man’s entire being was affected: man’s spirit was deadened, man’s soul was contaminated, and man’s pure body was changed into the flesh full of lusts. God loves man, but He cannot tolerate sin because He is righteous and holy. So sinful man was condemned to die and was separated from God.
This is why we need to be redeemed and fully saved.
What happens when we're saved
Before we were saved, our spirit was deadened and empty. So it was impossible for us to be a spiritual person, no matter what we thought that meant or how hard we may have tried to achieve it.
But when we heard the gospel, we repented and received the Lord Jesus as our Savior. At that moment, we were not only saved from God’s judgment; we were also born again of the Spirit of God in our spirit! God came to live in our spirit to be our life and everything to us.
Now God wants us to live and do everything by His life in our spirit.
Before we were saved, we lived either by our natural, fallen soul—our own thoughts, emotions, or intentions—or by our fallen flesh, which is full of all kinds of sinful lusts and corruption. But after we’re saved, we need to live by our spirit.
God’s intention for us can’t be fulfilled when we live according to our soul or our flesh. He redeemed us and came into our spirit so we would live by our spirit. This is what it means to be spiritual.
A soulish man or a spiritual man
In 1 Corinthians chapter 2, the apostle Paul speaks of both a soulish man and a spiritual man. Verse 14 says:
“But a soulish man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he is not able to know them because they are discerned spiritually.”
Paul wrote these words to the believers in Corinth. This shows us that even though we’re saved and born again, we may be a soulish man, not a spiritual man. And a soulish man is unable to receive the things of God because they’re discerned spiritually.
Note 6 explains what spiritually means:
“Spiritually here refers to the spirit of man that is moved by the Spirit of God to fully exercise its function and thereby replace the human soul’s rule and control over man. It is only by such a spirit that man can discern the things of the Spirit of God. A man who is ruled and controlled by his spirit is a spiritual man, as mentioned in the next verse. Since God is Spirit, all the things of the Spirit of God are spiritual. Therefore, to discern, to know the things of the Spirit of God, man must use the human spirit (John 4:24).”
A soulish man is ruled and controlled by the soul. But a spiritual man allows his spirit to rule over his entire being.
Paul goes on in verse 15:
“But the spiritual man discerns all things.”
The first part of note 1 of this verse in the New Testament Recovery Version explains what a spiritual man is:
“A spiritual man is one who denies his soul and does not live by his soul but allows his spirit, that is, his regenerated spirit, which is occupied and energized by the Spirit of God, to dominate his entire being. Furthermore, he lives by such a spirit, moving and acting according to it (Rom. 8:4).”
So to be spiritual, we must allow our regenerated spirit to dominate our whole being. This means we live and act by our spirit in all aspects of our daily life. What we say and do is under the rule and control of our spirit, which is occupied and energized by the Spirit of God.
Exercising our spirit by praying short prayers
To live by our spirit, we must learn to exercise our spirit. The more we exercise any part of our being, the stronger it becomes. For instance, the more we exercise our legs, the stronger they become. We need to exercise our regenerated spirit so our spirit is strengthened and can govern our entire being.
How can we exercise our spirit? The best way to exercise our legs is by running or walking. In the same way, the best way to exercise our spirit is by praying. When we exercise our spirit by praying, we contact the Lord and enjoy Him as our life.
Prayer isn’t a formal activity restricted to certain places and times. We can exercise our spirit by praying simple, short prayers anytime, anywhere.
We can begin the day by praying something like this:
“Lord Jesus, thank You for being in my spirit. Thank You for being my life. Remind me today to live according to my spirit.”
Then throughout our day, we can utter short prayers to the Lord to stay in touch with Him in our spirit.
While we’re working, we can pray, “Lord, I want to do this in my spirit with You.” As we talk to someone, we can inwardly pray, “Lord Jesus, I want to talk to this person according to my spirit.”
We can exercise our spirit to stay with the Lord by simply calling on His name. Calling, “Oh, Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus,” is an easy way to exercise our spirit.
As we exercise our spirit every day, we’ll experience living and doing things according to our spirit more and more.
Why we need to be spiritual
Note 2 on 1 Corinthians 3:1 is encouraging yet sobering. It sheds more light on what kind of man we may be and why it’s important for us to be spiritual. Let’s look at the second paragraph:
“This book [1 Corinthians] reveals clearly that a believer may be one of three kinds of men: (1) a spiritual man, living in his spirit under the anointing of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:4; Gal. 5:25); (2) a soulish man, living in his soul under the direction of the soul, the natural life (2:14); or (3) a fleshy and fleshly man, being of the flesh and living in the flesh under the influence of the nature of the flesh.”
Surely in our life with the Lord we all would desire to be a spiritual man, not a soulish or fleshly man. But we shouldn’t think being a spiritual man is only for some special believers. The note continues:
“The Lord desires that all His believers take His grace to be the first kind of man—a spiritual man. This was the goal of this book: to motivate the Corinthian believers who were soulish, fleshy, and fleshly to aspire to the growth in life that they might become spiritual (2:15; 3:1; 14:37).”
The note concludes by highlighting the importance of living in our spirit:
“As we have been called by God into the fellowship of Christ (1:9), who is now the life-giving Spirit (15:45), and as we are one spirit with Him (6:17), we can experience and enjoy Him only when we live in our spirit under the leading of the Holy Spirit. When we live in the soul or in the flesh, we cannot participate in Him or enjoy Him.”
Every one of us can cooperate with the Lord by receiving His grace to be a spiritual man. Being spiritual is a necessity if we want to know and enjoy the Lord as our life and allow Him to grow in us. As He grows in us, little by little we will express Him in our daily life, and not ourselves. This is what the Lord wants, and this is what will fulfill His plan for us.
We hope you’ll take the time to absorb this enlightening note, together with the verses it cites, and even pray about it. May we all take grace to be a spiritual man as the Lord desires. To learn more, we encourage you to read the verses mentioned in this post with their corresponding notes in the New Testament Recovery Version. If you live in the US, you can order a free copy here.
In the Bible, we find many examples of God’s people raising their voices to Him in song. For example, Psalms 104:33 says:
“I will sing to Jehovah while I live; I will sing psalms to my God while I yet have being.”
The practice of singing to God has continued throughout the centuries. Today, when we gather with other believers, singing is often part of our worship of God.
But singing to the Lord isn’t just something we do when we’re with others on a certain day or in a certain place. Actually, we can sing hymns every day of our Christian lives, anytime, anywhere.
In this post, we’ll look at some of the marvelous benefits of singing to the Lord so we can be encouraged to build up this practice in our daily life.
Singing warms our heart
Sometimes when we wake up in the morning, we may feel flat, and without much feeling toward the Lord. All kinds of thoughts and anxieties may immediately flood our mind, bringing us down before the day even starts.
But opening our mouth in song warms our heart and helps us focus our thoughts on Him.
For example, no matter how we feel, we can begin our day with a hymn such as Just As I Am. We’re immediately encouraged by the words of the first stanza:
Just as I am, without one plea, But that Thy blood was shed for me, And that Thou bid’st me come to Thee, Oh Lamb of God, I come! I come!
The words of this hymn touch our hearts. As we sing, we freshly appreciate our Lord Jesus as the precious Lamb of God who sacrificed Himself to take away our sin. We sense the Lord’s desire for us to come to Him, and we come, just as we are.
With our affection and appreciation of the Lord stirred afresh, the time we spend with Him in the morning isn’t a dry duty; it’s a delight. We enjoy His presence and are refreshed and supplied to face the day.
The songs we sing to the Lord in the morning often stay with us throughout the rest of our day. Even recalling just a single line can uplift us and turn us to Him again and again.
Singing allows the word of Christ to dwell in us richly
In Colossians 3:16, the apostle Paul links singing with the word of Christ dwelling in us:
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God.”
In the New Testament Recovery Version, the first paragraph of note 1 on this verse explains what the word of Christ is:
“The word spoken by Christ. In His New Testament economy God speaks in the Son, and the Son speaks not only by Himself in the Gospels but also through His members, the apostles and prophets, in Acts, in the Epistles, and in Revelation. All these speakings can be considered His word.”
The word of Christ consists of the entire New Testament. So what does it mean to let this word dwell in us richly?
Note 2 tells us the literal meaning of dwell:
“Lit., to be in a house, to indwell, to inhabit. The word of the Lord must have adequate room within us that it may operate and minister the riches of Christ into our inner being.”
When we let the word of Christ inhabit us, it operates in us and ministers the riches of Christ to us. We all certainly want that, so now let’s see how this happens.
Note 5 explains:
“Teaching and admonishing and singing modify the verb dwell. This indicates that the way to let the Lord’s word dwell in us richly is by teaching, admonishing, and singing.”
We believers today have inherited a rich treasury of songs, hymns, and spiritual songs written by other Christians throughout the years. Many of them are full of both the understanding and the experience of precious truths in the Word of God. Singing such hymns is an enjoyable way to let the word of Christ dwell in us. Not only so, we can also use them to teach and admonish one another.
For instance, singing a hymn such as Blessed Assurance can fortify our faith and reassure us about the eternal security of our salvation. The last two lines of the first stanza remind us of the wonderful things that happened when we were regenerated:
Heir of salvation, purchase of God, Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
These words deeply resonate with us because they’re truths that are in the Word of God. Let’s look at some of the phrases in this hymn:
Heir of salvation is from Hebrews 1:14, which refers to us believers as “those who are to inherit salvation.”Purchase of God is based on Revelation 5:9, which says, “You [Christ, the Lamb of God] were slain and have purchased for God by Your blood men out of every tribe and tongue and nation.”Born of His Spirit is the word of the Lord Jesus in John 3:6: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”Washed in His blood is based on 1 John 1:7, which says, “The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin.”
Just by singing these few lines, any doubts are banished. And learning a hymn like this can help the word of Christ dwell in us and save us from being occupied by so many other things.
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Singing hymns comforts and encourages us
All of us face suffering and difficulties over the course of our lives. During such times, we might feel helpless and even crushed under the weight of the burdens we’re bearing.
We thank the Lord that many believers have written hymns based on their experiences that lift us up when we’re in the midst of trials.
Sometimes we may not have the words to pray, but singing a hymn such as this one can encourage us greatly. The first verse and chorus remind us that no matter what we’re going through, we can turn to the Lord and experience the comfort of His presence:
O soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see? There’s light for a look at the Savior, And life more abundant and free.Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in his wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.
Singing helps us praise and worship the Lord
Sometimes when we’re spending time with the Lord, feelings of thankfulness and a desire to praise Him well up in us. As we consider all He’s done for us and all He is to us, we may find our words inadequate to convey the depth of our feelings.
But certain hymns can help put our feelings into words and be the perfect outlet for us to praise and thank Him. And we don’t have to wait for a special time or place to do that. We can sing to worship and praise the Lord wherever we are—in our car, on a walk, anywhere.
For instance, we might sing some lines of Charles Wesley’s hymn, Christ the Lord Is Ris'n Indeed:
Christ the Lord is ris’n indeed, Hallelujah! He has met His people’s need, Hallelujah! Raise your joys and triumphs high, Hallelujah! Sing, ye heav’ns and earth, reply, Hallelujah!
The website hymnal.net is a repository of thousands of songs with their lyrics and music that we can learn and enjoy. And this site has an entire category called Praise of the Lord filled with hymns of praise to our dear Lord Jesus. Even learning and singing just a few short choruses to the Lord can enrich our praise to Him.
Singing helps us enter into the deep experiences of other believers
Over the centuries, many loving seekers of the Lord Jesus have known and experienced Him in a deep, intimate way. Some wrote hymns expressing their appreciation of the Lord and their personal experiences of Him.
By even simply reading the words of their hymns, we can enter into their experiences and be helped to develop a personal, affectionate, and intimate relationship with the Lord.
For example, a hymn by A.B. Simpson, author of over a hundred hymns, wrote about his experience of abiding in the Lord in this hymn:
I have learned the wondrous secret Of abiding in the Lord; I have tasted life’s pure fountain, I am drinking of His word; I have found the strength and sweetness Of abiding ’neath the blood; I have lost myself in Jesus, I am sinking into God.
Singing a hymn like this inspires us in our own walk with the Lord to pursue knowing Him this way. Even though they were written by someone else, the lyrics become deeply personal to us.
How singing is related to our spirit
In Ephesians 5:18-19, Paul instructs the believers:
“Do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissoluteness, but be filled in spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming with your heart to the Lord.”
Paul contrasts being drunk with wine with being filled in spirit. In the New Testament Recovery Version, note 1 on the word drunk in verse 18 explains:
“To be drunk with wine is to be filled in the body, whereas to be filled in the spirit (our regenerated spirit, not God’s Spirit) is to be filled with Christ (1:23) unto the fullness of God (3:19). To be drunk with wine in our physical body causes us to become dissolute, but to be filled in our spirit with Christ, with the fullness of God, causes us to overflow with Christ in speaking, singing, psalming, and giving thanks to God (vv. 19-20) and also causes us to subject ourselves to one another (v. 21).”
Surely we’d all like to be filled in our regenerated spirit with Christ. But how can this happen? Note 1 on verse 19 tells us:
“Verses 19-21 modify be filled in spirit in v. 18. Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs are not only for singing and psalming but also for speaking to one another. Such speaking, singing, psalming, giving of thanks to God (v. 20), and subjecting of ourselves to one another (v. 21) are not only the outflow of being filled in spirit but also the way to be filled in spirit.”
So singing is both the result of being filled in our spirit and one of the ways to be filled. The more we sing with our hearts to the Lord, the more we’re filled in our spirit with Christ. And the more we’re filled, the more we overflow with Christ in singing. This is a wonderful cycle!
Make a joyful noise to the Lord
It’s reassuring to know that the Bible doesn’t say, “Sing with a beautiful voice,” or “Be sure to sing on key.” In fact, Psalm 98:4 says:
“Make a joyful noise to Jehovah, all the earth; break forth, and sing for joy, and sing psalms.”
Singing to the Lord isn’t a formal, ceremonial thing that must be done in a certain way. The Lord simply wants us to sing for joy and even make a joyful noise to Him.
So if we don’t have a good singing voice or we’re even tone-deaf, we can still sing! And our singing will be a joyful noise to the Lord. No one is disqualified from gaining all the benefits of singing to the Lord. He just wants us to open our mouths to sing with our hearts to Him. No matter how we may sound, when we sing the Lord is happy, and we’re filled with joy.
We hope you enjoyed the hymns we linked to in this post. We encourage you to go to hymnal.net to learn and enjoy more hymns that you can sing to the Lord. We also encourage you to read all the enlightening notes on the verses we mentioned. If you live in the US, you can order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here.
Many people are familiar with the precious words of Psalms 23 in the Old Testament about the Lord as our Shepherd. But did you know that the New Testament also shows us how Jesus is our Shepherd today?
Today we’ll read some verses and notes from the New Testament Recovery Version that reveal different aspects of what Jesus as our Shepherd did in the past to care for us and how He continues to shepherd us today.
1. Luke 15—the Shepherd sought sinners in the world
Luke 15 tells us that tax collectors and sinners were coming to Jesus. Seeing this, some self-righteous Pharisees and scribes criticized Him. In verse 2, they murmured among themselves, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
Jesus responded to them with three parables that reveal God’s heart toward sinners. We’ll focus on the first parable in verses 3-7:
“And He told them this parable, saying, Which man of you, who has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he finds it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes into his house, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost. I tell you that in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner repenting than over ninety-nine righteous persons who have no need of repentance.”
The parable Jesus told wasn’t about a judge going out to hunt for wrongdoers to punish them. Instead, He spoke of a shepherd who went after his lost sheep to bring it home. This shows us that Jesus is our Shepherd who sought us lost sinners and brought us back to Himself.
How did the divine, eternal Son of God go after us to find us? And where were we? As His parable illustrates, we were lost in the wilderness, a barren and forsaken place.
Note 1 on Luke 15:4 in the Recovery Version explains what that wilderness represents:
“Signifying the world. This indicates that the Son has come to the world to be with men (John 1:14).”
To go after us, Jesus had to come into this desolate world by becoming a man of flesh and blood. What a tremendous step our Shepherd took to bring us home!
This parable in Luke 15 shows us God’s love for us. We were sinners, lost in the wilderness of this world, far away from God and unable to come back to Him. But the Son of God became a man in order to go after us, find us, and bring us back to God.
Yes, Jesus welcomes and eats with sinners. And He rejoices to have us, who were once lost, back home with Him!
2. John 10—the good Shepherd laid His life down for the sheep
In John 10:11, Jesus said:
“I am the good Shepherd; the good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”
First, our Shepherd, Jesus, became a man to find us lost sinners in the wilderness of the world. What’s more, He laid down His life for us by dying on the cross. This is how He brings us back to Himself.
Note 1 on life in the Recovery Version shows us the result of Jesus laying down His life for us:
“Gk. psuche, soul; i.e., soul-life, and so in the succeeding verses. As a man, the Lord has the psuche life, the human life, and as God, He has the zoe life, the divine life. He laid down His soul, His psuche life, His human life, to accomplish redemption for His sheep (vv. 15, 17-18) that they may share His zoe life, His divine life (v. 10b), the eternal life (v. 28), by which they can be formed into one flock under Himself as the one Shepherd. As the good Shepherd, He feeds His sheep with the divine life in this way and for this purpose.”
The good Shepherd laid down His life for us in order to redeem us. Without this redemption, we could never come back to God. But because He died for us, we not only can be redeemed but even receive zoe, the divine life of God.
Not only so, all the sheep who are redeemed and share the Lord’s life are formed into His one flock.
In John 10:16, Jesus said, “There shall be one flock, one Shepherd.”
Note 2 on one flock in this verse explains:
“The one flock signifies the one church, the one Body of Christ (Eph. 2:14-16; 3:6), brought forth by the Lord’s eternal, divine life, which He imparted into His members through His death (vv. 10-18).”
Jesus certainly loves each of us and knows us personally by name. But He doesn’t want us to be individual and separate sheep. By laying down His life for us, He both redeemed us and imparted His life into us. His life in us makes us His one flock: the church, the Body of Christ. This one flock is the issue of the good Shepherd laying down His life for the sheep.
How wonderful that we’re no longer lost sheep, wandering all alone in the wilderness. We’re now redeemed sheep and part of the one flock under the care of our good Shepherd!
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3. Hebrews 13:20—the great Shepherd was resurrected from the dead
Hebrews 13:20 says:
“Now the God of peace, He who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, in the blood of an eternal covenant.”
We’ve seen how our Shepherd came into the world by becoming a man and laid down His life for us. But of course, that wasn’t the end. Jesus was raised from the dead!
Today the resurrected Jesus is the great Shepherd. But this isn’t just an objective fact; it’s something we can subjectively, personally experience all the time.
We must see what happened in Christ’s resurrection to make this possible, so let’s turn to 1 Corinthians 15, a chapter on resurrection. Paul wrote this profound word in verse 45:
“So also it is written, The first man, Adam, became a living soul; the last Adam [Christ] became a life-giving Spirit.”
This verse tells us that in resurrection, Christ, the last Adam, became a life-giving Spirit.
Let’s read part of note 1 on this verse to see what that means for us:
“First, in incarnation He [Christ] became flesh for redemption (John 1:14, 29); then, in resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit for the imparting of life (John 10:10b)...Now He is a life-giving Spirit in resurrection, with a spiritual body, ready to be received by His believers. When we believe into Him, He enters our spirit, and we are joined to Him as the life-giving Spirit. Hence, we become one spirit with Him (6:17).”
The Son of God came as a man of flesh and blood so He could die for us to redeem us. But He didn’t stop there. He wanted to impart Himself as life into us. As a man in the flesh, Jesus Christ could never enter into or live in us. But in resurrection, He became a life-giving Spirit; when we believed in Him, He as the Spirit came into us to live in our deepest part, our spirit!
Today the resurrected Jesus, the great Shepherd, is living in our spirit as the life-giving Spirit, shepherding us from within.
Let’s go on to see some of the details of how He shepherds us inwardly.
4. First Peter 2:25—the Shepherd cares for our souls
Now let's read 1 Peter 2:25:
“For you were like sheep being led astray, but you have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”
The Lord who lives within us as the life-giving Spirit is the Shepherd of our soul. This verse conveys His tender feeling towards all His sheep.
Note 3 on this verse explains:
“Our soul is our inner being, our real person. Our Lord, as the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls, shepherds us by caring for the welfare of our inner being and by exercising His oversight over the condition of our real person.”
The Lord is certainly concerned for the outward matters of our lives, such as our food, clothing, and housing. But He also knows that our soul, our inward being, needs a great deal of care all the time. This is why He’s the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls.
Especially when we’re in painful or difficult situations, it’s easy for our soul to be in distress. We may sometimes feel as if we’ve been turned upside down; we don’t know what to think or what direction to take. But the Lord calms the turbulent storms in our soul and directs our thoughts, comforts our emotions, and guides our intentions in the right path.
Because the Lord continually oversees our souls, He knows when we’re anxious or in pain. He also knows how to console and encourage us when we’re in the depths of suffering and heartache.
Isaiah 53:3 says that the Lord Jesus “was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” Whatever we’re going through, He’s more than able to sympathize with us and take care of our souls.
So no matter what we’re facing, we can turn to our Shepherd, Jesus, who lives in us. We can pour out our hearts to Him and let Him care for us, guide us, and give us His peace.
5. Revelation 7:17—the Lamb shepherds and guides us
Revelation 7:17 says:
“For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and guide them to springs of waters of life; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Jesus is the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world. Now the Lamb shepherds and guides us to the springs of waters of life. This living water is just the Lord Himself.
We see this in John 7:37, where Jesus cried out, saying:
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.”
The Lord doesn’t want us to be spiritually dry, unsatisfied, or thirsty; He wants us to drink Him as the water of life, which quenches our thirst. A simple way we can drink Him is to call on His dear name. As we call, “Lord Jesus,” we drink of the springs of waters of life. Our inner thirst is quenched, and we’re revived.
In Revelation 7:17, we also have the precious promise that God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. How intimate, comforting, and sweet this is!
When we’re full of sorrows, we can shed our tears before God so He can wipe them away. Then the Lamb guides us to Himself as the springs of waters of life for us to drink deeply. What a Shepherd we have!
We can be comforted knowing that the Lord Jesus today is our dear Shepherd. He showed His great love for us by becoming a man and dying on the cross to redeem us lost ones. And our Great Shepherd in resurrection became the life-giving Spirit who now lives in our spirit. He continually oversees our souls and shepherds our inward being in a detailed, intimate way. And in our sorrows, the Lord tenderly leads us to Himself as the springs of waters of life so our inner thirst can be quenched. How marvelous this is!
Of course, the Lord’s wonderful shepherding of us is not aimless. He wants us to grow in His life and be filled with Himself. So as our Shepherd, He cares for us and arranges the best circumstances for this growth to take place. This is how we will become His expression and fulfill God’s plan for mankind.
We hope reading these verses and notes has increased your appreciation of the Lord as our Shepherd. If you live in the US, we encourage you to order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here so you can read all of the notes accompanying the verses we mentioned.
