One undeniable fact in studying God's Word is that the kind of person we are determines the kind of Bible we have in our hands... Our study of the Bible...is poor because our very person is wrong; our thoughts have not subjected themselves to God... The most important thing about the Bible is that God's Spirit is released through this book... Therefore, the basic and most crucial requirement of all in reading the Bible is to be able to release one's spirit to touch the spirit of the Bible. We have to strike the spirit of the Bible with our own spirit before we can understand the Bible... If our spirit is not released and we are cut off from the spirit of the authors of the Bible, we will never understand God's Word; the Bible will be a dead book to us.⁴

There are at least two things that we should do when we come to the Bible. First, our thoughts must be identified with the thoughts of the Bible. Second, our spirit must be identified with the spirit of the Bible... As our thoughts enter the Bible's thoughts and our mentality becomes one with the mentality behind God's inspiration, we will understand what the Bible says.⁵

We should have two separate periods of time for reading the Bible. One time should be in the morning, during which we should meditate on the Word, praising and praying as we read. The goal of this period of reading is to receive spiritual food and to strengthen our spirit. The other time of reading the Word can be at any time of day and is for understanding and learning more about God's Word. It is best to have two Bibles, one for each time. The Bible for the first time should have no notes so we can be freshly inspired by the Word and gain new insight, but the second Bible can be annotated with our markings and notes as we study the Bible in a detailed way.⁶

Saints in the past have benefited from having these two kinds of times in the Word. George Müller described his experience of meditating on the Word:

When thus I have been for a while making confession, or intercession, or supplication, or have given thanks, I go on to the next words or verse, turning all, as I go on, into prayer for myself or others, as the word may lead to it, but still continually keeping before me that food for my own soul is the object of my meditation. The result of this is that there is always a good deal of confession, thanksgiving, supplication, or intercessions mingled with my meditation, and that my inner man almost invariably is even sensibly nourished and strengthened...Now what is the food for the inner man? Not prayer, but the word of God; and here again, not the simple reading of the word of God, so that it only passes through our minds, just as water runs through a pipe, but considering what we read, pondering over it, and applying it to our hearts.⁷

The next section, "Studying the Word" discusses the second kind of Bible reading.

We must exercise our mentality to study and understand the Bible, but even in studying the Word, we must realize that the Word and the Spirit are one. To understand only the letter of the Bible is not our goal; rather, every time we read we must endeavor to touch and receive the Spirit in the Word.

Reading with Understanding and Wisdom

Even our ascertaining of the facts in the Bible requires prayerful reading and study. Hence, our spirit should be the dominant part of our being. We do not need to extensively prepare ourselves or make a long production out of reading the Word. Sometimes a short prayer asking the Lord to wash us so that we can come to Him in His Word to receive Him is sufficient to usher us into genuine contact with Him through the Word.

We should read the Bible with understanding and wisdom. Understanding has to do with apprehending the letter of the Bible with our mind. This is a critical prerequisite to receiving revelation from the Word. The amount of speaking and revelation we can receive from the Lord is commensurate to the diligence we employ to comprehend the letter of the Bible. Getting acquainted with the facts in the Bible is like accruing capital for our future experiences of the divine life.

In reading the Bible, we must first use the understanding of our mind to comprehend its text, which was written in human language, and to know its meaning.⁸

The Full Knowledge of the Word of God lists some practical guidelines for understanding the Bible:

• Understanding the Word of God literally
• Going beyond the letter, historical events, and persons and things to explore and to receive the revelation of life
• Taking care of the context
• Expounding God's Word with God's Word
• Learning from the saints of the past
• Pray-reading the Word to eat, drink, and breathe in the spirit and life in the Word⁹

Reading the Bible with wisdom involves apprehending the truth in the Bible with our spirit. This wisdom is not our natural wisdom but the wisdom we obtain through prayer. It is deeper and higher than the understanding in our mind.

...we receive [revelation] by the spirit of wisdom and revelation... The spirit here is the mingled spirit, the divine Spirit mingled with the human spirit...Basically, the way to receive revelation is by the mingled spirit, that is, by the divine Spirit indwelling the human spirit. This mingled spirit is called the spirit of wisdom. This is for our understanding. If we have a revelation, we need the wisdom to interpret and understand it.¹⁰

Being Properly Equipped to Understand the Text

Our reading of the Bible should be comprehensive and thorough; thus, we must be consistent in our reading. We need a schedule.

Every Christian should have a definite plan of studying the Bible. If you can set aside half an hour a day, develop a plan to study the Bible for half an hour a day. If you can afford an hour each day, develop a plan that includes an hour of study. Whatever time you can afford, make a plan that will fit your schedule. The worst way to read is by "inspiration," that is, casual, unplanned reading that begins at whatever page one feels, at times reading voraciously for ten days and at other times not reading anything for ten days. This is the wrong way. We should not adopt this "inspirational" method. Everyone should have a definite plan of reading. In reading the Bible, we need to be restricted and disciplined.¹¹

To understand the text, we also must be able to properly interpret the types, shadows, and figures in the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament. We should learn to use reference tools to define words and explain grammatical structures, and we should have some knowledge of the Bible's original languages, Greek and Hebrew. In each of these matters, the Recovery Version is a most useful version of the Bible.

Getting the Most out of the Recovery Version

The Recovery Version not only is a faithful translation from the original languages but also incorporates a number of useful and comprehensive study tools for our deeper understanding of the Word. As a study Bible, the Recovery Version is a concentration of lexicons, word-studies, and commentaries arranged in a precise and easily navigated format. The outlines, footnotes, and cross-references in this version steer us in the proper direction toward the relevant and crucial points of each section of the Word according to the overarching revelation of God's economy. Maximizing the usefulness of these tools will greatly assist our study and understanding of the Word, helping us to go deeper and deeper into the divine revelation.

Outlines
The outlines give us an overall view of a book and help us understand its placement in the Bible and in the context of God's economy. The outlines section the text around its crucial points; these sections together provide a complete view of the entire book. Reading the text without a sense of its sections is like reading a paragraph without punctuation—the meaning can be easily lost in the details. Seeing the big picture of each book lays the foundation to see the revelation in the entire Bible. Therefore, it is helpful to read the outlines through before reading each book. Then we can refresh ourselves with the sub-points in the outline and their place in the bigger picture of the book each time we read. The progression of thought in the outlines helps focus our attention and aids our retention of the contents of each book.

...in reading the Recovery Version you must learn of the outline. The outline is the first crucial item... You must have a full understanding of [each book's] contents and every crucial point should have been impressed into your understanding... We need to progress from the single items of the truth to knowing the outline of a section or of a chapter. From this we need to see the outline or the bird's-eye view of an entire book. Finally, from the outline of a book we must have a bird's-eye view of the entire sixty-six books of the Bible. When you reach this point, a good foundation will have been laid with all the basic principles to govern, direct, and to rule your interpretation of any word, any verse, any chapter, or any book of the Bible.¹²

Footnotes
The footnotes often elaborate on the intrinsic significance of portions in the Word to bring us into the practical reality of God's economy as revealed to us in the Bible. The notes build us up in the truth and open the Word to us, giving us a way to delve deeper into the Word.

The first purpose of the notes is to present to you the truth, and the second purpose is to minister to you the life supply... The third purpose of the notes is to help us to solve the common and hard problems...in the Bible...If you have a problem you can refer to the notes for help. The fourth purpose of the Recovery Version with the notes is to open up the books of the Bible.¹³

...I picked up the burden to write the expository notes for the Recovery Version to open up each book of the New Testament to the seeking saints... I want to dig further and I am still digging, but I do not believe that I can dig that much. Therefore, I leave this further digging matter to you.¹⁴

Cross-References
The cross-references help us to apply the principle of interpreting the Bible with the Bible. Instead of merely pointing to every occurrence in the Bible that a particular word is used, the cross-references connect different passages that relate the same spiritual truths and divine revelations, further illuminating the marvelous fact that through so many and diverse writers across time and space, the Bible conveys the unique message of God's economy.

In addition to the Recovery Version, Life-Study of the Bible is an invaluable reference to further open the Word to us, drawing out the critical points of revelation according to God's economy, and bringing us into a deeper realization and experience of the Bible.

The principle upon which the Recovery Version and Life-Study of the Bible were composed was to offer believers a way to open up the revelation of truth and experience of life contained in the Bible. A common reason believers give for not actively reading the Bible is that they do understand it. Therefore, the reading of the Bible must be accompanied by the proper "opener" to unlock the meaning in the Bible (Acts 8:31). Once the Word is opened to us, there is a way for us to dig further into it to receive fresh revelation and insight.

Many have a copy of the Bible, but the Bible has been closed and nearly never opened. Now the Lord has given us a key, an opener... I believe that those of you who have read the Life-study messages can testify honestly that these messages with the notes of the Recovery Version have opened up a certain chapter or a certain book of the Bible to you. This is not to replace the Bible, but to bring people into the Bible.¹⁵

The basic truths have been presented to us, and much life nourishment has been put into print, especially with the Life-study Messages. Also, the obstacles have nearly all been removed. We now have a clear way for our study, and every book is open to us. In mining, the hardest thing is to open the mine. Once the mine has been opened and the treasure is exposed, it is easy for someone to dig out the treasures. I have left only this one matter of further digging to you. I believe the Lord will continue this digging work either through you or through some others. After a period of time I believe that many of you will be "good diggers." The intention and goal of our publishing of the Life-study Messages is to open up the mine for you to go in and dig.¹⁶

Whenever you pick up the Bible or the Life-study of any book of the Bible, you must read them in this way. You must pick up the single, crucial points and have an outline of a certain chapter or a certain section. Then you must progress to have an outline of the entire book. After finishing a book you should not go ahead. You must go back to make an outline of this book. Try to do this.¹⁷

It is a glorious fact that God has become accessible and communicable to us as the Spirit embodied in the Word, but this fact remains objective to us if we do not exercise our spirit to contact the Spirit in the Word.

Therefore, in reading the Bible, after we have understood the meaning of the text by our understanding and have apprehended the truth of the text with our wisdom, we should use our spirit by prayer to receive the truths in the Scripture into the deepest part of our being, that is, our spirit. In other words, after we understand the text and receive the truth therein, we still must exercise our spirit to turn what we have understood and realized into prayer that it may be assimilated in our spirit, becoming our life supply and the basis of our spiritual experience.¹⁸

When the Word comes to us and is contacted by us, we receive the Spirit. This means that when the Word reaches us and we touch it, the Word becomes the Spirit in our experience. Thus, the Word first comes to us and then it becomes the Spirit in us. The Word becoming the Spirit in our experience can be illustrated by the lighting of a match. The head of a match is a ball made of phosphorus. When we strike a match in a proper way, the phosphorus bursts into flame. Is the flame different from the phosphorus? No, it is simply the explosion of the phosphorus. In like manner, the Spirit is the "explosion" of the Word.¹⁹

Read further to see how we can exercise our spirit to receive the Spirit in the Word.

Praying and Petitioning

According to the Bible, we need to pray in order to receive the Word of God. By exercising our spirit through prayer, we touch the Spirit in the Bible to receive it through our reading.

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 and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints. (Eph. 6:17-18)

The way to transfer Christ as the Word into the Spirit is to open our heart, open our spirit, and exercise our spirit to pray.²⁰

Speaking and Singing

By speaking and singing the Word, we can be filled in spirit. God is flowing and filling, and by getting into the Bible daily, we can enjoy this flow.

Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And 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. (Eph. 5:17-19)

Teaching and Admonishing

The apostle Paul charged the Colossian believers to let the word of Christ dwell in them richly. The way to let the Lord's word dwell in us richly is by teaching, admonishing, and singing.

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. (Col. 3:16)

Keeping and Obeying

Only by our reading and experiencing the truth can it become a part of us. As we dig into the truth in the Word, we are not only unveiled to see it but also equipped to keep it.

Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him. (John 14:23)

But whoever keeps His word, truly in this one the love of God has been perfected. In this we know that we are in Him. (1 John 2:5)

Mixing the Word with Faith

For indeed we have had the good news announced to us, even as they also; but the word heard did not profit them, not being mixed together with faith in those who heard. (Heb. 4:2)