Chapter 1: Prayer, Bible reading, and Ministry

Scripture Reading:

Matthew 7:13-14

Romans 2:28-29

Psalm 16:11; 139:24:24

Acts 2:28

Introduction

The main purpose of our fellowship these days on how to enter the veil (the Holy of Holies) is that we can all be graced by the Lord to enter the way of life from within. Although there are many Christians who believed in Jesus and had quickly entered the path of life, yet, there are more Christians who have been believers for year but have not yet entered in. Matthew 7 records that when the Lord Jesus went up a mountain to teach his disciples, He spoke words of life to them, and at the end of which He specifically said, "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." (Matthew 7:13-14). Meaning, these words are not to be words only but they must be put into practice and become our life experience. Thus, the very words of life, now becomes part of our daily living. This is walking in the Pathway of Life.

The pathway of life is actually the pathway of spiritual growth. The Lord Jesus Himself said in John 10:10, "I have come that they may have life and that they may have it abundantly." So every Christian is to hold fast to this precious promise until he has attained to the fullness of life. When we continuously live like this for a lifetime, we do not only live an abundant life, but we can attain spiritually maturity.

In Fact, we all are Christians who pray, read our Bibles, and even participate in various church ministry activities, yet we can still be in a condition that we have not entered or experienced being in the pathway of life. For the pathway of life is known and experienced only in the spirit in man. Hence we call it the "Inner Path". May the Lord use this message to remind our brothers and sisters to "press in" entering the pathway of life, the lnner Path. Those who want to enter the pathway of life, then, must first understand and pay attention to the experience we have inside, that is in the spirit of man. (Romans 2:28-29).

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Part 1- The Inner prayer

"Prayer" is the most basic part of the spiritual life of a normal Christian. At the same time, it is a necessary element to enter the pathway of life. But there is a difference between the inner prayer and the outward prayer. In other words, is your prayer just an outside prayer? Or one that is an inner prayer?

Experience-wise, in addition to getting up every morning to keep vigil and draw closer to the Lord, we also have prayers of thanksgiving before three meals and another evening prayer before going to bed, a total of five times; Some have the grace to attend prayer meetings in church. But it's not how many times we pray but the quality of the prayers we say? Is it just an outward prayer? Or an inner prayer from the heart? Regarding the Inner Prayer, we will briefly mention the following two points as reference.

A. Prayer before God

Although we have a life of prayer, but oftentimes, we do not pray before God. In Matthew 6:5-6, Jesus mentioned prayer and said, "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your inner room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." This shows how often Christian prayer has become habitual, ritualized, external prayer, and not a prayer before God.

1. Go into the inner chamber — a secret life with God

"Go into the inner room" means indoors. The living room is a place to receive friends and guests. But the inner room (bedroom) is not a place that ordinary people or strangers can enter and exit casually. The inner room is a secret place. If you enter someone's house, going in and out without the permission of the owner, or spying on the master's room, it will be too unorthodox and uncultured. So the Lord Jesus said, "When you pray, go into your inner room." Spiritually, it means that there is a secret spiritual life between you and God, because the living room is the place where ordinary friends and guests are received publicly, and the "inner room" is the place where close friends can enter to engage in secret conversations, which means that we should establish intimacy with the Lord and maintain a secret prayer life.

2. Close the Door

— The world, mind, and emotions are shut outside, and we come back in the spirit  

The Lord Jesus further said, "Close the door", because if the door of the inner room (bedroom) is left open, then as soon as one enters the living room, it can immediately give access to the inner room. Therefore, the door of the inner room must be closed to be exclusive from the outside world.

Spiritually, it refers to shutting out the world, our thoughts, and emotions that is not of the Lord. As a matter of experience, when we often kneel down to pray, all kinds of people and things come to our minds at the same time, so that we cannot concentrate on praying. Therefore, a person who enters the pathway of life must practice kneeling down in prayer, returning to the spirit drawing near to the Lord and focuses his thoughts and emotions in front of God. This is also known as the prayer of closing the door.

3. Pray to the Father who sees us in secret— by faith, not by sight or feeling

He went on to say: "Pray to your Father who sees you in secret." "Secretly" indicates a place that people do not know and cannot see, and it is natural to refer to something that is not placed in front of people. Therefore, when a Christian prays he must be face to face with God, which is also called a prayer before God. On the other hand, it also refers to a prayer that came out from faith, not from what you are seeing or feeling.

4. The Father is watching in secret — praying in spirit and truth

Inner prayer and outer prayer are two completely different paradigms, what is external prayer? All prayers that pay attention to religious rituals, and ceremonial practices are called outside prayers. For example, every morning when you get up and pray a few words, a simple thank you before every meal, and then at night before bed with a tired mentality, dozing off while praying, this happens day after day, month after month, year after year, this is called outside prayer.

But the inner prayer is, to come to the Lord and pray with the heart and in truth, that is, with the spirit and the truth. John 4:24 says, "God is spirit. And those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and in Truth." This is praying to the Father who sees in secret. Although no one saw it, the Father is watching. 2 Chronicles 16:9 says, "For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him." This means that when we pray, we must look unto the Lord and wait with sincerity.

Many times God permits His children to face hardship in order to lead them to enter inner prayer.  Usually when Christians are in good health, their prayers are just so-so, and once they are sick and admitted to the hospital, they pray seriously. Some are not concerned about prayer when their businesses are prosperous and when their families are safe and sound, but only become urgent and serious to the Lord when their business encounters setbacks or the family is in trouble. Isn't it? In recent years, there has been widespread kidnappings, unrest and panic in Manila, and believers have become serious about prayer. Thus, one of the reasons God allows us to encounter hardship, persecution, and calamity,  is for Christians to shift from prayer on the outside to prayer on the inside.

B. Pray in the Holy Spirit

Inner prayer on one hand refers to the outpouring of one's heart before God, bowing down before God’s throne of grace, and communicating face-to-face with God; On the other hand, it refers to prayer and supplication in the Holy Spirit. Jude 20 says, "Pray in the Holy Spirit." So how do you pray in the Holy Spirit? When we believe in Jesus and are born again, the Holy Spirit dwells in our spirit, so we return to the spirit when we pray, this is the prayer in the Holy Spirit.

1. Do not pray by thought

Since you are to pray in the Holy Spirit, do not pray out of your thoughts. In other words, the source of prayer is spiritual, not what our thoughts dictate, and any prayer that originates from the mind is not a prayer in the Holy Spirit.

Many Christians pray with thoughts, articles, and beautiful words, in order to be heard, which are all wrong prayers.

2. Pray by inspiration

Praying in the Holy Spirit starts from the spirit, and it is the Holy Spirit that leads our prayers, so it is prayer by inspiration.

A sister testified that when she first came to fellowship among us from another congregation, she saw that brothers and sisters were very good at praying, often gripping and moving. So she did not dare to raise her voice in prayer publicly. Because the group she used to join has the habit of writing down their prayers on paper, as if writing a composition. Therefore, when praying, the words are beautiful and pleasant. Later, when she came to serve and pray among us, she first prepared her prayer at home, she first described God well saying; The Father is Almighty, loving, great, glorified, unique, the greatest God of the universe....Then she came to the meeting prepared like this. Unexpectedly, when she opened her mouth in the service to pray, saying "Lord Jesus...."She had forgotten all the prayers, and she cried miserably in her heart, but she had already opened her mouth to pray, how could she stop?  It was too late to take the paper out and read it, so she had to pray without thinking, it seemed to be a random prayer, in fact, it wasn't a "chaotic" prayer, but a prayer that did not follow the prepared article, she just prayed out according to the inspiration at the time, and after praying, she said, "I sweated profusely, and I didn't know what I have prayed about, and whether the brothers and sisters responded with 'Amen', I didn't know". Thank the Lord! From then on, she moved from outside prayer to inner prayer.  She understood that inner prayers are not words put together by the mind, but are based on the feelings of the Spirit, expressed through the enlightenment received.

3. Pray according to the feelings of the spirit (spiritual sense)

Praying in the Holy Spirit is praying according to the feeling of the spirit. Romans 8:26 says, "The Holy Spirit helps in our weakness." For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for. "But the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." Here is a principle of prayer, that when we don't know how to pray, the Holy Spirit teaches us to pray.

To use a simple analogy, a four- or fiveyear-old child starts to go to kindergarten. Some kindergartens only teach children to sing and play and abide by the rules, some kindergartens with a better standard begin to teach children to write A, B, C, D, These four- or five-year-olds don't know how to write at all, and they don't know what to do? It is the teacher who holds the child's hand to write his first letters and it doesn't matter if the writing is crooked at first, but slowly it will be smooth. In the same way, we do not know how to pray, but the Holy Spirit himself leads us and teaches us how to pray, He naturally and slowly builds up in us a prayerful life. 

It can be seen that the "pathway of life" is a matter of the "spirit" inside us, and to shift from the outside to the inside, is to pray in face-to-face fellowship with God in "spirit" and "truth". We must have a basic understanding and establish this kind of prayer life. Otherwise, one cannot enter the path of life. Since the path of life begins with the regenerated spirit, all spiritual experiences are sensed through the Holy Spirit. So how does a Christian grow spiritually? It is not how long he has been serving or how many church activities he is involved in, but rather, if he enters the inner prayer. Ask yourself how much of the time we spend on our knees in prayer is actually Inner prayer. Because the path of life is not a matter of the explanation of doctrine, but about whether we have changed as a person. At best, knowledge of doctrine is nothing more than giving you some conceptual spiritual knowledge. But if a Christian enters the path of life, his life will keep changing. As a result of constant change, the Christian lives out the image of Christ more and more, and naturally, the Christian characteristics increase with it.

Just as when a child grows up, his appearance and posture are a little like his parents, and slowly as he grows up to about twenty to thirty years old, his behavior becomes more like his parents, and at the age of fifty, sixty or seventy he is almost similar to his parents. May the Lord be gracious to us and bring us all into the path of life, as a hymn says: "From glory to glory He's changing me, changing me, changing me, His likeness and image too perfect in me, the love of God shown to the world. For He's changing, changing me, From earthly things into heavenly, His likeness and image too perfect in me, the love of God shown to the world.”

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Part 2- The Inner Bible Reading

   There are many ways to read the Bible. When Brother Nee trained his colleagues in Guling, he provided 28 Bible-reading methods. I remember when I graduated from college, I got these twenty-eight ways to read the Bible and I loved it very much. Since this book had not yet been published in Taiwan at that time, it was the senior coworkers who provided the information for this book, and at that time we not only copied the book but also put it into practice and studied it.   

However, for most of the believers in the congregation, they have to get ready for work every morning after their morning devotions, students catch up for their classes, women take care of household chores, and they don't have rest until sunset, students still have to do schoolwork, and sisters who are housewives have to supervise their children's homework, and they don't seem to have enough time to read the Bible. But thank the Lord! He gave us a method of reading the Bible, which can be applied to every believer, called the inner Bible reading, which is the reading method that our church practices every Thursday night.

During the Thursday night Bible study meetings, we can very well use references and commentaries, that is, to provide people according to the truth of the Bible, but instead, we are using the inner reading method so that all saints (including new believers or young people) have the opportunity to participate in the fellowship.  

True enough! The twenty-eight ways of Bible reading the Lord provided us through His faithful servants are helpful to us, but it is the inner kind of reading the Bible that is applicable to all believers. So have we entered the inner reading? We can provide two ways to illustrate this

A. Reading that nurtures life

John 6:63 records that Jesus said to His disciples, "The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life."

1. The words in the Bible are spirit and life

Among Jesus' many teachings to his disciples, he specifically declared to them, "The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life." This sentence may feel strange to those who have not been born again, they may wonder how can the Bible written in black letters on white paper becomes spirit and life. If the Lord says that what I say to you is truth, law, or God's will, they may easily understand it. But the Lord Jesus said to his disciples, "The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life." This statement was clearly spoken of the Lord stressing that when we read His Word, we should learn the lifesustaining way of reading.  This means that the Bible that Jesus gave us is for us to receive through the Holy Spirit. In other words, when the Holy Spirit unravels God's Word, we can comprehend, or say that the Holy Spirit has set God's Word in us. When we accept this, our spiritual lives are nourished and mature.

2. Receive the touch of the Bible through the spirit

Matthew 4 records that Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit and tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and nights, and then he became hungry. The tempter came and said to Jesus, If you are the Son of God, you may command these stones to become bread.

But Jesus replied, "It is written that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God." This makes it obvious that our physical life still needs physical food to sustain us, how much more do our spiritual life need to be nourished with the Word of God in order to grow? That’s why we have to practice Inner Bible reading. When reading the Bible, we should use the spirit to receive the touching of the Bible, that is, to read the Bible in spirit, and turn that part that touches us into prayer.

As a rule of thumb, when we read the Bible early in the morning, we must read in order, starting with the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament or the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. If we use an hour, we must first spend some time singing and praying, to draw near to the Lord and calm our hearts, so that we can concentrate our thoughts on reading the Bible. Because we read with our hearts through our minds. On the other hand, we have to pray with humility, asking the Lord to send light in our Spirit to unravel His Word to us, so that word by word, sentence by sentence, and wonderfully, the Holy Spirit will unravel according to our needs.

For example, when you are in pain, the Holy Spirit opens the Scriptures of comfort to you. When you are discouraged, the Holy Spirit opens words of encouragement to you. When faith is shaken, the Holy Spirit opens God's promises to you.......

In short, the Holy Spirit will surely move and touch our spirits with His words, and this is how God speaks to us, and then you have to absorb the words you feel and turn them into prayer.

3. Accepting the words of the Bible by faith as life  

What should you do if you read the Bible in the morning and have no feelings?(Exceptions for spiritual abnormalities).  If you have a desiring heart to pursue the Lord, then you will have to digest it in prayer by faith according to what the Bible says literally. That is, the Lord Jesus said, the words I speak…is spirit…and life, and the words of the Bible are brought to life in prayer. For Jeremiah 15:16 tells us, "When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty." So naturally, we will experience spiritual fullness after the morning devotion and reading the Bible, as we receive the Lord's Word.

B. Reading that cleanses defilements and  wrinkles

Ephesians 5:26: "..to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God's word." Although each person have a different personality, it is the same inside, and there are many defilements, wrinkles, and carnality present. For example, some Christians are accustomed to criticizing and judging people, but do not condemn and judge themselves, from the beginning to the end of the year they only see the faults of others and find fault with others, and how can they be saved from such spiritual difficulties?

Thank the Lord! Ephesians chapter 5 verse 26 shows us the way that the Holy Spirit washes us with the words of Scripture and causes our difficulties to fall.

1. The words of the Bible are inspired by the Holy Spirit

Psalm 119:130. "The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple." This means that when we read the Bible, the Holy Spirit will shine His Word on us so that we may be illuminated in the light. Let our ignorant, blinded hearts be opened, and we may see our own wretchedness, debasement, and corruption....... As the Psalmist says, "In your light we will see Light."

2. Wash in the light of the words of the Bible

Therefore, we must go further, not stopping only in receiving the light from reading the words written in the Bible, but to receive the light and then confess and be washed of sin.

Thank the Lord! We read the Bible at the Fellowship on Thursday nights and often get help and nourishment from there. Brothers and sisters often testify, that while reading the Bible in the morning, and they come across a certain chapter and a certain verse, all of a sudden there is a sentence that would standout and seemed to illumine their hearts, the word would point to their weaknesses or their faulty ways, and they would go to the Lord to confess and repent of their sins, receive washing, and thus change their lives, this is  so-called experiencing the Lord using the Holy Spirit (water) to wash me (the Church) through the Bible (Word) and become holy. Do we often have this experience when reading the Bible? Otherwise, our Bible reading is still outside and have not entered the inner reading.

We must realize that if you do not enter the Inner Bible reading, you will never be able to walk the path of Life, because inner prayer must be accompanied by the inner Bible reading in order to walk the Inner path. Otherwise, we are just Christians who only know the truth, and who only preach the truth. For life to be constantly renewing and changing, it is only by following the path of inner life that Christ can continue to increase in our lives until we become conformed to the image of the Lord and live out His glory.

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Part 3: The Inner Ministry

It is natural for a normal born again Christian, after being baptized, to have a desire to serve the Lord and thus joins the ministry in the church. But there is a distinction between external ministry and inner ministry.

And see Romans 2:28-29, "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God." Two kinds of ministry are pointed out here, one is the ministry outside following laws and rituals and the other is the ministry of the inner relationship between our spirit and the Lord.

A. What is done inwardly

      When the Lord Jesus was on earth, he told the Pharisees, quoting the prophet Isaiah, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is in vain, their teachings are merely human rules." (Matthew 15:8-9  ). This is a sign that many Christians today love the world in their hearts, and could worship and serve the Lord from the outside: "Lord! I thank you, I admire you, I love you!" This kind of prayer, in which the lips are close to God, but the heart is far from Him, appears to be prayerful, but it is not a prayer from the depths of the heart. This kind of ministry is not only displeasing to God, but is also condemned by God. Because what is done inside counts, what is done outside doesn’t count. So the Bible specifically records the contrast between the ministries of the two sisters of Bethany.

On that day, the Lord Jesus entered Bethany's village and came to Bethany's house, where there are three siblings. The eldest sister is Martha, the second sister is Mary, and the younger brother is Lazarus. The Lord Jesus came to their home, and they all received Jesus with joy and served Him. Spiritually it means getting up to serve the Lord. At that time, Martha hurried to prepare this and that, while her sister Mary sat at Jesus' feet and listened. Martha was so busy and came to the Lord Jesus to protest on her sister and said, "Lord, my sister left me to serve alone, don't you care, please command her to help me." Jesus replied, "Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42)

It is true that Martha loved the Lord and was zealous and sincere in making the Lord enjoy, and the Lord Jesus know it, but Jesus did not approve of her, because she was ministering in vain, and she kept using her brain and enthusiasm in preparing things, no wonder she complained because of the stress she's going through in her heart. But Mary sat at Jesus' feet and listened, satisfying Jesus' heart. After hearing Jesus' sermon, Mary understood Jesus' hint that he was going to be crucified, so she quickly bought a bottle of the most expensive perfume with the thirty talents of silver she had always saved. For only those who are intimate with the Lord can know the Lord's mind and produce ministry that comes out of the spirit. This kind of ministry is called Inner ministry.

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to the village of Bethany, where a feast was prepared for Jesus, while Jesus was sitting at the table, Mary took the most precious oil, broke the alabaster jar, and poured the anointing oil on Jesus' head. Some of the disciples were very displeased in their hearts and said, "Why this waste? For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor." Then Jesus said, "Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for Me. For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always. For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial. Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.” It can be seen that the "Inner service " is acceptable to God and commemorated by God. Because the service in it is in one accord with God's heart, it pleases God and satisfies him. Martha's ministry was not entirely wrong, and after being corrected and adjusted by Jesus, she moved from the outside to the inside. So the Bible specifically records: "Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany....There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him, Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus ...." (John 12:1-3).

Thank the Lord! The family in Bethany eventually shifted from outside ministry to the Inner ministry. "Martha serves" showed that she did things according to what Jesus needed. In other words, waiting for Jesus' command, waiting for Jesus' lead. In the past, the ministry of Martha was an external ministry, but now it is brought into the inner ministry; Even Lazarus was among those who sat with Jesus. It shows that his service is an Inner ministry, for he is a testimony of resurrection. The ministries of these three people were all inner ministry, satisfying Jesus. No wonder Jesus went to the temple in Jerusalem during the day before His crucifixion and returned to Bethany in the evening to rest (Matthew 21:17, Mark 11:11). For the ministry of this family is the ministry on the inside. At that time, there must be many women who loved the Lord and many disciples who followed the Lord, but the four Gospels specifically and repeatedly recorded that Jesus often goes to Bethany (Matthew 21:17, 26:6; Mark 11, 11 to 12; 14: 3; Luke 19 29, 24: 50; John 1:28, 11: 1,18, 12:1). Thus, the service inside is what the Lord wants and what the Lord approves.

B. Serve according to the newness of the Spirit

Romans 7:6-7 says, "But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, 'You shall not covet.'"

What is service in the oldness of written code? That is, the ministry that inherited habits, boxed in the words of the Bible, boxed to the typical biblical example, a kind of service that is dead in appearance. So what is a ministry in the new way of the spirit? That is, to serve according to the feelings or sensations of the spirit.

From experience, for example, when we attend the Lord’s Table in the morning, you may be outside, or you may be inside. For the convenience of brothers and sisters attending the meeting, there is a fixed time for the meeting. Thank the Lord! The Holy Spirit leads us to a good praise and worship. But the point is, whether you came to serve from inside or from outside. Some are moved to raise their hands to praise when singing hymns. Some even are moved to tears when singing, some worship and are moved to dance, clap, and raise their voices, but some are just imitating others; Some of you clap and raise your hands only when you are encouraged by the brothers who is leading the hymn. This may be a test to see whether your way of remembering the Lord is an old ritual service. Or is it a spiritually inspired ministry?

Further, there are many different ministries in addition to the regular church meetings, such as intercession for the church in your home, or private visitation and pursuit groups. Before visiting, did you go to the Lord with a few brothers and sisters to empty oneself in prayer, seeking the Lord to show you clearly who to visit before going out? Or just go out with a few companions, walking and talking, without asking the Lord.  

When we walk this path of inner life, not only do we return to the spirit in prayer and Bible reading, but we also have to go back to the spirit in our ministry, to serve the Lord by the prompting and leading of the Holy Spirit. As in the hymn:

"Walking in the comfort of the Holy Ghost,

Walking with the Lord day by day;

Going step by step, in the light of His word, Company and strength all the way.

Walking, yes I'm walking in the Spirit of my Lord!

Living, yes, I'm living now by faith in His word;

So He keeps me still, strong to do His will;

Walking in His comfort day by day“

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