Led to God Himself, N. Tindall

The result of following the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee and twenty-five years of meeting with the local church in New York City can be summed up as God simply taking my hand and leading me to Himself. This has been the sole result. The practice of praying over the words of the Bible and using the words of the Bible to pray to the Lord (Ephesians 6:17-18) has been a major truth in the Bible that has been recovered and emphasized by both Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, and has been a major vehicle in leading me to the divine life which is God Himself!

I can relay to you one significant account in my personal morning time with the Lord when I prayed over the words of the Bible and was fully revived! I was feeling somewhat overwhelmed one day regarding some normal, very legitimate human concerns that made me extremely anxious. I reached a pivotal point. I felt that I had every right for God to address these concerns and to mete out the necessary remedy. Of course the Lord is not Santa Claus, giving me what I want when I want it; rather He just wants to give us Himself. Yet still, I wanted to have my concerns addressed by Him in my way and timing, not caring much about Him.

It was with this mindset that I came to the Lord, as I had done many times previously. The difference in this personal morning time with the Lord was that I began to read the Bible first instead of dumping my heavy concerns on Him. I mixed my reading with prayer, using the verses from my consecutive Bible reading. The verse I prayed over was Matthew 4:4 “But He answered and said, It is written, `Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God!' This verse had very little to do with the problem at hand, but because the Word is the living God Himself I was just led to God as life. My concerns just evaporated! My immediate realization was that to pray-read the Word of God is very, very real and the end result is just God, not merely an answered prayer. That morning I got more of God and no answer to my dilemma, but I was greatly revived!

The Lord used the words of this verse to speak to me and to cause me to realize that not only as a Christian, but as a human I need God as my sustenance (Matthew 4:4). I was led directly to God Himself by this wonderful practice of pray-reading God's Word!