Four Means of Receiving God's Pure Word Milk for Nourishment

 

Four Means of Receiving God's Pure Word Milk for Nourishment

Romans 8:6 "For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace."

Psalm 119 v.148: "My eyes anticipated the night watches, that I might muse upon Your word."

Ephesians 6:17-18 "And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in the spirit."

1 Peter 2:2-5 "As newborn babes, long for the guileless milk of the word in order that by it you may grow unto salvation, if you have tasted that the Lord is good. Coming to Him, a living stone, rejected by men but with God chosen and precious, you yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

 

Means	Reason	Explanation	Purpose	Result	Application	Related Scripture Content
1. Understanding through the rational mind	Pure milk needs to be absorbed through rational understanding	God's word is absorbed through our mental faculties to nourish our inner being	To ensure God's word can be correctly understood and absorbed	Nourishes our inner man	Using our mind to understand and digest God's word	• Deuteronomy 11:18 "Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes."
2. Mind nourishing the spirit	Though word-milk nourishes the soul through the mind, its ultimate goal is to nourish the spirit	Through the operation of the mind, the word-milk ultimately nourishes our spirit	To make us spiritual persons	Makes us suitable for building God's spiritual temple	Allowing God's word to move from the mind into the spirit	• 1 Corinthians 2:15 "But the spiritual man discerns all things, but he himself is discerned by no one."
3. Prayer and meditation	To truly enjoy the word-milk, we need prayer and meditation	a) Meditation is tasting and enjoying through careful consideration b) Includes prayer, speaking to oneself, and praising the Lord c) Like ruminating, repeatedly thinking on God's word	To taste God and His goodness in the word	Deeper reception and enjoyment of God's word	- Receiving God's word through all kinds of prayer<br>- Meditating on God's word<br>- "Ruminating" on God's word	• 1 Peter 2:3 "If you have tasted that the Lord is good." • Psalm 119: - v.15: "I will meditate in Your precepts and regard Your ways." • Leviticus 11:3 "Whatever divides the hoof, thus making split hoofs, and chews the cud, among the beasts, that you may eat."
4. Enjoying Christ as the nourishing milk in the word	Through enjoying Christ as the nourishment in the word	Enjoying Christ as spiritual milk	To reach complete salvation and transformation unto maturity	- Growth in life- Transformation unto maturity and glory - Being built up as the Body of Christ - Becoming a holy priesthood	- Enjoying "milk Christ" - Being transformed by "stone Christ" - Being built up as "body Christ"	• 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 "For even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For also in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit."

 

Notes:

1.      These four means are interrelated and progressive, all aiming toward growth in life for God's building.

2.      Each scripture passage reveals different aspects of receiving God's pure word-milk, together forming a complete process of spiritual pursuit.

 

*Please refer to the 2024 International Thanksgiving Conference  'Living the Christian Life and Church Life under God's Government for God's Economy'  Message Three: Life and Building in Peter's Epistles"