1 "Man shall not live by bread alone,
But by each word which doth proceed
From God's own mouth"; these we must eat
And let them be our life indeed.
2 Not just a body we were made,
But body, soul, and spirit too;
The inmost part the spirit is
To contact God and Him pursue.
3 Just as we need the earthly food
Our body's need to satisfy,
We need the food for spirit too —
Thyself, Thy Word, its true supply.
4 Thou art the Spirit, and Thy Word
Thy very Self expressed doth make;
Thus, it is Spirit as Thyself,
Which by our spirit we must take.
5 Thus, to receive Thy Word is not
To read it only with our eyes
And understand it in our mind,
But 'tis the spirit's exercise.
6 Thy Word in spirit we must eat
And to our inmost part receive;
'Tis by our spirit's exercise
To pray with what our minds perceive.
7 Thy Word remaining in our mind
Is only knowledge burdensome,
But when it to the spirit goes
Then life and spirit it becomes.
8 'Tis only when our spirit acts
To take Thy Word and contact Thee,
We truly feed upon Thy Word
And touch Thyself most inwardly.
9 Lord, teach us how to exercise
Our spirit when Thy Word we read;
Then will our spirit nourished be
As thus upon Thyself we feed.