PRAYER AND GOD'S MOVE Message Three Prayer and God's Move in the Gospels and the Acts

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1 PRAYER AND GOD'S MOVE Message Three Prayer and God's Move in the Gospels and the Acts Scripture Reading: Matt. 6:9-15; 9:36-38; John 15:7, 16; Acts 1:14; 2:1-4, 16-17a; 4:23-31; 6:4; 10:9-16; 12:4-14; 13:1-4; 16:23-26; 22:17-21 I. The pattern of prayer that the Lord taught the disciples in Matthew 6 is the prayer that expresses God s will Matt. 6:9-15: A. Matthew 6:9-13 is the Lord s instruction to us to pray in this way to our Father who is in the heavens (v. 9a); this pattern of prayer can be divided into three sections: 1. The three basic prayers concerning God are related to the Divine Trinity; Your name be sanctified is related mainly to the Father; Your kingdom come, to the Son; and Your will be done, to the Spirit (vv 9b-10a): a. This is being fulfilled in this age, and it will be ultimately fulfilled in the kingdom age when the name of God will be excellent in all the earth, the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of Christ, and the will of God will be accomplished Psa. 8:1; Rev. 11:15. b. After the rebellion of Satan and the fall of man, Christ came to bring the heavenly rule to earth so that the earth could be recovered for God s interest, so that the will of God could be done on earth as in heaven (Matt. 6:10b); the kingdom people must pray for this until the earth is fully recovered for God s will in the coming kingdom age. 2. The three requests concerning our need are protective prayers: Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one (vv 11-13a). 3. The prayer to the Father concludes with three reverent praises as extolling prayers: For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen the kingdom is of the Son, which is the realm in which God exercises His power and the power is of the Spirit, which carries out God s intention so that the Father may have His corporate expression in glory (Matt. 6:13b). B. The ministry of the church is to bring the will in heaven to earth Matt. 6:9-10: 1. A prayer that is in the nature of work or ministry is one in which we stand on God s side, wanting what God wants Col. 1:9; 4: The highest and greatest work of the church is to be the outlet of God s will; the church is the outlet of God s will through prayer Matt. 6:9-10. C. The prayer of the church means that when God wants to do something, the church prays about that matter first so that it can be fulfilled and God s goal can be accomplished 18:18-20: 1. In heaven, God s power is unlimited, but on earth, God s power is manifested to the degree that the church prays 6: The ministry of the church is prayer; the church must have big prayers, serious prayers, and strong prayers, prayers that manifest our God and open the way for Him to move John 14:23; 15:16; 16:23-24; Acts 4: II. In Matthew 9 the Lord taught the disciples to beseech the Lord of the harvest to thrust out workers into His harvest Matt. 9:36-38: A. We all need to see a vision of the Lord Jesus as the Lord of the harvest. 1

2 B. In verse 38 the Lord told us to beseech the Lord of the harvest that He may thrust out workers into His harvest: 1. Firstly, in His economy, God has a plan to accomplish. 2. Then His economy requires His people to beseech, to pray, for it. 3. In answering their prayer, He will accomplish what they have prayed concerning His plan. C. Whenever you sense the need for workers, you must firstly pray to the Lord of the harvest, saying, Lord, here is Your harvest. You are the Lord of the harvest. We call on You to thrust out some reapers. Lord, send more reapers into Your harvest. Praying like this will make a difference Life-Study of Matthew, chapter 29. III. John 15 reveals the prayer that is related to fruit-bearing vv. 7, 16: A. To ask in the Lord's name requires us to abide in the Lord and allow Him and His words to abide in us that we may actually be one with Him cf. vv. 4, 7. B. Then when we ask, He asks in our asking; this kind of asking is related to fruit-bearing and will surely be answered by the Father v. 16, note 5. IV. The book of Acts shows that the apostles never initiated any work without prayer; whenever they wanted to do something, they stopped themselves by their prayer, giving God a way to come into them, to fill them up, and to saturate their entire being 1:14; 6:4; 13:1-4: A. In order to be one with the Lord in His work, we need to pray ourselves into God and pray God into us so that we are mingled with God Matt. 6:6. B. To pray means to stop ourselves from doing anything apart from the Lord so that He can do His work through us cf. 14: C. To pray means that we realize that we are nothing and can do nothing; prayer is the real denial of the self Gal. 6:3; cf. Mark 9: D. To pray by calling on the name of the Lord is to deny ourselves and to declare, No longer I but Christ cf. Gal. 2:20a. V. The book of Acts shows the prayer that we need in order to be filled with the Spirit essentially and economically so that all our activities would be the activities of the acting God: A. The prayer that we need is the prayer that brought in the outpouring of the Spirit Acts 1:14; 2:1-4, 16-17a. B. The prayer that we need is the prayer that shook the earth and empowered the disciples with the Holy Spirit to speak the word of God with boldness 4: C. The prayer that we need is the prayer of the apostles to match the ministry of the word 6:4. D. The prayer that we need is the prayer that brought Peter into a trance and brought a heavenly vision to him 10:9-16. E. The prayer that we need is the prayer that opened the prison gate for Peter 12:4-14. F. The prayer that we need is the prayer that brought the five prophets and teachers into the Lord s commission 13:1-4. G. The prayer that we need is the prayer that brought in a great earthquake and shook the foundations of the prison house 16: H. The prayer that we need is the prayer that brought Paul into a trance and into the Lord s speaking to him 22: VI. The book of Acts shows that our working together with God to build up the church is a spiritual warfare and that prayer is the secret to accomplish God s work 4:24-31; Psa. 2:1-2; Eph. 6:

3 WEEK 3 - DAY 1 Matt. 6:9 You then pray in this way: Our Father who is in the heavens, Your name be sanctified; 10 Your kingdom come; Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. The prayer in Matthew 6 concerns the kingdom. In other words, it is a fighting prayer, a prayer of warfare against God s enemy for God s kingdom...in the example of prayer patterned by the Lord, the first three petitions imply the Trinity of the Godhead. Let Your name be sanctified is mainly related to the Father, let Your kingdom come to the Son, and let Your will be done to the Spirit. This is being fulfilled in this age, and it will be fulfilled in the coming kingdom age, when the name of God will be excellent in all the earth (Psa. 8:1), the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of Christ (Rev. 11:15), and the will of God will be accomplished. Verse 9 says, Our Father Who is in the heavens, let Your name be sanctified. Today God s name is not sanctified; rather, it is profaned and made common...but we know that the day will come, in the millennium, when the name of God will be sanctified. But, prior to that time, our Father s name is wholly sanctified in the church life today. We do not call upon the Father or speak the name of the Lord in a common way. Rather, when we say Father or Lord, we sanctify these holy names. Thus, we need to pray, O Father, let Your name be sanctified. Verse 10 says, Let Your kingdom come. Although the kingdom is here in the church life today, the manifestation of the kingdom is yet to come. Thus, we must pray for the coming of the kingdom. This matter of the kingdom is clearly related to God the Son. Verse 10 also says, Let Your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Following the rebellion of Satan (Ezek. 28:17; Isa. 14:13-15), the earth fell into the usurping hand of Satan. Thus, the will of God could not be done on earth as in heaven. Hence, God created man with the intention of recovering the earth for Himself (Gen. 1:26-28). After the fall of man, Christ came to bring the heavenly rule to earth so that the earth might be recovered for God s right, that the will of God might be done on earth as in heaven. This is the purpose of the new King establishing the kingdom of the heavens with His followers. The kingdom people must pray for this until the earth is fully recovered for God s will in the coming kingdom age. When the Father s name is sanctified, the Son s kingdom has come, and the Spirit s will is done on earth as in heaven, that will be the time of the manifestation of the kingdom. But we who are in the reality of the kingdom today must pray for these things. Verse 11 says, Give us today our daily bread. This prayer is all-inclusive. The patterned prayer firstly cares for God s name, God s kingdom, and God s will; then secondly, for our need. This reveals that in this fighting prayer the Lord will still take care of our needs. According to verse 11 we are to ask today for our daily bread. The King does not want His people to worry about tomorrow (v. 34); He only wants them to pray for their needs today. The term daily bread indicates living by faith. The kingdom people should not live on what they have stored; rather, by faith they should live on the Father s daily supply. Verse 12 says, And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. Thirdly, the patterned prayer cares for the kingdom people s failures before God and their relationship with others. They should ask the Father to forgive their debts, their failures, and their trespasses, as they forgive their debtors to maintain peace. Verse 12 indicates that in this fighting prayer we must admit and confess that we have shortcomings, mistakes, and wrongdoings. We are in debt to others. Hence, we must ask the Father to forgive us as we forgive others for the Father s sake. Verse 13 says, And do not bring us into trial, but deliver us from the evil one. Fourthly, the patterned prayer cares for the kingdom people in dealing with the evil one. They should ask the Father not to bring them into trial, but to deliver them from the evil one, Satan, the Devil... According to this pattern of prayer, the kingdom people must recognize God s kingdom, power, and glory. Verse 13 also says, For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen. The kingdom is the realm for God to exercise His power that He may express His glory. (Life-study of Matthew, Message 21, pp ) 3

4 WEEK 3 - DAY 2 Matt. 18:18 Truly I say to you, Whatever you bind on the earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on the earth shall have been loosed in heaven. 19 Again, truly I say to you that if two of you are in harmony on earth concerning any matter for which they ask, it will be done for them from My Father who is in the heavens. 20 For where there are two or three gathered into My name, there am I in their midst. We have said that God has a will for everything. Yet God does not act independently; He will not do anything by Himself. Even though God has a will, He wants the free will on earth to echo His will before He does anything. If there is only a will in heaven, God will not move. The heavenly move is accomplished on earth only when the earth wants the same thing as heaven. Today this is called the ministry of the church. Brothers and sisters, the ministry of the church is not only the preaching of the gospel. This does not mean that we should not preach the gospel; it means that the ministry of the church is not merely the preaching of the gospel. The ministry of the church is to bring the will in heaven to earth. How does the church bring the will in heaven to earth? It is by prayer on earth. Prayer is not as small and insignificant as some may think. It is not something that is dispensable. Prayer is a work. Prayer is the church saying to God, God, we want Your will. Prayer is the church knowing God s heart and opening its mouth to ask for what is in God s heart. If the church does not do this, it does not have much use on earth. Many prayers for spiritual edification, prayers for fellowship, and prayers for supplication cannot replace prayers which are in the nature of work or ministry. If all your prayers are prayers for spiritual edification, fellowship, and supplication, they are too small. A prayer which is in the nature of work or ministry is one in which you stand on God s side, wanting what God wants. Brothers and sisters, if a prayer is uttered according to God s will, it is the most powerful thing. For the church to pray means that it finds out God s will and speaks out this will. Prayer is not just asking God for something. For the church to pray means that it stands on God s side to declare that man wants what God wants. If the church declares this, the declaration will be effectual. Now let us consider three great principles in ministerial prayer from Matthew 18: In verse 18 the Lord says, Whatever you bind on the earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on the earth shall have been loosed in heaven. Who is the you here? It is the church because verse 17 mentions the church, and verse 18 is a continuation of verse 17. Whatever the church binds on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever the church looses on earth will be loosed in heaven. This is a very important principle: today God works through the church. God cannot do anything at will; He has to do everything through the church. Without going through the church, God cannot do anything. Brothers and sisters, this is a very sober principle. God cannot do anything by Himself today. There is a free will besides His will. If this will does not cooperate with Him, He cannot do anything. The amount of power that the church has expresses the amount of power that God has because His power is expressed through the church. God has placed Himself in the church. The height and extent that the church reaches is the height and extent that God s power reaches. If the power of the church is small and restricted, God cannot express the height or extensiveness of His power. The water department s reservoir may be great, but if you have only a small tap in your house, a great amount of water will not flow out. If you want more water in your house, you have to install a larger pipe. Today the capacity of the church determines the degree to which God s power is expressed. This can be seen from God s expression in Christ; the capacity of Christ is the degree of the manifestation of God. Today God is expressed in the church; the capacity of the church determines the degree of the expression of God and also the amount of knowledge one can have about God. God wants to do many things on earth today. But He must have the church stand on His side before He can accomplish these things through the church. God cannot do what He wants to do by Himself; He has to do it with the cooperation of the church. The church is the means through which God expresses Himself....Today He wants the church to first loose on earth before He looses in heaven. He wants the church to first bind on earth before He binds in heaven. Heaven will not take the initiative to work; it follows the earth s work. God will not take the initiative to work; He follows the church s work. Brothers and sisters, since this is the case, how great is the responsibility of the church! (Nee, The Prayer Ministry of the Church, pp , 15) 4

5 WEEK 3 - DAY 3 Matt. 9:36 And seeing the crowds, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and cast away like sheep not having a shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, The harvest is great, but the workers few; 38 Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest that He would thrust out workers into His harvest. In [Matthew 9:]37 the Lord said to His disciples, The harvest indeed is vast, but the workers are few. The heavenly King considered the people not only as sheep, but also as the harvest. The sheep needed shepherding, and the harvest needed reaping. Although the leaders of the nation of Israel rejected the heavenly King, there was still a good number among the people that needed reaping. The King of the heavenly kingdom considered Himself not only the Shepherd of the sheep, but also the Lord of the harvest. His kingdom is established with things of life that can grow and multiply. He is the Lord who owns this crop. We are both the flock and the crop. The flock is made up of living animals and the crop of living vegetation. Under the hand of the Lord Jesus, nothing is lifeless. He does not care for lifeless things, but for things that are living. Everything under the care of this heavenly King is living. We all need to see a vision of the Lord Jesus as the Lord of the harvest. In verse 38 the Lord told us to beseech the Lord of the harvest that He may thrust out workers into His harvest. Firstly, in His economy, God has a plan to accomplish. Then His economy requires His people to beseech, to pray, for it. In answering their prayer, He will accomplish what they have prayed concerning His plan. Many times when we sense the need for workers, we sound out the call for help. But from now on, whenever you sense the need for workers, you must firstly pray to the Lord of the harvest, saying, Lord, here is Your harvest. You are the Lord of the harvest. We call on You to thrust out some reapers. Lord, send more reapers into Your harvest. Praying like this will make a difference. To pray like this means that we have seen a vision that our Christ, the kingly One, the Shepherd, is the Lord of the harvest. Whenever you pray that the Lord would send reapers into His harvest, you honor Him very much. How different this is from inviting people to help you in your work! When you do that, you do not honor Christ as the Lord of the harvest. Rather, it is a matter of your work, not of His harvest. You become the master of that work, and He is not considered as the Lord of the harvest. Therefore, we need to call on Him and say, Lord, You are the Lord of the harvest. The work in this field is Yours, and this harvest is Your crop. We call on You for Your crop. Lord, send Your reapers. Recently, a brother told me that the church life in his locality was wonderful and that I should come there for a visit. Although this brother s talk was nice, it was rather natural. It had no vision whatever. Instead of inviting me, this brother should have prayed, Lord, the church in my locality is the harvest of the heavenly King. Lord of the harvest, I call on You to send reapers. Is the church in your locality your harvest or His harvest? Since it is the Lord s harvest, you have no right to invite others to go there to labor. To do this is to infringe upon the Lord s honor. In doing this you fail to recognize that you are not the Lord. He is the Lord of the harvest. The only thing you can do is to ask Him to thrust out reapers. We need further revelation regarding this aspect of the Lord. I believe that the twelve disciples prayed according to the Lord s word. Although the Bible does not tell us this, I believe that they did pray. It is a principle in the Bible that, whenever you pray to the Lord for something, the Lord will send you to accomplish that for which you have prayed. The twelve disciples prayed for the Lord of the harvest to send out reapers, and the Lord answered their prayer by sending them out. Whoever prays will be the one sent. For example, you may pray to the Lord regarding the shortage of elders. (However, do not pray according to your ambition, lest the Lord not answer your prayer.) You may simply pray, Lord, there is the need of elders. After a certain period of time, the Lord may say, How about you? This is the principle. The twelve prayed, and eventually the twelve were sent out. (Life-study of Matthew, Message 29, pp ) 5

6 WEEK 3 - DAY 4 John 15:7 If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and I set you that you should go forth and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give you. The branches have been chosen to bear remaining fruit through praying in the Son s name. When we pray for fruit-bearing, we must pray in the Son s name. To ask in the Lord s name requires us to abide in the Lord and to let Him and His words abide in us that we may actually be one with Him. Then our asking will be His asking. This kind of asking is related to the fruit-bearing and surely will be answered by the Father. As we pray in this way, we must claim that we are one with the Son. We should not beg but rather claim that we are one with Him. Whatever the Son is and has is ours, and we are in His name. Pray in this way. We should not only pray in the Son s name but also be one with the Son, live by Him, and let Him live in us. This matter is very crucial. Our prayer depends upon our living. We must be one with the Lord in our living. Then we can be one with Him in our prayer and pray in His name. It is by this kind of living and prayer that we can bear fruit that can remain. (Life-study of John, Message 35, pp ) Now we must consider the remaining portion of [John 15:]16: That whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give you. Again the Lord uses the word that. The Lord appointed us that we should go forth and bear fruit, that our fruit should remain, and that whatever we ask in His name, the Father may give us. The last point in this verse is to pray not merely in a general way but to ask...in My name. The Lord does not intend for us to ask for material things. The Lord s intention is for us to pray purposely for remaining fruit. Even if we would go forth and bear fruit, and even if we were able to labor much to keep the fruit, our fruit still might not remain. After doing so much, one thing remains we have to ask. We may be able to preach, baptize, and bring people to the church meetings, but we cannot give life. Paul said, I planted, Apollos watered, but God made to grow (1 Cor. 3:6). We must admit our dependence upon the Lord. We can and should do a lot, but whatever we do will not produce the result. The result comes from the Lord s direct work. However, His direct work depends upon our work. We have to go forth, we have to bear fruit, and we have to work that the fruit will remain. However, whatever we do without His additional doing means nothing. The final thing that is needed is our asking. We have to pray in a particular way. To ask in His name is to ask for remaining fruit. We must pray: Lord, I went forth. I worked hard. I preached the gospel to this one. I baptized him and visited him regularly for more than one year. I even brought him into the church meetings, but thus far, there is nothing promising that I can see within him. Lord, what is needed is Your work. I can do a lot, but I cannot give life. I may bring a hundred into the church life, but without Your additional work, the giving of life, my labor is vain. This does not mean our labor is not needed. Without Paul s planting and Apollos watering, the Lord could not have given life. We must lay the base with our labor. Then the Lord can give life. We need to ask the Lord for remaining fruit. (The Exercise and Practice of the God-ordained Way, pp ) We need to be vital, and to be vital is to have the real burden for prayer. There is the need of the real prayer among us. What the vital groups should have a burden to pray is this: Lord, the church needs the proper increase. In order to have the vital groups, we ourselves need to be vital. We need to pray desperately, Lord, we ask You, when the season comes, to give each one of us two people who are remaining fruit. Otherwise, we cannot go on. We should pray and pray until the Lord answers our prayer. We should not be discouraged or disappointed, but have the full assurance that He will fulfill His word. This is because He told us that He has chosen us and set us to go forth to bear fruit and that our fruit should remain. If you have this kind of prayer with a burden, every time you pray you will get the Spirit. You will get the infilling Spirit and the outpoured Spirit. (Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, pp. 221, 222) 6

7 WEEK 3 - DAY 5 Acts 1:14a These all continued steadfastly with one accord in prayer... 4:31 And when they had so besought, the place in which they were gathered was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness. 10:9 And on the next day as they were journeying and drawing near to the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray around the sixth hour. We are told in [Acts] 1:14 that the disciples, together with the women, Mary, and the Lord s brothers, persevered with one accord in prayer. The Greek words rendered with one accord may also be translated with one mind. The disciples might have prayed to be clothed with the Spirit of power, the promise of the Father, for which the Lord had charged them to remain in Jerusalem (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4), and for the commission given to them by the Lord in Luke 24:47 and 48 and Acts 1:8 to bear His testimony to the remotest part of the earth. God wanted to pour out His Spirit for the carrying out of His New Testament economy, and He had promised to do this. Yet He needed His chosen people to pray for it. As God in heaven, He needs men on earth to cooperate with Him for the carrying out of His plan. The one hundred twenty disciples praying for ten days met this need of God. (Life-study of Acts, p. 38) The first group of believers produced through the apostles preaching and ministering of Christ on the day of Pentecost continued steadfastly in four things: teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers. Teaching is the unveiling of God s New Testament economy concerning Christ and the church; fellowship is the communion and communication between the believers in their communion and communication with God the Father and Christ the Son; breaking of bread is the remembrance of the Lord in His accomplishing of God s full redemption; and prayer is cooperation with the Lord in heaven for the carrying out of God s New Testament economy on earth. (Acts 2:42, note 1) According to [Acts] 4:29-31, they prayed for boldness to speak the Lord s word. And as they were beseeching, the place in which they were gathered was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the word of God with boldness (v. 31). Like Peter in verse 8, they were filled with the Holy Spirit outwardly and economically. (Life-study of Acts, p ) After the vision of Cornelius (10:1-8), we have the vision of Peter (10:9-16). Acts 10:9 says, And on the next day as they were journeying and drawing near to the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray about the sixth hour. Cornelius received a vision in prayer (v. 30), and Peter also received a vision (vv. 17, 19) in prayer, through which God s plan and move were carried out. Man s prayer is needed as a means of cooperation with God s move. In chapter ten of Acts there is a strong emphasis on the importance of prayer. First we have Cornelius prayer and then Peter s prayer. The prayers of these two men became the means for the Lord to come in to open the door for the Gentiles. While Cornelius, a devout man, was praying, a vision came to him. Likewise, it was while Peter was praying that the vision recorded in this chapter came to him. From this we see that we all need to learn to have a prayer life, for a prayer life always prepares the way for the Lord s move and opens the gate for Him to spread. As those who are here for the Lord s recovery, we must learn that the Lord can use only those who have a prayer life, a life of contacting Him in prayer. We are not told for what Cornelius and Peter were praying. The record does indicate, however, that they set aside certain times for prayer, that they prayed according to a schedule. Acts 10:3 says that Cornelius was praying at the ninth hour, at three o clock in the afternoon, and 10:9 says that Peter was praying at the sixth hour, at twelve o clock noon. From this we see that they had a prayer life and even prayed at scheduled times. If we in the Lord s recovery have such a prayer life according to set times, we shall be used by Him in opening the way for the spread of His recovery. (Life-study of Acts, pp ) 7

8 WEEK 3 - DAY 6 Acts 6:4 But we will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word. 12:12 And when he became aware of this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, who was surnamed Mark, where there was a considerable number assembled together and praying. 13:2 And as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for Me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. 3 Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. 4a They then, having been sent out by the Holy Spirit. For all of the above ministries in preaching the gospel and ministering Christ to others, we need the outward filling of the Spirit of power, the economical Spirit. Our participation in the outpouring of the economical Spirit of power is based upon the Triune God as the consummated Spirit dwelling in us, operating in us, living in us, making His home in us, supplying us, and filling us. But why do we not experience the outpouring of the Spirit? This is because we are short of prayer. Prayer is the bridge that bridges these two aspects together. We have the inward filling of the indwelling Spirit, but we do not have the outward power because there is no connection, no bridge, between these two things. Prayer is our bridge... Christ came into us, and God the Father came into us. All three of the Divine Trinity are now in us as our life, as our essence. They have become one with our person, our constitution, our being. The Bible unveils to us that the Triune God is now within us to be our essence, to be our element, and to be our constitution, mingling Himself with us to make us one with Him. Today we are divine persons. We are the mingling of humanity with divinity. Since this is the case, why are we so silent, so useless, and so powerless? This is because we do not touch the outward aspect of the Spirit, the economical Spirit. In order to touch this outward aspect, there is the need of a connection, a bridge, and this bridge is our prayer. We should abandon the Pentecostal concept of having to pray for many days with fasting in order to receive the power from on high. We need to pray not just for a period of many days but every day. We need to pray every day of the year. In other words, we need to pray unceasingly. We may wonder what we should pray for, but we do not need to make up our mind to pray for anything. To pray unceasingly is to have uninterrupted fellowship with God in our spirit. When we pray unceasingly, rejoice always, and give thanks in everything, this will make us crazy. When we are crazy, we have the power and the impact... When we participate in the outpoured Spirit, our meetings will be dynamic, our prayer will be dynamic, our preaching will be dynamic, and our ministry will be dynamic. Everything we have will be dynamic because the Triune God mingling Himself with us is the dynamo. He is the dynamo the pum, pum, pum within us... If we go to visit a candidate of the gospel in a religious way, we are through. To go in this way is to go as a corpse. But when we go to visit people in a crazy way, we have the power and the impact. On the one hand, we should be the most crazy people, but on the other hand, we should be very formal and proper. The real impact comes from our prayer. In the entire New Testament, you cannot find a person who received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit without first receiving the essential Spirit within. If we exercise our spirit to pray, the outpouring will be ours, making us different persons... The key to make you living is for you to pray, and to pray mainly is to exercise your spirit. When you teach the Lord in your prayer, when you explain to Him, and when you describe a lot in your prayer, there is no impact because that kind of prayer is not the unlocking of the Spirit. We should pray, Lord, I want to be living. Give me the impact, Lord. The Lord in Gethsemane prayed three times, and each time the prayer was short. We all have to pray in these days, Lord, I want to be living. While the sisters are in the kitchen cooking or washing the dishes, they should say, Lord, I want to be living. I want to have the impact, Lord. Do not pray for too many things and do not explain to the Lord, because He already knows. Just petition Him and tell Him what you want according to His desire. We also need to give thanks in everything. On a dark day, give thanks; on a shining day, a bright day, give thanks. If good things take place, give thanks; if bad things take place, give thanks. This is what it means to pray. (Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, pp, ) 8

9 Hymn Pray with one accord in spirit, Not according to our thought, But alone by the anointing, As the Lord has ever sought. Chorus Pray with one accord in spirit, Not according to our thought, But alone by the anointing, As the Lord has ever sought. 2 Pray with one accord in spirit, By the cross deny the soul; All desires and all intentions Let the Spirit now control. 3 Pray with one accord in spirit, Pray as in the heavenlies; All the earthly interests treading, Fight the principalities. 4 Pray with one accord in spirit, Supplicate relatedly; Seek the Lord, His mind, His leading, In the Spirit s harmony. 5 Pray with one accord in spirit, Pray and watch persistently; For God s kingdom and His glory, Pray and watch in harmony. 6 Pray with one accord in spirit Seeking God in unity; In the Spirit of the Body Ever pray in harmony. (Outlines and ministry excerpts in this morning revival are drawn from messages given in conferences, trainings, along with various books by Witness Lee. Hymn 779 is taken from Hymns. All the above are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. All rights reserved.) 9