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Scripture Reading: Acts 2:42; 4:23-24, 29-31; 12:5, 12
In this chapter we shall see something concerning the prayer life in the practice of the church life. Strictly speaking, there is no outward charter in the church. Rather, what the church should have is a prayer life. There is a great difference between the way people practice Christian churches today and the record of the churches in the book of Acts. Today people practice to have rules, regulations, creeds, and an outward charter, but in Acts we cannot find such things. The churches did not have outward regulations and rules. What they had was a church life in prayer.
Prayer was the initiation of the church’s existence. The first local church, the first expression of the church, came into being through the prayer of the one hundred twenty for ten days. They did not have written regulations or a charter for an organization. What they had was ten days of prayer. They prayed and prayed until one day something happened, not of themselves but from God. That was the formation of the first local church. That was the way that the first expression of the Lord’s Body came into being.
After its formation, the early church continued in four things (Acts 2:42). The first is the teaching of the apostles. To keep the teaching of the apostles is to keep the teaching of the Lord, because the teaching of the apostles is the teaching of the Lord. The disciples had to be taught so that they could be transformed in many ways. If we read the first few chapters of Acts, we will see that in the early days, when the church was first formed, all the members of the first expression of the Lord’s Body were brought to the point that they gave up their concepts, their background, and their makeup from the past in order to receive something new. They did this by receiving and keeping the word of the Lord, which was passed on to them through the apostles. There is no hint or trace that they held on to anything from their past. In their living and even in their inner way of life, by the power of the Holy Spirit they gave up their way and everything of the past, and they came to the word of the Lord to receive something new. This is the correct meaning of continuing steadfastly in the teaching of the apostles.
In this way, the disciples were not only saved and forgiven by the Lord; they were truly regenerated, and their regeneration included a certain measure of transformation. They were at least transformed in their way of human life. In their way of conducting themselves, they forgot all that they had in the past and gave up their background. They came to the word, the Lord’s teachings, to take everything in a new way. At that time, they did not take the Lord’s word in the way of theory; rather, they learned the Lord’s word in a practical way. They did not study theology, but they learned how to follow the Lord, how to have a daily life in a new way, and how to have a church life. They were regenerated and transformed to the extent that they gave up everything in the past and took a new way to live, to work, to serve the Lord, and to have the church life.
The second matter in which the disciples continued is the fellowship of the apostles. Fellowship is a communion in the life of the Lord and in the Spirit of the Lord. By this fellowship they became practically one in the Spirit and in life. The word fellowship is a special word, which in Greek includes the meaning of bringing into oneness. Such a oneness can only be in the Spirit, by the Spirit, and in the divine life. The disciples all learned how to give up their old way of human living and even their own life to live by the divine life, the life of the Lord, and to walk in the Holy Spirit. They were taught how to live by the Lord as their life and how to walk in the Holy Spirit. In this Spirit they were brought into oneness practically; this is the real fellowship.
When we read the first four or five chapters of Acts, we can see that the disciples were truly one, not only in the inner life but also in their outward living. They had the fellowship in life practically. This is different from the practice of many of today’s Christians. When many Christians come together to have a meeting, they greet one another nicely and then say goodbye. They are nice to each other, but they do not know each other’s real situation and condition. This is not the real fellowship. The real fellowship is the oneness in the Spirit and in the divine life. The disciples even held their material possessions in common. They gave up their own way of life, and they gave up their own life itself. They took the Lord Jesus as their life, and they took the Holy Spirit for their living. In this way, they were brought to such a point that they could be one practically in their daily living. This is the true meaning of fellowship. Fellowship is not merely to shake hands and greet one another. It is to be brought into oneness in the Spirit, in the divine life, and in the spiritual living.
The third matter in which the disciples continued was the breaking of bread. This was not only to remember the Lord but to exhibit Him, testify of Him, and to testify of the life they had. The Lord’s table is not only a remembrance but also a testimony. We who have been saved and regenerated by the Lord and who are continually living by the Lord come together as an exhibition to show to the entire universe — especially to the principalities, powers, dominions, and authorities in the heavenlies — what kind of life we have and how we are living. We live by Jesus as our life, and the life we have is simply the Lord Christ Himself. He is our life. He is the living bread, and we enjoy Him day by day. Then we come together to remember Him and testify to the whole universe.
The fourth and last item of the early church life is the life of prayer. The disciples had no weapons, no charter, and no worldly wisdom or power. What they had was a living God, and they brought all things to this living God; they brought all their problems to this living Lord. This is the real meaning of their prayer. The church life in the early days was a life of prayer. If we compare this to today’s Christianity, we will see a difference. In today’s Christianity there are many teachings, human ways, organizations, charters, regulations, rules, material things, and other matters, but there is very little prayer. If we are going to practice the real church life, we must learn how to pray in a practical, prevailing, living, and fresh way. Moreover, we must learn how to help others to pray and make every member of the church a praying member.
Many times someone asks me how a member of the church can be a functioning member. If we expect a member of the church to be a functioning member, we must help him or her to learn how to pray. There is no other way. A praying member is a functioning member, but if a member does not have a prayer life, he can never be a functioning member. We must learn to pray, and we must learn how to help others to pray.
If we are going to have a real church life, we must learn how to have a prayer life and even pray with fasting. What I feel most deeply in these days is the lack of prayer in the church. I would almost rather give up the time for speaking these messages and use all our time for prayer. We must learn to pray, and we must learn how to pray in a corporate way, as the church coming together, as a part of the church life. This is a vital, much needed matter today.
The service of a leading one, an elder, a deacon, or a serving one in the church, is firstly a matter of prayer. We must pray concerning the responsibility of the church. All the leading ones must come together to pray. It is hard enough to pray by ourselves, but to ask all the leading ones and serving ones to come together to pray is more difficult. The biggest reason for this is that we do not have the oneness. When the leading ones come together, one comes with his mind, another comes with his thought, another comes with his concept, and everyone else comes with his own idea. Everyone comes trying to convince others, having the intention, desire, and hope to push something that each feels is important. This kills the church life, it kills the meeting of the leading ones, and it kills the leading ones’ way to bear responsibility. Then as long as the leading ones’ way to bear responsibility is killed, the entire church life is gone. Therefore, we must learn never to bring something to impose on others. We must always try not to convince others but simply to have the oneness and pray together. Brothers, let us forget our opinion and thought and come together to pray. Let the Lord break through, come in, and speak to us.
I am not speaking something that I do not know. In the past many years I have had many experiences, and I can testify that where there is a group of leading ones who know how to pray in this way, there the church is very strong, prevailing, and living. On the contrary, where there is a group of leading ones who know nothing of this kind of prayer, but who know only to argue a cause, to debate, to fight, and to convince one another, there the church is a dead church. It is shameful that in many dead churches many of the leading ones are very zealous. They are very much for doctrines and teachings, but they are too much for doctrines and teachings. Each one thinks that he is right, knowing more than others. A brother may seem to know something about spiritual matters, but he always insists on what he knows. When he comes together with the leading ones, he always knows the way to convince them all. However, he may not know how to go into the presence of the Lord and how to go to the Lord with others to contact the Lord and let the Lord have the opportunity to speak and reveal something. I am simply speaking what I have seen in the past. This is the biggest problem in the church today.
I advise and even beg those who are the leading brothers of the church first to practice to forget about all the things of the past and come together to pray. If we say that we are going to practice the church life, we should pray about it rather than discuss it. If we open the door to merely discuss the church life, we open the door to let the enemy come in and bring in many opinions and thoughts. The best way to shut the door and shut out all the opinions is to pray. Let us kneel down, not to speak our thoughts or opinions but to pray and let the Lord speak. However, it may be that very few leading ones do this. Whenever we come together, there is always the temptation to discuss. First one brother opens his mouth to speak a small word to express a thought, and then the second, third, fourth, and fifth brothers follow to do the same. Then all the time is gone. Moreover, the more they discuss, the more they are not of one mind. To discuss simply opens the door to the enemy.
If we are going to learn to pray with others in such a way, we must first give up our self and our own thoughts. We honor the Lord, we respect the Lord, and we implore the Lord, “Lord, we come to You to seek Your mind. We bring ourselves into Your presence to give You the full opportunity to speak something.” We need to pray in such a way. I hate any other way to practice the church. Some people today say, “We are practicing the New Testament church,” and some even seek to practice the church life outwardly according to The Normal Christian Church Life. This is wrong. The only right way to practice the church life is to go to the Lord to pray.
We are not following an outward way, and we will not copy a certain way. This is something dead. We must go to the Lord and pray to open a new way for Him to come in. We must pray for the present situation concerning what the Lord will speak and what He will do. We must pray each day until we all see the same thing and have the same inner anointing and the same assurance. If we do not have the anointing and the assurance, we need to pray again even with fasting and without sleep. This is the only way to practice the church life.
It is even wrong to say that we are going to practice the church life according to the book of Acts. We should not say, “Here in Acts is something that the apostles practiced in the early days. Let us do the same thing today.” This is merely to copy the apostles in the way of dead letters. This has no life, no anointing, and no impact. Rather, we must pray. We must bring our present situation, our need, and all things in prayer to the Lord and pray continually until all the leading ones have the same anointing and the same assurance that they see something of the Lord for us today. Then there will be the freshness, the newness, the anointing, and the impact. The Lord will honor this.
It is easy to speak about this, but to practice this kind of prayer is very difficult. If we try to pray in this way, we will discover where we are. If we come together merely to discuss something, everyone will be very active, but if we try to kneel down to pray, after a few minutes some may begin to sleep. They simply have no interest in this kind of prayer. Instead, they want to know what they should do. One of the largest cities in China, with a population of more than one million, was a big field for the Lord’s work with much potential. However, the church there did not have any improvement for a number of years, and the news of their troubles and problems always came to us. One day we were led by the Lord to go there to pray with them for a certain period of time. Then I discovered that they did not have many problems; they had only one, the problem of quarreling. Whenever they came together, they only knew to quarrel with one another. They even quarreled in front of us concerning the hospitality that they were to render us.
After I discovered this problem, I suggested that the leading ones and serving ones come together to pray. They all agreed to come, but to my impression they all came ready to argue. I did my best to stop the arguing. I said, “Brothers and sisters, let us kneel down and pray.” However, when we knelt down, no one began to pray. I was forced to start the prayer, but after I prayed, no one continued. Then I prayed a second time, but still no one continued. When we rose up, everyone smiled pleasantly and prepared to listen to what I was going to say. This condition killed the church. I stayed with them for many weeks until they were somewhat helped to realize what their problem was.
I wish to recommend to you that the best, proper, and only way to practice the church is to pray in a new way. It is not to pray in an old way to convince others or to ask the Lord to help us to convince others. We must give up every idea or thought to pray in this way. Forget this way and come to the Lord in a new way to pray, to let the Lord come in, and to let Him speak something. If we do not learn how to pray corporately in a new way, the church can never be prevailing.
On the one hand, before we come to practice the church life, we first must read the Scriptures and many spiritual teachings. We should know how the Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Anglicans, Lutherans, and others practice the church. We should also know the way practiced in the Epistles and taught in The Normal Christian Church Life and other proper writings. On the other hand, however, in order to practice the church life in a living and prevailing way, we must not depend on all those teachings. Lay them all aside and simply go to the Lord to pray in a living and new way. This is the right way. To follow others by copying them does not work. There is no life, impact, or freshness in that. We need the freshness, newness, impact, life, anointing, power, and authority, and there is no other way to have this but by prayer.
Moreover, we must pray sufficiently, pray through, and pray in a new way. We should not have a formula in our mind and bring it to the Lord to ask Him to perform it. This is the wrong way to pray. Many times people have a formula which they bring to the Lord and ask Him to carry it out according to their own way. This does not work. We must come to the Lord like a sheet of blank, white paper, saying, “Lord, here we are. Write on us. Impress us with what Your mind is and what You want to do.” This requires strength, energy, patience, and travailing in the spirit. There is no quicker way. The practice of the church is not a quick matter. We must pay a price for it in the spirit.
Whenever there is a problem or a need, we may declare a fast among the whole church, whether for one meal or for a whole day. The whole church must go to the Lord and pray. There is no other way to solve the problems, to have the Lord’s guidance, and to bring the Lord’s people into spiritual reality. I can testify regarding this. For many years even up until this day, the elders in the church in Taipei have come together a number of times each week. Only one such time is to take care of the saints’ affairs; all the rest are simply to pray, mostly early in the morning. When they come together, they do not discuss anything. They simply start to pray. They do this several times a week for every week of the year.
The aspect of the church that the enemy, Satan, fears the most is the prayer of the church. Brother Andrew Murray said that whenever the church kneels down to pray, Satan trembles. Satan trembles at the church’s prayer. The practice of the church is not merely a temporary, human matter on the earth. The practice of the church is spiritual, and it affects the spiritual world very much. It involves a real warfare. The Lord told us clearly that He would build His church and that the gates of Hades would not prevail against it. This indicates that whenever and wherever there is the building up of the church, there is the activity of the gates of Hades against it. We know this, and we have experienced this. Therefore, there is the need of a fighting prayer; there is the need for some to pray to fight the spiritual battle.
Here we may point out some practical details concerning the prayer of the church. In order to have a prayer life, especially a corporate prayer life, the prayer life of the church, we must learn to consecrate ourselves. If we have never consecrated ourselves to the Lord, it is impossible to have a real church life. If we are going to have prayer as our life, we must first go to the Lord, telling Him, “Lord, here I am. I consecrate and offer to You my whole being, my whole person, without any kind of reservation.” We must have the definite consecration of our whole being, and every time we pray, we must take this basic standing, saying, “Lord, we come to pray on the ground of consecration.”
Second, we must confess our sins. We must deal with our sins and our conscience, making our conscience void of offense, pure, good, and right. In dealing in this way, we must apply the Lord’s blood. In my own experience, whenever I go to the Lord, I spend much time to clear my conscience so that I can pray. I sense the need of the cleansing and covering of the Lord’s blood. Even when I come to pray with the brothers, I pray, “Lord, cleanse us with Your precious blood.” In many places, however, the brothers I pray with fail to practice this. Sometimes I question, “Am I the most sinful one?” First John 1:5-9 says that God is light and that if we have fellowship with Him, we walk in the light, and the issue of our being in the light is that we sense the need of the application of the cleansing of the blood of the Son of God. To be sure, when we are in the light, that is, in the presence of God, we will say, “Lord, forgive me and cleanse me with Your precious blood.” We need to confess, deal with sins, and deal with our conscience.
Third, after we take the ground of consecration, and after we confess all our sins and deal with our conscience, we have peace, clarity, and transparency in our conscience. Then we must thoroughly learn the lesson to pray not according to what we know, what we remember, what we desire, or what we think but simply to pray according to the inner anointing. This is essential for individual prayer as well as for corporate prayer. Moreover, we should not care about our sentences or grammar. We may simply pray in broken sentences and broken language.
Fourth, we should never try to correct or convince others in prayer. Rather, we should be transparent and transcendent. We should not touch earthly differences, but be transcendent. In our prayer we should not “take a car” to drive among the situations; we should rather “take the airplane” and fly above them. We should never try to convert, convince, or correct others in prayer. This is not real prayer, and it does not work.
We should learn these practical matters and practice them in our prayer, especially in the corporate prayer. We need to consecrate, confess, and pray according to the inner anointing. We should never try to touch others through our prayer but simply let the Lord touch them directly. Then something new will come out. The leading ones especially must pray much, even more than others, and they must help others to have a real prayer life. They should help all the brothers to pray, one by one. The problem today is that when we have a message meeting, many people come, but when there is a prayer meeting, only one-third of the saints come. It is as if some say, “If there is a message, I will come, but if it is only prayer, I will stay home and rest.” In some denominations it is possible that only three people come to the prayer meeting: the pastor, his wife, and the custodian. Then when they sing a hymn, the pastor plays the piano, the wife leads the singing, and the custodian follows. I have seen such a situation. In some places, only two of the five leading ones come to the prayer meeting, and the other three stay away. With only a few in the prayer meeting, that church is the weakest one. The normal condition, however, is that there are more in the prayer meeting than in the other meetings. If all the believers come when the church has a prayer meeting, that church will be the most prevailing. It will be a living church. We should pray by ourselves and help others to pray. We must make the church in our locality a praying church. Take this word and try to practice it. Then on the one hand, we will see the difficulties, but on the other hand, we will see the blessing.
To start this kind of prayer is not easy for several reasons. One is that the enemy would never willingly allow the church to practice this kind of prayer. Therefore, we must be patient to fight the battle. To be sure, we must pray. If we cannot get through, we should fast, and we may even need to spend a night without sleep in order to pray through. If we pray in this way, we will see how much the Lord will come in. We should not forget how the disciples came to the Lord concerning an epileptic demon, asking, “Why were we not able to cast it out?” The Lord answered, “This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting” (Matt. 17:19, 21).
Prayer is not simple. In this universe there is not only the physical world; there is also a spiritual world. Evil spiritual forces are always fighting, hindering, and frustrating the Lord’s work. We must have prayer to face the situation and fight the battle. We cannot build up a church merely by teaching doctrines. Even in gospel preaching, we cannot merely preach to bring people to the Lord. We need to pray to fight the battle against the wiles of the strong man so that the Lord will bind the strong man and all the souls in his hand will be released. This can be carried out only by prevailing prayer, not by teaching or preaching alone.
May we all be impressed with this. This message is not merely a lesson in a classroom. Rather, this is a spiritual training for us to learn the way of the Lord. I look to the Lord concerning this, and I declare that my heart is absolutely with the Lord concerning this matter. May the Lord impress us, more than with any other matter, that we must go to Him to pray for the practice of the church life.
