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Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 5:7; 12:8; Matt. 26:44
Today we will continue to consider the matter of knowing God. We will consider how we can learn to deal with God and how to be dealt with by Him. In other words, we will learn how to have dealings with God. Last time I mentioned only one aspect, which was how to deal with God. That was not enough. We should learn, step by step, to know God. If we know nothing about God's nature and how to communicate with Him, it will be impossible to go on. Today I want to mention two items: one is learning to know God through prayer, and the other is learning to know God through His will.
One matter that causes many Christians to grope in darkness is that they do not know how to receive answers to prayer. Every Christian has a desire that God would listen to his prayers. If God listens to your prayers only once every three to five years or once every three to five months, you are what can be considered as an abnormal Christian. Many people barely have even one answer to their prayer. I do not mean that they do not pray; I mean that their prayers produce no effect. Many believers have no assurance about the things they pray for. They do not know whether or not God will answer their prayers. As time passes by, if they get what they pray for, they say that God has answered their prayers; if not, they say that God has not answered their prayers. They have no assurance at all from the beginning. We should be very rich, but because we do not know how to pray, we become very poor. How poor that God only answers our prayers once every three to five years! I have mentioned many times that we cannot live a life in which God does not answer our prayers. If this is the case, we have indeed fallen into an extremely poor condition.
Today I would like to talk about how a Christian should pray. How long should we pray before we obtain God's answer? What kind of assurance should we have after we pray, and what should the results be? What is the basis for this kind of knowledge? It comes from our knowledge of God. If you ask anyone these questions, he may tell you that you should pray to remove sin, that prayer should be with faith, or that you should pray according to God's will, etc. He may give many doctrines about prayer. However, many people understand prayer only through the Bible; they never understand prayer before God. They read the Bible and know the conditions for God to answer their prayers. But it is of little use to only have knowledge from the Bible without knowledge that is learned by dealing with God. We must spend time before God to learn to deal with Him and to be dealt with by Him; only then will we know God's requirements concerning prayer. Knowing God through prayer does not come by accident or by learning from others. Neither does it come by listening to my messages. A travel guide can only direct you to a place; he can never bring you there. If you do not go, you will never have any experience.
Brothers and sisters, suppose you have a desire or a request for God to fulfill, and you begin to pray for it. While you pray, you may or may not be very enthusiastic, and you may or may not have spent much time praying. But what is most interesting is that you never consider that you should know God through your prayer. You do not care whether or not God answers your prayer. For example, you may ask God for a book. One day God may indeed give you the book. You will think that God has answered your prayer and then forget about it. However, you should realize that you have not just received a book, but something more, which is the knowledge of God. Oh, only after you know how to ask will God answer! Receiving the book is not the most important thing. The precious thing is the acquisition of the knowledge of how God answers prayer. By praying this way, you are brought on further in the knowledge of God. Our knowledge should not only be from the Bible, but should also be from God Himself.
Suppose you ask God for another book and after four or five days, He has not given it to you; after two months God still has not given it to you. If after three or four months God still has not answered your prayer, and you do not know why, you must have a seeking and searching heart to ask Him why He answered your prayer the first time but not this time. You must find the problem. The problem must not be on God's side. God has no lack, and He has the power to accomplish your prayer. The problem is definitely on your side. You ought to put aside the matter of asking for the book and search for the reason that there is no answer. You can ask God, saying, "God! I have asked You for a book. Why do You not give it to me?" When you earnestly seek and ask God to show you, God will tell you to deal with this and that matter before He will answer your prayer. After you have dealt with these matters, God will give you the book after three to five days. But by then you have not just received a book, but something deeper — the knowledge of God. This knowledge will cause you to not pray as before. You will know that you have to remove the barriers before God will answer your prayer.
All the knowledge we acquire from God comes by some amount of laboring; we cannot acquire this knowledge simply by reading or listening. If we learn how to deal with God and how to be dealt with by God in everything, that is, if we learn to have dealings with God in everything, we will know what God wants from us, what He wants to remove from us, and what He wants to accomplish in us. In this way we will know God, and God will be known by us.
I will mention a few more things about our experience so that we can know God more. There are many spiritual principles concerning the matter of praying. If we do not learn them, God will not answer our prayers. For example, we may ask God for a watch. After we pray for two or three days or five or six days, we forget about the matter. God has not answered our prayer, and we have totally forgotten about it. Many times we pray for this or that or tens or hundreds of other things. God has not answered us, so we forget about it and so does God. This kind of prayer is like not even praying at all. Strictly speaking, we should ask God why He has not given us the watch. We should say, "God, I asked for a watch; why did You not give it to me?" When we deal with God this way, He will show us that our desire is not strong enough. Since our desire is not that strong, even if God were to answer our prayer, we would not feel very happy. If God did not answer our prayer, we also would not feel much of a loss. Since this is our condition, God cannot answer our prayer. Any prayer that cannot move our own heart cannot move God. If we pray, we must have an absolute desire before God. We should not let God go if He does not answer. If we can let go of something whether or not God answers our prayer, He will certainly not answer our prayer, because He knows that it does not matter to us. If we realize this, we will acquire new knowledge and realize that all of our prayers must be accompanied by sincere desires.
Sometimes we are full of desire, yet still do not receive an answer. If we ask God again, He may tell us that while we truly have a desire, we have not asked; we have not opened our mouth to speak out what we want. This is what the Bible says: "You do not have because you do not ask" (James 4:2). Thus, you acquire new knowledge that even with a desire within, you still have to ask without.
Suppose that you want God to answer your prayer and you have a desire within and an asking without, and God still has not answered your prayers. If you pray again and ask God why He has not answered you, He may say that you still have not obeyed Him in one thing and that He will not listen to your prayer until you obey Him in that one thing. Then you will realize that you need to obey God totally. After you have obeyed Him, you may say, "O God, I have removed what You wanted me to remove. God, answer my prayer now." In this way you acquire the new knowledge that God only answers the prayers of the obedient ones. The kind of knowledge which you acquire through dealing with God and through being dealt with by God is very different from the knowledge you acquire from reading the Bible or listening to messages.
Let me say a sincere word. The reason God does not listen to the prayers of many brothers and sisters is that they have not learned to obey God. If you do not listen to God all the time, neither will He listen to your prayer. You may think that many things are small and that you can ignore them. You may ignore them, but God will never ignore them. Let me say a very frank word: Many Christians still need to go through a thorough dealing from God. You cannot ignore things, one by one, until tens or hundreds of items have piled up. When you pray to God, you must have a thorough dealing with each matter, one by one. Unless you do this, God will not answer your prayer. Sometimes a great danger is approaching, and God may make an exception and listen to you. However, if you want God to continually answer your prayers, you have to faithfully obey God every time, on every item, and in everything.
Perhaps you have obeyed, but your prayers are still not answered. You should then inquire of God again. Perhaps God will tell you that you have no faith. You can then inquire how you can have faith. Perhaps you repeatedly ask God to answer your prayer, and you pray that He will give you faith. If you still do not have it, God may tell you that you need to deal with some things before you can have the faith. Perhaps you have prayed too zealously and asked repeatedly, to the point that even when God says no, you do not let Him go. This proves that you have not obeyed. When you obey, you will say, "God, even if You do not give me what I want, I will still obey You." This seems to contradict the point about desire that we mentioned earlier. Indeed, many spiritual things are contradictory one to another. Yet they are all facts. When you reach this point, God may tell you that you need to ask for faith. If you, accordingly, pray for faith, you may come across or may look up a passage in the Bible, and one of the lines will lay hold of you. The word lays hold of you, instead of you laying hold of the word. The letters may be in a small size, but when the word lays hold of you, they may appear to be much larger. You will realize that God has comforted you and has given you a word. You will realize that God has heard your prayer and has given you the promise. You can then speak to God and reckon with Him on the basis of His word. In this way you acquire the new knowledge of faith in God in prayer. By then you will know what faith means in the Bible.
Perhaps you have dealt with everything and have obtained faith. Yet you still have not received the watch. You may pray again. After you have prayed for one or two months, you still may not have received the watch. The more you pray, the less likely it appears that you will receive it. You ask the Lord again and learn that after receiving a promise, you should praise rather than pray. If you pray after you have already obtained faith, your prayer will bring forth doubts. If God has given you the word and you have the faith, you should praise. Satan may come at once to tempt, saying, "You should pray." You should reply, "No, I should praise." He may come a second time to tempt, saying, "You should pray." You should still reply, "No. God has heard my prayer, and I should praise instead." This is the right thing to do. This is actually what happens in our human relationships; if others have not promised anything, you can ask for it. But if they have promised something, all you have to do is thank them. In the same way, since God has given you His promise, you should praise Him. If you pray more, the prayer will cause you to lose your faith. Mr. B______, an experienced brother in the Lord, once said, "Do not pray yourself out of the realm of faith." If your prayer causes you to lose faith, doubts will be brought in. More prayer means that you do not believe what the Lord has spoken to you. In this way you acquire new knowledge from God; you now know how to offer up praise in your prayer based on faith.
However, after praising again and again, you still may have not received what you prayed for. You ask God again, "Why is this so?" You then find out that after you have faith, you must not only praise, but also must remind God. As the Lord said in Isaiah, "Put Me in remembrance" (43:26). It is as if God can forget, and we have to remind Him. God may have promised, but He needs us to remind Him. We should say, not with a heart of unbelief but with a heart of faith, "Lord, You have given me Your promise. You should remember Your promise." This is exactly what King Solomon did. He said to God, "Now, O Lord God, let thy promise unto David my father be established" (2 Chron. 1:9). This way of reminding God is very meaningful. The reason that God delays His promise is that we may have the opportunity to deal with Him. In this way we acquire new knowledge; we have learned how to remind Him.
Having done all these, you may still not have what you asked for. There is something more you have to learn. The matter of prayer is so simple that even a six-year-old child can do it, but it is also so complicated that a person with seventy or eighty years of experience still has much that he does not know or comprehend. Perhaps God wants you to wait. Or perhaps Satan is attacking you, in which case you should learn to resist. The knowledge of God's way is acquired through numerous prayers. The next time you pray, you will know how much you have to remove; then you will get God's answer whenever you ask. An experienced believer has a great deal of assurance about his prayers. He knows without any doubt that at a certain time God has answered his prayer. Without this kind of knowledge, we will not know whether or not God has answered us. We will also be full of doubts and have no rest at all. We must learn to know God in things that are big or small. If we do this again and again, God will answer our prayer.
Once a friend of mine was short of one hundred fifty dollars (if I remember right). At the time he was living in a village. He needed this amount of money on Monday, and it was Saturday. The steam ferryboat only docked at his village several times during the week, and no boats were scheduled to arrive before Monday. He had only two dollars in his pocket. He prayed to the Lord, and the Lord said to him, "You still have two dollars. This is only Saturday. Wait until the two dollars are spent, and see what happens on Monday." He submitted to God and concentrated on how he should spend the two dollars. As he went out to preach the gospel, he met a man who said to him, "I cleaned your windows the other day and have not yet asked you for payment." So he paid this person one dollar as usual. Now he had only one dollar remaining in his pocket. As he walked further, he met a beggar asking for money. He thought about having only one dollar, and the dollar seemed to become more precious to him. He considered changing the dollar into coins and giving half of the coins to the beggar. But at that very moment, he knew that was wrong, and he, subsequently, gave the whole dollar to the beggar. Once the dollar bill went out, God came in. He was very happy and said that there was nothing left for him to depend on in this world and that God must take care of him and bless him. He went to sleep and worked on the Lord's Day as usual. It was marvelous that one of his friends cabled him a money order on Monday, and it was exactly one hundred fifty dollars. If I remember right, the cable charge was about thirty to fifty dollars. But there was not any shortage for the payment he was supposed to make.
Every time we want God to answer our prayers, we must go through God's dealing. Even a large bottle can be plugged with a small plug. If it is then thrown into the sea, not one drop of sea water will enter into the bottle. The two dollars remaining in our pockets are just like the small plug; if we do not remove this plug, we cannot receive anything from God. We cannot learn very much at once. However, if we have prayed for ten years, we should have ten years of praying experience; if we have prayed for twenty years, we should have twenty years of praying experience. Our experience should become deeper as time goes on. In the end we will realize that even the words of our prayer are crucial. We will know that if we pray in a certain way, God will not listen, and if we pray in another way, God will listen. Everything has to be thoroughly studied. Whenever we pray we should have the confidence that God will answer. We do not have to wait three to five months to realize God's answer. Without the experience of knowing God in prayer, no one can have the experience of knowing God.
Once, Miss M.E. Barber felt that it was God's will that she prepare about ten rooms for hospitality for believers. These would be apartment-like buildings. She prayed for this and, marvelously, God caused a nearby vocational school to close and it was rented to her. There were twenty rooms altogether, and the monthly rent was only twenty dollars. The matter was thus settled. I felt that it was quite remarkable.
Four years later, some bad news came that the vocational school would be reopened. I heard this news through my father because he was one of the board members of the school. One afternoon I went purposely to visit Miss Barber and asked whether or not she was aware of the news. She said that she had indeed received a notice from the school that it was scheduled to reopen in the fall. The school had hired two engineers from the United States to come, and they were on their way. The matter was very certain in their eyes. I asked her, "Are you going to move?" She said, "No." I asked again, "Have you prayed?" She said, "No, I do not even need to pray this time." A young believer who was there said that she must have been deceived by Satan. She answered, "Do not say that so quickly; let us wait and see." Then I asked her again how she could be so sure. She said, "God does not play jokes on us. He said that He wanted me to manage some living quarters. I have done this. He has not told me to stop; will He cast us out? God does not play jokes on us." But how about the other party? The engineers were on their way, and the opening of the school was definite. But she was enjoying her summer vacation peacefully on the mountain, as if this situation would never occur. Remarkably, when she was about to come down from the mountain, the school sent her a letter telling her that the school would not reopen. They asked her to continue renting the rooms because, while they were preparing to reopen the school, an unexpected financial change had forced them to declare bankruptcy. Oh, once we realize clearly the principle of God's working, no matter what happens, we will know definitely how to deal with it. In this way we will avoid many unnecessary actions and words. If we know God, we will certainly know the way He acts. If we know a person's disposition, we can predict how he will act and speak under various circumstances. If we know God, we will know whether He will answer our prayers or not.
Today the church is always paying attention to Bible studies. Bible studies are very important, but I urge everyone to realize that it is more important to know God. After you have learned all these lessons, when you see someone with problems, groping in darkness, you will be very clear about what he should do. Situations may differ, but the principle is the same. When you pray with someone, you will know assuredly whether his prayer will be answered or not. When you pray with two persons, you will know which one knows how to pray and which one does not. This does not mean that you are a prophet; it merely means that you know the outcome of their prayer based on their spiritual condition.
We must never be contented and never think that it does not matter whether or not God answers our prayer. How precious it is to have a definite answer every time.
In the future I will speak on this topic specifically. Perhaps I will need to speak four or five messages on this. Today I will just speak briefly about it. If we want to know God's will, we also need to deal with God. If we have not been dealt with by God, we cannot know His will. Some brothers and sisters may think, "God's will is the greatest thing in the entire world; how can we possibly know it?" Yes, God is indeed great. How then can He reveal His will to little men like us? We have to first adjust ourselves. If a mirror is foggy, it cannot reflect a clear image; if it is too long or too short, convex or concave, it will also distort a person's real image. If we do not adjust ourselves, the will of God will be very distorted by us. Every time we want to know God's will, we must first deal with our selves. We must be willing to lay down our selves and forsake everything, before God will reveal His will to us. Whenever we are seeking God's will, our self must first be dealt with by God.
Whenever Mr. George Müller sought God's will, he continually searched and examined the situation. In his diary, whenever he mentioned something for the first time, he would always say that things seemed to point toward a certain way. The second time he mentioned it, he would say again that things seemed to point toward that way. After a month or two, he would record the same thing with the same remark that things seemed to be pointing a certain way. It would sound like, "On a certain day, someone came, and what he asked seemed to have to do with this matter." Or it would say, "On a certain day, what a certain co-worker said seemed to match this matter." Sometimes he would say that on a certain day he received a promise. After a period of time, he would record that the matter was now quite clear. Still later, he would say, "Now not only is there the word, but there is the supply also." Yet later, he would say, "Now the matter is absolutely clear." Sometimes he would record in his diary that though he did not have much money, God was beginning to provide and was blessing him again. Therefore, he was not afraid of those who scoffed at him, neither would he make a contract with others. Whenever a need arose, he asked God to provide, and God's provision always met the need exactly. He was always learning to deal with God.
One day as he was praying, he felt that God wanted him to return to Germany. He said to God, "There are three matters at present which prevent me from returning: (1) if my wife goes along, there is no one to take care of my three children; (2) there are no traveling funds; and (3) there is a need for someone to care for the orphans in my place. I do not know whether You want me to go. If You do, please make provisions for these matters." One day someone came, and he felt that this person would be very suitable to care for the orphans. He told God that one need had been met, but that there were still two more. Before long, a sister wanted to stay in his house for a few months, who, at the same time, could take care of his children. The second need was also met. Then someone offered an amount of money to him (he never took any money from his work), and the last need was also met. When this happened, he asked God, "Can I leave for Germany now?" These dealings were clearly recorded in his diary. He always learned to deal with God step by step.
How can one know God's will? Someone may tell you that the first thought that comes to your mind after you pray is God's will. But this is not always so. Mr. Müller's spiritual growth was faster than others because of his thorough dealing. This has much to do with prayer. Those who do not pray in a thorough way can never know God.
Mr. Müller once taught a little girl how to pray. Eventually, she learned it. The girl's name was Abigail. She was very young. She wanted some colorful yarn in order to make a play ball. When she saw this man of God, Mr. Müller, coming to her house, she bargained with him, saying, "My parents said you can pray very well. I would like to ask you for one thing. I would like to have a yarn ball with different colors. Can you please pray for me?" The old man said, "Yes, but you need to pray for this as well." The little girl knelt down, and this man of God also knelt down with her. The girl first prayed, "I want a yarn ball, and it must be colorful." Then this man of God bowed down his head with silvery hair, put his hand on the girl, and prayed, "Lord, here is a child who wants a yarn ball with different colors. No one knows this, neither can I provide it. This matter is Yours; please listen to her prayer." After this old man uttered his prayer, he was silent, yet he appeared to still mutter something. Then he stood up and told the girl that God would give her the colorful yarn within a couple of days. At that time the girl's heart leapt. He brought her request to God. She thought that perhaps her grandmother or her aunt would bring her some colorful yarn. The following evening, her father brought home some colorful yarn to her. She was extremely happy. Her father owned a department store, and all the other kinds of yarn, except this one, had been sold. It had been on display in the store for a long time. Since it did not look nice on the shelf, he took it home and gave it to his daughter. The next time Mr. Müller saw her, he asked, "Have you enjoyed playing with your yarn ball?" He did not ask her whether or not she had received the ball, but whether or not she had fun playing with it. A person who knows God has this kind of assurance. Mr. Müller had countless anecdotes like this during his lifetime. Every time, he was always very accurate. It took him several decades to learn. He followed God until he was more than ninety years old. Many of his experiences were learned from following God. He never did anything in a vague way. In his diary he always recorded clearly what had happened on a certain day. He dealt with God in this way all the time. It is no wonder that he had such a deep experience. Today our mistake is in thinking that spiritual knowledge is mere biblical knowledge. Little do we realize that genuine spiritual knowledge must be learned from God. If we want to learn before God, we must deal with God and be dealt with by God.
The most precious thing on earth today is the knowledge of God. However, in order to know God, we need to be dealt with by Him in everything. We need to be dealt with by Him in prayer, and we need to be dealt with by Him in matters related to His will. We need to deal with sin and our environment. When something happens, we need to ask, "What does this mean?" and "What is God after?" A lazy person can never know God. We can only know God through prayer and through communicating with Him. We should be like Paul who, after asking the Lord once without getting an answer, asked the Lord two or three times until the Lord spoke to him. We should also learn of our Lord. He prayed in Gethsemane the first time, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will" (Matt 26:39). He prayed a second time and a third time until He was completely clear on this matter. We also need to pray once, twice, three times until we get the answer from God. Only in this way can we know God.
I would like to speak some words to the co-workers: if you have not learned to be dealt with by God and to deal with God, you can never go out to work because you are not yet even a proper Christian. If you do not know God's principles, God's way of doing things, and God's nature, you are no different from other people. If you can only give people some spiritual theories, you cannot lead them on in the spiritual way. A person who has read a tour book on Hangchow or Peking has not necessarily been to Hangchow or Peking. A person who owns a cookbook has not necessarily eaten all the dishes in the cookbook. In the same way, if you merely understand the Bible, but have no experience, you can never lead others to the right way.
If you simply have experience and do not know the Bible, you will not have the proper word for other people. The Lord said, "You err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God." This was the Lord's rebuke. Many believers lack the knowledge or the realization of God's power. Many people only know some spiritual theories. In the end all they have are theories. Likewise, all you have are theories. They do not know what they are talking about. Neither do you know what you are talking about. Many people are able to teach others simply because they have a better memory and can remember more doctrines. O brothers and sisters, this is too poor. May we learn to know Him in prayer and in His will. We can know God. There is nothing more important than knowing God. May we not just retain what we have heard today in our mind, but, from now on, may we be diligent to learn to know God and accept His dealing.
