Scripture Reading: Matt. 26:44; 2 Cor. 12:8
A key to prayer is to pray "three times" to the Lord. "Three" does not refer literally to the number three; it merely signifies multiplicity. The Lord Jesus prayed to God three times in Gethsemane, and when God answered His prayer, He stopped praying. Paul also prayed three times to the Lord, and when he received an answer from the Lord, he stopped praying. Hence, all prayers have to take care of the principle of praying three times. This does not mean that we should pray once, twice, and three times and then stop. It means that we have to pray until we are through and until God has answered us.
The principle of praying three times is an important principle. Not only must we pay attention to the principle of praying three times in our personal prayer, but we must also take care of the same principle in the prayer meeting. If we expect our prayer to fulfill the ministry of church prayer and accomplish what God wants us to accomplish, we must keep this principle in mind.
The principle of praying three times means that we have to pray in a thorough way. We have to pray until we get through, until we are clear about God's will, and until we receive an answer from the Lord. In the prayer meeting we must never think that just because a matter has been brought up and a brother has prayed about it we do not need to pray about it more. Suppose a sister is sick, and we pray for her. After one brother has prayed, it does not mean that I do not have to pray more. No, after that brother has prayed, I can still pray, and another person can still pray. This does not mean that every matter must be covered by three prayers. It means that whoever has the burden should pray. Sometimes we need to pray five or ten times. The important thing is to pray until the burden is released. This is the principle of praying three times. This is the key to success in our prayer meeting.
Our prayer should not be like grasshoppers, jumping from one place to another. We should not jump to a second thing before the first thing is thoroughly prayed over and then jump back to the first thing before the second thing is thoroughly prayed over. This kind of skipping prayer will not release the burden or receive answers from God. Such prayers are useless and do not fulfill the ministry of prayer.
In order to fulfill the ministry of prayer, we must have a burden to pray before the Lord. We are not setting up a law; we are merely laying down a principle. We have to know that burden is the key to prayer. If a man does not feel any burden to pray for a certain thing, he will not succeed in his prayer. In the prayer meeting, many brothers and sisters mention many things in prayer. But if you are not touched by those things, you cannot pray for them. Every brother and sister must come to the prayer meeting with a burden for prayer before they can pray. At the same time, we should not merely pay attention to our burden but to the burden of the other brothers and sisters as well. Suppose a sister has a husband who is giving her a difficult time, while another brother has incurred a sickness. In the prayer meeting, one brother may pray for the salvation of the sister's husband. After this, another brother may pray for God to heal the sick brother. Then a third brother may remember another matter. These prayers are isolated prayers; they are not according to the principle of praying three times. There has not been a thorough prayer in one matter before going on to another matter. In the prayer meeting, we have to watch to see whether the burden for prayer has been released. If the prayer burden for that sister has been released, we can go on to pray for the sick brother. But if the first prayer burden has not been released, we should not jump to the second or the third thing and pray for those matters. If the burden of the whole meeting is not released concerning a certain matter, we should not insert another prayer according to our personal feelings. We have to sense the spirit of the whole meeting and enter into the feeling of the whole meeting. Some matters are answered after one prayer. Some matters are answered after two prayers. Some matters require three or five prayers before the burden can be released. No matter how many prayers there are, the burden must be released before the prayers can stop. The principle of praying three times is to pray until the burden is released.
We have to note the difference between personal prayers and prayers in the prayer meeting. When we are praying by ourselves, we only have to take care of our personal burden. But in the prayer meeting, we have to take care of the burden of the meeting, and we must not care for our personal burden alone. Therefore, in the prayer meeting, we have to learn to sense the feeling of the meeting. Some matters only require one prayer; there is no need to pray anymore for them because the meeting has no more burden for it. But some matters require more than one prayer; they need to be prayed about over and over again. If a burden is not released, we should not pray for another matter. We can only change the subject when the burden is released. Only then can we pick up another burden from the Lord to pray. In the prayer meeting, we have to learn that when one prays for a matter, the second, third, fourth, and fifth person should also pray for the same matter. Even if one person can pray by himself or five persons can pray by themselves, when they come together, they may not be able to pray in one accord. The prayer of one accord is something that one learns. One person may know how to pray by himself, and five persons may know how to pray by themselves. But when they come together, they still need to learn a new kind of prayer; they need to learn to pray in one accord. Our prayer in the meeting is something that is learned; it is not something that we know how to do right from the beginning.
If two persons pray in one accord, God will answer this prayer (Matt. 18:19). This is not a small thing. We have to enter into others' feelings and know what the prayer of the church is. We have to learn to feel whether or not a prayer burden has been released. If we do this, we will know how to fulfill the ministry of prayer in the meeting.
