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Isaiah 6:8 says, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us? And I said, Here am I; send me.” Today many of us have received special grace from God to see the way that God is taking and the work that He is doing, so that we can be blessed in receiving His commission and answering His call. For these important matters we must have adequate prayer.
We know that God’s work is based upon our prayer. How much God works depends on how much we pray. How strong God’s work is depends on how strong our prayer is. How effective God’s work is depends on how much spiritual element we have in our prayer. A certain servant of the Lord once said that the extent of our prayer determines the extent of God’s work. The people we pray for are the people God will work on, and the degree to which we pray is the degree to which God will work. Our prayer paves the way for God’s work.
We look to the Lord to work among us not only today but even more in the future. For this we must have much more prayer. Without sufficient and thorough prayer we cannot expect God to work more. Therefore, we look to God to grant the saints the burden to pray. We look to God to press them to pray, even to the extent that they would have no peace and would not be able to eat or sleep until they pray. The psalmist told us that a day in the courts of God is better than a thousand elsewhere (Psa. 84:10). This means that spending time in prayer is a thousand times more effective than spending it in other matters. To spend a day in prayer is better than spending a thousand days in other matters. We look to God to grant us adequate prayer and also an adequate number of praying ones.
The Bible tells us that God is working all the time. Jerusalem was the center of God’s work in the Old Testament. God intended to work to the extent that Jerusalem would be a praise in the earth (Isa. 62:6-7). However, God did not begin doing this right away. What did He do? He first appointed watchmen, men who watched in prayer upon the walls of Jerusalem. These watchmen who were appointed by God reminded Him day and night, giving Him no rest and taking no rest for themselves. Does this seem strange? There is no problem in the heavens, but there is a problem on earth. God’s will is secure in the heavens but not on earth. The “electricity” cannot be transmitted to the earth, and thus, God cannot do anything. We cannot see God’s work and blessing on man that much because of the problem on man’s side.
Please listen to this call: “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?” (6:8). God has an intention in the heavens to save men, but who cares for this intention? Throughout the ages God has constantly been asking, “Who will go for Us?” He wanted to save the children of Israel, but who was willing to work together with Him? He wants to give grace to man, but who cares for His heart? There is no problem on God’s side, but there is a big problem on man’s side. What is the problem? The problem is that our prayers are not right, having originated from the erroneous concept that we must wait for God to work, when in fact God is waiting for us to work with Him. For a long time God has wanted to work. He wants to save thousands of sinners and has been ready to save them for a long time, but He has not found anyone to work together with Him. Thus, He is still sighing, “Who will go for Us?” This sighing indicates how great a problem this is. This great problem is that in this universe God is prepared to give men grace, to save men, and to work in every corner of the whole earth. However, there is no one on earth who is willing to cooperate with Him.
God’s work requires man’s prayer. Without man’s prayer, God cannot do anything even if He wants to. This is a big principle in God’s work. If God cannot find people to work with Him and to pray, He will not be able to do anything, even though He is the almighty God and is willing to do it. Why is this so? The reason is that He does not work alone; instead, He desires that man work together with Him. This is the law of His work. If He cannot find such ones, He will not be able to work.
What is this law? Many saints among us have studied electricity. According to the laws of electricity, two wires are required to transmit electricity — the supply wire and the return wire. Only when these two wires are connected can there be the transmission of electricity. If there is a supply wire but no return wire or a return wire but no supply wire, electricity cannot be transmitted. You may ask, “Why is there such a law?” I do not know. Even electricians may not be able to give you an adequate explanation. Nonetheless, they have discovered this fact that there must be return and supply wires for electricity to be transmitted. The things on earth are a reflection of the things in the heavens. The Spirit of God cannot be transmitted to the earth because a “return wire” is lacking — men on the earth who will cooperate with Him. Although God has no problems in the heavens, He has a problem on earth because He has not been able to gain a group of people on earth to cooperate with Him.
In Matthew the Lord taught us to pray, “Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth” (6:10). This indicates that there is no problem with God’s will being done in heaven, but there is a problem concerning God’s will being done on earth. God’s will encounters a big problem in man, yet hardly anyone realizes it. Therefore, very few pray, “O God! Please send me.” In a certain age and place there may be only one who is willing to answer God’s call. Yet as long as this one is willing to care for God, to work with God, to cooperate with God, and to bow his knees in prayer, this person will be an outlet for heaven. All the heavenly blessings, power, grace, and even God Himself will be transmitted to the earth through that person. Then the world will be able to receive God’s grace, obtain God’s blessing, and know God Himself through him.
Is this matter difficult or troublesome? To God this matter is not difficult or troublesome at all. The difficulties and troubles all lie with us. Our heart, our understanding, our answering, our receiving, and our prayer are all insufficient. Therefore, in words we can understand, God tells us that if we do not work together with Him, if we do not pray, and if we do not remind Him, He will rest. Do you understand the meaning of this? This means that He has a work to do, but He may not be able to do it. Whether or not He can do it depends on our willingness to pray and to remind Him. If we pray to Him and remind Him, He will work, but if we do not pray to Him or remind Him, He will not work.
Today the Lord has truly been merciful to us in granting us such a peaceful environment and people who are so hungry and thirsty for salvation. Yet those who have been saved are very few in number, the gospel has not been widely spread, and many places still do not have churches. Is it possible that the Lord is not willing to save people? Is it possible that He is not pleased to save them? If we know God and care for His heart’s intention, we will realize that God has been ready for a long time and has been waiting for man to answer His call. The “supply wire” is already there, but there is no “return wire” yet; therefore, there is no electricity or light in this place. What is this “return wire?” It is you and I. We have delayed many of God’s works and have failed to save many souls in time. If we would care for God more and pray more, more souls would be saved.
Today the salvation of God seems to be powerless, and the gospel does not seem to be the power of God because very few are being saved. Is this the fault or problem of heaven or of earth? Is the problem on God’s side or on our side? If we really know God, we will see that all the problems and hindrances are in you and me. If we do not care for God, look to God, work together with God, pray to God, or remind God, He will be unable to do anything. Why is this? This is because God can never do anything against His principle. If He cannot find a man and if there is no one who will work with Him, He will have no way to do His work on earth. Although He desires to work and is able to work, He has no ground to begin His work. Why? It is because there is no one cooperating with Him.
I hope that in the near future we all will be able to confirm the fact that if we are willing to answer God’s call, many people around us will be saved, and God’s grace will be transmitted to the earth through us. It is not too hard or troublesome to answer God’s call; it is merely a matter of our heart’s desire. If we have the desire to answer God’s call, from now on we should resolve to set aside some time to pray before the Lord every day. We need to pray again and again because unless we have adequate prayer, all that we have is mere doctrine. We have to meet God, touch God, and answer God’s call in order to meet His need in this age.
Now we will cover a few crucial items and the goal to which we all must pay attention. I hope that we all would keep these few points firmly in our mind, bringing them before God in prayer and reminding God day and night until we see God’s work become a praise on the earth.
First, we need to spend time specifically to pray that the saints would have more of a heart for the Lord. This means that we have to pray to the Lord that the saints would have a heart that is sufficiently inclined toward the Lord and that every one of them would love the Lord. We should not only pray that they would be saved and participate in the church life but that they would also be touched by the Lord and have a heart for Him — not just any heart but a heart sufficiently inclined toward Him. The first issue concerning man is his heart. Today educators regard man as an animal of thought, but there is a part in man — his heart — which is more subjective and which better represents him than his mind.
For three and a half years our Lord Jesus was on the earth with the disciples every day, leading and teaching them. The most important matter that the Lord focused on was the matter of touching their hearts. Although we cannot find such a word in the Gospels, we can draw the conclusion that the Lord was touching their hearts. The Lord touched James’s heart, Peter’s heart, and Andrew’s heart; He touched the hearts of all twelve disciples. What the Lord paid attention to in those three and a half years was their hearts. Why was this? This was because if they had not inclined their hearts toward God and had not fixed their hearts on the Lord, they would have had no future in spiritual matters, and the Lord would not have been able to do anything.
The Lord became flesh that He might work through the disciples, but if the disciples had not had a heart for the Lord, how could the Lord have done anything? Suppose James, Peter, John, and Andrew had no heart for the Lord and had simply gone fishing. Suppose they had been saved and blessed yet had no heart for the Lord’s work. How could the Lord have worked through them? If the Lord had been unable to bring the disciples to the upper room in Jerusalem, the day of Pentecost could have come and the Holy Spirit could have been outpoured, but there would have been no vessel on the earth to receive the leading of the Holy Spirit. However, on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended, there were a hundred and twenty people whose hearts were ready and were for the Lord. Hence, when the Holy Spirit descended, He was able to find one hundred and twenty people on the earth whose hearts were for the Lord and were sufficiently inclined toward the Lord.
When the Lord appeared to the disciples in the Gospels, He appeared as the lovely One. We see in the Gospels that the Lord manifested His power, but we also see that the Lord showed His loveliness. One woman anointed Him with precious ointment and kissed His feet (Luke 7:37-38). This shows us how lovely the Lord was and how sweet and precious He was among His disciples. He did not compel the disciples; rather, He drew them with His grace, His love, His sweetness, and His glory. Which part of the disciples did He draw? He drew their hearts. The Lord touched the disciples’ hearts with His loveliness.
The Lord touched people’s hearts with His loveliness to the extent that they did not care for anything. Two of the sisters — Mary the Magdalene and Mary of Bethany — forsook everything to love the Lord. Why? It was because the Lord was lovely and precious to them. Thus, they forsook everything to love and seek the Lord absolutely. However, after the Lord’s death the brothers, such as Peter, were still weak, even though they knew that the Lord had resurrected. Peter took the lead to go fishing, and the rest of the disciples went with him. That night they caught nothing. As soon as the morning broke, the Lord appeared in their midst. Did the Lord rebuke them? No. The Lord came to them, was gentle before them, and cared for them. The Lord asked them on the shore, “You do not have any fish to eat, do you?” How lovely the Lord was, and how caring He was toward them! After Peter heard that voice, he disregarded everything, forsaking the boat and the fish, and threw himself into the sea. At that time did the Lord rebuke him? No. The Lord did not rebuke him; rather, He asked Peter gently and sympathetically, “Do you love Me more than these?” What the Lord meant was, “Do you love Me more than the sea? Do you love Me more than the world? Do you love Me more than your boat? Do you love Me more than your occupation? Do you love Me more than your fishing skill? Do you love Me more than your capability? Do you love Me more than your companions? Do you love Me more than the one hundred and fifty-three fish? Do you love Me more than these?”
Instead of rebuking and blaming Peter, the Lord simply asked him, “Do you love Me more than these?” How did Peter reply? Peter answered, “Lord, You know that I love You.” Then the Lord asked him again, “Simon,...do you love Me?” Peter did not know how to answer, so he simply told the Lord, “You know that I love You.” The Lord did not ask him this only once or twice but asked him three times. This is recorded in John 21. The sole emphasis and purpose of the Lord’s work in those three and a half years was to touch the disciples’ hearts and lead them to love Him.
Without John 21, there would not have been Acts 1. If man’s heart is not touched by the Lord, he will not be able to tell the Lord, “O Lord, I love You.” The Lord brought Peter, James, John, and the rest of the disciples to a point where they were touched by His love and saw His glory. Then what did they do? They left their relatives and possessions behind and went up to the upper room in Jerusalem. They suffered much persecution and hardship there, but they were not afraid. Their going up to the upper room signifies that they had forsaken everything of the earth. What did they do in the upper room? They wanted only the Lord, not the world or anything of the earth. They forsook everything, including their possessions, families, relatives, positions, and reputations, and trampled all these things under their feet.
They prayed in the upper room day after day, praying again and again, continuing steadfastly for ten days. They did not seek after the things of the earth but only after the things of the heavens; they cared not for man but for God alone. This was their unique goal. They prayed until one day the Holy Spirit came upon them; they prayed until one day the “supply wire” found the “return wire,” that is, until God found man. At that time the “electricity” was transmitted, and the Spirit came. As a result, first three thousand and then five thousand people were saved. From where did these three thousand and five thousand saved ones come? They came from prayer, from the love for the Lord. Without the love for the Lord, there would not have been any forsaking. Without the forsaking, there would not have been any prayer. Without the prayer, there would not have been the descending of the Holy Spirit. Without the descending of the Holy Spirit, there would not have been any power. Without the power, there would not have been any work. And without the work, no one would have been saved.
Without these one hundred and twenty people loving the Lord and emptying the world from their hearts, God would have had no way to work. However, due to the Lord’s drawing, they emptied the world out from their being and their hearts. The world had no place in them, the world could not usurp them, the world had no power over them, and the world had been emptied out of them. These people not only loved God, but they were emptied of the world, and they turned their entire being away from the earth completely. Previously, their fishing boats, their fishing nets, and their fishing companions had been lovely to them, and their hearts had been directed toward the world, their possessions, their occupations, and their families. One day, however, the Lord came to ask them, “Do you love Me more than these?” The Lord’s word turned their hearts around. Their hearts were turned to such an extent that one day they simply gave up everything — the earth, the sea, the boat, the net, and the fish. Instead, they just wanted the Lord, the things of the heavens, and God. When they went up to the upper room in Jerusalem, their whole being and all of their hearts were turned toward the Lord. They prayed until the day the Holy Spirit came upon them and filled them. The filling of the Holy Spirit was the power. May we all see that without prayer, there will not be the filling of the Holy Spirit; without the filling of the Holy Spirit, there will be no power; and without the power, the work will not be effective. All these things come from prayer.
Where does prayer come from? Prayer comes from our love for the Lord. Without a heart that loves the Lord, there will be no prayer. Hence, we need to hear the Lord speaking to us, “Do you love Me more than these?” Not only do we need to hear His voice, but we also need to answer, “O Lord, You know that I love You.” We need to pass through this before we can arrive at Acts. First, there was the prayer in Acts 1, and then there was the descending of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2. I hope that all the saints will sense and see the Lord’s sweetness and beauty. May the Lord draw us so that we may love Him and be touched by Him, so that our heart may be turned right-side up toward the heavens.
Time is very short; the day of the Lord’s coming is drawing near. When we see the changes in the world, should we not pray? We need to love the Lord and turn our hearts to Him while we still have today. From this day on, we need to pray and ask the Lord to turn all our hearts around so that we who belong to God would be those who love God.
Second, in the Gospels the Lord paid attention to the matter of our heart, but in Acts and the Epistles the Lord touches the matter of our spirit. This has a twofold meaning. On the one hand, the Spirit of God enters into us to fill us, and on the other hand, we enter into the Holy Spirit to know the spiritual things and to have the spiritual seeing, revelation, and understanding.
This point is more advanced than the preceding one. It is not sufficient merely to have love. If we only have love, we may still be empty within because we may not have the entering of the Spirit into us. If we do not enter into the Holy Spirit, we will not have adequate knowledge. Our understanding of spiritual matters and things will be very superficial and limited, and we will not be deeply rooted spiritually. This requires much prayer. May the Lord bring us into the Holy Spirit that we may be filled with the Holy Spirit and be opened in spirit, not only hearing the doctrines but also seeing the light, being filled with the Holy Spirit, and entering into the spiritual reality.
Third, we need to receive the gifts and the calling. What is a gift? A gift is a spiritual ability. For example, perhaps some saints do not know how to preach the word, so they ask the Lord for the gift of preaching. Perhaps others do not know how to preach the gospel, so they ask the Lord for the gift of preaching the gospel. Still others may not know how to lead people, so they may ask the Lord for the gift of leading. Moreover, some among us should rise up and ask for gifts that are easier to obtain: the gifts of healing and casting out of demons. When we preach the gospel, sometimes we may find that many people are very superstitious. Therefore, we cannot preach the gospel to them by speaking only. We need to pray and ask God for the gifts — the gifts of healing and casting out of demons. We need to have such boldness. I hope that each one of us would receive some spiritual gifts. Some could cast out demons, some could heal diseases, some could preach the word, some could edify the churches, some could preach the gospel, some could administrate the church, and some could minister to the saints. May the Lord give these gifts to His church in many ways.
The calling is related to the gifts. I hope that the saints would answer the Lord’s calling to set aside their time and everything else for the Lord in order to serve as workers, elders, or deacons. This is a glorious matter.
The fourth item is the spreading of the work and the establishing of the churches. The preceding three items are for this goal. We look to the Lord that He would raise up many saints to answer His calling for the work of spreading the gospel. We hope that by the end of this year the Lord will add ten more places, such as Hualien, Su-Ao, Miaoli, Panchiao, Chutung, and Changhua, that would have the Lord’s table. This is our primary goal. Second, we hope to have churches in all the counties and cities. Third, we hope to have churches in all the towns and villages. Then the gospel will reach the local people, and the Lord will be widely preached among them. This is our long-term goal.
May we all see that there is no other place and no other age that needs the gospel more than this place and age in which we are now. We thank the Lord that He has given us a stable society and environment that are convenient for the preaching of the gospel. If we do not make good use of this time to work for the Lord, we will truly let the Lord down. We look to the Lord for the burden of prayer that we may overcome everything and that we may receive power from on high and thus allow the gospel of the Lord to go forth from our midst.
