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If we consider these exercises for the meetings as something too difficult and not worthwhile, there is nothing further to say. But if we think that these exercises are worthwhile, we should apply ourselves, spend our time, and learn to put ourselves aside particularly in this matter. Otherwise, these exercises will only be in letter; there will not be much spiritual significance. If we are not willing to pay the price, what we are doing can be compared to building a castle in the air. Therefore, if we are willing to pay the price, we must diligently apply ourselves to be exercised in this matter. This kind of exercise will yield no result if we do not have the heart for it.
Moreover, if we want good and rich meetings, we must allow the Holy Spirit to rule. The Holy Spirit cannot come out in a meeting unless He can first come out through us. Therefore, we must allow Him to reign in us by simply laying ourselves aside.
Usually, at the beginning of the table meeting everyone feels quite ordinary; we do not have any particular feeling. In such a case we can select Hymns, #158, “Lord, Thy love has sought and found us / Wand’ring in this desert wide; / Thou hast thrown Thine arms around us, / For us suffered, bled, and died. / Sing, my soul! He lovèd thee, / Jesus gave Himself for me.” This hymn can easily touch the feeling deep within us. On the one hand, it gives us a sense of the Lord’s coming to seek us and His giving Himself up for us; on the other hand, it stirs up a sense of gratitude in our hearts and a desire to offer up our praise to the Lord. If we are touched in our spirit after singing and have entered into the feeling of the Lord’s seeking us and giving Himself up for us, a brother should offer a prayer according to this feeling in his spirit.
We must pay attention to a few principles when we pray at a table meeting. First, our prayers must be fitly connected to one another. After singing a hymn that was selected according to the spirit of the meeting, we should utter a prayer to follow the hymn; we should not pray in a disconnected way. We should sense the feeling of a meeting by following the Spirit’s moving within us. In a meeting we should be like those in a relay race in which we may not run outside the lane. After singing the first hymn, someone should follow with a prayer. After the first prayer someone else should follow with a second hymn or a second prayer, and perhaps there should be a third prayer. The entire meeting, including the selection of hymns, prayers, reading of Scriptures, exhortation, or testimony, should be carried out as if we are in a relay race; there should not be another beginning halfway through the meeting.
The present situation in our meetings is that we have one beginning after another, with each person making his own move. Five people have five different activities; ten people have ten different activities. From the beginning to the end, our meetings are continually being restarted. Thus, the entire meeting is disconnected, without a distinct beginning, progression, or conclusion. This is a serious mistake. We must firmly grasp this principle: with the exception of the beginning prayer, all subsequent prayers, whether it is one prayer or ten prayers, must be connected with each other and closely follow each other.
Second, our prayers should move forward; they should not remain in the same place. Immediately after we offer a prayer in relation to a hymn, we must move forward in our spirit. We must not only move further but also move higher. For instance, when we follow Hymns, #158 with a prayer, our spirit must not remain in the same place; it should move forward. Horizontally, our prayer should advance further; vertically, it should climb higher. The first prayer leads to the subject; hence, the second prayer should climb one step higher, and then when another hymn is selected, it should climb even higher. We must hold on to this principle. Just as in writing a composition, we keep moving higher and further.
Third, as we move forward in the meeting, we must learn to maintain the feeling of the meeting in our prayers and hymns. This simply means that we cannot proceed independently. As we move forward in selecting a hymn, and especially when we pray, we should bring the brothers and sisters with us. The more we pray, the more they will say Amen; the more we pray, the more they will be drawn to the center. The brothers and sisters may not be uplifted in their spirit before we pray, but after we pray, their spirits should climb higher and higher.
Suppose the brothers and sisters are in the feeling of the Lord’s suffering, yet our prayer is concerning the Lord’s glorification in heaven. Our feeling does not match the feeling of the brothers and sisters. According to our feeling, we have already climbed up to heaven, but the brothers and sisters are still prostrate on earth. This is not appropriate. We need to take care of the feeling of the brothers and sisters as we move upward. Hence, prayer requires a great deal of exercise. In a three-legged race we must take care of our partner who is bound to us; we cannot simply run as fast as we wish. Likewise, as we move forward in a meeting, we must bring the brothers and sisters with us and run with them. Do not disregard this matter. This requires a considerable amount of exercise.
Fourth, as a rule, all our prayers should contain utterances of poetic quality. We should pray with words that bear a poetic character; it is not good to pray with words that are too plain. For example, the Canaanite woman cried out to the Lord Jesus: “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David!” (Matt. 15:22). Her prayer has a poetic nature as evidenced by the utterances Have mercy on me and Son of David. She came to ask the Son of David to heal her daughter. Without the poetic characteristic she might have asked the Lord in a rough way, “Just heal my daughter.” This kind of prayer is not wrong. She might have also said, “Jesus, my daughter is ill. Go quickly and heal her!” This would make her sound like a bandit who always speaks rudely to coerce people to do something, saying, “You do this!” However, although she was a Canaanite woman, when she came to pray before the Lord Jesus, her prayer was poetic: “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter suffers terribly from demon possession” (v. 22). Her utterances are refined and pleasant to the ears. Hence, there is a great deal for us to learn regarding prayer.
The Lord Jesus was even more poetic in His reply. He was not like us; we might have said directly, “Go away; I cannot heal your daughter.” The Lord did not do this; rather, He replied in a mild way, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs” (v. 26). The word dogs implies many things. The Canaanite woman’s answer was very proper: “Yes, Lord, for even the little dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table” (v. 27). The conversation between her and the Lord contains numerous poetic utterances. There is no direct mention of the daughter’s problem, yet the purpose of the entire conversation is for the daughter. This is being poetic. The Lord’s response is also very poetic. He did not say, “These Gentiles do not know God; even the children of Israel do not have such faith.” Instead, He said, “Great is your faith! Be it done to you as you wish” (v. 28). The Lord’s response is as poetic as the Canaanite woman’s prayer.
Furthermore, Jacob’s blessing of his sons (Gen. 49:1-28), Moses’ blessing of the children of Israel (Deut. 33), and the prayer of Samuel’s mother (1 Sam. 2:1-10) are passages in the Old Testament that are rich in poetic qualities. These qualities are especially evident in the Psalms. For example, Psalm 51 is David’s psalm of repentance. He says, “Therefore You are righteous when You speak; / You are clear when You judge... / Purge my sin with hyssop, and I will be clean; / Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow... / Create in me a clean heart, O God, / And renew a steadfast spirit within me” (vv. 4-10). On the surface, these expressions seem to be very plain, but in actuality, they possess rich poetic qualities. I hope that we will all pay attention to this matter and will be exercised in it. God is full of feeling. A person with much feeling tends to be poetic in utterance, whereas a person with little feeling tends to be rough in his expressions. The more a person touches God, the richer his feeling will be, and consequently, the more poetic his utterances will be.
However, do not think that merely being poetic is good enough; the most important thing concerning prayer is that it should touch people’s spirit. The more we are in the spirit, the more feeling we have; the less we are in the spirit, the less feeling we have. The outward feeling of man is shallow; the inward feeling of man is deep. The spirit of man is the deepest part of man. The more we pray by the spirit, the more feeling we will have, and consequently, our utterances will be more poetic. Moreover, the more poetic our utterances are, the more we can touch the feelings of others. If our prayer is full of poetical utterance, it is easier for us to touch the spirit and the feeling of the saints. But if we use fancy words merely for the sake of being poetic, it will be ineffective and worthless.
In our service to God we must learn to be keen and tender in our feeling. We should not use common and rough expressions. Although our prayers are neither poems nor psalms of praise, through them we can touch the Lord who has the most feeling and who is the most exalted and glorious. Therefore, when we come before the Lord to speak to Him, our utterances should be full of poetic qualities and rich in feeling.
Fifth, our prayers should not only move forward and upward, they should also bring the atmosphere of the meeting to the subject of the meeting. For example, the first section of the Lord’s table meeting is for the breaking of the bread. After a few hymns and prayers we should bring the meeting toward the bread and the cup, to the feeling of breaking the bread. However, some prayers do not turn our feeling to the Lord’s table but rather draw our feeling further away from it. Suppose the atmosphere at the Lord’s table is that the Lord died and shed His blood for us, yet a brother prays in tears, “O Lord, no one but You can understand the hardship we suffer on earth.” We cannot say that such a prayer is wrong. However, this prayer merely takes us to a Roman execution place to see the persecution of Christians; it does not show us the Lord’s table.
If our spirit is focused on the bread and the cup and a prayer is offered regarding the Lord’s suffering on earth, a brother should follow the prayer and the atmosphere of the meeting to select Hymns, #226, “For the bread and for the wine, / For the pledge that seals Him mine, / For the words of love divine, / We give Thee thanks, O Lord.” This will bring us into the feeling of the bread and the cup. When we come to the fourth stanza, we should all stand up and prepare for the breaking of the bread. After singing, someone should offer a prayer of blessing to receive the bread and the cup from the Lord’s hand.
Sixth, we should avoid formal prayers at the table meeting; instead, we should use words of revelation and words that convey spiritual facts. For instance, at the beginning of the table meeting, a brother may pray, “O Lord, once again we come to Your table.” This word is formal; it is not of revelation. After singing Hymns, #226, we should normally have a certain feeling or seeing concerning the bread and the cup. We should not pray with formal phrases, such as “once again we...,” especially if such a prayer was offered earlier in the meeting. Suppose we were invited to a meal and have been sitting for a while at the dinner table. When the food is put on the table, we should take it and eat. It would be formal for us to say, “Once again let us come and eat.”
When we pray, we should simply say, “O Lord, we thank You for the bread and for the cup; we are here in remembrance of You. O Lord, thank You for giving us the bread and the cup.” The principle is that we mention the bread and the cup directly. We can also say, “O Lord, our hearts are filled with sweetness as we sing with our mouths and behold the bread and the cup with our eyes. O Lord, You are the sweetest One.” This is somewhat poetic. After this we can pray with words of revelation concerning the bread: “O Lord, although we are here breaking the bread, the bread was actually broken on the cross.” This word is significant because it shows that we can break the bread today because the Lord was broken at the time of His crucifixion. We should continually refer to the bread in our prayers. For instance, we may say, “Lord, we praise You that You were broken; You are no longer unbroken. Because You were broken, we can have Your life, Your very person.” After we have finished praying concerning the bread, we should go on to speak concerning the cup, still using words of revelation and of a poetic nature.
Then all the saints will have the inward revelation: “O Lord, the bread is so good, and the cup is so sweet. You received the cup as a portion on our behalf. You drank the cup of wrath so that today we have the cup of blessing. It is because You shed Your blood and died for us that the cup of wrath has become the cup of blessing. In this cup we see the precious blood You shed for us. It is because You shed Your blood that our sins were taken away from us, and God’s riches have come to us. O Lord, now we receive this bread and this cup from Your hand. While we are receiving them, we pray that You would add Yourself as a blessing to us. Lord, may we touch the reality of this bread and this cup, not merely the outward bread and cup. Lord, may we break this bread and drink this cup in our daily living.” We must bring the brothers and sisters into the feeling of the bread and the cup.
Through our prayer both the bread and the cup are unveiled to the universe. After our prayer everyone should have seen the bread and the cup. This kind of revelation is not received instantly. Therefore, we need to spend the time and energy to exercise diligently. If in every locality there are ten saints who know how to select hymns and another ten who know how to pray, the situation of the various meetings will surely be living and full of the life supply. Thus, everyone will love to come to the meeting and live the church life.
There are fifty-two weeks in a year. If week by week, we speak the story, the beauty, and the sweetness of the bread and the cup through our prayers, what a rich church life we will have! For example, when we are remembering the Lord in a table meeting, we may see the beauty of the Lord’s fine living on earth. When it is time to bless the bread and the cup, someone may bless and thank the Lord for the bread and the cup, saying, “O Lord, this bread is like the cakes of fine flour in the Old Testament. Lord, You are like the fine flour. You are fine in every aspect.” Then when we break the bread the following week, we may see the suffering of the Lord; thus, we bless the bread and the cup by saying, “O Lord, from the time You came to the earth, You suffered continually. Lord, You are the one grain who passed through smiting and grinding. You suffered Your whole life. Lord, the cup displayed here portrays You as a grape that was crushed, squeezed, and pressed. You have suffered so much for us. Lord, we thank You.” In this way the saints will know the Lord in His different aspects.
We must all be desperate before the Lord to avoid formal words and, instead, use words of revelation. For example, after the bread and the cup are blessed, a brother may select Hymns, #93. As a rule, someone should offer a prayer that follows the feeling of the hymn, saying, “O Lord, because You were betrayed by man and forsaken by God, You measured sin’s distance on the cross for us. This distance includes darkness, wrath, and the curse. Here, despite such a distance, we are receiving the bread and the cup.” We should then thank and praise the Lord for His cross. After this, a brother who has seen the revelation that resurrection comes after the cross should pray, “O Lord, You not only died, but You also resurrected for us. On one hand, we have seen Your death; on the other hand, we are in Your resurrection. Lord, we are here remembering You in Your resurrection. We praise You that You resurrected and that You are with us now and forever. Today we praise You in Your resurrection.” In this way the entire meeting will move forward and will be full of revelation. Therefore, praying in the table meeting involves many aspects. Our prayer may be compared to the four seasons, which can be represented by different kinds of blossoms. Our praises concerning the bread and the cup should change according to “the season.” For example, even though we see the Lord’s death, we are still in His resurrection.
Furthermore, the utterances of our prayer in a table meeting should not be too free or careless. For instance, someone may pray, “O Lord, You shed Your blood drop by drop.” This is not appropriate. We may be able to teach in this way in a children’s meeting, but we cannot pray like this in a table meeting. That would be a joke. Another example is to pray, “O Lord, our hands have sinned, so Your hands were nailed for us; our feet have sinned, so Your feet were nailed for us; our head has sinned, so Your head was pricked for us...” We may think that this is a good prayer, but this prayer is from the human mind and devoid of revelation. The Lord Jesus’ hands and feet were nailed not merely because our hands and feet have sinned but because our entire being has sinned, including our ears, our eyes, our tongues, etc. Because of Hymns, #93, we can say to the Lord, “On the cross You measured sin’s distance. When You were on the cross, You knew how far away we were from God because of sin. It was not until we saw Your death on the cross that we knew how far away we were from God because of sin. Before You died on the cross, we did not know how far away we were from God, and we did not even realize that we were sinners.” This is a revelation.
In short, our prayers at the Lord’s table meeting should focus on these six principles: being fitly connected, moving forward in the spirit, maintaining the feeling of the meeting, using poetic utterances, having revelation, and avoiding formal expressions.
