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Let us briefly consider twenty-one points concerning prayer.
The significance of prayer is to contact God in our spirit and to absorb God Himself. Prayer is the human spirit contacting the Spirit of God, through which man absorbs God. Therefore, the significance of prayer lies not in asking God for things but in contacting and absorbing God.
Man needs to use the proper organ in whatever he does. He needs eyes to see and ears to hear. Likewise, he needs to use the proper organ to pray. The organ for prayer is the human spirit.
John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.” Jude 20 says, “Praying in the Holy Spirit.” Ephesians 6:18 says, “By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit.” These verses show that God is Spirit and that for man to contact God, he must use his spirit.
The human spirit is the deepest part of man’s being. A person who prays with his spirit contacts God with his innermost part. When a person does not contact God with his innermost part, his prayer is ineffective. Therefore, we need to learn to reject our mind when we pray. If we think too much in our mind, our prayer will be hindered. The faculty for prayer is not the mind but the spirit.
The means of prayer is the blood of the Lord and His name. It is by means of the Lord’s blood and the Lord’s name that we can contact and absorb God.
The Lord’s blood is versus our behavior, and His name is versus our person. As far as our behavior is concerned, we are filthy and altogether evil. Even our righteous deeds are like a soiled garment in God’s eyes (Isa. 64:6). Therefore, we can never rely on our good works and our virtues in order to draw near to God. If we rely on our good works and virtues when we pray, there will be problems in our fellowship with God, and our petition will seldom be heard. We can rely only on the Lord’s blood when we come before God in prayer. The Lord’s blood redeemed us from our sins before God, satisfied the righteous requirement of God, and speaks something better for us. Hebrews 10:19 says that we have boldness to enter the Holy of Holies in the blood of Jesus. We must rely on the Lord’s blood when we pray.
We cannot rely on ourselves when we come before God in prayer because our being is unacceptable to God. We must depend on the Lord’s name. In the parting words of the Lord in John 14 through 16, the Lord said that if we ask anything in His name, He will do it (14:14; 15:16; 16:24). To pray by means of the Lord’s name is to pray in the Lord’s name, that is, to pray in the Lord’s person. This is to pray by being clothed with the Lord, as if the Lord Himself is coming before God to pray. Such prayers are acceptable to God.
Our prayer should be according to our inner sense. We must learn to pray according to the inner sense when we come before God. We should never pray according to what we have previously decided or according to our thoughts. If we put aside what we have decided, forget our thoughts, and open our spirit with a sincere heart to draw near to God, we will definitely have an inner sense. We should pray according to this sense. If the sense tells us to weep, we should weep; if it tells us to rejoice, we should rejoice; if it tells us to praise, we should praise; or if it tells us to confess our sins, we should confess our sins. We should follow the inner sense and pray according to it.
Praying without hindrance requires a conscience void of offense. Once there is offense or condemnation in our conscience, our prayers will be immediately hindered. This is because the spirit is needed in prayer, and the conscience is the most important part of the spirit. If there is condemnation or offense in our conscience, our spirit will collapse, and we will be unable to pray. Offenses and condemnation in our conscience are a barrier between us and God, also making us unable to pray. Therefore, in order to pray without hindrance, we must deal with our conscience so that it is void of offense and without condemnation.
The only way we can have a conscience that is void of offense is by the cleansing of the precious blood of Jesus. Hebrews 10:22 says, “Let us come forward to the Holy of Holies...having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.” This is the reason we must pray by means of the precious blood. Without the precious blood of the Lord Jesus, our conscience will always accuse and condemn us, making us aware of our offenses and unable to draw near to God with boldness. However, whenever we rely on and apply the precious blood of the Lord, the offenses and condemnation in our conscience are removed, and there is no hindrance in our prayer. Therefore, we need to always keep our conscience void of offense. Whenever there is a sense of sin, a sense of accusation and offense in our conscience, we should immediately confess our sins before God and be cleansed by the Lord’s blood.
The dealing for prayer is the confession of sins. A person who knows how to pray spends much of his prayer time confessing his sins. This is because there are many inward and outward problems in our being when we come before God. If we draw near to God with a sincere heart and an open spirit, He will shine in us as light. When He shines in us, exposing our real self and true condition, we must confess our sins. After confessing the first sin in this way, we will often sense another. When the Lord shines in us, we may spend the initial time in our prayer just confessing our sins.
When we do not deal with our sins by confessing them in God’s light, but rather come hastily before God, abruptly asking for different things, our prayer will not touch God because there is still a barrier. Such prayer and supplication are like beating the air. We must, therefore, have a sincere heart and an open spirit when we come before God in prayer. We need to rely on the Lord’s blood and allow Him to shine in us. Then we need to confess our sins one by one according to God’s shining and the inward sense. This kind of confession is the dealing for prayer. A good prayer is often preceded by dealing with sins through confession. If we know how to pray, we will never neglect dealing with our sins by confessing when we come before God in prayer.
The Old Testament presents a very clear type of this. When a priest entered the tabernacle to minister and serve God, he first had to pass through the altar. This is a type of dealing with sins. In order for a sinful man to draw near to God, he had to pass through the altar. This also applies to us in the New Testament age. When we draw near to God in prayer, we must first receive the shining of God and then confess our sins one by one according to the inner sense until we are transparent within, until there is a clear way between God and us. It is at this time that we can entreat God according to the inward sense. Therefore, in a good prayer, confession always precedes supplication.
There is much to be considered related to our utterance in prayer. It should never be regarded lightly. Even in our daily living and in our relationships with others, our speaking is very important. For example, if a child asks his parents for something in a proper way, his parents will be happy to give it to him. If he asks in a wrong way, his parents may give it to him, but not be so happy. Some children are pleasant when they speak. Once they open their mouths, their parents have no alternative but to oblige. On the contrary, some children provoke their parents when they speak with them. The difference is in their utterance. Another example is that all diplomats pay much attention to their words. We need to give much consideration to our utterance when we come before God to pray.
We should not think that since God is omniscient, He knows what we need. This is the reason some regard prayer lightly, referring to Matthew 6:8, which says, “Your Father knows the things that you have need of before you ask Him.” This is true. However, the Bible also says that the Canaanite woman cried out to the Lord, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David!” (15:22). She prayed desperately but was rejected. The Lord Jesus did not answer her. Then His disciples came and said to the Lord, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us” (v. 23). The Lord said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” The woman immediately changed her utterance and said, “Yes, Lord, for even the little dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table” (vv. 26-27). She used expressions such as little dogs, crumbs, and fall from their masters’ table to force the Lord Jesus to respond to her need. She used the Lord’s own words as leverage against Him in her speaking. She used the expression little dogs, which came out of the Lord’s mouth, and placed herself in the position of a dog. It is as if she was saying to the Lord, “You are right. I am a dog, so You cannot ignore me.” Her words caused the Lord not only to give her grace but also to praise her faith. This shows that praying is similar to negotiation. We need to learn the utterance of prayer.
It is important for the utterance of prayer to be concise and to the point, not repetitive. The Lord Jesus said, “In praying do not babble empty words as the Gentiles do” (6:7). When words are repeated, they become redundant. We must exercise to use words that are concise and to the point in prayer and avoid superfluous words.
During our personal prayer time we should pray audibly. This can be considered as a principle of prayer. Audible prayer will prevent our mind from being distracted. In silent prayer we may pray for this and that and wander in our prayer. It is difficult to pray silently for fifteen minutes; silent prayer cannot last long. For prayer to be sustained, we must pray audibly. However, we should not shout or scream. This is not refined and can damage our prayer. This refers to personal prayer or prayer with a few people. This does not refer to prayer in the meetings.
Should we stand, sit, or kneel down when we pray? This concerns our posture in prayer. In the Bible people always knelt down when they offered good, devout, and earnest prayers. There are examples of this in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Kneeling down to pray shows a devout attitude toward God, and once we kneel down, our entire being is settled. It is not easy for our inner being to be settled when we are standing. When we sit down, we are more settled than when standing. When we kneel down, we are even more settled than when sitting down. But if we lie down, we will become dead within. Except in cases of illness, our spirit will be unable to rise if we lie down to pray. Therefore, our posture in prayer also needs to be carefully considered.
There is no law that says we must kneel down to pray. Often the environment does not allow us to kneel down. So we should train ourselves to be able to pray in every situation. We need to be trained to the point that whether we are talking to others or riding a bus or a bicycle, we still can pray within. Those who minister the word must also learn to look to the Lord in prayer as they speak.
Every person who comes before God in prayer should not utter casual and empty words; rather, he should pray according to the burden and inward sense. However, the burden of prayer should not be so broad that it covers eight or ten points all at once. Some people pray as if they are reciting a book or taking attendance. This kind of prayer is very light. In order for our prayer to be weighty, our burden should not be too broad. At the most, good prayer should comprise three or four items. The best is to pray for one or two items. If there are several items, it is better to pray for a few items and pray for the rest at a different time. This can be compared to moving five boxes. If we overestimate ourselves and try to move all five at once, we will be unable to move them and may even drop them. We should first move two boxes, then another two, and the last one at the end. In this way we can move all the boxes. This is the way to pray.
Everyone who prays should learn to wait on God. We should never initiate anything by ourselves when we pray. We need to be calm and wait before God for His instructions and initiation in our prayer. All good prayers are initiated by God, not by us. When we pray, we must first stop ourselves. Our stopping is to wait on God.
There are many who have difficulties in the matter of waiting. Once they cease all activity in the midst of their prayer, their mind becomes more active. We need much exercise in this matter. We need to exercise to the extent that once we kneel down before God, our whole being is calm and able to wait for His instructions. When we have God’s instruction and initiation, there will be a sense within and a word of burden. We can then start praying according to His inward burden.
When coming before God, many people immediately begin to ask God for things and never inquire of Him. We should not ask God for things, but rather we should inquire of Him. Even if we want to pray for the church, we should first inquire of the Lord, saying, “Lord, I have a feeling to pray for the church. Is this Your will? Do You want me to pray for the church at this moment? How should I pray?” Prayer that is preceded by inquiring is the best prayer.
Inquiring in prayer and waiting in prayer are two sides of one thing. One who waits is one who inquires. Similarly, a person who inquires is a person who waits. Abraham’s prayer in Genesis 18 was very good; there was an aspect of waiting in his prayer. The Bible says that when the two angels turned and went toward Sodom, Abraham remained standing before God. This is waiting. While waiting, he began to intercede. He was not telling or begging; he was inquiring. He said, “Will You indeed destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed destroy and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?” (vv. 23-24). He was inquiring. To inquire is to acknowledge the sovereign authority of God, that is, to acknowledge that He is Lord.
Those who know how to pray always inquire. Listen to the prayer of one of the psalmists in Psalm 27:4. He says, “One thing I have asked from Jehovah; / That do I seek: / To dwell in the house of Jehovah / All the days of my life, / To behold the beauty of Jehovah, / And to inquire in His temple.” He was inquiring in the temple of God. Furthermore, in the books of Samuel, David had several prayers in which he inquired of Jehovah. Asking for things does not require any learning, but inquiring requires a great deal of learning.
There is the need of telling in our prayer in addition to asking. To tell is to speak to God concerning our feelings; to ask is to request from God. There are these different aspects of prayer that require our exercise.
We need to learn to have faith in inquiring, telling, and even asking. The most crucial thing in order to have faith is to be simple. Do not analyze, but simply believe in God’s word. God’s word is precious. After prayer, we may sometimes have a word within from the Bible that clearly tells us that God has heard us. There are also other times when we pray to the extent that our inner sense tells us that God has heard our prayer, although there is not an explicit word. When we sense that the burden within has been discharged, and there is no further problem in the matter of our request, we should believe. We should not analyze, doubt, or worry, because this will only cause us to lose faith.
If a burden is still present after we pray, we should pray again. We should pray until the burden has been lifted and is no longer with us, until we have peace within and no longer feel the need to pray. In such a condition, we should believe that God has heard our prayer. We need to learn to simply believe in God’s word and in the feeling within.
Those who know how to pray always give a considerable amount of thanks in their prayer. It is unreasonable to ask without thanking. We always thank someone who agrees to do something for us. We not only thank him when he has accomplished the task, but we even thank him when he merely agrees to do the task. Consequently, there should be thanksgiving in every prayer. Once we have peace within and the burden has been lifted, we should give thanks. We should say, “Thank You, Lord, that I can tell You what concerns me. I have peace within. I believe You have heard my prayer and answered my petition. I thank You.” We should not wait until our prayer is fulfilled to give thanks; we should begin giving thanks even before it is fulfilled. Each time we sense peace within as we pray, we should give thanks.
The emphasis in giving thanks is to thank God for His grace, and the emphasis in praising is to praise God for His acts. Through prayer we not only touch God’s grace but also witness God’s acts. God’s grace requires thanksgiving, and His acts require praises. We can praise by saying, “Lord, I praise You. You are the wonderful Lord who does wonderful things. Even as I tell You of my difficulties, I sense that You have already taken care of this matter. Your promise is sufficient for me. Praise You!” With respect to the grace of God, we need to give thanks, and with respect to the acts of God, we need to offer praises.
There should also be worship in our prayers. Worship is toward God Himself. We should thank God for His grace, praise Him for His acts, and simply worship Him. Each prayer that is heard and fulfilled enables us to experience God. Experiencing God issues in worshipping God. The Bible shows that the worship of God is derived from man’s experience of God. The best and the most evident worship of God was rendered by Jacob as he was dying, leaning on his staff. Jacob’s staff was the symbol of his sojourning on the earth. Because of his many experiences of God, he was able to worship God. This also applies to our worship in prayer. Whether our prayer is heard and fulfilled or has not yet been fulfilled, we touch God and gain knowledge of Him through prayer. Consequently, we should worship Him. In our prayer we should worship God Himself.
If our time for prayer is over and our spirit is exhausted, but our burden related to a particular matter is not yet discharged, we should stop and wait for another time to continue praying for the matter. To pray for a certain matter again and again is the continuation of prayer. Sometimes things are fulfilled as soon as we pray, but other matters require prayer over a long period of time. Some matters require a year or years of prayer in order for them to be fulfilled. God often delights in the continuation of prayer in faith. Continuation of prayer can be compared to placing cards on one side of a scale. Each prayer is like the addition of a card. We should continue to pray until there is enough weight to tip the scale. This is the continuation of prayer.
The complement to prayer is reading the Bible. Reading the Bible and praying complement each other. Good Bible reading needs to be complemented with prayer, and good prayer needs to be complemented with Bible reading. This is what we call reading and praying, praying and reading. These two matters should be mingled so that we cannot distinguish reading from praying. Reading the Bible helps our praying, and praying helps our reading of the Bible. This may be compared to our left and right arms. It is easy for us to lose our balance if either arm is missing. Prayer without reading the Bible makes it difficult for our spirit of prayer to rise up. Therefore, we need to read a portion of the Bible. An appropriate amount of Bible reading can usually uplift, cultivate, and nourish our spirit of prayer. Hence, we need to train ourselves to complement our prayer with the reading of the Bible.
We should all have a set time each day to read the Bible and also a set time to pray. We should pray in the morning, at noon, and in the evening. Instead of praying at irregular times, we should decide on definite times for prayer. If we do not set aside definite times, we will lose the time. Those who are experienced realize that in order to redeem the time, we must set aside the time. Only time that has been set aside can be redeemed. This applies even more to times for prayer. If we do not set a time for prayer, we will not pray regularly. Therefore, to have a proper spiritual exercise, we need to set a time to rise up in the morning, a time to read the Bible, and a time to pray.
Just as with Bible reading, the best time to pray is in the morning. Since our heart and spirit are not yet distracted or troubled by many things in the morning, they are able to be quiet before God. It is also easy for our spirit to open to God and be touched in our fellowship with Him. Moreover, there are fewer distractions in the morning, unlike other times of the day when the telephone or the doorbell rings, the neighbor visits, or troubling and trivial matters arise. The best time for us to pray in a peaceful environment before God is in the morning.
In Psalm 119:164 David says that he praised Jehovah seven times a day. In Psalm 55:17 he says that he prayed to God in the evening, in the morning, and at noon. When Daniel was in captivity in Babylon, he knelt down before God to pray three times a day (Dan. 6:10). Besides praying in the morning, we should also pray at other times.
It is sufficient for the duration of each prayer time to be twenty to thirty minutes. Prayer time that is too long often results in a loss of interest, exhaustion, and hesitancy to pray again. Unless there is a special burden, our prayer times do not need to be very long.
In order to have a good prayer life, we should also find companions to pray with. This will cause our prayer to be strengthened and also help us to maintain a prayer life. For many Christians it is not easy to pray unless they pray with others. It is especially difficult for those who have a wandering mind to be calm in order to pray alone. If they can pray with two or three others, it is easier for their mind to concentrate and be calm. In this way they can pray for a longer period of time.
If we always pray alone, our learning in prayer will surely be inadequate. If several people pray together, there will be more learning in our prayer. In 2 Timothy 2:22 Paul exhorts Timothy to pursue “with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” It is best if every brother and sister would spend some time praying with others, apart from their own individual prayer time.
Christians should also attend prayer meetings. There are many lessons on prayer that can be learned in prayer meetings.
