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Question: How can I deal with the Lord to get Him to act on my prayers?
Answer: This question opens up a field that covers the whole Christian life. To answer briefly, I would say that most of our efforts to know the Lord’s will are futile. What we think is His will turns out to be incorrect. The right way is just to contact the Lord in the same way as you breathe. Open to Him. Then, when the time comes, something will come to you. That will be the Lord’s will.
Question: Can you recommend some specific materials to use in our times with the Lord?
Answer: The more variety you have, the better. You need at least ten minutes of prayer and at least ten minutes of reading the Bible. If you have an hour’s time, you can read three chapters from the Old Testament and one from the New; in this way you can finish the Bible in a year. As for spiritual writings, I surely recommend the Life-study messages and the issues of The Stream magazine, published in the early years. In addition, read the books The Economy of God, The All-inclusive Christ, The Knowledge of Life, and The Experience of Life. This last book would be especially helpful, since some chapters treat in detail how to deal with the conscience, the heart, the flesh, and the natural constitution.
Try to build up a habit of praying the whole day long. During your time in the morning, pray. At your break time, pray. Replace your vain talk and gossip with prayer. You will see how much more time you have to pray if you avoid the phone.
One year Brother Nee read through the New Testament every week. He did not drop any duties but just carried a little New Testament with him wherever he went. By squeezing in a minute here and two minutes there, he read it through fifty-two times in that one year.
If we can learn to use our time this carefully, there will be plenty of time to pray, read the Bible, and read some spiritual books. I greatly enjoy going back over the Life-study messages, even though they were given by me. Just as a housewife enjoys her own cooking, so I am refreshed and nourished when I read over the Life-study messages. I long that the saints in the Lord’s recovery may be able to digest them more. If you try this for half a year, it will make a big difference in your Christian life.
Question: My Christian life is like a pendulum swinging back and forth. Is this normal?
Answer: It is normal but only for a baby. Do not be troubled about feeling that way. Just keep praying daily, reading the Bible daily, and digesting a Life-study message or one of our spiritual books. Within a half year you will be steadfast. You will be rooted and grounded, and nothing will be able to shake you. Ephesians 4:14 says, “Be no longer little children tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching.” Every teaching is a wind blowing people away from the center lane. If you can be carried away by this wind, then you are still a child. You need to grow. Verse 15 mentions this: “Holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things.”
Do not be preoccupied with how you feel. Just go on and build some good Christian habits. Your feelings are not trustworthy. Just say, “Little devil, I do not believe in you.” No matter how you feel, just keep these legalities we have mentioned: pray, read the Bible and some spiritual books, and deal with your conscience by confession. Whatever is on your conscience as an offense, confess right away to the Lord, asking Him to cleanse you and keep you constantly with a purified conscience.
Question: How can I distinguish between a prayer burden and my own desire to pray for something?
Answer: Just go to the Lord and pray. Do not have your mind made up about what you will pray. Simply go to the Lord and be taught by Him to pray. Just as a little child gradually picks up new words and learns to talk, so little by little you will learn to talk to the Lord. This kind of prayer helps you to grow.
Do not worry about praying for your family. Whether you pray for them or not, the Lord takes care of them. He says to seek the kingdom and righteousness of the Father first; then whatever you need, He will add to you (Matt. 6:33).
Question: While I am driving, I want to talk to the Lord, but I do not know what to say, and it seems as though the Lord is not really there.
Answer: Do not exercise your mind so much. Remember, you have an inheritance of the Spirit within and the Bible without. These are the unique means by which to contact the Lord. As you are driving and have the desire to contact the Lord, begin to talk to Him in a spontaneous way. Just follow the Spirit within. If you have a sense to thank the Lord, just say, “Lord, thank You.” When you say this, some further feeling will be there: “Lord, thank You that You are so good to me. Thank You that You are now with me. I enjoy Your presence. Thank You, Lord. You are one with me. I am one with You.” To your surprise, all these words will come. This is the moving of the indwelling Spirit. Unbelievers have no such living sense within.
Whatever you are doing, just address the Lord in a talking way. “Lord, I am here again with You. What shall I say, Lord? Thank You for this day. It is a day for me to live Christ. Today I can experience Christ.” Something will come from within because you have the Spirit. Sometimes you may feel dull. Take out your Bible and turn to the portion you have been reading. (It would be helpful for you all to have a pocket version of the Bible at hand all the time.) Do not open it at random. Since the Ephesians training I have been on Philippians, going through it very slowly, perhaps only two or three verses a day. These verses become my prayer. Spontaneously, the verses you are reading through consecutively will become your prayer. They will give you prayer for the saints. If you contact the Lord like this, you will have more and more of Him added to your being. This way will cleanse, enlighten, correct, and transform you.
Question: Sometimes I feel that I am dishonoring the Lord if I speak to Him in a normal way, in a conversational tone.
Answer: In all our daily life we should respect the Lord. The whole day we are to be in His presence, even if we are not praying or reading the Bible. Anywhere and at any time we can talk to Him. The best prayer is not a religious prayer but a talk with the Lord. To pray in a talking way does not dishonor the Lord. If we live a life of constantly respecting Him, however we pray honors Him.
Question: I have gone to the Lord and repented of certain things that happened before I was saved. They still keep coming back. Is this of Satan, or do I need to deal with them further?
Answer: No doubt this is of Satan. The principle is found in 1 John 1:9 and 7. Whatever sin you confess before God is cleansed by the blood of Jesus. God is faithful and righteous to forgive us. This is not only a promise but also a speaking of the fact; whenever we confess a sin, we must believe that it was cleansed by God.
Many believers are bothered by sins they have already confessed. Then they confess again. Once you do this, you fall into a snare. If you confess the same sin a second time, it means you do not believe that the blood has cleansed you.
I remember when I was young I confessed to the Lord that I had offended someone. According to the word of the New Testament surely I was washed by the blood. But Satan came and said, “No, you did not confess in detail.” I then went back to the Lord and confessed in detail. Again Satan said, “No, you have left out some of the details.” I made a further confession. Then Satan said, “You have confessed, but you were not sincere.” So I told the Lord I was sorry I had not confessed sincerely and asked Him to make me sincere. Again Satan said, “You did not say ‘in the name of the Lord Jesus.’” Eventually, I got clear and told Satan, “Get behind me. Why should I confess more than once when I was washed the first time? The Bible does not say that if you confess your sin in detail, sincerely, and in the name of the Lord Jesus, you will be washed. It only says that if you confess your sins, God is faithful, and the blood of Jesus cleanses.” Hallelujah! That shut the door to the enemy.
Do not confess a sin that you have already confessed. Satan is subtle. Either he will keep you from confessing, or he will push you to keep confessing the same thing over and over.
Question: Paul said that he practiced to have a conscience without offense toward God and men (Acts 24:16). How do we know what to deal with?
Answer: There is a principle in the Bible that if we offend someone, we must go to that one and confess (Matt. 5:23-24). Not only do we confess to the Lord but also to the offended one. Suppose I have gotten angry with one of the brothers. When I go to contact the Lord, my conscience condemns me, and I must say, “Lord, forgive me. I was angry with Brother So-and-so.” I must also go to the brother and ask him to forgive me for getting angry with him on that occasion. By keeping this principle our conscience is clear and void of offense.
Question: I have been going to the Lord every morning, asking Him to examine me, but I feel that I do not get any answer. I think I need to think over what should be examined.
Answer: No, you must never think over what to confess. When you need to confess, you will sense a specific offense. That you confess. Do not try to seek out your faults. It is not healthy and can result in an attack from the enemy. Just confess what you sense as an offense that you have not yet confessed.
Question: What if I do not have any sense of anything wrong?
Answer: If you do not have any sense that you are wrong or sinful, praise the Lord. It might be good to tell the Lord, “Lord, even though I do not sense that I am wrong in anything, I do believe I am still in the old creation, in the natural life, in the flesh. Many things must still be dirty, but I do not have the consciousness of them. Lord, cleanse me.” It is good to pray this way. But if you try to dig out your faults, you will be cheated and attacked by the enemy.
Question: Something has been bothering my conscience, but I do not have any definite feeling.
Answer: We must all learn that if we have no sense about something specific, there is no need to go further. Rather, we must exercise our faith that we have no problem, trusting the Lord to tell us if we do. It may be that after a time the Lord will enlighten you. Have faith in the blood. This is a good principle. It is easy to be deceived by the enemy. Stay under the blood.
Question: Many times I have gone to the Lord and sensed that there was something really wrong within. But I did not have the utterance to say anything specific.
Answer: Just pray according to what you can utter. Tell the Lord, “Lord, I sense that I am wrong in certain things, but I do not know how to express it. Lord, You know; wash me according to Your knowledge.” Many times when you say, “Lord, I cannot utter,” the utterance comes. Then you can tell the Lord what is wrong. The Lord is gracious. If you are not willing to confess your sins, the Lord is legal, but as soon as you are willing, He is not legal. If you will not confess, He will not let you off. Once you are ready to confess, He will say, “That is all right, My child.”
Question: Ever since I heard the word about contacting the Lord, I have wanted to do it, but because of feeling self-conscious and not knowing how to go about it, I still have not gone to Him and opened up.
Answer: There are many cases like yours. First, you must realize that you are under the covering of the blood. Second, you are willing to confess, but you have no knowledge of any offense. Do not be bothered. Turn your prayer to praise: “Lord, I praise and thank You. I have no utterance, but You know. I am with You. I am under the blood.” This is a good lesson to learn. Rest in His faithfulness. Rest under the blood. If you wait till you sense something or try to shed tears, you leave ground for Satan to attack you. Just offer your praises to the Lord; this praise closes the door to Satan.
If you are hard, unwilling to confess, unwilling to contact the Lord, that attitude is to be condemned. But when you are soft and willing to talk to the Lord, just lacking the words, you must exercise your faith that you are under the blood and that the Lord is gracious to you; then turn to thanks and praises.
Question: Should we confess as soon as we do something wrong?
Answer: Whenever your hands are dirty, you wash them. After you confess in the morning, you do not need to confess again until something sinful arises. Then you immediately confess.
Some of the saints are applying the Lord’s blood in a wrong way. They say, “We apply the blood to our situation,” without making any confession. The Bible says that if we confess, the blood cleanses. In other words, our confession is a condition to the Lord’s cleansing. Without our confessing, the Lord does not have a way to cleanse us.
Once we confess, we get cleansed. As soon as we get dirty again, we again confess and again are cleansed. In this way all day long we keep our conscience clean and pure. Then we can contact the Lord at any time.
Question: Andrew Murray spoke of having a time to be quiet so that the Lord may speak to us. I find it hard to be that quiet.
Answer: This is a matter of terminology and understanding. Of course, I do not know what Andrew Murray meant by a quiet time. No one can be quiet to the extent of stopping his thinking, unless he dies! Even in your sleep you are thinking; that is why you have dreams. Activities you can stop; thinking, never. Probably what Andrew Murray meant is that you need to set aside a time when you are free from taking care of your affairs. Then in this time the best way to keep yourself quiet is to pray not for your concerns but however the Lord leads. Just pray, “Lord, I just love You. I want to walk with You. I want to be one with You.” Do not pray about your sister in Washington who is sick; that is praying according to your thought. It may be that the Lord will sometimes burden you to pray this way, but to have a quiet time before the Lord you need to be kept from any kind of care.
The best way to arrest your thinking is to pray something from within according to the instant leading. Also, read the Bible; spontaneously your reading will become prayer. In such a quiet time the Lord many times will speak to you and reveal something to you.
Question: How does the enemy know what is on our conscience, and how do we know that he has put something into our mind?
Answer: You must go according to the fact. An offense is an actual offense on my conscience. If I offend you, that is an offense on my conscience that I need to confess. We confess according to our sin, not according to a thought that comes to us. Suppose you have not committed any sin or offended anyone. A thought crosses your mind that you need to confess. This is of Satan. There is no sin, no offense, yet you have a thought charging you to confess. Do not confess in this case; it is not a fact but something of Satan to bother you.
Question: What is the relationship between the conscience, the anointing, and the law of life?
Answer: In The Knowledge of Life there is a chapter called “The Inward Knowledge,” which deals with this. In the Old Testament the law of commandments regulated the daily life of God’s people, telling them to honor their parents, for example, and not to steal. There were also the prophets directing the people what to do, where to go, and what to say. To be right with God under the Old Testament, one had to take care of both the law of commandments and the prophets.
In the New Testament the law of life (Rom. 8:2) replaces the law of commandments, and the anointing (1 John 2:27) replaces the prophets. You have been born again, and within, you have a new nature. In that new nature is the law of life.
The law of life gives you a taste. A three-month-old baby does not have the knowledge of what is sweet and what is bitter. But he will take anything sweet that you put into his mouth and spit out anything bitter. A Christian who goes to a movie has this same rejecting sense. The inner law does not approve of his going there, and he will not be able to pray until he senses and confesses this disobedience to the Lord and to the law of life. This confession is according to the conscience, which is operating according to the law of life, just as in ancient times it operated according to the law of commandments. After the sin is confessed, it is forgiven, and the blood cleanses him.
The anointing corresponds not to the law but to the prophets. While the law was concerned with morality, the prophets had to do with the comings and goings, the daily manner of life, the speaking, of God’s people. It is the anointing that tells you where you should go and what you should do. While I am speaking, I trust in the anointing for what I should say. If I disobey the anointing, my conscience troubles me. Then I must confess, “Lord, forgive me. I did not obey the anointing.” The anointing is just the moving of the Lord Himself within us.
Question: What about friendships among Christians? And, how does fellowship relate to oneness?
Answer: If I keep having special fellowship with a certain brother day after day, this fellowship will become a friendship. Among the saints friendship is to be avoided. It is like honey, which was prohibited in the meal offering (Lev. 2:11). When fellowship becomes friendship, it has leaven in it, because underneath is a personal, natural preference. Our fellowship is common, unless for a particular reason there is a need for more contact. If there is no reason, there should not be more contact.
Oneness and fellowship are the same. Our practical fellowship is just the oneness. Because we Christians are all one, we can have fellowship together. This fellowship is the indwelling Spirit Himself. The electricity that goes through the overhead lights is like oneness and fellowship. Without the electricity the lights are separate and apart from each other. What makes them one is the current of electricity. That current is fellowship, or the Holy Spirit indwelling us. The indwelling Spirit is our oneness and our fellowship. If we add honey or leaven to the fellowship, we change it to friendship. This will bring corruption and rottenness into the church life.
Question: Sometimes when I share with someone what I have enjoyed of the Lord in the Word or in a message, he adds what he has been reading, and what I wanted to share gets lost. What is the best way to fellowship about our enjoyment of the Lord?
Answer: Even in this kind of sharing, you need to learn to be restricted by the Spirit. As you grow, you will sense that the Lord wants you to share only a certain amount. This is another way that we are kept from being corrupted. We would like to tell others what we saw in a message, and they want to say what light they have received. Talking too much about what we have seen is also honey. Many times when I would like to tell the brothers about some light I have received, the Lord says no. Even in spiritual things we need to be restricted. Not to obey this restriction is an offense that sooner or later we will have to confess to the Lord.
Question: Are the law of life and the anointing the same thing as the Lord’s speaking?
Answer: Both could be considered as the Lord’s speaking, but actually the law of life is rather a principle, giving us a certain taste. The anointing is a speaking. The law of life does not change, but the anointing does. The law of life will always prohibit you, or any child of God, from attending a movie. The anointing, on the other hand, may tell one brother to take a plane and another to go by car. The difference is that the law is related to morality or ethics, while the anointing concerns activities.
Question: Is this the same speaking that we get from the Lord in prayer?
Answer: Yes. Prayer will strengthen your sensitivity to the law of life. If a child has a heavy cold, when you put something into his mouth, he may not be able to tell whether it is sweet or bitter. The law of life is not functioning because he is sick. If you do not contact the Lord in prayer and in the Word, your sense of the law of life will be weak. Some Christians can go to a movie without feeling troubled, not because there is no protest from the law of life but because their sensitivity to it is weak through lack of exercise. If they will go to the Lord to confess, to pray, and to study the Word, the sense will soon return.
Question: I want to go on with the Lord, but the more I am with Him, the more I am fearful of His holiness, because of all the sins I, as a fallen person, have committed.
Answer: There are two kinds of fear of the Lord. One is wholesome; the other is to be rejected. If we contact the Lord through prayer and His Word, we will have a proper, holy fear lest we offend Him by disobedience. We need such a healthy fear. The other fear is that the Lord may punish or reject or forsake us. This is of Satan, and we must overcome it. We must declare, “I am a child of God, chosen, redeemed, and cleansed by the precious blood. I have nothing to fear. God will not forsake me or cast me away.” This second fear is the enemy’s threat to rob you of your rest. If you are not at rest, you cannot enjoy the Lord or grow. You must be at rest from all such unnecessary fears. Challenge the enemy by telling him that you are God’s child and under the blood, that God is your Father and loves you, and that you do not believe He will cast you off. The only fear you need is a holy fear to not offend the Father by grieving Him.
Question: How can we determine which things need the attention of the elders and which things we should not pass on any further?
Answer: This is a good question. Concerning the saints in the church, the less we know the better. There is a lust in our natural life to know others’ affairs. It is not healthy and damages the church life. But there is another side. We need to know where the saints are spiritually so that we can get their help or supply some nourishment to them. The church life requires a high standard of exercise, not that we snoop into the saints’ affairs but that we find out their true situation in order to be helped by them or to help them.
Question: Is this information about the saints for the elders to know or for all the saints?
Answer: Everybody should be the same. If all the saints would exercise in this way, the church would be healthy, having all its weaknesses taken care of. Even in the churches in the Lord’s recovery there are far too many phone calls. Spreading unnecessary information has a deadening effect. Do not give out or seek to get any information except what will enable you to supply others or be supplied by them. Then the church will grow, be built up in a healthy way, and be spared the killing that comes from knowing what we do not need to know about others.
