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Scripture Reading: Psa. 27:1, 4, 8; 42:1-2, 5, 11
In this chapter we will fellowship concerning the kind of prayer that seeks God and is according to the anointing.
Our natural views concerning spiritual matters differ from God’s views. For example, God’s view of faith is different from our concept of faith. We have natural concepts concerning every spiritual matter. Because we are narrow and even in darkness, our concepts are often far removed from the divine revelation. Hence, we need the divine revelation in every spiritual matter so that we may see God’s view.
When we receive revelation from God in a spiritual matter, we discover how ignorant and contrary our views are. Our natural views have caused us to suffer much loss, hindered us from receiving God’s grace, and wasted God’s time. The sorrow and grief that result from our natural concepts are greater than the sorrow and grief of committing a great sin. Our concepts are our biggest problem before God. It is not too difficult for God to deliver us from sin, but it is not easy for Him to deliver us from our concepts, especially from our concepts concerning spiritual things.
Our person is hidden in our concepts. When the Lord told His disciples that He would go to Jerusalem, suffer many things, be killed, and be raised on the third day, Peter rebuked Him, saying, “God be merciful to You, Lord! This shall by no means happen to You!” (Matt. 16:21-22). Then the Lord turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men” (v. 23). Jesus then said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me” (v. 24). This portion of the Word shows that human opinions are often the manifestation of the self. Our experience also confirms that our self often hides in our opinions. Our self is often hidden in our opinions and expressed through our opinions. Likewise, in spiritual matters our concepts are often full of the self.
This is a common problem with prayer. There are children of God who have been saved for many years but have not been delivered from the self. They still have their own concepts, are full of natural views, and lack spiritual revelation regarding prayer. They do not know the meaning of prayer.
Some believers think that prayer is simply to talk to God or to cry out to Him. This meaning is not bad, but prayer is not merely talking to God or crying out to Him. If God would open our eyes to see His view of prayer, we would realize that we do not understand prayer. Some believers have prayed for more than ten years before discovering, by revelation, that they did not know the meaning of prayer, nor did they know how to pray. Their thought concerning prayer differed from what is revealed in God’s Word.
Therefore, I have a heavy burden to speak to the saints concerning the meaning of prayer.
First, prayer is to absorb God; prayer causes man to obtain God. God is reality; hence, He is contactable and obtainable. The God whom we worship is not doctrine, theory, philosophy, or ideology, nor is He an empty character or a vain idol. The God whom we worship is Spirit; He is a real spiritual entity. He is as real as air, water, and sound. Just as air, water, and sound are in the universe, so also God, who is Spirit, is in the universe. We can worship Him, and we can also contact, absorb, and obtain Him.
We can obtain God through prayer. In order to obtain water, we must drink; in order to obtain air, we must breathe; and in order to obtain sound, we must listen. If we want to obtain God, we must pray. Hence, the first meaning of prayer is to obtain God. Regrettably, many believers pray often and for long periods of time, but they do not seem to obtain much of the element of God, because they do not understand the meaning of prayer. They have not seen that prayer is to contact God and obtain Him.
Ironing is an example. Clothes that are placed under an electric iron absorb heat from the iron and, as a result, get hot. A sister in Taipei was ironing her clothes one night and forgot to unplug the iron when she finished. As a result, the ironing board absorbed heat from the iron and caught on fire. This illustration of absorbing heat through contact with an electric iron explains the meaning of prayer. To pray is to contact God and to absorb Him in that contact. Thus, the importance of prayer does not depend on how much we say to God or on how much we cry out to Him but on how much we contact Him. The more we contact God, the more we will absorb Him, and the more we absorb Him, the more we will enjoy God and salvation.
Our enjoyment of God’s salvation depends on our absorbing God. Let me say a word here to clear up our inaccurate concepts concerning God and His salvation. Psalm 27:1 says, “Jehovah is my light and my salvation.” This verse does not say that God shines on us but that He is our light, nor does it say that God saves us but that He is our salvation. There are two different statements here. By shining on us and saving us, God is accomplishing something for us. But by being our light and our salvation, God Himself is what we need. When we have God, we have light and salvation. Without God we have neither light nor salvation.
We often say that God has given us His life, but strictly speaking, God has not given us His life; He has given us Himself as life. The New Testament does not say that God has given His life to us; rather, it says, “Christ our life” (Col. 3:4). This means that God is our life. Apart from God, we have nothing. He does not give us some of His light, salvation, power, or grace; rather, what He gives is just Himself. He is light, salvation, power, and grace. Hence, light, salvation, power, and grace are inseparable from Him. For example, electricity is the electric light in a lamp, the electric heat in an iron, and the electric power in a fan. Electricity is light to meet one need, heat to meet another need, and power to meet yet another need. Similarly, light is God, salvation is God, power is God, and grace is God. Every spiritual need that we have is God Himself. God has not given us anything besides Himself. Hence, if we lose God, we lose everything; that is, we have nothing.
Those who knew God in the Old Testament age experienced Him in this way, and those in the New Testament age also experience God in this way. David received revelation from his experience to see that God was his light and his salvation. Based on this he said, “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” (Psa. 27:4). David was eager to contact and absorb God daily and hourly. David contacted and absorbed God by beholding Him. When he contacted God, he was enlightened within, and when he absorbed God, he received salvation within. David obtained God as his light and salvation by beholding God. This is a great key and a great secret to experiencing God.
The saints often say, “I am too weak!” We should not be surprised that we are weak, for we can never be strong. In order to make us strong, God will not give us strength, but He will give us Himself. Electric power will not make a fan more powerful; rather, the fan must be in contact with electricity in order to have power. When the fan is in contact with electricity, the fan is empowered. Whenever the fan is disconnected from electricity, it becomes powerless. The power of the fan is with the electricity. Once the fan is in contact with, connected to, electricity, the fan is powerful. Hence, it is inaccurate to think that by pursuing the Lord, we can grow until we are strong. Our strength depends on God; we can be strong only by contacting Him.
We can contact God through prayer. A brother once told me that he was very weak and did not know why he could not rise up. After a few encounters with him, I asked whether he prayed. He said that besides praying before his meals, he did not pray much. I was then clear that his weakness was the result of not contacting God or, rather, of not contacting God adequately. An iron that is plugged into an electric socket needs at least two to three minutes to become warm and much longer to become hot. If it is unplugged for one minute, the iron will no longer be hot. If an unplugged iron could speak, it would complain that it is weak and useless. An unplugged iron is not hot, because it is disconnected from electricity; it is not in continual contact with electricity. Similarly, if a person does not pray, he does not contact God and therefore cannot be strong.
Although this brother thought that my response was correct, he did not know how to pray and did not have much to say when he prayed. I told him that prayer does not require speaking. When we visit a friend who is not in a good mood, we may not have much to say, but it is sufficient to be with him, see him, and accompany him. He may have been heavy-hearted and depressed before our visit. But after sitting with us for a while and sensing our sympathy and understanding, he will be relieved within, and his burden will disappear. Such is the result of having good contact.
God is Spirit; hence, our contacting and absorbing Him do not depend on our words. Some people utter many words when they pray, but their words are like sounding brass or clanging cymbals; they do not have much value before God. We may not say anything when we come to God, but our whole being, including our heart, should face God. While we look to God, we may sigh and confess that we are incompetent, weak, unable to rise, unpresentable, and thirsty and that we lack words for the gospel and are not inclined to fellowship with the saints. We should lay our inner condition before God and even tell Him that we are short in every matter. No matter what our inner condition is, we should bring it to God. There is a hymn that says, “Just as I am” (Hymns, #1048). This means that we should come to God just as we are without trying to improve or change our condition. Our attitude when we come to God should be to come just as we are.
Many believers have the natural concept that before they can pray and draw near to God, they must wait until their condition improves or until their inner feeling is strong. This concept is not according to the meaning of prayer. To pray is to come to God just as we are. The closer we are to our true condition the better. We do not need to wait for anything, change anything, or prepare anything. Even if we are weak, confused, sad, and speechless, we can still come to God.
A sister who has stumbled and is a complete mess can come to the Lord as she is. Perhaps she is so low that she cannot utter any words; she can still come like this to God. Perhaps she has not prayed for half a year and is embarrassed to meet God. She does not need to wait or to improve her condition; she should just bring her embarrassment to God.
God is everything to us. The expectation to be strong and have words for prayer without contacting God is vain. God does not want us to have such expectations. He is not concerned about whether we are bad, weak, or wrong. Our condition does not bother Him. He is concerned only about our seeing and contacting Him. As long as we come to Him, He has a way because He is the way. If we are weak, He is power. If we are not presentable, He is presentable. If we are unable to rise up, He is rising up. If we lack leading, He is the leading. If we do not have words, He is the Word. He is everything. We do not have to wait or improve ourselves. The more we come to God according to our condition, the better.
We usually groom ourselves before we meet others, and we pretend while we are with them. Sometimes we will not allow others to see us until we have finished grooming. A brother who has had an outburst of anger will not welcome any visitors, because his anger has not subsided, and he cannot pretend. A sister who is not neatly dressed will not want to see anyone. Although we should be neatly dressed, dressing neatly may be a form of pretense. We do not need to pretend when we come to God. A brother who just lost his temper should bring that temper to God. Even if his spirit is low and he cannot rise up to pray, he should still come to God. We do not need to pretend, and God does not want us to pretend. To tidy oneself up before contacting God is not the principle of prayer. Prayer does not require self-improvement. The more that we are in our true condition when we pray, the better. Our condition is our condition. To change ourselves is human work. We do not need to change in order to contact God. Our need is God and to let Him change us.
In Luke 15:11-21 after the younger son had squandered his estate by living dissolutely and spending all he had, he did not improve himself before returning to his father’s house. He did not have anything that would enable him to improve himself, nor did he know that this would not deter his father. The younger son did not change himself; rather, he returned to his father in his true, unchanged condition and let his father change him. His father said, “Bring out quickly the best robe and put it on him...And bring the fattened calf; slaughter it, and let us eat and be merry” (vv. 22-23). The father changed his son’s robe and his food, that is, his son’s outer condition and inner condition. Previously, the younger son wore rags, but he now had the best robe. Previously, he ate carob pods, but he now ate the fattened calf. The father brought about these changes, not the son. This is the principle of prayer. To pray is to come to God just as we are in our true condition, without changing or improving ourselves. Our coming to God in this way is not an ordinary crying out; it is our meeting and contacting God. When we contact Him, we absorb Him.
A believer needs to learn to spend a considerable amount of time in God’s presence daily. It is preferable to spend half an hour to one hour, although we should not make rules, because rule making is futile. Eating is an example. We need to eat three meals a day, and the days that we are busy are not an exception. If we do not eat, we will become weak physically, and we will lose our health. This also applies spiritually. We have to spend time daily in God’s presence. To compromise we can spend half an hour in His presence. To spend less than half an hour is too short. It is best to spend one hour in God’s presence daily. This does not mean that we have to spend one hour in God’s presence in one sitting. We can split the hour into twenty minutes in the morning, ten minutes twice during the day, and twenty minutes at night. This adds up to one hour.
If we would contact God, wait on Him, linger in His presence, behold Him, and absorb Him daily, He will cause our condition to change. We do not need to ask Him for many things, such as power, strength, victory, zeal, or the ability to rise up. We only need to touch Him every day, and after some time He will become our everything. If we need warmth, He will be our warmth. If we need light, He will be our light. If we need power, He will be our power. If we need comfort, He will be our comfort. If we need support, He will be our support, and if we need leading, He will be our leading. He is whatever we need.
If we would spend some time to pray every day in order to absorb God, the salvation of His countenance will become the salvation of our countenance (Psa. 42:5, 11). Perhaps a sister is very sorrowful and can only sigh in grief and sorrow during the twenty minutes that she spends in God’s presence. However, after twenty minutes her countenance will change, and she will become joyful. Our countenance manifests the salvation that comes forth from God’s countenance. Because we spend time face to face with God, the salvation of His countenance becomes the salvation of our countenance.
The first meaning of prayer is to absorb God. When we pray, we should behold His glorious face and linger in His presence to worship, praise, give thanks to Him, and muse upon Him. We should think of His works and His person and not look at our condition or our environment. By looking to God, waiting on Him, and musing upon Him, we can absorb Him into us.
The first meaning of prayer is to absorb God, and the second meaning is to express God. These meanings are related. To express God means to let Him speak, that is, to let God be expressed. Prayer is not our speaking or expressing ourselves. Prayer is our letting God speak and express Himself.
In Genesis 18 Abraham prayed for Lot and also for Sodom (vv. 23-33). However, the end of that chapter says, “Jehovah went away as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham” (v. 33). Although it was Abraham who prayed, it was Jehovah who spoke. It was Jehovah who finished speaking and who expressed His intention.
Whenever we pray, we should let God speak and let Him finish speaking. In the New Testament Martha had much to say. When Martha’s brother, Lazarus, died and the Lord came, Martha did not let the Lord speak first. As soon as she saw the Lord, she said, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21). The Lord said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes into Me, even if he should die, shall live...Do you believe this?” (vv. 25-26). Martha replied, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God” (v. 27). What Martha said did not correspond with what the Lord revealed to her. Because she kept speaking, the Lord’s words could not get into her. Everything she said was an expression of herself. That was not real prayer; it was man’s natural crying out. Real prayer is our coming to God and letting God speak and express Himself instead of speaking our own words and expressing ourselves. We are often like Martha in our prayer. Our only care is to express ourselves, not to let God express Himself.
This does not mean that we should not say anything when we pray. We should speak when we pray; however, the question is, What do we say? In our prayer we should say what God is saying within us. God speaks within us, and to pray is to repeat what He has spoken back to Him. This is the principle of Psalm 27:8: “When You say, Seek My face, / To You my heart says, Your face, O Jehovah, will I seek.” Such prayer is according to God’s speaking within us. Therefore, the words we utter in prayer are an expression of the speaking within us. Without is man’s speaking, but within is God’s speaking. Once God speaks within, we speak without. Prayer is not our asking for something through speaking; it is our expressing what God has spoken within us. Hence, our prayer becomes God’s expression. This is real prayer.
For example, we hear that the church needs to pray for a certain special meeting or for the revival of the church. Just as we begin to pray, we sense a word from the Lord telling us something concerning our inner condition and our situation. We should stop praying and forget about the revival of the church or the special meeting and follow the inner sense; we should speak the words that the Lord has spoken. If we sense the Lord’s rebuke, saying, “You are full of the flesh,” we should say, “Lord, I am full of the flesh.” If we sense that the Lord is saying, “You are full of the self,” we should immediately say, “Lord, I am full of the self.”
There are times when we let God speak, and we pray forth our inner sense. However, only a portion of our prayer is according to the inner expression, because we add many of our own cries. This is our being tempted to beseech God for something. God may give us the sense that we are full of the flesh and the self, but we often add many things when we pray according to this sense. For example, we may pray, “Lord, cause me not to have the flesh any longer and not to be in the self.” The problem is that such a prayer is our own crying out; it is not an expression of the speaking from within. Sometimes instead of touching the inner sense, we ask God to do things according to what we think. Such prayers are vain.
In Psalm 27:4 David said that he desired to behold the beauty of Jehovah and “inquire in His temple.” David did not say “cry out” or “beseech” but “inquire.” To inquire is to ask God. Abraham’s prayer in Genesis 18 is a good example of inquiring. When God told Abraham that He would judge the sinful city of Sodom, Abraham said, “Will You indeed destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed destroy...it?” (vv. 23-24). We would have said, “God, You must save Sodom. There are fifty righteous men in that city; hence, You must save them.” Abraham did not pray in this way; rather, he inquired about what God would do if there were fifty righteous men in the city, and what He would do if forty-five were righteous, and God told Abraham what He would do. When Abraham inquired about ten righteous men, God said, “I will not destroy it, because of the ten” (vv. 28-32). By this, Abraham understood God’s intention.
Although it was Abraham who continued to inquire in that prayer, it was mainly God speaking, not Abraham. Hence, at the end of the chapter the Bible says, “Jehovah went away as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham” (v. 33). The best and most valuable prayer is not one in which we speak but one in which God speaks. The best and most valuable prayer is not one in which we cry out or beseech but one in which we inquire and let God speak. To cry out is to tell God the things of man, but to beseech is to beg for the things of God. The best prayer is to inquire. To inquire is to let God speak so that the words spoken are God’s speaking within man, God’s expressions. This is the best prayer.
In conclusion, to pray means to absorb God and to express Him. Every prayer should touch God and let Him pass through us and be expressed. When we pray in this way, we will be anointed by God and be mingled more with Him. Then we will know that God is our everything. We will also see that He is always with us and is our supply in every need.
