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Scripture Reading: Acts 1:14; 2:42; 3:1; 4:31; 6:4; 10:9; 11:5; 12:5, 12; 13:2-3; 14:23; 16:25-26; 20:36; 21:5; 22:17; 28:8
To serve the Lord and to serve the church, it is necessary for us to be in the Body and to serve in the Body, and it is also necessary to serve in our human spirit. We have already covered these two points. The third point of the service is that we need to serve in prayer, to serve by praying.
If we consider all the verses in the book of Acts related to the matter of prayer, we will see that the first group of Christians in the early days served the Lord by means of prayer. If we look into the content of all the verses, if we read and pray-read them, we will see that the serving ones took the way of prayer. We may be surprised how much the service in the book of Acts is a matter of prayer. The book of Acts is a long book, covering quite a long period of time, and it includes many serving ones: Peter and the other disciples who took Jerusalem as a center, and later, Paul the apostle with his co-workers who took Antioch as another center. In all the chapters you could not find one verse that tells you they had some plan, some program, some schedule, or even some convention or conference to have a discussion about organizing their service to the Lord. In every case all the different serving ones took only one way, and that was the way of prayer. Every part of their service, every bit of their work for the Lord, was initiated by prayer. This is a crucial matter. They had no other way, used no other method, and took no other means for the Lord’s work, for His service, but the unique way of prayer. Their way was absolutely different from the way of the religious organizations today. In the early days of the churches, the apostles and all the saints served the Lord in the way of prayer. We need to be impressed with the crucial point that they had no other way, no other method, no other means.
In relation to a practical matter among us, we do sense the leading of the Lord that some of the saints would move out from Los Angeles to some other cities next year, 1970. In our fellowship we have called this move of the Lord among us a migration. Many dear ones are ready to make such a move for the spreading of the Lord’s recovery in this country. However, I have a deep conviction within me that we all need to be very clear that the migration is not a matter of human organization, not a movement under the human hand, but absolutely something in the spirit. We need to be clear concerning many practical items—who should stay here in Los Angeles to maintain a strong testimony, who should go out to other cities, which cities should be covered, and who should go to which city. We do believe that this is the Lord’s move among us, but with each one of us it must be a matter in the spirit. The only way that we can be clear concerning all these practical matters is by prayer, not by the way of organization, not by the way of human assignment.
Those who are clear that they should move out need to pray very much about the place where they should go. No one can tell what the Lord will do, and no one can predict where the Lord will lead. We all must pray. It would be wonderful if the Lord would lead so that some could go out to cover all the leading cities of this country. However, in the initial stage He may grant the guidance to some of the brothers and sisters to cover only the leading cities along the West Coast. Perhaps in the first stage the Lord would lead the saints to cover only some of the strategic points and then maybe something further in the next stage. The whole matter is not in our hand. We are in the Lord’s recovery, and we need to drop the old way of religion and be delivered fully out of the influence of that old way.
In practical matters such as these related to the Lord’s move, we should not expect the leading ones or anyone else to tell us what we should do or where we should go. That way of organization is wrong, and we need to be delivered from the influence of that way, the old way practiced in religion. We need to come back to the pure Word to see the way taken in the early days by the first group of Christians in serving the Lord. There was no organization, no arrangement, no schedule, no plan, and no raising of funds. There was hardly any mention of money or finances, and no one exercised control over the situation. The conference in chapter 15 of Acts did not concern the work but the teaching, the doctrine, and the faith of the church.
If you take away all the schedules, the programs, the plans, and the conventions, the conferences, and the fund-raising, the talk about money, and the human manipulation—if you take away all these things, there may be very little left in today’s religious organizations. I believe that we are quite clear that we do not want to take that way in the Lord’s recovery. Although we may have no intention of following that way, I am nevertheless concerned that something of that old way still remains within us, unconsciously, subconsciously, influencing us. Due to such an influence, we may have some consideration within us that after a period of training in Los Angeles we would be sent out to another city. In our consideration we would then make our training the same as a seminary, a Bible school, or a Bible institute. This is absolutely not the Lord’s way, and it is not the way we are taking. The Lord’s way is a way in prayer. How much we need a deep realization that the Lord’s way is absolutely a way in prayer.
In relation to the practical matters of who should go to which city, who will go together with whom, when will be the right time for some to go, and by what means some shall be able to go, it is altogether up to the Lord. Concerning these matters, we should simply pray. We should not expect some of the leading ones to make some arrangements and then make assignments. Actually, it would be easy for the leading ones to assign a certain number of families to this city and a certain number to that one, but this is not the Lord’s way. How much we need to be impressed with the need to take the Lord’s way. The Lord’s way is absolutely a way of prayer.
Not only is the Lord’s way of prayer the way to carry out the matter of moving out to other cities for the spread of the Lord’s recovery, but it is also the way to take care of such matters as the cleaning of the meeting hall and arranging the chairs for the meeting. For these practical everyday matters, we need much prayer. How good it would be to see so many saints coming into the service in the church here without any arrangement and without any assignment, but coming to serve by praying. How wonderful it would be to have all the service carried out by means of prayer.
To serve by praying, it is necessary for us to serve in our human spirit. This is the number one item. To pray is altogether a matter in the human spirit. Just as seeing is a matter of the eyes, hearing, a matter of the ears, and walking, a matter of the feet, in the same way, praying is a matter of the spirit. To serve by praying means to serve by using our human spirit. The way to use our human spirit, to exercise our spirit, is to pray. To pray is the best way to exercise our spirit. Therefore, to say that we serve by praying is to say that we serve in the spirit.
We do expect that every member would be a functioning member, but we do not like to see the functioning under the assignment of the leading ones. The unique way for us to come together and serve together is the way of prayer. How much prayer we need in our serving together. When we come to arrange the chairs for the meeting, each one of us has to come with much prayer. Then before we begin to take care of the chairs, we need to pray together, to pray very much for the arranging, pray for the seating, pray for our service, and pray for everything we are going to do in the church service. There is a great difference between the service that is full of prayer and the service that is done without prayer. These are two entirely different kinds of services; one is a service full of prayer, even with a lot of prayer poured out over the service, and the other, a service that is merely doing many things. There is a great difference between the two.
In the same way, there is a great difference between visiting the saints or visiting the unbelievers with the visitation that is full of prayer and the visitation that has very little prayer. Without prayer there will be poverty in the service. The riches, even the enriching power in the service, come with much prayer. We need an appetite for prayer. Not only do we need to pray individually, but we need to come together to pray. We should not try to initiate anything, to start anything, or to do anything without adequate prayer. We need to learn to pray adequately.
If we read through the book of Acts, even if we read through this book again and again, we may be surprised that we cannot find one hint that in the early days the apostles and the disciples tried to use any means other than prayer to solve their problems and to carry on their work. The more we read through this book, the more we realize that prayer was the only way, the unique way, for them to meet every situation.
If we look into the verses in Acts related to prayer, we will find many crucial points concerning prayer. The beginning of the Christian service in the whole universe is recorded in the first chapter of Acts, and that beginning was entirely a matter of prayer. The early Christians started the service by praying. “These all continued steadfastly with one accord in prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers” (v. 14). All the words in this verse are very meaningful, especially in helping us understand by what way the early disciples prayed. This verse begins with the words these all, which indicates that the prayer here was the prayer of a corporate body, not the prayer of individuals. There were one hundred twenty people, including the twelve and the other disciples. It is significant that the sisters are mentioned here, even one of them by name. This prayer in the upper room was corporate prayer, the prayer of a corporate body, not the prayer of individuals.
Two points here are particularly striking. The first is that they continued steadfastly in prayer, and the second is that they prayed with one accord. The translation is not adequate to convey the full meaning of the Greek words in this verse. They gave themselves, they devoted themselves, to the matter of prayer with a persevering spirit. They persevered in the matter of prayer. They even gave themselves up to the matter of prayer. Of course, we could realize that what is indicated in this verse is not a matter of praying occasionally within those ten days. I do believe that within those ten days they did nothing but pray. They devoted themselves steadfastly, continually, and perseveringly to the matter of prayer.
I hope that some of the brothers who are burdened to move out to other cities for the spread of the Lord’s recovery would come together to devote themselves to this kind of persevering prayer for the Lord’s move.
The second striking point is that the early disciples prayed in the way of being in one accord. The Greek word homothumadon here is quite meaningful. It indicates that they all had the same one mind, will, and purpose. They were all one, not only in one spirit to pray in the spirit but they were in one mind, in one will, and in one purpose. When we come to pray in the church service, we need to come in the way of being in one accord. We may come together to serve, but each one of us may come in the way of having our own mind, our own will, and our own purpose. You have your mind, and I have mine. You have your will, and I have mine. You have your purpose, and I have mine. Then in the prayer we may even fight with one another. In the prayer you fight for your mind, will, and purpose, and I fight for mine. But how could this kind of prayer be prevailing? This kind of prayer could not touch the throne of authority. When we come together to pray, each one of us needs to forget our own mind, will, and purpose. We need to take the mind of Christ, take the will of the Lord, and be burdened for the purpose of God. Then we will be one. We will be one not only in spirit but also in mind, will, and purpose.
We may not realize that the Holy Spirit was already with the disciples before the day of Pentecost. However, if the indwelling Spirit were not with the disciples, it would have been impossible for one hundred twenty people to be one in praying for ten days. It is true that they had not yet received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the outward baptism of the Holy Spirit. But on the day of resurrection, when the Lord breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” they received the indwelling Spirit of life (John 20:22). Therefore, here in Acts 1, before the day of Pentecost, they were very spiritual. They may not have been powerful, but they were very spiritual. In no other way could one hundred twenty people have been one in their mind, will, and purpose for ten days.
How much we need this kind of prayer among us! The brothers and sisters need to follow the Lord’s leading to come together to pray and to devote themselves continually, perseveringly, to this kind of prayer with one mind, one will, and one purpose. There should not be the activity of a human hand to arrange the practical things for the service, to make assignments; rather, all of the service should come out of this kind of prayer.
Not only did the apostles, the first group of serving ones, pray in this way, but the first group of new converts after the day of Pentecost continued to pray in the same manner. “They continued steadfastly in the teaching and the fellowship of the apostles, in the breaking of bread and the prayers” (2:42). They continued to pray in this way because they saw the example. They were brought to the Lord by a group of serving ones who prayed in this way. Therefore, after they received the Lord, they became the same as those leaders. Those serving ones prayed, and these who were converted through them prayed in the same way. In the first chapter of Acts there are the praying serving ones, and in the second chapter there are the praying converts.
If we are not persons who pray all the time, we could never cause one that we bring to the Lord to pray continually. What kind of person we are determines what kind of person we could beget. Those we bring to the Lord, the new converts, will be a reflection of what we are. Only one who prays all the time could bring others to the Lord and cause them to pray all the time. The point we need to see here is that if the leading brothers in the church are not praying ones, the others in the church will not be praying ones either. No matter how much the leading ones may exhort the saints to pray, their exhorting is in the realm of doctrine and teaching if they do not pray themselves. Their exhorting is not the leading of the flock. In a flock the first few sheep go ahead in a certain way, and all the others follow in the same way.
In Acts 4:31 there is the demonstration of the power of corporate prayer: “When they had so besought, the place in which they were gathered was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.” By praying, they shook the earth, and by praying, they received the power. By praying, they could speak the word of God with boldness. I am afraid that many times there is a shortage of boldness in the functioning of the dear ones in our meetings. The sisters may try to excuse themselves by saying that they are the weaker ones. But there should be no excuse. All of us need to have adequate prayer so that we will be equipped and enabled to speak forth in the meetings with boldness.
In Acts 6 we are told that it is not fitting for the apostles to forsake the word of God and prayer to take care of matters related to eating. The apostles told the people again that they would continue steadfastly in prayer (proskarteresomen, the same word as in Acts 1:14). “We will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word” (6:4). They devoted themselves perseveringly to prayer. Here prayer is mentioned before the ministry of the word, which indicates that the prayer is more important than the ministry of the word. The power, the life, and the impact of the word come from the prayer. Therefore, we need to pray before we minister the word, and we all need to pray before we come to the meeting to prophesy. Without a praying spirit, it is rather hard to have a prophesying spirit.
In Acts 10 we need to be impressed that both Peter and Cornelius had a specific hour set aside for prayer, the prayer hour. This matter was mentioned already in Acts 3:1, when Peter and John went to the temple at the ninth-hour prayer. At that time they were not so clear. In the beginning, they did not realize that there was no need for them to go to the physical temple. But later on, in chapter 10 Peter was on the housetop, and the housetop became his temple (v. 9). Cornelius prayed within his house, and that house became a temple to him (vv. 2-4). Both Peter and Cornelius had specific times, certain hours, for prayer, and they kept the hours of prayer. The vision concerning the Gentiles being brought into the Body was revealed to both sides through prayer. At one end, Cornelius received the vision by prayer, and at the other end, Peter likewise received the vision by prayer. We need to take note that the whole matter was carried out by means of prayer.
There should be many testimonies among us concerning how the Lord has spoken to us through our prayer and how He has joined us together for the service through our prayer. I long to hear such testimonies before the time comes for the moving out to other cities, for the migration. We may hear that the Lord has put together a certain number of families for His move not by their discussion but by their prayer. Such things have happened among us in the past. Once when I was praying, the Lord spoke something to me concerning a particular brother. At the same time, while that brother was praying, the Lord spoke something to him about me and about both of us. Then, when we came together, we found that the Lord had spoken to each of us in our prayer in the same way. According to this principle, many times the Lord confirms His speaking by speaking the same thing to two persons separately in their prayer.
I received the Lord’s calling in 1925, but it was not until eight years later that I had the boldness to give up my job to enter into full-time service for the Lord. In August 1933 the Lord had raised up things in my environment to force me to drop my job. I was pressed not only outwardly but also inwardly. I was burdened because of the need around me, and I was pressed because of the Lord’s pleasure in my spirit. There was real pleasure within my spirit at the prospect of giving up my job. However, at that time, thirty-six years ago, in my part of the country there was no such thing as anyone taking this way of serving the Lord without being hired by anyone or supported by any organization. It was rather hard to contemplate such a venture.
During that month, there was a real struggle going on within me. Inwardly, I was pressed and bothered to the point that I felt I could not go on, even I could not live, if I did not give up that job; nevertheless, I did not dare to do it. To me that little job was just like the little boat to Peter. If I gave up the boat, I would be the second Peter to jump into the sea. Therefore, I had decided that I would not be that foolish; I would keep the little boat. In the first three weeks of August I was extremely troubled and perplexed, and I was having a very difficult time in my struggle with the Lord over this matter.
After the church prayer meeting on Wednesday, August 23, I went to my study room and was alone there with the Lord until midnight. At a certain point I found it impossible to pray. It was as if the Lord said to me, “We’re through talking. If you take this way, take it. If you don’t take it, that’s all; I am finished with you. I am through with you.” I did not say Amen to my prayer. With tears I simply said, “All right, I take it.” That was all.
The next day I submitted my resignation from my job, and the following day I received a letter from Manchuria inviting me to go there. This was my first invitation to go to a distant place to minister the word of the Lord. That was a definite confirmation of my decision. But notice what followed. When I returned from Manchuria in the middle of September, there was a letter waiting for me at home. It was dated August 17, just the middle of those three weeks during which I was struggling with the Lord. The letter was written by Brother Watchman Nee. He had written it on board ship while on the Mediterranean Sea on his way from England back to China, and it reached me the middle of September, after I returned from my trip to Manchuria for the Lord’s ministry.
The letter was brief. We were not in the habit of corresponding with one another, and a long time had elapsed since we had last heard from one another. Within a year’s time we may have written to each other once or twice. All of a sudden such a short letter came to me, written at exactly the time I was struggling with the Lord. I could never forget what it said. “Dear Brother Witness: As to your future, I feel you have to serve the Lord with your full time. How do you feel? May the Lord lead you.”
I was excited and full of joy! I said, “Lord, You are too gracious to me. This is the second confirmation.” Two letters confirmed my resignation from my job, first the one from Manchuria and then the one from Brother Nee.
On the day I received that letter, I made the decision to go to Shanghai to see Brother Nee and find out why he wrote that letter. He told me that one day while on the Mediterranean, he was with the Lord concerning the Lord’s move and His recovery in China. During that time, he had a deep realization within him that he must write me that letter. In this way the Lord spoke to two persons far removed from one another concerning the same matter.
I long to see things like this happening among us again and again. In the past I have seen this kind of thing. In the Lord’s service any kind of arrangement, any kind of organizing, is a handicap to the Lord’s move. We all need to avoid frustrations of this kind. Therefore, we need to learn to pray.
Now we come to Acts 11:5, where Peter tells us something quite strange: “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and I saw in a trance a vision.” The word trance in this verse can be translated as “ecstasy,” which is an anglicized form of the Greek word used here. Ecstasy may be defined as great joy with the spirit uplifted. To be in ecstasy you need to be beside yourself. Peter prayed, and he was in an ecstasy. He was beside himself with great joy with his spirit uplifted. In the past I have had a number of experiences like this. All of us need to pray and continue praying until we come to the point that we are beside ourselves with great joy and with our spirit not only uplifted but transcendent to the third heaven. At that point, you would forget your name, forget who you are, and forget where you are. All of us need this kind of experience.
If you have never had such an experience in prayer to be brought into an ecstasy, you could be compared to Peter in the Gospels, but you could not be compared to Peter in Acts 11. We all need to pray, to continue in prayer, to release our spirit to such an extent that we do not know where we are or who we are, but we are full of joy, transcendent, beside ourselves, and even outside of ourselves. How could we come into such an experience? The unique way is to learn to pray and to continue in prayer. When your prayer brings you into an experience that could be entitled an ecstasy, surely the vision will come. At that point, your whole being will be changed. Your concept, your understanding of the things of the Lord, even your understanding of the words we are speaking, will be different because you will no longer be concealed in yourself, in such a small self, but you will be outside yourself. If you are walking on the street in Los Angeles, you have a certain impression of the city of Los Angeles. But if you get into the air and look down, your impression of the city is quite different. We all need to be outside ourselves, to get into the heavenly vision, and to look down at the situation. Then everything will be different, and everything will become very clear to us.
Now we come to Acts 12, where Peter was imprisoned, and the church was praying. “So then Peter was kept in the prison; but prayer was being made fervently by the church to God concerning him” (v. 5). The church prayed not only unceasingly; they prayed fervently and earnestly. Here is a real picture of the service of the Christians in the early days. They did not try any other way to release Peter. Their unique way was to pray, to pray earnestly, fervently, unto the Lord. Then the angel came, the prison was opened, and Peter was freed. “When he became aware of this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, who was surnamed Mark, where there was a considerable number assembled together and praying” (v. 12). I like this verse. Peter went to a sister’s house, a sister named Mary, a sister who was also a mother. I hope all the sisters would have a home for prayer, and I hope you all would be the mothers to the younger saints. Peter went to the home of Mary, where there was a considerable number assembled together and praying. The fervent prayer for Peter’s release is a picture of their service to the Lord.
In Acts 13 we see that the way the apostles received their leading, how they were sent out, how they were coordinated, was altogether the way of praying and fasting. “Now there were in Antioch, in the local church, prophets and teachers: Barnabas,...and Saul. And as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for Me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away” (vv. 1-3). We all need to pay our full attention to this matter so that we may learn this unique way for the Lord’s service. No one can tell you with whom you should go out, where you should go, or what is the right way for you to carry out the ministry. Not even the church here can tell you these things. We all need to pray and continue to pray until the Holy Spirit speaks to us within our spirit and makes us clear what is the way to go out, who are the ones with whom we will be coordinated, and where we shall go. The way of prayer is the unique way for the Lord’s service.
In Acts 14:23 with the appointing of the elders, the apostles prayed with fastings: “When they had appointed elders for them in every church and had prayed with fastings, they committed them to the Lord into whom they had believed.” They prayed not merely with one fasting but with several, perhaps many, fastings.
Now we come to chapter 16. It was midnight, and Paul and Silas were in prison. “About midnight Paul and Silas, while praying, sang hymns of praise to God; and the prisoners were listening to them” (v. 25). When Paul and Silas were praying at midnight in the prison, they sang hymns to God. In their praying, the two apostles sang hymns to God. It may not seem logical to us for them to cause such a disturbance at that hour with so many other prisoners there trying to sleep. As servants of the Lord, we have the concept that we should behave properly and not disturb anyone. However, that night in the prison Paul and Silas were beside themselves. In their prayer I do believe at a certain point they were also in an ecstasy, and they started to sing hymns. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! They created a real stir, and all the people were disturbed. Then suddenly there was an earthquake: “Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken. And instantly all the doors were opened and everyone’s bonds were unfastened” (v. 26). The singing may have caused the first disturbance, but the earthquake caused a bigger one. The fetters fell down, the doors were opened, and the prisoners were released.
We need to learn that there are times we should not be too logical, too well behaved. Our prayer may bring us into an ecstasy that will cause us to make some noise that could disturb others, that could even cause them to think that we are beside ourselves. Out of your prayer you may be led to do something on the campuses. Those on the campus may be disturbed by your singing. Perhaps at a certain time out of your prayer you may be led to stand up in one of your classes to say something about Jesus Christ. These matters are not related to some kind of teaching concerning how to carry on a work on the campuses. That kind of teaching does not work. Everything must come out of your prayer, even the prayer that brings you into an ecstasy.
In Acts 20:36 we see that the apostle Paul again did something that was not logical. All the believers had gone to the seashore to send him off on his journey, and after he had finished speaking, he knelt down to pray, and all the others knelt down also. “When he had said these things, he knelt down with them all and prayed.” In the next chapter the believers again came to the seashore with all their families to see Paul off. “We went forth and went on our way, with all of them, including the women and children, escorting us until we were outside the city. And when we had knelt down on the beach and prayed” (21:5). When we go to the airport to see someone off, have you ever considered that we all might kneel down to pray right in the airport? No doubt that would create a big stir.
In 1935 we had public gospel preaching on the streets in the evenings, with a good number of the brothers and sisters there. Some would stand there preaching, others maintained the order, but most of the saints knelt down on the street to pray. Again in 1946 in Nanking, the capital of China, we did the same thing. Before the preaching, many brothers and sisters knelt down on the street to pray, to shout, and to cry to the Lord. Even while the preaching was going on, a good number continued to kneel there supporting the preaching until it was over. That was really a wonderful display of prayer that subdued the evil spirits and conquered the rebellious spirit.
Truthfully, Christians are enthusiastic people, not logical people. We need to be beside ourselves. In a proper sense we should not be people so much in our sober mind but people of prayer in a heavenly trance. To do these things in an outward way to follow a teaching does not work. But if we have adequate prayer in the spirit, our prayer will bring us into a trance just as in the case of Paul and that of Peter. Paul told us that he was in a trance when he was praying in the temple (22:17).
Then in Acts 28:8 we see the apostle Paul praying for the healing of a sick person: “Paul went in to him, and having prayed and laid his hands on him, healed him.” That was not the demonstration of a gift of healing but the normal activity of one who served the Lord. Whether you have some special gift of healing or not, wherever you go, you need to pray for any you meet who are sick. The healing in Acts 28 was not anything unusual but the result of the normal prayer of the serving one.
If we consider all these verses from the book of Acts, we will see many aspects of the prayer life for the Lord’s service. We can pray at any time, in any place, and in any way—at the seashore, in the temple, at home, on the top of the house, in the city, alone or with others, in any place, at any time, at the sixth hour, the fourth hour, the ninth hour, or at midnight. We need to pray to such an extent that the prayer brings us into an ecstasy. If we have never had this kind of experience, we simply need to pray, to pray forgetting about ourselves, forgetting about our environment, looking to the Lord, praising, declaring, and proclaiming His transcendency and His virtues. If we will do this, without a doubt we will find ourselves in an ecstasy.
