Establishing a Life of Prayer
Messages for the Perfecting of Parents — "Home" Series
Message Five
I. The Prayer of Committing Every Matter — Phil. 4:5–7
Phil. 4:5 — Let your forbearance be known to all men. The Lord is near. Phil. 4:6 — In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; Phil. 4:7 — And the peace of God, which surpasses every man's understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.
1. By prayer and petition, with thanksgiving
2. Make your requests known to God
3. God's answer — He bestows the peace beyond expectation, to guard our thoughts
This evening we are not only saying, "Let us together build up an intimate fellowship with the Lord," — we are also studying together how to have a sweet companionship with the Lord. The secret, of course, lies in committing: in every matter committing, opening our face to the Lord, opening up to Him, hiding none of our weakness from Him. The more you open up — whether in gladness or sadness, whether in fear or fearlessness — and tell the Lord all, the more you will find your life is not the same. There is yet another secret: we must be filled with faith toward Him; faith lays hold of all the riches of the Triune God, because faith is the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. So our prayer is not only asking — on the one hand we learn to commit every matter, hiding nothing; whatever there is to say to Him, we open it to Him; on the other hand we learn by faith to touch Him.
The first thing we are to practise this evening is committing every matter: what we dare commit, we commit; what we dare not commit, we commit also; what we remember, we commit; what we forget, we commit too. The secret Paul gave us for our life is to commit every matter. "In nothing be anxious" is a command — but how can we be anxious in nothing? — Only in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let our requests be made known to God. We must, in every matter, in every single thing, bring it before God. Is this possible? Easy or not?
For there are always a few matters you dare not commit. Sometimes a person dares not pray about his marriage, fearing — "the moment I pray, the moment I commit, the Lord will give me the very one I do not want." You have made the Lord too severe. Has any saint who has committed his marriage to the Lord ended up dissatisfied with that marriage? Don't be afraid — just commit. The more you commit, the surer the Lord's answer. Remember: the Lord does not answer according to what you asked — the Lord answers with the highest blessing. What blessing? — He bestows on you the peace beyond expectation.
The men of the world all pursue peace; look at those who drive — they always tie a peace amulet on the dashboard, but they themselves do not know where peace is. You and I, however, do know. As long as you commit every matter, the Lord will surely answer; He bestows on you the peace beyond expectation.
Psa. 106:15 — And He gave them their request, But He sent leanness into their soul.
God answered Israel according to what they asked, but their soul withered. It is just like a parent: the child keeps demanding; finally there is no choice — fine, take it! — but the parent is not really pleased.
According to the Scripture, not every matter is necessarily answered by God. Of course if you ask for the salvation of family members, He will surely answer; if you ask that someone may meet the Lord, He will surely answer. Many things asked merely for our own sake, the Lord may not answer — yet not because He does not love us; rather, He knows that even if we got those things, we should still be empty. He knows what we need.
What man needs is Christ Himself, given to us as the peace beyond expectation. This peace then mounts as a sentinel over our heads, to guard our thoughts. The biblical "guard" means to post a sentinel. Around the perimeter of your thoughts, is there a sentinel? We are very easily struck by fiery darts — one moment an anxiety, the next a dissatisfaction, the next an outburst of anger. You face the daily attack of fiery darts because you have set no sentinel. Have you applied to the Lord for a watch? — How many watchmen will you ask of Him? — Twenty-four-hour duty. This twenty-four-hour watch keeps watch twenty-four hours over your heart and thoughts. Therefore you must commit every matter.
II. The Prayer of Cherishing — the Way to Absorb God
1. Declaring the Lord's being — Matt. 21:9, 15
Matt. 21:9 — And the crowds who went before Him and those who followed cried out, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! Matt. 21:15 — But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonders that He did and the children who were crying out in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David, they were indignant.
2. Giving thanks for what the Lord has done
3. Through the Lord's name, His enlightening, confession, and the precious blood
When in spirit we speak to the Lord, full of cherishing and praise and thanksgiving for the Lord's being itself, we will be filled with the Lord. May the Lord cover me to give a small testimony. Twenty-three years ago I began to build up a life of drawing near to the Lord; and this has become my life. At first, on the one hand, it was because I sought after Him: through the pursuit of the publications a thirst arose within me, a longing to build up such a fellowship. There was also another reason — I am by nature a weak man, not very quick-witted; with some setbacks and some difficulties, I did not know what to do — but I knew He was there; and so I built up the life of fellowshipping with Him.
In those early exercises, I did not really know how to exercise; I had none of the secrets I am sharing this evening. But I had learned one secret — commit. Committing every matter brought me, again and again, to taste Him as the peace beyond expectation. Every time I rose up from prayer, there was a deep peace, a quietness inside me; and many a time, unawares, His peace became my sentinel, guarding my heart and thoughts that they should not fall into the disturbance of anxiety. This is too great a blessing! You must each day set up a dedicated time before the Lord — for the things already passed, give thanks where thanks is due; for the things about to come, commit what is to be committed. Always: what should be thanked, thank; what should be committed, commit.
Beyond this, in our prayer the most important matter is to absorb Him. The aim of prayer is to absorb God. We may also lay our requests before Him and confess our sins to Him — but our aim is yet to know Him. It is like a small child by his mother's side, asking for something: "Little Brother Chang has a knife — why don't I? Can't you give me one?" Mother says, "No." Another day the child cries again; Mother still says no. Usually a child, after being refused twice, gets angry and ignores his mother. But suppose, two days later, the child asks again, and again Mother says no. What then? — This time the child, having asked, begins to inquire: "Mama, why won't you give it to me?" Mother says, "A knife will cut you; cuts bleed; bleeding is painful. When you hurt, Mama hurts too." The child says, "Ah! — so Mama really loves me." And he goes out to declare: "My mother is great; she loves me very much."
Likewise you also may ask of the Lord. But when your asking turns out to be of no use, you must inquire of Him: "Lord, who are You? What are You doing? I want to receive Your intentional love. Lord, since You have not answered me, what is Your purpose? What do You want? What do You want me to see in Your enlightening? Lord — who are You?" The end of asking is to be brought into the knowing of Him; out from this comes Christ — and this is cherishing. Our prayer must always be brought into thanksgiving to the Lord, and into the praise of Him.
"Thanksgiving" is being thankful for what the Lord has done. That until today I am still living — should I not be thankful? Daily I run about outside, and the Lord guards my safety — should I not be thankful? In how many nights, the Lord gives me the gushing of the living water — should I not be thankful? For so many commissions entrusted to Him He has spared no effort — should I not be thankful? That I can have such a life today, that He died for me and lives for me — should I not be thankful? Oh — there is so very much to be thankful for. Wherever your thanksgiving reaches, there your absorbing of God reaches.
Beyond this, in thanksgiving there is praise. Our Lord — what He does is always according to what He is. He died for me, because He is the Lamb of God; He lives for me, because He is the all-availing life-giving Spirit; He is the Christ in the spirit, the Christ of the breath, the One most ready to hand. When you pray for the nation, you say, "Lord, You are the Ruler of the kings of the earth!" When you pray over the many concerns, do you not within rise up much praise of Him? — Far too much. I can come boldly to the Father, because the Lord is my advocate, my sin-atoning High Priest. "Lord, that I am able to live the church life this way without being cut off — that comes from Your keeping." As long as we are quiet in spirit, many notes of praise rise up — ding, ding, dong, dong — all sounding praise to the Lord.
III. The Prayer of Confession
1. God is light; through His word God in us is the light of life
2. The way to walk in the light is to confess our sins
3. Honestly to acknowledge my situation lets the Lord fill me up
Slowly I also began to confess to Him, learning to speak out my weakness, to commit my defilement, to open myself to Him. I tasted His forgiveness, I tasted the peace He bestowed, and I beheld His pardon. Under the leading of this ministry, in the reading of the Life-Studies and in the fellowship with the brothers, slowly I discovered the matter of cherishing.
In the Life-Study of Galatians you will see that our life is a life of cherishing the Lord. And this cherishing is like the shutter of a camera: as long as you have lined up on the divine scene, one click! — and that scene from God is printed onto the tablet of your heart. Your thanksgiving brings in cherishing, and brings this glorious God-man Jesus to be reproduced in us bit by bit. We must all be wild for Him, and we must all rejoice in Him.
Although my exercise is still not very good, I still say to the Lord, "Lord, I love You," — not just once, for He really is the One I love most. Up to today I know — for the going on of the church, I cannot be without prayer; for the fellowship between persons, I need prayer; for the resolving of difficulties, I still need prayer to lay hold of Him. May the Lord cover me to say: "I cannot live where He is not." The doing of things may be a little less; but the steady, persistent coming before the Lord must never be cut off.
Within praise, do we not also confess? The moment we meet Him, we see our own brokenness. The more we open up, the more we discover ourselves; this is a reciprocating action. This is also one of the two practice secrets in our prayer: one is to enjoy what is joined to the Lord's resurrection; the other is to fellowship in what is joined to His death. We not only by praise, thanksgiving, and cherishing enjoy this Christ as fragrant as the henna flower; at the same time, we also by repentance, confession, and opening up, acknowledging our condition, lay hold of this Christ as fragrant as myrrh. Our whole life, you may say, is a life of the alternating action of death and resurrection.
In our practice, how do we experience this alternating action? — In our fellowship with the Lord. In this fellowship, we may from the depths praise, give thanks, confess, and repent, and so adjust our state to turn toward the Lord; and naked-and-laid-bare before Him, let Him adjust us, let Him replace us. Through such praise, He Himself comes in, takes the place of our natural man, and becomes the reality of our life.
IV. Establishing a Life of Personal Prayer to Draw Near to the Lord
1. Without a fixed, dedicated time of prayer, there is virtually no prayer
2. Set a firm time, and pray with steady persistence
3. In the time of prayer, refuse every interruption and avoid all distraction — this is the time of meeting our King face-to-face
This evening, taking a brief time, by the brother's leading and by our experience in practice, we want to fellowship together over "how to fellowship with the Lord." We have already gone through a round of practice; tonight we are to practise yet again. Right here, this evening, we want a fresh-departure practice — for if we do not press in tonight on this point, when I say "Now everyone go home and pray," I have no confidence at all that, once you go home, you will keep on practising. I believe everyone loves the Lord, but it is not easy — so this evening we want to practise together.
In fellowshipping with the Lord, the one to take the lead is my spirit. The best posture, of course, is to kneel — to kneel before the Lord; though there are many who cannot kneel, you may kneel as you can. The most important thing is to release your spirit. Don't pay attention to so many different methods; pay attention to your spirit. Don't let yourself sink down; don't let yourself become drowsy. Once you have risen up, do not fall back asleep. The first secret of prayer is to release your spirit. Your spirit is the true self in your depths; so when you release your spirit, you are pouring out your whole person before the Lord. Oh, we cannot be indifferent — when we come before Him we must come in earnestness.
From today on, we are to consecrate ourselves to the Lord afresh — and this is for a lifetime, not for a day. Therefore every minute of yours must be given to the Lord. Ask the Lord to keep you; in the process there will inevitably be failures — but should there be a failure, stand up again. If today you slipped a little, do not let one day's slip bring all your fellowship before the Lord to a stop. A few minutes of evening prayer — never mind — only let your willingness to pray remain. May the Lord bear us up to steady persistence, that we may live in deep, intimate fellowship with Him until He comes back — that you may end as one who loves the Lord with a deep heart.
Of course, the time you set should best be in the early morning — the earlier, the better — but the early must be measured according to your physical state. You may say, "Every day I will rise at 2:30 a.m.!" — that is a lifetime meal-ticket — but is it certain you can keep it up? Better — five-thirty or six o'clock in the morning is a more reasonable time. We must firmly govern our use of time, and build up the prayer life of drawing near to the Lord. And every day, in your prayer, always remember — commit, cherish, confess — and so you will absorb God Himself in great abundance.
— End of Message Five —