TAKING THE SHEPHERDING WAY
TO PREACH THE GOSPEL AND REVIVE THE CHURCH

SERIES One
Practicing the Church Life
according to the Framework of the God-ordained Way

Message Four
Becoming Vital through Prayer

Scripture Reading:

Eph. 6:18    By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints.

Acts 1:14    These all continued steadfastly with one accord in prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

OUR HAVING TO BE VITAL

To be vital means to be released in the spirit, and this cannot be performed. If we pray for half an hour, we will be released. If we are not released, we are not vital. To contact people we have to be released persons. If we are not bound, we will be able to release others. A dejected, weeping person cannot make other people happy. If we are going to make people happy, we have to be happy persons. We can only help people to be what we are. In order to go out to effectively labor in the gospel, we must be vital.

PRAYER MAKING US VITAL

Praying and the Spirit Being One

If we do not pray even for one day, we have the feeling that we are short of the Spirit. When we pray, even with just a few sentences, we have the feeling that we are touching the Spirit. We all need to have a time with the Lord every morning in prayer. If you do not pray in the morning for one week, you will be dead spiritually. There is no other way to be vital except by prayer. We have to pray and get into a prayer life.

Recently I visited a group of saints, and I made a very positive discovery. I found out that they were not vital and that they do not pray much. They have not gotten into the prayer life. The only way that we can touch the Spirit is by prayer. In the Bible the Spirit is linked with our prayer. Praying and the Spirit are one. If we are without prayer, we will be without the Spirit. Of course, we can also say that without the Spirit, there can be no prayer. This is why we are told that we have to pray in spirit (Eph. 6:18). Since we are regenerated believers in Christ, our human spirit and the Holy Spirit are mingled together as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17).

Our Needing to Look to the Lord So That We Can Free Ourselves
from All Distractions to Have Solid Times of Prayer with Him

Most of us are living in a situation in which it is difficult to find a solid time of half an hour to pray. Whenever we set aside a definite time to pray, the enemy will always try to disturb us. When we begin to pray, someone may knock on our door or call us on the telephone. We may not have any telephone calls for a long period of time, but as soon as we begin to pray, the telephone will ring. Eventually, after three phone calls, our heart for prayer may be gone. We may have to wait for a period of time until we can be recovered back to prayer. It is not easy for us to pray for half an hour without being disturbed. We need to look to the Lord so that we can free ourselves from all distractions to have solid times of prayer with Him. Prayer makes us vital. We have to take the lead to be vital. If we are not vital, we cannot pray for others to be vital.

Specifically Petitioning the Lord for All the Groups to Become Vital

Petition is more particular, whereas prayer is general. Of course, in your prayer and your petition, whenever you open up your mouth to say something to the Lord, that is a kind of fellowship. Prayer and petition are both a kind of fellowship. Petition implies that you have a particular burden to pray for certain things. You may pray for the vital groups in a general way. But sometimes you may be burdened to petition the Lord concerning the vital groups. You may separate half a day to specifically petition the Lord for all the groups to become vital. Then you may be burdened further to even fast by skipping a meal to petition the Lord concerning the vital groups. You would be burdened to petition the Lord for only one thing—”Lord, make all the groups vital. Make me vital, Lord.” The words prayer and petition are used in Ephesians 6:18 and Philippians 4:6. Prayer is mentioned first and then petition.

Praying and Studying Our Candidates for the Gospel Together

In our vital group meetings, we need to spend some time to study our gospel candidates. After we go to contact a person, the following week we should give a report in the group meeting of our experience. Then we should look to the Lord and fellowship about how to take the next step with this person.

We need to consider all of our acquaintances, and we need the proper discernment in our consideration of whom we should labor on. We should spend our time to labor on those whom we consider to be promising and not waste our time on others who are not open. In our group meetings we should pray and study our candidates for the gospel together. We need to consider people’s condition, especially spiritually, and then act appropriately to meet their need in the gospel. We need to decide how we should visit a certain person and who would be the right one or ones to go.

Our Needing to Pray When We Contact People

When we go to visit someone, we should not speak too many points to him. Otherwise, he will be complicated and receive nothing. If we go to visit someone and speak many points to him in a complicating way, our speaking will delay him. He may feel that the things in the Bible are too hard to understand, and his interest will be gone. Then he will not want to have any further contact with us. This will delay him for many years. We should be in fear and trembling when we contact people (1 Cor. 2:3). We should pray, “Lord, how should I answer this person? Help me.”

Leading People to Pray and Call on the Lord’s Name

If a person asks you what eternal life is, you should not answer him in a complicated way. You should answer him strictly and simply. You may say, “Eternal life is God Himself, and God is Jesus Christ. Therefore, eternal life is just Jesus Christ. Today Christ is the Spirit with us. He is waiting for a time to enter into you to be your eternal life. Would you receive Him?” Then he may ask, “By what way?” Then you can lead him to pray and call upon the Lord’s name. Within a short time this person will be helped to know what eternal life is, who is eternal life, and how he can receive this life. Eternal life is God, God today is Jesus Christ, and He is the Spirit. By praying and calling upon the name of the Lord we can receive Him into us to be our very life.

Studying by Redeeming Our Time to Learn

Since we are lovers of the Lord Jesus, we must realize that we have much to learn in order to be a proper Christian. In order to learn adequately, we need to redeem our time. My concern is for your prayer, for your experience of the Spirit, and for your learning. Do you really mean business to learn? Your time in the vital groups is a golden time for you to learn. You can learn with the other members in the vital group and practice what you have learned. (Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, msg. 22)