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 Six
Praying for New Ones in the Way of Mentioning Their Names
Scripture Reading:
1 Tim. 2:1 I exhort therefore, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men.
Rom. 1:9 For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of His Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you always in my prayers.
MAKING A LIST OF NAMES
According to my observation and experience, the best way to contact people with the gospel and to bear remaining fruit is to regulate yourself. Generally speaking, only those who are regulated can bear the best fruit. We should begin to prepare for the gospel by making a list of the names of all the people whom we know. (CWWL, 1971, vol. 3, “Gaining People and Building Them Up for the Body of Christ,” ch. 6)
We need to spend some time with the Lord concerning our preaching of the gospel. We need to ask the Lord to remind us of the people whom we know, including our relatives, neighbors, class-mates, friends, and colleagues. Actually, it is profitable to make a list of all these names in a little notebook and classify them according to our relationship with them. Before writing down the names, we may feel that we do not know many people. However, once we make a list of names, we will realize that we know many people.
IDENTIFYING THOSE ON OUR LIST WHO ARE SAVED
Second, after we have composed a list of all the names of our contacts, we need to look through the list and consider whether each contact has received salvation. If we have the assurance that a contact is saved, we can place a mark next to the name to indicate that we do not need to preach the gospel to such a contact. However, if we have no assurance that a contact is truly saved, we need to leave that name on the list as one on whom we need to labor. If a contact is a Christian only in name, we should consider him an unbeliever, because he is not saved. We need to go through our list to identify those who are saved among the people whom we know.
LABORING IN PRAYER OVER THE NAMES ON OUR LIST
Third, we need to labor in prayer concerning every name on our list. I believe that many of us have this kind of experience: Even in the smallest tasks, such as cleaning a room, until we spend the time to clean the room, we may consider that it does not require much work. However, when we begin to do the cleaning, we discover how much work is involved. Initially, we may have considered that the cleaning would take only ten minutes. Eventually, an hour later, we may still be cleaning because the more we cleaned, the more we dis-covered things that were in need of cleaning. If we pray for the names on our list, we will discover that each name requires much labor. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 1, “Fellowship and Questions concerning the Gospel,” msg. 4)
You need to set aside a fixed time daily for this work of intercession. Whether it be an hour, half an hour, or a quarter of an hour, it must be a fixed time. If there is no fixed time for prayer, there will not be definite prayer. As a result, there will not be any prayer at all. (CWWN, vol. 49, “Messages for Building Up New Believers (2),” msg. 19)
CONTACTING THE PERSONS
FOR WHOM THE LORD BURDENS US IN OUR PRAYER
In the past some saints said to me that they had no one to whom they could preach the gospel. However, if they take the way of spending some time to make a list of the names of all the people whom they know, they may discover that they have at least forty names. Then, as they pray for each name, the Holy Spirit will burden them for certain persons. They may begin with forty or more names, but when they pray for these persons, the Holy Spirit will burden them for two or three at a certain time. However, this does not mean that they need to work only on these two or three; it is only a beginning. As they continue to labor in this way and pray, the Holy Spirit may burden them for some others continually. When they are burdened for two or three, they must find a way to contact them either by a phone call, a personal visit, inviting them to their home, or sending them some literature. This kind of contact is for gospel preaching. If they do this work, they will discover many things that need to be done. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 1, “Fellowship and Questions concerning the Gospel,” msg. 4)
Sometimes when you contact someone, you may feel that he is the wrong person. But according to my experience, no contacts are wrong. Do not say that you caught a fish which is the wrong fish. No fish is wrong, as long as it was hooked by you. The only thing that is wrong is for you not to contact people. You may feel that a certain man is the wrong person because he is too proud. But you have to check with yourself. Are you not proud? On this earth, who is not proud? Even the little children know how to be proud. If we are waiting to contact the best people, the perfect people, we will have no one to contact. No contacts are wrong. Even the policeman which D. L. Moody contacted close to midnight was the right person.
We can also see from George Muller’s autobiography that no person would not believe in the Lord Jesus if you keep contacting him continuously for your whole life. George Muller prayed for many gospel candidates. When he went to the Lord, all of them except one was saved. Eventually, even that one was saved. This is why I say you need the patience. You should always try to have four or five people under your care. You may be led to contact someone who has no feeling to pursue the Lord. Still you should keep contacting him in a regular way. After five years the “tide” to be interested in the Lord Jesus will come to this man. You may contact someone in the spring, and he may not have any heart for the Lord. But after half a year, the tide will come for him to desire the Lord. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, msg. 7)
PRAYERS BEING ANSWERED
We must have the desire and the aspiration to see that God often answers our prayers. No blessing can be greater than God answering our prayers all the time. We have to pray to Him, “May every request of ours be pleasing to Your ears.” It is a most glorious thing for God to incline His ear to us. It is a tremendous thing for God to trust us to the extent that He can give us whatever we ask.
You have to present to the Lord the names that you are burdened with and pray for them one by one. See how long it takes for God to save them. If your prayers are unanswered after a long period, you have to deal with yourself and with God. In order for your prayers to be answered, it is often necessary to go through specific dealings. Unanswered prayer means that there is sickness somewhere. If you do not mean business in this matter, you will always fail.
This is why you need a record book. The record book will show you whether or not your prayers are answered. Many people do not know whether their prayers are answered because they do not have a record of anything. Newly saved brothers and sisters should learn to have such a record book. Then they will know whether or not their prayers are answered. They will know whether there is a problem between them and the Lord. They will know also when they have to deal with themselves and when they have to deal with God.
If you have prayed for a long time and there is still no answer, you should realize that there must be some hindrance. The hindrances always occur because there is sin in your conscience or there is a problem with your faith. New believers need not worry about the deeper aspects of prayer. They need only to pay attention to their conscience and their faith. Before the Lord, we have to confess, deal with, and refuse our sins. At the same time we have to genuinely and fully trust in God’s promises. If we do this, we will see people being saved one by one, and our lives will be full of answers to prayer. (CWWN, vol. 49, “Messages for Building Up New Believers (2),” msg. 19)
