Week 4 The Practice of Service
LESSON FOUR
PRAYER
Hymn 784
Scripture Reading:
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.
The most important thing for a baby at birth is breathing. In our spiritual life, prayer is breathing and is as crucial to a new believer as breathing is to a newborn babe. Hence, after we believe in the Lord and call upon His name to be saved, we must continue to pray and call on the Lord. Then we can receive the spiritual air, which is the Lord’s Spirit of life, that we may grow and be strong in the spiritual life. (Life Lessons, p. 24)
THE MEANING OF PRAYER
Prayer is the characteristic of the church life. After the early believers received the gospel and were baptized, they began to practice a life of prayer (Acts 2:42).
Prayer is the characteristic and innate ability of the life of a Christian. The life of a Christian bears a characteristic that it wants to pray and is able to pray. Prayer is the natural function of this life, just as breathing and speaking are natural functions of the human life. Prayer is the means by which man contacts and absorbs God. (New Life Lessons, p. 9)
THE FACULTY OF PRAYER
A person needs the proper faculty in whatever he does. We need our eyes in order to see, our ears in order to hear and our spirit in order to pray. “God is Spirit; and those who worship [including praying to] Him must worship in spirit and reality” (John 4: 24). “Praying at every time in spirit” [that is, praying with the spirit] (Eph. 6:18). Our spirit is the deepest part of our being. To pray in the spirit, or to pray with our spirit, is to use our innermost part to contact God. Therefore, we must pray not merely according to the thoughts in our mind, but according to the sense deep within our spirit. The faculty of prayer is not the mind but the spirit. (Life Lessons, pp. 24-25)
HELP FOR PRAYER
Pray-reading
To take a verse or two and pray over them will help us very much to return to our spirit and will uplift our spirit of prayer (Eph. 6:17). At the same time, when our prayers are based upon the Word of God and we pray with the Word of God, we will have full assurance concerning the will of God and will have the confidence that God hears our prayers.
Singing
Hymns contain many delicate spiritual feelings. They can help us very much to turn to our spirit and to touch the feeling of the Lord. They will develop our burden for prayer, and will deliver us from the entanglement of the thoughts.
Partners in Prayer
To have a prayer partner not only will help us to pray better, but also will sustain our prayer life (Matt. 18:19). (New Life Lessons, p. 12)
THE BASIS OF PRAYER
Prayer is not based upon our condition, behavior, or anything of ourselves, but upon: The Blood of the Lord—only the blood of the Lord can satisfy God’s righteous demands and can cleanse us that we may draw near to God with boldness (Heb. 10:19). The Name of the Lord —our prayer must be in the Lord’s name; this means that we must pray by depending on the Lord and by being joined to the Lord (John 14:14). When we rely on the Lord’s blood and are joined to the Lord’s holy name, we will have a conscience void of offense. In this way our prayers will be unhindered (Heb. 10:22). (p. 13)
PRAYING WITHOUT HINDRANCE
Praying without hindrance requires a good conscience, that is, a conscience which does not condemn. Once there is offense or condemnation in your conscience, your prayers will be immediately hindered and even stopped. “Let us come forward to the Holy of Holies…having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience…” (Heb. 10:22). Since we are sinful, we need to be sprinkled by the blood of the Lord Jesus from an evil conscience that we may come forward to the Holy of Holies to draw near to God and to pray to Him. Thus, whenever we pray, we must ask the Lord to sprinkle and cleanse us with His blood so that our conscience may be void of offense. We can then come to God boldly to pray from our spirit.
THE DEALING IN PRAYER
The dealing in prayer is the confession of sins. When you come before God to pray, drawing near with a sincere heart and an open spirit, God, who is light, will shine in you to expose your real self and true condition. At this time, you must confess your sins. After you confess the first sin, you may sense another, and after you confess that, you may sense still another. You must thoroughly confess all your sins according to such feelings in your spirit. If you disregard the sense of condemnation within, surely your prayer will not touch God. It will be hard for you to pray because there is still the barrier of sin between you and God. Therefore, you must confess and deal with every sin. After you have dealt with all of your sins one by one, you should pray according to the sense in your spirit. Then you will surely touch God and absorb Him.
THE BENEFITS OF PRAYER
“Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation” (Matt. 26:41). Prayer enables us to absorb God. Furthermore, prayer with watchfulness keeps us from entering into temptation that we may not be tempted and seduced by the Devil to stray from the Lord.
“Let us therefore come forward…to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace for timely help” (Heb. 4:16). The greatest benefit in praying before God and contacting God is that we receive mercy and find grace for timely help to meet our every need.
“In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6-7). Another intimate benefit which we receive in coming before God to pray and make petition is that we will have the peace of God, which passes all understanding, guarding our hearts and thoughts from all anxieties. What an intimate blessing it is in the human life to be free from anxieties.
Besides this, according to the Bible, the benefits we gain from prayer cannot be fully told. May we who belong to the Lord never neglect prayer, but pray at every time (Luke 21:36), even unceasingly (1 Thes. 5:17). Then we shall surely enjoy God Himself and all His riches, and will be abundantly blessed by Him. He “is rich to all who call upon Him” (Rom. 10:12)! (Life Lessons, pp. 26-27)
References: New Life Lessons, lsn. 2; Life Lessons, lsn. 4.
