Gal. 4:19; Eph. 3:14-21; Matt. 16:18; Eph. 2:21-22; 1 Cor. 12:27
Pray for all the saints to open their entire being to the Lord so that He may carry out the central work of God—God building Himself in Christ into us and building us into Himself for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ (Gal. 4:19; Eph. 3:14-21; Matt. 16:18; Eph. 2:21-22; 1 Cor. 12:27).
Gal. 4:19—My children, with whom I travail again in birth until Christ is formed in you.
Eph. 3:16-17, 19b—That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, that Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith...that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God.
Matt. 16:18—And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
Eph. 2:21-22—In whom all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.
1 Cor. 12:27—Now you are the Body of Christ, and members individually.
Ministry: Praying with the Interceding Christ
In [Exodus] 17:12 we are told that Aaron and Hur took a stone and put it under Moses, and he sat on it. This indicates that our prayer life must have a solid base...I believe that the stone used as the strong base refers to our realization that in ourselves we are not able to sustain a prayer life. It is the recognition of the fact that we need support. In our natural life we, like Moses, are not able to persevere in prayer. We simply cannot continue our prayer all day long. Thus, we need to realize our weakness. This realization gives us the strong base we need for our prayer life.
Whenever you pray, tell the Lord, “Lord, I am not able to continue in prayer. I need a solid base for my prayer, and I take You as such a base.” (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 547-548)
© Living Stream Ministry. Used by permission.
1 Cor. 12:12-13, 23-27
Pray for the saints to live the Christian life and the church life according to the practical points concerning blending, having the blending of all the individual members of the Body of Christ, all the churches in certain districts, all the co-workers, and all the elders through fellowship and by doing everything through the cross and by the Spirit to minister Christ for the Body, with the goal that in the Lord’s recovery we will be the reality of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-13, 23-27).
1 Cor. 12:12-13—For even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ. For also in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit.
1 Cor. 12:23-27—And those members of the body which we consider to be less honorable, these we clothe with more abundant honor; and our uncomely members come to have more abundant comeliness, but our comely members have no need. But God has blended the body together, giving more abundant honor to the member that lacked, that there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same care for one another. And whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or one member is glorified, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the Body of Christ, and members individually.
Ministry: Paying Attention to Corporate Prayers
We should pay attention to the corporate prayers, that is, the prayer of the church. When we talk about the prayer of the church, we do not mean that personal prayers are unimportant; we are not insensitive to the need of personal prayers. But there is a law in God’s kingdom: Some things are impossible for an individual to do alone; they require a collective effort and mutual support. Mutuality is particularly necessary in the matter of prayer. Those who follow the Lord constantly realize the need for praying with other believers. Sometimes it is not enough for a person to pray alone. Particularly for matters as great as God’s kingdom, the only prayer that works is one in which the whole church strives to pray. The Lord said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer” (Matt. 21:13). We can follow this with the phrase “whose house we are” (Heb. 3:6). (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 38, p. 462)
© Living Stream Ministry. Used by permission.
Rev. 8:1-8
Pray for the saints to offer prayers to which Christ as another Angel can add incense so that from the throne of God the fire of righteous judgment will be cast to the earth to deal with godlessness and lawlessness (Rev. 8:1-8).
Rev. 8:1-8—And when He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. And another Angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and much incense was given to Him to offer with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense went up with the prayers of the saints out of the hand of the Angel before God. And the Angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar and cast it to the earth; and there were thunders and voices and lightnings and an earthquake. And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to trumpet. And the first trumpeted, and there was hail and fire mingled with blood, and it was cast to the earth; and the third part of the earth was burned up, and the third part of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. And the second angel trumpeted, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea; and the third part of the sea became blood.
Ministry: The Harmony in the Holy Spirit
This kind of prayer requires the constitution of the Holy Spirit in the praying ones. God has to take you to the point where you deny what you want and want only what God wants, and another brother has to be brought by God to the point where he denies what he wants and wants only what God wants. When both you and the brother are brought to this point and are as harmonious as music, whatever you ask will be done for you from the heavenly Father. Brothers and sisters, do not think that as long as you agree in your opinions that your prayers will be answered...Sameness in goal does not guarantee that there will be harmony. We have to realize that it is impossible to have harmony in the flesh. When our natural life is dealt with by the Lord, when one is living in the Holy Spirit and the other is also living in the Holy Spirit and both are living in Christ, there is harmony, the same views, and the prayer in one accord. (The Prayer Ministry of the Church, p. 18)
© Living Stream Ministry. Used by permission.
Matt. 6:19-34
Pray for the saints not to be anxious about human life at the present time but to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and serve God alone, not storing up treasures for themselves on earth (Matt. 6:19-34).
Matt. 6:19-21—Do not store up for yourselves treasures on the earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves dig through and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven...For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Matt. 6:24-25—No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Because of this, I say to you, Do not be anxious for your life, what you should eat or what you should drink; nor for your body, what you should put on. Is not the life more than food, and the body than clothing?
Matt. 6:31, 33—Therefore do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, With what shall we be clothed?...But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Acts. 9:2—And asked for letters from him to Damascus for the synagogues, so that if he found any who were of the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
Acts 26:19—Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.
Ezra 1:5—Then the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites rose up, even everyone whose spirit God had stirred up to go up to build the house of Jehovah, which is in Jerusalem.
Ezek. 36:24—And the land that was desolate will be tilled instead of being desolate in the sight of all who passed by.
Ministry: Releasing Our Spirit through Prayer
The proper prayer always releases us. If we pray and our spirit is not exercised and released, our prayer is wrong. Prayer must exercise our spirit and release our spirit. When our spirit is released by our prayer, we are released persons. When we are no longer bound but released, we are always happy. This is why Paul said, “Always rejoice, unceasingly pray” (1 Thes. 5:16-17). To rejoice all the time is related to praying unceasingly.
When you are released, when I am released, and when everyone is released, that is the real blending. The way for us to become blended is through prayer that releases our spirit. (Fellowship concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, pp. 109-110)
© Living Stream Ministry. Used by permission.
Matt. 6:1-6; Col. 3:3
Pray for the saints, as kingdom people, children of the heavenly Father, to have a spiritual life that corresponds with the mysterious, hidden nature of the divine life, praying to their heavenly Father in secret, experiencing some secret enjoyment of the Father, and receiving some secret answer from Him (Matt. 6:1-6; Col. 3:3).
Matt. 6:1-6—But take care not to do your righteousness before men in order to be gazed at by them; otherwise, you have no reward with your Father who is in the heavens. Therefore when you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be glorified by men. Truly I say to you, They have their reward in full. But you, when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners, so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, They have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, enter into your private room, and shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
Col. 3:3—For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Ministry: Praying According to God’s Will
We have said that God has a will for everything. Yet God does not act independently; He will not do anything by Himself. Even though God has a will, He wants the free will on earth to echo His will before He does anything. If there is only a will in heaven, God will not move. The heavenly move is accomplished on earth only when the earth wants the same thing as heaven. Today this is called the ministry of the church…The ministry of the church is to bring the will in heaven to earth. How does the church bring the will in heaven to earth? It is by prayer on earth. Prayer is not as small and insignificant as some may think. It is not something that is dispensable. Prayer is a work. Prayer is the church saying to God, “God, we want Your will.” Prayer is the church knowing God’s heart and opening its mouth to ask for what is in God’s heart. If the church does not do this, it does not have much use on earth. (The Prayer Ministry of the Church, pp. 12-13)
© Living Stream Ministry. Used by permission.
Persevere in prayer.