• In the matter of prayer, the person is the method. We must not only be those who pray, but we must be men of prayer.
• Prayer is our life and our living, not merely a thing or a work. A man of prayer is one whose living is absolutely one with their prayer and corresponds with their prayers.
• The life of God within us has a praying capacity that enables us to pray and that also causes us to desire to pray. If we learn to live in God and respond to His demand of holiness, the life of prayer in us will be healthy, and we will spontaneously have the desire and ability to pray.

THE MAN OF PRAYER

We know that in whatever we do, the results always depend on the kind of person we are. You may do the same thing someone else does, but when you do it, it turns out another way. Many consider the method the key to everything, but actually the person is more important than the method. The method is dead, but the person is living. Hence, it is not enough just to have a particular method; it is also necessary to have a particular person. If the person is not right, the method is useless regardless of how right it may be, for spiritual things are matters of life, and life does not depend on methods. Life merely expresses itself according to its nature. Thus, regarding spiritual matters, the person equals the method.

Needing to Be One Who Seeks God and God’s Will

If a person only knows how to seek after himself and his own desire, he may pray, but he is not a man of prayer. A man of prayer must become such that in all the universe he cares only for God and His will, having no other desire besides this. Sometimes even in God’s work we covet something for ourselves. Both our spirit and our heart have not yet been purified to the extent that we want only God and His desire; hence, we are not a man of prayer. We may pray, but as far as our being is concerned, we are not a man of prayer. Do we seek after our own interests or God’s? Are we for ourselves or for God? Do we want God to fulfill our desire or His desire? Sooner or later every one of us must be tested in our prayers. Unless one has been led by God to such a state of purity, he is not a man of prayer. He may pray many prayers, but they are of little value before God, and he still cannot be counted as one who works with God, cooperates with Him, prays to Him, and fulfills His will.

Needing to Be One Who Lives in God Always Having Fellowship with Him

It is not enough that a Christian live before God; he must also learn to live in God. In John 15:7 the Lord Jesus said, “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.” In this word the Lord showed that a man of prayer must be one who abides in Him. To live before the Lord is surely good, but it is quite possible that you and the Lord may still be two; the Lord is the Lord, and you are you. You can become one with Him only when you live in the Lord. Then you can say to the Lord, “Lord, it is not I alone praying here, but it is You and I, I and You, praying together. This is not just I praying before You, but much more, it is I praying in You. I am one who is united with You and who has become one with You. Thus, I can pray in Your name.”

If you would thus abide in the Lord, there would not be a moment of broken fellowship with the Lord. Spiritual fellowship is a flowing in the spirit—God’s Spirit and our spirit, our spirit and God’s Spirit—two spirits having mutual fellowship. In a proper prayer, the Spirit of God and the spirit of man always have mutual fellowship, mutual flowing; the two spirits have become one spirit. Fellowship with the Lord does not permit any barrier between you and the Lord. A barrier that is allowed to remain causes you to become more and more distant from God. 

Sometimes it may be because of a certain sin (not necessarily a big one) that we would not deal with or a preference or tie that we would not break off. These immediately become barriers between us and the Lord. Once we fall into this kind of situation, our spirit of prayer is quenched. This is because we are not in the Lord, and the fellowship between us and Him is lost. When the life of prayer is cut off, even if you exercise your mind to conceive a prayer or exercise your will to squeeze out a prayer, it is futile.

Needing to be One Who is Willing to Pay Any Price to Yield to All of God’s Demands

Another requirement of a man of prayer is that he must be willing to pay any price to yield to God’s every demand. There cannot be a single instance in which you meet God in fellowship that He does not demand anything from you. Every time you meet Him, He demands something from you. Please read the story of Abraham. From the beginning when he was met by God until he finally came to know God, there was not a single time God appeared to him that He did not strip him of something. We say that Abraham was one who inherited the blessings, yet when we read the stories of his dealings with God, we seldom see him receiving anything from God; rather, what we see over and over again are God’s strippings and His making demands upon him. There is one thing I can tell the children of God with full assurance: if God has not demanded something of you today, then you have not met Him today. 

Needing to be One Whose Living Corresponds to His Prayer

As a man of prayer, your living must be consistent, or must correspond, to what you pray. A man of prayer not only performs the action of prayer but also lives the life of prayer—his living is prayer. Many times we pray for a number of things, but after praying, we do not live according to the standard of life required by those things. This means that we go through the motions of prayer, but we are not men of prayer.

Therefore, please remember, inwardly speaking, prayer is our life, and outwardly speaking, prayer is our living. Prayer is neither a thing nor a work. Of course, in a sense, prayer is a work, but your being must be in the prayer and even must be the prayer. The point is this: real prayer has a condition; that is, if you want to have real prayers, your living should be in accordance with those prayers. There is no way for anyone to believe that your heart is really bearing the burden of the church if, as soon as prayer is over, you can go to watch a movie. Your living does not correspond to your prayer. If you are a man of prayer, your living will definitely be absolutely one with your prayer. Your living is your prayer. The life within is a life of prayer, and the living without is a living of prayer; thus you are a man of prayer.

THE LIFE OF PRAYER

This Life Being the Life of God within Us

After we have been saved, we have God living in us to be our life. This life is the life of prayer within us. The first function, the characteristic and the ability of this life, is to pray. Therefore, after being saved, the thing a proper Christian likes to do most is pray. Whenever Christians pray, they feel good inside, because a characteristic of the life within them is that it likes to pray. It not only demands prayer, but it also has the ability to pray.

Actually, we cannot teach a person to pray. The most we can do is point out a way, for the real ability to pray is hidden in the life of a Christian. As long as you are a saved one, there is such a life with such a function within you. Yes, we do teach the brothers and sisters to pray; but please remember, we can only teach because within them there is already a life with such a function. The God whom we have received has become our life within, and this life has a function; that function is to pray. As long as we do not restrict this life but give it the liberty and the opportunity to be exercised, then not only does it desire to pray; it will pray.

Whenever the fellowship between you and God is interrupted, this life in you is in a half-dead state; consequently, you dislike praying, and you are almost unable to pray. You must restore the fellowship with God and live in Him, thus causing the life within you to be resurrected. Thus, spontaneously you can touch the consciousness of prayer within, you have the desire and interest to pray, and you possess the ability to pray. You know what to say and how to say it, and you also know which word of prayer can touch God’s throne and hit the center of His heart. Others may not be able to teach you, but you know inside because this is a matter of the inward life. The life in you has the ability to enable you to pray. 

This Life Being Holy, Separated

This prayer life within us, because it is the life of God, is separated from everything that is unbecoming to God. This life, therefore, requires you to be separated from the world, and demands that you put aside anything that is outside God. If you want to be a man of prayer who can pray, is willing to pray, and who prays properly, you must agree with the demand of the life in you by putting aside whatever it wants you to put aside. Whenever you disagree even slightly with its demand for holiness, you put to death the life of prayer. It is not a matter of great or small but whether or not this life makes a demand in you. If it demands of you to forsake something that is outside God, then you should do it. If you always live in this life of prayer, you do not need much outward teaching on the part of men. The more you pray, the more this life in you is being exercised, and the more its function of separating becomes manifest. 

The most holy person is one who constantly prays before God. When he prays, the life in him becomes exercised and spontaneously brings forth the sanctifying function. The more he yields to the sanctifying demands, the more living the life of prayer in him becomes, and spontaneously he has a greater appetite for prayer. Furthermore, the more his ability to pray increases, the more his praises, thanksgivings, supplications, expressions, and even his utterance are special. Now his technique of prayer greatly excels what it was before. All these conditions prove that he has been continually yielding to the demands of holiness that were made by the life of prayer within him.

Therefore, we must clearly see that the life of God in every man of prayer is holy and separated. It rejects anything that does not correspond with the divine nature. This life requires that he be fitted wholly with the nature of God. It neither argues nor listens to arguments. If one does not take care of the requirement of the life of prayer within him, he puts it to death and cannot pray. On the contrary, the moment he agrees with its demands, the life of prayer is immediately enlivened.

This Life Having an Inherent Law of Prayer

Within every kind of life there are many laws. Such is the case with our physical life. Digestion is a law, and metabolism is another law. What is a law? A law is a natural ability that does not require you to control it by exercising your will. Similarly, in our life of prayer there is also a law of prayer. It contains such a natural ability that without your urging, it spontaneously desires to pray.

Remember, however, that although it is a law, it can be damaged by man just as the law of digestion and the law of metabolism can be spoiled by man. We all know that when any physical law is damaged, the result is sickness. Whenever the body is sick, it means that its law or laws have been violated. Likewise, if you do not respond to the demand of holiness that issues out of the life within you, this is a sickness that frustrates the law of prayer. With those brothers and sisters who seldom open their mouth to pray, without doubt they are sick in their life of prayer. It may be that they do not respond to the demand of holiness, do not follow the consciousness of holiness within, or refuse the darkness that is abhorred by the life within. This life is absolutely holy; therefore, it demands that you be holy. It also utterly hates sins; hence, it repeatedly gives you the sense of hating sins. Moreover, it fully loves light, so it always requires you to leave darkness. If you are willing to deal with these things, the life of prayer within you is immediately resurrected. Moreover, there is a law in this life that will operate in you and make you pray. You will be able to pray as well as enjoy praying, and whatever you pray will touch God. These are abilities inherent in the life of prayer.

Fellowship Questions

1. Why do you think that in prayer, the person is more important than the method? What is the difference between prayer being a method and prayer being who we are?
2. What do you think it means for our living to be absolutely one with our prayer and correspond to our prayers?
3. If the life of God in us always desires to pray, why is it that we sometimes dislike praying or feel unable to pray? How can we deal with the things that frustrate the life of prayer in us?

Excerpts taken from Lessons on Prayer, chs. 3-4