- The ministry of the church is to bring the will in heaven to earth. The extent to which the church prays is the extent to which God can move.
- We must have prayers that are bigger than those centered on ourselves and our personal difficulties. The church must pray big prayers to allow God to work without restriction.
- Whatever we are praying for, our prayer must be toward Christ, the kingdom of God, and the house of God as the goal in God’s eternal economy.
THE PRAYER MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH—BRINGING THE WILL IN HEAVEN TO EARTH
In Matthew 18:18 the Lord says, “Truly I say to you, Whatever you bind on the earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on the earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” The special thing is that there must be a move on earth before there is a move in heaven. It is not heaven that binds first but the earth that binds first. It is not heaven that looses first but the earth that looses first. Everything, whether it is something to be bound or loosed, should have its binding or its loosing originate from the earth. The move on the earth precedes the move in heaven. The earth controls heaven.
We have to see that God works according to a law. Since there is free will on earth, God will not annul man by His own will. Brothers and sisters, do not think that this is a strange thing. This is a fact. God is in heaven. Yet all His works on earth can be accomplished only when there is a will on earth that agrees with and decides to do the works. He will not put aside man’s will on earth. He will not usurp man’s will on earth and act independently. Everything related to Him can be accomplished only when there is a will on earth that cooperates with Him. When the earth works, God works. When the earth decides, God acts. God must have man’s will in harmony with His will. This harmony in will is a great glory to God!
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.
Many prayers for spiritual edification, prayers for fellowship, and prayers for supplication cannot replace prayers that are in the nature of work or ministry. If all your prayers are prayers for spiritual edification, fellowship, and supplication, they are too small. A prayer that is in the nature of work or ministry is one in which you stand on God’s side, wanting what God wants. Brothers and sisters, if a prayer is uttered according to God’s will, it is the most powerful thing. For the church to pray means that it finds out God’s will and speaks out this will. Prayer is not just asking God for something. For the church to pray means that it stands on God’s side to declare that man wants what God wants. If the church declares this, the declaration will be effectual.
God wants to do many things on earth today. But He must have the church stand on His side before He can accomplish these things through the church. God cannot do what He wants to do by Himself; He has to do it with the cooperation of the church. The church is the means through which God expresses Himself. The church is like a water tap. If the tap is small, the amount of water flowing through the tap will not be great, even if there is as much water as the Yangtze River. God truly wants to work in heaven, but He has to wait for the earth to move before He can work.
A brother expressed it very well when he said, “God’s will is like a train engine, and our prayer is like the tracks of the train.” The train can go many places, but it can only travel along the tracks. The power of the engine is very great, and it can go east, west, south, or north. Yet it can only go where the tracks are laid. God is not without power, yet He is controlled by man’s prayer. All worthy prayers are prayers that pave the way for God’s will. Hence, if we do not take up the responsibility of prayer, we will frustrate the accomplishment of God’s will.
Every part of God’s will needs someone to carry it out, and He wants our will to become one with His will. The first step in carrying out His will is to pray out God’s will and utter His will through our prayer. From this we see that prayer is a work. There is no work more important than this work because prayer is the speaking of God’s will and the accomplishment of His will. Prayers that originate from our self-will are useless prayers. Prayers that are according to God’s will originate from God. He conveys His will to us through the Holy Spirit, and then we return the same thought to Him through our prayer. Prayers that are after God’s heart have God’s will as the starting point; man is merely the transmitting and responding organ. Prayer that originates from ourselves has no spiritual value.
Brothers and sisters, when we truly stand on the ground of the church and take up the responsibility of such a ministry of prayer before God, we will see God’s will carried out in the church where we are. The amount that the church prays will be the measure of the amount that God’s power is manifested. Consequently, the church has to learn to pray big prayers and make big requests. The prayer of the church is often very small; it prays only for ordinary problems. This is not enough. The church needs to have big prayers and make big requests. If the capacity of the church before God is small, it will restrict the power of God from being manifested. We know that the question of the overcomers is not quite resolved, and Satan is not yet thrown into the abyss. God must gain a vessel for His testimony before He can accomplish what He has set out to accomplish. The church must have big prayers to manifest our God. This is the ministry of the church.
The ministry of the church is prayer—not small prayers, but prayers that pioneer the way for God. God is accomplishing His work. But the church first prays and prepares the way before God finds the way. The church must have big prayers, serious prayers, and strong prayers. If prayers are centered around ourselves, our personal difficulties, and our small losses and gains, it will be difficult to open a way for God’s eternal will. Many things should drive us to dig deep. But above all, prayer should drive us to the utmost depth.
THE AIM OF OUR PRAYERS—THE ALL-INCLUSIVE CHRIST, THE KINGDOM OF GOD, AND THE CHURCH
First Kings 8:22–53 gives a record of Solomon’s prayer. My burden here is that we would see the intrinsic significance of this prayer. If we would apprehend the intrinsic significance of Solomon’s prayer, we need spiritual wisdom and spiritual revelation.
Concerning God’s listening to the prayers of His elect, three things are stressed in verse 48: the holy land, typifying Christ as God’s allotted portion to the believers (Col. 1:12); the holy city, signifying the kingdom of God in Christ; and the holy temple, signifying God’s house, the church, on the earth. These three things—the holy land, the holy city, and the holy temple—are the three crucial things regarding God’s economy. This indicates that God will listen to our prayer in the way that our prayer to God must be toward Christ, the kingdom of God, and the house of God as the goal in God’s eternal economy.
The holy land, the holy city, and the holy temple are all types of Christ. Christ is our good land; Christ is our city, our kingdom; and Christ is the temple, God’s dwelling place. Today, our prayers should be aimed at the holy land, the holy city, and the holy temple. This means that our prayers should be aimed at the interest of God, that is, at Christ and the church as God’s interest on earth.
The spiritual significance of God’s interest is Christ Himself. This indicates that no matter for whom we are praying, our prayer must be aimed at Christ as God’s interest. We need to pray for the saints, but we should not aim our prayers at them. On the one hand we pray for them, but on the other hand we pray for them because of God’s interest. If in our prayer we aim at the one for whom we pray, this will bring in the enemy’s attack. This is a spiritual strategy in the spiritual warfare.
We need to remember that prayer involves three parties: us, God, and Satan. Sometimes when we pray for a certain person, Satan comes to attack him, and his situation becomes worse. The reason for this is that our interest is in that person, not in God’s economy. No matter for whom we are praying, we should aim our prayer at God’s Christ, who is God’s interest in His economy.
To pray properly, we must pray to God in the name of the Lord Jesus (John 16:24), aiming at God’s interest for His economy. By the expression “in the name of the Lord Jesus” I do not mean any traditional form of prayer. To pray in the name of Jesus is to pray for the interest of God on earth, which is Christ as God’s portion to us, as God’s kingdom, and as God’s dwelling place. Our prayer should be altogether for God’s interest to fulfill God’s economy.
If we continue to engage ourselves in the work of prayer, we will become a flowing channel for God’s will; He will come to us whenever He has something that He wants us to pray about. God’s will is always seeking an outlet; God is forever seeking men to be the spokesmen for His will. If many people are raised up to do this work, God will accomplish many things through their prayers.
Fellowship Questions
- Why is the prayer ministry of the church such a great responsibility?
- How does understanding the prayer ministry of the church affect the way that we pray?
- What do you think it means to aim our prayers at Christ, the kingdom of God, and the house of God as the goal in God’s eternal economy?
Excerpts taken from The Prayer Ministry of the Church, ch. 1; Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 6; CWWN, Vol. 38, msg. 41