- We need to learn to be directed by the Lord in our prayers, instead of directing the Lord by our own proposals and according to our own opinions.
- We can cooperate with the Lord by faithfully praying according to the burdens that we have received from Him until they are discharged.
CONTACTING THE LORD
The matter of contacting the Lord involves specific principles. It is possible to have morning revival every day and to pray every day without contacting the Lord. Many of our prayers do not result in our contacting the Lord, and thus, they are not beneficial. Hence, we must learn the principles involved in contacting the Lord.
Not Directing the Lord
The Lord changed water into wine in [John] 2. The major principle in [this] case is that we must not direct the Lord when we contact Him. All authority must be in His hands. Hence, both the timing and the way we do things must be determined and directed by Him, not by us.
When the wine ran out at the wedding feast in Cana, Mary, the mother of Jesus, said to the Lord, “They have no wine” (v. 3). She said this in order to prompt the Lord to do something. Although she charged the Lord to do something, she was rebuffed. The Lord said, “Woman, what do I have in this that concerns you? My hour has not yet come” (v. 4). Having learned some lessons before God, Mary, after she was rebuffed, said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do” (v. 5). She realized that it was the Lord who should decide, not she; that it was the Lord who should give counsel, not she; and that it was the Lord who had the final word, not she.
Sometimes we feel that we have a need when we draw near to the Lord in the morning. If we have learned the lesson, we will know that we must not be too quick to bring this need to the Lord. If we know that we have a need, the Lord also must know; hence, instead of making a proposal, we should wait for Him in His presence. He knows our need better than we do, and He wants to take care of it more than we do. There is no need for us to make a proposal or to counsel the Lord. Those who can pray in the Lord’s presence without making a proposal know how to pray. This is not an easy matter.
This is a very good lesson to learn. When we go to the Lord, we seldom give Him the chance to speak. We normally say, “Lord, do this; Lord, do that. Look at the condition of the church. Revive the brothers and sisters.” The more we pray in this way, the drier we are within, and the less we touch the Lord’s presence. The feeling of dryness and a lack of His presence are the Lord’s way of saying, “What do I have in this that concerns you? My hour has not yet come. I will take interest in, be responsible for, and solve these matters, but I will decide when and how. I have My timing; I am not under your direction.”
It was necessary for water to be changed into wine, but the Lord knew about this need better than Mary. The church needs to be revived and the believers need to be transformed, but the Lord knows about these needs better than we. The lesson we must learn is to worship and honor Him as the Lord. We must listen to what He says and do what He wants. We must not make many proposals in our prayers. This is the first principle that we must learn in contacting the Lord in prayer.
Human Opinions Frustrating the Power of the Lord from Bringing About a New Beginning
Another case reveals that human opinions frustrate the Lord’s power. Chapter 11 shows how human opinions frustrate the Lord’s power. Martha and Mary sent word to the Lord, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick” (v. 3). This was an expression of their opinion in order to get the Lord to come heal their brother Lazarus. But the Lord did not respond. He heard their cry, but He did not do anything. The Lord loved these three siblings, and He heard Martha and Mary’s cry, but He remained in the place where He was for two days. He did not do anything until Lazarus died and was buried (vv. 5-6, 17). The first thing that Martha did when she saw the Lord was to complain that He was late. She said, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died” (v. 21). Although she complained because of the Lord’s delay, the Lord taught her to not depend on her timing but on Himself. The Lord said, “I am the resurrection and the life” (v. 25). He meant that Lazarus’s condition was not dependent upon whether He came early or late. Thus, even if Lazarus was dead, he could be resurrected because the Lord had come. The Lord Jesus is the resurrection. When we have Him, we have everything. The Lord’s work is not dependent upon our timing.
This is a very good lesson, but Martha did not understand the Lord’s words. The Lord said, “He who believes into Me, even if he should die, shall live; and everyone who lives and believes into Me shall by no means die forever. Do you believe this?” (vv. 25-26). Martha immediately said, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God” (v. 27). Martha did not believe the Lord’s word; she believed something else. The Lord spoke a revelation, but Martha focused on her understanding. She did not hear the Lord’s revelation because of her opinions. Martha was a person full of opinions.
Human opinions frustrate the manifestation of the Lord’s resurrection power. When we draw near to the Lord in prayer, we must learn the lesson of stopping our opinions. Whether the wine has run out or a person has been dead for four days, we do not need to counsel the Lord. We should simply give it to the Lord and hear what He has to say. The Lord is everything. He gives life to the dead and calls the things not being as being (Rom. 4:17). He is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25). We do not need to say this or that; we should simply listen to Him. An opinion is a problem. Many who draw near to the Lord have a difficult time learning this lesson.
BURDEN AND PRAYER
Every child of God should have some God-given burden. No child of God can say that God has never given him or her a burden. However, burdens can only be received from God when our spirits are open to Him. An open spirit to God is the condition for receiving burdens from God. Having received a burden, we must learn to discharge it faithfully through prayer. When we have discharged the first burden, we will receive a second, and when the second is discharged, we will receive a third. Therefore, the most important thing is to open our spirits to God. We should say to God, “I open myself before You to pray.” Because of our unfaithfulness we often do not receive any burdens; therefore, if we want to be those who bear God’s burdens, we must be very sensitive and not reject any feeling that comes from Him. If we feel we should pray for something, we should do it immediately. At the outset, these feelings may be faint, but they will gain in strength as we go on. If we quench the Spirit and do not release our burden through prayer, we will lose our burden. O brothers and sisters, if we hope to be of any use to God, we must recover our lost burdens.
Remember that a burden is what you know, not what you have to discover. If you have a burden, you know it. It is wrong to look inward to see whether or not you have a burden. A burden is known rather than found. It is of great importance to recognize this fact. There is no profit in introspection. The greatest damage a Christian can suffer comes from introspection; it will cheat you. It is not necessary to look for a burden day and night. Whether or not you have a burden will be apparent—either you have a burden or you do not. In both cases you will know; there is no need to discover one. If you have to turn inward to find one, you do not have a burden. There is no need to ask anything. If you have it, you will know. If anything weighs upon you, that is your burden.
While it is true that the burdens we have are from God and that our burden is God’s will, it is also true that our knowledge mainly governs our burdens initially. However, after one has knowledge, it does not necessarily mean that he will have a burden. We may know about the condition and everything else related to certain brothers and sisters yet not have any feeling for them or be stirred up within. We have the knowledge, but we do not have the burden.
Since prayer is a Christian ministry and an important ministry, a question arises: When there is a heavy burden to pray, do we express it through words, or should we be quiet and silent? Can we just bear our burdens silently before God? We believe that if God gives us a prayer burden, then He wants it to be uttered. If we have only a few disjointed words, we should express ourselves with these words. In the spiritual realm, it is an amazing principle that utterance counts. God takes account not only of what we believe but also of what we say. Our Lord said to the Canaanite woman, “Because of this word, go. The demon has gone out of your daughter” (Mark 7:29). The few words the woman uttered caused the Lord to work.
But very often our difficulty is that even when we are conscious of a burden to pray, we do not know how to pray when we kneel down. We know that something is weighing within us, but we do not know how to pray. There is a burden in our spirit, but we do not know what to pray. We need to realize that our burden is a matter of the spirit, whereas our comprehension of the burden is a matter of the mind. Some people feel that they have a burden but do not know what it is. This is because their spirit has not yet touched their mind. Therefore, when their spirit has a burden, their mind does not comprehend the burden. How can contact between the spirit and the mind be established? It is quite simple. When you kneel down to pray, do not hold on tenaciously to one thing. Pray for many things and from many directions. After praying a few sentences for one thing, you may feel that it is not the right thing to pray about. You should drop it and change to another subject. You may have to change your subject two, three, or four times. Or you may become clear after you come to the second subject. You may also have to mention five or six things before you feel that you have touched something that releases your burden; once you pray for this, your mind and your spirit become linked together. You should then pray specifically for that matter in order to release your burden. Once you pray this way, you will feel released, and when you have released your first burden, you will be ready to receive a second burden from God.
Many Christians cannot be used by God in the prayer ministry because they are over-burdened. They have never released any of their burdens. God gives them a burden to pray, and they may know what it is; their mind and their spirit may be connected, yet they do not pray. Instead, they allow the burden to become heavier and heavier until they are so crushed that they cannot bear it any longer; the feeling for the burden will be gone, and they can no longer pray. Oh, brothers and sisters, the work of God will be seriously hampered if we do not have a free spirit to serve as instruments for His use. If we asked someone to help us with a certain job but found that his hands were full, it would be useless to seek his aid. In the same way, if we are weighed down by many burdens, how can God commit anything further to us? This is why we must release our burdens. The release of the burden will set us free, and God will be free to give us additional burdens. Without this, we will not be able to fulfill a ministry of prayer before the Lord. The ministry of prayer requires a liberated spirit. If we have a burden and do not pray, eventually it will cost us our prayer ministry. We must, therefore, devote time to fulfill our ministry of prayer. Today God needs the cooperation of His church on the earth, and we can cooperate with Him through prayer. May there be a way for the working out of His will!
Fellowship Questions
- Consider if you have had experiences of directing the Lord versus being directed by the Lord in your prayers. How can we practice being directed by the Lord when we pray?
- What does it mean to release our God-given burdens through prayer? Why is this matter so crucial?
- How can we know what we should pray for, and what words to utter in our prayers?
Excerpts taken from The Meaning and Purpose of Prayer, ch. 4; CWWN, vol. 38, “Burden and Prayer,” ch. 50