Whenever there is a gospel meeting, all the saints should pay more attention to prayer and should intensify their prayers. Prayer for a gospel meeting can be divided into three important categories. First, the saints should pray for the gospel meeting. This kind of prayer is general, and all the saints should participate in general prayer for the gospel meeting. Second, the saints should pray concerning those whom the Lord is leading the saints to invite to hear the gospel. We need to bear such persons on our shoulders (Exo. 28:7-12) and pray for them by mentioning their names repeatedly and continually before the Lord (Rom. 1:9). Third, the saints need to pray for the gospel messages that will be spoken during the meeting. We must ask the Lord not only for a powerful word with authority but also for a fresh word that is able to penetrate men’s hearts, touch their feelings, and shine within them thoroughly to expose their actual human condition.
Ephesians 6:19-20 says, “That utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known in boldness the mystery of the gospel...that in it I would speak boldly, as I ought to speak.” This shows that we need to pray particularly for the utterance of the gospel message. Utterance in this verse is not mere eloquence. According to the Greek text, the word rendered “utterance” not only indicates a fluent, eloquent speaking but also denotes the word that gives expression to the content of the gospel. In other words, utterance refers to a word that can speak God into people, a word that is able to open men’s hearts and make manifest their inward condition, a word that can make their actual situation understood clearly. This is the utterance that can fully reveal the mysteries of the gospel.
When a person speaks with such utterance concerning the lake of fire, his speaking will impart a vision of the lake of fire and will make it vivid to the listeners. When he speaks concerning the precious blood of the Lord Jesus, his speaking will portray in a living way how the precious blood of Christ flowed out for sinners. When he speaks concerning sins, his speaking will touch the inward feeling of sinfulness in his listeners and cause them to feel as if they were presently sinning. It will touch their conscience so deeply that they will not be able to help but condemn themselves before God. Such utterance cannot be generated in man’s mind. It requires the revelation of the Holy Spirit, who searches all things, even the depths of God (1 Cor. 2:7-13). The giving of such utterance requires the saints to pray specific and thorough prayers before the Lord.
We need much individual prayer and much prayer in smaller groups. We need to devote ourselves to prayer and to pray desperately. When we pray individually, we need to have a burdened spirit and always have the attitude that we are not coming before the Lord alone. We should prostrate ourselves before the Lord and say, “Lord, even though I am an individual kneeling here at this time, I am not praying alone. The brothers and sisters in the whole church are praying. Due to the limitation in time and space, I am unable to be with them, but in spirit I am joined to them. I am not here praying alone; rather, I am praying in the church and declaring the church’s prayer in my prayer. My prayer is not an individual’s prayer but the church’s prayer.” If the time and environment allows, we should pray together in this way with two to five others.
Two or three weeks before a gospel meeting, many brothers and sisters should take the lead and have the burden to pray with fasting. The entire church should fast and pray at least one day a week during this two- or three-week period in order to touch the throne of God, asking God to rise up from His throne and to issue His command and exercise His authority to work for His church. Our fasting and praying should be focused on general prayer for the gospel meeting, specific prayer for the gospel friends by mentioning their names, and thorough prayer for the utterance of the gospel message during the meeting.
In our general prayer we should ask the Lord not only to save a great number of people in a general way but also to save and bring in some who are weighty and have a spiritual future, some who can be the continuation of the church. The earth needs the Lord’s testimony, and the Lord may not keep us on the earth for a long time. Furthermore, even if our spiritual development before the Lord and our usefulness in His hands have advanced greatly, we still need some high-quality new ones who can afford the Lord a continuation. Hence, we should pray earnestly not only that the Lord will bring in many new ones but also that many among the saved ones will be able to surpass our generation in their usefulness to the Lord, in their spiritual capacity and weight, and in the power of the testimony of the Lord that they bear.
Our prayer should be of this standard, and our faith should match our prayer. We should pray that the Lord would not only save a group of people from the lake of fire and deliver them from sin and death but also that from among the many saved ones the Lord would gain some who have a spiritual future and even gain some like Saul of Tarsus, some who may be opposing at present but will be useful to the Lord in the future. Although Saul took the lead in Judaism to oppose the Lord, after the Lord called him and saved him, he was greatly used by the Lord and eventually became a leading apostle (Acts 9:3-6; Gal 1:15-16; 2:8; 1 Cor. 15:10; 1 Tim. 1:12-16).
Many of the saints need to pray in this way and to pray often. We should pray in our homes, in our cars, and even while walking. Whenever and wherever we have the opportunity, we should stretch out our hands of faith to touch the throne of God. Our prayers should not be ordinary prayers but prayers of faith that touch the throne of God. We may pray, “O Lord, You must release Your authority from Your throne to cast out the enemy and reclaim Your possessions which have been captured and usurped by him.” We should have such definite prayers before the Lord.