Isaiah 6:8 says, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us? And I said, Here am I; send me.” Today many of us have received special grace from God to see the way that God is taking and the work that He is doing, so that we can be blessed in receiving His commission and answering His call. For these important matters we must have adequate prayer.
We know that God’s work is based upon our prayer. How much God works depends on how much we pray. How strong God’s work is depends on how strong our prayer is. How effective God’s work is depends on how much spiritual element we have in our prayer. A certain servant of the Lord once said that the extent of our prayer determines the extent of God’s work. The people we pray for are the people God will work on, and the degree to which we pray is the degree to which God will work. Our prayer paves the way for God’s work.
We look to the Lord to work among us not only today but even more in the future. For this we must have much more prayer. Without sufficient and thorough prayer, we cannot expect God to work more. Therefore, we look to God to grant the saints the burden to pray. We look to God to press them to pray, even to the extent that they would have no peace, would not be able to get through, and would not be able to eat or sleep until they pray. The psalmist told us that a day in the courts of God is better than a thousand elsewhere (Psa. 84:10). This means that spending time in prayer is a thousand times more effective than spending it in other matters. To spend a day in prayer is better than spending a thousand days in other matters. We look to God to grant us adequate prayer and also an adequate number of praying ones.
The Bible tells us that God is working all the time. Jerusalem was the center of God’s work in the Old Testament. God intended to work to the extent that Jerusalem would be a praise in the earth (Isa. 62:6-7). However, God did not begin doing this right away. What did He do? He first appointed watchmen, men who watched in prayer upon the walls of Jerusalem. These watchmen who were appointed by God reminded Him day and night, giving Him no rest and taking no rest for themselves. Does this seem strange? There is no problem in the heavens, but there is a problem on earth. God’s will is secure in the heavens but not on earth. The “electricity” cannot be transmitted to the earth, and thus, God cannot do anything. We cannot see God’s work and blessing on man that much because of the problem on man’s side.
Please listen to this call: “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?” (6:8). God has an intention in the heavens to save men, but who cares for this intention? Throughout the ages God has constantly been asking, “Who will go for Us?” He wanted to save the children of Israel, but who was willing to work together with Him? He wants to give grace to man, but who cares for His heart? There is no problem on God’s side, but there is a big problem on man’s side. What is the problem? The problem is that our prayers are not right, having originated from the erroneous concept that we must wait for God to work, when in fact God is waiting for us to work with Him. For a long time God has wanted to work. He wants to save thousands of sinners and has been ready to save them for a long time, but He has not found anyone to work together with Him. Thus, He is still sighing, “Who will go for Us?” This sighing indicates how great a problem this is. This great problem is that in this universe God is prepared to give men grace, to save men, and to work in every corner of the whole earth. However, there is no one on earth who is willing to cooperate with Him.
God’s work requires man’s prayer. Without man’s prayer, God cannot do anything even if He wants to. This is a big principle in God’s work. If God cannot find people to work with Him and to pray, He will not be able to do anything, even though He is the almighty God and is willing to do it. Why is this so? The reason is that He does not work alone; instead, He desires that man work together with Him. This is the law of His work. If He cannot find such ones, He will not be able to work.
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