Then we need to confess our dispositional problems. We have many problems with our disposition. Quite often we take an excuse by saying, “I was born that way.” This is the excuse of our dispositional problem. We need to condemn our natural disposition, not excuse it. Many of us pray according to our disposition. For certain brothers and sisters to pray short prayers is very difficult. If some of the saints prayed short prayers of two sentences in the prayer meeting, that would be a “miracle” because this is not according to their disposition. We do not realize how bad we are naturally and dispositionally. We also have the peculiarity in our character. We have to deal with this by thorough and much prayer. We cannot have such a thorough dealing within a short time.
We also need to deny our self, our habit, and our old way of doing things (Matt. 16:24). There are so many troubles related to us which need to be dealt with. As fallen beings, we are a composition of troubles.
Do we believe that today we have no more confidence in ourselves and no more trust in our natural ability? If this trust were taken away from us, we could not live. We live because we have confidence in ourselves and trust in our ability. But if we trust in our ability, we cannot be blended with others. If we have even a little bit of self-confidence, self-trust, we cannot be blended with others.
We need to love all the members of our group with an equal love in the love of God (Phil. 2:2). It is difficult to find anyone who loves others with an equal love. We always love according to our preference and our taste.
In serving the Lord, we have learned not to criticize or condemn others. On the other hand, to build up a church, the most needed thing for the leading ones is to know the saints. If we do not know the saints, how can we build them up? Some of us came together to study every saint in our arranging of the vital groups. Because of the peculiarities of the saints, this was a difficult task. One saint is too strong, while another is too soft. One saint has a habit of praying too much to kill the meeting, but another never prays. All of us have our dispositional problems and the peculiarity in our character. All of us are descendants of Adam. Then what shall we do? We must go to the Lord and pray.
In these coming weeks, we have to go to the Lord in prayer every day to deal with all the above items. We need to pray thoroughly. The more we pray, the more we will be dealt with in these items and the more we will be blended. Then no one will be able to offend us. Today we are very sensitive because we have not allowed the Lord to deal with us.
When we come together in these days, we need to pray mainly for the blending. The blending implies all these dealings. If the fine flour is to be blended into dough, we cannot have any hard pieces remaining in the flour. There are many “hard pieces” still remaining in our being. Since this is the case, how can we be blended with others? There is no other way for us to be blended except by prayer. If we are dealt with to the extent which we have talked about, we will not be able to be offended. Someone may tell us that we are not so nice. We may respond, “You are right. I am even worse than what you know.”
When we come together, we should pray for our being blended together. The second thing we have to pray for is our dynamic activities. We need to pray for our function, for our activities. Eventually, we need to go out to bring people to Christ and to keep people in Christ and in the church. We need something dynamic, and this needs our prayer. Before the day of Pentecost, the one hundred twenty prayed together for ten days. We cannot do anything without prayer. We need to be blended together by thorough and much prayer so that we can go out dynamically. We have to pray for our blending and for our dynamic activities.
QUESTION: I realize that we need much and thorough prayer, but when I start to pray, it seems that I do not have that much to say. How do we pray thoroughly?
ANSWER: Our concept is that thorough prayer is to explain. Paul, however, said that we do not know what to pray but the Spirit helps us in our weakness, interceding for us with groanings which cannot be uttered (Rom. 8:26). We do not know how we should pray; hence, we groan (v. 23). In our groaning the Spirit groans also, interceding for us. In our dealing with the Lord, we may groan, “O Lord, my character. My character, Lord! What shall I do, Lord?” This is thorough prayer.
We need to cry out to the Lord. Many of us are too nice. When the Spirit is on us, however, we will forget about being nice. The less words we speak the better. But the more we groan and cry out to the Lord, the better. If we could kneel for thirty minutes, groaning and crying out to the Lord, this is the best prayer.
We need the Lord’s breaking through His cross. Otherwise, it will be hard for us to exercise the spirit because we are too much in the mind. The many items we have in our prayer are evidence that we are in our mind. Paul’s word in Romans 8 concerning coming to the Lord to groan is very meaningful. We might pray, “O Lord, I don’t know what to pray, but I know my natural man is condemned and my character has a lot of problems. Have mercy upon me.” If we try to explain things in our prayer, we may be able to do this for only ten minutes. Then our speaking will be exhausted. But we can never graduate from groaning. We have to learn to shout, to cry out, and to groan.
QUESTION: Is it wrong not to be able to pray in a group if you feel like someone has done something against you?
ANSWER: As long as we can be offended, we are a failure. We have to pray, “Lord, save me from the feeling that I have been wronged. Lord, I am still so natural. I am still so much in myself.” This is a good prayer, a genuine prayer. Such prayer always conveys a certain amount of enlightenment and revelation. When we pray in our natural way, our prayer is darkening; it does not enlighten.
QUESTION: What should we pray for when we come together in our vital groups?
ANSWER: In this period of time, we should pray only for our blending and for the activities of the vital groups. We should pray for these two things privately and when we come together. We cannot pray too much for them. We should pray, “Lord, blend us. Blend me with the others in my group so that we can have the impact in our activities.” We should forget about all other things and focus on this.
Confessing is a very crucial part of the blending. Without confessing, we cannot be blended with others. A prayer life is a life that revolts and rebels against our natural being. If we are naturally nice, this may prevent us from crying out by the inspiration of the Spirit. According to our natural being, we may pray too much and too long, not caring for others but only for our own feeling. Others are naturally silent. We have to rebel against our natural being. A prayer life is a rebellion. Some who were born so bold have to rebel against themselves to be silent for a period of time. The real prayer life stops our natural being.
Prayer is the release of the spirit. If you do not release your spirit, you can never receive the Spirit. This may be likened to a water hose. When water is coming out of the hose, this means that water is coming into it. Thus, to release our spirit is to receive the Spirit. But a number of us would not care for the release of the spirit but only for our habitual prayer. Some bold and talkative ones should not pray in the prayer meetings for a period of time. This is what it means to rebel against our natural life.
Sometimes we pray so fast that no one can follow us. Paul indicated that we need to pray in a way that others can say “Amen” to our prayer (1 Cor. 14:16). Based upon this principle, we have to pray audibly so that others can hear our prayer. We have to pray by crying, by shouting, or in a proper, audible way. Some of us need to slow down our speaking so that others can hear us and say, “Amen.”
By this fellowship we all can realize that our habitual way is the killing way. We have killed the church life without any awareness. The Christian life is a life of the Spirit. To pray is to exercise our spirit, to release our spirit, that we may receive more of the Spirit. When more water goes out through the hose, more water comes in. If we stop the “going out,” the “coming in” is also stopped. The release of our spirit is the receiving of the Spirit.
We have been building up ourselves for too long, so it is really hard for the Spirit to do anything through us. Also, it is hard for us to exercise our spirit because we are so natural. We do not have the habit of using our spirit. We are habitual in using all the other parts of our being, but not our spirit.
QUESTION: When we pray corporately, does it matter if we say “I” or “we” in our prayer?
ANSWER: This question indicates that you are in your mind. When you are releasing the spirit, the Spirit leads you. If He leads you to say “I,” you say “I.” If the Spirit leads you to say “we,” you say “we.” There is no legality.
When you try to pray in the meeting, you must get yourself prepared. You are not going to speak something common. You are going to say something particular. This is a petition expressed to the throne in the heavens. It is a great matter. Do not pray in a light way. It is the same thing in speaking for the Lord. We must get ourselves prepared to speak for the Lord. This is to rebel against our self. If we are willing to be corrected and rescued from our habitual ways, this will be a big blessing to the church meetings.