Based upon this background, the first God-man taught His disciples to pray for executing God’s will according to His economy by faith (Matt. 21:21-22).
Thus, the praying one could have faith in God without doubting, but believing that he had received what he asked for, and he would have it (Mark 11:24). The praying one is now one with God, in union with God. He is mingled with God, so God becomes his faith. This is what it means to have faith in God, according to the Lord’s word in Mark 11:22. The praying one is absolutely one with God, and God becomes his faith.
In Mark 11:24 the Lord said, “All things that you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and you will have them.” I would like to present two testimonies concerning the experience of this verse. The first one is concerning the Lord’s move to Russia. Soon after the United States defeated Iraq in 1991, one day a thought came to me: “Why don’t you go to Russia? Now is the time.” When I fellowshipped with the leading co-workers about this, they all agreed with me, so we announced to the saints that we would follow the Lord’s leading to go to Russia. Right away there was a response from the Body for this move of the Lord. This is a testimony that I had the full faith that we received a success. By the time we decided to go to Russia, a number of the saints had been trained and prepared by finishing two terms of the full-time training in Anaheim. They responded that they would go, and in November 1991 over thirty went to Russia. Right away the financial support came from the churches. In Russia today there are two big churches in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Recently, thirty-five more churches have been established. Also, there are numerous locations with groups of seeking Christians who have left the denominations and are waiting for us to visit them to help establish them as local churches. The brothers have estimated that by the end of this year, there will be fifty well-established churches in Russia. Besides Russia, the Lord has been moving in other eastern European countries, such as Poland, Albania, Romania, and Armenia. This has been the Lord’s doing. We have just followed His leading. Our going to Russia has been of the Lord’s will for the accomplishment of His economy. This is the experience of having faith in God without doubting, and believing that we have received what we have asked for so that we receive it. We have to pray according to God’s will for the fulfillment of His economy. Then we are one with God and the right persons in God’s eyes. Then we have the assurance that we have received what we have prayed for.
The second testimony is concerning my experience of the Lord in 1943, which was a critical year of the war between China and Japan. I was very much oppressed by the military police of the Japanese invading army in my city. One night I had a dream in which the Lord assured me that I would not be harmed by them. In that dream I was walking and I came to a slope with four steps. After I stepped down, a German shepherd jumped up and put its front paws upon me, but the dog did not hurt me. When it stopped bothering me, I saw the day dawn, like the dawning in the morning, with a broad highway, very bright and very straight. After waking up, I realized that this was not an ordinary dream.
As I considered this dream, I received its interpretation. The four steps were the last four years of the war, which were very difficult in China. There were eight years of fighting between Japan and China, and the last four years, after America joined the war, became very hard. The Japanese military police arrested me, but before they did I had this dream. I realized that the German shepherd signified the Japanese who were troubling me but who eventually did not do any harm to me. After this troubling there was a broad highway shining under the dawning of the day. I then knew that after the Japanese trouble, the Lord would bring me onto such a highway.
I had this dream fifty-three years ago, when I was only thirty-nine years old, in 1943. After 1943, because of being imprisoned by the Japanese, I became sick with tuberculosis of the lungs. The doctor charged me to rest absolutely in bed for six months. In October 1944 I left Chefoo and rested in Tsingtao for another one and a half years until 1945 when the Japanese surrendered. After the war, the brothers in Shanghai and Nanking asked me to visit the churches. In 1948 the political situation changed in China, and Brother Nee made the decision to send me out. I went to Taiwan in 1949 to minister Christ for the establishing and building up of the churches there. Eventually, I came to the United States and began to minister here for the Lord’s recovery in 1962. I never dreamed that I would be here. Today the whole earth is open to the recovery. During all my time in the church life, I have never seen such a harmony among the churches, among the elders, and among the co-workers as today. By His mercy and grace, we can boast that today on this whole earth, all the churches, the co-workers, and the elders are in harmony. Every sign is an encouragement. Every report is beautiful. The Lord is working everywhere. The open door to the Lord’s recovery is His doing. For this move, I have prayed at rest, believing that I have what I have asked for.
If we ask the Lord for things that satisfy our desire, we will not receive anything. This is because our prayer is not according to God’s will for the fulfillment of God’s economy, and we are not the right persons. First, we must be the right persons, absolutely one with God. One night, during my imprisonment by the Japanese for thirty days, I looked up and said, “Lord, You know why I am here.” At the time it seemed as if the Lord Jesus was right before me. I had the full assurance to say to the Lord, “Lord, I am imprisoned for Your sake.” We must first be the right persons before God, persons who are one with God. Then we can have God as our faith and pray according to our knowledge of God’s will for the fulfillment of His economy. If we pray for something according to our desire, not according to God’s will, to fulfill our purpose, not to fulfill God’s economy, we can never have the faith in God to believe that we have received what we asked for.
In prophesying that the returned Israel in the future will suffer the great tribulation, the first God-man taught them how to flee by prayer (Matt. 24:15-22). According to God’s economy, He gave up Israel but He would not give them up for eternity. This is a temporary matter. The Lord Jesus told the leaders of Israel in Matthew 21 that God would give them up. Then in Matthew 24 the Lord prophesied that the dispersed Israel would eventually return to their holy land. But at the end of this age, because of Antichrist, a great tribulation (Matt. 24:21) will occur in the holy land, so Israel will suffer. The Lord told them to pray, asking God to save them.