The dealing for prayer is the confession of sins. A person who knows how to pray spends much of his prayer time confessing his sins. This is because there are many inward and outward problems in our being when we come before God. If we draw near to God with a sincere heart and an open spirit, He will shine in us as light. When He shines in us, exposing our real self and true condition, we must confess our sins. After confessing our sin in this way, we often sense another. When the Lord shines in us, we may spend the initial time in our prayer just confessing our sins.
When we do not deal with our sins by confessing them in God’s light, but rather come hastily before God, abruptly asking for different things, our prayer will not touch God because there is still a barrier. Such prayer and supplication are like beating the air. We must, therefore, have a sincere heart and an open spirit when we come before God in prayer. We need to rely on the Lord’s blood and allow Him to shine in us. Then we need to confess our sins one by one according to God’s shining and the inward sense. This kind of confession is the dealing for prayer. A good prayer is often preceded by dealing with sins through confession. If we know how to pray, we will never neglect dealing with our sins by confessing when we come before God in prayer.
The Old Testament presents a very clear type of this. When a priest entered the tabernacle to minister and serve God, he first had to pass through the altar. This is a type of dealing with sins. In order for a sinful man to draw near to God, he had to pass through the altar. This also applies to us in the New Testament age. When we draw near to God in prayer, we must first receive the shining of God and then confess our sins one by one according to the inner sense until we are transparent within, until there is a clear way between God and us. It is at this time that we can entreat God according to the inward sense. Therefore, in a good prayer, confession always precedes supplication.
There is much to be considered related to our utterance in prayer. It should never be regarded lightly. Even in our daily living and in our relationships with others, our speaking is very important. For example, if a child asks his parents for something in a proper way, his parents will be happy to give it to him. If he asks in a wrong way, his parents may give it to him, but not be so happy. Some children are pleasant when they speak. Once they open their mouths, their parents have no alternative but to oblige. On the contrary, some children provoke their parents when they speak with them. The difference is in their utterance. Another example is that all diplomats pay much attention to their words. We need to give much consideration to our utterance when we come before God to pray.
We should not think that since God is omniscient, He knows what we need. This is the reason some regard prayer lightly, referring to Matthew 6:8, which says, “Your Father knows the things that you have need of before you ask Him.” This is true. However, the Bible also says that the Canaanite woman cried out to the Lord, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David!” (15:22). She prayed desperately but was rejected. The Lord Jesus did not answer her. Then His disciples came and said to the Lord, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us” (v. 23). The Lord said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” The woman immediately changed her utterance and said, “Yes, Lord, for even the little dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table” (vv. 26-27). She used expressions such as little dogs, crumbs, and fall from their masters’ table to force the Lord Jesus to respond to her need. She used the Lord’s own words as leverage against Him in her speaking. She used the expression little dogs, which came out of the Lord’s mouth, and placed herself in the position of a dog. It is as if she was saying to the Lord, “You are right. I am a dog, so You cannot ignore me.” Her words caused the Lord not only to give her grace but also to praise her faith. This shows that praying is similar to negotiation. We need to learn the utterance of prayer.
It is important for the utterance of prayer to be concise and to the point, not repetitive. The Lord Jesus said, “In praying do not babble empty words as the Gentiles do” (6:7). When words are repeated, they become redundant. We must exercise to use words that are concise and to the point in prayer and avoid superfluous words.
During our personal prayer time, we should pray audibly. This can be considered as a principle of prayer. Audible prayer will prevent our mind from being distracted. In silent prayer we may pray for this and that, and wander in our prayer. It is difficult to pray silently for fifteen minutes; silent prayer cannot last long. For prayer to be sustained, we must pray audibly. However, we should not shout or scream. This is not refined and can damage our prayer. This refers to personal prayer or prayer with a few people. This does not refer to prayer in the meetings.
Should we stand, sit, or kneel down when we pray? This concerns our posture in prayer. In the Bible people always knelt down when they offered good, devout, and earnest prayers. There are examples of this in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Kneeling down to pray shows a devout attitude toward God, and once we kneel down, our entire being is settled. It is not easy for our inner being to be settled when we are standing. When we sit down, we are more settled than when standing. When we kneel down, we are even more settled than when sitting down. But if we lie down, we will become dead within. Except in cases of illness, our spirit will be unable to rise if we lie down to pray. Therefore, our posture in prayer also needs to be carefully considered.
There is no law that says we must kneel down to pray. Often the environment does not allow us to kneel down. So we should train ourselves to be able to pray in every situation. We need to be trained to the point that whether we are talking to others or riding a bus or a bicycle, we still can pray within. Those who minister the word must also learn to look to the Lord in prayer as they speak.