Every person who comes before God in prayer should not utter casual and empty words; rather, he should pray according to the burden and inward sense. However, the burden of prayer should not be so broad that it covers eight or ten points all at once. Some people pray as if they are reciting a book or taking attendance. This kind of prayer is very light. In order for our prayer to be weighty, our burden should not be too broad. At the most, good prayer should comprise three or four items. The best is to pray for one or two items. If there are several items, it is better to pray for a few items and pray for the rest at a different time. This can be compared to moving five boxes. If we overestimate ourselves and try to move all five at once, we will be unable to move them and may even drop them. We should first move two boxes, then another two, and the last one at the end. In this way we can move all the boxes. This is the way to pray.
Everyone who prays should learn to wait on God. We should never initiate anything by ourselves when we pray. We need to be calm and wait before God for His instructions and initiation in our prayer. All good prayers are initiated by God, not by us. When we pray, we must first stop ourselves. Our stopping is to wait on God.
There are many who have difficulties in the matter of waiting. Once they cease all activity in the midst of their prayer, their mind becomes more active. We need much exercise in this matter. We need to exercise to the extent that once we kneel down before God, our whole being is calm and able to wait for His instructions. When we have God’s instruction and initiation, there will be a sense within and a word of burden. We can then start praying according to His inward burden.
When coming before God, many people immediately begin to ask God for things and never inquire of Him. We should not ask God for things, but rather we should inquire of Him. Even if we want to pray for the church, we should first inquire of the Lord, saying, “Lord, I have a feeling to pray for the church. Is this Your will? Do You want me to pray for the church at this moment? How should I pray?” Prayer that is preceded by inquiring is the best prayer.
Inquiring in prayer and waiting in prayer are two sides of one thing. One who waits is one who inquires. Similarly, a person who inquires is a person who waits. Abraham’s prayer in Genesis 18 was very good; there was an aspect of waiting in his prayer. The Bible says that when the two angels turned and went toward Sodom, Abraham remained standing before God. This is waiting. While waiting, he began to intercede. He was not telling or begging; he was inquiring. He said, “Will you indeed destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed destroy and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?” (vv. 23-24). He was inquiring. To inquire is to acknowledge the sovereign authority of God, that is, to acknowledge that He is Lord.
Those who know how to pray always inquire. Listen to the prayer of one of the psalmists in Psalm 27:4. He says, “One thing I have asked from Jehovah; / That do I seek: / To dwell in the house of Jehovah / All the days of my life, / To behold the beauty of Jehovah, / And to inquire in His temple.” He was inquiring in the temple of God. Furthermore, in the books of Samuel, David had several prayers in which he inquired of Jehovah. Asking for things does not require any learning, but inquiring requires a great deal of learning.
There is the need of telling in our prayer in addition to asking. To tell is to speak to God concerning our feelings; to ask is to request from God. There are these different aspects of prayer that require our exercise.
We need to learn to have faith in inquiring, telling, and even asking. The most crucial thing in order to have faith is to be simple. Do not analyze, but simply believe in God’s word. God’s word is precious. After prayer, we may sometimes have a word within from the Bible that clearly tells us that God has heard us. There are also other times when we pray to the extent that our inner sense tells us that God has heard our prayer, although there is not an explicit word. When we sense that the burden within has been discharged, and there is no further problem in the matter of our request, we should believe. We should not analyze, doubt, or worry, because this will only cause us to lose faith.
If a burden is still present after we pray, we should pray again. We should pray until the burden has been lifted and is no longer with us, until we have peace within and no longer feel the need to pray. In such a condition, we should believe that God has heard our prayer. We need to learn to simply believe in God’s word and in the feeling within.
Those who know how to pray always give a considerable amount of thanks in their prayer. It is unreasonable to ask without thanking. We always thank someone who agrees to do something for us. We not only thank him when he has accomplished the task, but we even thank him when he merely agrees to do the task. Consequently, there should be thanksgiving in every prayer. Once we have peace within and the burden has been lifted, we should give thanks. We should say, “Thank You, Lord, that I can tell You what concerns me. I have peace within. I believe You have heard my prayer and answered my petition. I thank You.” We should not wait until our prayer is fulfilled to give thanks; we should begin giving thanks even before it is fulfilled. Each time we sense peace within as we pray, we should give thanks.