While the Lord is moving, acting, motivating, and energizing within us, what shall we do? Should we keep our mouths closed? No, we shall certainly feel impelled to utter something. We shall surely express what we feel within. This is spiritual prayer, prayer in the spirit. The spiritual prayer expresses the moving of Christ within us. Christ in, through, and as the Word is moving, acting, motivating, and energizing within us. When this happens, we cannot be silent. I believe that we all have experienced this. Sometimes I could not sleep at night but had to rise up because something was moving and energizing me. I had to rise up and say, “Lord, I am here. I praise You.” Is this kind of prayer simply an expression of our opinion, idea, thought, feeling, or imagination? No, we are expressing that which the Lord moves and energizes within. We become the mouthpiece for the Lord to utter what is within us at that very moment.
In verse 7 the Lord said, “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall come to pass to you.” When we abide in the Lord and let His words abide in us, we are actually one with Him, and He is working within us. Then, whatever we ask, it is not only we who are praying but also He who is praying in our praying. This kind of prayer is related to fruit-bearing (v. 8) and surely it will be fulfilled. We cannot have this kind of prayer on our own. This prayer in the spirit comes from the indwelling Christ, through the Spirit, and by His word. If we abide in the Lord, keep ourselves always in contact and in fellowship with the Lord, and let the Lord with His word live, move, motivate, and energize within us, we will be unable to keep our mouths shut. We will have to utter something. What we speak will be a real prayer in the spirit. This is the expression of the indwelling Christ speaking as the Spirit with His words.
When the Lord’s words abide in us, His communication and expression will abide in us. Therefore, we may “ask whatever you will.” We shall express by praying what we have received of the Lord, and it shall be done to us. This prayer is not the human, natural prayer; it is the divine prayer, the expression of the divine communication. While the Lord is abiding in us, expressing His thoughts, desires, intentions, and will, we then take His word and put it into expression by means of prayer. This kind of prayer is very divine, for it is the utterance and expression of the will, desire, and mind of the One who is abiding in us and communicating Himself to us.
Verse 8 says, “In this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and you shall become My disciples.” The prayer in verse 7 is related to the fruit-bearing and the glorification of the Father mentioned in verse 8. We need to pray for much fruit-bearing that the Father may be glorified, that is, expressed, in the Son. In fruit-bearing the Father’s divine life is expressed and so He is glorified. Only when the Father is expressed is He glorified. Electricity illustrates what it means to be glorified. Electricity that is not expressed is electricity that is not glorified. Only when electricity is expressed is it glorified. The electricity in a lamp is glorified because it is expressed. Likewise, when the Father’s divine life is expressed in the fruit-bearing of the organism of the vine and the branches, He is glorified.
Real prayers must be followed by our life and walk. Our life, walk, and activity always follow our prayers. We must act, live, and work according to the way we pray. This is very profound. While the Lord abides in us, He expresses Himself, His thought, His desire, and His intention to us. When we utter this in prayer and act, live, and walk according to what we pray, God is expressed and glorified.
For the sake of the abiding we must take care of the Lord’s word in two aspects—the inward word and the outward word. We must contact the Lord through the word outwardly so that it will become the inward word to us. The outward word which we contact in written form will become the living, inward word in our spirit. Then the Lord will express Himself through this living word, and we will know the Lord’s will, intention, desire, and thought. We will also be one with the Lord so that we will utter the Lord’s thought in our prayer. The prayers that we pray will also be the life that we live, walk, and work. These prayers will be the expression, the full manifestation, of God the Father. God the Father will be expressed and glorified through us.
Before we go on, I need to say a word about reading the Bible. We often advise new believers to read the Word as much as possible. However, it is not good for some people to read the Scriptures too much, for it is like stuffing themselves with too much food. Many Christians have stored up much of the Word but have digested very little of it. Now is the time for them to digest the Word each day a little at a time. We need to pray with and over the Word sentence by sentence, clause by clause, phrase by phrase, and even word by word, digesting what we read. If we pray over the words that we read, the spiritual nourishment will come forth, and we shall be nourished and strengthened in the spirit.