We must remember that prayer is not the first thing. Prayer is something that comes after harmony. If the church is to have this kind of ministerial prayer on earth, every brother and sister must learn before the Lord to deny the fleshly life. Otherwise, nothing will avail. The Lord’s word is very significant. He does not say that the Father will answer if we pray in His name. Neither does He say that the Father will answer if He prays for us. He says, “If two of you are in harmony on earth concerning any matter, any matter that they ask will be done for them from My Father who is in the heavens.” If we are in harmony, the heavens will be open to us! If a brother offends another brother, and the church has not yet come in to deal with the offending brother, the offended brother should reprove him with one or two others. Before the church comes in to deal with the offending brother, two brothers should come. This does not mean that the two brothers see things differently from the church. It means that the two brothers have seen it first, and afterward the church sees the same thing. In other words, the two brothers are standing on the ground of the church. The Lord meant that for two of us to be on the earth is for the church to be on the earth. What the church sees is the same as what the two brothers see. This is the result of ministerial prayer. Before they have the same view, they must first be in harmony concerning any matter and must have prayed concerning a certain matter.

The prayer ministry of the church is a prayer on earth that results in a move in heaven. Brothers and sisters, we must remember that the prayer in Matthew 18 can never be covered by prayers that are in the nature of spiritual edification. It can never be covered by personal prayers. We often can ask God for what we lack, and God answers our prayer. There is a place for personal prayers. We often feel that God is near to us. Thank the Lord, He hears prayers that are for spiritual edification. We should not despise this kind of prayer. We admit that it is wrong for a brother or a sister not to receive an answer for his or her prayer, and it is wrong for us not to feel the presence of God. We should pay attention to personal prayers and prayers for our own spiritual edification. This is particularly true for young brothers and sisters. If they do not have these kinds of prayers, they cannot go on properly. However, we must also see that prayers are not just for individuals and for spiritual edification. Prayer is for ministry and work. This prayer is the ministry of the church on earth; it is the work of the church. It is the responsibility that the church bears before God. The prayer of the church is the outlet of heaven. The prayer of the church means that when God wants to do something, the church prays about that matter first so that it can be fulfilled and God’s goal can be accomplished.

The ministry of the church is the ministry of the Body of Christ, and the ministry of the Body of Christ is prayer. This prayer is not just for spiritual edification and personal needs but for “heaven.” This prayer, for example, tells others that a person has lost his fellowship with God, that he has not listened to the reproof of one brother or even two or three brothers, and that he does not take the judgment of the church. God has to consider him a Gentile and a tax collector. But He will not do this immediately; He has to wait for the church to do it first. God has to wait for the church to judge this brother as a Gentile and a tax collector in its prayer before He will do the same thing in heaven. If the church takes up this responsibility to pray, it will see that from that day forward his life and spiritual walk will dry up. From that day forward, he will appear to have no part in God. God wants to do this, but He has to wait for the church to pray. God has many things stacked up in heaven. He cannot accomplish any of them because there is no outlet for Him on earth. There are numerous things stacked up in heaven. Yet God cannot resolve them because the church has not exercised its free will to stand on God’s side and fulfill God’s goal. Brothers and sisters, you have to remember that the highest and greatest work of the church is to be the outlet of God’s will. The church becomes the outlet of God’s will through prayer. This prayer is not a fragmentary prayer but a prayer that is in the nature of a ministry, a prayer that is in the nature of a work. God gives man vision and opens man’s eyes to see His will. When this happens, man takes his place to pray.
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