If the sisters want to pray about their husbands, they must first read the Word. When they read the Word, they light the lamp, and they are enlightened. This enlightening changes their concept of prayer. Without reading the Word, they may pray in one way for their husbands. But after reading the Word, they will pray in the proper way. The way is changed, but the subject remains the same.
Suppose a sister is going to pray for her husband. Before reading the Word she intends to pray in this way: “Lord, You know my husband has a bad temper, and it is so easy for him to lose it. I just cannot do anything, Lord. You must deal with him.” Before reading the Word, this is the way she intends to pray. But, by reading the Word she realizes that it is not a matter of asking the Lord to deal with her husband, but that she herself needs to be dealt with. After reading the Word, her prayer is changed. She prays: “Lord, I do thank You for Your sovereignty in giving me such a good husband. I do need Your grace that I may learn the lesson to be dealt with.” These are two ways of praying, but which way is acceptable to the Lord? The first way is really not a prayer at all, but an accusation. A sister who prays in this way is not praying for her husband but is accusing him before the Lord. It is only when we are in the light by reading the Word that we will pray in the second way.
I am afraid that when some of the brothers pray for the elders, they pray in an accusing way: “Lord, You know the elders. I cannot help the situation. You must come in to vindicate.” Is this a real prayer or an accusation? One thing is sure: such a prayer by anyone is certain to be a prayer apart from dealing with the Word. This is burning the incense without lighting the lamp. It is burning the incense in darkness. But if we will first light the lamp by dealing with the Word, our concept will be changed. We will pray, “Lord, have mercy upon me. It is not my brother that needs Thy dealing, but I!”
How we need the lighting of the lamp before the burning of the incense. We must have the real dealing with the Word before we pray. The light from the Word will expose us, and this will enlighten us to have the right words to pray. So many intended prayers are simply canceled by reading the Word, and so many right prayers come out of the reading of the Word. The proper prayer, the right prayer, must be the prayer issuing out of the light from reading the Word.
Now we must see another practical matter. In the Old Testament time, olive oil, pure and beaten, was used for the light of the lamp. We all know that oil in typology signifies the Spirit. Just as the oil was needed to light the lamp, we need the Spirit to enlighten the Word. Without the Holy Spirit the Word does not shine. Darby tells us that to light the lamp means to cause the lamp to rise up. This is quite interesting, for many times when we read the Word some of the words rise up and give light.
How does the Word give this kind of light? It is only by the Spirit, the oil. And the oil today is in our spirit. Whenever we come to read the Word, we must exercise our spirit. Then, in our spirit the pure olive oil will rise up to cause the Word to give us light. When we read the Word by exercising only our mentality and understanding, it does not give light. But if we exercise our spirit to contact the Word, immediately we sense something enlightening and rising up within our spirit. Then the Word becomes the living Word within us. It is through the indwelling Spirit as the pure oil that we have the light. The Word will be lightened and will give us light.
It is the pure and beaten olive oil that gives the light. Is not the Holy Spirit pure? Yes, the Holy Spirit is pure, but our spirit is not so pure. Our spirit has to be purified and beaten. This is the work of the cross. In typology, Christ is the olive. When He was beaten and pressed on the cross, the pure oil, that is, the Holy Spirit, came out of Him.
It is the same today. You and I need to be purified; we need to be beaten and pressed. Many times when we read a verse from the Word, there is simply no light. There is no light until one day we are under a certain kind of pressure. Under this pressure we come back to the same Word again, and then it gives the light.
We need to be purified, and we need to be pressed and beaten. We need a certain kind of pressure. Then the Spirit will come out and the Word will be lightened; the lamp will be lit for us to be under its enlightening. This is the way we must pray and offer something to God. I must tell you again that whatever we utter to God as prayer in this way will be something purely of Christ. It will not be a natural prayer, but a real, sweet savor to God.
So we have seen clearly that if we are going to contact the Lord, we must know how to exercise our spirit. And we must know how to deal with the Word. Then we will know what to pray. Every morning and every evening we must exercise our spirit to deal with the Word to light the lamp. Then we will be enlightened and know what to express to God. By this kind of prayer, whatever we utter will be something of Christ as the sweet incense unto God.
The Psalmist says that he rose up early to pray, but he prayed by dealing with the Word. Without the Word, which is the light, he could not pray to burn the incense. The Lord Jesus said, “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall come to pass to you” (John 15:7). This means that we must be enlightened and dealt with by the Word in order to know what to pray.
We must put all these principles into practice every time we come to the Lord to contact Him. We must realize the blood, the consuming fire, and the satisfaction of Christ. Then we must learn how to exercise our spirit so that the Holy Spirit may have a free way to enlighten the Word of God that we may get the light. Under this enlightening, we will have the utterance to express something which issues out of Christ as the sweet incense to God. Then not only will we be satisfied, but God also will be satisfied. It will be a real satisfaction both to us and to God.
May the Lord be merciful to us that we may meet God and fellowship with Him day by day, morning and evening, in this way.