The main point of the Lord’s recovery is the church. Over the past two thousand years the inward nature and outward appearance of the church have changed completely. Today the church is equated with organized Christianity, but organized Christianity does not reflect the Lord’s desire. Christianity is a religion associated with human communities, whereas the church is the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23). The church is neither an organization nor a religion, much less a physical building. The church as the Body of Christ is different from any religious group. Before He returns, the Lord will recover the church life and the reality of the church. The Lord’s way today is the way of recovery. The center, the focus, and the purpose of the Lord’s work is to recover the church.
Although the Lord began to speak of the church in the Gospel of Matthew in a limited way (16:18), the book of Ephesians deals with the matter of the church in a thorough way. In this short book of only six chapters, Paul included two prayers related to the church. According to the record in the Bible, no other person had such deep and high prayers. His first prayer is in chapter 1, and his second prayer is in chapter 3. Both prayers are exceedingly deep.
The first prayer in chapter 1 includes verses 17 through 23. None of the points in these seven verses are according to our concepts about prayer. According to our considerations, we pray, “O Lord, I thank You and praise You. Give us peace, be with us, and bless us so that we will not have any sickness and so that our heart may be full of peace and joy. O Lord, we need Your abundant grace to protect us. Although we do not desire money, provide us with food and clothing.” The sisters also pray concerning their husbands and children. Those who are more spiritual pray for the church, saying, “O Lord, now that I have prayed for my family, I will pray for Your family. Lord, grant the elders wisdom so that they can handle the church affairs appropriately. May You empower the co-workers so that people will repent when they preach the gospel. Enable the brothers and sisters to love one another, to come to the meetings regularly, and to have a regular morning watch.” Our prayers rarely go beyond these considerations.
Paul’s prayer, however, is entirely different. Every word of his prayer is a gem. We must forget about our kind of prayer. A sister must believe that the Lord will keep her husband in peace. Although she is concerned about him, the Lord loves him even more. The love of a wife for her husband cannot be compared to the Lord’s love, and the love of a husband for his wife cannot be compared to the Lord’s love. Even the love of parents for their children cannot be compared to the Lord’s love, and the love of children for their parents cannot be compared to the Lord’s love. The Lord wants us to pray, but the Lord does not want prayers based on our considerations. He wants our prayers to come out of His prayer. He told us not to ask about what to eat and drink or what to put on but to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. If we do this, all these things will be added to us (Matt. 6:31-33). A woman who receives a free pair of scissors when she purchases a sewing machine does not need to ask how much the scissors cost. When she buys the sewing machine, the pair of scissors will be added. If we seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness, all that we need related to food, drink, and clothing will be added to us by the Lord.
When some say, “If Jesus takes care of my meals, I will believe in Him,” I reply, “If you ask Jesus for food, He will not give it to you, but if you ask related to His kingdom and His righteousness, He will take care of your food.” It is a shame that our prayers cover only our needs for food, drink, and clothing but not the Lord’s desire for the church. The Lord wants to raise up local churches to testify of the living Body of Christ in place after place; He does not want religion or Christianity.
In order to participate in the living Body of Christ, our prayers should match the apostle Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1. This does not mean that we should recite his prayer in a rote manner; rather, we need to touch our spirit and pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, would give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him (v. 17). Most people think that a spirit of wisdom and revelation refers to the Spirit of the Lord. However, the verse says, “May give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation.” This spirit does not refer to the Spirit of the Lord but to the human spirit, our regenerated spirit indwelt by God’s Spirit.
Every human being has a human spirit in addition to a physical body and a soul (1 Thes. 5:23). The human spirit is the deepest part of man and enables him to contact God. Our mouth is an organ for speaking and eating. Our eyes are organs for seeing, and our ears are organs for hearing. In order to eat, we cannot use our ears or eyes; we must use our mouth. In order to see, we must use our eyes, not our ears. Our ears are for hearing, not for seeing. In order to hear sounds, we need to use our ears. If we do not use our ears, we may hear nothing, even when someone is talking loudly. We cannot substantiate sound if we do not use the proper organ. Similarly, many people say that God does not exist, because they are not using their spirit to substantiate God. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit (John 4:24). Just as we need to use our eyes to see and our ears to hear, we need to use our spirit to touch and contact God.
In Ephesians 1:17 Paul prays that the saints would be given a spirit of wisdom and revelation because this was the need of the saints in Ephesus. When saints have a love feast full of many rich dishes of food, we need an appetite to receive the food. If we have an upset stomach, we will have no desire to eat. In order to eat, our stomach needs to have an appetite to eat. The riches in the church are like a lavish feast, but we must have an appetite for these riches, which comes out of a spirit of wisdom and revelation.
I have a limited understanding of big machines and even small devices like a camera. Someone can tell me how to put film in a camera, but I quickly forget. A brother who owns a large factory recently showed me the machines in his factory, but it was like he was playing music to a cow. His “music” was very impressive, but my appreciation was limited. As he explained the function of the machines, I became more and more confused. The things of the church can be compared to “music,” whereas we are like “cows.” If Paul could speak to us concerning the church, we would probably not understand very much. For example, God desires to have an inheritance in us (v. 18), yet the thoughts of many, related to this inheritance, are focused on “going to heaven” to obtain an inheritance. Such a thought is meaningless, but it is prevalent because many believers do not use the proper organ—the regenerated human spirit—to touch the reality of God’s inheritance. The church is vastly more mysterious than machinery in a factory; therefore, Paul prayed earnestly that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, would give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation. Wisdom is for us to know, and revelation is for us to see. We need a spirit of wisdom and revelation in order to know the church thoroughly and to see the church clearly.
We need to pray that the Father would give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation. Knowing the church is not a matter of exercising our mind. The more we use our mind to study the church, the more we will be confused. Knowing the church does not depend upon our mind but upon our spirit. When we turn to our spirit, we will be clear concerning the church. In today’s Christianity there are many denominations, and all of them claim to be legitimate representatives of the church. Presbyterians say that the Presbyterian denomination is right, Baptists say that the Baptist denomination is right, and Roman Catholics say that Catholicism is right. If we try to determine which one to follow by using only our mind, we will be caught in a maze. The more we study, the more confused we will become. Rather than studying with our mind, we should exercise our spirit, calling, “O Lord Jesus!” When we call, we will turn from our mind to our spirit, and when we are in spirit, we will be clear concerning the way of the church and the practical expression of the church.
When we turn from our mind to our spirit, we should pray, “O Lord, make my spirit strong, make my spirit fresh, make my spirit living, and make my spirit open to You. I want to receive wisdom and revelation in my spirit to see the mystery of the church and to understand this mystery.” We all need a spirit of wisdom and revelation.
Even though we may know that we have a spirit, we need to ask ourselves whether or not our spirit is healthy. Some of us may have a healthy spirit, but many do not. Paul realized that the problems of the believers were not related to outward things, such as jobs, finances, and family relationships, but rather to the inward matter of their spirit. This is the reason he prayed that the Father of glory would give to us a spirit of wisdom and revelation.
The church is not a matter of doctrine or knowledge in our mind; the church is a mystery in the realm of the Spirit, and this mystery can be seen and understood only in our human spirit. The ability to understand the church is in our spirit. Our spirit needs to be strong and full of wisdom and revelation so that we may see the mystery of the church. We need to pray that the Father would make our spirit strong, living, and fresh, and we must also ask Him to remove any darkness and veils in our spirit so that we may receive wisdom and revelation.