A Timely Word Concerning the World Situation and the Lord’s Recovery
Message Four
Praying Persistently with God as Our Faith
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Mark 11:23-24 Truly I say to you that whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says happens, he will have it. For this reason I say to you, All things that you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and you will have them.
Luke 18:1, 8 And He told them a parable to the end that they ought always to pray and not lose heart,… when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?
Word of Appetizer
In Luke 18:1-8 the Lord Jesus told the disciples a parable, what is the purpose of it?
“To the end that they ought always to pray and not lose heart”; the widow in the parable kept coming to the unrighteous judge and asking him to avenge her of her opponent; we ought to pray persistently for this avenging and should not lose heart. The faith that brought us into a life union with Christ is the linking faith— the faith that comes into us through our contacting the Triune God continually so that we may live by the Son of God; the linking faith is the divine requirement for the overcomers to meet Christ in His triumphant return.
Spiritual Burden
“When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” “Faith” denotes the persistent faith for our persistent prayer, the faith through which we were saved is the initial stage of faith; the faith that brought us into a life union with Christ is the linking faith— the faith that comes into us through our contacting the Triune God continually so that we may live by the Son of God; the linking faith is the divine requirement for the overcomers to meet Christ in His triumphant return.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
In Mark 11:20-24 the Lord Jesus taught His disciples to pray by faith for executing God’s will according to God’s economy.
In Luke 18:1-8 the Lord Jesus told the disciples a parable “to the end that they ought always to pray and not lose heart”
The Experience of Life
While our opponent is persecuting us, it seems that our God is not righteous, for He allows His children to be unrighteously persecuted; we cannot see Him, and apparently, He is not doing anything; actually, in a hidden way He is doing many things for us.
The faith through which we were saved is the initial stage of faith; the faith that brought us into a life union with Christ is the linking faith— the faith that comes into us through our contacting the Triune God continually so that we may live by the Son of God; linking faith is the Triune God moving in us to link us to His unsearchable riches.
Practice and Application
We must be the right persons, absolutely one with God; we must exercises God’s authority and applies this authority to deal with problems(toward “this mountain”) and things that ought to be removed.
Our God seems to be unjust, since He does not come in to judge and vindicate; athough He appears to be unrighteous, we still must appeal to Him, pray persistently, and bother Him again and again, for He will carry out quickly the avenging of His chosen ones, who “cry to Him day and night”.
Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline
Key Verses (1)
Mark 11:22 And Jesus answered and said to them, Have faith in God. Truly I say to you that whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says happens, he will have it. For this reason I say to you, All things that you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and you will have them.
I. In Mark 11:20-24 the Lord Jesus taught His disciples to pray by faith for executing God’s will according to God’s economy
- When the praying one is mingled with God and is one with God, God becomes his faith; this is what it means to have faith in God.
- Only prayers that are out of faith will touch God; without faith prayer is ineffectual.
- Faith is believing that we have received what we have asked for.
- The prayer in Mark 11:20-24 is a prayer with authority; this kind of prayer is directed not toward God but toward “this mountain”; the church can have such a prayer with authority by having full faith, being without doubt, and being clear that what we do is fully according to God’s will; prayer with authority has much to do with the overcomers.
Key Verses (2)
Luke 18:1-3 And He told them a parable to the end that they ought always to pray and not lose heart, saying, There was a certain judge in a certain city who did not fear God and did not regard man. And there was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, Avenge me of my opponent.
7 And will not God by all means carry out the avenging of His chosen ones, who cry to Him day and night, though He is long-suffering over them?
Isa. 45:15 Surely You are a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel, the Savior.
II. In Luke 18:1-8 the Lord Jesus told the disciples a parable “to the end that they ought always to pray and not lose heart”
- The significance of this parable is profound, and we need to know God as He is revealed here.
- The widow in verse 3 signifies the believers; in a sense, the believers in Christ are a widow in the present age because their Husband, Christ, is apparently absent from them.
- Like the widow in the parable, we believers in Christ have an opponent, Satan the devil, concerning whom we need God’s avenging.
- While our opponent is persecuting us, it seems that our God is not righteous, for He allows His children to be unrighteously persecuted; our God is a God who hides Himself, as the book of Esther indicates.
- The widow in the parable kept coming to the unrighteous judge and asking him to avenge her of her opponent; we ought to pray persistently for this avenging and should not lose heart.
Key Verses (3)
Rev. 8:4-5 And the smoke of the incense went up with the prayers of the saints out of the hand of the Angel before God. And the Angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar and cast it to the earth; and there were thunders and voices and lightnings and an earthquake.
Luke 18:8 …When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?
Gal. 2:20 I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God…
II. In Luke 18:1-8 the Lord Jesus told the disciples a parable “to the end that they ought always to pray and not lose heart”
- Revelation 8:5 implies the answer to 6:9-11 and Luke 18:7-8.
- “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” Literally, the Greek words rendered “faith” mean “the faith”; this denotes the persistent faith for our persistent prayer, like that of the widow.
- The faith through which we were saved is the initial stage of faith; the faith that brought us into a life union with Christ is the linking faith— the faith that comes into us through our contacting the Triune God continually so that we may live by the Son of God.
- The linking faith is the divine requirement for the overcomers to meet Christ in His triumphant return.
Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week
D1
T1 The Lord’s teaching on prayer is related to God’s economy(Mark 11:20-24)
(Please illustrate that what it means to have faith in God in Mark 11.)
T2 The experience of having faith in God(Mark 11:24)
(Please illustrate with experience that faith is believing that we have received what we have asked for.)
D2
T1 The prayer with authority(Mark 11:20-24)
(Please illustrate that a prayer with authority does not ask God to do something; instead, it exercises God’s authority and applies this authority to deal with problems.)
T2 A prayer with authority is one in which we tell the things that are frustrating us to go away(Mark 11:23)
(Please illustrate that how can the church have such a prayer with authority?)
D3
T1 Pray persistently and not lose heart(Luke 18:3)
(Please illustrate that the persistent faith for our persistent prayer, like that of the widow, is the subjective faith.)
T2 Learn to be a bothering widow, one who prays to God persistently(Luke 18:1-8)
(Please illustrate that what shall we do in a situation when we are persecuted and it seems that our God is not living or just?)
D4
T1 The parable in Luke 18:1-8 indicates that the Judge is sovereign(Luke 18:1-8)
(Please illustrate that how to understand correctly a parable such as the one recorded in Luke 18:1-8.)
T2 It takes time as well as endurance to experience the living God(1 Thes. 1:9, Isa. 45:15)
(Please illustrate that God is a living God, and He is also a God who hides Himself.)
D5
T1 The kind of persistent prayer is carried out by the souls of the martyred saints(Rev. 6:9-10; 8:5)
(Please illustrate that Rev. 8:5 how to imply the answer to the prayers of the saints)
T2 God needs His saints to pray that He might execute His judgment(Rev. 8:3-5)
(Please illustrate that while God has the intention of executing His judgment upon the earth, there is still the need of the saints to cooperate with Him with their prayers.)
D6
T1 “Faith” brought us into a life union with Christ(Gal. 2:20)
(Please illustrate that the linking faith is the indicator of the living of the Christ-pursuing God-man.)
T2 When the Lord comes back, He is expecting to find the ones who live by the linking faith(Luke 18:8; Rom. 1:17)
(Please illustrate that the linking faith is the divine requirement for the overcomers.)
