Meeting God’s Need and Present Needs
in the Lord’s Recovery
Message Four
Prayer to Absorb God and to Express God
by Praying to God as a Friend
So That We Can Co-work with God
OPENING WORD OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Psa. 27:4 One thing I have asked from Jehovah; that do I seek: to dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of Jehovah, and to inquire in His temple.
Col. 2:7 Having been rooted and being built up in Him, and being established in the faith even as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
John 15:7 If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.
Word of Appetizer
What’s the meaning of prayer?
The meaning of prayer is to absorb God; the more we contact God, the more we will absorb Him, and the more we absorb Him, the more we will enjoy Him as our light and our salvation.
The meaning of prayer is also for us to express God; in Psalm 27:4 David says that he desired not only to behold the beauty of Jehovah but also “to inquire in His temple”; to inquire is to let God speak within us so that the words spoken to Him in prayer are actually God’s speaking within us, God’s expressions.
Spiritual Burden
During the first aspect of our prayer, we enter into fellowship with God, who then anoints us with His burden for the work and reveals His intention to us; the second aspect of our prayer is then to inquire of the Lord by petitioning Him concerning His will and His burden for the work; then we carry out the purpose of prayer by coordinating with God to co-work with God.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
The meaning of prayer is to absorb God; the more we contact God, the more we will absorb Him, and the more we absorb Him, the more we will enjoy Him as our light and our salvation.
Colossians 2:6-7 reveals that Christ as the good land is the rich soil in which we have been rooted so that we may grow with the elements that we absorb from the soil.
The meaning of prayer is also for us to express God; to inquire is to let God speak within us so that the words spoken to Him in prayer are actually God’s speaking within us, God’s expressions.
The best prayer is to pray to God as a friend; Abraham was the friend of God; in Genesis 18 the God of heaven humbled Himself in order to befriend Abraham.
The Experience of Life
Christ as the good land is the rich soil in which we have been rooted so that we may grow with the elements that we absorb from the soil; in order to receive the divine dispensing, we as the trees must absorb God as the water (cf. 3:6); the riches of the supplying God dispensed into us as the trees constitute us with God’s divinity and cause us to grow with the growth of God.
When we really touch, contact, and absorb God, He will speak within us; then we pray according to His inner speaking.
Practice and Application
We must spend more personal and private time with the Lord in order to absorb Him; we must exercise our spirit to spend more time in our spirit to adore the Lord, to praise Him, to offer thanks to Him, and to speak to Him freely; then God will give us the growth as we enjoy Him as our banquet.
We should not direct the Lord in our prayer (cf. 2:4); instead, like Saul of Tarsus, we should ask, “What shall I do, Lord?” not “This is what I will do, Lord”.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1: To pray is to contact God and to absorb Him in that contact (Psa. 27:1).
(Please explain that the importance of prayer does not depend on how much we say to God or on how much we cry out to Him but on how much we contact Him.)
T2: every spiritual need that we have is God Himself (Psa. 27:1, 4).
(Please explain that God has not given us anything besides Himself.)
Day 2
T1: To grow in life is to grow with the growth of God (Col. 2:7, 19).
(Please explain that God does not need to grow; however, there is the need for God to grow in us.)
T2: Exercise our spirit to stay in the presence of God to absorb Him (Col. 2:19).
(Please explain that our need is to take time to absorb God.)
Day 3
T1: The meaning of prayer (Psa. 27:8).
(Please explain that prayer is not our speaking or expressing ourselves; prayer is our letting God speak and express Himself.)
T2: To pray according to God’s speaking within us (Psa. 27:8).
(What is the principle of Psalm 27:8 concerning prayer?)
Day 4
T1: We need to see the principle in contacting the Lord in the case the Lord changed water into wine (John 2:4).
(Please explain that we must not direct the Lord when we contact Him; all authority must be in His hands.)
T2: We need to see the principle in contacting the Lord in the Samaritan woman’s contact with the Lord (John 4:16; Gen. 18:14).
(Why was that when she asked the Lord for living water, the Lord did not give her this living water immediately; instead, He asked her a question about her husband.)
Day 5
T1: We need to see the principle in contacting the Lord in the case where the Lord does not heal man; He resurrects man (John 11:43).
(Please explain that resurrection involves waiting until man comes to an end in order to give him a new beginning.)
T2: We need to see the principle in contacting the Lord in the case where the Lord washed His disciples’ feet (John 13:8).
(Please explain that when we draw near to the Lord, we need to let Him do what He wills in us.)
Day 6
T1: Inquiring prayers honor God (1 Sam. 30:8; 2 Sam. 5:19, 23; Psa. 27:4).
(Please explain according to the verses how David inquired of Jehovah in inquiring prayers.)
T2: God wanted Abraham to pray to Him, so He came to be Abraham’s friend (James 2:23; ).
(Please explain that as Abraham was enjoying sweet fellowship with God, he received a revelation from Him regarding the birth of Isaac and the destruction of Sodom.)
