Being Joined to God’s desire through His Word to Pray Prayers of God’s Economy

The best cooperation and service we can render to God is in prayer; we need to be joined to God’s desire and pray prayers initiated by God to echo what He is praying in the heavens.

There are a few verses in the New Testament where there Lord is seemingly giving us the key to getting all our prayers answered:

• your Father knows before you ask Him (Matt. 6:8),
• ask and it shall be given (7:7; Luke 11:9),
• ask in harmony in the Body and it will be done by the Father (Matt. 18:19),
• all that you ask – believe, and you will receive (Matt. 21:22; Mark 11:22),
• ask in the Lord’s name and it will be done (John 14:14; 16:23-26),
• abide in Christ and ask anything – it will be done (John 15:7, 16).

God even says that He wants to be enquired of by His people so that He can do it for them (Ezek. 36:27). What kind of prayers, however, does God answer? Most believers pray, but many of their prayers are focused and centered on them, their family, their situation, and the things around them. But who cares for what is in God’s heart and prays for what He wants to do?

We were saved by God and regenerated by His life to be one with Him, and we need to be those who come to Him in prayer and allow the Spirit to mingle His desires with our desires, lead our thoughts into His thoughts, and imprint His desires and thoughts into us so that we may utter the prayers that match His inward desires.

This may sound so high and wonderful, but it has been practiced by saints throughout the ages, and God has treasured and answered such prayers.

For example, Hannah’s prayer was an echo, a speaking out, of the heart’s desire of God – it was human cooperation with the divine move for the carrying out of God’s eternal economy (see 1 Sam. 1:10-20).

Hannah had a need: she wanted to have a son; God had a need: He needs Nazarites, the overcomers who would carry out His will. God’s need and Hannah’s need met, and Hannah uttered the prayer that was deep in God’s heart: Give me a son, and I will bring him to You to serve You as a Nazarite.

Samuel was a man after God’s heart, seeking God and praying one with God for His people, and he changed the age from the age of judges to the age of the kings.

Besides Hannah, today we want to see Elijah and Daniel, who were men of prayer and who prayed what was deep in God’s heart, thus cooperating with God for the fulfillment of His purpose in their age.

Elijah, a Man of Like Feeling with us, Prayed in a Prayer (James 5:17)

Elijah was a man of like feeling with us, and yet he prayed earnestly (lit. prayed in a prayer) and God listened to him, and there was no rain for three years and six months (see James 5:17).

We may read the story of Elijah in the Old Testament and see how great God is, and how little the people of Israel with their king listened to Him. However, the main point in this story, as shown in the New Testament, is that Elijah prayed to God and cooperated with God in prayer.

He didn’t pray in his own feeling, thought, intention, or mood, or in any kind of motivation that would arise from the circumstances of idolatry or the deplorable situation in Israel; neither did he pray for his own purpose or gain.

Elijah was given a prayer by God, and he prayed that prayer back to God; therefore, the Lord fulfilled his prayer and closed the heavens for a long period of time.

We need to come to the Lord and deny ourselves, allowing Him to infuse us with His feeling, thought, intention, and motivation, so that we may receive His prayer and pray it back to Him for the accomplishing of His will.

We need to ask the Lord to give us His prayer so that we may pray His prayer for His economy to be accomplished.

Lord Jesus, give us Your prayer so that we may pray Your prayer back to You for the accomplishing of Your will. Save us from praying in our feeling, thought, intention or mood; save us from merely praying for our circumstances and situations, or for the fulfillment of our purpose. Oh Lord, may we be joined to You and mingled with You so that we may pray Your prayers as an echo to Your prayer in the heavens, so that Your will be done and Your kingdom come!

Being Joined to God’s desire through His Word to Pray Prayers of God’s Economy

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Daniel was a man of prayer, and his prayers were not common; rather, his prayers turned the age. Whenever something happened or he discovered something in God’s word, he prayed before God, and God moved to accomplish what He desired. He prayed because he believed in God and not in himself; he prayed not merely for himself but to cooperate with God in prayer.

In Daniel 2 the king had a dream and he couldn’t remember it; he requested that his counselors and wise men and magicians would tell him the dream, or else he will kill them all. Daniel asked for some time to pray to his God for this, fully trusting in God for the revelation of the dream; he then went to his companions and prayed until the Lord revealed to him both the dream and its interpretation.

This shows us that Daniel was a person living before God – he depended on prayer to do what man can’t do and to understand what man cannot understand; he fully cooperated with God in prayer.

Satan, however, hated Daniel’s prayer life, and he did his best to attack it through the people who hated him; an edict went out from the king that everyone should pray only to the king for 30 days or else he will be thrown to the lions (Daniel 6).

Satan hates our prayer life: he tries to destroy our prayer life and render us unable to pray; God needs our prayers and Satan knows this, so he instigates people, circumstances, and things to damage our prayer life and cause us not to pray.

How did Daniel respond to the king’s edict? Did he take a “30-day break from prayer”? No, he prayed as usual and was not at all threatened by it; he did as before, three times daily kneeling on his knees and praying and giving thanks to God.

He considered it a failure NOT to pray, and he did not give in to Satan’s plan to destroy his prayer. Daniels’ prayer was like a stronghold on the battlefield, and God used his prayer to further His move.

Daniel’s prayer reached the highest peak. He asked God to do something for Himself. He prayed, “Cause Your face to shine upon Your sanctuary that has been desolated, for the Lord’s sake” (Dan. 9:17). I hope that we would circle the words “for the Lord’s sake.” We can see that his prayer was totally for God and not for himself. It seems as if he was saying to God, “My supplication here today is not for myself but for You. Even though I am asking You to do something, it is not for myself but for You.” This was a very special prayer; it was also the highest prayer. Our prayers are ninety-nine and nine-tenths percent for ourselves. Very few of them are for God. Only a person like Daniel, who prayed to God single-heartedly, can be used by Him to turn the age. (Witness Lee, Men Who Turn the Age, pp. 27-28)

We need to be those like Daniel who join themselves to God’s desire through His word to pray prayers of God’s economy. We need to read the word and receive it by various means of prayer and petitions, and we need to be joined to God’s desire through His word, asking Him to do what He wants to do (see Eph. 6:17-18; Dan. 9:2-3, 17).

The highest expression of a man who cooperates with God is in prayer; when we join ourselves to God’s desire through His word we become men of preciousness to God, even preciousness itself (Dan. 10:11, 19; 9:23).

Daniel saw in the Scriptures that the captivity of the children of Israel in Babylon was of 70 years, and as this time was approaching, he prayed one with God and even told Him, Do it for Your sake!

Because of such a prayer, the highest prayer that is for God’s need, God treasured Daniel, answered his prayer, and as history confirms, the return from captivity took place.

Today at the end of this age God is looking for some who join themselves to His desire in His word to pray back to Him what He desires to do, so that He may accomplish His will.

Only those who join themselves to God’s word to pray prayers of God’s economy can be of real use to God. We should depend on prayer to do what man could not do and understand what man cannot understand.

Lord Jesus, we want to join ourselves to Your desire through Your word to pray the prayers of God’s economy for the fulfillment of Your purpose! Make us men of preciousness for the building up of Your Body! Amen! Lord, we depend on prayer to do what we can’t do and to understand what we can’t understand. It is Your will for Christ to be manifested and enjoyed by us, for the Body life to be practiced among us, and for the Body to be built up: we say Amen, Lord, may this be done! May the Body of Christ be built up, the bride of Christ be prepared, and the overcomers be produced! Lord, may Your kingdom come and Your will be done!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by brother James Lee for this week, and portions from Men Who Turn the Age, ch. 2 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Service for the Building up of the Church (2016 Spring ITERO), week 7 / msg. 7, Serving God by Prayer according to His Heart and Will.
• All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Pray with one accord in spirit / Seeking God in unity; / In the Spirit of the Body / Ever pray in harmony. (Hymns #779)
  # When God wants to move, / He must gain an instrument; / Overcomers separated from the current age. / They have joined themselves / Through His word to His desire. / Overcomers constituted with the Holy Word. (Song on cooperating with God in prayer)
  # Let us fight together with the Lord through prayer; / Over death, Christ’s vict’ry we declare. / One with the ascended Christ; we soar in prayer, / Fight as one for God’s move everywhere. (Song on fighting in prayer)