God can do much more through our prayer than through our work and words; we need to be the overcomers of today who serve God by praying according to His heart and will.
In this universe, there’s the divine will, the satanic will, and the human will; our will is not “free” – we need to willingly choose the divine will or else the satanic will shall be our default choice. God wants man’s will to be joined to Him and to be one with Him so that man would be one with God to express God’s will back to Him in prayer for His good pleasure.
But what about all the evil in the world? What about the terrible things happening around us? What about our needs, our family, our work, and our city? What about these solid, tangible, physical needs that we see in front of us: how can we pray for these, and what should our response be?
As believers in Christ we need to set our minds on the things which are above; yes, there are many outward things that are pressing, urgent, and seemingly so important, but the real thing we as believers should focus on is God Himself.
Our God has a need; He has a will, a purpose, and an economy, and the whole universe exists because of His will. We as believers in Christ should be joined to Him in prayer concerning His need, and we should align our will with His will, so that His will be done on earth as in heavens.
Many times our prayers originate from our needs and are to satisfy our desires and lusts; God may answer such prayers, but they have no spiritual value; only the prayers that are initiated by God and echo what He has initiated have any spiritual value.
We need to learn to be joined to God in His word, pray over His word, and pray back to Him the word that He has spoken, so that He may do it.
God’s will – His perfect will – is the best thing for us; we may think we need this or that, but actually it is God’s will who is good, pleasant, and perfect, and when we are mingled with the Lord and have His thoughts imprinted in us, we will pray according to His desire and His will for the fulfillment of His economy, and we have the assurance that we have received what we have prayed for.
In the following blog posts we want to see some examples in the Bible of people who cooperated with God in prayer, and the result was that God gained what He was after and man was satisfied.
Hannah’s Prayer: a Human Cooperation with the Divine Move for the Carrying out of God’s Economy
In 1 Sam. 1:10-20 we see the story of Hannah, the childless wife of Elkanah, who was desperate to have a son; her need was to have a son, and God’s need was to gain a Nazarite.
Hannah’s prayer was an echo, a speaking out, of the heart’s desire of God; it was a human cooperation with the divine move for the carrying out of God’s eternal economy. In the midst of the chaos of the degraded Israel, Hannah and her husband were on the line of life, which is a line to bring forth Christ for the enjoyment of God’s people that on earth God may have His kingdom, which is the Body of Christ.
We need to realize that we are not here merely to be saved; salvation is for our benefit, but once we see God’s purpose, we need to remain on the line of life so that God may gain the Body of Christ, the organism of the Triune God, for His full corporate expression.
Hannah had a real need: she wanted to have a child, a son; therefore, she prayed to God desperately concerning a son. But behind the scenes God was also moving in her to motivate her so that she would pray for a son; the result was that in her prayer Hannah cooperated with the move of God.
God could motivate Hannah as a person who was one with Him in the line of life. As long as He can gain such a person, He has a way on earth. I hope that at least some of us will be today’s Hannah’s and say, “Lord, if You have anything on Your heart to accomplish for Your purpose, I am here. I am remaining in the line of life for the carrying out of Your economy.” If you do this, I have the full assurance that you will be the ones whom God will move. He will come to you and motivate you. God needs many Hannahs, persons who can bring forth some Samuels to turn the age. (Witness Lee, Life-Study of 1 & 2 Samuel)
God motivated Hannah to be one with Him on the line of life; even though she had a need, she joined herself to God in prayer and promised that if God gave her a son, he will be a Nazarite. Hannah had a need, but God had even a greater need; even though Eli the priest wasn’t clear on what she was doing or saying, she prayed and cooperated with God for the divine move to be carried out.
The result of Hannah’s cooperation with God in prayer was that Samuel was brought in, a Nazarite who fully cooperated with God and who was one with God for the fulfillment of His purpose.
Today we need to be those who cooperate with God through prayer; our service is our prayer to Him, and even though we have a need, we need to seek to know God’s need and pray for His need, joining our need to His need, so that His need would be met and we would be satisfied.
First we need to pray that we would be produced as His overcomers, and then we need to cooperate with the Lord to continue to pray for others to be produced as His overcomers, those who fully cooperate with God for the fulfillment of His purpose.
Lord Jesus, make us Your overcomers! Give us the experiences we need for us to be Your overcoming ones. Lord, use us and flow through us to produce Your overcomers! Amen, Lord, gain Your overcomers! We want to cooperate with Your heavenly ministry in the stage of intensification by praying one with You to gain Your overcomers! Lord, our need is to become overcomers, the Nazarites fully consecrated to You, and Your need is for such overcomers: we agree with You, gain us and gain many of Your people to be Your overcomers, the constituents of Your overcoming Bride!
Being and Praying for the Nazarites who are One with God to Cooperate with His Move
What the Lord desires to gain today is many like Hannah who are one with God on the line of life to pray and cooperate with God’s move for Him to gain His overcomers. The line of life is a line that brings forth Christ for the enjoyment of God’s people, so that on earth God may have a kingdom, which is the church as the Body of Christ, the very organism of the Triune God.
Today we are in the process of the fulfillment of the greatest prophecy in the Bible, I will build My church (Matt. 16:18); for this to happen, we need to exercise the keys of the kingdom by denying the self, taking up our cross, and losing our soul-life.
Every day we need to exercise our spirit to deny and reject the self. We need to exercise our spirit to take up the cross, realizing that the cross is God’s will. Every brother and sister in the church is God’s will for us; our spouse and those around us are God’s will for us, and we need to exercise our spirit to take up our cross and follow the Lord.
We need to lose our enjoyment in the soul in this age by enjoying God; our soul was made to enjoy God and express God! Amen!
Furthermore, we need to be on the line of life by serving Christ and living in the reality of the kingdom of God (Rom. 14:17-18). As long as God can gain a person who is one with Him on the line of life, He has a way on earth.
What we see from Hannah’s prayer is that God’s move with His answer to Hannah’s prayer was to produce a Nazarite, an overcomer, who was absolute for the fulfilling of God’s desire (1 Sam. 1:19-2:11).
We need to cooperate with God in prayer today for the producing of the overcomers, and we ourselves need to live the life of a Nazarite, a life of taking God as our Head and Husband, submitting to Him, and having no interest in worldly pleasures.
A Nazarite could never cut his hair (he took God as the Head, submitting himself to God and taking Him as the authority) and was not allowed to drink wine (he did not have any worldly pleasures or enjoyment).
Today people are not absolute for anything but are rather rebellious and against God as the authority, and all me love pleasures, entertainment, and worldly enjoyment.
In the midst of such a generation the Lord wants to gain us as His overcomers, His Nazarites, those on the line of life who submit to God, take God as the Head and Husband, and have no interest in worldly pleasures.
If we today enjoy God and delight in Him, finding our pleasure and satisfaction in Him, we will lose our soulish enjoyment in the world to gain it when the Lord returns. May we be those who are one with God on the line of life to pray and cooperate with God’s move and be produced as the Nazarites He needs today.
Lord Jesus, we want to be one with You on the line of life to pray and cooperate with God’s move on earth today. Gain us and gain many who are one with You on the line of life – gain the Nazarites You need in this age! Gain us and gain many saints to be the overcomers who are absolute for the fulfilling of God’s desire! Lord, we choose to reject the self, take up the cross, and lose the soul life in this age so that we may be produced as Your overcomers. We take You as our Head and Husband, and we submit to Your authority. Lord, amen, gain us as Your Nazarites, Your overcomers today!
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 Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel, msgs. 1-2 (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:
# Let us work together with the Lord through prayer, / Praying every time and everywhere. / He will not accomplish His will on His own; / Seek Him ‘till His purpose is made known. (Song on praying one with God)
# You need the Nazarites to turn this age. / Move in me to turn my heart and consecrate. / Save me from all selfish seeking, search my heart. / Set me free, make every bondage break apart! / I need You, but You need me too, / To do what You want to do. / Rekindle all of my love for You, / To be a voluntarily consecrated one. (Song on being God’s Nazarites)
# Make us those who meet Your need, the Nazarites. / Make us those through whom You’d close this age; / Who are one with You to bring the kingdom in, / Young people absolute for Your move. (Song on cooperating with God)
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