Having a Continuous Prayer Life to be Filled in Spirit for an Enriched Church Life

In the church life, we need to persevere in prayer, having a continuous prayer life, so that we may be praying people, those who depend on the Lord in everything and who speak one with the Lord to meet the need.

In order for us to have a proper church life, we need to have a proper prayer life.

A church that is proper is a church that is praying; when the saints all pray, having a continuous prayer life, the Lord has a way to bless the church life, and He is manifested among us.

Instead of talking so much or doing so much, we should pray. We should pray much more than doing things, and we should pray more than working for the Lord.

The basis of our Christian life and the foundation for our service for the Lord is our continuous prayer life.

We need to first of all pray; first of all, before doing this or that, before speaking for the Lord, and before going somewhere to do something for Him, we need to pray.

All our work for the Lord, all our service in the church life, should have its source in the Lord’s leading, and His leading comes after much and thorough prayer.

There are many needs in the church life, there are many things to be taken care of, and there’s much to be done in the practical church life.

But before we do anything, before we say anything, and before we do any service for God, we should have much and thorough prayer.

We should lift up holy hands, having no wrath and reasoning, and pray before the Lord.

Even corporate prayer is not enough; our praying with our prayer companions and with the saints is very good, but much more than this, we need to have personal prayer time.

Sometimes the Lord may even help us in this direction by causing us to not be so active outwardly but be very active in prayer.

He may allow sickness or certain outward restrictions of our outward activities so that we may inwardly contact Him and have much and thorough prayer.

When we pray, we need to deal with anything of our soul; our anger, our anxiety, and our reasonings need to be dealt with and put aside.

Then, we can pray, and we can pray ourselves into the Spirit so that we may touch the Lord and be one with Him in everything we do and say.

In order for us to be infused with the instruction of God to care for the saints and for the church, we need to have much and thorough prayer before the Lord so that we may “read the saints”, just as the high priest in the Old Testament read the stones on the breastplate with the Urim and Thummim in the presence of God.

This is our need today.

May the Lord make us those who pray, contact Him, and have a continuous prayer life before the Lord so that we may do all things in oneness with Him and out of our fellowship with Him.

To have a Living and Enriched Church Life we need to be Filled with the Spirit by being Willing, Empty, and Praying to have a Continuous Prayer Life

We believers in Christ pray, but we need to have a continuous prayer life. We need to persevere in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving (Col. 4:2; Acts 6:4).

However, it is not easy to do this. So many things rise up against our prayer life.

Things, situations, and even people may come in to disturb us when we have our time of prayer with the Lord.

Many things in our being such as our mood, our temper, and our preferences and desires also rise up against us, not allowing us to pray.

We need to make a deal with the Lord concerning our prayer life.

We need to be before Him concerning having a continuous prayer life.

If we have a continuous prayer life, the church life will be greatly enriched and uplifted.

As we persevere in prayer, the living person of Christ becomes our experience and enjoyment, and the church life is filled with the riches of Christ.

Whether the church today is living and fresh depends on whether we as the saints in the church life are filled continuously with the Triune God.

How can we be filled with the Triune God in a continuous way?

It is first by being willing, then by being emptied, and then by praying.

We need to open to the Lord and be willing; we simply need to be willing to have a prayer life.

We may even tell the Lord in all honesty that in ourselves, we’re not willing to have a continuous prayer life, but we are willing that He would make us willing.

He can operate in us both the willing and the working for His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13).

Brothers and sisters, we must pray.

We may be able to do things, and we may think we don’t need to pray much, for we have confidence, knowledge, the way, and the ability and strength.

But we need to realize that we need to pray much and not rely on ourselves and our way and ability to handle the situation.

We need to learn to empty ourselves, knowing that whatever we can do is not counted but rather rejected and condemned by the Lord.

Whatever we can do for the Lord in our old man and by our natural man is condemned by God.

When we realize this, we will see our need for God, and we will pray constantly and instantly.

We need to come to the Lord again and again and ask Him to make us willing to pray and to help us empty ourselves.

No one can help us be willing, and no one can empty us – we need to do this before the Lord.

We need to open to the Lord and, by His mercy, be willing to pray, and by His grace, be emptied, even be utterly emptied so that we may pray.

May we not hold on to past experiences but go on with the Lord to be freshly filled with Him.

In order for us to be continuously filled with the Spirit, we need to be those who are willing, empty, and praying (Phil. 2:13; Matt. 5:3, 8; Luke 1:53; Eph. 5:18).

When we are willing, emptied, and praying, the Lord will fill us with Himself.

Then, we will experience His wisdom, His understanding, and His knowledge coming to us like a tide.

We will have a clear feeling concerning where the saints are, what their situation is, and how to contact them.

The Lord’s leading will be with us when we have a continuous prayer life, for He in us knows how to supply the saints with Christ, and how to build the saints up with the redemption of Christ and with God’s judgment.

May we be those who are willing to pray, continually emptied so that we may be filled afresh with the Triune God, and praying unceasingly, even persevering in prayer, so that we may have an enriched and uplifted church life.

When we have a continuous prayer life and are made willing by the Lord, emptying ourselves so that He may fill us, we will have an inner ability to build up the saints in transformation and in the church life.

We will not only help the saints be built up in their character but also be built up as a dwelling place for God.

How much we need to be willing, be emptied, and continually pray!

Lord Jesus, we come to You concerning our prayer life. We want to be those who persevere in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving. Amen, Lord, we want to make a deal with You concerning our prayer life: make us men who pray, men who have a continuous prayer life! Make us willing, Lord, to have a prayer life day by day. Empty us from anything of ourselves. We do not rely on our past experiences – we want to gain more of Christ! Amen, Lord, we do not trust in ourselves, in our ability to take care of situations and solve problems. We depend on You. We reject ourselves. We reject and condemn anything that comes out of our natural man. We are willing, Lord, to learn to pray and to have a continuous prayer life. By Your mercy, we are willing. In Your grace, we are empty. We are open to You, dear Lord, with utter emptiness. We don’t want to hold on to anything of our past experiences. Fill us afresh. Fill us with the Triune God! We want to be fresh with You!

If we Persevere in Prayer, the Church Life is Uplifted and we have God’s Leading and Smile

We need to consider what are we doing first when we come together in the different meetings we have in the church life; do we first pray, or do we first do something else?

We need to have a proper prayer life for the proper church life, and when we come together, we need to continue to pray.

We are by default not in our mingled spirit, and by calling on the name of the Lord and having a continuous prayer life, we can be in spirit.

How can we build up the church as the Body of Christ? It is only Christ who knows how to build His church (Matt. 16:18); therefore, we need to be one with Christ in this.

The wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and skill for the noble work of building the church must be God Himself as the Spirit to us (Exo. 31:1-3; Zech. 4:6).

Only the Spirit of God can build His own dwelling place through us. Amen!

Only when we are filled with the Spirit and live in spirit can we build up the church.

We should not rely on our own understanding and experience; we need to depend on the Lord constantly by persevering in prayer.

We all have to admit that we lack in the matter of prayer.

We are short of prayer, so we are short of the Spirit.

When we come to the meetings of the church, many times we are not filled in spirit; rather, we come to the meetings to be filled in spirit. Oh, Lord.

We need to have a continuous prayer life and persevere in prayer so that the church life may be uplifted and enriched.

Not only the elders and those who serve full time should be filled in spirit but we all, as believers in Christ and pursuers of Christ, need to seek to be filled in spirit by persevering in prayer.

Because we are short of prayer, we are short of the Spirit.

However, when we are fully condemned in our prayer under the shining of the light of the Lord’s indwelling presence, we receive wisdom and the real understanding of the Lord concerning the situation, concerning people, and concerning the church.

First of all, we need to be willing, then we need to be emptied of ourselves and our past experiences, and finally, we need to persevere in prayer.

On one hand, we need to be willing; on the other hand, we cannot bring our natural man with his natural capacity into the Lord’s service.

Our natural knowledge, understanding, and capability cannot build up the church.

We need to be dealt with by the cross. Our flesh, our natural constitution, and our natural man need to be dealt with.

Then, as we allow the Lord to judge in us what does not match Him, we can have the real understanding of the Lord concerning the situation, concerning the saints, and concerning the church.

May we all exercise to learn to contact the Lord and have a continuous prayer life.

If all the saints in all the churches persevere in prayer, the church life among us will be greatly enriched and uplifted (Acts 6:4).

Even more, the saints will enjoy the Lord, His presence, and His instant and constant anointing.

When we all persevere in prayer in our daily living, we will enjoy the smile of the Lord’s face all day long, and the living person of Christ will become our experience and enjoyment.

May we be saved from just talking to one another, catching up on things, and speaking about all kinds of things, yet without prayer.

May we realize how short we are in the matter of prayer, and may we give ourselves to the Lord to persevere in prayer.

We all need to be normal Christians, those who have a life of prayer.

May we have a continuous prayer life in our daily life.

May the Lord save us from being abnormal Christians.

How important is our prayer life for our going on with the Lord, for being under His anointing, for the enriching of the church life, and for having the Lord’s leading among us today!

Lord Jesus, we confess our lack of prayer. We are so short in our prayer life. We want to persevere in prayer so that we may have a continuous prayer life. Oh Lord Jesus, keep us constantly in prayer before You. We want to remain in prayer before You so that our spirit may be released and we may speak from our spirit when we speak to others. Oh Lord, shine on us. Expose us. Expose our lack of prayer and judge in us what needs to be judged. May there be the shining of the Lord’s indwelling presence so that we may receive wisdom and the real understanding of the Lord concerning our situation, the saints around us, and the church. Lord Jesus, we pray for ourselves and for all the saints that we may persevere in prayer so that the church life may be greatly enriched and uplifted. May we all day long enjoy the smile of Your face! May the living person of Christ become our experience and enjoyment in the church life!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1983, vol. 1, “Practical Talks to the Elders,” ch. 7, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living and Serving According to God’s Economy Concerning the Church (2023 fall ITERO), week 4, entitled, A Proper Prayer Life for a Proper Church Life.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Be filled in spirit, a portion via, The Two Great Mysteries in God’s Economy, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee.
  – Eagerly Await New Jerusalem with Endurance, article via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Unceasingly praying, a portion from, Abiding in the Lord to Enjoy His Life, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee.
  – How to Build Up the Habit of Spending Time with the Lord Jesus in the Morning, article via, Bibles for America blog.
  – Prayer being the only way to practice the church life, a portion from, Basic Principles for the Practice of the Church Life, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee.
  – God’s Faithfulness and Our Perseverance in Prayer, via, Living to Him.
  – Prayer life, article via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – Persevering in prayer, a portion via, The Church in Miami.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Lord, in Thy presence silent I would be, / That in the inmost I to Thee may come; / I would not in my own way pray to Thee, / But let Thy prayer in me my prayer become. / It seems Thou art in heaven hearing me, / But right within my spirit Thou dost dwell; / It seems that I am praying unto Thee, / But really from Thyself the prayers do well. (Hymns #764 stanzas 1-2)
  – Pray to fellowship with Jesus, / List’ning earnestly to Him; / Be impressed with His intentions, / Yielding to Him from within. / Pray to fellowship with Jesus, / Bathing in His countenance; / Saturated with His beauty, / Radiate His excellence. (Hymns #784 stanzas 5-6)
  – Pray to labor with the Lord; / Self-ambition and self-will / We must ever cast away, / All His purpose to fulfill. / Pray to labor with the Lord; / Let the Lord initiate / All the plan and all the work; / Then thru us He’ll operate. (Hymns #786 stanzas 3-4)