If we see that Christ, the Head of the Body, has ascended and was exalted by God to the highest point in the universe, being given the name above every name and being made Lord of all, our prayer to the Lord will change.
All believers in Christ need to have the clear realization that Christ, the One who saved us, lives in us, and constantly works Himself into us is the ascended One, the One who is now on the throne of God in the heavens to execute God’s administration and carry out God’s economy.
As the Body of Christ, we are intimately joined to Him and one with Him, and all that He has attained to and obtained is also ours; actually, Christ executes God’s administration and carries out God’s economy through the prayer of the church.
If the church prays in one accord with the ascended Christ, the Lord can move, administrate, and carry out God’s economy; but if the church prays low prayers or even selfish prayers, the Lord is limited in what He can do on earth.
The Lord today works in the principle of incarnation: the ascended Christ as the Head of the Body waits for the members of His Body on earth to be in one accord with God’s will and release the will of God on earth through their prayer.
The prayer of the church as the Body of Christ is the prayer that exercises Christ’s authority as the ascended Lord and Head of the Body for the fulfilling of God’s economy (see Eph. 1:10; Matt. 6:9-13). The Lord Himself taught us to pray, and the principle is: may God’s name be sanctified, His kingdom come, and His will be done, as in the heaven so also on earth. God’s will and His heart’s desire is for Christ to have a glorious church as His counterpart; the goal of our prayer as the church should be the obtaining of a glorious church for Christ to have a Bride for His satisfaction (Eph. 5:27).
May the Lord gain a people on earth who cooperate with Him as the ascended One to pray in correspondence with Him for His will to be done on earth and for His kingdom to spread on the earth. May we be the ones who see our Christ in ascension and pray the prayer that exercises the authority of Christ for the fulfilling of God’s economy!
Christ Carries out God’s Economy through the Prayer of the Church
Even though in Himself and by Himself God can do many things, He chose to be limited by man’s cooperation when it comes to the carrying out of God’s economy on earth. The ascended Head in the heavens has been given all authority in the whole universe, and He has been enthroned to rule over all; this One is joined as one with His Body on earth, and He needs the Body to cooperate with Him for the carrying out of His economy.
Too much of our prayer is still in a begging way because we fail to see that we are members of the Body identified with the Christ who is enthroned above. Christ is the Lord of all, and we have every right and all authority to bind and lose, command and proclaim, and release God’s economy on the earth!
We need to realize that our ascended Head, Christ, needs our full cooperation as the Body of Christ through prayer so that He may carry out His economy. We need to rise above ourselves, above the earth, above our condition, and above our feelings, and be in the realm of faith in the sphere of the heavens, where we are in the position of being identified with Him. Here, in ascension one with Christ, we need to pray!
To pray means that we realize that in ourselves, by ourselves, and with ourselves we are nothing and we can do nothing; but we want to do everything in God, with God, and through God. When we stop all we are doing and pray, both individually and corporately, we admit that we need God, and we want to do everything in God and with God.
We need to pray ourselves into God and pray God into us so that we and God, God and us, may be mingled together; then, whatever we do will be an issue of our union with the Lord and will carry out His economy on earth. We need to pray ourselves into God and pray God into us. We should not be focused on our “work for God” but learn to STOP and just pray to be filled with God and be in God.
The best cooperation we can give God is when we stop and pray ourselves into God and pray God into us. This is what the apostles did in the book of Acts: before they did anything, they prayed themselves into God and prayed God into them! If you carefully read Acts 1:14; 2:1-4; 4:24-31; 6:4; 10:9-16; 12:4-14; 13:1-4; 16:23-26; 22:17-21 you will see that the apostles’ work was done in a full dependence on God as indicated by their prayer; they prayed themselves into God, and they prayed God into them; the result was that God was with them, they were one with God, and God’s economy was being carried out in their work and living.
Our whole Christian life needs to be filled with prayer: personal prayer, corporate prayer, vital group prayer, general prayer, specific prayer, all kinds of prayer. The local churches as the local expressions of the Body of Christ need to be a house of prayer; the throne of God is in the church, and Christ is executing and administrating not only in the heavens but also in our spirit, even in the corporate spirit of the Body.
We need to exercise our spirit, touch the spirit in the Body, and give the Lord the cooperation He needs in order for Him to carry out God’s economy and administrate the universe through the church.
Lord Jesus, we realize that by ourselves, with ourselves, and in ourselves we are nothing; we stop all that we’re doing and we want to touch You through prayer so that we may be one with You and do all things in God, with God, and through God. Lord, we admit that we don’t have that much God in us and we are not that much in God, but we want to pray ourselves into God and pray God into us. Oh Lord Jesus, our ascended Head, we are one with You on earth to pray the prayers You need in order to administrate the universe and carry out God’s economy on earth! Lord, may Your kingdom come and Your will be done!
Cooperating with our Ascended Head to Pray in Oneness with Him for His Glorious Church
What the Lord desires to obtain today is a glorious church that He may present to Himself spotless, without any blemish, and He would marry and live together for eternity (see Eph. 5). The central goal of our prayer as members of the Body should be that God would gain a glorious church.
Before the Lord went to the cross He revealed His heart’s desire that His disciples would be one and be glorified to be His glorious church, His bride (John 17). The apostle Paul also prayed for this (Eph. 3:16-19), and we should have this as the central goal of our prayer. We cooperate with the Lord’s heavenly ministry to carry out His economy by prayer, and this prayer needs to have the glorious church as its central goal.
For example, when we pray for our neighbors or workmates to be saved we need to realize: God wants to save them and we want them to be regenerated so that they may be brought into an unspeakably wonderful union with the glorious Christ and be part of the glorious church.
When we pray for one another with our problems and needs we need to realize that our very existence on earth is for God to obtain a glorious church, and we are in the process of renewing, transformation, conformation, and glorification for the glorious church to come into being. We need to be those on earth who correspond to Christ’s heavenly ministry by cooperating with Him in our prayers.
Christ executes God’s administration and carries out God’s economy through our correspondence to the move of the ascended Christ by doing a work of life – a move in life for the spread of the gospel (Acts 8:26-29; 9:10-11; 10:1-3, 9-22). The Lord doesn’t merely want a “great Christian work” – He wants to do a work in life; in His heavenly ministry He is propagating Himself to work Himself into man to establish the churches for the building up of the Body of Christ and the bringing in of the kingdom of God.
We need to see this and cooperate with the Lord by looking away unto Jesus, the ascended Head of the Body, and realizing that He was inaugurated, exalted, and enthroned in the heavenlies by God, and we as the members of His Body on earth are ONE with Him, sharing in His authority and enthronement!
As members of the Body, we can cooperate with our ascended Head to pray in oneness with Him for His glorious church to come into being and God’s economy to be carried out. May we have a work in life and be persons of prayer, intimately connected to other members of the Body in the church life to pray on earth the prayers that correspond with the Lord’s heavenly ministry so that He may carry out His economy and gain a glorious church!
Lord Jesus, we want to cooperate with You, our ascended Head, by praying in oneness with You for the glorious church to come into being. Lord, may the central goal of all our prayers be the gaining of the glorious church You are after on earth today. Oh Lord, we open to You that we may be those on earth who correspond to Your heavenly ministry by praying in oneness with You for Your economy to be carried out on earth. We look away from anything and anyone unto Jesus, set our whole being on the inaugurated, exalted, and enthroned One, and we share in Your authority and enthronement to pray the prayers You need to release Your economy and build up Your Body for this age to consummate and the kingdom age to come in!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Minoru Chen’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, The Heavenly Ministry of Christ, chs. 1-2, 10 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on,The Vision and Experience of Christ in His Resurrection and Ascension, week 4 / msg 4, The Vision and Experience of Christ in His Ascension (1) – Christ Inaugurated, Exalted, and Enthroned to Execute God’s Universal Administration and to Carry Out God’s New Testament Economy through His Body.
- All verses are taken from, Recovery Version Bible.
- Hymns to strengthen this matter:
# 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. / Make us those who’re one with You in prayer, / Echoing the things for which You care. / Lord, do make us one so that Your heart’s desire we share; / In this age, Lord gain Your men of prayer. (Song on Cooperating by Prayer)
# Praying always in the spirit, / Never by our human thought! / Fellowship with God the Spirit / Only thus to us is brought. / Praying always in the spirit, / Thus expressing God’s desire; / Staying with the Lord in spirit, / We’ll be wholly set afire. (Hymns #780)
# God needs men who pray; / Those who lay the tracks for Him; / God’s economy is carried out through men of prayer. / They love not themselves; / But a willing sacrifice. / What they fear—offending God, losing His presence dear. (Song on Praying one with God)
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