We need to First of All Pray and have a Proper Prayer Life in the Church Life Today

A prerequisite for having a proper church life today is to have a prayer life, for a proper church is a praying church; we all need to be prayerful, stand against the sin of prayerlessness, and first of all pray. Amen!

This week in our morning revival we come to the topic of, A Proper Prayer Life for a Proper Church Life.

In the context of living and serving according to God’s economy concerning the church, we need to realize that we need to have a proper prayer life for a proper church life.

Not only the elders, the serving saints, the deacons, and those who give teaching in the church life need to pray; we all need to pray.

In order for us to live Christ and serve the Lord according to God’s economy concerning the church, we must first of all pray.

We cannot live without prayer, for prayer is our lifeline, our way to remain in contact with the Lord and receive His divine dispensing constantly.

In order for us to accomplish God’s economy by our living and serving according to the heavenly vision, we need to live a life of prayer.

The Lord Jesus, the first God-man, is our pattern in this matter; He did not just do things, speak things, make miracles, and work something great.

First of all, He prayed. He often retreated to a deserted place alone, privately, to personally pray to the Father.

He was the first God-man, He was the very God Himself becoming a man, and He needed to pray; how much more do we need to pray!

May the Lord save us from the sin of presumptuousness; may we be saved from being presumptuous to do and say things without first praying.

As believers in Christ, we need to depend on the Lord in all things.

How can we depend on the Lord? How can we serve in spirit, always relying on the Lord and not on our own understanding, strength, and knowledge?

It is only by having a life of prayer, by first of all praying.

We want to have a kind of prayer life that enables us to live and serve in the church life according to the economy of God concerning the church.

We all need to learn to pray and even to have a prayer life. We have prayer meetings in the church life, and we pray with different saints concerning practical matters and the things we need to have to take care of.

But what about our prayer life? Do we have a prayer life, a life of prayer, even a proper life of prayer for us to have a proper church life?

We need to come to the Lord again and again concerning all things, and first of all pray.

We need to First of All Pray and have a Proper Prayer Life in the Church Life

1 Tim. 2:1-3 is a wonderful portion in the word of God exhorting us to first of all pray.

First of all, we need to make petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving on behalf of all men.

We need to pray for kings and all who are in high position, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all godliness and gravity, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of our Savior God.

We need to first of all pray. We all have to admit that prayer is usually the second or third thing we do; but first of all, we need to pray.

We may serve and do many things in the church life, or we may just be very busy with our family life and family affairs, but we need to be reminded to first of all pray.

What is first for us? Is it prayer? There may be some needs to be taken care of, there may be this or that situation, and there may be some things that need to be urgently taken care of; first of all, we need to pray.

After passing through the pandemic for almost three years in which we did not get out of the house or meet with others in person too much, did we learn the lesson to first of all pray?

We need to first of all pray and have a proper prayer life in the church life.

Whether it is in serving the Lord or in our daily living, taking care of the daily activities, we need to be recovered to having a proper prayer life.

We need to be praying saints, those who first of all pray.

How can the final revival, the greatest revival, be brought about? It is only through prayer.

We all have to admit that we may do many things for the Lord and in the church life, but we lack in prayer.

We lack in having a proper prayer life.

We may pray with our spouse, with our vital companions, and with the saints that we coordinate with, but do we have a proper prayer life? Do we first of all pray?

We have heard of the Moravian brothers who have been praying for one hundred years, having an unceasing prayer for one century. This is wonderful.

What about us? Do we have a proper prayer life? Prayer must become our very existence, our very living, and first of all, before all things, we need to pray.

We need to continue steadfastly in prayer. Prayer is not an activity that we perform; prayer is a ministry, it is our very life and living.

Prayer is not just to come near to the Lord and have some enjoyment of Him; prayer must be a ministry that carries out the Lord’s economy.

We need to check with ourselves again and again, how much time do we spend in prayer before the Lord? How much do we pray day by day?

Prayer is even more important than the ministry of the word or working for the Lord; prayer is our most important business.

After Paul spoke of God’s economy and after charging Timothy to war the good warfare for God’s economy (1 Tim. 1:3-4, 18), he indicates that a prayer ministry is a prerequisite for the administrating and shepherding of a local church (2:1-3, 8).

We need to first of all pray, and also give thanks. In all situations, we need to thank the Lord.

He may answer our prayer or nothing may happen, we still need to pray and thank the Lord.

In all our service, in all our living, and in everything we do, we need to begin with prayer, carry it out through prayer, and end it with prayer.

Prayer is our living, and prayer is our ministry. A prerequisite for us to have a proper church life in the Lord’s recovery today is to have a prayer life, for a proper church is a praying church.

May we all be prayerful persons, standing against the sin of prayerlessness (1 Sam. 12:23).

Many times we may be eager to do something or go somewhere “for the Lord” but without first praying to consult Him. Oh, Lord.

We may ask for the Lord’s blessing on what we do and where we go, but do we first pray and check with Him whether to go or speak or do something?

Prayer seems to be our weakness; if we check with our prayer meetings, the attendance is quite low, and we may not emphasize prayer that much.

We all need to stand against the sin of prayerlessness. Not praying is a sin.

Not praying continually to contact the Lord and bring everything to Him in prayer is a sin.

We may be prayerless, but there may not be any conviction that it is a sin. May we come to the Lord again and again and ask Him,

Lord Jesus, we want to first of all pray. Make us prayerful persons, those who have a proper prayer life for a proper church life. Save us from first doing things or speaking things, and then praying. May we, first of all, pray, contact You and absorb You and check with You. Dear Lord Jesus, we love You! We want to recover our prayer life so that we may have a proper prayer life and be prayerful persons. We stand against the sin of prayerlessness. We want to stop our doing and speaking and first of all pray. May we pray with petitions, intercessions, and thanksgiving on behalf of all men. May we pray for the saints, for the churches, for Your interest on earth, and for all men to be saved. May we be those who pray for those who are in authority that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all godliness and gravity. Amen, Lord, may we realize that prayer is our ministry, our work!

Take the Lead to First of all Pray and then Do and Speak things One with the Lord

When we hear some news concerning a particular saint, we need to first of all pray.

We may hear something concerning a church or some saints, and we may want to know more and dig a bit deeper; instead of doing this, we must first of all pray.

We shouldn’t discuss the situation, gossip about it, or criticize; rather, we must first of all pray.

The elders in the church must take up Paul’s charge to “first of all” pray (1 Tim. 2:1)

. Those who take the lead in the churches must have a prayer life.

Not only them, but we all as saints in the church life must exercise ourselves to have a prayer life so that the church may be living and uplifted.

Oftentimes, however, we forget about prayer; we may do things, we may speak things, or we may just gossip, but we don’t pray.

This is why the church is not that living and vitalized.

This is why we do not have any fruit in our work for the Lord; though we may labor much, we may not have much fruit.

Instead of talking so much and even instead of working so much, we should pray more.

Only after we have prayed for a matter thoroughly should we make a decision concerning it, and our decision should not be by ourselves independently but in oneness with the Lord and according to his leading.

We need to take the lead to first of all pray and then do and speak things one with the Lord, following His leading.

We may see a saint who is backsliding and does not attend the meetings of the church; instead of talking about him to others or criticizing him, we should first of all pray.

We don’t have to go visit him right away; first, we need to pray, and pray thoroughly to be one with the Lord.

Then, the Lord may lead us to visit him, or He may not lead us to do this; we should do all things in oneness with the Lord, first of all praying.

We shouldn’t do things presumptuously, thinking that we have the right motive, we do a good thing by visiting a backsliding saint, and we want to see how is he doing.

It may be possible that even in visiting the saints, we may be presumptuous.

But if through our prayer and fellowship with the Lord, He is leading us to visit a certain one, that visitation will be effective (Eph. 6:18; Phil. 4:6).

We may hear of problems among the saints, and we may want to help sort out the problems; we should not presume we’re experienced and qualified to do this.

When we learn of problems among family members or saints, we should bring this matter to the Lord in prayer.

Even in the smallest matters in our daily living, we need to first of all pray and depend on the Lord.

We should not be “doing Christians” but “praying Christians”.

We should not be those who first go do this or speak that or help here and there; first of all, we need to pray.

And our prayers shouldn’t be light or superficial; we need to have thorough prayers.

We need to pray over matters in a thorough way, being before the Lord and in His word concerning all things.

Then, when we make a decision, we should not be independent of the Lord but rather remain in oneness with the Lord to do things one with Him.

The elders need to do this and we all need to do this; all the saints need to first of all pray, and then do things in oneness with the Lord, following His leading.

May we be saved from the sin of prayerlessness, and may we be saved from being presumptuous, thinking we know how to deal with this situation and solve that problem, according to our experience.

May we depend on the Lord through much and thorough prayer day by day so that all our decisions, words, and actions would be in oneness with the Lord.

Lord Jesus, save us from talking so much and working so much; may we pray much more, and may we first of all pray! Oh Lord, may we not be presumptuous in doing things and saying things, thinking we know what to do and say. Keep us depending on You through much and thorough prayer. Save us from making decisions without praying. May we first of all pray, and may we pray in a thorough way before You until we have Your clear leading. May we do and say all things in oneness with You after much and thorough prayer so that we may do everything one with You. Oh Lord Jesus, may the church life in our locality be uplifted and proper by all the saints having a proper prayer life! Keep us one spirit with You in all things. We want to depend on You and not rely on our own experience and understanding. We need You, Lord, we trust in You, and we pray desperately to be one with You in all things!

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, Life-study of 1 Timothy, msgs. 3-4 (by Witness Lee), 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:
  – Praying with living faith to command the Lord, a portion from, Preaching the Gospel in the Way of Life, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
  – Quotes on, Prayer Meetings of the Local Church, via, Local Church meetings.
  – Prayer, a portion from, The Kingdom, Chapter 34, by Witness Lee.
  – 20 verses to pray – 20 things to always pray about, via, Conversant Faith.
  – A life of service and prayer, article via, Affirmation and Critique.
  – 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.
  – Prayer life, article via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – The Crucial Role of the Sisters in the Church Life, via, Shepherding Words.
  – God’s Faithfulness and Our Perseverance in Prayer, article via, Living to Him.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Pray to labor with the Lord, / Pray to pave the way for Him; / Pray to move Him and be moved / From the center to the rim. / Pray to labor with the Lord, / Be identified with Him / In His purpose and His aim / Till His blessing floodeth in. (Hymns #786 stanzas 1-2)
  – Pray to fellowship with Jesus, / In the spirit seek His face; / Ask and listen in His presence, / Waiting in the secret place. / Pray to fellowship with Jesus, / Fully opened from within, / With thy face unveiled, beholding, / Single, pure, and genuine. (Hymns #784 stanza 2 and chorus)
  – To the holiest place I’d come, / There within the veil to be; / There to touch the throne of grace, / Let life’s water flow thru me. / Now the holiest place of all / Right within my spirit is; / Here the Lord in me abides, / And my spirit joins with His. (Hymns #769 stanzas 1-2)