The Lord wants to manifest His resurrection power in us, but He will wait until we are hopelessly weak, an utter failure, and completely dead, and then He comes in; when we draw near to Him, we need to let Him do what He wills in us, realizing that He will manifest Himself to us even though we may change – He never changes. Amen!
The book of John shows us some of the secrets in our contacting the Lord; when we contact the Lord in prayer, we should first ask Him what He wants us to do, instead of directing Him.
We may come to the Lord with a long list of things that we want Him to do, or we may have a lot of practical matters to bring before Him.
It is good to open to Him concerning all things and tell Him everything, but we do this not to tell Him what to do but rather, in all these things we inquire of Him.
To inquire of the Lord is not to ask Him for things or to do things; it is to ask Him what does He think concerning this, what does He want to do, and what does He want us to do.
The more we contact the Lord, the more He exposes our real situation and condition, and the more we realize how sinful and full of stains and problems we are.
Our spontaneous reaction to the Lord’s shining is that we confess our sins; we simply agree with the Lord’s faithful exposing light, and as we confess, He washes and cleanses us.
We may argue with the Lord’s light and disagree that this or that thing that He exposes is our fault or that it was wrong; however, the Lord’s light is faithfully exposing our sins, our stains, our problems, and our condition.
When we confess, when we agree with His light, He washes and cleanses us, and we drink of Him as the living water.
The reason He exposes is not to show us how bad we are and “put us down”; it is so that we agree with Him and confess, and then come forward to Him to enjoy Him.
We can wash our robes and come to eat of the tree of life; those who wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb have the right to the tree of life.
Amen, may we be those who look at the blood of Jesus and not at our sins; may we apply the blood, agree with the Lord’s light, and come forward to God to drink of Him as the living water.
As we draw near to the Lord to contact Him, we should seek the Lord Himself and not what He can give us; we come to enjoy the Lord and not merely to ask Him for material things.
We may have certain needs, we may go through difficult situations, and we may be constrained concerning material matters, but our focus should still be the Lord Himself in our prayer.
Human Opinions Frustrate the Lord’s Power – He can Manifest Himself as Resurrection Power only when We’re Hopelessly Weak and an Utter Failure
In John 11 we see an important principle of prayer in our contact with the Lord: our human opinion frustrate the Lord’s power. In this chapter, we have Lazarus who died, Mary and Martha who had a lot of opinions, and the disciples who also had opinions.
The only one who didn’t have an opinion was Lazarus, who died, and when he died, the Lord’s power could come in to bring in resurrection life.
Our human opinions frustrate the Lord’s power; He cannot operate or work until we’re hopelessly weak, even an utter failure.
When we’re completely dead and cannot do anything, the Lord can come in to manifest Himself in us and to us as resurrection power (John 11:3, 5-6, 17, 21, 25-26, 32-35, 38, 41-44; 2 Cor. 1:8-9).
We may be like Martha and Mary, having something to say to the Lord, giving Him our opinions, and even blaming Him for being so late in doing something or going somewhere; however, we need to be like Lazarus, realizing our hopeless weakness and utter failure so that the Lord can manifest His resurrection power.
The Lord is waiting in many of us, for we are not dead enough; we don’t fully realize that we’re utter failures, so He is frustrated from coming in to manifest Himself as resurrection power.
When we come to the Lord in prayer, we need to realize we have nothing to ask Him to do, we don’t know anything, and in ourselves, we’re utter failures and completely weak.
So when we draw near to Him, we should let go of our weaknesses and failures; He knows our weaknesses and failures, and He waits for us to acknowledge them.
He doesn’t want to merely “heal us”, that, is, to make us well or improve us; He wants to resurrect us, that is, to manifest His resurrection power in us and through us.
So He is waiting for us to come to the realization that we’re utterly hopeless and that our human opinions frustrate the Lord’s power. Then, He will manifest Himself as resurrection power.
Paul and his co-workers went through this experience and he testified in 2 Cor. 1:8-9 that they were excessively burdened, beyond their power, so that they despaired even of living.
They had the response of death in themselves that they should not base their confidence on themselves but on God, who raises the dead.
It was only when they got to this point that they based their confidence in God that He could manifest His resurrection power.
It was only when Abraham and Sarah realized it was humanly impossible for them to have a child that God could come in to bring forth Isaac.
May we learn to drop our human opinions, drop our problems, and drop our trust in ourselves when we pray, realizing we’re utter failures, so that the Lord may have a way to manifest His resurrection life.
When He manifests His resurrection power, all mouths are shut up, God gains the glory, and there is a sweet testimony and fragrance of resurrection life for all to see.
Lord Jesus, save us from uttering our human opinions in our prayer; save us from frustrating the Lord’s power. Give us the experiences we need to realize that we’re hopelessly weak, an utter failure, and even completely dead. Oh Lord, do come in as resurrection life and power to work and operate in us. We no longer want to frustrate You by our human opinions. We open to You, Lord, and we come to You as we are; we let go of our weaknesses and failures and just draw near to You. You know who we are and what we are; we drop all our problems and opinions and we let You manifest Yourself in us and to us as resurrection life. Amen, Lord, may there be a sweet fragrance of resurrection life being manifested in us!
When we Draw Near to the Lord, we need to let Him do what He Wills – Not My Will but Your Will be Done!
Real prayer is always based on the Lord’s will; when we draw near to the Lord, we need to let Him do what He wills in us (see John 13:6-9; Luke 1:37-38).
In John 13 the Lord humbled Himself and washed His disciples’ feet, but when He got to Peter, this one said, You shall by no means wash my feet forever.
When the Lord told him that, unless He washes Peter, he has no part with Him, then Peter said, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head (see John 13:6-9).
First, Peter didn’t want the Lord to wash his feet; then, he wanted the Lord to wash more than his feet.
Many times we are like this: first, we don’t want the Lord to do a particular thing in us, and then we tell Him to do that thing and even another thing.
We always have a thought of how He should do things in us and in others, and what is needed to be done in us or others.
Peter’s attitude was very different from that of Mary’s in Luke 1:37-38; when she heard from the angel that she will have a son, though she never knew a man, she said, Behold, the slave of the Lord, may it happen to me according to Your word. Wow!
May we have such a response to the Lord when He speaks to us and shows us what He wants to do in us; may we simply open to Him and allow Him to do what He wills in us.
On one hand, the Lord comes to us and exposes us of our sin, so we confess our sins; on the other hand, he wants us to see that we are qualified for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light and that we are made full in Him (Col. 1-2).
But we may say that we don’t feel in this way, we may be “humble” to say that we’re not really qualified; we should just receive His word and say Amen to it.
May we learn to say, Amen, Lord, may it be done in me and with me according to Your word.
He is the Author and Perfecter of our faith; He has begun a good work in us, and He will complete it until the day of Christ. We just need to say Amen to Him and do what He has spoken.
This is what the Lord Jesus also said in the garden of Gethsemane; when He prayed three times to the Father concerning the cup He gave Him to drink, He said, Not My will, but Your will be done (Matt. 26:39).
In small things and big things, as the Lord speaks to us His word and thus shows us that He wants to bring us in certain experiences, and that His hand will follow His word to do what He has spoken, we simply need to tell Him, Lord, may Your will be done in us. It’s not what we want but what He wants.
Actually, we don’t really know what we need; we think we need this or that experience, but the Lord really knows what we truly need.
We just need to say Amen to His will, having the response of allowing Him to do in us what He wants to do.
Lord Jesus, we draw near to You to contact You. May Your will be done in us. Amen, Lord, You are the Author and Perfecter of our faith. Complete in us what You have begun. Do in us what You have spoken to us. Amen, Lord, may it be done to us according to Your word. We simply open to You and we allow You to do in us what You desire to do. We love You, Lord, and we join ourselves to You in Your word. Do in us according to what You have spoken. May it be not our will but Your will in our life. We simply say Amen to Your will.
In Drawing Near to God we need to Realize that, Even though we may Fail and Change, He Never Changes – He still Manifests Himself to us!
When we enjoy the Lord and spend time with Him in a consistent way, we may think that our going on is based on our power and zeal in pursuing the Lord; however, it is the Lord’s drawing and keeping power that keeps us pursuing Him.
In drawing near to God we need to realize that, whether we pursue Him or not, whether we fail or change or remain in spirit, the Lord never changes – He still manifests Himself to us.
We see this principle in John 21:1-25 where Peter said, I’m going fishing; some other disciples also went fishing with him.
This can be compared to a brother saying, I’m going to the world and I’ll be involved with it, and other brothers saying, we are also coming with you.
In a sense, Peter took the lead to love the world and be involved with it, and some of the brothers went with him.
But did the Lord leave them? No, He appeared to them and served them breakfast, and He recovered Peter’s love toward Him.
The Lord manifested Himself to them and did not reproach or rebuke them; He was not disappointed in them but simply wanted them to continue to follow Him and to serve Him.
Even when we are cold and indifferent toward the Lord or have fallen into the world, He will still manifest Himself to us; we may fail and change, but the Lord never fails or changes.
In Isa. 49:15 He said, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, / That she would not have compassion on the son of her womb? / Even though they may forget, / Yet I will not forget you.”
It is impossible for a mother to forget her baby, but even if she does, the Lord will never forget us; He loves us and cares for us so much, even more than a nursing mother loves her child.
He has engraved us on the palms of His hands (v. 16), and we are like the pupil of His eye.
The Lord loves us with an eternal love, and He has drawn us with lovingkindness (Jer. 31:3).
We may forsake Him and leave Him, and we may not pursue to know Him or contact Him, but He still manifests Himself to us.
No matter how we change, the Lord never changes. We may contact the Lord every day for a month, but then forget about Him for a week or a whole month; still, He comes to us to be enjoyed by us.
Our pursuing the Lord and contacting Him is not up to us; it is not of us that we love Him, read His Word, and contact Him again and again.
It is all of Him; it is all of His drawing and attracting power. He loves us, He never fails nor changes, and He manifests Himself to us.
May we put our trust in Him and in His drawing power; may we not trust in ourselves but in the Lord who began this good work and will also finish it.
Lord Jesus, we acknowledge that, in contacting You, we are a failure. We fail and we change, for many times we forget to contact You. Oh Lord, we do not trust in ourselves but in You. You never change nor fail. Continue to appear to us and manifest Yourself to us. Draw us, Lord, and we will run after You. Continue to attract us with Your lovingkindness. Amen Lord, we trust in Your eternal love. We do not trust in our pursuing power or in our zeal to seek You. Recover our love for You. Infuse us with Yourself much more, dear Lord! Complete in us what You have begun!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by Mark Raabe and Ricky Acosta on this topic, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1956, vol. 3, “The Meaning and Purpose of Prayer,” pp. 260-262, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Meeting God’s Need and Present needs in the Lord’s Recovery, week 4, entitled, Prayer to Absorb God and to Express God by Praying to God as a Friend So That We Can Co-work with God.
- Hymns on this topic:
– 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)
– My stubborn will at last hath yielded; / I would be Thine, and Thine alone, / And this the prayer my lips are bringing, / “Lord, let in me Thy will be done.” / Sweet will of God, still fold me closer, / Till I am wholly lost in Thee; / Sweet will of God, still fold me closer, / Till I am wholly lost in Thee. (Hymns #383)
– God, we praise Thee for Thy mercy, / ’Tis so great and so profound! / In our weakness and our failures; / With its greatness it abounds. / We adore Thee! we adore Thee! / With such mercy we’ve been crowned! (Hymns #26)
About aGodMan
