The prayer of the age is not the prayer of individual believers (no matter how spiritual they are) but it is the prayer of the church as the Body of Christ, a prayer in which we bind and loose on earth what has been bound and loosed in the heavens.
We need to live, act, and move in the Body so that we may exercise the authority of the Head to bind and loose what has already been bound and loosed in the heavens. Amen!
The Lord has a heart’s desire, an economy, and He wants to accomplish something according to His economy in every age.
If we are not one with the Lord and do not live in the Body, we may miss what the Lord intends to do in this age.
Many people of God might have read the Scriptures and prayed at the time of Daniel, but only he was the one who was one with God in his time to pray the prayer of the age and change that age.
In the same way today, there are millions and millions of genuine believers in Christ on earth, but who knows what is in God’s heart, what He intends to do, and what He is doing right now?
Who is one with God today to pray the prayer of the age, the prayer of authority, for God to move His hand, carry out what is in His heart, and end this age?
On His side, Christ has accomplished everything and has attained to the highest height; He died, was raised, and was ascended to the highest heaven, and He is enthroned over all things.
Hallelujah, Christ has been exalted by God, He was established as the Lord of the universe, and He was made Head over all things to the church!
Now we as the church are the Body of Christ, and individually members one of another; we are the church, the Body of the ascended Head, and by virtue of being joined to Him and being headed up in Him, we share in all that He is and all that He has done.
We need to lift up our eyes from what seems to be our pitiful condition and the degradation in the church today, and see the Lord Jesus, the ascended Head; seeing what He has done, what He has accomplished, and what He has attained and obtained, will bring us to be one with Him!
Our ascended Head, the One who is Lord over all and Head over all things to the church, this One is joined to us, and we are joined to Him as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17).
When we exercise our spirit and live in the Body when we’re in the spirit and in the church, we share in what He has accomplished and attained, and we have His authority to deal with the enemy and cause His economy to be carried out.
The church today has a very big responsibility: the ministry of the church is mainly to pray for the carrying out of God’s heart’s desire, His economy, so that He may accomplish what He intends to accomplish, and He would end this age to bring in the age of the kingdom.
We as the Body of Christ have been given His authority, and we can exercise the authority of the Head; in ourselves, we have no position or authority, but in Christ and in the Body we are enthroned with Christ, and we are one with Him to carry out His economy, mainly through our prayer.
The Prayer of the Age is the Prayer of the Church as the Body of Christ on the Ground of Ascension
The prayer of the age is not the prayer of individual believers; we may think we are very spiritual, or we may be quite inspired and stirred up, so we think we have the ground to pray “big prayers”, but this is not the prayer of the age that the Lord is looking for.
The prayer of the age is the prayer of the church as the Body of Christ (Acts 12:5; Rev. 8:3).
For this to be our experience, we need to be vitally grouped with others so that we may actually enter into the prayer in the Body.
In this kind of prayer, we don’t beg the Lord to do this or that for us; we don’t merely react to a particularly negative situation and beg God to do something about it, but we pray one with Him.
We pray the prayer of the age by claiming what the Lord has obtained and attained; we realize that He is seated at God’s right hand in the heavenlies, far above all rule, authority, power, lordship, and every name that is named in this age and that which is to come (Eph. 1:20-21).
And our prayer is not according to what we perceive to be our condition or the situation in front of us – our prayer is according to what the Lord is and has attained, and we pray according to what He has obtained in His ascension!
In this way, we take the ground of His ascension and we claim His lordship over the present situation of the world (Eph. 2:6).
If there ever was a time to practice this kind of prayer it is right now; just look at the lawlessness in the world, the chaos in society, the turmoil, the rebellion, and the bloodshed.
How should we pray in the midst of all these things? It is not by praying for this person or that situation directly, but by taking the ground of Christ’s ascension and claiming His lordship over the present situation in the world.
We shouldn’t think that there is a social solution to this problem – don’t waste your time on that; there’s no social or legislative solution, for if there was one, it would have been found and implemented a long time ago.
There’s no protest that can solve the problems in society today.
The problems in the world today will be solved by the second coming of Christ, which will be brought in by those who pray the prayer of the age! Amen!
In His first coming, the Lord didn’t deal with social problems such as slavery, inequality, social injustice, etc, but in His second coming He will deal with every one of these problems. This is a good gospel to preach today.
People know, instinctively, that rioting will not solve anything; they know it is an expression of man’s frustration, and they know that politicians can’t solve their problems.
But praise the Lord, the second coming of Christ will solve all the problems, and when we pray the prayer of the age, we hasten the Lord’s return!
We must pray by taking the ground of Christ’s ascension and standing in the Body of Christ, and claim the Lord’s authority over the situation.
Realizing we are the Body of the ascended Head, the One who is on the throne and who is Head over all things to the church, we claim what He has accomplished, we stand with what He desires to carry out, and we release His will on the earth.
We simply cannot agree with certain situations taking place right now in the world, and we are not satisfied with the present condition, situation, and state of His people. So we put aside and forget all our personal problems and we declare,
Hallelujah, we are members of the Body, the Body is in the Head, and Christ is the Head over all things to the church! Amen, Lord, we take the ground of ascension and we stand in the Body of Christ to pray the prayer of the age for You to do what You want to do on earth today. We don’t pray for a solution to the problems on earth today – we simply pray one with You for Your will to be done and for Your kingdom to come. We do not agree with our present condition and the present situation among Your believers today. We do not agree with the lawlessness in society today and with all the social and racial problems and injustice. Lord, come soon! End this age, dear Lord, and come to solve all these problems once and for all!
Living in the Body and being One with the Head to Exercise Christ’s Authority to Bind and Loose
In Matt. 16:19 we see that Christ, the Head over all things, the Lord of all, has given the members of His Body the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatever we bind on earth shall have been bound in the heavens, and whatever we loose on the earth shall have been loosed in the heavens.
To many Bible readers, this statement is quite puzzling, for this involves that we must know what has been bound in the heavens and what has been loosed in the heavens, and therefore we do the same on earth.
This is indeed mysterious, but if we contact the Lord, stand on the ground of ascension, and live in the Body, we become saturated with the Lord and one with the Body, and we can feel the way He feels, think what He thinks, and will what He wills.
In this organic union with the Lord and with the Body, we know what has been bound and loosed in heavens, so we can do the same on earth by our prayer.
Because we as the Body are one with the Head in the heavens, we as the Body have the authority to bind and loose on earth what has already been bound or loosed in the heavens (Matt. 16:19; 18:18).
And this verse doesn’t say that we ask God to bind and loose, but that we are so one with Him that we do it, for we pray the prayer of the age and we are one with the Lord and with the Body. Amen!
The church is built on the ascended Christ, the rock, and the gates of Hades cannot prevail against the church (Matt. 16:18).
We have the ground over Hades, so we must learn to pray by exercising the authority that has been assigned to the Body by the Head.
We must realize that we are members of the Body, and we must put off the old man and put on the new man (Eph. 4:24) every day.
The new man is composed of the Head with the Body – Christ and the church (Eph. 2:15-16).
On the negative side, we need to put off the old man with his old way of living, and on the positive side, we need to put on the new man.
As we live in the Body and put on the new man, we will be able to exercise the authority given to the Body by the Head.
May we advance in our experience of life and in our prayer so that we may pray the prayer of the age and enter the reality of the Body.
This matter of the prayer of the age has been neglected for the past two thousand years, and the Lord has been greatly frustrated from doing what He desires to do.
These last days the Lord wants to recover the prayer of the age by our seeing the vision of the ascended Christ and learning to pray the prayer of authority.
This is the highest peak, which the Lord is recovering these days; we must realize the facts, take the ground, and claim what Christ as our Head has attained and obtained.
When we realize that Christ is in ascension as the Lord of all and the Head over all things to the church and that we as the church are His Body, organically one with Him, we will utter the prayer which He is uttering in the heavens, and we cooperate with Him as we pray the prayer of the age.
Amen, may we fully enter into this kind of prayer and be able to exercise the authority given by the Head to the Body by realizing that we’re members of the Body and by living, acting, and moving in the Body, in oneness with the Head!
Lord Jesus, we come to You to enjoy You, breathe You in, absorb You, and be saturated with You. You are our Head and You are our life; we are one with You organically. Amen, Lord, we agree with what You desire to do and gain in this age. We are one with You and we live, act, and move in the Body, as members of the Body. Amen, Lord, we stand in the Body and in oneness with You, and we exercise Your authority to bind on earth what has been bound in the heavens, and loose on the earth what has been loosed in the heavens! May we as the church advance in our prayer and pray the prayer of the age to move Your hand to do what You desire to do in an unhindered way! Lord, gain the prevailing prayer of the church, the prayer of authority!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Mark Raabe for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1963, vol. 1, “The Prayer of the Age“, pp. 164-165, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Christian Life, the Church Life, the Consummation of the Age, and the Coming of the Lord (2020 fall ITERO), week 5, The Prayer of the Age Offered to God through the Church as the Body of Christ as a House of Prayer.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Fight the battle in the Body! / By the virtue of the Head; / Standing firmly with the Body, / Into vict’ry you’ll be led. / For the Body is God’s armor, / Not for anyone alone; / When you wrestle in the Body, / All its benefits you own. (Hymns #885)
– On Thyself the Church is builded, / And though many storms assail, / Still it stands erect, for ‘gainst it / Gates of hell cannot prevail. / Thine authority possessing, / It doth bind and loose in Thee, / Bringing men into Thy kingdom, / Satan’s captives setting free. (Hymns #834)
– Pray with one accord in spirit, / Pray and watch persistently; / For God’s kingdom and His glory, / Pray and watch in harmony. / Pray with one accord in spirit / Seeking God in unity; / In the Spirit of the Body / Ever pray in harmony. (Hymns #779)
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