God’s intention is to accomplish His will through our prayer in union with Him; we work together with God through prayer, and when we’re one with the Lord, His will becomes our will, and we pray out God’s will, what is in His heart.
The way that the church brings in the will of the heaven on earth is through prayer; prayer is not as common or insignificant as some may think, for through prayer the church agrees with God’s will and executes His will on earth.
Through prayer the church says, God, we want Your will to be done on earth as it in the heaven!
So before we pray we need to be one with the Lord, know God’s heart and His will, and pray in the organic union with Him, and He will have a way to pray in us and utter His will through us.
It is quite amazing to realize that the almighty God, who can do anything He wants and who creates things just by His speaking, has limited Himself to man’s cooperation.
In this age God is very much limited or released by the cooperation of His people, by their prayer of His will.
The first step in carrying out the will of God is uttering His will through our prayer; when this happens, God has the ground to do on earth what He wants to do.
However, too many of our prayers are for our own needs, for our problems, for our family, and for our situations; such prayers are definitely needed, but God is looking for some who pray according to His will, even who pray His will back to Him.
The prayers that originate from the self are useless prayers; the prayers that originate from God and uttered through the church are meaningful prayers, prayers that will get an answer from the Lord.
God conveys His will to us through the Holy Spirit, and in spirit we detect and apprehend what the will of God is; then, we return the same thought to Him through our prayer.
In this way we touch God’s heart and His will, and He can carry out on earth what He wants to carry out.
The prayers that are after the heart of God are those who have God’s will as the starting point; He wants to gain man to cooperate with Him in prayer, even desperate and persevering prayers, so that His will may be done on earth and His kingdom would come on the earth.
God’s People must Pray out God’s Will before He can Move on earth to Accomplish His Will
God intends to accomplish His will on earth, and He does it through the believers’ prayer in union with Him (John 15:7).
How powerful the prayer of the church is when we pray out God’s will for Him to have a way to move on earth to accomplish it!
If we can learn to pray properly, our prayer – which is the prayer of the church – actually accomplishes god’s will, working together with God to carry it out.
Such a prayer is not merely our prayer; it is the prayer of God and man, man and God, praying together. It is our prayer, but it is also His prayer; it is us praying together, us working together with God.
Such a prayer is not initiated by us but rather, God reveals His will to us, we echo it in prayer to Him, and He prays in us and with us, for we are in an organic union with Him.
Before God can move on earth to accomplish His will, we as God’s people us pray out God’s will to Him.
There has to be a move on earth before there’s a move in heaven.
God is in heaven with His eternal will, wanting to accomplish many things – even more than we can possibly imagine on earth; however, nothing can move until there’s a move on the earth.
Once there’s a move on earth, once we on earth pray out God’s will, there can be a move in the heaven.
The prayer that is most pleasing to God is the prayer that asks for the accomplishment of God’s will.
Our God is great and also very gracious; there are many kinds of prayer that are being prayed even right now, and many of them have nothing to do with the accomplishment of His will, yet God still answers them.
But such prayers are not the most pleasing to Him.
It is like the parents with the children: the parents may allow the children to do or have something, but they may not be pleased with it; however, if the children would ask for something that the parent already wants to do, the parent would happily do it.
God wants us to work with Him to accomplish His will; the way to work together with God is to pray (Luke 11:1; 18:1; 1 Thes. 5:17).
The main way to cooperate with God for the accomplishment of His will is not to do this or that, to preach or to teach, but to pray out God’s will so that He may carry it out on earth.
When we think of working together with God we usually think of activities like preaching the gospel, teaching the truth, shepherding people, prophesying, etc – and all of these we need to do, but actually for us to work together with God is for us to pray.
This is why the prayer ministry of the church and the prayer meeting of the church is so crucial, for it is then that we actually work together with God.
Even in times like these in the lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, may we not forsake our assembly together to pray.
May we continue to pray together with the saints in oneness for the carrying out of God’s will, so that we may work together with God!
Lord Jesus, we love You! We join ourselves to You in prayer according to Your word, so that we may pray one with You for the accomplishment of Your will. Thank You Lord for making us one spirit with You; we want to remain in this organic union with You to pray one spirit with You, to pray out God’s will for God to carry it out! Oh Lord, may we realize that the earth controls the heavens and God will move only when His people on earth pray for His will to be done! May we realize that the most pleasing prayer to God is the prayer asking for His will to be accomplished! Gain us and gain many others to be those joined to You to pray out God’s will for Him to move on earth and accomplish His will on earth!
The Purpose of Prayer is to be One with God’s Will so that God can Work on Earth to Fulfill His Purpose
The purpose of prayer is that we are one with God’s will so that God can work on earth to fulfill His purpose.
In Rom. 8:26-29 we see that we don’t know what to pray, but the Spirit joins us in our weakness and prays in us and with us.
It is not just us praying but us and the Spirit, the Spirit joining us in prayer; we don’t know what we should pray as is fitting, but the Spirit joins in.
It seems like many of us know what to pray and we can easily utter a prayer, for we already have something in our mind and heart; however, what about praying out the will of God for Him to carry out His will!
The Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
In v. 34 we see that Jesus Christ who died and was raised is now at the right hand of God, and He intercedes for us.
On one hand Christ intercedes for us, and on the other, the Spirit intercedes for us; these are not two Intercessors but one – the Lord Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18), interceding for us at two ends.
At one end is the Spirit in us, probably initiating the intercession for us; at the other end, it is the Lord Christ at the right hand of God, probably completing the intercession for us, which must be mainly that we will be conformed to His image and be brought into His glory.
Such a prayer is not merely man praying to God; such a prayer may not even be initiated by man but rather, we have a feeling, a burden, and we sense a need to pray, but we don’t know how to pray.
But if we just begin praying, we just open our mouth with the intention of contacting the Spirit, He will join in with us, and He will initiate the prayer that we don’t even know how to utter!
This requires that we spend a good amount of time to just contact the Lord, not rush our time with Him, and exercise our spirit to contact the Spirit, breathe in the Spirit, absorb the Spirit, and allow the Spirit to initiate the prayer.
Even in our prayer meeting as we gather corporately to pray, we should not merely start praying for the prayer burdens we have but rather contact the Lord, let the Spirit initiate the prayer, and allow Him to impress us with His intention.
If we do not work together with God in prayer for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, He cannot move on earth to accomplish His will (Matt. 6:10).
What a thought: man can actually stop God or hinder Him from moving on earth!
The reason God moves on earth with difficulty is because Satan opposes Him, those who align their will with Satan also oppose Him, and even those who believe into the Lord don’t know what the will of God is and do not pray His will back to Him! Oh Lord!
Who here on earth is actually praying the prayer that God needs for Him to move on earth? Who on earth prays the will of God back to Him for Him to carry it out?
If we are one with the Lord, we want what He wants, our will becomes one with His will, and whatever we ask in His name, He will do it for us (John 15:7).
If we spend sufficient time with the Lord to be mingled with Him, our thoughts will match His thoughts, our will is renewed to be one with His will, and we will want what He wants; then, whatever we pray, He will do for us.
In John 15:7 the Lord said that, if we abide in Him and His words abide in us, we can ask whatever we will and it shall be done for us.
This doesn’t mean that if we ask for a new car, we believe He will do it for us; rather, we need to abide in Him and let His words abide in us, and we can ask whatever we will, and He will do it for us!
For Christ to abide in us is for His words to abide in us (Eph. 3:17; Col. 3:16); Christ makes His home in our heart as His words dwell in us richly.
We cannot separate the Lord from His words; when His words dwell in us richly, our mind, will, and emotion will be renewed, we will be one with His will, and whatever we ask will be according to His will.
The prayer for the accomplishment of God’s will is not asking God to accomplish what we want Him to do but asking God to do what He Himself whats to do; such a prayer is the outlet of God’s will on earth (1 John 5:14-16).
We should not presume that we know what God wants; rather, we need to spend time with Him in His word, allow His word to saturate us, and pray God’s will back to Him for Him to do what He wants to do.
Lord Jesus, we want to abide in You and let Your words abide in us so that our mind and will may be renewed and we may ask in prayer according to Your will! Amen, Lord Jesus, may Your words dwell in us richly to saturate our inner being and renew us, transform us, and conform us to Your image, so that we pray not for what we want You to do but for what You intend to do. We want to work together with You on earth, Lord, as we pray God’s will back to Him so that His will may be done on earth as it is in heaven. We align our will with Your will and we ask You as the church: Lord, may Your will be done on earth!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Mark Raabe for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 8, pp. 5-13, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Will of God (2020 spring ITERO), week 3, Praying for God’s Will to Be Done on Earth.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Pray with one accord in spirit, / Supplicate relatedly; / Seek the Lord, His mind, His leading, / In the Spirit’s harmony. / Pray with one accord in spirit, / Pray and watch persistently; / For God’s kingdom and His glory, / Pray and watch in harmony. (Hymns #779)
– If you abide in Me and my words abide in you / Ask whatever you will and it will be done for you. / When we abide in the Lord and let His words abide in us, / We actually are one with Him as He works within us. / Then when we ask in prayer for whatever we will / It is not only we who are praying / He too is praying, in our praying. / This kind of prayer is related to fruit bearing / and will surely be answered. (Song on, Abide in Me, and I in you)
– Pray to fellowship with Jesus, / List’ning earnestly to Him; / Be impressed with His intentions, / Yielding to Him from within. (Hymns #784)
About aGodMan
