The position of prayer is the position of ascension; we need to be in ascension to utter prayers of authority, even authoritative commands before God, being one with Christ in His heavenly ministry to carry out His administration on the earth.
There are many kinds of prayer, and we need to offer many prayers to the Lord both personally and corporately; a particular kind of prayer is the prayer of the age, the prayer uttered to God to match His need in this age.
The church is a house of prayer; it is not only the house of the living God where all His living children live and enjoy God but also a house of prayer where His people pray one with the Lord.
In the church as a house of prayer, we should pray not according to our thought or desire but according to God’s desire and thought; we need to offer weighty and precious prayers to shake the gates of Hades and affect Satan.
For such prayers to be uttered, we need to advance in our experience of life to the fourth stage to be in ascension and know spiritual warfare, know the Body, and pray in ascension.
God is pleased when we offer prayers that ask for the accomplishment of His will and for the completion of His work.
Too many prayers, however, are for ourselves, for our needs, for our family, or for the needs of the church.
We need to be the men of prayer in the house of prayer, serving God by praying to the mysterious God in the divine and mystical realm not only for our needs but even more, for His need, for His will, and for His economy.
Actually in Isaiah God told His people that, concerning the work of His hands, they should command Him; God wants us to command Him concerning the work of His hands so that He would carry out His work.
Such prayers, however, cannot be presumptuous, for we can’t just “command God” to do something; we first need to have the proper position, the position of ascension, and here we are one with the Lord in His heavenly ministry to pray the prayers of authority that carry out His administration.
There are quite a few places in the Bible where God asks His people to command Him concerning the work of His hands, or where He tells us that whatever we ask in His name, He will do it.
Whenever God’s people are in ascension, one with the enthrone Christ, they are so one with Him that they can even command God to do something, and He will do it, for what they pray for and ask is what He desires to do.
If our prayer is for the fulfillment of God’s economy, then God will do it; if our prayer is not aimed at our needs or at caring for particular situations but at God’s economy concerning Christ and the church, God is happy to do what we ask Him to do.
May we be those who learn how to pray properly, those who pray in the name of the Lord Jesus, aiming at God’s interest for His economy, so that He may do what He intends to do, and we would give Him our cooperation in prayer.
Responding to Christ’s Heavenly Ministry by our Prayers in the Church as a House of Prayer
Christ today is not idle; He is in His heavenly ministry doing a great work of interceding, ministering, and executing God’s administration.
He is the High Priest interceding for us and for all of God’s people; He is the heavenly Minister ministering to us all that He has done and accomplished, and He is the Executor of God’s administration in the universe.
We as His people, His Body, need to respond to His activities in His heavenly ministry by our prayers in the church as the temple of God, a house of prayer (see Heb. 2:17; 4:14; 7:25-26; 8:1-2; Rev. 5:6; Col. 3:1-4).
The church is a house of prayer; in the church, we are joined to Christ, the heavenly Intercessor, and we respond to His intercession and even echo it in our prayer.
He is interceding day and night, and we need to respond to His intercession in our prayer.
What He is praying in the heavens in His heavenly ministry, we need to be also praying as His Body on earth – exactly what He prays, we also pray, and we echo what He is uttering in the heavens.
Because we are joined to our ascended Head, we as His Body on earth receive the heavenly transmission of what He prays; this transmission is faster than receiving a text message – it is simultaneous.
We simply need to exercise our spirit, stand in the position of ascension, and live in the Body, and we will be one with our Head in the heavens, and our prayers will be an echo and a reflection of His prayers in the heavens.
As the Lord Jesus is uttering His intercession in heaven, we as His Body on earth correspond to Him, praying the same thing.
It is through our prayer that Christ, the Head, is given a way to carry out His administration through His Body, for as the Head is working in heaven by interceding, ministering, and administrating, so we as the Body are working on earth by responding to His heavenly ministry and reflecting what He is doing (Col. 1:18a; 2:19; 3:1-2; Heb. 2:17; 4:14; 7:25-26; 8:1-2; Rev. 5:6).
Real prayer is not initiated by us; real prayer is initiated by God, for He wants to do and accomplish something, He reveals it to His Body, the praying saints echo His desire back to Him in prayer, and He can do what He wants to do.
This means that, if God doesn’t have a group of people on earth who live in the position of ascension, who are not one with Him, and who don’t pray in the house of prayer, He is delayed and hindered from what He intends to do.
All proper prayers issue from God’s heart; they express God’s desire. God has a desire, He wants to fulfill His desire, and He reveals this desire to man; He doesn’t want to fulfill His desire directly but rather, He wants man to cooperate with Him on earth through prayer.
We as the members of the Body of Christ need to respond to Christ’s heavenly ministry by praying in the church as a house of prayer to reflect His prayers in the heavens, and He can do what He wants to do.
If we seek the things which are above and have one life and one living with Christ, we will be wholly occupied with the Lord’s interest (Col. 3:1-4, 17).
Our heart will be with Him in heaven, where He is interceding for the churches, supplying the saints, and administrating God’s government.
May we remain in this constant organic union so that we may respond to His heavenly ministry on earth today in prayer.
Lord Jesus, we want to respond to Your heavenly ministry by our prayers. May our prayer in the church as a house of prayer be a reflection of Your intercession in the heavens. Amen, Lord, make us those who respond to Christ’s activities in His heavenly ministry by our prayers. We want to give You a way to carry out Your administration through Your Body. May You gain a group of people on earth who correspond to and reflect Your heavenly ministry, praying on earth what You are praying in the heavens! Amen, Lord, may we remain in this living and constant organic union with You so that we may sense and receive Your heart’s desire and utter it in our prayer back to You! Yes, Lord, may Your will be done on earth as it is in the heavens!
The Prayer of the Church is in the Position of Ascension to Execute God’s Will through Prayers of Authority, the Prayer of the Age
In spiritual warfare our position matters very much; we do not fight for victory but from victory, and our position is that of ascension, not that of seeking to attain to ascension.
Our spiritual life as Christians is not only a matter of life but also a matter of position. As we grow in life, we have power; when we are in the position of ascension, we have authority.
Experiencing Christ’s resurrection will give us the power of His resurrection, and being in ascension will give us the heavenly authority.
For us to fight in prayer for God’s interests on earth, we need to be in the position of ascension.
The prayer of the church is in the position of ascension to execute God’s will through prayers of authority.
In Isa. 45:11 God told His people, “Command Me.” He wants us to be in the right position and command Him concerning the work of His hand; our prayer in ascension is the cooperation He needs for Him to carry out what He desires.
A prayer of authority is sometimes a command to God and at other times a command to the environment; because we are in the position of ascension, we can command the environment, and the Lord will do this for us.
For example, Moses commanded the waters of the Red Sea to part, and Joshua commanded the sun not to go down until they defeat all of God’s enemies.
The Lord Jesus in the boat commanded the wind and the sea to be still, and He also commanded sickness or demons to leave men.
If we have learned to pray by standing in the position of ascension, the realm of ascension, we can even command poverty to leave us, and it will happen.
The Lord desires to bring many of His people into the experience and position of ascension, where they are one with Christ to give authoritative commands before God.
We need to be such ones, those who advance in our experience of life to be in the position of ascension, living in this realm of ascension; here, we may encounter problems or situations, and we simply are one with the Lord and in the Body to say, God, we cannot allow this situation to continue!
If our position is wrong and our condition is not in the heavenly realm, such a prayer would be an insult to God; if our position is right and our state is in the heavenly sphere, such a prayer is pleasing to Him, and He will carry out His administration.
May we advance both in our experience of life and in prayer until we have the heavenly position and the heavenly authority to be able to utter forth authoritative prayers, being one with Christ on the throne.
When we are in the position of ascension, living in the realm of ascension, the words we utter in prayer will be equal to God’s administration, and we will execute His commands. God will answer such prayers.
Such prayers are full of authority; they are reigning prayers, ruling with authority over the environment, and limiting the enemy’s damage over man and over the situation.
May we live in the heavenly sphere, in the position of ascension, so that we may be able to pray with authority, being seated on the throne with Christ, and uttering forth prayers of the throne.
The prayer in the church as a house of prayer is in the position of ascension, and with this position of prayer, there’s the authority of prayer (Eph. 1:22-23; 2:6; Matt. 6:9-10, 13).
When we as God’s people have the heavenly position and authority, our prayers become God’s administration, even the executing of God’s will; this is the prevailing prayer of the church – the prayer of the age.
Lord Jesus, may our prayer in the church as a house of prayer be in the position of ascension so that we may utter prayers of authority to cooperate with Your heavenly ministry. Bring us on in our experience of life and in prayer until we live in the heavenly realm and stand one with You on earth to utter worthwhile prayers before You, prayers that are equal the carrying out of Your administration and executing Your commands. Amen, Lord, may we come to the point where we have the heavenly position and authority to be able to utter forth authoritative prayers, being one with You on the throne to execute Your rule on earth. Gain such prayers, Lord. Gain such people who live in ascension to cooperate with Your heavenly ministry in prayer!
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, 1959, vol. 4, “Lessons on Prayer,” ch. 17, 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:
– Pray to touch the throne of God, / Touch the throne of power too; / In the name of Jesus Christ / Deal with what you have to do. / Pray to touch the throne of God / By the hand of living faith; / Exercise authority / Over all the pow’r of death. (Hymns #783)
– Teach us to pray and use Thy rod / In strong, prevailing prayer, / Beneath Thy blood to shake the earth / And powers of the air. / By prayer and faith, O may we learn / To labor, Lord, with Thee, / To know the victory is ours / And Thine authority. (Hymns #767)
– One with Thee in Thine ascension, / In the heavens now with Thee; / Here a pilgrim and a stranger, / My true life is hid in Thee. / One with Thee in Thine enthronement, / Sharing Thine authority, / Even as I share Thy life, Lord, / I in Thee and Thou in me. (Hymns #474)
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