Will you please turn to the Gospel according to John, John Chapter 16? John Chapter 16, verses 23, 24, 26, and 27.
And in that day ye shall ask Me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, if ye shall ask anything of the Father, He will give it you in My name.
Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be fulfilled.
In that day ye shall ask in My name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you;
for the Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from the Father.
When our Lord Jesus was with His disciples, His disciples did indeed pray to God, but they looked to the Lord Jesus for all their needs.
But now our Lord Jesus was leaving them. Where would they turn? Whom would they turn to for their needs?
And here the Lord said, “In that day.” We know that day is the day of His resurrection. He said that, in that day, a great change would come.
Before that day, you had never asked the Father anything in My name. But in that day, and from that day onward, that is what you will do. You will ask of My Father in My name, and whatsoever you shall ask, ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
Because on the day of His resurrection, we know a new relationship was established. He said, “Go to My brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.”
In other words, through His death and resurrection, God is not only our God, but God has become our Father. He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, and He is the God and Father of us.
A new relationship: Father and children.
And not only a new relationship, but the Lord said, “Now you can pray to your Father. You can ask your Father.” Why? Because the Lord said, “You have loved Me and believed in Me, and because you love Me and believe in Me, My Father loves you.”
And He will hear you.
Our love towards the Lord touches the heart of God the Father towards us. A new relationship and a new love.
And on the basis of this new relationship and new love—not only a new relationship, Father and children, but new love, “the Father loves you because you have loved Me”—we dare to pray. We dare to ask. We dare to approach the throne of grace.
The Lord is encouraging us to pray. But how are we going to pray? How are we going to use our new relationship and this love in our prayers? He said, “In My name.” The key is, “In My name.”
If we go to the Father in His name, then whatsoever we ask, we will receive.
His name is not a formality. You know, sometimes in our prayer, the customary way of concluding a prayer is, “In His name,” “in the name of the Lord Jesus.” But we know that this is not just a formality; it is a reality.
The Lord is now with the Father, but He leaves His name with us. And this is one of His concessions. We mentioned His concessions; now this is one of His concessions. He leaves His name with us.
And His name is as good as His person, as His presence.
We have His name with us, and in His name we can go to the Father and ask. And because we ask in His name, the Father will never refuse us, as the Father has never refused His Son.
You remember our Lord Jesus in the Gospel of John said, “The Father hath always heard Me.” Always heard Him. So when we come in His name, it is almost as if He is praying.
Therefore, the Father will never refuse us. So powerful is His name. So precious is His name to the Father. In His name, the Father will do anything and everything, as He always does, for His Son.
So this name is a mighty name, and this name is ours. He has given His name to us, and He encourages us to pray in His name.
Now, of course, “in His name” means that we must be one with Him.
If we ask something that is contradictory to His character or His will, we are not asking in His name. We may use that formula, “In His name, amen,” but in reality we are not. We are praying our own prayer. We are asking for our own will. We want what we want instead of being one with Him.
So, “in His name” means that we are one with Him. And if we are one with Him, and when we pray in His name, it is as if He is praying.
He said, “I do not say unto you, that I will pray the Father for you.” Now, of course, we know our Lord Jesus today is our great Intercessor. He is our great High Priest. He intercedes for us. He is praying for us.
But He said, “I do not tell you that I will pray for you. You pray yourself. You pray in My name.” Because when we pray in His name, it is almost as if He is praying. So far as the Father is concerned, He hears the Son, and therefore ye shall receive because of that name.
And, of course, “in His name” further means that we must be in subjection to Him and to His authority. It will not be true if we use His name and yet do not submit ourselves to His authority.
We have to submit ourselves completely to His name—that is, to His authority. And if we submit ourselves to His authority, we will find that our prayer will have authority. We have power even with the Father.
And also, “in His name” means that we are praying according to His will, in accordance with His character.
And if we pray anything according to His will—that is, in accordance with His character—we have the confidence that the Father will answer our prayer.
So we do want to encourage brothers and sisters. You know, we not only have such a new relationship with God, and also a new love—God the Father Himself loves us—but we also have the name of Jesus with us.
And as we come to pray, we do not come to pray in our own name, to pray for our own will. We come because we have the name of the Lord Jesus. We are one with Him. We know His character. We know His will. And we want His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
So it is so encouraging. The Lord said, “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” So may the Lord help us as we pray together.
This concludes Message Number 29 on corporate prayer. Message Number 30 follows.
Will you please turn to Genesis Chapter 18? Genesis Chapter 18.
We read from verse 16.
And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.
And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that which I do;
seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him.
And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto Me; and if not, I will know.
And the men turned from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the Lord.
And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt Thou consume the righteous with the wicked?
Peradventure there are fifty righteous within the city: wilt Thou consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?
That be far from Thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as the wicked; that be far from Thee: shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake.
And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, who am but dust and ashes:
peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt Thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And He said, I will not destroy it, if I find there forty and five.
And he spake unto Him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And He said, I will not do it for the forty’s sake.
And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And He said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.
And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And He said, I will not destroy it for the twenty’s sake.
And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: peradventure ten shall be found there. And He said, I will not destroy it for the ten’s sake.
And the Lord went His way, as soon as He had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.
We find in this chapter that the Lord visited Abraham and brought to him two pieces of news: one good news and one bad news.
The good news is that his wife Sarah shall have a child. And I think we all can understand why God brought this good news to Abraham, because all the promises of God were centred upon that child.
But then we find afterwards that the Lord shared with Abraham bad news. The bad news was that the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah had ascended up to heaven, and judgment would come upon these cities.
Now, I wonder why the Lord let Abraham hear this bad news. Was it a test of Abraham’s character?
We remember how Lot chose what he considered a better place, the better part. He took it away from Abraham. He moved into the city of Sodom.
And even when Abraham delivered him from the four kings, Lot still remained there.
Could it be that God wanted to test Abraham’s character, to see how far Abraham would go in his relationship with Lot? How big was his heart?
He forgave his nephew. He rescued his nephew. But his nephew still continued in his old ways. Would Abraham just say, “Well, if that is what you want, you will have it”? Would he give up Lot?
Or was Abraham’s heart such that he still had Lot very, very deeply in his heart? Now, was it for that reason? It could be, but it could be something more.
God was going to destroy Sodom, but God knew there was one righteous man there. And it was against God’s character to destroy the righteous with the wicked.
So the reason why He shared this news with Abraham was because He knew Abraham. He knew Abraham knew His character and would plead with Him, so that God could deliver Lot out of this destruction.
In other words, God was looking for someone who understood His character and who would intercede on the basis of His character, that He might not do something that would reflect upon Him.
I think probably this is more the reason than the first one.
You find in this intercession of Abraham, he based all his intercession upon one point. And that point is, “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
There was no promise. He could not plead according to God’s promise. There was no word; no word was given. But there was God’s character.
So in this matter of intercession, I think even sometimes we may not have God’s word or even His promise. But if we know Who He is, if we know His character, we can always intercede according to His character and be heard, because God cannot deny Himself.
I think when people begin to plead with God on the ground of His character, probably that is the deepest ground for intercession.
Abraham came to God and said, “Now, Lord, if there were fifty righteous in the city, would You destroy that city, destroy the righteous with the wicked? You are the Judge of all. Certainly, You will not do such a thing.”
Of course, Abraham thought of Lot, no doubt about that. He was pleading, actually, for Lot. But more so, he was pleading for God’s own character. He did not want to see that God would do something that would reflect upon His own character.
He was concerned with God’s glory, not only with Lot’s life, but also with God’s glory. So he continued to plead and plead and plead. And all these pleadings were on the basis of God’s character.
And even though there were not ten righteous in the city—unfortunately, there was only one—yet God answered Abraham’s prayer and delivered Lot.
As a matter of fact, God delivered four. His wife became a pillar of salt in looking back. His two daughters were delivered. But basically, it was Lot whom God delivered, because God remembered Abraham and his intercession.
So I think when we come together to pray and to intercede, there is one thing that we can always fall back on, and that is God’s character.
But, of course, we need to know His character. You know, you do not know a person’s character until you live close to him.
Then Abraham lived very close to the Lord. And here you find he not only entertained God and angels, but how he went a distance with them, how he remained in the presence of the Lord. All this shows that Abraham was a person who really lived in the presence of the Lord, and because he lived in God’s presence, he came to know God’s character.
I think there is nothing better in knowing God than knowing His character. You do not know a person until you know his character, and to know God is really to know His character.
And to know His character gives us a kind of responsibility. Such knowledge is not vain; such knowledge is very practical. With such knowledge, we are called to intercede, so that God may not deny Himself.
And I think this is something that we would like to learn as we come together to pray.
This concludes Message Number 30 on corporate prayer. Message Number 31 follows.
I would like to read just one verse in James: James Chapter 5, verse 16. The last sentence.
The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working.
The fervent supplication of the righteous has much power.
We talked about how the character of God is one of the fundamental grounds for our intercession. In other words, when we intercede, we need to stand on some ground to do the work of intercession.
And sometimes we may not have the word of God nor the promise of God with us. Then on what ground can we intercede? We find that there is always one ground, and that is the character of God.
We can plead on the ground of His own character. We mentioned last time how Abraham pleaded with God for the city of Sodom, and it was on the ground of God’s character: a just God.
Now, God is just, and we can plead on that ground. God is love; we can plead on that ground. God is holy; we can plead on that ground. And you can continue.
So we find that there is one thing that you can always fall back on, and that is the character of God. Because of what He is, He cannot deny Himself. So when we come to Him and plead with Him according to His character, we know He hears us.
But this evening I would like to mention another thing, and that is our character and prayer.
You know, in prayer, two parties are involved. One is God, and the other is we.
The character of God is the ground of all intercession, but we do find that our character does have something to do with the power of prayer.
Now, that does not mean that we have any merit and can approach God on the ground of our merit. No, we do not have any merit. We are not worthy.
You remember once the elders of the Jews came to the Lord and said, “Here is a centurion. He does lots of things. He even built our synagogue. He is worthy. He is worthy for You to go and heal his servant.”
Now, that is the idea of the elders of the Jews. They thought that prayer is based upon a person’s merit. You are merited to have your prayer answered because you are good; you have done something.
But the centurion felt differently. He sent word to the Lord and said, “I am not worthy for You to come to my home. I am not worthy at all.”
It is Your mercy. It is Your grace. It is not my merit, my worthiness.
So here you find that it is very, very true that whether we are worthy or not worthy really does not enter into the picture when we come to this matter of prayer. Why? Because we are never worthy.
We are made worthy only by the Lord Himself and by His blood. So we have to let this go, and do not have the idea that because we have done good, therefore we deserve to have our prayer heard.
Now, probably that will be our natural concept. You know, if you think that you behaved very well today, then you think that when you go to prayer, God will hear you because you are good.
But that is natural thought. We should not have that in our minds. We are never worthy. It is the worthiness of our Lord Jesus that enables us to approach God and pray to God. I think this must be clear.
And yet, in the Scripture, you do find that even though our prayer is not based on our worthiness, our character does have something to do with our prayer.
For instance, you remember in John Chapter 9 the blind man who was healed by the Lord. When the Sanhedrin questioned him, “How did he have his eyes opened?” he mentioned a man by the name of Jesus. He did it.
“Oh,” they said, “this is not a good man,” and things like that. And you remember that blind man said, “We know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and do His will, him He heareth.”
Now, this is a truth. Of course, when a sinner offers a penitent prayer, God hears him. That is true. And even in extraordinary circumstances, you find that God hears. That is true.
But so far as the rule is concerned, the rule is: God does not hear a sinner, but God hears one who fears Him and does His will.
Now, this character. And here in James it says, “The fervent prayer of the righteous has much power.” The prayer of the righteous has much power.
And if you go to Psalms, you will find the psalmist, in his prayers or in his approach to God, often uses this: “Hear me because of my righteousness. Do not hear the wicked.”
So you do find that there is a truth there. On the one hand, it is not based on our worthiness. But on the other hand, our character does have something to do with prayer.
Now, of course, no one is righteous. Who is righteous? Only those who have believed in the Lord Jesus and who have been made righteous, who have clothed themselves with Christ as their righteousness.
Now, that is true. In other words, God does not hear a sinner, but God hears the righteous. And thank God that we have been made righteous. We have that position before God.
But when you read it, you find it is more than a matter of position. Now, thank God we have that position of being righteous, but suppose our condition is not the same as our position. Then what happens?
And I think it is for this reason that, when we come to pray, how we need to confess, how we need to ask God for forgiveness, how we need the cleansing of the precious blood.
We never can approach God in prayer without sensing deeply within us the need of the cleansing of the precious blood. Why? Because we know that even though we are positionally righteous, we have to be conditionally righteous too before God, because God is righteous.
And if there is incompatibility between us and God, you know there is something standing in between.
Now, the psalmist said in Psalm 66, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” Suppose you are thinking of some iniquity in your heart, and as you pray, will God hear you? He will not, because there is incompatibility there.
So here you find there is a sense that even though we are never worthy, and merit does not enter into the area of prayer, yet on the other hand, you do find that God requires compatibility with Him when we come to Him.
There is a right relationship, an agreement in character, that God does demand of us.
And how true it is. You will find that those who have developed a character of righteousness in their lives do have more power with God in prayer.
Now, sometimes we wonder why some people’s prayers seem to have much power, while others do not seem to have that much power. God is fair. God is not partial. Now why is it?
It is not based upon merit. So why is it that some people seem to have more power in prayer and other people do not? I think the reason is that some people have a character developed through the years that is compatible with God.
And because of that, God loves to hear and answer the prayer of such people. Other people, you find, do pray, and God does hear them, but they do not seem to have much power in their prayer. The reason is that something is lacking in that character.
So how important it is. Not only do we need to know the character of God, but we need to develop a Christian character before God. And I do believe that this has something to do with the power of prayer.
It is not the basis of prayer, but it has something to do with the power.
Now think of our Lord Jesus. Do you remember in John Chapter 11? He said, “Father, I thank Thee that Thou heardest Me. And I knew that Thou hearest Me always.”
Now, with the Lord Jesus, you find that He had that assurance in Him: God always hears Him. Why? Because here is a Man whose character is compatible, is the same, as the character of God.
And because of that, there is power. There is power in His prayer.
So here in James it says, “The fervent prayer of the righteous has much power.” Not only the word “fervent”; I think the emphasis is really not on the word “fervent.” The emphasis is on the word “righteous.”
And if you read the sentence before, it says, “Confess therefore your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.” I think that has something to do with the righteous.
So do not think that our lives have nothing to do with our prayers. Our lives have much to do with our prayers, because character does affect our prayer.
Now again, I have to underline this, because we can easily misunderstand, thinking that it gives you ground. No, it does not. But it does give you boldness, and it does give you power in prayer.
So may the Lord help us that we are not just coming and having a prayer meeting, or just coming to pray, but remember that our life has much to do with our prayer.
And if we want to have prayer with power before God, then we need to live a life before God. We need to develop our character before God. That will give us boldness, and that will give us power with God.
So may the Lord help us.
This concludes Message Number 31 on corporate prayer. Message Number 32 follows.
What is on my heart is just one verse, the last verse of Psalm 19. But I feel I should read the whole psalm.
Psalm 19.
To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament sheweth His handiwork.
Day unto day uttereth speech,
And night unto night sheweth knowledge.
There is no speech nor language;
Their voice is not heard.
Their line is gone out through all the earth,
And their words to the end of the world.
In them hath He set a tabernacle for the sun,
Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
And rejoiceth as a strong man to run his course.
His going forth is from the end of the heavens,
And his circuit unto the ends of it;
And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul:
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart:
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever:
The ordinances of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.
They are more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the droppings of the honeycomb.
Moreover by them is Thy servant warned:
In keeping them there is great reward.
Who can discern his errors?
Clear Thou me from hidden faults.
Keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins;
Let them not have dominion over me:
Then shall I be upright,
And I shall be clear from great transgression.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Thy sight,
O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer.
As we come together to pray, we are not just coming together to say prayers. We are not coming together just to go through religious exercise.
But as we come together to pray, we do expect our prayers to be acceptable in the sight of God. In other words, prayers are offered with the idea that they are accepted by God.
We do not want just to pray without expecting our prayers to be acceptable to God. We do not just come to pray without expecting that God will accept our prayer and answer our prayer.
But how can our prayer really be acceptable in God’s sight?
Now, I think in prayer, actually, you find it involves two things: our mouth and our heart—the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart.
Prayer does not involve only our mouth. It involves also our heart. If we pray with the words of our mouth, and yet it is not rooted in the meditation of our heart, our words are just very superficial.
So for our prayers to be acceptable in God’s sight, we need to be careful about two things: the words of our mouth and also the meditations of our hearts.
Now, on the one hand, we know that we should not be too careful about the words of our mouth. Because if we are overly careful, we are composing our prayer, and prayer is not a composition.
You know, sometimes we dare not pray because we are afraid that the words of our mouth are not good enough, not a good composition. And actually, when we have that kind of fear, it is because we have people in view and not God in view.
In other words, God is not expecting us to compose a good prayer. If you want a well-composed prayer, read a prayer book. You will find that these prayers are very well composed, and much better than what we can do.
But, of course, God is not looking for composition. When we think too much about composition, it is actually the fear of man, or we want people to think that our prayers are beautiful. That is really out of order.
We should not be overly careful about the words of our mouth. Yet, on the other hand, the words of our mouth are important.
Because if you read the Scripture, you will find that sometimes a word misused makes that prayer unacceptable.
For instance, that Syrophoenician woman: when she addressed the Lord as “Son of David,” she was not heard. But when she said, “Lord,” she was heard.
So words are important. Why? Because words represent our understanding. Out of the fullness of the heart come our words.
So on the one hand, in prayer, let us not be overly careful of our words, trying to compose. But on the other hand, our words are important. I mean, you cannot just be careless in what you say to the Lord.
Not only do we have to speak in a humble way, but we have to be careful not to say the wrong thing. That is important.
But I think even more important than the words of our mouth is the meditation of our heart. God looks upon our heart.
And if our heart is not in it, no matter how many words we utter, however beautiful our words are, they will not be acceptable.
In prayer, our heart must be in it. And here you notice, it is the meditation of our heart. In other words, our heart meditates.
Modern life is such that meditation is a lost art. People do not meditate. People are always rushing here and there. They do not stop. They do not think. They do not ponder. They do not meditate.
For our prayers to be really acceptable before the Lord, I believe that meditation is very important. Meditation is not only important in reading the Scripture; it is important in prayer.
Why? Because things that you have not meditated upon prove that your heart is not there. If your heart is really there, you will think and think and think over it.
You know, like Mary. In the Scripture, you find that when Mary heard something that she did not understand, she did not just let the words pass. But she kept them in her heart and pondered over them. That is meditation.
Now sometimes, you know, we may offer a prayer. But how deeply is your heart in it? It is measured by your meditation.
We may mention a subject for prayer, and you pray for it. But you have never thought about it. You have never pondered before the Lord over that situation. And that kind of prayer is very shallow.
But things that you have really pondered before the Lord—when you pray, you will find that there is a depth there. It reveals that your heart is really in it. It gives your prayer weight, not just floating around.
So, for our prayers to be acceptable, our prayers have to be real. And what makes our prayer real is the combination of these two things: the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart.
Turn it around. Sometimes we may meditate a lot, but we never put it into words. And the result is that we are always vague.
Words crystallise our thoughts. So if we meditate a lot and yet there are no words of our mouth, if we do not utter them, you will find your thoughts all confused and vague.
But when you are able to put it into words, then it crystallises, it precipitates your thought. So if we meditate a lot, try to utter it in words, so that it becomes very solid, very substantial. And that makes our prayer real too.
So, to have a real prayer, to me, I feel it is a combination of these two things: the meditation of our heart plus the words of our mouth. And if you are lacking in either, you will find something is missing—something is missing.
So as we pray, I think probably you will discover this yourself. Things that you have really pondered before the Lord—when you take these things up in prayer, you will find your heart is really involved.
You know, oftentimes the difficulty is that you do not find the right word to utter the meditation of your heart. And that is where we need to look to the Lord to give us the right word for it.
The right word is not only important when we are preaching; the right word is important when we are praying too. It does have its effect.
So let us look to the Lord. On the one hand, that He will so stir our hearts that our hearts may not be careless and insensitive, but that our hearts will really be able to take up burdens and ponder over things that the Lord has brought to our attention.
And as we ponder over these things, let us ask the Holy Spirit to give us the right word to express them in prayer.
You know, sometimes when we are praying, you find that it does not hit the target. A few prayers may be prayed over the same thing, but somehow you find that it does not hit.
But then someone may pray, and suddenly a word is uttered, and it hits. You know that it hits the target, and you know God has heard.
So let us learn this before the Lord. Of course, it needs practice, and we have to learn. But we thank God the Holy Spirit is with us, so He will teach us how to make our prayers really acceptable—with the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart.