Will you please turn to the book of Jude?
Jude.
We begin with Jude 20-21.
But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
keep yourselves in the love of God,
looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
These two verses give the positive aspect of those who are beloved of the Lord. In the passage before this, you find all these negative things. But here Jude presents to us that which is positive. He says, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith.”
So, what is the most holy faith? You know, in the beginning of this letter, Jude said, “Using all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints.” Now, what is the most holy faith?
The most holy faith is not a creed. The most holy faith is Christ in His totality—the total Christ. That is the most holy faith, and that is the foundation upon which we are exhorted to build.
The foundation is the total Christ—Christ in His totality, all that He is. That is the foundation, and we are to build upon it.
Now, in a sense, you will find that building up actually is growing out of the foundation. The Scripture uses two different figures of speech. One is building a building, and the other is growing a tree or a plant. That is why it says that we are rooted and grounded in Christ.
Christ is the most holy faith. He is our foundation. We must be grounded in Him. Christ is the root of all things, and we must grow up out of that root. So this building, actually, is the growing out of the foundation.
And it is also put another way in the Scripture: growing up into Christ. Not only growing out of Him, but growing up into Him. That is the beauty. On the one hand, we go deeper into Christ; on the other hand, we go higher into Christ. That is building.
So, building yourselves on your most holy faith—now, how do we build upon the most holy faith? One of the most effective means of our being built upon the most holy faith is praying in the Holy Spirit.
Now, praying in the Holy Spirit, I am afraid, is very, very much misunderstood. Some people think praying in the Holy Spirit is praying in tongues.
Now, there are three different verses that show us three different aspects of prayer. One is in 1 Corinthians 14. In 1 Corinthians 14, we find that Paul mentions this matter of praying in tongues. In 1 Corinthians 14:14:
For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.
When a person’s spirit—that is, a person’s human spirit, his own spirit—is touched by the Spirit of God and burdened with a burden from above, and yet there is no understanding because the mind is not involved, the only way for that burden to be expressed from the spirit is praying in tongues.
So praying in tongues is praying with the spirit, or, “My spirit prayeth.” That is praying in tongues. My spirit prays, but my understanding is not involved. But because my spirit prays, therefore I am edified; I myself am built up. But nobody else is built up, because the other people do not know what you are praying for. Only you, in your spirit, are moved; you are edified.
Now, that is praying with the spirit, or praying in tongues. Then you find in Romans 8 another verse. Romans 8:26 says:
And in like manner the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity:
for we know not how to pray as we ought;
but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Now, this is not praying with my spirit, or my spirit praying. This is the Holy Spirit who is praying within me. The Holy Spirit who dwells within me, He is praying within me. It is the Holy Spirit who is praying, and not the person as such, or even his spirit praying. The Holy Spirit is praying with groanings which cannot be uttered.
In other words, even my spirit does not know. I do not know what to pray for, and how do you pray? At that time, the Holy Spirit willingly intercedes on my behalf with groanings, using my mouth. Yet not only is my understanding not involved, but even my spirit does not understand. It is the Holy Spirit praying within me.
You know, sometimes it does happen that way. When I was in Florida, I was told there was a place where people come together and groan, because they think that it is praying in the Spirit.
But, of course, we know that if people come together to groan, they had better groan near their own homes. It is not the Spirit; it is themselves groaning, and they do not know what they are groaning for. But there is a place, sometimes, when the Holy Spirit has to, in a sense, take charge, take over, because even our spirit is too dull to understand or to enter in.
So 1 Corinthians 14 is my spirit praying. Romans 8 is the Holy Spirit praying within me. And Jude is praying in the Holy Spirit.
Now, what is praying in the Holy Spirit? Praying in the Holy Spirit simply means that you are so filled with the Holy Spirit that you are able to cooperate with the Holy Spirit when you pray.
In other words, the Holy Spirit is the atmosphere, and you are the one who prays. Your spirit is really cooperating with the Holy Spirit.
Praying in the Holy Spirit is—I do not like to use the word form, but I have no other word—is a form in which you find that my spirit is able to cooperate fully with the Holy Spirit. That is praying in the Holy Spirit.
The contrast to praying in the Holy Spirit is praying in the flesh. That is the contrast. In other words, if we live in the flesh, then when we pray, we pray in the flesh. You cannot live in the flesh and pray in the Holy Spirit.
Now, people can live in the flesh and pray with tongues. That is possible. But praying in the Holy Spirit is very different. You have to live in the Spirit. You have to be filled with the Spirit. You have to be ruled by the Holy Spirit. Your life has to be under the control of the Holy Spirit.
Because of that, your spirit fully understands what the Holy Spirit is trying to do, and your spirit cooperates with the Holy Spirit to the extent that your understanding is also involved. This is praying in the Holy Spirit.
So, in that sense, praying in the Holy Spirit is the highest form of prayer. When the Holy Spirit prays for you, you are inactive, in a sense. When your spirit is praying, your understanding is passive. But here you find that your whole being is really wrapped up by the Holy Spirit and enters into full cooperation with the Holy Spirit. That is praying in the Holy Spirit.
And, of course, nothing edifies or builds us more than praying in the Holy Spirit. Not only will it build yourself up, but it will really build the whole body up. When a person is really cooperating with the Holy Spirit and praying in the Holy Spirit, he is in touch with God.
Such prayer builds up the body, brings us closer to the Lord, and gets us deeper in Christ. So here you find that praying in the Holy Spirit is one of the most effective means of our being built up in the most holy faith.
Then you find that it continues with, “Keep yourselves in the love of God.”
When we are praying in the Holy Spirit, we are actually in union with Christ in the Spirit. Then we keep ourselves in the love of God.
Now, someone says, “God always loves us. The love of God is always there.” But to be kept in the love of God is another thing. God always loves us, but are we keeping ourselves in the love of God?
In other words, God’s love has its own term on this matter of communion. God loves us, but are we in the love of God? Are we in constant communion with Him? That needs a life in the Spirit.
So, keep yourselves in the love of God. Then the final thing is, “Awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”
If we keep ourselves in the love of God, no doubt we long for that day when our Lord shall return. So, awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ means expecting His return. When He shall return, He shall bring His mercy to fullness. It is still mercy. Everything is mercy.
So we are looking forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And, of course, that brings us into life in the kingdom.
So Jude sets before us a very positive aspect of our Christian life. We must be built up in the most holy faith. It is not sufficient just to have the foundation laid but not build upon it. That is why we are gathering together: to be built up together in the most holy faith.
We are together to pray in the Holy Spirit. We are together to be kept in the love of God. And together we await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. This explains our Christian life, or this explains our life together.
So may the Lord help us. As we begin to pray, we need to know that prayer actually is the cooperation of our spirit with the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit with our spirit. When our spirit and the Holy Spirit work together in prayer, that is praying in the Holy Spirit.
Colossians 1:9-12.
For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray and make request for you,
that ye may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
to walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing,
bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
strengthened with all power, according to the might of His glory, unto all patience and longsuffering with joy;
giving thanks unto the Father, who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.
Paul had never been to Colossae. He had never visited the church there. But he heard about them; he heard from them.
He said that from the very first day he heard of the saints in Colossae—though he had never seen them—he heard of their faith and their love. From the first day that he heard, he ceased not praying and asking for them.
I think this is very, very beautiful. You know, oftentimes we feel burdened to pray only when we are personally involved. If it is our work, if it is our people, if we are personally involved, we feel burdened to pray.
But if we are not personally involved, if it is only something that we heard secondhand, I think it is difficult for us to feel burdened to pray. And I think the reason is that we are so involved with ourselves that even in our prayer life it shows.
If our hearts are really concerned with God’s interest, then whether we are personally involved or not really does not matter too much. Even when we hear something that has anything to do with God’s interest, we will be able to take up the burden to pray.
So I think there is one thing that we really need to learn as we are praying together, and that is how to take a burden—how to pray for things in which we are not personally involved.
We need to ask the Lord to enlarge our hearts, that we may truly be concerned with God’s interest. As He enlarges our hearts to be concerned with the interests of God, then no matter whether we hear, or see, or are personally involved, all can become burdens of prayer to us.
I think it is evident that when we are praying together, usually when we are praying for a brother or sister among us who is sick or who has some trouble, you find that immediately many brothers and sisters take up the burden and start to pray.
But when we are praying for other places, or for the Lord’s work, for instance, usually you find only a few prayers. That is it. In other words, we are not able to enter into burdens. And it is true: if we are not burdened, it is hard to pray. But I think the question is, why are we not burdened?
When Paul heard what happened in Colossae, immediately you find that a burden was created in his heart, and he started to pray.
The second thing is that he said, “From the day we heard, we do not cease praying and asking for you.” Now, sometimes when we hear something, we immediately respond with emotion, and we pray. But maybe only once—maybe last Wednesday—and then we forget.
But here you find Paul saying, “From the day that we heard, we do not cease praying.” Now, we do not know how long a time had transpired. Evidently, some time had transpired, and yet you find that Paul was able to continue to pray.
Why? Because as long as that burden was not lifted, he did not cease to pray. He had to last. And actually, this is what it ought to be. When we take up a burden, if it is a burden, then we should not stop praying until that burden is lifted.
Either the answer has come, or the Lord says, “Now.” But anyway, not until our burden is lifted, we should keep on praying—keep on praying. Do not cease praying and asking.
Thirdly, you find that when Paul takes up the burden and continues in prayer, he does not just pray a very general and vague prayer. You find that his prayer is very definite, with purpose.
In other words, praying is not just beating the air. Praying is hitting a target with definite purpose. He knows what he is praying for. He knows what the saints need, and he prays accordingly.
So he says, “To the end.” The reason why he prayed and kept on praying was because he felt that God had something to do, something to accomplish, in the lives of these saints. Until that end, he was praying.
He was praying that they might be filled with the full knowledge of God’s will. Now, they had faith and love. Evidently, they knew God. But they were not filled with the full knowledge of God’s will.
Is it not true that this is the condition of God’s people everywhere? We know Him. We may know some of His will, but we are not filled with the full knowledge of His will. It is not just some knowledge of His will; it is the full knowledge of His will, and being filled with the full knowledge.
In other words, Paul’s prayer is for their fullness, for their maturity, for their entry fully into the purpose of God—in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.
Now, these are not ordinary words. In other words, he is not praying a small prayer, as if people get saved and that is enough. He is praying for fullness in all wisdom and understanding.
Of course, we know wisdom is that which is in God’s mind. That is wisdom. Understanding is being able to comprehend what God really wants—the ultimate purpose and will of God. He is praying for their full growth, full growth.
This is especially in view of the background of Colossians. We know that at that time some kind of Gnosticism and mysticism had invaded the church in Colossae. People came to them and tried to spread the idea that they were the people who really knew, that they were the elite, and that only they knew the mystery.
They began to propagate in their midst mysticism, asceticism, and a kind of Gnosticism combined. Knowing that kind of situation, Paul could see that the only way to combat and overcome such things was to be filled with the full knowledge of God.
If they were filled with the full knowledge of God’s will, then they would not be deceived and distracted into other things. Also, you find that such knowledge of God is very practical.
Unlike the Gnostics and the other people, whose knowledge was speculative, impractical, and imaginative, this knowledge affects your life. As a matter of fact, their knowledge even loosened their lives, and that is what happened.
So Paul shows us that if we are filled with the knowledge of God, then we will walk worthily of the Lord unto all well-pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the true knowledge of God, strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory, unto all endurance and longsuffering with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has made us fit for sharing the portion of the saints in light.
In other words, you find that such knowledge is most practical. It enables us to walk worthily of the Lord. It enables us to bear fruit, and it enables us to grow. It strengthens us. It enables us to suffer long. It helps us to give thanks to the Lord, and it brings us into participation with all the saints in our inheritance in the light.
It is most practical, and this is what Paul prayed for the saints in Colossae.
So I do feel that, as we are learning how to pray together and how to work together with God, it is important that we ask the Lord to enlarge our capacity.
If the Lord allows us to hear something, even if we are not personally in touch with it, but it is related to His interest, it is a call to us to pray—that we may take these things up and really bring them to the Lord.
We need to learn how to persevere in prayer, not just pray and then forget it. Now, of course, on Wednesday night we may mention a few things for prayer. Some may be old things and some may be new things. But even if there are things that are not mentioned, certainly in our private prayer we should continue to hold these things before the Lord until we see that these things are being fulfilled according to God’s will.
As we pray, we should pray definitely. We should pray for the ultimate, not just for something less. This is like working with God, and God always works with the ultimate in view. We should not be satisfied with less than the ultimate.
So that is what we should pray for our brothers and sisters, and also pray for ourselves.
Will you please turn to 1 Thessalonians 5? First Thessalonians, chapter 5, verse 17. Just two words: 1 Thessalonians 5:17.
Pray without ceasing.
Pray without ceasing.
Probably we have the idea that such an exhortation, or such a command, must be given to a church that has matured greatly, or to believers who have grown quite a lot. But, on the contrary, we find that these two words are given to a young church: the church in Thessalonica.
It is a young church, and the believers are young believers. Yet to them is this word: “Pray without ceasing.” I wonder if it surprises you.
We are exhorted to pray without ceasing. Now, of course, you cannot stay in your closet, close your eyes, be on your knees, and pray day and night, night and day. That is impossible.
Even though there are people who give themselves to intercession and prayer, you find that they still have duties to perform. They are not able to really be on their knees all the time. It is impossible; it cannot be done. Yet we are told to pray without ceasing.
Therefore, it is clear that what is exhorted here is that prayer is an attitude. That is the only possible way to pray without ceasing.
If it is a matter of form, if it is a matter of time, if it is a matter of place, then no one can pray without ceasing. But when you consider this as a matter of attitude—a spiritual attitude—then this is possible. It can be done.
We often say that prayer is like breathing. Now, you breathe wherever you are, at any time. When you are conscious, or even when you are unconscious, you are breathing.
Sometimes we are conscious that we are breathing after we run a mile. But at other times, when you are at home sitting and reading, you are not conscious that you are breathing at all, but you are breathing.
Prayer is our spiritual breathing. As breath is essential to our physical life, so prayer is vital to our spiritual life. We must pray. We must pray without ceasing. We must always have a prayerful attitude.
What Paul emphasizes here is this matter of prayer life—whether we have a prayer life or not, a life of prayer. How is our prayer life?
Do we have set times for prayer? Is prayer the first thing in the morning and the last thing at night? The psalmist said, “He prays three times a day,” and we find Daniel opening the window toward Jerusalem and praying three times a day.
Now, do we have a prayer life? It is true that our prayer life is more than just having a set time to pray. But to have a set time to pray is basic, essential, and conducive to our prayer life.
In other words, we can be so super-spiritual, thinking that we have to pray without ceasing and therefore do not need to have any set time to pray because we are praying all the time. You will discover that if you think that way, the result is that you are not praying at all.
We have to begin with set times of prayer. In our lives, in our daily life, we need to set apart a certain time for prayer. Whether it is early in the morning, the first thing, or whether it is some other time, it is important.
For us to have a prayer life, we must have set times to pray. If we cannot do this, then we will not be able to reach the place of praying without ceasing.
But after we have set times of prayer, it does not mean that that is all our prayer life is. That is just helping us, producing in us that proper attitude through the day.
So that during the day, whenever and wherever we are, at whatever occasion, whenever something happens, it becomes natural and spontaneous for us just to lift up our hearts toward the Lord.
Think of Nehemiah. When he heard that his brethren in Jerusalem were in trouble, he gave himself to prayer. He fasted and he prayed.
But he had to carry on his duty. He served the king as a cupbearer. One day the king noticed that his face was sad, and this was not something allowed in the court.
The king said, “Why is thy face sad? Hast thou anything in thy heart?” Of course, Nehemiah was terrified, because the kings in those days were tyrants. They were always afraid that someone would do something against them, perhaps murder them.
But the Bible says that Nehemiah mentioned to the king what was in his heart. Then the king said, “What dost thou request?” And the Bible says that he prayed to the God of heaven.
Now, of course, he could not close his eyes and say, “Wait a minute, let me pray.” He could not do that. He was before the king. The king asked him that question, and he had to answer right away.
But even during that split second, he still could pray to the God of heaven. He just lifted his heart up. That is all. It is an attitude.
To Nehemiah, it was so natural. He did not need to be reminded, “Now, you have not prayed yet.” It was natural to him because he had developed a prayerful life, a life of prayer.
So I believe it is important for us. You know, our corporate prayer can never rise above the level of our prayer life.
How can we strengthen our corporate prayer? The important thing is that every one of us has a prayer life. If our prayer life is weak, when we come together to pray, we find that our prayer will also be weak.
Corporate prayer cannot rise above the level of the sum of our prayer lives. If we want to have a strong prayer meeting, a church prayer, then we have to deepen our prayer.
We need to ask ourselves, how about our prayer life? We need to examine ourselves as to how much time we spend before the Lord in prayer. Do we have a set time or times before the Lord to pray?
We must ask the Lord to show us: when things happen, is it spontaneous and natural for us to lift our hearts to the Lord? Or is our first reaction that we begin to think how we can cope with the situation?
Now, these things are things that we need to bring before the Lord. Otherwise, no matter how we try to strengthen this prayer time, it will be weak.
The first thing to do is that we have to strengthen and cultivate the holy habit of lifting up our hearts to the Lord at any time, at all times, on every occasion, in all events, until it becomes a habit.
It is not something that we need to be reminded about, but it becomes a habit. Naturally, we turn our hearts to the Lord, and that is what is meant by praying without ceasing.
This is not an exhortation for mature Christians. This is an exhortation, and even a command, to young Christians. We have to start when we are young to cultivate that holy habit of prayer.
It becomes natural for us to turn everything into prayer. You do not need to close your eyes. You may not be able to when you are driving—it is better not—but still you can lift your heart to the Lord and pray. You will find how the Lord will answer your prayer.
You know, sometimes we find that when we come together to pray, it is difficult to take up burdens. I think probably lots of brothers and sisters find it very difficult to take up a burden.
In other words, if the Lord has burdened you with a burden, then it is easy for you to take it up and pray. But when you come together with your brothers and sisters, and the things mentioned may not be your burden—may not be the burden with which you have been burdened through the day—you find it very difficult to enter into, as it were, someone else’s burden.
Now, why is it so? If, in our daily life, we can turn what we hear, what we see, and what we encounter into prayer, then it should not be a difficult thing.
Whenever things are mentioned for prayer, you can take them up very quickly and very easily as burdens to pray. In other words, you have to learn to take up a burden in your daily life. Not at that moment—it is too late. You have to learn to do it in your daily life.
If you learn to do it in your daily life, then it will be easy and natural whenever things are mentioned for prayer. Whatever you have heard, you can easily turn it into prayer because you have cultivated the habit of praying without ceasing.
It is only by praying without ceasing that we are able to fulfill our ministry as priests before God. There are so many things for which we must pray. We do not have the time unless we pray without ceasing, unless we maintain a prayerful attitude.
We are always before the Lord. Our hearts are always open to the Lord. We are always ready and watchful. We are always dependent upon the Lord. We dare not trust in ourselves, but we know that He is trustworthy.
We know that we can turn everything into prayer and just cast our burdens before His feet, and He will not allow us to be moved. This is the kind of habit we have to cultivate during our daily life.
So tonight I feel that it is important for every one of us to re-examine our prayer life—our individual, personal prayer life—and look to the Lord to strengthen our prayer life, that we may learn to pray without ceasing.
There should always be that prayerful attitude. Then, when we come together, it is very easy for us to enter into prayer.
You know, this is not only true when we pray together; it is also true when you pray alone. Sometimes you need to spend time preparing yourself to pray. Why? Because you are not ready.
But if you always have a proper attitude, you do not need to spend time preparing yourself to pray. You can enter into prayer right away. So may the Lord help us in this respect.