And having been let go, they came to their own, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.
And they, having heard it, lifted up their voice with one accord to God, and said,
“Lord, Thou art the God who didst make the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them;
who by the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David Thy servant, didst say,
‘Why did the nations rage, and the peoples imagine vain things?
The kings of the earth set themselves in array, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord, and against His Christ.’
For of a truth in this city against Thy holy Servant Jesus, whom Thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, were gathered together,
to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel foreordained to come to pass.
And now, Lord, look upon their threatenings: and grant unto Thy servants to speak Thy word with all boldness,
while Thou stretchest forth Thy hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Thy holy Servant Jesus.”
And when they had prayed, the place was shaken wherein they were gathered together; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
To me, this passage on corporate prayer is one of the most wonderful passages in Scripture. If we only think of the setting: Peter and John had just been threatened by the council to shut their mouths and not speak in the name of the Lord Jesus.
After they were released, they came to their own and reported what had happened. Then the Scripture says, “And they, having heard it, lifted up their voice with one accord to God, and said.”
Now, we know that at that time in Jerusalem there were thousands of believers already. On the day of Pentecost, apart from the one hundred and twenty, three thousand were added. Then, before this incident, more were added, as we find in the preceding verse:
But many of them that heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
So, you see, there were thousands of believers there, and they lifted up their voice with one accord to God. Not a few, not even a hundred—the thousands of them lifted up their voice with one accord and prayed.
In the Scriptures, you find many places where prayers are recorded. But most of these prayers are prayed by one person. For instance, Paul prayed, and his prayers are recorded. Daniel prayed, and his prayer is recorded. Mostly, you find that all the recorded prayers are personal prayers—that is, prayers prayed by one person.
But in this instance, you find that the Holy Spirit records the prayer of the church. Thousands of people were praying, and they prayed in such a manner that the Holy Spirit was able to record their prayer. Why? Because they prayed with one accord. Or, to put it another way, they prayed as one thing.
If you read the record of their prayer, you find a divine order there. It is a perfect prayer. It was not organized beforehand, and it was not the prayer of one person.
Now, if one person is praying, probably you will find it comparatively easy to pray in this manner. But thousands of people were praying, and the Holy Spirit recorded their prayer as if only one man were praying. And it is a perfect order.
First of all, they declared that God is the God of heaven and earth and sea. Then they quoted the Old Testament Scripture and found its fulfillment in the life of our Lord Jesus. That sets the basis of their prayer. Then they mentioned what had happened, and after that they asked God to give them boldness to speak.
It is as if only one man were praying. There is no discord. There are no diversions.
Now, we are few here, but when we are praying, can the Holy Spirit record our prayer in this manner? Will it be that one prays for this, another prays for that, one thinks of this, another thinks of that, and we jump around? Will it all be discord?
But here you find that, when the Holy Spirit records that corporate prayer, it is a perfect prayer. Who can do such a thing? It is the Holy Spirit who is in charge.
These people were really given to the Lord, so the Holy Spirit was able to pray through them in such a manner that there was perfect order.
Notice that they lifted up their voice. In the original, it is singular. Some versions put “voices,” but I like the singular because they lifted up their voice—only one voice. So many people, but only one voice.
Now, I do not think that on this occasion thousands of people all lifted up their voices and prayed at the same time. Sometimes we do that. As a matter of fact, I was brought up in that kind of situation, because I was saved among the holiness people. We all prayed together; everybody prayed his own prayer, but we all prayed together, and nobody heard anybody.
But I do not believe this is what happened there, because they lifted up their voice—only one voice. Yet that one voice was carried by many people. It was not Peter who was praying, nor was it John representing the whole company in prayer. No, they lifted up their voice with one accord.
So it must be that the Holy Spirit touched different people—many people—and all their prayers had a sequence and an order. You could connect all these prayers together, and they came out to be a perfect prayer. That is corporate prayer.
That is the first recorded corporate prayer of the church. I often think that this is a marvelous passage, if we know the background. When the Holy Spirit is really in charge—and He should be, and He is—this is what happens.
Wherever two or three are gathered together, the Lord said, “There am I in the midst of them.” How? By the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is here. He is representing the Head, and He is directing the Body to pray.
So whoever may be used by the Holy Spirit at the moment is not merely praying his or her own prayer. They are praying the prayer of the Head. That is why you find such harmony, such agreement, such one accord—no jarring notes. Everything fits together, and the Holy Spirit is able to record it.
What if everybody prayed his own prayer? How would the Holy Spirit record it? If He recorded John’s prayer, it would not be Peter’s prayer. But now you find that the Holy Spirit is able to record it as the prayer of the whole church. It is a tremendous thing.
I sincerely believe that when the Holy Spirit is really in charge, and if we are really submitted to the Holy Spirit, this is what will happen.
Unfortunately, sometimes we do not submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit touches a certain brother or sister, that person refuses to cooperate. Or sometimes the Holy Spirit touches a person and that person does not pray.
Here, the whole company was so yielded, so available. Now, when we come together to pray, are we available to the Holy Spirit? Have we decided beforehand that we are going to pray tonight, or that we are not going to pray tonight? Are we really available? Are we really open?
Do we allow the Holy Spirit to really pray through us? If we do, you find the proof here in the way that we pray. It is really marvelous.
Here you find a challenge. The church was challenged—not just Peter and John. Even though only Peter and John were threatened, actually this challenge was against the whole church, and the whole church took up that challenge.
How did they take up the challenge? Not by matching the world with their own cleverness, nor by fighting against the world with their own power, but by turning to God in prayer. Prayer is the weapon of the church.
This is the way that we meet every challenge. If there is any challenge to the church, of any kind—whether it is a threatening such as Peter and John faced, or something else—it is still a challenge. We know that the church is always being challenged, negatively or positively.
When we are challenged, what do we do? The only recourse we have is to go to prayer as a church. The church is to take up every challenge with prayer—not with discussion, negotiation, confrontation, or anything else, but with prayer.
Any challenge that comes to us, we should take it up and turn it into prayer.
As they prayed, you find that they had absolutely no desire and no idea of retreating. On the contrary, all they asked of the Lord was that He would give them boldness to speak.
The council said, “Shut your mouth.” But they asked the Lord for boldness to speak. Why? Because they had a mandate. The Lord had given them that mandate: they should be His witnesses from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Because they had that mandate, they asked the Lord to give them boldness to speak in the name of the Lord Jesus.
What was the result? The place literally shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit—not just a few, but all of them. Why? They prayed with one accord.
Every one of them was filled with the Holy Spirit, and boldness was not given only to the apostles. Boldness was given to all. That is the way God answered.
As we come together tonight, I really feel that there are many challenges before us. Just to mention one, I think it is evident that the conference is a challenge. It is not a challenge merely to a few; it is a challenge to the whole church.
We really need to take up that challenge and pray that the Lord will enable us to stand, withstand, and stand; enable us to utter His word, His will, and accomplish His work for that conference.
There is a conflict there. The enemy is trying to shut us up, but we have a mandate from heaven. We need to ask the Lord to give us boldness to accomplish His purpose.
We definitely have a challenge here, and we need to lift up our voice with one accord to God. If we do, do you know what will happen? We will all be filled with the Holy Spirit.
People who do not take up the challenge and do not pray miss the blessing too. But if we really give ourselves to prayer, when the blessing comes, we will be included.
May the Lord really encourage us as we are, week after week, laboring as it were and preparing for the conference. The conference is within this month now; it is almost upon us. We have not prayed enough. We really need to continue to pray and meet the challenge, that His name may be exalted.
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;
and He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
To understand these two verses, we need to keep them within their context. If you notice the preceding verses, you find how the whole creation groans for that day, and how even we who have the firstfruits of the Spirit also groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption.
In other words, the whole creation is groaning and waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. Those who are the children of God are groaning in their spirit for the same thing: that we may grow up into sonship.
Under that kind of atmosphere, we find these two verses: “And in like manner the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity.” We do feel that there is much infirmity and weakness in us as we think of this matter of sonship—that we may be conformed to the image of God’s Son, that He may be the firstborn among many brethren.
As we think of this objective before us, we do feel there is much infirmity in us. We find that many things around us, and even within us, are somehow trying to pull us down, slow our progress in the Lord, and hinder us from being changed, transformed, and conformed to the image of Christ.
This weakness, or infirmity, is a general weakness. We do feel that there is much weakness within us in view of what the Lord is calling us to and in view of what we are aspiring for.
Of all the weaknesses, there is one weakness that is most evident: the weakness in prayer.
When we are surrounded by circumstances that seem contradictory to that which God is calling us to, this is the time that we can overcome through prayer. Yet we find that in this area of prayer, we are the weakest.
We know we should pray. We know that without prayer we cannot get through. But somehow we find that not only do we not know what to pray or how to pray; sometimes we do not even feel like praying. This is the weakest of all our weaknesses.
If it depended upon us to pray and to pray through, I think it would be very, very sad. But thank God for one thing: in our weakness, there is the Holy Spirit.
Brothers and sisters, sometimes when we come to this area of prayer, we forget the Holy Spirit. It is as if we must struggle to pray, and we must pray the best prayer—the perfect prayer, the prayer that will touch God’s heart, change our circumstances, change ourselves, move mountains, and move even the heart and arm of God.
Oftentimes we think that we must depend upon prayer because we know we should pray. But we forget the Holy Spirit. We forget that the Holy Spirit, who dwells in us, is to come to our aid in this very area of prayer.
We tend to depend upon ourselves to pray rather than depend upon the Holy Spirit to pray. We may not be conscious of it, but we do neglect the Holy Spirit in our prayers.
The Scripture says that the Spirit “helpeth our infirmity.” The Holy Spirit will help us in this weakness of prayer, but He is not going to substitute for us.
It does not mean that, because there is the Holy Spirit, He will simply pray for us. It is true that the Spirit Himself makes intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered, because He intercedes for saints according to God. The Holy Spirit does intercede for us, but not in the sense that He substitutes for us or does it without our involvement.
The Holy Spirit does not pray for us without our praying too. It is very evident that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, but He intercedes for us in us.
He who knows the mind of God intercedes for us according to God. Yet God is the One who searches the hearts. “He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit.”
So you find that our hearts and the mind of the Spirit work together. We are not praying alone, nor does the Holy Spirit intercede alone. It is the cooperation of our hearts with the mind of the Spirit.
In other words, we need to have hearts before God. Our hearts must be burdened, open, and willing. As our hearts are before the Lord, then the Holy Spirit who dwells in us will help us to pray according to God.
If our heart is not there, we cannot expect the Holy Spirit to help us in our prayer. Our heart must be there.
In one sense, we do know what to pray for—that is, in a general sense. We know that we should pray for maturity and for the manifestation of the sons of God.
But specifically, we do not know. We know in a general sense the direction in which our prayer should go, but in particular occasions and particular cases, we do not know what to pray for or how to pray as is fitting.
This is the area in which the Holy Spirit will come to our aid. If we have no heart before God, if we do not care whether we grow spiritually or are transformed and conformed, if we have no desire for the purpose of God or the manifestation of the sons of God, then we cannot expect the Holy Spirit to help us in our prayers.
But if we have a heart for the Lord, for His interests, and for His work in our lives, in the church, and in the world—if our hearts are really burdened before Him—and we do not know exactly what to pray for or how to pray as is fitting, then the Holy Spirit will come to our aid.
He will make intercession for us according to God. When we pray, we tend to pray according to what we feel and what we think. But when the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, He intercedes according to God, because He is God and God knows the mind of the Spirit.
Sometimes it is unutterable, like a groaning which cannot be uttered. But at other times it can be uttered. So it does not mean that when the Holy Spirit comes to our aid in prayer, it must always be merely groaning and unutterable.
I know that in some places people try to groan because they take hold of this verse. But that may be people groaning, not the Holy Spirit groaning.
It is true that sometimes the Spirit is praying and our spirit is cooperating, but our mind does not have the understanding. Therefore, it comes out as groanings which cannot be uttered.
But at other times, not only does our spirit respond to the Holy Spirit, but the mind of the Spirit is made known to our mind. When that is the case, we can pray intelligently. We do not need to groan; we can utter plain words, and the effect before God is the same.
What we need to do is this: as we come together to pray, brothers and sisters, is our heart here? Is our heart open to the Lord? Is our heart willing? Is our heart burdened?
If our heart is open, willing, and burdened, we will feel our weakness because we do not know exactly how to pray or what to pray for as is fitting. Then we can trust the Holy Spirit to give us direction, show us His mind, and—even when we cannot understand it with our mind—enable our spirit to cooperate with Him.
Let us look to the Holy Spirit for help. I think it would be a great encouragement to us. Sometimes we hesitate to pray because we do not know what to pray or how to pray.
But if we know that the Holy Spirit is with us, that He is ready to give help, to act, to aid us—if we simply cast ourselves upon Him and let the Holy Spirit come in as we cooperate with Him—we will find that He intercedes according to God.
I hope this will be an encouragement to us. No one should feel that he knows how to pray. If we know how to pray or what to pray for, probably we are praying by ourselves.
If we are really burdened before the Lord, we have to acknowledge that we have an infirmity. We do not know. But that should not hinder us from praying. On the contrary, it should encourage us to pray.
If we give ourselves to the Lord and trust the Holy Spirit, He is here, and He is waiting to pray in us, for us, and through us. May the Lord really help us tonight.
And when He opened the seventh seal, there followed a silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
And I saw the seven angels that stand before God; and there were given unto them seven trumpets.
And another angel came and stood over the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should add it unto the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand.
And the angel taketh the censer; and he filled it with the fire of the altar, and cast it upon the earth: and there followed thunders, and voices, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
Heaven was prepared to make a move. But before that move was made, there was silence in heaven for half an hour.
The silence was not because heaven was not going to make any move. Heaven was prepared to move. But the silence meant that heaven had to wait for something to happen before that move could be made.
Everything was ready in heaven, but there was a suspense, waiting for something on earth to happen first. What was to happen? The prayer of the saints.
Heaven was waiting for the saints to pray. After there was prayer on earth, heaven answered the prayers on earth. Immediately, there were voices, thunders, lightnings, and an earthquake. The move began.
This is the principle of prayer: God, or heaven, must initiate. Prayer does not begin on earth; prayer is initiated in heaven. But after heaven initiates, it waits until earth responds. When earth responds in prayer, heaven answers the prayer.
The principle of prayer is that it begins in heaven. Heaven discloses its will to some people on earth—to the saints on earth—because only the saints can know the will of heaven.
Heaven has a will. It reveals its will to the saints, waiting for the saints to take up heaven’s will and discharge it in prayer. Then heaven answers the prayer of the saints and does the things which heaven has decided to do.
If you read Matthew 18:18 in the original, this is what it really means.
Verily I say unto you, What things soever ye shall bind on earth shall be having been bound in heaven: and what things soever ye shall loose on earth shall be having been loosed in heaven.
Oftentimes we think, by reading this Scripture, that earth has to make the first move and heaven responds to the move upon the earth. But in the original, what we bind on earth shall be what has already been bound in heaven, and what we loose on earth shall be what has already been loosed in heaven.
In other words, heaven initiates. Then earth takes this up in prayer, and heaven answers the prayer on earth. That is the order.
If we see this, I think we realize how important the prayers of the saints are. If the saints do not pray, even heaven cannot move for the will of God to be done on earth.
It depends very much upon the prayers of the saints. God is waiting. Heaven is silent for half an hour, waiting to see whether the saints will respond—whether there will be prayers offered, cooperation, sympathy, and one mind among the saints with heaven.
After that is done, immediately you find heaven makes that move. What we bind on earth has already been bound in heaven, and what we loose on earth has already been loosed in heaven. But the actual binding and loosing will not happen until we have bound and loosed on the basis of what heaven has bound and loosed.
That is the mystery of prayer. It is a tremendous responsibility.
When we realize the significance of the prayers of the saints, and the weight that heaven places upon those prayers, sometimes we feel overwhelmed. If heaven did not care whether we prayed or not, or if our prayers did not carry much weight for the will of God to be done on earth as it is in heaven, then perhaps we would feel that we could pray casually.
But when we realize that heaven depends upon us to pray for its action, it almost overwhelms us. Who are we? What is the condition of our prayer? Our prayers are so feeble. We do not know how to pray or what to pray for.
Not only is there the sin of prayerlessness—we do not pray as we should—but even if we pray, we ourselves know how feeble and weak our prayers are. Yet heaven depends on our prayers. There will be no movement; all is silent, though everything is ready.
What can we do? If we do not know the importance of prayer, probably we dare to pray. But when we realize the significance of prayer, it makes us ask, “What can we do? How can we pray as we should? How can our prayers be effective?”
This is where Revelation 8:3 helps us:
And another angel came and stood over the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should add it unto the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
The prayers of the saints are strengthened. Much incense was given to add to the prayers of the saints, and that gave them efficacy. In other words, the prayers of the saints are weak and ineffective. Much incense was given to make our prayers effective before God.
What is this incense? In Revelation 5:8, the incense is the prayers of the saints. But the incense in Revelation 8:3 is added to the prayers of the saints.
The prayers of the saints are like incense ascending to God, but our prayers are too weak. Heaven cannot depend upon our weak prayers, so much incense is added to give efficacy.
If, according to the interpretation, incense in Revelation 5:8 refers to prayer, then the incense in Revelation 8:3 also refers to prayer. Whose prayer? The prayer of our great High Priest. Amen.
Here you find our Lord Jesus, who is risen, who is ascended, and who is our High Priest, ever living to make intercession for us. That is the much incense. He adds His prayers to our prayers, and that gives them efficacy.
We know that however weak our prayers are, they will be answered because there is One who adds His prayer to ours.
You remember that our Lord Jesus said in John 11:41:
Father, I thank Thee that Thou heardest Me.
And I knew that Thou hearest Me always.
In other words, the prayers of our Lord Jesus are always heard. Even when He was on earth, His prayers were heard. Now He is at the right hand of the Father; how much more will His prayer be heard.
His prayers are added to our prayers, and that gives our prayers the efficacy that we need. So, brothers and sisters, be encouraged. No matter how weak our prayers are, and even when we pray wrongly, when His incense is added to ours, it makes it right.
That gives us courage to pray. On the one hand, when you realize the importance of prayer, you dare not pray. But on the other hand, when you see the work of our High Priest today—He ever lives making intercession and never ceases—you find that He puts His prayers into our prayers. Then action begins.
I can never forget something that happened once on a steamboat. On a large ship, in a sitting room, there was a grand piano. People were sitting there, reading and doing various things.
A little girl climbed onto the stool and began to play. She did not know how to play the piano. She simply struck notes at random and made such noise that the people in the sitting room could not read and did not know what to do.
Suddenly, a man stood up. He went to the piano and sat down beside the girl. Whenever the girl struck a note, he struck notes to accompany it and made beautiful music. Everybody enjoyed it.
After a while, when the girl stopped playing, he stood up and said, “You ought to thank that girl for the good music you have heard.” That man was a musician.
I never forget that story, because every time I feel my prayers are poor, I say, “Lord, You accompany them and make them good.” Every time I speak and feel that I have failed, I say the same thing: “Lord, make it good.”
This is our courage, our confidence, and our encouragement.
I want to encourage brothers and sisters. Sometimes you do not dare to open your mouth. In a prayer time like this, we want all the brothers and sisters to have a chance.
It should not always be only a few brothers and sisters praying. Perhaps they can pray better; that may be true. You may not be able to pray as they do, but the Lord knows. He will add much incense to your prayer.
Some brothers and sisters may pray very well, and the Lord may not need to add much incense. But if you do not know how to pray, the Lord will put in more incense. So be encouraged.
Even if your prayer is not very good, even if you have only a few words and are not very musical, He will make it heavenly music. So be encouraged.
I hope that every brother and sister will share in this. Even if you do not know how, when a burden is mentioned, take it up. Look to the Lord and say a word or two. The Lord will add much incense to that, and heaven will hear.
What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.
Else if thou bless with the spirit, how shall he that filleth the place of the unlearned say the Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he knoweth not what thou sayest?
For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified.
We know that this chapter deals with the assembly of God’s people. Therefore, what is mentioned here about prayer does not refer to our personal, private prayer. It refers to corporate prayer, as we come together to pray.
It is mentioned here: “I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray also with the understanding.” Even though it is “I” who prays, even though it is an individual who is praying, no one prays merely as an individual.
In other words, I will pray, but as I pray, I am representing all the brothers and sisters. The Spirit of God may use me as His mouthpiece to utter a prayer; yet when I am praying, I do not pray as an individual. I am praying as one representing all the brothers and sisters.
Because of this, there are two things essential to such prayer. One is that I must pray with the spirit. The other is that I must also pray with the understanding.
As we gather here, we believe that the Holy Spirit is directing this time. It is important for us to remember that whenever we come together to pray, the Holy Spirit is here. He is directing us to pray.
As the Spirit moves upon different individuals, these individuals respond with prayers. As the Holy Spirit gives burden to our spirit, and as our spirit is burdened, then we pray.
To put it more simply, our prayer is not merely lip service. Our prayer must come from the heart. As our heart is touched by the Spirit of God, we pour out our heart before the Lord.
But because we are praying with our brothers and sisters, we must not only pray with the spirit; we must also pray with the mind, that is, with the understanding.
Sometimes our spirit is burdened, and as in Romans 8, we do not know what to pray or how to pray, but the Spirit within us groans. The groaning of the Spirit is known to God, but it is not known to the brothers and sisters who may be with us.
Therefore, when we come together to pray, not only must our spirit be burdened and touched, but we must utter and discharge our burden with plain words—words that can be understood.
We must understand what we are praying, and our brothers and sisters must also understand what we are praying, because we are praying in a representative way. If we are alone, we may pray with the spirit, and sometimes with groanings which cannot be uttered. But when we are praying with brothers and sisters, we have to pray with the spirit and also with the understanding.
When we are praying, we expect our brothers and sisters to join in with “Amen.” The very fact that “Amen” is expected from the brothers and sisters proves that whoever is praying is praying for the whole company.
As a person prays in the spirit and with understanding, the brothers and sisters who hear such prayer will be touched by the Spirit of God. As they are touched, they will respond with “Amen.” In other words, it is as if they all pray.
Can we pray together? If any brother or sister is praying and you find that you understand, that you are touched in your spirit, and that this is the very same thing and the very same word that you would want to utter—if it is a burden with which the Lord has burdened you—then respond with “Amen.”
Do not be silent. Of course, we do not need to shout so loudly as to make the prayer unheard. But we need to respond with “Amen” to show that we are one with our brothers and sisters.
What he is praying is what I would pray. Thank God that the Spirit of God has used my brother or sister as the mouthpiece, and I fully agree with it.
Whenever your spirit is touched and you feel that this is what you would pray if you were given the opportunity, do not hesitate to respond with “Amen.” That very “Amen” strengthens the prayer and shows that we are truly praying as well.
Of course, when we are praying, we are praying to God. I think this is the first basic matter: we are not praying to our brothers and sisters.
Even though it is so basic, sometimes it affects us. Sometimes when we are praying, we are so conscious of our brothers and sisters that we try to put in certain words for their sake, but that is a waste.
Sometimes we are so conscious of our brothers and sisters that we do not dare to utter our prayer because we are afraid we do not have beautiful words. That is unnecessary. We are praying to God.
As the Spirit touches us, and as we are burdened, we pray. We are praying to God, not to our brothers and sisters. But they are there, they hear, and they are supposed to join in with your prayer.
There is a byproduct to prayer. Of course, as we pray, we expect God to answer our prayer because we are praying to Him. But if we pray with the spirit and with understanding, the byproduct is that our brothers and sisters will be edified.
Is that not marvelous? Sometimes we think that only teaching, ministry, or ministering the word will edify the church. But remember: prayer will edify the church.
Teaching or ministering the word is directed toward our brothers and sisters. It comes from God and should edify and build up our brothers and sisters with the word of grace. But praying is unto God, and yet, as we pray to God, our brothers and sisters are edified and built up.
In what way? They realize that the same Spirit of God is moving upon the hearts of His people. Sometimes you have a burden but do not have the words to discharge it, and the Lord uses your brother or sister to utter it. That edifies you.
Also, as your brother or sister is praying and you really join yourself with them as one, you find that we are built up together. That is the byproduct of prayer.
Prayer should build up God’s people. Do not go away from a prayer meeting and complain that the prayer was poor, mechanical, or formal. If prayer is merely mechanical and formal, it will not edify; that is true.
But if we are really praying with the spirit and with understanding, it ought to edify every one of us and build us up.
That is the reason the psalmist says in Psalm 19:14:
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart,
be acceptable in Thy sight,
O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer.
“The words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart”—not only praying with the spirit, which is the meditation of my heart, but also praying with understanding, which results in the words of my mouth. Both are important.
Sometimes, when we pray together, someone asks, “Can I say, ‘I pray’ or ‘I ask,’ or should it always be ‘we pray’ and ‘we ask’?”
Technically, when we pray together, we would say “we,” because we are praying together. You are not praying alone. But sometimes you can say, “I pray” or “I ask.”
When you say that, remember that you are saying it in a representative way, not merely as an individual. You are not praying your private, individual prayer. You are praying on behalf of all the brothers and sisters.
May the Lord help us when we pray together.