I would like to ask you to turn to John’s Gospel, Chapter 2. We will read a story from John Chapter 2, beginning in Verse 13.
And the Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
And He found in the temple the sellers of oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers sitting.
Having made a scourge of cords, He cast them all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the change of the money changers and overturned the tables.
And He said to the sellers of the doves, “Take these things hence; make not My Father’s house a house of merchandise.”
And His disciples remembered that it was written, “The zeal of Thy house devours Me.”
Now turn with me to a similar story in Matthew 21. We will begin at Verse 10.
And as He entered into Jerusalem, the whole city was moved, saying, “Who is this?”
And the crowd said, “This is Jesus, the prophet who is from Nazareth of Galilee.”
Jesus entered into the temple of God and cast out all that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers and the seats of those that sold the doves.
And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers.”
And then, finally, in the same book, Matthew 18. I will just begin reading in Verse 15 to get the context.
But if thy brother sin against thee, go, reprove him between thee and him alone. And if he hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
But if he do not hear thee, take with thee one or two besides, that every matter may stand upon the word of two witnesses or of three.
But if he will not listen to them, tell it to the assembly. And if also he will not listen to the assembly, let him be to thee as one of the nations and the tax gatherer.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on the earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on the earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Again, I say to you, that if two of you shall agree on the earth concerning any matter, whatsoever it may be that they shall ask, it shall come to them from My Father who is in the heavens.
For where two or three are gathered together unto My name, there am I in the midst of them.
Let us just pray.
Lord, once again, as we come to You and read Your Word, we confess our utter and complete dependence on You. We say again to You, because we believe it with all of our heart, You alone have the words of eternal life.
We are asking again today, as we open Your Word, as we consider these things which the Holy Spirit left for our edification, that You would open our inner eye and that You would open our inner ear, that we would see what the things are concerning You in these verses, and that we would hear what the things are concerning You in these verses.
Lord, speak, for we wait in Your presence and we call upon Your name. Amen.
Well, we have been doing a brief series on this matter of corporate prayer. The whole burden sprang out of this one phrase from Matthew 21, where the Lord Jesus said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer.”
To me, that is an extraordinary statement. When the Lord Jesus had a chance to say anything, or everything, about His house, He concluded with these thoughts. He said, “This is what My house shall be. This is what it shall be like. You have made it a den of robbers, but My house shall be called a house of prayer.”
Well, that is where the burden came from—this one verse. I think most of you know that last time we looked at two of the three points. And, as you already know, I am a fool for alliteration, so I hope that helps you, as it does quicken me to remember things.
We looked at the priority of corporate prayer. We saw how both God the Father, in the Old Testament, when we looked at the dedication of Solomon’s temple, put an emphasis on prayer. And when the Lord Jesus spoke of His church—both times, the only times He mentioned His church directly—He concluded with this emphasis on prayer.
Then, when He cleansed the temple the last time He came to Jerusalem, as we read in Matthew 21, He made this phenomenal statement: “My house shall be called a house of prayer.”
Now, those things should give us some sense of the priority that our Lord Jesus and God the Father put upon this matter of corporate prayer. Sometimes I think our problem is that our priorities are different from His priority. But when you look at the Word of God, when you consider the Word of God, and when you look specifically at the house of God, you see this connection—this unbreakable connection—between the house of God and prayer.
And I believe that shows us something of what the priority is.
The second thing we looked at and considered was the principle of corporate prayer. And I think we owe—a number of you may not like me saying this, but I will say it anyway—I think we owe a great debt to Brother Nee for what he shared with us in his book, The Prayer Ministry of the Church.
I read to you a quote from Lance last time, that Brother Nee says—or, well, Lance said—that when it comes to personal prayer and private devotion, there are a multitude of books. There are many good books. I personally like the books of E. M. Bounds. I often look at Bounds’ books on prayer—his several different books.
But our brother Lance said this extraordinary thing. He said, when it comes to corporate prayer, there is very little written, and it is much less practiced. And that is an amazing thing to say.
He went on to say that one book seemed to influence him. And Brother Lance, who, you know, I think has devoted much of his ministry and much of his labor to this matter of corporate prayer, said Brother Nee’s book, The Prayer Ministry of the Church, is the book on corporate prayer.
Now, I know some of you probably have not read that book, but I would like to encourage you to read that book. And Brother Nee discovered, in his labor before the Lord, this principle about corporate prayer: that the earth governs heaven.
Now, that seems extraordinary. You would think, on the surface, that is wrong—that heaven governs the earth. But when you look at what the Lord Jesus spoke in both Matthew 16, when He spoke of the universal church, and Matthew 18, when He spoke of the local church, He said:
Whatsoever you bind on the earth shall be bound in the heavens; and whatsoever you loose on the earth shall be loosed in the heavens.
And He made this grand statement that, therefore, the earth governs heaven.
Now listen to me. This is my burden. The Lord is looking for a vessel that shares His sympathy. The Lord is looking for a vessel, a tool, that can bear His burdens, that can take up the things He is interested in, that can be concerned about the things He is concerned about, and have passion for the things He has passion about.
And I believe that is precisely what these verses in Matthew 16 and Matthew 18 have to do with. The Lord Jesus is looking for that corporate prayer vessel.
And I wonder—we are busy about many things, as our brother read, sort of like Martha—but I wonder if we really have taken up this charge to be that corporate prayer vessel. This is the burden that the Lord seems to place upon my heart.
There are actually two temple cleansings. One we read in Matthew 21. It is the one from which we take our text. It occurs in all three of the Synoptic Gospels. It occurs in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
But then there is a second temple cleansing that we read this time, which we did not read last time. It is in John 2. And I wanted to bring that into our time of fellowship today as we take up this third point on the practice of corporate prayer, because I think it is relevant.
Now, in John 2, this is at the beginning of the Lord’s ministry, the beginning of His earthly ministry. This is soon after the miracle at the wedding at Cana of Galilee. I think you all know the story, when He transformed the water into wine, and it was the best wine.
But shortly after that, He went to Jerusalem and He went into the temple, and He called it “My Father’s house.” He went into that temple, overturned the tables of the money changers, drove out those who sold for the sacrifices, and drove them out.
Never have we seen before this point such passion as we see in the Lord Jesus. And it says simply this: the disciples remembered from Psalm 69:9, “The zeal of Thy house devours Me.”
The disciples remembered that. That is what was quickened to them when they saw the Lord’s passion for the Father’s house.
And I believe, dear ones, there is one very clear lesson for us out of this first cleansing of the temple: the Lord has a passion for His Father’s house.
Now, I believe we are to likewise have that same passion. If we have no passion for the things that He has passion for, if there is no inclination for the things He is inclined to, if there is no stirring in our heart over the things He is stirred about, then I wonder if we have really beheld the Lord.
So, one thing—the first thing—is that He had a passion for the Father’s house.
The second thing, in Matthew 21, or in Mark or Luke, is that second cleansing. Now, this happens at the end of the Lord’s ministry, near the end of the Lord’s earthly ministry.
I recently had a sister come to me after Wednesday night prayer meeting and say, “I did not realize they were two different events.” But they are. One happens at the beginning of His earthly ministry, and it shows His passion for the things of God. The other happens at the end of the Lord’s ministry.
And, you know, it seems the same things take place—the same cleansing, the same purging—and He concludes this time, “My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers.”
Now notice the difference. This time He says, “My house,” not “the Father’s house.” Something had come into the Lord Jesus. Something of the passion of God had taken over the Lord Jesus, had worked in His being, and in the end He did not say, “My Father’s house shall be called a house of prayer.” He said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.”
Now, I think this second cleansing shows us the purpose of God’s house. In the first, we see the passion for God’s house. In the second cleansing, we see the purpose of God’s house.
Now, I wonder. I had someone say to me, “Well, all we need to do is love the Lord.” Now, I agree with that. I am not in disharmony with that. But I simply believe, brothers and sisters, from these two incidents, we should take something from the Word of God that is very real: if we love the Lord, we will love the things of the Lord.
It is equivalent to what the Lord Jesus said in John 14:15:
If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
Now, I do not know about you, but I used to always struggle with that verse. I used to think, “Lord, You know I cannot keep Your commandments. Lord, You know it is impossible for me to keep Your commandments.”
And then it seemed the Lord breathed a new revelation to me: simply, if we love Him, we will love His things. His passion will be our passion. His purpose will be our purpose.
These things are not contradictory. As a matter of fact, they are fulfilling. One is a single love for Christ; the second is loving what He loves.
Now, do you understand that? I think we need to make that absolutely clear.
I believe, in the end, we are to have these two things guide us, just as they seem to have guided the Lord Jesus: a passion for His Father’s house, and seeing that purpose for His house and entering into it.
Now, the last time, when we looked at the priority of corporate prayer, I think we need to see that very clearly. I think we need to see the priority. And if we see the priority, I believe God will use it to transform both us and our prayer time. But not seeing the priority, it will not be important to us.
So may the Lord show us the priority. We see it, as I said, in the cleansing of the temple—how He made it His priority. We see it in His concluding remarks about the church in Matthew 16 and Matthew 18. And then we see it in the dedication of the temple of Solomon in 2 Chronicles 6 and 7.
Look, if you will, just turn with me, because I want us to emphasize this before we get into the practice. Turn to 2 Chronicles. I want to read you God’s conclusion: 2 Chronicles 7, beginning in Verse 12.
This was after Solomon had concluded that great prayer in the temple of God. And if you read—and I ask you to—if you would read 2 Chronicles 6 and 7, you see this emphasis about how the people of God are called to prayer toward this place, in whatever their condition.
Whether they are overrun by the enemy, whether they are lacking in blessing, or whatever they are lacking, there was one solution advanced by Solomon as he prayed: that they would pray toward this place, and God would hear their prayer.
Now read 2 Chronicles 7. This is the conclusion. Are you with me? People are looking confused. Second Chronicles 7—did I not say that? Yeah, Verses 12 through 17. I still have people looking at me confused. Beginning in Verse 12.
Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him, “I have heard thy prayer, and I have chosen for Myself this place for a house of sacrifice.
If I shut up the heavens, that there be no rain; or if I command the locusts to devour the land; or if I send pestilence among My people;
and My people, who are called by My name, humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and forgive their sin, and heal their land.
Now Mine eyes shall be open, and Mine ears attentive to the prayer made in this place.
For I have now chosen and hallowed this house, that My name may be there forever; and Mine eyes and My heart shall be there perpetually.”
This is God’s conclusion. I think maybe that shows us His priority. After Solomon had finished praying in the dedication of the temple—this extraordinary prayer—then God concluded that this whole house was to be a house of prayer.
Then the second thing we looked at is this principle of corporate prayer. I have already shared with you the debt I think we owe to Brother Nee—the Lord through Brother Nee—but I would like to read another story that I think illustrates this principle so well.
Turn to Exodus 17. Most of you know this story from the Old Testament. It is in Verses 8 through 16, and I will not read them all, but let me just paraphrase so you will know.
This is where Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. I think many of you know this story. Moses said to Joshua in Verse 9, “Choose us men, and go out and fight with Amalek.” That was the charge.
Then it says later in Verse 10 that Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, as Moses raised his hand—and it says he went there with the staff of God—as Moses raised his hand, Israel prevailed. And when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
So Aaron and Hur came along to strengthen Moses. I think you know the story. They sat Moses upon a rock—that has all kinds of figurative speech behind it—they sat him upon a rock. Then they lifted up his hands and the staff of God, so that, in the end, Israel prevailed in the valley.
Now here is the story: it was not what happened in the valley that caused the victory; it was what happened upon the hill that caused the victory.
Now, do you understand? I think many of us do not understand. We just get right into service. We think the battle is the issue, but really it is who was praying up on the hill.
And there, three of these representatives of corporate prayer went up there—Aaron, Hur, and Moses—and they held out the staff of God. They proclaimed God’s will. And as they held up that staff, there was victory in the valley.
To me, that is the principle of corporate prayer. Do we see it? How much what goes on on the hill controls what goes on in the valley. And this is what we are called to.
Well, I think everybody now understands sort of the burden. Now we will look today at just three points on the practice of corporate prayer. The reason I stopped last time is that it would have been a very abbreviated view of these things, and I wanted to take at least a little bit more time than ten minutes.
But I believe, in the end, corporate prayer is not a theory. Some people have all the theory. Some people have even read the books. Some people can tell you all the principles. But in the end, it is all about practice.
In the end, it is all about: are we praying as the church of God? In the end, it is all about whether we are really functioning and being exercised in this matter of corporate prayer. That is what matters.
So I think what we need to do, in the end, is understand this matter of corporate prayer. Now, the Lord Jesus, when He talked about the practical side of corporate prayer, spoke about it in Matthew 18.
And that is because, practically speaking, corporate prayer has to happen in the local church. It cannot happen in Matthew 16, if you will let me say it that way, where we just speak of the universal church, where we have this loose connection with all the saints and say, “Oh, I am one with all the saints.”
Corporate prayer is so practical that the Lord Jesus only spoke about its practice when He spoke about the local church. And so, when you begin Matthew 18, it is interesting to me that the Lord Jesus begins with a problem.
I think people sometimes still—it is a mystery to me—they get all flustered and excited when they discover problems in the local church. But when the Lord Jesus spoke about the local church, He said there will always be problems. He said, “If your brother sin against you.”
Now listen: if you are only gathering with the universal church, wherever that might be, however that might be, you will never have a brother sin against you, because you are one with all the saints somewhere out there in the ether.
But if you come into the local church, if you come into the expression where the saints are being built up together, you will have a brother sin against you. Now, I am sorry if you have not experienced that yet, but you just may experience it if you stick around.
Some people get all bothered. They cannot believe it. They say, “Can you believe that brother sinned against me? Can you believe what he said about me? Can you believe what he thinks about me?”
The Lord Jesus said, “This is the local church: if your brother sin against you.”
Now, I think that tells us a lot. The practice of corporate prayer is in the local assembly. That is where it is meant to be.
Now, I do not mean by that you cannot pray with a brother and sister in a corporate way and agree together in the name of the Lord. I do not mean that at all. But when the bottom line comes, when the Lord Jesus spoke about corporate prayer, when the Lord Jesus concluded all of His thoughts about His church, He made it very clear that the practice is to be in the local assembly.
Now, there are three things we are going to look at. First of all, we are going to consider this word agree. Turn with me to Matthew 18 again. We will just stay in these last few verses of Matthew 18 and look at Verse 19.
Again, I say to you, if two of you shall agree on earth concerning any matter—
That is the word I want you to underline in your Bible. I know some of you refuse to underline in your Bible, but would you do me a favor? Just underline that word in your Bible: agree.
That is the first vital element of the practical side of corporate prayer. Now, I want to tell a few things that I think may make this a little clearer, because sometimes I think it all still sounds like principle and we never get to the heart of the practice.
This word agree in Greek is sumphōneō. Now, I am no Greek expert, but I know this: this word is the very word from which we take our English word symphony. It means to be together. It means to be in harmony.
Now, I do not know about you guys, if you have ever been to the symphony. I remember—I do not know what year it was—I think in grade school, in the fourth grade, I think we went to Williamsburg, but that is getting a little too far out for me to remember.
But some year, I remember they told me we were going to the symphony. And being a little bit of a wild ass, I did not quite understand this idea of going to the symphony. You know, I thought, “Oh my, the symphony. Yeah, what do you want to go to the symphony for?”
But when I went to the symphony, and I went to the Mosque for the first time, to the Richmond Symphony, all of these instruments were out there. They had such talent, and there was such beauty and such harmony.
And I saw the conductor, the lone conductor up there with his wand, and it seemed to me to be a magic wand. If he pointed the wand over here, the stringed instruments would play. If he pointed the wand over there, the percussion section would play. If he pointed the wand over here, then the horn section would play.
I thought, “This is magic. This is magic. One conductor, one oneness, and complete harmony.”
Now, that is what corporate prayer is to be like. There is one conductor: the Lord Jesus, who is Head over all things to His church. And the Holy Spirit is His wand.
When we come together for this purpose of corporate prayer, the Lord points here and calls one to pray. Then the Lord Jesus points here, by His Holy Spirit, and causes another to pray. And as we pray, each of us has our instrument tuned and ready.
You know, I noticed that too. When we got there, we got there early to get a good seat, and they were all tuning their instruments. Well, that was noise to me. They were just tuning their instruments.
Come and have your instrument tuned before you come to prayer. Now, I do not speak of it—I am not telling everybody to bring a guitar. If you think I am talking about bringing a guitar, I have lost you already, and I need to go backwards and restart.
But bring your instrument—yourself. Have it tuned and ready. Begin to pray at the leading of the conductor alone. You are not to pray your own thing. You are not to play Beethoven while I play somebody else.
You can tell I am such a fan of classical music. But you are not to play this, and you speak your own burden, and I speak my own burden, and someone is praying about Italy, and I am praying about the church. We are to play together in harmony, at the conductor’s movements and from His sheet of music.
I think many people come to corporate prayer and bring their own sheet of music. You can tell they are determined. They are waiting for an opening when we gather to pray, and by golly, they are going to pray. And it may have nothing to do with what we are praying about. They are playing from their own sheet of music.
Better to be silent. Wait.
Now, I remember—I have told you this before—I like jazz. Now, I know a lot of you think less of me because of that. But at least I do not like the hard stuff, like Coltrane. That, you know, is stuff. Yeah, really, people’s eyes are glassing over. I can see it.
But the soft stuff, like Miles Davis—when he plays the trumpet, there is nothing like it. I remember one of my favorite courses in college was the history and aesthetics of jazz. The professor, all he did was sit in front of a keyboard, and it was fantastic. He would just play different music.
Some of it still bothers me, but some of this techno stuff I still do not get. But he said something about jazz, and this has stuck with me as a spiritual lesson. I think it applies to corporate prayer.
He said that jazz is different from any other music in the world. It is the least popular music, for one thing. As a matter of fact, the only time it was ever popular music was in the big-band era. Some of you are old enough to remember that—Dorsey and folks like that.
But he said jazz is different from any other music. It is different from the symphony, because in jazz, what they do, if you have ever gone, is one of the musicians solos while the others fall back. He does his own thing.
As a matter of fact, he does not even go by what is on the page. He completely improvises. And I will never forget that professor said it. It hit me about corporate prayer. He says, “He does his own thing. He composes and he makes music his own way, according to his own feeling.”
You may not have known that about jazz, but no two jazz songs are alike on the same song, because it is total improvisation. But it is based on their feelings. It is based on doing your own thing. It is based on, he said, self-expression and independence.
That is the difference between jazz and the symphony.
Now, you may be upset with me that I like jazz after that. But when we come to pray, do we do our own thing? Do we have our own sheet of music? Are we independent? Is it self-expression? Is it what we feel, when we want to do it?
Or are we able to take up something that is in the Lord’s heart, whether it touches us or not, and pray His prayer at His direction, at His provoking? To me, this is what this word agree means.
Again, I say to you, that if any two of you shall agree on earth touching anything—
What a vital practical principle.
A second word that is similar to that, on this matter of agreement, is the word that occurs almost exclusively in the Book of Acts. It is this phrase: one accord.
It does occur—the word accord occurs—a few places in the Old Testament, and it occurs a few places in the New Testament, but primarily it is in the Book of Acts. And I think there are some really vital lessons concerning the practice of corporate prayer in this phrase, one accord.
The Greek roots for this are together and passion, or hard breathing. You may think I am fixated on a word these last few months, and maybe I am. But first of all, one accord has the sense of being together and having passion.
Now, it is not our passion; it is the things He is concerned about. And when we come in this way with one accord, things happen.
Let me give you just a few examples before we go to the second point. Acts 1:14—and I will read it to you:
These all continued with one accord in prayer, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brethren.
This precedes the birth of the church. Notice, it says, “These all continued with one accord in prayer.” Brothers and sisters, I think there is a practical lesson there. I think there is a lesson we ought to pay attention to.
It says, “These gave themselves.” Now, I wonder, when we look at corporate prayer, is the problem that our prayer is so weak because we are given to too many different things? I think that is precisely what our brother Scott meant this morning when he read that verse.
But it says of these women, Mary the mother of Jesus, and the brethren, that they gave themselves to continual prayer with one accord. And I think, in the end, if there is going to be that practical expression, we have to give ourselves to this prayer.
You may think it strange that Luke mentions the women first. He says, “the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus.” You may think that is odd, but I happen to believe that the prayer of the sisters somehow has the greatest impact.
Now, I am not excluding you brothers. I am one of you. But I can tell you, when this principle, this practical principle of one accord, was first mentioned, what was highlighted was the women: these women, and Mary, with the brethren.
I do not know what you think of Tuesday, when the sisters gather to pray and fellowship about the Word, but I hope they never stop. I think that time is so vital.
Some come together, agree together in the name of the Lord, together with passion, have the same interest, and declare God’s will to be done in the church and in the world.
These women were highlighted. After all, when I think of the assembly here, we owe our existence to some women who did nothing but pray.
They saw people wanting to do this, and people wanting to do that, and wanting to go here and emphasize this and emphasize that. But God put something in their heart, and they gave themselves to prayer with one accord.
This place exists today because of those prayers of a few women.
That is the first incident. The second incident is in Acts 2:1. I will read it again.
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
Now, I think we know the outcome of this. Because these ones came together in one accord, in one place, and practically took up this charge to wait and to pray, things happened, and the church was birthed as a result.
Just think about the implications. You may want to argue with me about this, but in one sense, I do not think it is too strong to say: maybe, just maybe, the church’s birth would not have happened then if it had not been for those five hundred, maybe, in the beginning who saw the Lord, and then those one hundred and twenty who came together and assembled.
With one accord in one place, they had this passion as they gathered together. I think we can learn from this phrase.
Then, in Acts 2:42, we know this verse. It talks about the ongoing life of the newly born church. It is not that complicated, folks. Some people say the church is so complicated. It is not that complicated, folks.
When the Holy Spirit, through Luke, explained the church, He had just some simple things to say:
And they persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in the breaking of bread and prayers.
That was His emphasis at the end: prayers. And then, if you read Acts 2:46-47, listen to this:
And every day, being continually in the temple with one accord, and breaking bread from house to house, they received their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the assembly daily those that were to be saved.
This was the ordinary life of the church. If you want to explain what the church did, how they lived, what they were given to, and how they were exercised, you have to turn to Acts 2:42-47.
But this is what they did: every day, being continually in the temple with one accord.
Now, it seems to me this practical matter of being given, in one accord, and daily, is more than we can take in. But we need to see something of it to enter into the practice of corporate prayer.
I am not saying we have to have a prayer meeting every day, but I am saying they did. And for those that grouse—it is one of my favorite words, by the way—that grouse about an hour of prayer a week, my goodness, how far we have fallen from that house of prayer for all nations.
Well, that is agreement. The second word, it seems to come out again, if you will turn to Matthew 18, is this simple word: ask.
It may be too simple for you, but it is the second practical, vital key that the Lord Jesus brought out. Matthew 18:19b. I remember when John stood up here recently and said something like “19a,” everybody looked at him like he was from a different planet.
But a lot of people who quote the Bible say that. “A” is the first part of the verse; “B” is the second part of the verse. Now, do not look in your Bible for A’s and B’s—you will never find them—but it just means the first or the second part of the verse.
And the Lord Jesus said this in Matthew 18:19b:
Whatsoever it may be that they shall ask, it shall come to them from My Father who is in the heavens.
What an extraordinary promise. Whatsoever there shall be that they may ask, it shall come to them from My Father who is in the heavens.
Brothers and sisters, I think this is a great promise. If we come with our instruments tuned, if we come ready to pray, this is the promise the Lord makes concerning His local church: whatsoever you ask, it will come to pass. It will come to them from My Father who is in heaven.
So it seems to me this second word, ask, is a very vital practical element. You know, James said in James 4:2:
You have not because you ask not.
I believe when the Lord taught on corporate prayer, one of His main emphases was this little three-letter word: ask.
You know, I can hear people, because people have talked to me before and come to me with complaints about others. You do not believe that, do you? But people in the church complain about one another.
They say, “The reason I do not ask is because she prays too much. Put a cork in her.” Or, “The reason I do not pray is because he prays all the time. Give a moment’s space and he is in there—boom. Cannot shut him up.”
Some of you may think that about me.
And I have had people say, “Brother, go to that person and correct them.” And we have. But I think there is another way. I think there is a higher way. I think there is a better way.
Will you come with your instrument tuned? Will you come so full of the Spirit, and give yourself just to some moments of prayer before you ever get here, and say, “Lord, prepare me to be part of that great symphony. Prepare me. Fill me with Your Spirit. Do not let me miss the music. Do not let me miss the burden. Do not let me shy away from what is on Your heart, to what is upon my heart.”
If you will do that, and if you will pray, if you will ask, that problem will solve itself. And I, for one, will be saved the grief of having to correct someone.
Brothers and sisters, this is very practical. When you come to pray, pray. When you come to pray, do what the Lord Jesus said: ask.
Now, I know I have had some even say to me, “Brother, you do not understand. The Lord told me to be quiet.” And I think that is a strange thing. When the Lord Jesus is teaching on this matter of corporate prayer, He says, “Ask.” He does not say, “Be quiet.”
Now, we do not command anybody to pray. We do not make them pray. I have never once twisted somebody’s arm and said, “Pray or scream uncle.” We would never do that.
But if you are not pressed by the Holy Spirit to ask, you are missing a practical point. Ask.
Let everybody come with their instrument tuned. Let everybody pray as the Holy Spirit moves upon the group. Let us pray together in unity, in one accord, in agreement, for the Lord’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. That is what we need to do.
That, to me, seems to be corporate prayer. I think some people leave their instrument in the case. Pull it out of the case.
Sometimes—alright, now I have put some of you to sleep, so the rest of you adults who are not asleep, go to sleep for a moment. Young people, young people, this is very practical. I am not picking on you. It is true of me.
Young people, sometimes I think what we make a mistake in the church. We get different generation things going. We get young people doing this and older people doing that, and prayer is an old people thing. You see? Old people pray. Young people do things.
What I think we need to do is all of us, young and old alike, come and pray. Come and ask. I think it would be wonderful if young people and children come to the corporate prayer meeting. We will get out early enough for you, and begin to ask the Lord together for His will to be done.
I think it would be wonderful. And I was told something, as a matter of fact, recently: if that happens—and we ought to pray that it would—if that happens, please do not go to the young people and say, “Man, that was a tremendous prayer.”
I had a brother who works with young people say, “Do not do that, brother. Do not do that. You just embarrass them. Do not do that.”
So come and pray. Open your case, take out your instrument. However small or however great your prayers, pray to the Lord. Let us agree together, let us flow together to the goodness of the Lord, and let the Lord do a mighty work as the church begins to be that house of prayer for all nations.
I believe this is absolutely essential. I would like to erase the differences between young and old.
I remember when I was saved, brothers and sisters—and I do not want to talk much about myself here—but when I was saved and the Lord brought me into this group of saints, I was so intimidated by their prayers. They were way over my head. I did not know what to do. I was twenty years old.
I did not know what to do, but I began to sense the Lord wanted me to pray, and I began to pray. The first thing I had to do was forget about myself. That is the hardest thing.
How we need to take up the cross and forget about ourselves. We are not there for people to hear us. We are not there for our words to be eloquent. We are not there to get all the English right. We are there simply to ask.
May the Lord help us in this way. If you have never opened your mouth in the assembly, something is wrong.
You know, some people might be condemned about that, but I will say it again: if you do not open your mouth in the assembly, in practice, something is wrong.
Well, let us ask. There are two Greek words, and I think this gives us sort of our great comfort about the Lord when He comes to this matter of asking in corporate prayer.
There are two words often translated in English as ask. Well, there are actually two Greek words. And there is a little push for Darby: if you get the Darby translation and read John 14 through 17, you will begin to see where he shows the different words.
The first is erōtaō, and it simply means the expression of a familiar request to a person where intimacy exists, or equality is assumed or actual. Now, that is too many words for you. Stay with me and you will begin to understand.
That word is translated demand, except in one place, John 14:16, where it is translated beg.
The second word that is often translated into English as ask is aiteō. It is the request of an inferior to a superior.
Now get these straight. The first one is a familiar request from one who has a relationship of intimacy and is actually or assumed equal: demand. The second one, translated ask, is one of a lesser with a relationship to a superior. It is translated ask, not demand.
Now, the disciples used both these words when they spoke of the Lord Jesus. They used both ask and demand. But when it came to the Father, they only used ask, never demand.
But the Lord Jesus always used demand when He spoke to the Father. He had a relationship of intimacy. He has a relationship of equality. You remember in Philippians, He thought equality not a thing to be grasped.
And this is the confidence we have when we ask. The Lord said, “Whatsoever you ask, I will do it.” In John, if you read Chapters 14 through 16, “Whatsoever you ask the Father in My name, I will do it.”
Now, this is the way it works. We ask as a lesser; we ask. Then the Lord Jesus, who is seated at the right hand of God, He demands of the Father, and He says, “Father, will You do this for Me?”
And this is a request the Father will not deny. Do you understand? We ask. We do not demand of the Father. And He goes to the Father and says, “Father, do this.” And the Father does it.
Now, I know you have probably all heard the expression: “It matters who asks.” Well, that is what applies here. This is our confidence.
This is the reason we can be confident, because we know that He said, “Whatsoever you ask in My name, I will do it,” He says. So we can come in supreme confidence, with these great promises, to know that we ask, and He goes to the Father and says, “Father, You said whatever they ask in My name, You will do it.” And the Father says simply, “Yes.”
That is what this word ask means, and that is our confidence.
Let me read you one verse, so I will not go through that whole section. In John 16:26, one verse, I think, will show you what I mean. The Lord said this:
In that day ye shall ask in My name: and I say not unto you, that I will ask the Father for you; for the Father Himself hath affection for you, because ye have affection for Me, and believe that I came from God.
So this, dear brothers and sisters, is that second vital principle, that second vital practical principle: we are to ask.
I think there are many things. I want to encourage you, if you will, to read Brother Lance’s book on the house of prayer, A School of Prayer. Lance says some things in a humorous way that I never could.
He touches upon practical matters that are so real. When you start praying in a corporate prayer meeting, you just know that is real, and you would not know how to say it, but he can say it.
I will never forget when he spoke about people who pray whole sections of the Bible, or quote chapter and verse, and go on and on. I remember the first time I saw that, he screwed up his face, as only he can do, with that funny gaze of his, and he said, “Do you not think He knows the Bible?”
Be careful when you ask. Be careful when you ask. Not to go overboard.
Another thing he said—I think we have heard this from our brothers who have taught us on corporate prayer—is to be careful about praying horizontally. I think you all know what I mean when I say pray horizontally. It is praying at men.
You know, as soon as somebody begins to do it, you know they are doing it. They say, “Lord, You just need to teach us this. And Lord, You just need to know that sister. You need to show us what we ought to be doing here. And Lord, You ought to be—” And they are preaching as they pray.
I think we need to be very careful. There is a difference—I keep losing things—but you need to understand that our prayer is to be vertical. We are not to be praying at the saints.
I remember one brother praying on and on at the saints, and when he finished, I was exhausted. So may the Lord help us as we learn how to ask together.
I believe this is a vital practical element that we need. Now let us look, finally, at the last one. It is brief, but it goes through every one of these. If you do not understand it, you miss the Lord’s whole heart, I believe.
The third word is assembled. In Matthew 18:20, it says:
For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.
This is what He concludes with: where two or three are gathered, or assembled, in My name, there am I in the midst of them.
Now, throughout this matter of corporate prayer, this is a key. When we begin to look at agree, it is agreeing together. When we begin to look at one accord, it is together with passion. You cannot have this corporate prayer without being together.
When you look at this ask, it is asking together. So the Lord Jesus ended with this emphasis. He said, “Wherever two or three of you shall gather in My name, there am I in the midst of them—in the midst of you.”
This is the ending practical emphasis: assembly.
Now, this practical instruction, this word assembly, means called-out ones. I think everybody knows that. I had a brother telling me—because he was correcting me, actually, very proud of his Greek—and he said to me, because I said “called-out ones gathered together,” “No, no, no, no, no. It is not called-out ones gathered together. It is called out.”
And in one sense, it is true. Ek means out. Ekklesia means called. But when you look at Strong’s definition of this, it was always understood in Greek to be the assembly that was gathered for the state’s business.
They came together, called out, assembled, and came together. There, in that corporate assembly, they did the state’s business. Now, that is what corporate prayer is.
So it is not wrong to say the assembly, the church, means called-out ones assembled together. It is precisely right.
As a matter of fact, whenever you look at it in the Old Testament, it means the same thing: assembled together. Whenever you look at it—I think it is in Acts 19—you remember when such a fuss was made over the idols when Paul went to Ephesus? Even then, it talked about, “We will settle this in the assembly,” not meaning the church, but the town gathering.
So I think unless we understand God’s heart for gathering, we will never enter into this practice of corporate prayer.
I had one brother say to me—I heard this actually—it was concerning Hebrews 10:25. You know Hebrews 10:25. It says:
Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, as the custom of some is.
You know that verse. I heard a brother say to another brother, who used to meet regularly and no longer meets, “You are misunderstanding that verse. You are taking it out of context by encouraging people to gather together.”
I was dumbfounded. Now, I know I might not be the sharpest saw in the shed, but what other context is there?
And so much the more, as ye see the day drawing nigh.
Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as the practice of some is.
Notice this. If I cannot make this point any stronger, I will try to, and I will do the best I can. It was the Lord’s final emphasis. That is how important it is. Some of us neglect it altogether.
I will read you a quote. I think this quote is so precious, from Brother Nee, in his book The Prayer Ministry of the Church:
Herein do we see the position on which the church stands before God, that we previously spoke about. Let us not relegate the church to a place where she is viewed as being merely a meeting. No, the church is a group of people who have been redeemed by the precious blood, regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and have meanwhile committed themselves into God’s hands, gladly accepting His will, gladly standing on the earth to maintain His testimony. That is the church.
In that is the practical importance of gathering together.
He made this greatest promise:
Again, I say to you, if two of you shall agree on earth concerning any matter, whatsoever it may be that they shall ask, it shall come to them from My Father who is in the heavens.
For where two or three are gathered together unto My name, there am I in the midst of them.
How extraordinary.
It reminded me of that story once again in 2 Chronicles 7, on Solomon’s temple. When you read at the beginning of Chapter 7, it says this, Verse 1:
And when Solomon had ended praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the house.
And the priests could not enter into the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house.
And all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord filled the house; and they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshiped and thanked the Lord, for He is good, for His lovingkindness endureth forever.
Now, I wonder if the Lord, in New Testament language, is not saying something that was done in the Old Testament. When you gather in this way, and when you commit yourself to this, the fire of My presence will be your reward.
Brothers and sisters, what more could we ask than the fire of His presence? I told you, I have been reading Brother Tozer lately. And he said this—it has stuck with me. Some things stick with me.
He said, “Where is the fire of His presence?”
It is to be the amen to corporate prayer. For where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in your midst. The fire of His presence.
May the Lord help us as we think about the practice of corporate prayer. I do not want this to be theory. I hope you understand that I have tried to be exercised to share with you both some principles and the priority that I see in the Word of God, but also the practice of it.
I believe if we give ourselves to this exercise, together with passion, we will see the fire of God.
May the Lord help us.
Lord, we come to You, and we say to You that we want to know what it means to be the house of prayer.
Lord, we do not want to just have teaching on this. We do not want to just laugh at the humorous stories we have heard. We do not want to assume we know, and read books, and never enter into the very heart of it: the practice of it.
We ask You to be merciful. Revive us, Lord Jesus, to be what You called us to be.
Lead us into an experience and a practice of prayer that will change things, that will bring heaven to earth, that will cause Your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
And we pray in the name of Jesus that, in the end, we will know the fire of Your presence.
For these things, we ask in Your precious name. Amen.