Scripture Reading: Matt. 6:10; Luke 11:1; 1 John 5:14-15; John 15:4-5, 7

DAY 1 & DAY 2 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 3 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 4 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 5 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 6 Outline　MorningRevival

«　WEEK 3　DAY 1　»

　　Isa. 14:12-14 How you have fallen from heaven, O Daystar, son of the dawn!…You said in your heart: I will ascend to heaven;…I will exalt my throne…. I will make myself like the Most High.

　　Matt. 6:9-10 You then pray in this way: Our Father who is in the heavens…; Your kingdom come; Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth.

　　In the universe there are three wills: the divine will, the satanic will, and the human will. If we would know how the church can be God’s warrior to engage in spiritual warfare, we must know these three wills, these three intentions. God’s will, being self-existing, is eternal, uncreated. As created beings, the angels also have a will. One of these angels, an archangel, was appointed by God to rule the universe that existed before the creation of Adam. Because of his high position and his beauty, this archangel became proud. This pride gave rise to an evil intention, which became the satanic will. Therefore, in addition to God’s intention, God’s will, there is a second intention, a second will, for now the satanic will is set against God’s will. (Life-study of Ephesians, p. 527)

　　Man wonders why God would not destroy Satan quickly. But God would not do this. He wants man to join Him in dealing with Satan. God has His will, Satan has his will, and man also has his will. God wants man’s will to be joined to Him; He does not want to destroy Satan alone. We do not fully understand, but we know that God wants to do it this way. He does not want to act alone; He wants man to cooperate with Him. This is the responsibility of the church on earth.

　　In order to do something, God must first put His will within us through the Holy Spirit. He will only accomplish something after we have echoed it in our prayer. God operates through this procedure. He works this way. He wants man’s cooperation; He wants a will that is one with Him and that echoes Him. If God does everything without us, then man does not need to be here, and we do not need to know God’s will. Yet every part of God’s will needs someone to carry it out, and He wants our will to become one with His will. (CWWN, vol. 38, pp. 283-284)

　　According to Genesis 2, God gave man a free will when He created him. God has a will, and man has a will. Whenever man’s will is not one with God’s will, God is limited…. If the earth was filled with spiritless material, God would be without restriction. But one day, God created man. The man He created was not like a piece of stone or wood; he was not a table or a chair which could be placed here or there by God at will. The man that God created had a free will. Man could choose to obey God’s word, and he also could choose to disobey His word. God did not create a man who was obligated to obey Him. He created a man with a free will, one who could obey or disobey His word.

　　God is willing to be limited in time because He wants to gain a harmonious will in the second eternity. He wants man’s free will to be harmonious with His will. This is a glory to God….God does not want the man He created to be like a book which can be shuffled around at will. Even though God wants man to be fully submissive to Him, He also gave man a free will. God’s intention is that man’s free will would choose to obey Him. This is a glory to God!

　　In eternity future the free will of man will be joined to God’s eternal will. That will be the time for God’s eternal will to be fulfilled and for man’s free will to become harmonious with God’s eternal will. Every man has a free will. In eternity future man still has a free will, but it will stand on God’s side. He still has the ability to oppose God, but he will not oppose Him. Hallelujah!…This harmony of will is a glory to God! (CWWN, vol. 22, “The Prayer Ministry of the Church,” pp. 140-141)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1959, vol. 4, “Lessons on Prayer,” ch. 2; CWWL, 1959, vol. 3, “Lessons for New Believers,” lsn. 7

«　WEEK 3　DAY 2　»

　　Col. 1:9 Therefore we also, since the day we heard of it, do not cease praying and asking on your behalf that you may be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

　　4:12 Epaphras…[is] always struggling on your behalf in his prayers that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.

　　In eternity future, although man’s will is free, it will be in conformity to God’s will, and there will be no will that is not subordinate to God’s authority. However, in time, God is limited by man….God may want something to be big, yet man may want it to be small. Or God may want something to be small, yet man may want it to be big. God has no freedom at all! God’s move is controlled by man in time. This speaking is in reference to the church. All of God’s moves are limited by the church in time because the church represents man in eternity future. The church is standing on the earth today for God’s will. If the church comes up to the standard of God’s will, He will not be limited. But if it does not come up to the standard of His will, God will be limited. God is doing what He wants to do through the church. (CWWN, vol. 22, “The Prayer Ministry of the Church,” pp. 141-142)

　　Today the church is taking the position that man will take in eternity. Then, even though man’s will is free, it will stand completely on the side of God’s eternal will. The church is taking that position ahead of time. Just as God will express Himself in eternity through the New Jerusalem, the Lamb’s wife, He also is expressing Himself today through the Body of Christ. Although the church has a free will, it submits this will to God’s authority as if no other will existed. This allows God to do whatever He wants to do. When the church places its will under God’s will today, He will move in the same way that He will in eternity; He will move as if no other will were opposing Him. This is a glory to God!

　　Now we can see the church’s position before God. We cannot make the church so low by suggesting that it is merely a meeting. No, the church is a group of people who have been redeemed by the blood, who have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, who have committed themselves to God’s hand, and who are willing to take God’s will, do His will, and stand for God on earth for the sake of maintaining His testimony.

　　We have to see that God works according to a law. Since there is free will on earth, God will not annul man by His own will. Brothers and sisters, do not think that this is a strange thing. This is a fact. God is in heaven. Yet all His works on earth can be accomplished only when there is a will on earth that agrees with and decides to do the works. He will not put aside man’s will on earth. He will not usurp man’s will on earth and act independently. Everything related to Him can be accomplished only when there is a will on earth that cooperates with Him. When the earth works, God works. When the earth decides, God acts. God must have man’s will in harmony with His will. This harmony in will is a great glory to God!

　　We have said that God has a will for everything. Yet God does not act independently; He will not do anything by Himself. Even though God has a will, He wants the free will on earth to echo His will before He does anything. If there is only a will in heaven, God will not move. The heavenly move is accomplished on earth only when the earth wants the same thing as heaven. Today this is called the ministry of the church. Brothers and sisters, the ministry of the church is not only the preaching of the gospel. This does not mean that we should not preach the gospel; it means that the ministry of the church is not merely the preaching of the gospel. The ministry of the church is to bring the will in heaven to earth. (CWWN, vol. 22, “The Prayer Ministry of the Church,” pp. 142-143)

　　Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 22, “The Prayer Ministry of the Church,” ch. 1

«　WEEK 3　DAY 3　»

　　Matt. 6:10 Your kingdom come; Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth.

　　Luke 18:1 And He told them a parable to the end that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.

　　How does the church bring the will in heaven to earth? It is by prayer on earth. Prayer is not as small and insignificant as some may think. It is not something that is dispensable. Prayer is a work. Prayer is the church saying to God, “God, we want Your will.” Prayer is the church knowing God’s heart and opening its mouth to ask for what is in God’s heart. If the church does not do this, it does not have much use on earth. (CWWN, vol. 22, “The Prayer Ministry of the Church,” p. 143)

　　The first step in carrying out His will is to pray out God’s will and utter His will through our prayer. From this we see that prayer is a work. There is no work more important than this work because prayer is the speaking of God’s will and the accomplishment of His will….Prayers that originate from our self-will are useless prayers. Prayers that are according to God’s will originate from God. He conveys His will to us through the Holy Spirit, and then we return the same thought to Him through our prayer. Prayers that are after God’s heart have God’s will as the starting point; man is merely the transmitting and responding organ. Prayer that originates from ourselves has no spiritual value. (CWWN, vol. 38, p. 284)

　　Many prayers for spiritual edification, prayers for fellowship, and prayers for supplication cannot replace prayers which are in the nature of work or ministry…. A prayer which is in the nature of work or ministry is one in which you stand on God’s side, wanting what God wants…. If a prayer is uttered according to God’s will, it is the most powerful thing. For the church to pray means that it finds out God’s will and speaks out this will. Prayer is not just asking God for something. For the church to pray means that it stands on God’s side to declare that man wants what God wants. If the church declares this, the declaration will be effectual. (CWWN, vol. 22, “The Prayer Ministry of the Church,” p. 143)

　　How many prayers are a setting aside of oneself and a seeking for the accomplishment of God’s will? How many believers …truly work together with God in prayer,… echo back to God His heart’s desire daily before Him and empty out their hearts to seek after God and to ask for God to accomplish what they understand as God’s will?… As saved ones we should live unto the Lord who died and resurrected for us. Therefore, we should henceforth live completely unto Him, not reserving anything for ourselves. Among all the things in our life of consecration, prayer should also be one consecrated item…. God’s intention is to accomplish His own will through the believers’ prayer. This does not mean that believers should not ask God to fulfill their needs. It only means that believers should first understand the meaning and principle of prayer.

　　God’s goal is that we be filled with His will to such an extent that we forget our own interest. God wants us to work together with Him to accomplish His will. The way to work together with Him is to pray. For this reason He wants us to abide in Him to learn His will in various matters and then ask according to His will.

　　To pray does not mean to change the mind of heaven. It is the greatest mistake to think that God is hard and stubborn and that we must use prayer to battle with Him until He yields to us and changes what He has predetermined. Actually, any prayer that is not according to God’s will is useless. Because God’s will has suffered a hindrance from either men or demons, we come before God (as if we are wrestling with Him), asking that He execute His will….Unless we really know what God’s will is, we shall not be able to work together with God in prayer. (CWWN, vol. 8, pp. 9-13)

　　Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 8, pp. 5-13; CWWN, vol. 38, ch. 41

«　WEEK 3　DAY 4　»

　　Eph. 1:9 Making known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself.

　　1 John 5:14-15 And this is the boldness which we have to ward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

　　If God will send laborers by Himself, the Lord would not have told us to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers [Matt. 9:38]! If His name will automatically be sanctified, if His kingdom will come without our cooperation, and if He will cause His will to be carried out on earth by Himself, He would not have taught us to pray this way [6:9-10]. If He will come again without the need for the sympathy of the church, His Spirit would not have inspired the apostle to ask Him to come quickly again. If God the Father will automatically cause His believers to be one, there would not have been the need for the Lord to pray such a prayer…. Praying in sympathy with God is more important than doing anything else. He can only work on matters in which His children sympathize with Him. He is not willing to work where there has been no prayer, where He does not have His people’s will in union with Him. This union of the wills is real prayer. Obtaining an answer to prayer is not the highest goal of prayer. The purpose of prayer is that we be one with God’s will so that God can work. When our will is one with God, even though we may at times ask amiss and our prayer is not answered, God still receives the benefit because He is able to work as a result of our sympathy with Him. (CWWN, vol. 8, p. 13)

　　God works according to certain laws and principles. Although He can act as He pleases, He does not act recklessly; He acts according to His preordained laws and principles. God is above all laws and principles; He is God, and He can act as He pleases. Yet we see a wonderful thing in the Bible. Although He is so great and can act as He pleases, He acts according to laws, and it seems as if He has voluntarily placed Himself under law and is willing to be governed by law. What are the principles of God’s work? One main principle of God’s work is the need for man’s prayer. He wants man to cooperate with Him in prayer.

　　There was once a Christian who was very experienced in prayer. He said that all spiritual work consists of four steps. In the first step, God intends to do something; there is God’s will. In the second step, He reveals this will to His children through the Spirit so that they know His will, His plan, His desire, and His aspiration. In the third step, God’s children return His will back to Him through prayer. Prayer is the echoing of God’s will. If our heart is in tune with God’s heart, spontaneously we will speak forth God’s will. As a result God will accomplish His work in the fourth step.

　　We will not look at the first and second steps now. We will pay attention to the third step, which is returning God’s will back to God. Please pay attention to the word return. All worthwhile prayers are a kind of returning. If our prayer is only for the fulfillment of our plans and wishes, it will not have any value in the spiritual realm. Only the prayers that are initiated by God and that echo what He has initiated have any worth. God’s work is governed by prayers. God is willing to do many things, but He will not do them when His people do not pray. He must wait for man to agree with Him before He will do them. This is a great principle of God’s work, and it is also one of the most crucial principles in the Bible. (CWWN, vol. 38, pp. 281-282)

　　Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 44, ch. 87

«　WEEK 3　DAY 5　»

　　1 John 2:20 And you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know.

　　27 …The anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone teach you; but as His anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, abide in Him.

　　A genuine man of prayer is not only one who comes before God continually but also one whose desires are fully blended into God’s desires…. His thoughts are fully one with God’s thoughts.

　　Some prayers originate from our needs. Sometimes God answers these prayers, but He does not gain anything through these prayers. There is another kind of prayer—one that originates from God’s needs. It comes from God and is initiated by God. This kind of prayer is valuable. Those who have this kind of prayer must be in God’s presence continually, and their desires and thoughts must be mingled with God’s desires and thoughts. Because these ones live in God’s presence continually, He shows them and touches them with His desires and thoughts. These desires and thoughts become the praying ones’ desires, which in turn become their prayer.

　　We must learn to pray this kind of prayer. Although we are childish and weak, we must still come into His presence and allow His Spirit to mingle our desires with His desires and to lead our thoughts into His thoughts…. Eventually, His desire will become our prayer. These prayers are precious. (CWWN, vol. 38, pp. 453-454)

　　Daniel joined himself to God’s thoughts; he touched God’s desire and will, and they became the desires of Daniel’s heart…. When Daniel prayed according to these desires, crying out or groaning because of these desires, they became God’s desires. We must have this kind of prayer, a prayer that touches God’s heart….We should allow God’s Spirit to lead us into His heart. We should spend time to learn this lesson. When we first begin to pray in this way, there is no need to say or consider much. Our heart should be calm and undisturbed. We can bring the things we have encountered into God’s presence and consider them, or we can forget about these things and simply meditate on God’s Word. We can remain in His presence, touching God in our spirit and allowing God to touch us in the spirit. Actually, we do not have to go to God to touch Him; we can simply wait on Him. While we wait on Him in this way, something will come to our attention, and we will gain something. Then we will touch God’s desire…. In this way our desires are mingled with God’s desires, and our thoughts are one with God’s thoughts. Based on this, we can pray to God.

　　When we bring our desires and thoughts to God, He will imprint His desires and thoughts into us to the extent that they become our desires and thoughts. These prayers are the most precious of all prayers; they are the most weighty prayers….We have to remember the Lord’s Word, which tells us to pray this way: “Our Father who is in the heavens, Your name be sanctified; Your kingdom come; Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth” (Matt. 6:9-10). We should not just memorize these three sentences. They should afford God’s Spirit the opportunity to bring our thoughts to God so that His desires and thoughts can be imprinted in us and become our desires and thoughts. When that happens, the prayers that we utter will be valuable. (CWWN, vol. 38, pp. 454-455)

　　Prayer is for God to notify us of His will, and for us to pray His will back to Him. God’s will is the starting point. He makes His will known, and we will that will in prayer. This is the cycle. (CWWN, vol. 46, p. 1174)

　　Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 38, ch. 59; CWWN, vol. 46, ch. 171

«　WEEK 3　DAY 6　»

　　John 15:4-5 Abide in Me and I in you…. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.

　　7 If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.

　　[John 15:7] can be divided into four points. The first point is, “you abide in Me.” The second is, “and My words abide in you.” Verses 4 and 5 speak of us abiding in the Lord and Him abiding in us. But in verse 7 I is changed to My words—“you abide in Me and My words abide in you.” I being changed to My words means that I have something to explain to you. This may be clarified by the following example: if I were to go to your home, first, my person would go there; then, after I had been there for a short while, I would speak and reveal the intention of my visit. Hence, when it says here, “My words abide in you,” this is a step forward. Third, it says, “Whatever you will.” Because of the Lord’s speaking in us, we begin to desire something, and this desire is something issuing out of the Lord’s words. Fourth, it says, “Ask…and it shall be done for you.” When we thus abide in the Lord, His words abide in us, and there is the desiring in us that comes out of His words; finally, “will” becomes “ask.” This asking is not an ordinary prayer. It is a specific prayer. Whenever asking is mentioned in the Bible, it invariably refers to a specific prayer. Hence, this asking will be answered by God. (CWWL, 1959, vol. 4, “Lessons on Prayer,” p. 123)

　　John 15:7 mentions two things: on one hand, it says that we abide in the Lord, and on the other hand, it says that the Lord’s words abide in us. Consequently, the matter of prayer issues forth from the Lord’s words. All prevailing prayers, prayers that can be counted effective before the Lord, must surely be the result of our abiding in the Lord and allowing His words to abide in us.

　　Whatever task a person performs, he must be the kind of person constituted for that task. One who serves as a physician must be a person who is a qualified physician. One who serves as a teacher must be a person who is a teacher. One who serves as a mother must be a person who is a mother. Likewise, you also need to be a praying one so that you can function in prayer.

　　Once man abides in the Lord, spontaneously he touches God’s feeling and understands God’s desire. In the Old Testament Abraham was an example of this. Because he continually remained before God, God could not refrain from telling Abraham of His intention. Psalm 32:8 says that God guides us with His eyes…. If you live in the fellowship, you will understand what the Bible means when it says that God guides us with His eyes. We need not be as the horse or as the mule, which have no understanding, so that God has to bridle us with headstall, bit, and reins in order that we may understand His desire. We need only to live in the fellowship, remain in His presence, and draw near to Him. Then spontaneously, we will be able to understand His temperament, His disposition, and the principles of His doings. It is as if in our spirit we catch a glimpse of the Lord’s eyes and thus spontaneously touch His feeling and understand His desire.

　　After we have touched God’s feeling and understood His intention, spontaneously we will have His desire in us. At that moment His desire becomes our desire, and what He wants is exactly what we want.

　　After we have touched God’s feeling, understood His intention, and are also able to desire what He desires, then we pray. This is the very thing that is spoken of in John 15:7….This wish does not come out of the one who prays. Rather, it comes out from that which God has anointed into him. Since this desire is God’s desire, when he prays, God answers. (CWWL, 1959, vol. 4, “Lessons on Prayer,” pp. 123-124, 132-133)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1959, vol. 4, “Lessons on Prayer,” ch. 11; Life-study of John, msg. 34; CWWN, vol. 46, ch. 172