Scripture Reading: Mark 11:20-24; Luke 18:1-8; Rev. 8:3-5

DAY 1 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 2 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 3 & DAY 4 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 5 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 6 Outline　MorningRevival

«　WEEK 4　DAY 1　»

　　Mark 11:22 And Jesus answered and said to them, Have faith in God.

　　24 For this reason I say to you, All things that you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and you will have them.

　　The first God-man's teaching [in Mark 11:20-24] was according to God's will for the accomplishment of His economy. Not many see that the Lord's teaching on prayer is related to God's economy, which is to be accomplished by His faithful people doing His will. The One who taught the disciples to pray by faith was the God-man, Christ. He is the only One who is absolutely right before God. To pray such a prayer we must be right persons doing God's will. This is God's will not in small matters, such as where we should move, but His great will for the accomplishment of God's economy….We should be those who are carrying out God's will to accomplish God's economy…. The real will of God that we have to carry out… is to take care of the producing and building up of God's organism, which is the Body of Christ that will consummate the New Jerusalem. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, "The God-man Living," p. 578)

　　The praying one could have faith in God without doubting, but believing that he had received what he asked for, and he would have it (Mark 11:24). The praying one is now one with God, in union with God. He is mingled with God, so God becomes his faith. This is what it means to have faith in God, according to the Lord's word in Mark 11:22. The praying one is absolutely one with God, and God becomes his faith.

　　Soon after the United States defeated Iraq in 1991, one day a thought came to me: "Why don't you go to Russia? Now is the time." When I fellowshipped with the leading co-workers about this, they all agreed with me, so we announced to the saints that we would follow the Lord's leading to go to Russia. Right away there was a response from the Body for this move of the Lord. This is a testimony that I had the full faith that we received a success. By the time we decided to go to Russia, a number of the saints had been trained and prepared by finishing two terms of the full-time training in Anaheim. They responded that they would go, and in November 1991 over thirty went to Russia. Right away the financial support came from the churches. In Russia today there are two big churches in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Recently, thirty-five more churches have been established. Also, there are numerous locations with groups of seeking Christians who have left the denominations and are waiting for us to visit them to help establish them as local churches…. Besides Russia, the Lord has been moving in other eastern European countries, such as Poland, Albania, Romania, and Armenia. This has been the Lord's doing. We have just followed His leading….This is the experience of having faith in God without doubting, and believing that we have received what we have asked for so that we receive it. We have to pray according to God's will for the fulfillment of His economy. Then we are one with God and the right persons in God's eyes. Then we have the assurance that we have received what we have prayed for.

　　If we ask the Lord for things that satisfy our desire, we will not receive anything. This is because our prayer is not according to God's will for the fulfillment of God's economy, and we are not the right persons. First, we must be the right persons, absolutely one with God. One night, during my imprisonment by the Japanese for thirty days, I looked up and said, "Lord, You know why I am here." At the time it seemed as if the Lord Jesus was right before me. I had the full assurance to say to the Lord, "Lord, I am imprisoned for Your sake." We must first be the right persons before God, persons who are one with God. Then we can have God as our faith and pray according to our knowledge of God's will for the fulfillment of His economy. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, "The God-man Living," pp. 579-580, 582)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, "The God-man Living," ch. 16; Life-study of Mark, msg. 35

«　WEEK 4　DAY 2　»

　　Mark 11:23 Truly I say to you that whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says happens, he will have it.

　　Matt. 18:19 Again, truly I say to you that if two of you are in harmony on earth concerning any matter for which they ask, it will be done for them from My Father who is in the heavens.

　　[In Mark 11:24], for this reason means that this sentence is a continuation of what has gone before….Verse 24 mentions prayer. This proves that verse 23 must also concern prayer. The strange thing is that verse 23 does not sound like an ordinary prayer. The Lord did not tell us to pray, "God, please move the mountain and cast it into the sea."…It says, "Whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea."…We think that when we pray to God, we have to say, "God, please move this mountain and cast it into the sea." But the Lord said something else. He did not tell us to speak to God; He told us to turn to the mountain and to speak to the mountain. The speaking is not toward God but directly toward the mountain, telling it to be cast into the sea. Since the Lord was afraid that we would not consider this to be a prayer, He pointed out in the following verse that it is a prayer. This prayer is not directed toward God, but it is a prayer. It is a speaking directed toward the mountain that says, "Be taken up and cast into the sea." Yet this is also a prayer. This is a prayer with authority. (CWWN, vol. 22, "The Prayer Ministry of the Church," pp. 195-196)

　　A prayer with authority does not ask God to do something. Rather, it exercises God's authority and applies this authority to deal with problems and things that ought to be removed. Every overcomer has to learn to pray this kind of prayer. Every overcomer has to learn to speak to the mountain.

　　We have many weaknesses, such as temper, evil thoughts, or physical illnesses. If we plead with God concerning these problems, it seems that there is not much result. However, if we apply God's authority to the situation and speak to the mountain, these problems will go away…. A mountain is a problem that stands in front of us. A mountain is something that blocks the way and stops us from going on….When many people encounter a mountain in their life or in their work, they pray to God to remove the mountain. But God tells us to speak to the mountain ourselves. All we have to do is issue a word of command to the mountain: "Be taken up and cast into the sea." There is a great difference between asking God to remove the mountain and commanding the mountain to be removed. It is one thing to go to God and ask Him to do something. It is another thing to directly command the mountain to be cast away. We often overlook this kind of commanding prayer. Seldom do we pray by applying God's authority to the problem or by saying, "I command you in the name of my Lord to go away" or "I cannot tolerate this thing to remain with me anymore." A prayer with authority is one in which we tell the things that are frustrating us to go away. We can say to our temper, "Go away." We can say to sickness, "Go away. I will rise up by the resurrection life of the Lord." This word is not spoken to God but directly to the mountain. "Be taken up and cast into the sea." This is a prayer with authority.

　　How can the church have such a prayer with authority? It is by the church having full faith, being without doubt and being clear that what we do is fully according to God's will. Whenever we are not clear about God's will, we do not have faith. Therefore, before we do anything, we have to be clear whether what we are about to do is according to God's will. (CWWN, vol. 22, "The Prayer Ministry of the Church," pp. 196-197)

　　Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 22, "The Prayer Ministry of the Church," ch. 4; CWWN, vol. 43, ch. 74; CWWN, vol. 46, chs. 179-180; CWWN, vol. 48, "Messages for Building Up New Believers (1)," ch. 10

«　WEEK 4　DAY 3　»

　　Luke 18:1-3 And He told them a parable to the end that they ought always to pray and not lose heart, saying, There was a certain judge in a certain city who did not fear God and did not regard man. And there was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, Avenge me of my opponent.

　　7 And will not God by all means carry out the avenging of His chosen ones…?

　　The widow in Luke 18:3 signifies the believers. In a sense, the believers in Christ are a widow in the present age because their Husband Christ (2 Cor. 11:2) is absent from them. In verse 3 the widow asked the judge to avenge her of her opponent. The Greek word rendered "avenge" may also be translated "procure justice for." In this parable the Lord indicates that the believers in Christ have an opponent. This opponent is Satan, the devil, concerning whom we need God's avenging. We ought to pray persistently for this avenging (see Rev. 6:9-10) and not lose heart. (Life-study of Luke, p. 347)

　　According to Luke 18:4, the judge for a time would not avenge the widow of her opponent. Then he said within himself, "Even though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow causes me trouble, I will avenge her, lest by continually coming she wear me out" (vv. 4-5). Following this, the Lord went on to say, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God by all means carry out the avenging of His chosen ones, who cry to Him day and night, though He is long- suffering over them? I tell you that He will carry out their avenging quickly. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" (vv. 6-8). The Lord's word in verse 8 indicates that God's avenging of our enemy will be at the Savior's coming back. Literally, the Greek words rendered "faith" mean "the faith." This denotes the persistent faith for our persistent prayer, like that of the widow. Hence, the faith here is the subjective faith, not the objective faith.

　　We need to realize that as God's people in this stupefied and stupefying generation we are like a widow. In a sense, our Husband, the Lord, is absent. Furthermore, we have an opponent who is constantly persecuting us. The parable in 18:1-8 indicates the suffering we have from our opponent during the Lord's apparent absence. Actually, the Lord is not absent; He is present.

　　While our opposer is persecuting us, it seems that our God is not righteous, for He allows His children to be unrighteously persecuted. For example, John the Baptist was beheaded, Peter was martyred, Paul was imprisoned, and John was exiled. Throughout the centuries, thousands upon thousands of honest and faithful followers of the Man-Savior have suffered unrighteous persecution. Even today we are still undergoing unrighteous mistreatment. Our God seems to be unjust, since He does not come in to judge and vindicate.

　　Often we have prayed for God to vindicate us. Yet, many of our co-workers, faithful ones, have been imprisoned and even put to death. Where is the living, righteous God? Why does He tolerate this situation? Why would He not judge those who persecute us? Because of this situation, the Man-Savior in 18:1-8 uses an unjust judge to signify God who does not seem to do anything on behalf of His persecuted people. What shall we do in a situation when we are persecuted and it seems that our God is not living, present, or just? From this parable we learn to be a bothering widow, one who prays to God persistently.

　　Many times I have become tired of praying for the Lord to vindicate His recovery. It seems that the more I pray for the Lord to vindicate, the less vindication there is…. Nevertheless, I have learned that we need to bother God in prayer, that we should pray to Him persistently without losing heart. (Life- study of Luke, pp. 347-350)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Luke, msg. 40

«　WEEK 4　DAY 4　»

　　Isa. 45:15 Surely You are a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel, the Savior.

　　1 Pet. 4:19 So then let those also who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls in well-doing to a faithful Creator.

　　Often the children of those who are faithful followers of the Lord ask their parents why they are suffering persecution. They may ask, "Since we love the Lord Jesus so much, why must we suffer?" Usually the parents do not know how to answer. It seems to the children that the Lord whom their parents follow is not righteous. We also may wonder why we suffer, since we love the Lord and follow Him. The parable in Luke 18:1-8 answers our question.

　　When our Husband is apparently absent and we are left on earth as a widow, temporarily our God seems to be an unrighteous judge. Although He appears to be unrighteous, we still must appeal to Him, pray persistently, and bother Him again and again. (Life-study of Luke, p. 351)

　　We need to be careful in understanding a parable such as the one recorded in 18:1-8. We should not try to understand it in a natural way. On the one hand, this parable indicates that the Judge is sovereign. This means that whether or not He judges is up to Him. Seemingly without reason, He may either listen to the widow or not listen to her. This parable reveals that He is the sovereign Lord and that He judges whenever He chooses.

　　On the other hand, this parable indicates that we need to bother the Lord by praying persistently. We need to say to Him, "Lord, praying is up to me, not up to You. You never told me that I should not pray. On the contrary, You charged me to pray. Therefore, Lord, I am praying now for Your vindication." (Life-study of Luke, pp. 351-352)

　　Many people often ask why the living God does not discipline people who act recklessly and lawlessly and do works of unrighteousness. Even believers question why the living God does not seem to hear their prayers. The answer is simple: He is a God who hides Himself. When the Lord Jesus was crucified, God hid Himself. He did not judge the ones who crucified the Lord by striking them with lightning. God did not say a word; it was as if God did not exist. Hence, some of those present shook their heads and mocked the Lord. They said, "He trusts in God; let Him rescue Him now if He wants Him" (Matt. 27:43). The Lord Jesus trusted in God, but while He was hanging on the cross, it was as if there were no God in the universe. God was hidden when the Lord passed through this great trial.

　　God is a God who hides Himself. He often hides Himself in space and in time. It seems that we pray to Him but do not receive results and that we trust in Him but He ignores us. We must understand that it takes time as well as endurance to experience the living God. The day that the Lord was crucified, God hid Himself. But after three days, He raised Jesus from the dead (Luke 24:6-7). After another forty days Jesus was lifted up into heaven (Acts 1:3, 9-10). After yet another ten days, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended (2:1- 4). We must say that God is real; He is a living God (1 Thes. 1:9), and He is also a God who hides Himself.

　　It seems as if God did not see the Roman Empire persecuting the church in the second century. The Roman Empire used every conceivable means to afflict and slaughter Christians, but God did not stretch forth His hand to stop it; rather, He hid Himself. However, a century later the Roman Empire was divided and eventually disappeared. In contrast, the believers of Christ have remained and have spread to various places because of the true and living God. (CWWL, 1957, vol. 3, "The Living God and the God of Resurrection," pp. 8-9)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1957, vol. 3, "The Living God and the God of Resurrection," ch. 1; CWWL, 1956, vol. 2, pp. 3-13; CWWL, 1956, vol. 3, pp. 15-33

«　WEEK 4　DAY 5　»

　　Rev. 6:9-10 And when He opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and because of the testimony which they had. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Master, holy and true, will You not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?

　　In Revelation 6:9 and 10 we see that [the] kind of persistent prayer [in Luke 18] is carried out by the souls of the martyred saints….In figure, the altar is in the outer court of the tabernacle and the temple, and the outer court signifies the earth. Hence, "underneath the altar" is underneath the earth, where the souls of the martyred saints are. This is in the Paradise where the Lord Jesus went after His death (Luke 23:43). It is the comfortable section of Hades (Acts 2:27), where Abraham is (Luke 16:22-26). Here we see that the souls of the martyred saints are crying out, "How long, O Master, holy and true?" They seem to be saying, "Lord, how long will You be silent? How long will You apparently be unjust? You are the righteous Judge. How can You tolerate the unrighteous persecution that is still taking place on earth? How long, O Lord, how long?" This is the prayer from the unseen realm, the prayer from the martyred saints in Paradise. (Life-study of Luke, pp. 350-351)

　　Revelation 8:5 says, "And the Angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar and cast it to the earth; and there were thunders and voices and lightnings and an earthquake." This implies the answer to the prayers of the saints, especially the prayer in the fifth seal mentioned in 6:9-11 and the prayer mentioned in Luke 18:7-8. The prayer of the saints in this chapter must be for the judgment of the earth which opposes God's economy. The answer to the saints' prayers is the execution of God's judgment upon the earth by the following seven trumpets. To cast fire to the earth is to execute God's judgment upon the earth. Therefore, the thunders, voices, lightnings, and the earthquake come as signs of God's judgment.

　　Although the sixth seal has been opened and the seven trumpets are ready to be sounded, nothing happens until Christ comes to offer the saints' prayers to God with Himself as the incense. At that time, there are thunders, voices, lightnings, and an earthquake. This indicates that while God has the intention of executing His judgment upon the earth, there is still the need of the saints to cooperate with Him with their prayers. God needs His saints to pray that He might execute His judgment. If you read Luke 18, you will see that the Lord Jesus says that at a certain time the saints on earth will cry to God to come in to deal with the situation and to vindicate Himself. At the end of this age, people will be so rebellious against God that they will even declare to the whole universe that they are God. While God has been tolerating this, some of the faithful saints will no longer bear it and will pray, "O sovereign Lord, how long will You bear with this? Will You tolerate this rebellion forever? How long will it be before You come in to vindicate Yourself and avenge us? How long will it be until all the earth will know that You are the Lord?" Eventually, there will be a need for this kind of prayer. I believe the time is coming when we shall all be pressed to pray like this. I cannot charge you to pray this way today because you are not under this kind of pressure. But one day the pressure will be upon us and we shall be burdened to pray in this way. This will indicate that the end is at hand because our spirit will not tolerate the situation any longer. Then we shall pray to the Lord to vindicate Himself and to let all the rebellious ones know that He is God. When we pray like this, the Angel sent by God will minister to God with our prayer, adding to it Himself as the incense. God will certainly answer this prayer, and there will be thunders, voices, lightnings, and an earthquake. That will simply be the beginning of God's judgment upon this rebellious earth. (Life-study of Revelation, pp. 279-280)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Revelation, msg. 23

«　WEEK 4　DAY 6　»

　　Luke 18:8 …When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?

　　Rom. 1:17 …“But the righteous shall have life and live by faith.”

　　Gal. 2:20 I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God…

　　When we were sinners, one day under God's sovereignty we heard the preaching of the gospel, that is, the word of Christ. Through that hearing of the word, faith came into us. This faith brought us into a life union with Christ. This union is a kind of linking.

　　Right after we have received Christ into us as our Savior and life by being attracted by Him, the divine grace, which is the consummated Triune God, begins to abound in us. The first issue of the abounding of the divine grace is the linking faith, which is the living God moving in us to link us to all His unsearchable riches. This linking faith is the measure according to which God dispenses into us His superabounding grace to meet our need (Rom. 12:3). Such a faith is the indicator of the living of the Christ-pursuing God-man, which is the real expression of the consummated God in Christ as His embodiment for the building up of the organic Body of Christ to be the organism of the consummated Triune God. So, such a faith constitutes the overcomers for the satisfaction of Christ's desire. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, "Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans," pp. 307, 324)

　　The linking faith is the divine requirement for the overcomers to meet Christ in His triumphant return. This is based upon Luke 18:8, where the Lord said, "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" Today the entire world is unbelieving. Where is faith today among not only the Gentiles, the pagans, but also among the Jews, the Catholics, the Protestants, and the Pentecostal people? If the Lord came today, where could He find faith? Nearly no one on this earth is believing. But by His mercy, in the past years, through Brother Nee's leadership, we have been brought into a situation of learning not to trust in ourselves for anything, but to believe that our God is everything.

　　I hope that when the Lord comes back He can find you and me as the believing ones, who always trust in Him, not in ourselves, and who always have no assurance in ourselves. Our full assurance is in Him. This is the linking faith. This faith qualifies the overcomers. It is the divine requirement for you and me as the overcomers to meet Christ in His triumphant return.

　　People may say concerning us, "They can do nothing. They only say, 'O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah.' When they come together they say, 'Lord Jesus, I love You. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Amen.' This is all that they can do." This is because we are only for Christ Himself. We are not for big miracles, big works, or big careers. When the Lord comes back, He is expecting to find such people. Christ expects to find, at His coming back, the ones who live by the linking faith. Christ expects to find us as His hidden overcomers.

　　We are now making ourselves ready for that day. To make ourselves ready is to become an overcomer, who is always linked by the living faith with the Triune God. Every day, morning and evening, you have to say, "Lord, I praise You that from morning to evening, I am linked to You. There is a living faith that links me with You so that I live You, walk with You, and live with You. I am one with You, just as You are one with me." This is the qualification for you to be an overcomer, to meet Christ at His coming back. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, "Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans," pp. 322-324)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, "Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans," chs. 10-11