Scripture Reading: Isa. 56:7; Matt. 18:18-19; Mark 11:17a; Eph. 1:20-23; 2:6

DAY 1 & DAY 2 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 3 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 4 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 5 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 6 Outline　MorningRevival

«　WEEK 5　DAY 1　»

　　Mark 11:17 ...“My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations”...

　　Acts 2:36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you have crucified.

　　Eph. 5:30 Because we are members of His Body.

　　We will... consider the prevailing prayer of the church. This prayer is the prayer of the age…. As Christians, we may know something concerning prayer, but in the Scriptures, especially in the New Testament, there is one kind of prayer that is far beyond our human concept. To enter into this kind of prayer, we need a heavenly vision. (CWWL, 1963, vol. 1, “The Prayer of the Age,” p. 159)

　　First, the ascension of Christ indicates that the Lord’s redemptive work is fully complete. After the Lord ascended to the heavens, He sat down at the right hand of God (Heb. 1:3; 10:12)….When someone sits down, it means that everything that he had to do has been finished and accomplished…. The Lord has accomplished everything related to the work of redemption in a full way. Second, the ascension of Christ indicates that the lordship of Christ has been established. The lordship of Christ was established by the ascension of Christ….We need to realize that today the Lord Christ is not merely the Lord who created the universe. The Lord Christ today is also God who was incarnated to be a man. Today there is a man in the heavens who has been exalted and established to be the Lord of the universe.

　　Moreover, Ephesians 1:22 tells us that Christ was given to be Head over all things “to the church.” Everything that the Lord has obtained and attained is not only for Himself but is also to the church. This means that everything that He has obtained and attained is being transmitted to the church. We need to see a heavenly vision of this heavenly fact.

　　The third main point... concerns the authority of the Body…. The authority of the Body is the authority of the Head exercised by the Body. Thus, the authority of the Body is the authority of the Head. Although the Body has this authority, this authority is not merely objective but is very subjective. This means that this authority must be assumed and exercised by the Body. To assume something means to take something upon oneself. As the church, the Body of Christ, we need to assume the authority of Christ. After His resurrection the Lord told the disciples that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to Him. Then He commanded them to preach the glad tidings to all the nations. The Lord said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and disciple all the nations” (Matt. 28:18b-19a). Having received all authority, the Lord commanded us to go with this authority and preach the gospel….The Lord also told us clearly that He has given us the authority to overcome the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19). The enemy has power, but the Body has authority. Authority is much stronger than power. Christ as the Head has the authority, and as His Body, we automatically have this authority also.

　　The fourth main point... is the prayer of the church as the Body of Christ. This kind of prayer is not the prayer of individual believers but the prayer of the church as the Body of Christ….This is prayer that is based on the fact that we have the position and authority of Christ. In this kind of prayer we do not beg the Lord to do something for us. Instead, we claim what the Lord has obtained and attained. However, to pray in this way, we must have some realization of what the Lord has obtained and attained. Christ has obtained the lordship and the headship; He is the Lord, the Head over all things. The lordship and the headship are the most important aspects of what the Lord has obtained. (CWWL, 1963, vol. 1, “The Prayer of the Age,” pp. 159-162)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1963, vol. 1, pp. 153-157

«　WEEK 5　DAY 2　»

　　Eph. 1:19-21 And what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the operation of the might of His strength, which He caused to operate in Christ in raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavenlies, far above all rule and authority and power and lordship and every name that is named...

　　Actually, it is very simple to exercise the lordship and the headship of Christ. Suppose you meet a brother who is in a poor condition. When you meet him, you may sense that his condition and position are not right with the Lord…. In this situation there are two ways you can pray. One way is the general way, the way taken by most believers when praying for others. In this general way you may go to the Lord and tell Him, “Lord, this brother is in a poor condition. Lord, be merciful to him. Do something with him. Work within his spirit.” This is the general way to pray for someone. However, there is another way to pray…. In this way of prayer you are bold with the Lord. You may go to the Lord and say, “Lord, here is a brother who is still not under Your headship. I do not agree with this. I do not go along with this kind of situation. Lord, I am standing up to proclaim Your lordship and to claim it over this situation.” We can pray in this same way for a sinner: “Lord, Your lordship must be exercised over this person. Lord, I claim this.” (CWWL, 1963, vol. 1, “The Prayer of the Age,” pp. 162-163)

　　In this second way of prayer we touch the authority of Christ. We must see, however, that we can never pray in this way by ourselves. This does not mean that we must always physically gather together with a few other brothers. Physically, you may be praying in your room by yourself, but spiritually, you are one with the Body. When you are alone in your room, sometimes you may choose not to use the pronoun I; instead, you may use the pronoun we, praying, “Lord, we do not go along with the present situation. As Your Body, we take the ground of Your ascension and claim Your lordship over the present situation.” This is a different kind of prayer. This is not prayer that begs the Lord to do something for you; this is prayer that claims what the Lord has obtained.

　　We also need to learn how to exercise what the Lord has attained, because the Lord has not only obtained to the highest extent; He has also attained to the highest height. Suppose, for example, that you become ill. If you have the vision of what the Lord has obtained and attained, when you are in this situation, you will pray, “Lord, You are the transcendent One. You have been exalted to the heaven of heavens. Lord, we are Your Body. We are sitting with You in the heavenlies. All things have been subjected under Your feet, and therefore all things are also under our feet. This little sickness is included in ‘all things, ’ so this little sickness also must be under my feet. I am now transcendent with You.” ...Nearly every time we become sick, we go to the Lord and beg, “Lord, heal me. Lord, be merciful to me. Lord, be gracious to me.” This is to pray like a beggar. If we have the vision that we are the Body of the Head and that the Head has ascended to the heavens and is now transcendent, we will take the ground and claim what the Lord has attained. We will simply claim, proclaim, and declare to the sickness, “Do not trouble me; you are under my feet!” We can deal with sins, weakness, and worldliness in the same way. We should not deal with these things like a beggar. We can tell all these negative things, “Do not bother me. Go to the lake of fire! I am transcendent. You cannot touch me. You are under my feet.” Whenever the devil hears this kind of prayer, he runs away. We should simply declare who we are and where we are. We are in the Body, the Body is in the Head, and the Head is transcendent. (CWWL, 1963, vol. 1, “The Prayer of the Age,” pp. 163-164)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1956, vol. 1, “The Meaning and Purpose of Prayer,” ch. 3

«　WEEK 5　DAY 3　»

　　1 Cor. 12:27 Now you are the Body of Christ, and members individually.

　　Matt. 16:19 I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatever you bind on the earth shall have been bound in the heavens, and whatever you loose on the earth shall have been loosed in the heavens.

　　We must pray, taking the ground of Christ’s ascension, but we must realize that this ground is not for individuals. Rather, this ground is for the Body. Christ is the Head, and we are the Body (Col. 1:18). Today as the Body of Christ, we need to claim the ground of the ascension of Christ. I believe that this was the way the disciples prayed before the day of Pentecost. I believe that by the help of the Holy Spirit they prayed that the Lord would verify His ascension to the people on the earth. We should not cry to God as poor sinners. Rather, we must take the ground of Christ’s ascension and claim, “Lord, we are Your Body. We are in You. You are the Head and we are the Body. You are Head over all things to us as the Body; therefore, we claim all that You have obtained and all that You have attained.” We simply need to claim this ground and tell the Lord that we do not agree with certain things that are happening on this earth. We also need to tell Him that we are not satisfied with the present condition, situation, and state of His people. We need to forget about all our personal problems and declare, “Hallelujah! I am a member of the Body, the Body is in the Head, and the Head, who is over all things, is in the heavens.” (CWWL, 1963, vol. 1, p. 156)

　　Since the Body shares the authority of the Head, the Lord told His disciples that whatever they bound on earth would have been bound in heaven, and whatever they loosed on earth would have been loosed in heaven (Matt. 16:19; 18:18). When we pray with the authority of the Body, anything that we loose on the earth will be something that has already been loosed in the heavens, and anything that we bind on the earth will be something that has already been bound in the heavens. Because the Body is one with the Head in the heavens, the Body has the authority to bind or loose what has already been bound or loosed in the heavens.

　　The church is built upon a rock, and this rock is the ascended Christ. As a result, the gates of Hades cannot prevail against the church (16:18). We have the ground over Hades. Thus, we must learn to pray, exercising the authority that has been assigned to the Body by the Head.

　　To fully enter into this kind of prayer, there are two additional things that we must realize. First, we must realize that we are members of the Body, and we must live, act, and move in the Body. Second, in our daily life we must always put on the new man (Eph. 4:24). The new man is composed of the Head with the Body, Christ with the church (2:15-16). On the negative side, we need to put off the old man, and on the positive side, we need to put on the new man. By living in the Body and putting on the new man, we will be able to exercise the authority given to the Body by the Head.

　　We need to see the vision of the ascended Christ and learn to pray the prayer of authority. For two thousand years these matters have been neglected, but we believe that in these last days the Lord is going to recover them. Too often we do not take the ground of Christ’s ascension and claim what He has obtained and attained. Nevertheless, we believe that the Lord will recover this lost ground. This is the highest peak, the highest mountain of the good land. In these last days the Lord will recover this highest peak, this highest mountain. We must realize the facts, take the ground, and claim what the Head has obtained and attained. This is the prevailing prayer of the church. This is the prayer of the age. (CWWL, 1963, vol. 1, “The Prayer of the Age,” pp. 164-165)

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

«　WEEK 5　DAY 4　»

　　1 Kings 8:48 ...And they pray to You toward their land that You have given to their fathers, the city that You have chosen, and the house that I have built for Your name.

　　John 14:13-14 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.

　　The Bible shows us what prayer is. First, God has a need; He has a purpose. Second, He puts this purpose within man through the Holy Spirit so that man feels this need as well. Third, man responds by uttering this purpose back to God through prayer. Fourth, God does His work and accomplishes this purpose. This is the meaning of prayer.

　　All proper prayers issue from God’s heart and express God’s desire. Prayer implies that God has a desire. He wants to fulfill such a desire, yet He does not want to do it directly; He wants man to cooperate with Him on earth. For this reason He unveils His desire to man and charges man to pray. Only after man prays will He fulfill His desire. (CWWN, vol. 44, pp. 735-736)

　　[In 1 Kings 8:46-53 Solomon] prayed that in the [future] captivity of His people Jehovah would hear His people’s prayer and maintain their cause when they would return to Him with all their heart and with all their soul and pray to Him toward the land, …toward the city, ...and toward the house. Concerning God’s listening to the prayers of His elect, three things are stressed [in] verse 48: the Holy Land, typifying Christ as God’s allotted portion to the believers (Col. 1:12); the holy city, signifying the kingdom of God in Christ; and the holy temple, signifying God’s house, the church, on the earth. These three things—the holy land, the holy city, and the holy temple—are the three crucial things regarding God’s economy. During the Babylonian captivity Daniel prayed for the holy land, the holy city, and the holy temple three times a day by opening his window toward Jerusalem (Dan. 6:10). This indicates that God will listen to our prayer in the way that our prayer to God must be toward Christ, the kingdom of God, and the house of God as the goal in God’s eternal economy.

　　The holy land, the holy city, and the holy temple are all types of Christ. Christ is our good land; Christ is our city, our kingdom; and Christ is the temple, God’s dwelling place. Today, our prayers should be aimed at the holy land, the holy city, and the holy temple. This means that our prayers should be aimed at the interest of God, that is, at Christ and the church as God’s interest on earth. The spiritual significance of God’s interest is Christ Himself. This indicates that no matter for whom we are praying, our prayer must be aimed at Christ as God’s interest. We need to pray for the saints, but we should not aim our prayers at them. On the one hand we pray for them, but on the other hand we pray for them because of God’s interest. If in our prayer we aim at the one for whom we pray, this will bring in the enemy’s attack. This is a spiritual strategy in the spiritual warfare.

　　We need to remember that prayer involves three parties: us, God, and Satan. Sometimes when we pray for a certain person, Satan comes to attack him, and his situation becomes worse. The reason for this is that our interest is in that person, not in God’s economy. No matter for whom we are praying, we should aim our prayer at God’s Christ, who is God’s interest in His economy.

　　To pray properly, we must pray to God in the name of the Lord Jesus (John 16:24), aiming at God’s interest for His economy. By the expression in the name of the Lord Jesus I do not mean any traditional form of prayer. To pray in the name of Jesus is to pray for the interest of God on earth, which is Christ as God’s portion to us, as God’s kingdom, and as God’s dwelling place. Our prayer should be altogether for God’s interest to fulfill God’s economy. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, pp. 38-40)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 6

«　WEEK 5　DAY 5　»

　　Col. 3:1 If therefore you were raised together with Christ, seek the things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.

　　Eph. 1:22-23 And He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.

　　We need to see that ascension is a position, and with such a position there is the corresponding authority. The spiritual life of a Christian is not only a matter of life but also a matter of position. Hence, it is not only a matter of power but also a matter of authority. Life brings in power, whereas position brings in authority. Resurrection is a matter of power, whereas ascension is a matter of authority. In order to have a certain measure or kind of authority, you need to be in a certain position. If you are in the heavenly realm, you will spontaneously have the heavenly authority. All our genuine prayers are the exercising of heavenly authority in the heavenly position.

　　The position of prayer is the position of ascension. You can pray only in the heavenly sphere. Whenever you leave the heavenly realm, you lose the position of prayer. You may pray, but that prayer does not count before God. (CWWL, 1959, vol. 4, “Lessons on Prayer,” p. 182)

　　All prayers in ascension are prayers of authority. We know that prayer in ascension is a command to God. Our prayer is not begging but commanding…. In Isaiah 45:11, God says, “Command Me.” Sometimes this commanding is a direct command to God, and sometimes it is an indirect command to the environment. Examples are: Moses standing on the shore of the Red Sea commanding the water to be divided, the Lord Jesus in the boat commanding the wind and the sea to be still, and the Lord commanding sickness to leave men. If you have learned to pray by standing in the realm of ascension, you can even command poverty to leave you.

　　If you really wish to have some worthwhile prayers before God, you need to be able to give out some authoritative commands before God. Standing before God, I can tell you that in the past years in some places, as we encountered some problems in the work or in the church, we prayed this kind of commanding prayer. We expressed ourselves boldly before God, saying, “God, we cannot allow this matter.” If your position is wrong and your condition is not in the heavenly realm, such prayer would be an insult to God. But if your position is right and your state is in the heavenly sphere, then such prayer would be a real pleasure to Him. The words you pray are equal to God’s administration; they are equivalent to executing His commands. I can testify that God answers such prayers.

　　When you come to the point where you have the heavenly position and the heavenly authority and are thus able to utter forth authoritative prayers, you are one who is on the throne, standing in the ruling position together with the Lord. Just as He reigns at the right hand of God, so you also reign together with Him in the heavenly realm. At this time your prayer is not only an authoritative prayer but also a reigning prayer. Your prayer is to rule with authority, executing God’s orders. So at this time all your prayers become God’s administration, the execution of God’s rule.

　　In summary, there is only one position for prayer—the heavenly sphere. Once you leave this sphere, you lose the position of prayer. Prayer is not only concerned with certain matters, but much more, it is concerned with a certain position. You need to be in the heavenly sphere. Then you have the position to pray, you are able to pray with authority, and you are one sitting on the throne, uttering forth prayers of the throne. (CWWL, 1959, vol. 4, “Lessons on Prayer,” pp. 186-188)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1959, vol. 4, “Lessons on Prayer,” ch. 17; CWWN, vol. 48, “Messages for Building Up New Believers (1),” ch. 10

«　WEEK 5　DAY 6　»

　　Matt. 18:18-19 …Whatever you bind on the earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on the earth shall have been loosed in heaven. 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.

　　The special thing [about Matthew 18:18] is that there must be a move on earth before there is a move in heaven. It is not heaven that binds first but the earth that binds first. It is not heaven that looses first but the earth that looses first. After the earth binds, heaven binds; after the earth looses, heaven looses. The move in heaven is controlled by the move on earth. Everything contrary to God has to be bound, and everything in harmony with God has to be released. Everything, whether it is something to be bound or loosed, should have its binding or its loosing originate from the earth. The move on the earth precedes the move in heaven. The earth controls heaven. (CWWN, vol. 22, “The Prayer Ministry of the Church,” p. 138)

　　We can see how the earth controls heaven from a few cases in the Old Testament. When Moses was on the mountain, the Israelites won every time he raised his hands, and the Amalekites won every time he lowered his hands (Exo. 17:9-11). Who decided the victory at the bottom of the mountain? Did God decide or did Moses decide?.. We have to see God’s principle of work and the key to His move. God cannot do what He wants to do unless man wants it. We cannot make God do what He does not want to do, yet we can stop God from doing what He wants to do. The victory was decided by God in heaven, but the victory was decided by Moses before men. Truly, God in heaven wanted the Israelites to win, but if Moses had not raised his hands on earth, the Israelites would have lost. When he raised his hands, the Israelites won. The earth controls heaven.

　　God has a purpose to increase the number of the house of Israel so that the Israelites would increase like a flock. Those who do not know God will say, “If God wants to increase the number of the Israelites like a flock, He could go ahead and do it. Who could stop Him?” But Ezekiel 36:37 says that God must be inquired of first before He will accomplish it for them. This is a clear principle: Even though God decides on a matter, He will not do it immediately. He would increase the house of Israel only after they inquired of Him. He wants the earth to control heaven.

　　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! 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….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! (CWWN, vol. 22, “The Prayer Ministry of the Church,” pp. 138-139, 142)

　　Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 22, “The Prayer Ministry of the Church,” ch. 1; CWWN, vol. 11, pp. 774-777