«　WEEK 4　DAY 4　»

　　Acts 22:10 And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Rise up and go into Damascus, and there it will be told to you concerning all the things which have been appointed to you to do.

　　John 6:27 Work not for the food which perishes, but for the food which abides unto eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you…

　　After we are saved, the most important thing is for us to contact God…. If we do not know how to contact God and lack fellowship with Him, we cannot be proper Christians, no matter how much we try.

　　There are many cases in the Gospel of John that show how we should contact the Lord…. If we truly want to contact the Lord, we need to see some principles in contacting Him in these cases. (CWWL, 1956, vol. 3, “The Meaning and Purpose of Prayer,” pp. 251-252)

　　In the first case the Lord changed water into wine….The major principle in the first case is that we must not direct the Lord when we contact Him. All authority must be in His hands. Hence, both the timing and the way we do things must be determined and directed by Him, not by us. We cannot say, “Lord, do this,” or “Lord, do that.” If we say this, the Lord might say, “What do I have in this that concerns you?” (John 2:4)…. This does not mean that the Lord does not want any contact with us or that He is not bearing responsibility for our matters. The Lord entered into us in order to contact us and to be responsible for our affairs, just as He was at the wedding in Cana.

　　The Samaritan woman’s contact with the Lord in chapter 4 illustrates a second principle. Here the Samaritan woman realized that she was thirsty and that the Lord had living water. Hence, she asked the Lord for living water. However, the Lord did not give her this living water immediately; instead, He asked her a question…. By asking about her husband [vv. 15-16], the Lord touched her sinful life; her sins were related to her husband….The Lord seemed to say, “Do you want living water? You should hand your sins over. Do you want to be satisfied? You should give heed to your sins.”

　　Knowing that the Lord can supply our need, we…go to the Lord and discover a need. When we see a need, we ask the Lord to meet that need. However, while we are asking, the Lord shows us our stains, faults, and failures; that is, He shows us matters that need to be dealt with. We need to confess the things that He points out, the “husband” He asks us to bring, so that we can receive His supply.

　　A third principle is seen in the case of the feeding of the five thousand in chapter 6. A great crowd contacted the Lord, and He performed a miracle in order to feed them. When the crowd returned the next day to be filled, the Lord said, “Work not for the food which perishes, but for the food which abides unto eternal life” (v. 27). The Lord was teaching the crowd to seek the food that abides unto eternal life instead of physical food. This is another principle: the Lord does not want us to seek or to put our hope in physical things when we contact Him in prayer.

　　Some brothers spend half an hour in the morning praying for physical things. Likewise, some sisters pray for the physical affairs of their spouse and children. The Lord may initially feed and care for those who draw near to Him in prayer in this way, but the Lord will eventually regard such a person as one who comes only to eat and be filled….The Lord does not want us to always mention physical things when we contact Him; He already knows about these things. When we contact Him, we should focus on spiritual things, the things of life. This is to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. If we would focus on these things, the Lord will add the physical things to us (Matt. 6:31-33). (CWWL, 1956, vol. 3, “The Meaning and Purpose of Prayer,” pp. 252, 254-256)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1953, vol. 1, “Knowing Life and the Church,” ch. 16