Scripture Reading: Acts 6:4; Jude 20; Mark 11:20-24; Eph. 3:17-19

DAY 1 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 2 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 3 & DAY 4 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 5 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 6 Outline　MorningRevival

«　WEEK 1　DAY 1　»

　　Rom. 8:26-27 …In like manner the Spirit also joins in to help us in our weakness, for we do not know for what we should pray as is fitting, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. But He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the.Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to God.

　　Many people, upon hearing the term prayer, immediately think that it means man coming before God to make supplication. Because man is in want and needs material supply, or is sick and needs healing, or has other problems and needs some solution, he goes before God, asking Him to supply his needs, heal his sickness, and solve his problems…However,…this is not the proper meaning of prayer as it is revealed in the Bible. We dare not say that such a definition is wrong, but it is too superficial and lacks both depth and accuracy.

　　Real prayer is the mutual contact between God and man. Prayer is not just man contacting God but also God contacting man…Every prayer that is truly up to the standard surely will have a condition of mutual flowing between God and man so that man may actually touch God and God may actually touch man; thus, man is united with God, and God with man. Therefore, the highest and most accurate meaning of prayer is that it is the mutual contact between God and man. (CWWL, 1959, vol. 4, “Lessons on Prayer,” pp. 17, 19-20)

　　A real prayer is also man breathing in God just as he breathes in air. While you are thus breathing in God, spontaneously you are obtaining God, just as when you breath in air, you receive air. Consequently, not only is God obtained by you to become your enjoyment, but also your whole being surrenders to God, turns unto God, and is wholly gained by God. The more you pray, the more you will be filled with God.

　　The ultimate result of a prayer should be that the intercessor gains more of God and is gained more by God, although the thing which he has asked of God may also be fulfilled.

　　Real prayer is to inhale God Himself, to obtain God, and to be obtained by God. All those prayers for people, affairs, and things that are outside God are not the essence of prayer but are merely the outer skin or accessories of prayer. A real prayer, a prayer of essence, is one in which you actually contact God, breathe Him, enjoy Him, obtain Him, are filled with Him, and allow Him to gain your being.

　　If a brother or sister has really learned the secret of prayer,…such a praying one will certainly cooperate with God, work together with God, and allow God to express Himself and His desire from within him and through him, ultimately accomplishing God’s purpose. This is according to Romans 8:26 and 27, which tell us that we do not know for what we should pray as is fitting, but the Holy Spirit intercedes for us according to God’s purpose. Actually, we do not know how to pray.

　　Real prayers are the Holy Spirit within man expressing God’s desire through man. In other words, real prayers are prayers involving two parties. They are not simply man alone praying to God, but they are the Spirit mingling with man, putting on man, and joining with man in prayer. Outwardly it is man praying, but inwardly it is the Spirit praying. This means that two parties express the same prayer at the same time.

　　“The Spirit…intercedes…according to God” [Rom. 8:27]. This means that the Holy Spirit prays in us according to God; that is, God prays in us through His Spirit. Thus, such a prayer certainly expresses God’s intention as well as God Himself.

　　Real prayer always matches the Scriptures; it is an exhaling and inhaling before God, causing us and God, God and us, to contact one another and to obtain one another. Consequently, we wholly cooperate and work with God, and God expresses Himself and His desire through us, ultimately accomplishing His purpose. This is a fundamental meaning of prayer in the Bible. (CWWL, 1959, vol. 4, “Lessons on Prayer,” pp. 20-24)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1959, vol. 4, “Lessons on Prayer,” ch. 1

«　WEEK 1　DAY 2　»

　　Jude 20 But you, beloved, building up yourselves upon your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.

　　James 5:17 Elijah was a man of like feeling with us, and he earnestly prayed that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.

　　We often speak of Elijah’s prayer [James 5:17]…Earnestly prayed in Greek means “prayed with prayer,” or “prayed in prayer.” This is a very peculiar expression in the Bible…This is what we mean by prayer of two parties. When Elijah was praying, he was praying with, or in, a prayer. In other words, he prayed with the prayer of the Spirit within him. Thus, we can say that Elijah’s prayer was God praying to Himself in Elijah. Andrew Murray once said that a real prayer is the Christ who indwells us praying to the Christ who is sitting on the throne. That Christ would be praying to Christ Himself sounds strange, but in our experience this is really the case.

　　Real prayers will certainly cause our being to be wholly mingled with God…When you pray, it is He praying, and when He prays, it is also you praying. When He prays within you, you express the prayer outwardly. He and you are altogether one, inside and outside; He and you both pray at the same time. At that time you and God cannot be separated, being mingled as one. Consequently, you not only cooperate with God but also work together with God so that God Himself and His desire may be expressed through you, thus ultimately accomplishing God’s purpose. This is the real prayer that is required of us in the Bible. (CWWL, 1959, vol. 4, “Lessons on Prayer,” p. 23)

　　Jude 20 says, “Praying in the Holy Spirit.” This means that you should not pray in yourself. In other words, it means that your prayer should be the expression of two parties, you and the Holy Spirit, praying as one. Ephesians 6:18 says, “By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit.”…The spirit here does not refer solely to the Holy Spirit; rather, it also includes our human spirit. When we pray, we must pray in such a mingled spirit.

　　Concerning the principles of prayer, we must first see that prayer should not be initiated by man but by God. Any prayer, even our confession of sins before God, should be the result of God’s working within us…Unless the Holy Spirit works within us, we can never go before God to confess our sins…In fact, every kind of prayer that we pray should be initiated by the Spirit of God. A prayer that measures up to the standard is surely one in which God passes through it…Every time we prayed an effective prayer that touched God as well as His throne, we also felt that in such prayer we were walking in God, and even the words of our prayer were spoken in God. Both we, the praying ones, and the words of our prayer passed through God. Because of these two aspects of passing through, when we pray, we often sense God’s presence more strongly than at any other time.

　　Very few people would tell you that when you pray, you must pray together with God. But in reality, many who pray well have this experience… A good prayer is Christ in you praying to the Christ on the throne.

　　When you pray with the brothers and sisters,…while someone is praying very properly, you may sense that you have touched God in the words of his prayer and that his utterances are God’s coming forth. When we meet this kind of situation, we say that his spirit has come forth. Actually, it is God coming forth from him, for it is not only he praying there but God and he praying together. God is praying in him, and he is praying in God. He really can say, “My prayer is God and I, I and God, praying together.”…A prayer that is up to the standard is not only God passing through man and man passing through God but also man and God, God and man, praying together. (CWWL, 1959, vol. 4, “Lessons on Prayer,” pp. 23-28)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1959, vol. 4, “Lessons on Prayer,” ch. 2

«　WEEK 1　DAY 3　»

　　Dan. 9:19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! Do not delay, for Your own sake, O my God; for Your city and Your people are called by Your own name.

　　Matt. 26:39 And going forward a little, He fell on His face and prayed, saying, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.

　　A prayer that is up to the standard must be one in which man is not praying for himself or for others but for God. Even when we pray for sinners to be saved or for the brothers and sisters to be revived, we ought to be praying for God…The highest meaning of prayer is that it is a means by which God may gain His authority and benefit. Apparently, you may be praying for many people, for many things, or for yourself, but you must be able to go to the root of the matter and say, “O God, all these prayers are for Your sake. Whether or not my prayers are answered is of very little significance, but Your authority and benefit in these matters are of immense importance… The same is true when I pray for the church. Whether the church is cold or hot, good or bad, dead or living—these are of small concern compared to whether or not Your plan, Your testimony, and Your authority can benefit and gain their rightful places. Therefore, I am not praying for the revival of the church but for Your authority and benefit.” (CWWL, 1959, vol. 4, “Lessons on Prayer,” p. 28)

　　May the Lord cover me with His blood and allow me to share something from my own experience. There were quite a few times when I suffered want in material things and necessities…As I knelt down before God, there was an asking within: “Are you praying for yourself, or are you praying for God’s sake?”

　　Whenever there was such an asking within, I prostrated myself before God and said to Him, “O God, if it were for myself, it would not matter if I suffered poverty and starvation even unto death, but Your authority and benefit are involved. Although I am asking for some material things from You, it is still not for my own sake but for Your sake…” You see, this is a proper prayer.

　　You must touch this deep and tremendous principle and measure your prayers by it. Then you will discover, even in such a divine matter as prayer, how much you are still filled with yourself and how little you have passed through God’s purification. Whether it is in the intention, the motive, or the expectation of your prayer, there is mixture within you. Yes, you are praying to God, but in your heart you are praying wholly on your own and for your own sake. Therefore, you must be dealt with by God until one day you become able to say, “O God, I am praying not for myself but for Your sake. In my motive, intention, and expectation there is no place for me; rather, everything is for Your sake.”

　　If we would learn such a lesson, we would no longer need to implore God or beg for His pity; instead, we would be able to pray bravely and strongly, for we would be praying not for ourselves but for God’s sake…Daniel was one who passed through God and allowed God to pass through him. He was also one who prayed with God and allowed God to pray with him. Hence, he could pray, “O Lord, hear…for Your own sake” [Dan. 9:19].

　　Every proper prayer is also man speaking forth the intention of God. Yes, it is you who are speaking, but it is God who is expressing His heart’s intent…True prayers do not express our ideas; rather, they express God’s intention through our utterance. Every prayer which is up to the standard is not initiated by man but by God. This initiation means that God anoints His intention into man. After man receives this intention, he converts it into words and utters them to God. This is prayer…When we pray, we must first be quiet before God, fellowship with Him, and allow Him to anoint His intention into us; thus our prayer can express God’s intention. (CWWL, 1959, vol. 4, “Lessons on Prayer,” pp. 29-31)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1959, vol. 4, “Lessons on Prayer,” ch. 3

«　WEEK 1　DAY 4　»

　　Mark 11:23-24 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. 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.

　　In the beginning it is God who initiates, in the process you are but one who cooperates with God, and ultimately it is for the glory of God. This is real prayer—man being united with God and cooperating with Him on earth, allowing Him to express Himself and accomplish His purpose through man.

　　If a person only knows how to seek after himself and his own desire, he may pray, but he is not a man of prayer. A man of prayer must become such that in all the universe he cares only for God and His will, having no other desire besides this.

　　We can see this characteristic very clearly in our Lord Jesus when He lived as a man on this earth. When He was praying in Gethsemane, He fellowshipped with God the matter of His death, saying, “If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me.” But then He also said, “Yet not as I will, but as You will” (Matt. 26:39). Three times He told God, “I want Your will, not Mine.” Ordinarily, we think that when a person prays, he asks God to do something for him. For example, he has a desire, so he prays according to his desire and asks God to fulfill it for him. But in Gethsemane we see One who prayed thus: “Not as I will, but as You will.” In effect, the Lord Jesus was saying, “Although I am praying here, I am not asking You to accomplish something for Me; rather, I am asking that Your will be done. I seek nothing for Myself in this universe. My only desire is that You may prosper and that Your will may be carried out. I am such a One who wants only You and Your will.” (CWWL, 1959, vol. 4, “Lessons on Prayer,” pp. 34-36)

　　Let us look at the model prayer with which the Lord Jesus taught His disciples how to pray…At the very outset He said, “Your name be sanctified; Your kingdom come; Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth” (Matt. 6:9-10). These words of prayer tell us clearly what His inner desire was. If we know only how to pray for our own living, business, and family, then our prayers really fall short. This proves that we are not single and pure before God but that we are still rather complicated and mixed within—we desire other things besides God. All [a man of prayer] wants is God and God’s will; he is satisfied as long as God has a way to go on and accomplish His will.

　　Some may tell you that prayer needs faith. But faith is not something you can have just because you want it. Actually, faith is a function that emanates from God within us. If you are one who abides in God, lives in Him, and allows Him to have standing in you, then God in you issues forth a function, which is faith. Faith does not come from you. We can almost say that faith is God Himself…Only a person who is filled with God is full of faith. It is useless, therefore, to merely exhort people to have faith…If you really want to have faith, you need to be a man of prayer who lives in God, is being dealt with by Him, is willing to yield to His demands, and who gives permission to His strippings. When He thus has place in you, then He is the faith in you. When He fills you with Himself, you are full of faith. You do not need to strive to believe or compel yourself to believe, but you surely can believe, for within you there is a God to whom you pray, and He is the very God who fills you and moves you to pray—He has become your faith. Please remember, at this time you know with assurance that your prayer is acceptable to Him, is of Him, and is touching Him, and therefore, He cannot help but answer your prayer. This is faith. Faith does not come according to your wish. Rather, it is God in you filling you to such an extent that you cannot help but have faith. (CWWL, 1959, vol. 4, “Lessons on Prayer,” pp. 36, 47-48)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1959, vol. 4, “Lessons on Prayer,” ch. 4

«　WEEK 1　DAY 5　»

　　Acts 6:4 But we will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word.

　　Eph. 3:16-17 That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, that Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith…

　　[In Ephesians 3:16] the inner man is our regenerated spirit, which has God’s life as its life. It is our spirit regenerated by the Spirit of God (John 3:6), indwelt by the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:11, 16), and mingled with the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 6:17). In order to experience Christ unto all the fullness of God, we need to be strengthened into our inner man. This implies that we need to be strengthened into our spirit through the Holy Spirit.

　　Because human beings are souls, not spirits, our personality, or our person, is in our soul. This is the reason the Bible refers to men as souls (Exo. 1:5; Acts 2:41)…As souls, we have an outward vessel, the body, and an inward vessel, the spirit…Before we were regenerated, there was no life in our spirit; we simply had our human life in our soul. But through regeneration we now have the divine life in our spirit. Therefore, our spirit is no longer merely a vessel; it has become our person with the life of God…The old person, the soul with the human life, has been crucified on the cross, and now our new person is the spirit with the divine life. Our spirit regenerated with the divine life is now our inner man. (Life-study of Ephesians, p. 267)

　　We need to be strengthened in order to stay in our spirit and not to be distracted by thoughts regarding so many things. In order to pray without being distracted, we need to be strengthened into our inner man…We need to be strengthened so that our whole being may come back to the inner man and stay there!

　　Our heart is composed of all the parts of our soul—the mind, the emotion, and the will—plus our conscience, the main part of our spirit. These parts are the inward parts of our being. Through regeneration Christ came into our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22). After this, we should allow Him to spread Himself into every part of our heart. Our heart is the totality of all our inward parts and the center of our inward being; therefore, when Christ makes His home in our heart, He controls our entire inward being and supplies and strengthens every inward part with Himself.

　　When we were saved, Christ came into our spirit…As we are strengthened into the inner man, the door is opened for Christ to spread in us, to spread from our spirit to every part of our mind, emotion, and will. The more Christ spreads within us, the more He settles down in us and makes His home in us. This means that He occupies every part of our inner being, possessing all these parts and saturating them with Himself. As a result, not only do we receive the revelation, but we also are filled with Christ. Then wherever we may go, we will be the apostles, the sent ones, and the prophets, those who speak for Christ. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 268, 270)

　　If we take Christ as our person, allowing Him to spread into our heart, the person living in our heart will not be the self but Christ (Gal. 2:20). In a practical way our heart needs to become Christ’s home…He, not the self, must be the One who occupies our heart. The crucial question is who is living in our heart and who is the person taking up residence in our heart. As long as we are still the person living in our heart, our heart is the home of the self, not the home of Christ. For this reason, we need to pray for ourselves and for others to have the reality of taking Christ as our person in our daily living. Everything we do should be done not by the self but by Christ. His tastes and preferences need to become ours. Then Christ will be not only our life but also our person. The Lord will thus expand in our heart, take possession of our heart, and make His home in our heart in a full way. Eventually, He will saturate our whole being with Himself, and we will live no longer by the self but by Christ. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3390-3391)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Ephesians, msg. 32

«　WEEK 1　DAY 6　»

　　Eph. 3:17-19 That you…may be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth are and to know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ, that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God.

　　Christ is immeasurable in His spreading forth. As we experience Christ in His spreading, we come to see that the dimensions of the universe are the very dimensions of Christ.

　　In our experience of Christ, we should go on from the two dimensions to three, from a “square” to a “cube.”…Both in the tabernacle and in the temple, the Holy of Holies was a cube. The dimensions of this cube in the tabernacle and temple respectively were ten cubits and twenty cubits. The New Jerusalem will be an eternal cube, twelve thousand stadia in three dimensions. The church life today must also be a “cube.”…Our experience of Christ in the church must be “cubical,” three-dimensional… When we become a cube, we cannot fall, and we cannot be broken. Christ is the universal cube, and the church life today is also a “cube,” not a “line” or even a “carpet.”…As we go back and forth and up and down in our experience of Christ, we eventually have a solid “cube.” (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 276-277)

　　The genuine church life is the issue of Christ personally making His home in our heart to occupy every corner of our inner being. The content of the church is the Christ whom we take as our person, the Christ who is wrought into our being. In order for Christ’s word in Matthew 16:18 concerning the building up of the church to be fulfilled, the church must enter into a state where many saints allow Christ to make His home in their heart, possessing, occupying, and saturating their entire inner being. The more Christ occupies our inner being, the more we will be able to be built up with others in the Body (Eph. 2:21-22; 4:16). The reality of the Body life is such an inner experience of the indwelling Christ. The Body of Christ is the consummation of our enjoyment of the unsearchable riches of Christ and the consummation of the experience of the unlimited Christ making His home in our entire inward being. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate issue of Christ making His home in our heart.

　　The result of Christ’s making His home in our hearts is that we are full of strength to apprehend…the breadth, length, height, and depth…To apprehend the dimensions of Christ, we need all the saints, not individually but corporately…We first experience the breadth of what He is and then the length. This is horizontal. When we advance in Christ, we experience the height and depth of His riches. This is vertical.

　　We become strong not only to apprehend the dimensions of Christ but also to know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ…Just as Christ is immeasurable, so also is His love; hence, it is knowledge-surpassing. Yet, we can know it in our spirit by experiencing it. If we compare what we have thus far experienced of the immeasurable love of Christ to all that there is to experience, it is like comparing a raindrop to the ocean. Christ in His universal dimensions and in His immeasurable love is like a vast, limitless ocean for us to experience.

　　The result of apprehending the dimensions of Christ and knowing the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ is that we are filled unto all the fullness of God. Here the expression the fullness of God denotes the overflow of the riches of Christ that have been constituted into us. The fullness of God implies that the riches of all that God is have become His expression. When the riches of God are in God Himself, they are His riches, but when the riches of God are expressed, they become His fullness (John 1:16). All the fullness of God dwells in Christ (Col. 1:19; 2:9). Through His indwelling, Christ imparts the fullness of God into our being that we may be filled even unto the fullness of God to be the practical manifestation of the church, in which God may be glorified in His expression (Eph. 3:21). (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3391-3392)

　　Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 338