Luke 18:1 And He told them a parable to the end that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. Col. 4:2 Persevere in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving.
In order to fulfill the ministry of prayer, we must have a burden to pray before the Lord. We have to know that burden is the key to prayer. If a man does not feel any burden to pray for a certain thing, he will not succeed in his prayer. In the prayer meeting, many brothers and sisters mention many things in prayer. But if you are not touched by those things, you cannot pray for them. Every brother and sister must come to the prayer meeting with a burden for prayer before they can pray. At the same time, we should not merely pay attention to our burden but to the burden of the other brothers and sisters as well. Suppose a sister has a husband who is giving her a difficult time, while another brother has incurred a sickness. In the prayer meeting, one brother may pray for the salvation of the sister's husband. After this, another brother may pray for God to heal the sick brother. Then a third brother may remember another matter. These prayers are isolated prayers; they are not according to the principle of praying three times. There has not been a thorough prayer in one matter before going on to another matter. In the prayer meeting, we have to watch to see whether the burden for prayer has been released. If the prayer burden for that sister has been released, we can go on to pray for the sick brother. But if the first prayer burden has not been released, we should not jump to the second or the third thing and pray for those matters. If the burden of the whole meeting is not released concerning a certain matter, we should not insert another prayer according to our personal feelings. We have to sense the spirit of the whole meeting and enter into the feeling of the whole meeting. Some matters are answered after one prayer. Some matters are answered after two prayers. Some matters require three or five prayers before the burden can be released. No matter how many prayers there are, the burden must be released before the prayers can stop. The principle of praying three times is to pray until the burden is released.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Watchman Nee, General Messages, Vol. 37, in The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, pp. 64-65. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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