For there to be the genuine reality of the new man among us, prayer is needed; this prayer is a particular kind of prayer, a prayer that is one with the Lord, responding in prayer to His heavenly ministry for Him to bring in the practicality of the new man.
This week we saw something concerning the prayer needed for the reality and practicality of the one new man.
First, there’s the matter of the substantiation – how do we substantiate the matter of prayer, such a simple thing yet such a deep and mystical communication between God and man.
The governing principle of our prayer should be that prayer brings us into God; when our prayer doesn’t bring us into God, it is wrong, and we shouldn’t continue to pray in this way.
Our experience during the genuine times of prayer enables us to touch the reality of the one new man.
When we pray, during our times of genuine prayer, we’re in our mingled spirit, we are one spirit with the Lord, and it is at these times that we live Christ.
This should also be our experience when we’re not in prayer; our daily living should be the same experience as our experience in times of genuine prayer.
If we keep ourselves in a praying condition, we will be outside of culture, and we will be one spirit with the Lord, enjoying His presence and spontaneously living Him.
At such a time we are outside of our cultural opinion and any ordinance, and we realise that the new man is constituted only with Christ.
When it comes to prayer, we need to persevere in prayer, for prayer involves a battle; the entire world is against our prayer life, and almost everything in our environment is not conducive to prayer but contrary to prayer.
This is the substantiation of prayer. Then, there’s a condition of prayer; there are some conditions required for us to have a proper and genuine prayer.
We need to let the peace of Christ arbitrate in us, let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, and live in union with Christ.
The peace of Christ and the word of Christ need to arbitrate and dwell in us, inhabit us, and the result will be that we will live a life in union with the Lord. It is in this union with the Lord that we become the reflection of what Christ is.
In union with the Lord, as we let the peace of Christ arbitrate in our heart and allow the word of Christ dwell in us richly, we respond to Christ’s heavenly ministry.
As we set our mind on the things which are above, where Christ is, we are joined to Christ, and we respond to His interceding, ministering, and executing of God’s economy and administration.
In this organic union with the Lord we pray the prayer of the one new man and we live the new man life for the fulfilment of God’s purpose on earth.
Through our Prayer Christ, the Head, has a Way to Carry out His Administration through His Body
In our times of prayer with the Lord, we exercise to set our mind on the things which are above, and we become a reflection of Christ’s ministry in the heavens.
The prayer we utter in this union with the Lord gives a way to Christ, the Head, to carry out His administration through us, His Body. We become His ambassadors on earth with the extension of God’s kingdom.
As Heb. 4:16 says, we come forward with boldness to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help. How can we come forward? It is by prayer.
As we exercise to pray, we come forward, we approach the throne of grace through our prayer, and mercy and grace will flow as a river into us to supply us.
How wonderful and supplying this flow of mercy and grace that we receive in our prayer! We can even say that whether or not our prayer is answered is secondary – receiving this flow of grace in prayer is more important.
As we drink and are supplied by the river of grace, we have our spiritual battery charged with the heavenly current, which is the Triune God as grace flowing out of the throne and into us.
This supply is unspeakable; the enjoyment is unimaginable; this is such a wonderful reward for our persevering in prayer!
On one hand we are supplied through our prayer, and on the other, we are joined to the Lord Jesus, the Head of the Body, and we afford Him a way through our prayer that He would carry out His administration through us, His Body (Col. 1:18; 2:10; 3:1-2).
As we pray and touch the throne of grace, we sense that the Head is working in heaven by interceding, ministering, and administrating; as the High Priest, Christ is interceding, as the Minister, He is ministering God into us, and as the Redeemer, He administrates the whole universe for God’s economy.
So we as His Body on earth are working to respond to His heavenly ministry in prayer, reflecting what He is doing (Heb. 2:17; 4:14; 7:26; 8:1-2; Rev. 5:6).
When we pray, we are a heavenly ambassador on earth; we are the extension of the kingdom of God on earth, and in our prayer we agree with and reflect the prayers of Christ, the Head, for Him to accomplish on earth what He wants to accomplish.
On one hand we are inwardly supplied and recharged, nourished, and filled; on the other hand, we join ourselves to Him to respond to His prayer in our prayer, and through our prayer Christ, the Head, has a way to carry out His administration through His Body. We will gladly tell the Lord,
Lord Jesus, we come forward to the throne of grace to receive and enjoy the river of mercy and grace flowing from the throne in our spirit! Amen, Lord, we love to be supplied by the river of grace flowing from You; You are our reward and our bountiful supply. We are joined to You, Lord, and we want to give You a way to carry out Your administration on earth through Your Body, the church. We say Amen, Lord, to Your interceding, Your ministering, and Your administrating. We say Amen to what You want to accomplish, and we stand one with You in prayer!
Responding in Prayer to the Lord’s Interceding, Ministering, and Administrating
We thank the Lord that He has raised us up together with Christ, and now we can set our mind on the things which are above, where Christ is; as we seek the things above and have one living with Christ, we are wholly occupied with the enterprise of our Master.
Our heart will be a duplication of His heart, and we will respond to His interceding for all the saints and all the churches, we will cooperate with His supplying all the saints with Himself, and we will pray for His administrating of God’s government.
Our concern and desire will be for Him to accomplish what He desires.
When we are so one with the Lord and care for His interest on earth, we take Him as our life, and the lustful members will be put to death, the evil elements in our fallen soul will be removed, and the old man will be put off.
Spontaneously, we will put on the new man, as the old man is put off.
Don’t we all aspire that we would be one with the Lord in the heavenlies? Don’t we desire to have a heart that is fully one with His heart? Don’t we long to be one with the Lord in His priesthood, in His ministry, and in His administration in His heavenly ministry?
We need to seek the things which are above and live together with Christ, and we will care for God’s purpose more than anything else.
As we enjoy Christ in such a way, the one new man will come forth and will be expressed in a practical way.
It is easy to understand the doctrine of the one new man, and it is not that difficult to try to organise things so that we may try to work out the practical new man.
But the one new man doesn’t come by the way of organisation; the new man is not a society or a religion but rather, the one new man comes forth only by our taking Christ as our life and living together with Him.
Christ is praying in heaven, and as we set our mind on the things above and live together with Christ, we respond in prayer on earth.
In this way, we experience the transmission between Christ and us, a transmission that will make us happy and full of joy, for as Christ works in heaven, so do we on earth, and we correspond to His heavenly ministry in prayer.
In this way, we enjoy Christ not only as the reality of our necessities, but we also take Him as our life and person, and we have one living with Him.
May we all aspire to be one with the Lord in His heavenly ministry and have a heart that is one with His heart; may we long to be one with the Lord in His priesthood, ministry, and administration.
In the Lord’s recovery today we must be under His direction; in order for the recovery to be the Lord’s recovery, it must be under His direction (see Rev. 5:6; Eph. 1:19-23).
This means that between Christ in heaven and us on earth there’s a divine transmission, a heavenly current.
If we remain in prayer before the Lord and seek the things which are above, we will continuously receive the divine transmission; we are infused continually with a supply from heave and respond to Christ’s interceding, ministering, and executing of God’s administration.
If we continuously receive the divine transmission, being infused with a supply from heaven and are experiencing the transaction between the heavenly Christ and us, we will respond to Christ’s interceding, ministering, and executing of God’s administration.
This is the aim of our living with Christ – being one with Him in His intercession for the churches, in His ministry of the heavenly supply to the saints, and in His administration of God’s government.
The result of living together with the Lord in such a way is the one new man; the new man is the spontaneous issue of our taking Christ as our life and living Him.
May we all give ourselves to the Lord and struggle to enter into this kind of one new man prayer, a prayer that will result in the coming into being of the one new man in reality and practicality.
Nothing else works except prayer; we do need to serve, work, and do many practical things, but above all and in all we need to pray.
May we pray very much, and may we build up this kind of prayer life, this kind of prayer atmosphere and condition in our life and in the church life, so that the Lord may have a way among us.
Lord Jesus, we aspire to be one with You in Your heavenly ministry and to have a heart that is one with Your heart. We long to be one with You in Your priesthood, ministry, and administration. Amen, Lord Jesus, keep us receiving the divine transmission, being infused with a supply from heaven and experiencing the transaction between the heavenly Christ and us, so that we may respond to Christ’s interceding, ministering, and executing of God’s administration! Lord, we seek the things above; we are one with You; we respond to Your heavenly ministry so that You may bring in the one new man in practicality on earth today!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Colossians, msg. 60 (Witness by Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The One New Man Fulfilling God’s Purpose in Creating Man (2019 fall ITERO), week 6, The Prayer Needed for the Reality and Practicality of the One New Man.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Pray to touch the throne of God, / Touch the throne of grace divine, / Grace to find and mercy too / Which will meet the need of thine. / Pray to touch the throne of God, / Deeply sense thy need of grace; / In the spirit stay with God, / Fellowshipping face to face. (Hymns #783)
– Praying always in the spirit, / Even groaning from within, / Thus we utter God’s intention / By the Spirit’s discipline. (Hymns #780)
– Pray with one accord in spirit, / Supplicate relatedly; / Seek the Lord, His mind, His leading, / In the Spirit’s harmony. / Pray with one accord in spirit, / Pray and watch persistently; / For God’s kingdom and His glory, / Pray and watch in harmony. (Hymns #779)
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