Appearing before God
In order to breathe in God through prayer, we must appear before God. The psalmist says that he thirsts for God. His soul pants for God as the hart pants after the streams of water. He says, “When will I come and appear / Before God?” (Psa. 42:2). Do we appear before God when we pray? Do we thirst to touch Him in our spirit? Whenever we breathe in God, we must first exercise to appear before Him. We should never think that God is only in heaven; He is abiding in our spirit. When we pray, we close our eyes not only to concentrate but also to stop our outward being. Our outward being often wanders with our eyes. By closing our eyes when we pray, we close the gate of our eyes, shut the door to the outside world, and turn the direction of our being to our spirit. After we stop our entire being and close the door to the outside world, we will be able to turn to the deepest part of our being and exercise our spirit. When we turn to exercise our spirit, we immediately touch God and appear before Him in our spirit.
Being Silent
After touching God in our spirit, we must learn the lesson of not opening our mouth quickly. We do not need to shout and cry when we touch God. We should be silent and calm. The more silent and calm we are, the better.
Many of us cannot pray once we are told to be silent. As soon as we are quiet, our minds wander, and we become confused. We need to shout and cry in order to concentrate. This proves that we have not learned the proper lesson in prayer.
We must learn a serious lesson in prayer. We must turn our entire being away from the outside world. We must stop our entire being and turn to our spirit so that we can appear before God. The psalmist says that he desires to dwell in the house of Jehovah to behold His beauty (27:4). The house of Jehovah is our spirit. We must turn our entire being to our spirit and remain there silently. This is a matter of practice.
In order to have prayers that breathe in God, we first need to turn to our spirit to touch God. After we touch God, we need to be silent before Him. This is true even in human communication. A person is probably not that close to us if we can only speak loudly to him once we meet. The more intimate we are with a person, the more silent we can be when we are with him. Simply by looking at each other, our sentiments are conveyed without speaking. The same can be said concerning one who is experienced in touching God. When he touches God, he is silent. Even if he is moved to tears, these tears are inward rather than outward. If he has anything to say, he speaks quietly; he does not need to shout or cry. Everyone who learns to breathe in God learns this lesson. As we touch God in our spirit, the best thing to do is to be silent before Him.
Beholding His Beauty
Although these points do not have a legal or fixed order, we should learn to behold the beauty of the Lord in silence (v. 4). Many Christians have never heard of this practice. Beholding the beauty of the Lord is to look at the Lord in our spirit and to gaze at Him. When we come before God in prayer, we must learn to stop our speaking, to cut off our words, and to simply turn to our spirit to appear before Him, touch Him, behold Him in silence, and gaze upon Him. We need to look at Him again and again, beholding, appreciating, and even treasuring Him. This is very sweet and necessary. We should never consider prayer to be merely asking God to do something for us. No, the object and subject of prayer are not things. Both the object and subject of prayer are God Himself. First we should touch Him. Then we should be silent before Him. After this we should behold Him by looking and gazing at Him. This is to absorb God and enjoy Him.
Inquiring
When we open our mouth, we do not need to ask or beg, but we can inquire. Many brothers and sisters have never inquired of the Lord. They only ask and beg. They say, “God, my son is sick. I have this need and that lack.” Their asking turns into begging: “Heal my son. Take care of me. Give me what I need.” What is this? This is begging. These are not good prayers. The best prayer is inquiring prayer. As we touch God, wait in silence, behold His loveliness, and converse with Him, we can ask Him, “Would You like me to mention a certain matter now?” This is the sweetest kind of prayer.
When Abraham stood before Jehovah (Gen. 18), he did not open his mouth quickly. He waited before God, inquired of Him, and looked at Him. There are times when we do things according to the index of a person’s eyes; we speak according to the expression on their face. This is how we should pray. The psalmist expressed his desire: “To dwell in the house of Jehovah / All the days of my life, / To behold the beauty of Jehovah, / And to inquire in His temple” (Psa. 27:4). We must turn to our spirit, behold Him, and then inquire of Him.
I am afraid that many brothers and sisters have never prayed this way. It may be difficult for a sister who is praying for her husband’s health to discuss the matter with God. It is difficult to find a person who would say, “God, can I pray for this matter? Can I bring up this subject now? What should I ask?” This is not how we usually pray. If a husband is sick, when his wife kneels down, she says, “God, my husband is sick. Please heal him quickly and promptly so that he will recover his health and even be healthier.” How does this sister know that God wants to heal her husband promptly or to make him healthier than he was before? What if God wants him to be sick or wants to take him away? How does she know what God wants to do? She should discuss this matter with God. If she does not discuss this matter but simply implores God when she prays, in reality, she is the Lord in this matter; everything revolves around her. Brothers and sisters, have we learned the lesson of inquiring of God? Those who have never learned this lesson are wild and reckless in their prayers.
Our God is neither wild nor reckless. He will not deal with wild and obstinate people. Whether God is revealed as Jehovah in the Old Testament or as Jesus in the New Testament, He is shown to be a very civil and fine person; He is not wild. John 11:1-44 is a good illustration. Martha and Mary asked the Lord to come immediately and heal their sick brother. This was wild and obstinate. The Lord, however, indicated that He was not ready. The two sisters thought that it was time, but the Lord was not yet ready. He remained where He was for two more days, and then He came. When Martha saw Him, she complained, saying, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died” (v. 21). Mary repeated the same thing. Although they were women, they were wild and reckless. However, the Lord was gentle and fine; He did not react in haste. Rather, He said that He was the resurrection and the life, and although her brother was dead, he would rise again. Martha had already responded, saying, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection in the last day” (v. 24). This was a wild jump. She jumped from the present time all the way to the end of the age. After she said this, she went and called her sister secretly to meet the Lord, saying, “The Teacher is here and is calling you” (v. 28). This word came from Martha. Later, the Lord asked where Lazarus had been put and requested that they take away the stone. Martha again spoke recklessly, saying that it was useless to open the tomb because it smelled. The Lord, however, told them to do as He said and then cried out in a loud voice, saying, “Lazarus, come out!” (v. 43). Lazarus responded and came out. The Lord said, “Loose him and let him go” (v. 44). This shows how the Lord answers prayer, and how differently people pray to Him. Many pray in a wild way, but the Lord answers in a fine way. He responds to man’s prayer in a gentle and proper way.
It is difficult to find a person who does not pray to God in a wild way. We are not used to beholding His loveliness in silence; we are not used to living according to the index of His eyes. This is a pity. We must learn to be an inquiring person in our prayer. We should ask the Lord, “Can I bring up this subject at this time?” We should look at His eyes. If He is not happy, we should not continue. If He has an expression of approval, we can proceed by asking how we should pray. This is what it means to inquire. Some may say, “This is too slow. Things will be delayed, and people will die.” We need to remember that time is in God’s hand. He is beyond time. The Lord can save a brother if he is sick, He can resurrect him even if he has died, and He can make him fresh even if he smells. We must believe that our Lord never delays any work. The best prayer is inquiring prayer, but inquiring can only happen when a person is calm. If we have never touched God and have never been calm before Him or never beheld His loveliness, we do not know the meaning of inquiring.