THE PRINCIPLE OF ENJOYING GOD THROUGH PRAYER BEING TO FOLLOW THE SENSE OF THE SPIRIT
Regrettably, many brothers and sisters are ignorant of these inward experiences. Although they long for prayer that enjoys God and occasionally have enjoyable experiences, they do not know the key to prayer and are ignorant of the principle that governs prayer. Therefore, they are never sure when they touch God. Sometimes they touch God accidentally, but they do not realize that they have enjoyed God. Moreover, they cannot describe such an experience as enjoying and breathing in God. They only know that they prayed for twenty minutes in the morning, and that they had the savor of heaven while they prayed. The next morning they try to enjoy God by praying in the same way, but it may not work. They try to repeat the experiences of the previous day, but it does not work. They muster their will, exercise their mind, act according to their memory, and try to repeat their prayer from the previous day. The more they try, the drier they become. After praying for a while, they are depressed and empty within, and they do not understand what has happened. This experience is the issue of not praying according to the sense in their spirit. The prayer they offered the previous morning was according to the sense of their spirit, even though they might not have known what they were doing. However, when they tried to consciously repeat the experience, they fall into a formality and are no longer in their spirit.
After this, the brothers and sisters lack assurance in their prayers. They no longer know how to pray to obtain peace in their spirit. Whenever they try to repeat an experience, it is usually a failure. Such failures usually lead to discouragement and a lack of desire to pray. Eventually, their prayers become somewhat routine and unnatural. After a few weeks they may accidentally touch God again. They may sense His presence and inwardly feel satisfied. However, they are unable to repeat this the following day and are thus confused. These experiences are the issue of not touching the key to prayer. They do not know the principle that governs prayer.
There are principles that govern the matter of touching God in our prayer. This is like tuning a radio. If we want to listen to a particular broadcast, we must turn to the right frequency. Those who do not know the right frequency can only search blindly. When they stumble upon it, they listen to the broadcast. When they do not stumble upon it, they are not able to listen to the broadcast. They have no certainty. However, those who know the frequency simply turn the dial and immediately listen to the broadcast. The same is true with prayer. In order for us to touch God in our prayer, we must follow the principle that governs prayer. Those who do not know the principle may only experience it accidentally, but those who know the key to prayer find it very easy to touch God in their prayers.
Some often say that they pray in the Lord’s presence. This, however, is the speaking of a novice. Our prayer is not a matter of the Lord being present with us but a matter of inwardly touching the Lord. For example, radio waves are always in the air. As long as we adjust a radio to the correct frequency, the radio waves will be received. Similarly, the Holy Spirit is present in every place at every time. He is with us at all times and in all places. Regrettably, the “radio” in our spirit is not always adjusted to the right frequency. In one instant we may be in our mind and not touch anything. The next instant we may be in our spirit and immediately touch the Spirit.
We should now understand that the governing principle to touching God is to follow the sense in our spirit when we pray. If we do this, it will be easy for us to absorb God and enjoy Him in our prayer. We should pay attention to understand and exercise according to this principle.
THINGS TO CONSIDER CONCERNING
THE SENSE OF THE SPIRIT
Those who are experienced in prayer know that there are many things to consider related to the sense of the spirit. If the sense in our spirit is for us to pray rapidly, we should pray accordingly; otherwise, we may lose the Spirit. Sometimes the sense in our spirit may be to pray slowly, requiring us to utter the words one by one; otherwise, we may lose the Lord’s presence. At other times the sense in our spirit may be to stop praying. If we do not stop, we will be cut off from the sense in our spirit. There are also times when the inner feeling does not allow us to stop, even if we have other matters to take care of. We should always follow the inner feeling when we pray, not praying according to ourselves.
There are times when the inner feeling may lead us to weep, even if we are not accustomed to crying. If we try to hold back the tears, we will lose the Spirit, but if we weep or cry, the Spirit will be released. We should follow the leading in our spirit regardless of our environment.
At other times we may not be led to cry, and if we do, we will lose the leading of the Spirit. Sisters, however, seem to be more prone to cry. Some sisters cry whenever they pray. These tears may actually frustrate the Spirit and cause them to lose the sense of the Spirit.
These are not exaggerations. One basic lesson in prayer is that we must always follow the initiation of the Spirit. If we follow Him, He will follow us. This experience is altogether in the realm of our spirit. May we all practice this kind of prayer. Whenever we pray, we must stop and turn to our spirit. Next, we must not initiate prayer from ourselves. Rather, we must allow God to deposit His feelings within us and pray according to these feelings. Whether the feeling is to pray rapidly or slowly, to cry or to laugh, we should follow the feeling absolutely. All experienced believers know that we absorb God in such prayers, and we are brought into God; God fills our being, and we are saturated with Him. This is genuine prayer to which the Lord hearkens.
Regrettably, we are not always able to follow the leading in our spirit. Our memory, will, thoughts, and opinions form the biggest inward barriers. For example, we may decide to pray for certain matters or persons regardless of the feeling in our spirit. When we set ourselves to pray, we do not care for the feeling in our spirit. We care instead about what we have decided and what we can remember. There is a problem if we are unwilling to surrender our mind, memory, and decisions to the Lord. In our prayer we must surrender ourselves to the Lord and cooperate with Him. We must let Him lead us in our prayers; we should not take the initiative. We must be active only in following the Lord, in being submissive to Him, and in not taking the initiative. Even if the greatest enterprise in the world is about to fall upon us, we should not pray for it without the leading of the inward feeling. We should only follow the feeling in our spirit.
When we enjoy God through reading the Word, we need to drop our views and concepts in order to receive the central matters in God’s Word. This principle also applies to prayer. When we pray, we need to drop our decisions and thoughts in order to pray according to the sense in our spirit. Regrettably, since most of our prayers are initiated by us, they are apart from the Spirit. If the Lord is not one with us in our prayers, we will not touch and absorb God in our prayers.
When we pray, we must learn to turn to our spirit. We must learn to set aside our feelings, opinions, ideas, memory, and decisions and pray solely according to the feeling in our spirit. Only then will God follow us in our prayer. As we follow the sense in our spirit, God will follow our prayer. We may utter a sentence, and the Lord will give us more feelings, which will lead us to utter another sentence. This sentence will lead to more feelings. This kind of prayer is breathing prayer, prayer that reaches God. The more we pray, the more we touch God’s presence and the more we absorb God Himself. The more we pray, the more we are filled with God. This is to enjoy God. The matters in our petitions are secondary. The important thing is that we have reached God, gained God, and absorbed God. This should be our experience every time we pray.
In order to have prayers that enjoy God, we must reject everything that disrupts the feeling in our spirit. In particular, we should not be occupied with many thoughts. Sometimes we should even avoid considering many Bible passages. Instead, we should use the Word to calm our thoughts. However, under normal circumstances, we should exercise to be calm without relying on the Bible. Even praying with the words of the Bible can be a frustration if it is not according to the sense in our spirit. We may lose God’s presence.
ALL PRAYERS NEEDING TO BE
ACCORDING TO THE FEELING OF THE SPIRIT
I hope that we would all see that when we turn to our spirit, are calm, and pray according to the feeling in our spirit, God will entrust many important matters to us for supplication. All we need to do is to follow the feeling in our spirit and pray the prayers that He initiates one by one. We will fulfill a great ministry of supplication in this way. Not only do we need to touch God in the morning when we eat, drink, and enjoy Him through reading and prayer; we need to touch God, pass through God, and allow Him to pass through us in our ministry-fulfilling prayers, our supplicating prayers. In our prayers, God and we, we and God, should be mingled together. Whenever we pray, our prayers should be inward prayers that come from touching God. All normal prayers are prayers according to the sense of the spirit. Such prayers come from our enjoyment of God and are actually an enjoyment of God. The more we pray this way, the more we will absorb God and enjoy Him.