Let us forget about reading the Word merely for knowledge. Let us practice taking the Word as the expression of Christ and as the conveyer of Christ by exercising our spirit to contact the Word, taking the Word as Christ Himself and making Christ the reality of the Word. Then this Word will become our nourishment. The divisions among the Lord’s children arose from the knowledge of the Bible in the letter. We all need to be delivered from the letter to the experience of Christ as the life-giving Spirit. We need a deliverance from the mere knowledge of letters to be brought back to the centrality, universality, and reality of the Word of God—the living Christ.

PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT WITH THE PRAYER OF CHRIST

We have to learn how to exercise our spirit to contact Christ as the life-giving Spirit by prayer. James 5:17 says, “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.” In this verse earnestly prayed literally means “prayed in prayer.” Many times we pray, but we do not pray in prayer or with prayer. There must be a prayer in our prayer just like the wheel within the wheel in Ezekiel 1:16. When we are going to preach the gospel, we should be moving in the Lord’s move. When we are ministering the Word, we should be ministering in the Lord’s ministry. When we are praying, we should be praying in prayer. This means that when we pray, the Holy Spirit must be praying within our prayer. A prayer from the Lord was given to Elijah in which he prayed. He did not pray in his feeling, thought, intention, mood, or in any kind of motivation from circumstances or situations for the fulfilling of his purpose. [179] He prayed in the prayer and with the prayer given to him by the Lord for the accomplishing of God’s will. Within our prayer there must be a prayer of Christ. Andrew Murray said that the best prayer is one in which Christ prays within us to the Christ in the heavens. While we are praying, Christ must be praying within us.

Ephesians 6:18 tells us that we need to receive the word of God “by means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit.” The Lord is the Spirit, and we have to contact Him by praying in our spirit. He is the life-giving Spirit indwelling our spirit, so we have to exercise our spirit to pray. In our spirit there is another Spirit praying. Our spirit is the outer wheel, and the divine Spirit in our spirit praying is the inner wheel. While we are praying by exercising our spirit, there is another One praying within our spirit, another Spirit. This Spirit is the life-giving Spirit, Christ Himself. The wheel within the wheel in Ezekiel 1 typifies the divine Spirit in our human spirit.

Some may ask how they could know that Christ is praying within them while they are praying. When one is eating some fruit, he may exclaim that it is delicious. If someone were to ask him how he knows it is delicious, he could only respond that what he is eating tastes delicious. We know that Christ is praying within us while we are praying because of the taste within. The more we pray with Christ’s prayer, the more we are refreshed, the more we are watered, the more we are anointed, and the more we are strengthened. But sometimes when we pray, it is another story. When we do not pray with Christ’s prayer, the more we pray, the more we are empty and dried up. When we pray without the prayer of Christ within us, we are like a machine without oil. There is no smoothness in the machine’s operation, and it will burn up due to the lack of oil. When we pray apart from Christ, we are exhausted. Prayer then becomes a real labor to us. This is because we are praying by ourselves and moving with an empty wheel. We may pray according to our mentality, our own inclination, our own emotions, and our own desires and not care for the Spirit in our spirit. Thus, the more we pray in this way, the more we are dried up with no watering, no anointing, no oiling, no refreshing, and no strengthening. We have to learn to drop this way of praying.

Matthew 6:33 says, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” When we pray, we should not focus on our needs. Our Father knows all the things that [180] we need, and He will add these to us. We should leave our needs in His hands. He knows what we need better than we do. Husbands should not pray too much concerning their wives, and the wives should not pray too much concerning their husbands. In our prayer we have to take care of contacting the Lord Himself. We have to take care of honoring Him, praising Him, exalting Him, and glorifying Him. Then all our needs will be taken care of.

Many times in my prayer I simply did not have the liberty to pray for so many things. According to my intention, I wanted to pray for my relatives and for certain people, but when I knelt down to pray, something within me was going in another direction. Thus, I had to make a decision whether I would go along with my own direction to pray or pray according to His direction. If I prayed according to my own direction, the more I prayed, the more I would be dried up within. But if I forgot about my own direction and prayed according to His direction, the more I prayed, the more I would be refreshed and burning in spirit. Then the more I prayed, the more He prayed. This is the reality of the wheel within the wheel in Ezekiel 1. This is the way to pray in the Lord. By praying in the Lord we will be watered, refreshed, and strengthened. We will drink of the Lord, and our spirit will be open to Him by our prayer. By this kind of prayer, He has a way to flow out from within us. First, we will be watered, and then this water will flow out to others.

May we all be brought into the experience of Christ praying within us. We need to drive our “car” along the map given to us in this chapter. The best way for us to enjoy the Lord is to read the Word, realizing that He is the reality of the Word and taking Him, contacting Him, by exercising our spirit. Then we need to learn to pray in the spirit with Him praying in our prayer.

THE NEED TO LEARN THE PRINCIPLE OF PRAYER

We need to consider the prayer of the Lord in John 17 and the two prayers of the apostle Paul in Ephesians (1:17-23; 3:14-19). We need to read these three prayers to learn the principle of prayer. This will help us to be brought into the realization of how the Lord prayed in the spirit and how the apostle Paul prayed in the spirit. In John 17:1 the Lord prayed to the Father, “Glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You.” The Lord began His prayer with God’s glory from the Holy of Holies. In verse 11 the Lord addressed the Father as [181] “Holy Father.” This indicates that He had come out from the Holy of Holies to the Holy Place.

By the end of this prayer in verse 25 He called the Father “Righteous Father.” At the beginning of John 17 is the glorified Father, in the middle is the holy Father, and at the end is the righteous Father. This points to God’s glory, His holiness, and His righteousness. The Lord started His prayer from the Holy of Holies and came through the Holy Place to the outer court in order to bring people into the Triune God.