THE WAY TO ENJOY GOD THROUGH SET TIMES OF PRAYER

Even though there is no regulation concerning what we should do during this time of prayer, we should remember the points we considered in chapter 5. Here is a review of those points.

Seeking after God

During this time of absorbing God, we should not worry about so many things. There is no need to mention many things in our prayer. The more we pray for different things, the less we touch God, the less we reach Him. Please pay attention to the word reach. When we pray, we must reach God. This can be compared to hitting a person. To hit a person, our hand must reach the person; otherwise, we are hitting in vain. Being concerned about many things when we pray prevents us from reaching God. In order to gain God, we must drop everything. The first point in enjoying God through prayer is to appear before Him, to seek after Him. We do not go to God to pray for things; we go to Him to seek after Him. We look for God, touch Him, and contact Him.

God is Spirit, and He lives in our spirit. When we pray, we must learn to turn inward, to return to our spirit to seek after God. We must turn to our spirit to touch Him. Once we touch Him in our spirit, we pray. This prayer reaches God.

Some brothers and sisters might not understand what it means to reach God. If I want to speak with Brother Hwang, I must go to him. Even though I may shout and yell when I find him, if his eyes are not set on mine, I have not reached him. If I want to reach him, I must either wait until he is looking at me, or I must stand in front of him and look at him. When I see his face, I can speak to him. This is what it means to reach God in our prayer. Many brothers and sisters do not do this when they pray. They are not concerned with touching God or facing Him when they pray. Instead, they pray hurriedly about many things, and when they are finished, they say, “In the name of Jesus, Amen.” They do not know if the Lord is looking at them when they pray. This kind of prayer does not reach God.

When we contact God, we must exercise to turn our whole being to our spirit. We should seek Him in our spirit. We close our eyes when we pray in order to stop from being distracted, turn to our spirit, and touch God. For this reason we also should not be too quick to open our mouth. Rather, we should be calm and have a period of silence. Good prayer does not depend on an abundance of words. It is good to be silent at the beginning of our prayer, and it is also good to have a period of silence during our prayer. Many psalms in the Bible end with selah. This is the equivalent of a rest note in music notation. It tells a person to stop, to halt for a while. Because our words of prayer can distract us from the spirit, there is the need of a halt to bring our entire person back to the spirit. There are times, however, when we cannot stop; a stop may drive away the spirit. What we should do depends on the circumstance. In prayer we need to learn to be silent. There is no need to be in a hurry. We need to be at ease and quiet.

Beholding God

Let me repeat: while we are silent, we should not try to remember many things. Rather, we should learn to praise God and behold His beauty. We are not here to tell Him many things. We are here to absorb Him and to enjoy Him. While we are in His presence, we must learn to behold Him. Some may consider that beholding God will distance us from Him. They may ask, “Since God is in us, why do we need to behold Him?” Our God is wonderful. He is the Son of Man who descended out of heaven but who is still in heaven (John 3:13). Although He has come, He remains in heaven. He lives in us, but at the same time He is in heaven. When beholding Him, there is no need for us to determine if He is in heaven or within us. Actually, when we truly touch Him and experience His countenance, we are not clear where we are. When we are truly in spirit, we have no idea whether we are in heaven or on earth.