ENTERING INTO RESURRECTION THROUGH PRAYER
The processes that the processed Triune God went through are the putting on of humanity, the entering into death, and the coming out in resurrection. Once He came into resurrection, the Triune God who bore humanity with Him, became the life-giving Spirit in resurrection. This Spirit is the reality of resurrection. We have to learn to live in this Spirit. In this way we will be in resurrection. The power of resurrection is unconquerable. Only resurrection can overcome death. Jesus told Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). The resurrection operating in us today is this Spirit. Romans 8 says clearly that this is “the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from among the dead” (v. 11). This Spirit is linked with resurrection. In other words, it is the Spirit who is the resurrection and who has become our resurrection. This Spirit is with you. When you live and move in this Spirit, you are in resurrection. Resurrection is an invincible power; it cannot be overcome by death. For this reason, when you go out to preach the gospel, you must be in spirit. When you open up your mouth in the spirit, the Spirit will go out with you, and your word will become invincible.
The way to be in the spirit is to pray. Many Christians have a wrong concept about prayer. They think that to pray is to beg God and to beseech God to do something for them. The main emphasis of prayer is not in the realm of things. The main point in prayer is to pray yourself out from the natural being. There are so many rumors because there are too few people who pray. If you are a praying person, you will never believe lightly in the rumors. All those who hear rumors and spread them are superficial people. Only those who pray much and remain in the spirit are weighty. You have to be exercised in this matter.
I hope that you will not forget the story of Pentecost. After the disciples saw the Lord Jesus ascending to heaven, they returned to Jerusalem. There the one hundred twenty did nothing but pray in one accord for ten days. Before you go out to the villages, you should pick up the burden to pray. Do not pray for so many things. The Lord Jesus said that the Father knows all the material needs (Matt. 6:8). You have to learn to pray in the spirit. Ephesians 6 says, “Praying at every time in spirit” (v. 18). The more you follow the Lord to pray in spirit, the more you will be delivered from the natural being into the spirit. In this way you will be in resurrection, and you will have the position and the qualification to work for the Lord. By then, all your move, work, and words will be in resurrection. You will be a most solid person and will have the highest discernment.
When you go to the villages, the first thing to learn is to pray. Pray yourself from the natural being into the spirit. In this way, you will be a weighty person. You will have God in your spirit, and you will be able to discern all things. This will keep you in harmony and in oneness and will become your strength and even your stand. When you contact others, there will be the impact. The point to watch in our work is that the worker himself must be delivered from the natural being to enter into resurrection so that he will become a weighty person. In this way, it will not be difficult for you to get along with others. If you stand on the proper ground in your work, and if you have the proper means and live in the proper sphere in your service, you will be one who serves the Lord in resurrection.
(A message given by Brother Witness Lee in Taipei on October 29, 1988.)
(Messages in Preparation for the Spread of the Gospel, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee)
