The Prayer Ministry of the Church — Watchman Nee [Book Summary]
Chapter 1 — The Prayer Ministry of the Church
Watchman Nee starts this book with Matthew 18:15–20. He says that verses 15 to 17 speak of an issue between brethren while verses 18 to 20 speak of a principle which this book centres on. The principle is that the earth governs the heavens, and every action that heaven will take will be determined by man's alignment to God’s desire. He uses Exodus 17:9–11, Ezekiel 36:37, and Isaiah 45:11 to buttress this principle. He says that we cannot force God’s hand but we can make God do what He wills; that is God will not act on His desires for us until we tell Him to.
He tells us that God is restricted in time-the period between eternity past and eternity future — because He created man with free will and He does not intend to overwhelm man with His own will. He goes on to say that in this period called time, God’s actions are determined by the church; thus, the need for her to rise up to His will in order not to limit it. He speaks of the eternity to come and tells us that man at such a point would still have free will but it will be in harmony with God’s will.
He goes on to tell us three imposing principles of prayer, which are;
1. Pronouncing the will of God
2. Harmony in the Holy Spirit
3. Being gathered together in the name of the Lord
He says that the ministry and use of the Church in God’s hands is to bring God’s will down to earth and that she can through the instrument of prayer (i.e., “asking Him to do what He wants to do”). He says that God does His work through the church, but she can limit the power of God based on her capacity or the measure of her power. He says, “Whenever God wishes to do a thing He will place a burden upon a brother, a sister, or the whole church” and the church can lighten this burden by praying. He speaks of brethren coming together in harmony through the help of the Holy Spirit, denying the flesh to pray and causing God’s will to be done here on earth (i.e., prayers that “prepares the way of God”). He tells us that personal prayer is inadequate; for the church alone has the power to bind and loose and he says that “The church should have big prayers, terrific and strong prayers”.
Chapter 2 — Pray Like This
The author tells us that aside from answers to prayers, there is a reward for praying and this is what is primary; and this reward would be bestowed at the judgement seat of Christ. He goes on to tell us how we should not pray (like hypocrites, who love to be seen of men; and like the gentiles, who make use of vain repetitions) before telling us how to pray using the Lord’s prayer. He broke the Lord’s prayer into three parts, which are;
1. Three desires of God
2. Three requests for ourselves and
3. Three praises
The three desires of God are; one, God is being hallowed in our hearts; two, God’s kingdom coming down to earth by the submission of the church to the control of heaven. In this, he tells us the kingdom of God is considered both geographically (in terms of space) and historically (in terms of time) and that the geographical exceeds the other. Three, that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
The three requests include; one, God giving us our daily bread, which we must ask daily. He considers this a protective prayer as the devil might want to attack that area of our lives which will be a great temptation for believers; two, asking God to forgive us our debts as we forgive others their debts. He says that a debt is not necessarily an act of sin as this could be things offensive before God yet not sin such as an offence in conscience. And to be forgiven our debts, we must forgive those of our others; three, being saved from temptation and deliverance from the evil one, which is also a protective prayer, for “the more we walk in the way of the kingdom of the heavens, the stronger will be our temptations.”
The three praises implies praising God for His kingdom, His power, and His glory. He then let us know that the Lord’s prayer to us is not for recitation, but that it serves as the basis or guiding principle of our prayers. He ends this chapter on the need to forgive from the heart for he says “If we cannot forgive one another, we will easily give ground to the devil.”
Chapter 3 — In the Name of the Lord Jesus — The Trust of God
Watchman Nee describes the phrase “in the name of Jesus” in six ways.
First, he tells us that the authority attached to Jesus’ name was accrued only after his ascension. In other words, the authority was not given while Jesus was on earth. Next, he tells us that the name represents authority and power. He goes on to explain the difference between the name “Jesus” and the phrase “in the name of Jesus”. He says “The name of Jesus Christ is what He has received from God; in the name of Jesus Christ is what the children of God share in His name.” He tells us the phrase connotes God’s trust to us as we are allowed to use it here on earth whilst Jesus takes responsibility for the usage of His name. Furthermore, he says that through the phrase, we stand as representative of Jesus Christ, that is, He is able to work through us (the church) by the use of His name. He goes on to tell us the need and effect of baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus. He says “Our relationship with the name of the Lord Jesus begins at baptism, for we are baptized into that name … Only by standing on the ground of baptism can we use the name of the Lord Jesus; otherwise we are disqualified from using that name.”
He goes on to tell us that the effect of “in the name of Jesus” is three-fold, which are;
- Manward
- Devil-ward
- Godward
Using scripture, he made see that by using the name, men can be saved, forgiven their sins, justified, sanctified, and healed of their ailments. Using that phrase, we can cast out demons and deal with the power of the enemy. Still using that phrase, we can come before God.
Finally, he makes us understand the need to learn to know the cross (“acknowledging that our old man was crucified with Christ and accepting also the principle of the cross in dealing with our natural life”).
Chapter 4 — Authoritative Prayer
Watchman Nee introduces us to authoritative prayer which he made us know to be vastly different from every other form of prayer. He reveals that the act of binding and loosing connotes this kind of prayer. He makes us understand that authoritative prayer originates from the ascension of Christ. He goes on to differentiate between ascension and resurrection, where the latter represents our redemption, and the former positions us for warfare and puts us in a new position before Satan for we as the church have ascended with Christ. He goes further to say that it is a downward prayer in the sense that when we pray authoritatively, we stand in a heavenly position and pray down to earth, thus resisting all the works of Satan. He enlightened us more by saying “authoritative prayer is not asking God to do something but using God’s authority to deal directly with problems, to get rid of all that needs to be got rid of.”
He says that for the church to utilize this authoritative prayer, it must first know God’s will, possess complete faith, and be subject to the authority of God. To round up this chapter, he tells us the role of fasting along with prayer which gives rise to our faith and consequently our authority in prayer.
Chapter 5 — Watch and Pray
Watchman Nee tells us that to watch in prayer means to have the spiritual insight to discern the wiles of Satan. He reminds us of the importance of prayer and how Satan tries to prevent us from having time to pray or to pray effectively. He tells us the need to ensure that we are not prevented from praying by creating a set time for prayer and praying ahead for our prayer time. He goes on to say that whilst we create a set time for prayer, we also have to ensure we watch during our time of prayer that we may pray single-mindedly unto God and not be distracted, and also that we may pray real prayers instead of scattered and vain requests by preparing what we want to pray about which should stem from our heart desires. He says that “a hasty prayer, a too economical prayer time-wise is usually a negligent prayer, which affords an easy loophole to the enemy.” He goes on to tell us the need to watch after prayer, monitoring the effect of our prayers and changing our prayers based on the changes we notice. Conclusively, he reminds us “that the easiest target of attack in the life of a child of God is prayer”, thus, the need to watch for our prayer time and yet in time of prayer.
