The Meetings and Spiritual Exercise of the Local Church

Prayer Meetings

2. Prayer Meetings of the Local Church

The prayer meetings of the local churches are crucial for the carrying out of God’s will on this earth. Both Watchman Nee and Witness Lee realized the importance of the prayer meetings in the local church and labored to build them up for the carrying out of God’s move across the earth.

In the following excerpt, Watchman Nee exhorts new believers to practice being in one accord in the prayer meetings of the local churches:

The gospel meeting and the bread-breaking meeting are important meetings, and the prayer meeting is also important. Every kind of meeting has its own characteristic and place. The prayer meeting can be considered as both an easy meeting and a very difficult meeting. New believers should learn some lessons in this matter.

A. Praying in One Accord

The basic requirement for brothers and sisters to pray together is to be in one accord. In Matthew 18 the Lord tells us to be in harmony, that is, in one accord. The prayer in Acts 1 was also a prayer in one accord. Hence, the first condition for carrying out a prayer meeting is to have the one accord. No one should come to the prayer meeting with a different mind. If we want to have a prayer meeting, we must ask in one accord.

“If two of you are in harmony on earth concerning any matter for which they ask, it will be done for them from My Father who is in the heavens” (Matt. 18:19). This is a very strong word. In Greek the word harmony refers to music. Consider three persons—one playing the piano, another playing the accordion, and the third playing the flute. When they play together and one plays out of tune, the sound will be very irritating. The Lord wants all of us to pray in harmony, not with different tunes. If we can be in harmony, then whatever we ask, God will accomplish. Whatever we bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever we loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. The basic condition is to be in harmony. We must learn to be in harmony before God. We should not pray capriciously with everyone still holding to his or her own idea.

(Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 3, Vol. 48, 203-204)

According to Watchman Nee’s fellowship, in a prayer meeting of a local church, the brothers and sisters must be in one accord, that is, in harmony. This harmony in the local church prayer meetings allows God to accomplish His will on the earth. In the additional quotes, Watchman Nee and Witness Lee continue their fellowship concerning the prayer meetings of the local church with more details on the believer’s one accord in prayer, allowing them to exercise the Lord’s authority for His move on the earth through the local churches.

Main

Meetings

Lord’s Table

Prayer

Prophesying

Small Group

Gospel

Children’s

OT Type

Spiritual Exercise

Reading

Praying

Singing

Speaking

Thanksgiving

Praising

Serving

Calling

Pray-Reading

Bibliography

Links