The Word of the Week, drawn sequentially from the 72 Precious Words (later expanded to 84 Precious Words) released in a local perfecting conference from 4/29 to 5/10 is below:
INQUIRE
From The Conference Handout…
Scriptures: 1 Sam. 30:8; 2 Sam. 5:19; Exo. 18:15; Psa. 27:4; Ezek. 36:37
Footnotes: 1 Sam. 30:81
Hymns: 784; The Lord is my light and salvation
Pray Over These Key Verses…
1 Sam. 30:8: And David inquired of Jehovah, saying, Shall I pursue after this band? Will I overtake them? And He said to him, Pursue, for you will certainly overtake them, and you will certainly deliver them.
2 Sam. 5:19: Then David inquired of Jehovah, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand? And Jehovah said to David, Go up, for I will certainly deliver the Philistines into your hand.
Exo. 18:15: Then Moses said to his father-in-law, Because the people come to me to inquire of God.
Psa. 27:4: One thing I have asked from Jehovah; / That do I seek: / To dwell in the house of Jehovah / All the days of my life, / To behold the beauty of Jehovah, / And to inquire in His temple.
Ezek. 36:37: Thus says the Lord Jehovah, Moreover for this I will be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock.
Read Some Helpful Footnotes…
1 Sam. 30:81 (inquired) David was a person who trusted in God and walked according to God’s sovereignty in all his trials (17:36-37; 23:14-16). While he was under trial, he sought God’s leading (vv. 6b-10). He was one with God and behaved according to God.
Sing These Hymns…
1.Pray to fellowship with Jesus,
In the spirit seek His face;
Ask and listen in His presence,
Waiting in the secret place.
Chorus
Pray to fellowship with Jesus,
In the spirit seek His face;
Ask and listen in His presence,
Waiting in the secret place.
2.Pray to fellowship with Jesus,
Fully opened from within,
With thy face unveiled, beholding,
Single, pure, and genuine.
3.Pray to fellowship with Jesus,
Seeking Him in confidence;
Learn to touch Him as the Spirit,
Looking up in reverence.
4.Pray to fellowship with Jesus,
Speaking nothing in pretense;
Ask according to the spirit,
Praying by the inner sense.
5.Pray to fellowship with Jesus,
List’ning earnestly to Him;
Be impressed with His intentions,
Yielding to Him from within.
6.Pray to fellowship with Jesus,
Bathing in His countenance;
Saturated with His beauty,
Radiate His excellence.
The Lord is my light and salvation
1.The Lord is my light and salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
2.One thing have I desired of the Lord,
That will I seek;
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to inquire in His temple.
3.Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice;
Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
When thou saidst, seek ye my face;
My heart said unto thee,
Thy face, O Lord, will I seek.
4.Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen thine heart;
Wait, I say on the Lord.
Wait, I say on the Lord.
Continue Steadfastly In The Ministry…
When coming before God, many people immediately begin to ask God for things and never inquire of Him. We should not ask God for things, but rather we should inquire of Him. Even if we want to pray for the church, we should first inquire of the Lord, saying, “Lord, I have a feeling to pray for the church. Is this Your will? Do You want me to pray for the church at this moment? How should I pray?” Prayer that is preceded by inquiring is the best prayer.
Inquiring in prayer and waiting in prayer are two sides of one thing. One who waits is one who inquires. Similarly, a person who inquires is a person who waits. Abraham’s prayer in Genesis 18 was very good; there was an aspect of waiting in his prayer. The Bible says that when the two angels turned and went toward Sodom, Abraham remained standing before God. This is waiting. While waiting, he began to intercede. He was not telling or begging; he was inquiring. He said, “Will you indeed destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed destroy and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?” (vv. 23-24). He was inquiring. To inquire is to acknowledge the sovereign authority of God, that is, to acknowledge that He is Lord (Lessons for New Believers, Chapter 7).
It is difficult to find a person who does not pray to God in a wild way. We are not used to beholding His loveliness in silence; we are not used to living according to the index of His eyes. This is a pity. We must learn to be an inquiring person in our prayer. We should ask the Lord, “Can I bring up this subject at this time?” We should look at His eyes. If He is not happy, we should not continue. If He has an expression of approval, we can proceed by asking how we should pray. This is what it means to inquire. Some may say, “This is too slow. Things will be delayed, and people will die.” We need to remember that time is in God’s hand. He is beyond time. The Lord can save a brother if he is sick, He can resurrect him even if he has died, and He can make him fresh even if he smells. We must believe that our Lord never delays any work. The best prayer is inquiring prayer, but inquiring can only happen when a person is calm. If we have never touched God and have never been calm before Him or never beheld His loveliness, we do not know the meaning of inquiring (How to Enjoy God and How to Practice the Enjoyment of God, Chapter 5).
…we can go on to learn to inquire of the Lord. This means that we must learn to ask the Lord what we have to pray. Do not pray according to what you think you have to pray, but ask the Lord what He wants you to pray in your prayer. Sometimes you may have to ask, “Lord, may I now pray for a certain friend? May I now pray for the preaching of the gospel?”
A good illustration of this is seen in Genesis 18 when the Lord came with two angels to visit Abraham. The Bible tells us that Abraham was the friend of God (2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8; James 2:23). The record in Genesis 18 shows that there was an intimate friendship between Abraham and the Lord. Abraham received the Lord as a friend, a guest, and he served the Lord (vv. 1-8). The Lord and Abraham had a mutual enjoyment. The Lord then asked Abraham, “Where is Sarah your wife?” (v. 9), and He told Abraham that his wife would bear a son (v. 10). Abraham did not ask the Lord for a son in Genesis 18. Instead, he allowed the Lord to say something to him. We should not bring many things into our prayer to intrude into our fellowship with the Lord. We should behold the Lord and let Him enjoy us as we enjoy Him. We should let Him ask us something, as He asked Abraham, “Where is your wife?” Then we should let Him say something to us.
Verse 17 says, “And Jehovah said, Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?” Verse 17 came out of Abraham’s escorting and conducting in verse 16. If Abraham would have just said, “See You again, Lord,” and would not have escorted the Lord for a distance, the Lord would not have had further fellowship with him. The Lord could not hide what He was going to do from His intimate friend. He had to let him know what He was about to do.
…Then the Lord told Abraham that He was going to judge Sodom. Actually, at this time the Lord had a real burden for Lot, and He needed someone to pray for Lot. The Lord always needs some intercession so that He can do something for others. Through his fellowship with the Lord, Abraham came to know the Lord’s intention. Because they were intimate friends, there was no need for them to mention Lot by name.
The Lord’s desired intention in His heart was to save Lot from Sodom, but the Lord needed someone to pray for Lot. Without someone to pray for Lot, the Lord could not act. This is the principle of incarnation. In the new creation, in the work of the Lord’s grace in salvation, there is always the need of incarnation. This means that there is always the need of someone to cooperate with the Lord. Then the Lord has the ground to do something. Genesis 19:29 indicates that when the Lord destroyed Sodom, He saved Lot to answer Abraham’s prayer.
After Abraham’s thorough fellowship with the Lord, Genesis tells us, “And Jehovah went away, as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place” (18:33). By reading Genesis 18 we can see that Abraham spoke, but verse 33 says that as soon as the Lord had ended His speaking to Abraham, He went away. This shows us that the best prayer is not that we speak to the Lord but that the Lord speaks to us. We should let the Lord end His speaking to us. Then we can say amen to His speaking. We should ask, “When we ended our prayer and said amen, did we end our speaking or did the Lord end His speaking?”
Strictly speaking, the proper prayer is the Lord speaking through the one who prays. This is why we must learn to pray to behold His beauty and to inhale Him in order to express Him. If we do not know what to pray, we can groan, saying, “O Lord, I do not know how to pray or what to pray. O Lord….” Then we will have the best prayer (Enjoying Christ as the Word and the Spirit through Prayer, Chapter 7).
References
All verses and footnotes are taken from the The Holy Bible Recovery Version.
Thank you saints for posting this for all to read and get a deeper help concerning how to pray. In our corporate 21 days of prayer this word will help me for sure and all those who are able to read this. To inquire of the Lord is wonderful! To let Him have the last word is wonderful. I’m looking forward to putting this word into practice so that our dear Lord’s needs could be met. Again, thank you for this posting.