Matt. 18:18 Truly I say to you, Whatever you bind on the earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on the earth shall have been loosed in heaven. (19) Again, truly I say to you that 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.
The Lord tells us in verse 19, "Again, truly I say to you that if two of you are in harmony on earth concerning any matter, any matter that they ask will be done for them from My Father who is in the heavens" (alternate translation). The emphasis of the Lord Jesus here is not on asking in harmony, but on being in harmony concerning any matter and then asking concerning such matters. According to the original language, any matter belongs to both in harmony and that they ask. The Lord's intention is not to tell men to pray for a certain matter in harmony, but to be in harmony concerning any matter. If we are in harmony concerning any matter, then our Father in heaven will accomplish whatever we ask concerning a particular matter. This is the oneness of the Body, the oneness in the Holy Spirit. If you are not in the oneness of the Holy Spirit and not praying in the harmony of the Holy Spirit, do you think heaven will listen to you? To have heaven loose and bind is not something you can do by yourself. To think that you can do this by yourself is very foolish. The Lord says, "If two of you are in harmony on earth concerning any matter, any matter that they ask will be done for them from My Father who is in the heavens." This means that if two persons are in harmony concerning any matter, as harmonious as music, then whatever they ask will be done for them from the heavenly Father. This kind of prayer requires the constitution of the Holy Spirit in the praying ones. God has to take you to the point where you deny what you want and want only what God wants, and another brother has to be brought by God to the point where he denies what he wants and wants only what God wants. When both you and the brother are brought to this point and are as harmonious as music, whatever you ask will be done for you from the heavenly Father. Brothers and sisters, do not think that as long as you agree in your opinions that your prayers will be answered. Those who have the same opinions often have friction between them. Perhaps two people are trying to preach the gospel. But while they are preaching, they argue about it. Perhaps two people are trying to help others, but while they are helping others, they have friction between themselves. Sameness in goal does not guarantee that there will be harmony. We have to realize that it is impossible to have harmony in the flesh. When our natural life is dealt with by the Lord, when one is living in the Holy Spirit and the other is also living in the Holy Spirit and both are living in Christ, there is harmony, the same views, and the prayer in one accord.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from "The Prayer Ministry of the Church" in the Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Vol. 22, pp. 147-148. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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