I.　The meaning of prayer:

A.　Prayer is the mutual contact between man and God.

1.　Prayer is not just man contacting God but God contacting man.

2.　Prayer is the flowing between man and God.

B.　Prayer is man breathing God, obtaining God, and being obtained by God:

1.　Real prayer is man breathing in God.

2.　Real prayer is an exhaling and inhaling before God, causing us and God to contact each other and to obtain each other.

C.　Prayer is man cooperating and co-working with God, allowing God to express Himself through man and thus accomplish His purpose—Rom. 8:26-27; James 5:17:

1.　A praying one will cooperate with God, work together with God, and allow God to express Himself and His desire from within him and through him.

2.　Real prayers cause our being to be wholly mingled with God, causing us to become a person of two parties—God mingled with man.

II.　Prayer and the denial of the self:

A.　To pray means that we realize that we are nothing and that we can do nothing.

B.　Prayer is the real denial of the self:

1.　To pray is to deny ourselves, knowing that we are nothing and that we can do nothing.

2.　The word prayer in Mark 9:29 actually means "no longer I, but Christ"—Gal. 2:20.

3.　To pray is actually to declare, "Not I, but Christ."

III.　Prayer and the Spirit—Jude 20; Eph. 6:18:

A.　In the Bible the Spirit is linked with our prayer.

B.　Praying and the Spirit are one.

C.　If we are without prayer, we will be without the Spirit.

D.　The only way that we can touch the Spirit is by prayer.

IV.　Prayer and vitality:

A.　Prayer makes us vital.

B.　To be vital means to be released in our spirit.

C.　There is no other way to be vital except by prayer.

V.　Persevering in prayer—Col. 4:2:

A.　If we would persevere the grace we have received from the Lord, we need to persevere in prayer.

B.　We need to persevere in prayer because prayer involves a battle.

C.　Before we try to persevere in prayer, we should first make a deal with the Lord concerning prayer, offering ourselves to Him to have a proper prayer life.

D.　We should set aside certain times each day for prayer.