Lord, we treasure with affection

We must all be desperate before the Lord to avoid formal words and, instead, use words of revelation. For example, after the bread and the cup are blessed, a brother may select Hymns, #93. As a rule, someone should offer a prayer that follows the feeling of the hymn, saying, "O Lord, because You were betrayed by man and forsaken by God, You measured sin's distance on the cross for us. This distance includes darkness, wrath, and the curse. Here, despite such a distance, we are receiving the bread and the cup." We should then thank and praise the Lord for His cross. After this, a brother who has seen the revelation that resurrection comes after the cross should pray, "O Lord, You not only died, but You also resurrected for us. On one hand, we have seen Your death; on the other hand, we are in Your resurrection. Lord, we are here remembering You in Your resurrection. We praise You that You resurrected and that You are with us now and forever. Today we praise You in Your resurrection." In this way, the entire meeting will move forward and will be full of revelation. Therefore, praying in the table meeting involves many aspects. Our prayer may be compared to the four seasons, which can be represented by different kinds of blossoms. Our praises concerning the bread and the cup should change according to "the season." For example, even though we see the Lord's death, we are still in His resurrection.

Furthermore, the utterances of our prayer in a table meeting should not be too free or careless. For instance, someone may pray, "O Lord, You shed Your blood drop by drop." This is not appropriate. We may be able to teach in this way in a children's meeting, but we cannot pray like this in a table meeting. That would be a joke. Another example is to pray, "O Lord, our hands have sinned, so Your hands were nailed for us; our feet have sinned, so Your feet were nailed for us; our head has sinned, so Your head was pricked for us..." We may think that this is a good prayer, but this prayer is from the human mind and devoid of revelation. The Lord Jesus' hands and feet were nailed not merely because our hands and feet have sinned but because our entire being has sinned, including our ears, our eyes, our tongues, etc. Because of Hymns, #93, we can say to the Lord, "On the cross You measured sin's distance. When You were on the cross, You knew how far away we were from God because of sin. It was not until we saw Your death on the cross that we knew how far away we were from God because of sin. Before You died on the cross, we did not know how far away we were from God, and we did not even realize that we were sinners." This is a revelation.