With overwhelming emotion, a desperate sense of calling, and true awakening
A classic prayer that brought hundreds of thousands of Christians to their knees
Prayer is our greatest privilege and greatest power!

42nd anniversary, 142nd printing, 480,000 copies
Special revised edition to commemorate the publication

God's vast storehouse is full of blessings.
Only prayer can open that storehouse.
Prayer is the key, and faith turns it to open the door and bring blessings to us.

Prayer is undoubtedly our greatest privilege, our most important responsibility, and the greatest power God has placed in our hands.
True prayer is the most noble, excellent, and majestic act that any of God's creatures can perform.
As the old poet said, prayer is the greatest power that mankind can possess.
Praying wholeheartedly is the final and greatest achievement of Christians in their earthly battle.
Lord, teach us to pray.


“Whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:13-14).


The key that can open God's treasure house full of blessings is prayer.
God has placed this wonderful key in our hands, but most Christians tend to throw it away and ignore it.
Even if you keep the key carefully, you cannot properly open the door to God's storehouse.


The author of this book, who identifies himself as an “anonymous Christian,” knows better than anyone the importance and value of prayer.
He speaks passionately about why we must pray, how we can truly pray, and how precious the power and experience of prayer are, with a genuine prayer-like attitude, and a desire for only God to be revealed, without name or light.


This book, which has been a representative bestseller and steady seller of the Word of Life Press for over 40 years and has brought 480,000 readers to their knees, presents prayer as a means of grace and joy that allows us to enjoy true abundance that never runs out by turning our souls toward God and looking up to the living One. This book will bring you to your knees again today.
Remember.
Prayer is our greatest privilege, our most important responsibility, and the greatest power God has placed in our hands!

What God finds strange
“God was amazed.” This is a very shocking statement.
This bold thought should be of interest to every serious Christian.
God, who finds wonder intriguing! If we knew the reason why God finds wonder intriguing, how could we not be astonished? Yet, we clearly dismiss this fact as trivial.
But if we think about it more carefully, we will realize that this is one of the most serious issues for all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Nothing is as important and crucial to our spiritual well-being.


God was astonished that there was no mediator (Isaiah 59:16).
But this happened long before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, full of grace and truth.
That is, before the Holy Spirit was poured out like water, before the Holy Spirit, full of grace and power, who helps us in our weakness and intercedes for us, was poured out (Romans 8:26).
Yes, that's right.
Indeed, this was before the Lord gave His wonderful promise concerning prayer, before people knew what prayer was, and before they saw the sacrifices they offered for their own atonement as more important than the intercession for the atonement of others.
How strange it must be for God today that so few of us know how to pray effectively.
Everyone professes to believe in the power of prayer, but how many people truly believe in the power of prayer?

Now, before we get into the main topic, I have a request for you, the readers.
Don't try to rush through the things in this book.
How you perceive what is written here will have a huge impact.
This is because everything depends on prayer.

The cause of all failures
Why do so many Christians fail so often? It's because they pray too little.
Why do so many church workers so often lose heart and become discouraged? It's because they pray too little.
Why do most people bring so few souls from darkness to light through their ministry? It's because they pray too little.
Why doesn't our church burn with a fervent passion for God? It's because there's so little true prayer.

The Lord Jesus is still infinitely powerful today.
The Lord Jesus still longs for the salvation of mankind.
It is not that His arm is too short to save, but that He cannot extend His arm because we do not pray more and more sincerely.
What we must clearly understand is that the cause of all failure is the lack of secret prayer.
If God was amazed in Isaiah's time, we need not be surprised to see Him amazed in His own flesh.
The Lord was amazed at the unbelief of some.
In fact, their unbelief prevented Jesus from performing any miracles in their town (Mark 6:5-6).
Here we must remember that those who were guilty of such unbelief found nothing beautiful in Jesus that would make them expect or trust in Him.
How strange it must be for the Lord today! He seeks among us those who truly love and revere Him, yet today, no one is stirring up the spirit to take hold of Him (Isaiah 64:7).

It's just a prayer meeting
Indeed, what could be stranger than a Christian who doesn't pray? There is ample evidence that these are the last days, the days in which God has promised to pour out his Spirit, the Spirit of supplication, on all people (Joel 2:28).
Yet most Christians have little understanding of the meaning of prayer.
Moreover, many churches not only do not hold prayer meetings, but sometimes they even shamelessly criticize and ridicule them.

The Church of England recognizes the importance of worship and prayer and requires its ministers to read prayers in church every morning and evening.
But when this is done, aren't churches often left empty? Moreover, isn't it actually damaging true worship by sacrificing prayer in a half-hearted, half-hearted manner? The prayer book itself is also meaningless and utterly uncertain.
What about churches that still hold weekly prayer meetings like in the old days? Wouldn't it be more appropriate to call them "weakly" prayer meetings rather than "weekly" prayer meetings? Charles H. Spurgeon said,
Spurgeon was happy to say that he always led a prayer meeting every Monday night with at least 1,000-1,200 people in attendance.

Brothers and sisters, have you ever doubted the power of prayer? Even if you maintain a weekly prayer meeting, isn't it true that the vast majority of your congregation doesn't attend? Or perhaps they don't even intend to attend? Why is this so? Whose fault is it? How often do you hear, "It's just a prayer meeting, so what?" How many of you reading this truly welcome prayer meetings? Is prayer a joy, or merely a duty? Please forgive me for asking so many questions and pointing out the weaknesses and deplorable flaws that are evident in our churches today.
I'm not trying to criticize.
It is not my intention to condemn you.
No one can do that.
More than ever, Christians are eager to cling to God.
It is meant to encourage, uplift and uplift.

When we rise
There is no time when we are more exalted than when we are on our knees.
Criticism? Who would dare criticize anyone? If you look back and consider how prayer has been absent from your life, any words of criticism of others will vanish like smoke from your lips.
But I am convinced that the time has come to sound the trumpet call to prayer for individuals and churches.
I would now like to venture into the question of the necessity of prayer.
Prayer is the most essential part of the life of faith, and it is foolish to question it.
Nevertheless, I dare to sternly urge readers to face this issue head-on.
Do you truly believe that prayer is powerful? Are you convinced that prayer is the greatest power in the world? Do you believe that prayer moves the hand of God that moves the world?

Have you ever considered that the Lord has given you a command that is unnecessary or optional? Do you firmly believe that the Lord has never made a promise that He cannot or will not fulfill? The Lord's three commandments, which require clear action, are:
Pray! Act! Go!

Are we obeying the Lord? How often do we hear the Lord's command, "Do it!" repeated from the lips of preachers today? People may think this is the Lord's only command.
We rarely think about the commands, “Pray!” and “Go!”
But if we do not obey the command, “Pray!”, then the words, “Do!” and “Go!” become of little or no use.
In fact, it is easy to see that all lack of success and failure in spiritual life and Christian ministry is due to a lack or insufficiency of prayer.
If you do not pray correctly, you cannot live correctly or serve correctly.
At first glance, this may seem like an exaggeration, but the more you think about it in light of the Bible, the more convinced you are that it is true.
From now on, whenever you read what the Bible says about this mysterious and wonderful subject, you should strive to read the Lord's promises as if you had never heard them before.
So what will be the result?

Infinite Promise
About 20 years ago, when I was studying at a theological seminary.
Early one morning, a fellow student (now one of Britain's foremost missionaries) burst into the room with an open Bible in his hand.
Although he was preparing for the priesthood, at the time he was only a novice convert to Christ.
He went to college without any interest in these things.
By the time Christ found him, he was popular, intelligent, and athletic, and was well-liked among his friends.
He accepted Jesus as his Savior and became an ardent follower of Jesus Christ.
The Bible was a relatively new book to him, and so he spent his days constantly discovering it.

On the day he broke the silence of my room and invaded, he shouted this with a face that was a mixture of joy and shock in a crucible of excitement.
“Do you believe this? Is this really true?”
“What do you believe?” I asked, staring at the open Bible with a hint of surprise.
“This can’t be happening…” He read Matthew 21:21-22 in an exasperated tone.
“If you have faith and do not doubt, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer, believing.” “Do you believe this? Is this true?”
“Well, of course it’s true.
“I don’t believe it,” I replied, more surprised by his excitement.
But all sorts of thoughts were flashing through my mind.
“What a wonderful promise...” he continued.
“This seems completely infinite! Then why don’t we try to pray more?” He left me thinking seriously and left.

I never thought of this passage that way.
As the ardent early followers of the Lord Jesus Christ left and the door closed, I saw my Savior and His love and power as I had never seen them before.
I was given a vision of a life of prayer, a life of infinite power governed solely by two things: faith and prayer.
At that moment, I shuddered and fell to my knees.
When I fell before the Lord, the thoughts that poured out of my head and the hopes and desires that overflowed in my soul were more than I could bear.
God spoke to me in a special way.
It was a solemn call to prayer.
But to my shame, I did not heed that call.

Where did I go wrong? Actually, I started praying a little more than before, but nothing seemed to be happening.
Why is this so? Is it because I don't understand the high standard the Savior demands of the inner life of those who pray successfully? Or is it because my life doesn't meet the standard of "perfect love" beautifully described in 1 Corinthians 13? Prayer isn't simply about putting a good resolution to pray into action.
To pray correctly, we must first repent and cry out like David, “Create in me a clean heart” (Psalm 51:10).

The following words, given by inspiration through the Apostle of Love, must be emphasized today as they were then:
“Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God, and whatever we ask we receive from him” (1 John 3:21-22).
“It’s true.
I believe that.”
Yes, that's right.
It is truly an infinite promise.
But how much do we actually realize? And how much do we demand of Christ? The Lord marvels at our unbelief.
But if we could only read the Gospels as they were, how wondrous they would seem! Wouldn't we find them strange and wondrous? Today, I entrust this solemn calling to you, my readers.
Will you pay attention and benefit from it, or will you continue to live a life of silence and prayerlessness?

Teach us to pray
Christians, wake up! The devil is blinding us.
The devil is working hard to keep us from seeing the problem of prayer.
I am writing this article at a special request, and it has already been several months since I received the request.
Every time I try to write, I fail, and I still feel a strange sense of resistance.
Some strange force seems to be holding my hand.
Did you know that nothing the devil fears more than prayer? His greatest concern is to keep us from praying.
The devil helps us to focus on work on the condition that we do not pray.
The devil has no fear of even the most diligent and sincere Bible study as long as our prayers are lacking.
Someone said, “Satan laughs at our efforts and mocks our wisdom.
But when we pray, we tremble in fear,” he said wisely.

Words like these are already familiar to us.
But do we actually pray? If not, failure will inevitably shadow our steps, even when the prospect of success seems clear.
Let us never forget that the greatest thing we can do for God and people is to pray! This is because prayer accomplishes far more than our own efforts.
Prayer is omnipotent.
Prayer makes possible anything God can do.
When we pray, God works.
All the fruits of service are the result of prayer.
In other words, the result of all things is the fruit of the prayers of the minister himself or of the prayers of those who lift up holy hands and pray for him.
We all know how to pray.
But there are many among us who need to cry out like the disciples, “Lord, teach us to pray.” O Lord, we rely on you, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and we approach God on the path of prayer that you yourself walked.
Lord, teach us to pray.

---「Chapter 1.
Go on the path of prayer, p.
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