A couple of days back, the question, “When last did you pray?" was asked... After that, I believe what comes next is what do you pray for and how do you pray?? (Sounds weird you have to know how to pray and what to pray for, right?) Come with me...
Some believers know prayer to be, “Lord, I want bread and beans. Father, give me bread and fish. Jesus, I want a Rolls Royce and a mansion... And so on. Others go ahead to say, “Father, give this money so I can spite the people who think I cannot make it" (we'll come back to your case later). There's however more to prayer than meets the eye. Yeah, you should speak to God about your needs, but if that's your major basis for prayer, you still have a long way to go. Praying is asking from God, seeking God's face, and knocking on Heavens door; Matthew 7:7. However, what things do you ASK from God??
There are other things you can pray for/about asides what you need and they're littered all over the Bible, the new testament most especially... Let's get right into it!
1. God's will for your life: Real Christians, hmmm... Most people are excelling out of God's will. Some have the feeling of achievement outside of God's will for them (how they're believers and are okay with being out of God's will is saddening). More than anything, God's will for you here on earth is much more important than whatever you seek to achieve. Yeah, it's a good thing to be ambitious. In fact, you should be ambitious, but your ambition should be inside of the circumference of God's will; not around or outside of it. Could it be the reason you've not gotten what you've been praying for is because it's not in line with God's will for you?? Before you read on, let's divert a little.
Do you know God's will for your life? Do you know the purpose for which God dropped you here?? If you've not discovered this, from now on, this should be your main prayer point daily. Seeking the face of God as to what He'd have you do on earth. Apostle Paul knew he was sent to the Gentiles (Romans 15:16, 2 Timothy 1:11, Ephesians 3:8, Gal 2:2) throughout his epistles, Apostle Paul mentioned that he was sent to the Gentiles and not to the Jews. The Gentiles were those who are non-Israelites. In Matthew 15:24, Jesus mentioned that He was sent to the lost sheep of Israel. He understood He was sent to save them.
Forget, Jesus could have changed direction when He came to this planet, especially when He was about to be crucified. He is God so Baba could do whatever He wanted and get away with it. He could have chosen to turn away from the cross. It was when I was studying the last chapters of the book of Matthew yesterday and I realized Jesus could have turned from the way of Calvary. However, today, we wouldn't be talking about the SALVATION He bought for us with HIS LIFE! (Take this reading from Matthew 27-28. Take it step and step and you'd get a better understanding). There was a time Jesus turned to the soldiers and said, “Do you not think I can call my Father and He'll send me 12 legions of angels?? One legion is made up of 6,000 soldiers; in this case, it's angels. 6,000 multiplied by 12 is 72,000 angels!!! Who knows if the world would have ended then?? But Jesus said, “This has to happen so it'd be fulfilled as spoken by the prophets!" (Check Matthew 28)
It took nothing for Jesus to call down this legion of angels, but He had prayed 3 hours before then (when He took His 3 first-hand disciples to the garden of Gethsemane). The Bible said Jesus was in agony as he prayed, the Gospel of Luke went ahead to explain to us that, He prayed so much His sweats were as drops of blood! (You know what it means for sweat to drop like blood?!) I have every reason to believe if Jesus didn't pray ahead of time, there's every possibility He'd have turned away from the way of Calvary.
Before He started His ministry, He took 40 days off! Praying and fasting! He needed strength, wisdom and all God could offer to help Him fulfill His mission and purpose here on earth.
Using Jesus as an example, if you're still oblivious of it, you might need to engage in not just long hours of prayers, but with the spice of fasting (there's a right way to fast; click here to check out the article on fasting- https://www.therealchristian.org.ng/2022/08/while-fasting.html) in order to get a knowledge of your purpose and God's will for you on earth.
If you have everything one needs to be comfortable on earth and you're not walking in God's will, you're wasting time and wasting resources. God doesn't waste resources. Soon, after trying to get through to you; and you refuse to budge, he'd transfer that which He has put inside of you to someone else. There's no time to waste. If you have a knowledge of God's will and purpose for your life, dear reader, that should drive you into the place of prayer, praying for grace, strength, boldness, help and all you'll need to fulfill this. I always hear one of my pastors say “the result of work is more work." As you pray and fulfill God's will, more work to do will come, and you'll end up praying more and tarrying in the place of prayer. Jesus often took time out to pray as He proceeded in ministry. Before you know it, you'll read in several verses of the Gospels that, “Jesus asked His disciples to go ahead of Him, then he went to a solitary place to pray..." Baba was always praying! You should emulate that. Knowing God's will alone is not enough, praying to fulfill it is very necessary.
How about you put a hold on asking God for material things and start asking Him for spiritual gifts to fulfill purpose?? How about you reduce the quest for worldly pleasures and seek for spiritual treasures??
Jesus is coming soon. What reward would you receive for your work?? Men like Papa E. A. Adeboye, Papa Kumuyi, Papa D. K. Olukoya, and the rest of the great men are still up and doing, fighting for the crown in Heaven, striving to do more for God. “They've gotten all the good things of life" you may say, but dear reader, check their growth process. They prioritized God more than they prioritized material things of this world that'd pass away. The Lord gave them these things as a plus for doing His work. I like the Message version of Matthew 6:33; it says:
“Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met." (MSG)
KJV version says “Seek ye first the kingdom of God..." And all other things will be added unto you. God and His will should be your major priority. There was a time the Holy Spirit told me, “Take care of God's business, and He'll take care of your business!"
To be continued...
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