I personally don’t believe in Coincidences, so for the fact that you are reading this, it is because God wants you to speak to you through this. I implore you to pray for understanding and read with meekness of heart. May God meet us both reader and writer at the point of our need in Jesus name.
Amen.

The importance of prayer cannot be overemphasized, as Christians we are taught to “watch and pray”, it is our duty as Christian to pray and not just pray when it is convenient but pray without ceasing not matter the season. However, there are things that hinder or muffle (not to be mistaken for a scarf to keep warm but in this context a device used to keep quiet) us in a place of prayer like sin (in all its different forms), lack of faith, negative self-awareness and so on.

One of mufflers we are going to address majorly is the hindrance that comes with negative self-awareness. The older we become, the more aware we are things that normally don’t bother us as children, but later become hindrances for us as we age because we tend to become more self-aware and conscious of how we are perceived. This negative self-awareness becomes a muffler in the place of prayer. Ridding ourselves of these mufflers is a task that each Christian must face in their heavenly race.

DEY PLAY!: PRAY LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT BECAUSE IT ACTUALLY DOES!

It is one thing for you to have a great destiny in Christ and another thing for you to achieve it. No matter the beautiful gift and blessing God has packaged for you from above if you don’t pray and put in the work you will never realize it. A wise Christian cannot work amiss, when you work without praying your story can become like that of the Israelites that the journey that was originally planned to take 40 days took 40 years. Even if you read scripture, if you don’t pray for wisdom and deeper understanding it would be a plastic experience for you. Studying God’s word without praying is like reading a complex novel, you can see and read the words but you cannot internalize and correctly apply. Prayer is literally talking to God. What better way to understand his word than to ask the author for guidance?

Almost every bible scholar Christian knows Jeremiah 29:11(KJV) which says;

“For I know the thoughts I have towards, saith the Lord, thoughts of
peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”

Problem is that a lot of us (even I, before I was led by the spirit) make the mistake of stopping at this point but I implore you to read further in verses 12 and 13(KJV), which says;

“Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I
will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall
search for me with all your heart!”

Gods plan is in place but unless you pray “with your all your heart,” removing earthly inhibitions, mufflers and restrictions, you cannot access it! We need to cry unto God like blind Bartimaeus that when heard Jesus was passing by he cried out without caring about the people around telling him to hold his peace, instead he cried the more! And Jesus stood still! Even though Jesus could see he was blind he still asked him what he wanted. God knows what we want and the plans he has for us but he still wants us to pray! To depend on him with all our heart, seek refuge in him, dwell in him!

Prayer is easier said than done, it is easy to say “pray with all your heart!” “Pray without ceasing!” “As a Christian you must pray!” but in actuality it can be difficult. God never promised us that everything would be ‘easy peasy lemon squeezy’ or ‘soft like bread’ (both phrases are colloquial slangs depicting ease), but he assures us repeatedly through his scripture that if we cast all our cares unto him, he will give us rest, that he will fight for us against the things that are making life difficult for us.

I believe one of the best ways to learn is through examples what better example to use than our Lord Jesus, the living embodiment of God’s word, in Luke 22: 44 (KJV) it says;

“And Jesus being in agony prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as
it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground”

If Jesus Christ can pray with all his heart in humility who are we not to pray like our lives depend on it? In the Matthew 26: 39(KJV) it says;

“And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed!….”

Who then are we to be thinking “don’t want to be too extra when praying”? If the spirit of God (not flesh) is leading you to do something then why not? Who are you forming for? You might think Jesus is too high of a standard (which he is not, as Christians we are to pursue perfection and he is the standard of perfection we should work towards), so let me use the example of Jacob. Now we all know that even from his mother womb he was destined for greatness and he even used pottage to ‘move’ (in this instance a colloquial term for steal) his brother’s birthright but we seem to forget, that the man that wrestled with an angel? The one whose hip bone was dislocated? The one who did not relent no matter what? That wrestler was not John Cena but Jacob.

In Genesis 32 when he was trembling from fear for what Esau was going to do to him after ‘fapping’(in this instance a colloquial term for steal) his birthright, (which we can say was his earthly circumstance) he remembered the what God had planned for him in verse 12 (KJV);

“And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the
sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude”

After remembering God’s plan for him, he didn’t go and sleep saying ‘E file, Eje ko cook’ (a slang that can be interpreted to mean ‘leave it as it is, let it get done very well’) but in that same Genesis 32 not long after he mentioned God’s plan for him in verse 24 to 28 (KJV) we see the ruggedness of Jacob;

“And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the
breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him,
he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was
out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, let me go, for the day
breaketh. And he (Jacob) said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless
me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And
he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob but Israel: for as a
prince hast thou power with God and with men and hast prevailed”

Jacob had already been destined to be great from the womb but it was until he wrestled with an angel before his name changed from ‘supplanter’ to ‘Israel’. The same Israel that even though people may forget Jacob they can never forget Israel. The name and tribe that as a Christian you can never forget, a name that even as time passes you die and your generation to come dies, the name will still be remembered because, It is a hallmark name in Christianity. No matter how great you destiny or vision is, if you don’t pray it would remain a pipe dream. Prayer is not easy but it is necessary.

PRAYING THE RIGHT KIND OF PRAYERS AT THE RIGHT TIME BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE

Now, understand that I am not necessarily saying that you need to wrestle every time in prayer. There is a time and season for everything even in prayer. There is a time to worship and praise his holy name, a time to study his word, a time to spread his gospel, a time to cry unto God with all your heart, a time to pray like you are sounding a battle cry and a time to pray with lowliness of heart manifested in the tone of our voice and so on. There are different types of prayers and different times to pray them.

In one of Professor D.K Olukoya sermons he told us a story of two sisters who were brought to his office by their mother. They (the sisters) had insulted him by saying they don’t need his prayers or believe in MFM prayers, that they had their own church. G.O let them go without malice, as a man of God, you become accustomed to those kind of things. Fast-forward to many years later when one
of them got married, on the wedding day everything seemingly went well but on the wedding night, the mother of the groom followed the couple everywhere even to the bedroom. The bride had been holding her tongue but that’s when she became fed up, she had thought the mother- in- law would at least sleep in a separate room or on the floor but she had insisted in sleeping on the bed between both of them.

The mother-in-law insisted she was the first wife and her son refused to say anything. She became upset and went to the living room, she remembered what her pastor said about worshiping God. So she begun to sing a worship song but to her surprise her mother-in-law in the room, joined her in singing the worship song, she was shocked. Eventually the prayers she said she didn’t need years ago when they brought her to MFM, she came back to pray them.

In our youth we need to pray not just for test or exams we may face in school or work but our future. We need to lay our foundation right so that when troubles come we shall overcome. You need to pray now for your foundation so you don’t become prey later. You cannot compare the energy and resilience you have to pray as a youth, to when you are old with age or have more responsibilities.
What better time than now to pray?

WHY DO YOU PRAY?: HYPOCRITICAL PHARISEE V DESPERATE BARTHIMAEUS.

Remember at the beginning, where I spoke about mufflers and problems that come with negative self-awareness? Let’s address it here in-depth by first looking at not what to do and how it can be misconstrued. In Matthew 6: 5-6 (KJV) which says;

“And when thou prayest, thou shall not be as the hypocrites are: for they
love to pray standing in synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that
they may be seen of men…, they have their reward. But thou, when thou
prayest enter into the closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to
thy father which is in secret; and thy father which seeth in secret shall
reward thee openly”

Some people use these verses to argue that as Christians we should not be showing up and down that we are praying, but they seem to forget the context in which this scripture was written. Jesus at that time was talking about we should not boast of our good deeds and admonishing the Pharisees and Sadducees who were hypocritical in nature, they weren’t praying so God could hear them but so that people could see them.

We all know the story of Blind Bartimaeus which we see in Mark 10: 46-52 (KJV);

“…blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side
begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to
cry out, and say, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And many
charged him that he should hold his peace; but he cried the more great
deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still and
commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto
him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee… And Jesus answered and
said unto him, what wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man
said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto
him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he
received his sight…”

If Bartimaeus did not cry unto Jesus at time with a loud voice his blessing may have passed him by. He was praying (talking to Jesus) with a sense of desperation not caring of who was looking or criticizing him! He only cared about whether or not Jesus could hear him. In Galatians 1:10(ESV) it says;

“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying
to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a
servant of Christ.”

Do not be weary of men but be conscious of God’s presence! Pray with the mindset that my blessing must not pass me by!

There are certain congregational type prayers that anointed ministers of God invite the presence of God, moments when the atmosphere is spiritually charged, the heavens have been opened, God’s Holy Spirit is moving, he has sent his angels and they are moving in the midst of the church seeking whom to bless. Will you now say that because of Labaja that might even forget all about you when he leaves the church that you will not now pray? And even if he remembers so what? If you pray well they will become like those in the bible who at first discouraged Bartimaeus but later congratulated him when Jesus answered him.

Our spiritual eyes may not be opened to see, that’s why the ministers of God implore us to pray and shout so we don’t get passed over. In this moment of our lives we need to be like Bartimaeus, cry unto God so that we don’t get passed over and get our own breakthroughs. It is not a time for you to be thinking “ah that fine brother/sister that you might be looking at me” (and if they are in that kind of atmosphere instead of praying to be honest you need to reconsider because they might be witch or wizard and if not they are clearly not serious) “or that the camera is looking at me I don’t want people to think I am an oversabi” but a moment to think “MY BLESSING MUST NOT PASS ME BY!”

If you say you will pray later after church in your quiet room, do you think that you, who is weary of man instead of God at that heated moment, can invite God’s presence as quickly as a man of God who has dedicated years in fearing and serving him? I know that grace is sufficient but at times let us be realistic.

In most cases that angel and Holy Spirit will not follow you home. You might even forget to pray or sin or get distracted, even If you eventually pray at home, the miracle you could have gotten by shouting and praying like a wounded lion in a matter of minutes would take you long hours if not days or weeks or months or years before it may or may not happen depending on the Grace of God. Why go the long hard route when you can pray like Bartimaeus and immediately receive answer afterwards? There certain once in a life time opportunities that we should not allow to pass us by.

The same Jesus who spoke in Matthew 6 who is not hypocritical nor contradicts his word in John 11: 41 -43 when Lazarus died he prayed in front of Lazarus tomb (not his room) praying and then cried with a loud voice;

“….Lazarus, come forth!”

As it says in Ecclesiastes 3: 1

“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven”

There is a time for everything including the different types of prayer. However due to different circumstances and situations we fail to note this.

Many people have missed out on God’s blessing because of negative self-awareness “if I pray too loud what would people think of me?”, “that fine brother/sister might see me as razz or doing too much if I lie down and pray,” “if I pray like this and sin tomorrow, what will people say?” “If I stand up during choir ministration, it would be embarrassing they will think my own is too much.”

During one of the Manner Water services, Professor D.K Olukoya spoke about the “Mystery of Voices”, he mentioned the voice of “what will people think about you?” He explained in his sermon that whatever you do people will have their own opinion of you. However, their opinions about your life have no effect on your destiny unless you allow it to disturb you.

In relating his words to the topic at hand as a Christian especially in the place of prayer, what more should we care about? How God sees us? Or how men see us?

As youths we need to pray even about matters that are yet to affect us to keep in our storehouse of prayer so that in our old age we can be ‘balling’ (Colloquial slang meaning enjoyment) in the holy ghost. We need to pray and fast now not until we face challenges or we are too old and lack the strength of our youth. Prayer are like seeds they germinate when it is time.

It would be a pity to be in a church especially one like ours where destinies are nurtured to blossom, the pastorate loves us and wants to prosper and the Power of God is evident, to have a plastic experience because we refused to key into the will of God.

May God help us and give us the wisdom to pray the right prayers at the right time in Jesus name.
Amen.

Written By KASALI VICTORIA.