God forbid, but if you ever have to choose between your stomach and your integrity, may you still have the integrity to choose your integrity – and starve – if need be & even if it means starve to death.
But God forbid.
#Kai! #GodForbid
If you can stay up all night to watch a favourite series, you can stay up all night to pray.
The reason why it seems easier to do the former than the latter is because prayer was not designed in such a way that the machinations of the human flesh can power it.
If you must pray, you must be helped, particularly because the flesh will actively war against the spirit to ensure you do not pray.
If you are watching a movie late at night you may sense some resistance from your spirit but it is usually not forceful. But when the flesh resists your Spirit you will know it. That is why you cannot pray without the help of the Spirit.
Have you noticed that people usually struggle to stay awake during a night vigil when prayer or bible study is going on but if you were to close the service so that people can sleep, you will notice that half the people who were struggling to stay awake would be wide awake gisting until daylight?
The spirit realm is not accessible to your natural faculties and so you must be helped.
Apart from the infirmity of your flesh, you also are laden with the infirmity of knowledge. So let us assume you are able to take care of the issue of sleep by some natural means so that you can be awake all night, you will still be faced with a whole new difficulty; knowing what to pray for as you ought.
I used to be in a relationship back then and at some point things got really bad that we could be together on a date and there is nothing to talk about. We were both frustrated, people in love should have a natural chemistry such that discussions are not mechanical. But I was the problem, I did not know what to say as I ought. The man who wants to pray would also realize that he is dealing with a Spirit who operates on a very different frequency from him and one who you cannot summon but makes himself known at his time. From the onset the man is heavily disadvantaged.
It is why really the only prayer you can initially pray when you wake up at night is "help me Holy Ghost".
Just keep saying that for 1 hour.
Then for 1 week, Then for 1 month.
Keep your prayer watches. You will see that the Holy Spirit is drawn to a broken and a contrite spirit.
There is nothing that attracts him better than a man who caves to his vulnerabilities before the consciousness of his Divine abilities.
"Help me Holy Ghost" is a valid prayer. Pray it and see how your life will be transformed.
The thing with the prayer is that it can fit into any situation.
Are you mourning? Help me Holy Ghost.
Are you broke? Help me Holy Ghost.
Are you battling an addiction? Help me Holy Ghost.
You cannot pray? Help me Holy Ghost.
You eat too much? Help me Holy Ghost.
You are battling with ungodly telegram channels? Help me Holy Ghost.
One of the most pressing challenges we can no longer shy away from as charismatics is the almost irresistible tendency for individuals in our circle to launch churches or ministries the moment there's a noticeable surge of the charismata in their lives; often without any grounding in theology or sound doctrine.1/3
Prayer keeps you up to date with your divine calendar.
There are good opportunities you should say NO to now, because according to your divine calendar it’s not time.
But a man that has strayed from fellowship will not discern his times and will cheerfully sabotage his seasons.
IGNORANT LEGALISTS...
You had a 'leading' to pray an extra 2 hours in the morning. "Somehow," you postponed it in a clear act of disobedience. However, you kept telling yourself you'd make up at night.
Then, you run into a case. He has been afflicted for 8 years but believes that if you pray for him, he'd be delivered. Suddenly, everything becomes interesting. You make a connection... "Maybe this was what God wanted me to be prepared for when He prompted me to log in 2 extra hours this morning." And phufff, your confidence, your faith begins to leak. Ever been there? I bet yes.
Well, the main issue is not that God needs your praying two hours to set the oppressed free. That's not the issue per se. Issue is, you feel, because it is true, that you are in disobedience. Disobedience is the issue. Disobedience is normally not compatible with the sort of faith you need in the situation.
Therefore,
If you go ahead to pray and the victim is not delivered, you'd most likely blame it on your disobedience or on your deficit in prayers. Remember those (disobedience & prayer deficit) are two different things. But let's proceed.
On the other hand, if the victim is delivered, you may think you probably didn't 'hear well' when you thought God led you to pray extra, OR that obedience is not such a big deal, because mercy always comes to the rescue. And if God does not help you here, you'd start out on a journey of no return into arrogant spiritual irresponsibility and corruption. Because you'd disobey many more times, and 'things' would happen.
Consequently, you'd forget that first, God making things happen is 'one thing,' and you living in disobedience is quite another. You'd forget that the one thing is not an affirmation or even a trivialization of the other thing. You'd be too fascinated by your newfound, secret hack. You'd be lost in that deceptive fascination, too lost, to retrace your steps.
Gradually, you'd start to look down on the saint who are still walking the straight path of obedience by grace. "If only they know what I know." you'd gleefully think to yourself. "They think it is by obedience and all these legalistic compliance," you would quip. And you may be right. But you will be more wrong, colossally wrong, because "it" is not by disobedience either.
You are a disobedient child of God, even though God, for a time, may do what He does (by you). You're on a treacherous road. Surely, you will not like where the road leads, in the end.
Disobedient prosperity. This is the tale of so many, today.
Like the command against greed, pride, stealing, etc, we have a command to "Flee fornication." But many apostles, prophets, and minstrels live in reckless immorality while purporting to be servants of Jesus. Well, 'things' are happening. So, they think they are special. And the rest of us are ignorant legalists.
A little admonition:
Obey God, first and simply because YOU SHOULD. Forget results. Obey.
Because,
There is a day...
I sit in church and suddenly, the Scriptures begin to open up to me; verses I’ve wrestled with for so long start to make sense. And as God’s servant explicates those same scriptures, it's as though light pours into the deepest parts of my soul. But it’s more than just light, it’s life. Living, breathing life flowing into me as I listen to God’s Word. Hallelujah! Church, as it should be!🥺🥺
Glory to God. He's a genuine man of God with a heart for the true doctrines of the Kingdom.
It's a privilege to have him and sit under his ministration.
Do the hard work of praying and believing God for His power so that you don’t come out teaching things that don’t sound like what Jesus taught and our forebears believed.
We walk in power.
In miracles, signs and wonders.
This is our heritage!
John Johnson! Always smiling! Always happy! He has fire in his bones! He loved the Lord! He was so passionate about the kids he was mentoring through the UEC Boys Brigade in Urozo. My brother for real! We mourn, yet we're hopeful that our brother is now in a better place!🥺❤️