Rigidity of Prayer

The toughest people that I know are people that have a disciplined prayer life. They envelop their lives with prayer making them live independent of any circumstance. Your dependency on God will make you live above the storms of life.

We are all depending on something. When you were a child, it was your parents. Now that you are an adult it could be your skills, your salary or even your spouse. Do not depend on how good you are rather on how good God is. Do not trust your experiences. Trust the experiences God has shown you from scriptures through the Holy Spirit about who you are, what to do and where to go (Proverbs 3:5 KJV).

What you keep hearing will determine what you see and experience. That is why the wisest man in the world said “Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:” (Proverbs 1:20 KJV). It is left for you to listen.

Proverbs 13:20 says, “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise…” It did not say the person that is walking with them is wise already but because he is listening to wise people, he becomes wise.

If what you mostly hear is what society feeds you, that is what you are going to see. That is what you are going to become. If your community keeps talking about unemployment and you sit down to listen, that is what you are going to experience.

People around you are saying, “Jobs are hard to get” and you agree with them for the sake of conversation. You are killing yourself. This is the issue with pleasing men. You end up living an unhappy life. You read a scripture that says, “…My God shall supply all your need…” and you cannot speak it out when life tells you otherwise (Philippians 4:19 KJV). No! Life has a way of punishing timidity.

Choose where you stand today. Is God true or not? You cannot be dependent on two things. That is being double-minded. You cannot depend on the government and depend on God at the same time. You will lose both ways. Your life is built to be empowered from a source. Let that source be God. All the resources needed for success comes for Him.

Those who rise high in life are those who decide to be an answer to their generation. Complaints and murmuring will not help you or the person you are complaining to. This just multiplies the problem. 

When Isaac’s wife was barren, he did not go around to family members to complain and return her bride price. He prayed for an answer. Through prayer barrenness stopped (Genesis 25:21 KJV). Barrenness means being unable to do something.

For Rebekah, it was being unable to have children. For someone else, it could be being unable to make a profit in business or being sick all the time. Prayer is an enabler. It enables you to enter and experience the solution you are looking for. One place where we need to be tough and not give up is in the place of prayer.

Rigidity in Prayer

To start praying is not the problem. It is to continue until we begin to see tangible results. That is why we need to not just pray but to watch and pray. To be watchful means to see an outcome the way God sees it. It also means to be vigilant or alert. Just like a sentry at night, watching to prevent the passage of unauthorized persons or anything out of order that can be a threat so as to deal with it.

You have to be aware of what Christ has done so that when things are going against His order, you deal with it. Your continuous prayer is to put things in order. Jesus told his disciples to watch and pray so they do not fall into temptation (Matthew 26:41 KJV). Any thought that will make you not to pray is the devil trying to strip you of using your God-given power. Until you master the art of praying always, many things that are yours will elude you.

Hoping for answers won’t give you answers. Turn hoping to honour. Honour God’s word by taking it as it is. In Luke 18, the unjust judge answered the woman that cried to him continually. This parable is not about comparison. It is about contrast. God is not unjust. He is just. Therefore he answers speedily. There is a sure answer to our heart cry. When you keep on praying despite the tremendous pressure telling you not to, it is evidence that you know God is just. It shows that your answer will come and all will be well.

The only time you see any form of labouring in Jesus life was when he prayed. (Luke 22:41-46 KJV). When he raised the dead or healed the sick it was without stress. Look at Elijah as well, he prayed with his face stuck within his legs for 7 hours for the rain to come. The King never saw Elijah pray. All he knew was that he spoke there will be rain and it happened. He did not see what went on behind the scene. He did not see the sweat and tears. Prayer is work. The more you pray, the more your actions become stress-free and result filled.