“WHEN YOU TRAVEL OUT, 90 PERCENT OF YOUR PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED” – STATEMENTS THAT PROMOTE LUKEWARMNESS

I was having a meeting with a couple of proteges and I focused on those who had left Nigeria for other nations. As we interacted over their spiritual growth, one common trend to all of them was “Pastor, our prayer life is not as strong as before”. I knew something was not right.

It took some weeks but a statement some people make struck me differently. You hear people say it when they describe the “prayerfulness of Christians” in our nation. What is the statement? “When you travel out, you will realise that ninety percent of your prayer points are answered because they have a system that works”.

There are people whose prayer altars are now gathering dust. They find it hard to pray, fast or study. In the worst-case scenario, some have abandoned what they call “this God thing”.

Friends, if your prayer life dips because you are now in a place where your needs are met, there is a challenge with your doctrine of prayer. Remember, the doctrine is the regulator of character.

That assertion is based on the premise that “Prayer is transactional”. Most people go to God because of their needs. If prayer is basically because of your needs, you will stop praying once your needs are met.

It is the “lost son” syndrome. You will go to the father saying, “Give me”. Once you get it, you forget the father. The only time you remember the father is when there is another need. It is a transactional relationship.

But prayer is more than transactions. Transactions are fine. At least Jesus taught us to ask for “Our Daily Bread”. He taught us to ask for “Deliverance from Evil”. But remember that was never the starting point.

Prayer is first and foremost relational and not transactional. Even when I have all the bread and I am delivered from “road accidents”, and “armed robbery” because I am now in a system that works, I do not forget that prayer is about:

• OUR FATHER- This points to a relationship. He provides. He protects. He heals. He delivers. But the finest revelation you can have of God is that He is our Father. I pray because I have a Father with whom I love to relate with.

• HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME- This points to reverence. Even if all my needs are met, I pray because I revere Him. I adore Him. I know what it means to honour and fear the Lord.

• YOUR KINGDOM COME: This points to the royal life of a believer. I am a prince of God’s kingdom. There are a lot of things that do not look like the culture of His kingdom. I stay in prayers to see souls saved, saints edified and revival breaks out wherever He has planted me.

• YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH: This is God’s desire and it must be your drive. It is not everything in your vicinity that looks like the will of God. Why don’t you pick up a list of those things and pray? Comfort has closed down churches. Picnics have replaced prayer meetings. Nudity is driving out modesty. Witchcraft is disguised as prophecy.

Can you see that prayer is not just transactional now? If you stop having prayer points because you are now in comfort, you are already defeated. Comfort can be a form of persecution that kills passion for the Lord and His will. Deal with it.

temilOluwa Ola, Eruwa.