It is uncommon to see people who are troubled in mind comporting themselves, rather, they move about with gloomy and moody faces. As a matter of fact, it’s difficult to find such people comforting, encouraging, or attending to peoples’ needs.
When Jesus met the multitude of people after He was told of the beheading of John the Baptist, He did not send them away giving the excuse of His mind state. The fact that His forerunner (John), who proclaimed His coming and also doubles as a relation has been beheaded, was enough a reason to dismiss the crowd. Rather, He was moved with compassion (Matthew 14:14) and healed their infirmities. He didn’t need to go for days of fasting and prayer to reposition His mind, but He knew He was made for such occasions. Jesus did not only heal their sicknesses, but also put smiles on their faces by feeding them all.
Does the thought of putting smile on peoples faces cross your mind when troubled, or rather people should put smile on your face? Don’t forget that the Christian is a packaged solution to the world’s problems. Discharge your duties faithfully, even when you don’t feel like doing it, remember it goes beyond your momentary feelings.
adeyiga awomuti
May I be free to ask what we do about the sorrowful news we hear at certain periods in life? How many hours, days, or weeks do we spend thinking about the news? At such times, our minds can’t just stop being perturbed over the fact that, ‘why is this happening now’, ‘why me’, ‘why friends or relations?’ Most times, we get off such thoughts when they are overtaken by some other events, or we’ve just listened to some music appealing to the mind based on our moods. Despite these conventional options that characterises our painful moments, I think we can detach ourselves from such, by learning from Christ.
In Matthew 14:13, when Jesus heard of the beheading of John the Baptist, He immediately withdrew to a desert place. He did not do that because of fear or that he may go to weep. We’ll find out in verse 23 the main reason for his withdrawal, though He was temporarily halted by His passion for some sick and hungry people, vs. 13-21.
Instead of Jesus complaining, crying or thinking excessively about the sorrowful news of John the Baptist, He was determined to go and pray. Would you choose to follow after Jesus exemplary life, or you would like to continue in the conventional way of freeing one’s mind from troubling news?
– adeyiga awomuti
Places like mountainous area, solitary area and deserts were those that were regular host to Jesus during His earthly walk. Actions like withdrawing oneself, depart hence, and rising up a great while before day, also characterised His walk. Specifically in Matthew 14:23, the last phrase reads, “…he was there alone”. Not to conjure and commune with spirits and ghosts, neither did He choose those kinds of places because He loved to sleep in places free from disturbances; He simply went to those places to PRAY.
“And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain to pray…” Matthew 14:23.
“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed”. Mark 1:35;
“And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place…” Luke 4:42
Why on earth should Jesus have chosen to be in such places? He wanted to be alone communing with God. Since prayer is not a one way thing, but communing with the father, this means that as I speak to Him, He replies. If we can understand and appreciate the essence of being alone with our loved ones here on earth in places free from disturbances, then we should know how important it is being alone with Him who we have an everlasting fellowship with.
As long and as much as we love to keep our earthly relationship through constant desire to have a heart to heart talk, likewise we should constantly desire to have a tête-à-tête with God always.
Get off your busy schedules and environment, and move straight to be alone with God. In our day and age, the deserts and mountains may not be realistic, but we can choose to move into our rooms, wake up middle of the night or early hours of the day. Also, you may choose to drive to a quite place, and stay there in your car praying to the father.
Are you too busy for God? Desire to be alone with Him!
– adeyiga awomuti
If there is anything I desire believers to ever ponder over, it is what comes to our minds next when all things seems alright. Most times, we kneel at the place of prayer especially after we’ve considered the greatness and urgency of our needs.
Right from when the thoughts of our hearts are set in motion at the blast of a new day whistle, to the night prayers on our beds, we mutter with our lips “hope deferred maketh the heart sick…, God let there be speedy response and solution to all these needs”.
However how late the prayer seems to be answered, or these needs seems to be met, people immediately forget the long duration of time the waiting process lasted. As a matter of fact, the heart rejoices just like a woman that has just been delivered of a baby, and straight away forgets the labouring period. Almost immediately, the time we spend kneeling to pray reduces, we immediately devote the ‘excess’ time to caring for the things just provided us. For example, if it is a car, we spend time admiring, cleaning, and maintaining it. Automatically, the hours spent in the prayer room becomes converted and transferred to the caring heart.
Pause a while and take a stock of your life; haven’t you stopped those serious prayers? Have the quality time usually spent in prayers reduced since those needs were met? This suggests to me that we most a times pray when we have needs and stop praying when they are met. By this, we walk contrary to Jesus and Paul’s admonitions in bible. “…men ought always to pray and not to faint” Luke18:1, “pray without ceasing” I Thessalonians 5:17.
– adeyiga awomuti
Have you ever wondered about the usage of words like always, without ceasing, continually, at all times etc, with respect to prayer? Better still, have you ever questioned why Jesus rose early in the morning to pray or a great while before day? (“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed” Mark 1:35 KJV) Or why Jesus had to withdraw himself to a solitary place, desert, mountains, etc praying throughout the night.
Many of us who thought we should only pray when our heart is troubled, or when we see circumstances beyond our control should realize that we are yet to be like Jesus. Most of the diseases, demon possessed people, and accusations that came his way, he attended to them as though he was referring to a case of headache.
I propose that we checkmate the weakness of our body. Most times we’ve wanted to pray, but we are subtly and stylishly hindered by the dictates of our body, saying, I’m tired, weak, and need some rest. When Jesus faced the same problem while praying in the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-46), though he acknowledged the weakness of the body in struggling to gain full control, but he simply triumphed by putting his body under check. Today many believers put this willingness of their spirit under, and allow the weakness of the body to gain ascendancy.
God is not hungry and thirsty of us praying, he simply commands it, because he knows it’s profitable to us. Why not act like a soldier, who will always defer every other hindrance so that he can carry out in detail the orders of his General.
Common get on your kneels and pray some.
– adeyiga awomuti
We have at one point or the other in life played the role of being an enemy to someone, perhaps by omission or commission. But I’ve always wondered if God were to answer all prayers, most likely majority of those in existence today would not be. We often have prayed “let God arise and our enemies not see the light of the day” or they should be partially paralyzed, which means we should have suffered the same thing. But God is not a man, not even in His thought.
There is no doubt that it looks very unrealistic to bless someone who has played the role of an enemy, but it’s expected of us to do so. Let me ask you; do you think it looks realistic to be loved by God to whom humanity displayed the best of hatred at his son on his way to Calvary. Or you think it is one of those comic relieves in Bible, that when slapped on the right cheek turn the left?
Whoever the enemy is, or whatever he has done, God demands that he be loved. It’s this love that will motivate you to bless and pray for him.
“But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans so?
And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others do not even the publicans so.
Be ye therefore perfect as your father which is in heaven is perfect”. (Matt. 5: 44-48 KJV)
Would you choose to believe this charge from the savior of your soul, Jesus, or you still want to have your way?
– adeyiga awomuti
It is no news today that people always have reasons why they don’t pray regularly. Conducive environment is usually top on the list.
Come to think of it, what if you have been busy throughout the day, and you are free in the evening when fagged and tired; do you pray? Paul’s admonition re-occurs to me when I’ve not found a comfortable environment. “I will therefore that men pray EVERYWHERE, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting.” (I Timothy 2:8)
It was said of Kathryn Kulman that, she always mutters some things anywhere she’s found, even while walking. She latter told her congregation that she had cultivated the habit of praying in the spirit always, every time.
A beloved brother relayed to me sometimes ago his experience in the University. As his manner was, he was praising God in the bathroom while having his bath, suddenly a man of another faith shouted at him in condemnation for calling upon God in an ungodly place like the bathroom.
I thought we are the circumcision that worship God in the spirit and have no confidence in the flesh. (Phillipians.3:3). Our spiritual communication and relationship with God does not respect any environment. It is purely spiritual. Next time, wherever you find yourself, at whatever time of the day, just keep praying.
-adeyiga awomuti
Have you ever pondered on what your feelings may be like, if you stay hours, days, weeks and months at home without communicating with anybody? Most likely either the Parents or child will be perturbed.
I’m sure the father would be greatly concerned; likewise the child would be found in uneasiness. The Fatherly role of God to us cannot be overemphasized.
Communication is a vital tool in any family relationship. I mean the child bears his or her mind, while the father replies by responding through action or words.
This is exactly what prayer is expected to achieve in our relationship with God. Have you felt bad lately? Have you been feeling lonely, or helpless of recent?
Why not commune and relate with God in prayers. Pray some.
Did you just mutter in your heart that you’ve prayed? Maybe it was done hurriedly, hastily, briefly, brashly and rashly.
Remember that most of your heart rubbings with your Father had tremendous impact after you’ve spent quality time expressing and understanding one another’s opinion, interest, etc.
– adeyiga_awomuti
Crew members’ expresses their confidence imposed on the flight Captain just as they calmly sit in the plane till their destination is reached.
Despite the fact that the crew members believes in the ability of the Captain, the Captain also at intervals communicate through messages broadcasted in the plane. At such intervals, the passengers build stronger confidence, because they are carried through by the pilot’s messages. “Fasten your seat belt because we are about to take off; ascend a particular height or about to likely encounter a storm”. Such statements show that the pilot is dutifully alert and alerting them.
Would you consider praying that all unnecessary fears be dispersed? It’s only in your communication with God that your confidence in Him can be built by the day. Without any iota of doubt, God communicates with you when you take time out to pray. Take a clue from the experience of the disciples in the early church. While they took out time to pray, the Holy Spirit spoke to them. (Acts 13:2-3)
Or would you also consider one of the numerous experiences of Jesus when he prayed in Luke 9:28-31. He actually had a communion with the heavenly host.
The cares and worries of this life will persist hard and likely send wrong signals to you to the point that you put aside your golden opportunity of communicating with the Father. Just as a passenger is likely to be distracted and unnecessarily deceived by looking through the window of the plane and seeing the different cloud formations. He’s likely to forget that those clouds are nothing but norms. Instead of steadfastly maintaining the confidence in the communication he’s been having with the captain, he raises a false alarm of what can not be.
Are you getting bordered or deceitfully being swept away by the operations of the world system you’ve seen through the ‘window’? Draw back the curtain and “PRAY SOME”. Reassure your heart via your prayer communication with the Father.
“These things have I spoke to you that in me you might have peace. In the world you (shall) have tribulation; but be of good courage: I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, JND).
Instead of looking into the world and pondering over her offers, why not with the word of God at the back of your mind, pray some more. Reassure your heart, strengthen your confidence, he’s still your father. He’s in charge, and you are on course.
How would a sailor sail his ship without his compass for direction?
How would the Captain of the flight continue on his journey when he has lost complete contact of the radar or radio communication?
As I sojourn here on earth, direction towards the right path is best gotten in our communication with God. He’s the embodiment of our compass for direction.
A very good way is to “prayerfully” know His heart intention for you.
Every rhythm composed from your footsteps should connote the rudimental musical notes and principles in the Father’s heart for you.
Why continue in that journey without a sense of direction?
Pray some so that you can be rest assured that you are on the right track and path.
Start the prayers right there. It’s about the best place and time for you.
“I will therefore that men pray everywhere …”(I Timothy 2:8 KJV)
“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit …” (Ephesians 6:18 KJV).
– adeyiga awomuti