Sometimes in marriage things get so bad that it seems you have lost control of your life. Things are just happening around you and you have lost track of time. Two weeks back you were planning for Christmas and all of a sudden some events take place and the last thing on your mind now is Christmas.
Let’s meet Ken. Ken got married to the love of his life after so many objections from both his parents and her parent. Neither set of parents thought the other was good enough for their child. Things take a new turn in his life after his wife got pregnant and lost about three pregnancies in quick successions. And soon after he had a minor problem with his fertility. The doctor convinced them it would only take a few months to rectify things if medications are adhered to. Months rolled by yet the story remained the same.
Mary his wife was under pressure from family and friends, every time she fell sick they began to ask questions. The pressure from her mother in-law kept building up by the day. She was confused, she could not tell anyone what the real problem was. Whenever she wanted to, she remembered she had to cover her husband.
As time passed by, the situation began to take its toll on both husband and wife, the once sweet relationship started going sour. The pressure kept building from both families. The pressure on Mary was getting unbearable for her; she now nags and gets touchy easily. She vents her frustrations at work, at home and the once sweet babe is turning into an unbearable babe. Even the charming smile Ken used to have is fast disappearing! The situation is getting out of control …
Sometimes things get really tough in a marriage! You wonder how things got so bad. You go through your wedding pictures again and again, you tell yourself it was not meant to be like this. This is never like I envisaged it would be.
I have learnt that the issues in marriage never come in expected shades. When these things happen, the last thing we need to do is panic and get soaked up in worries. The last time we said it was time to learn, today we say it is time to pray also!
In my entire walk in the Christian race nothing ever made me realize that prayer is the Master Key, like marriage. After I got married I learnt to pray more and talk less. Often times there’s nothing much we can do than to pray especially speaking from the female perspective. Prayers said in faith can change any situation no matter how difficult. God is a Faithful God who will always honour His Word.
He said ‘If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and will give their sin, and will heal their land’
The restoration of Ken’s fertility is something out of control of both husband and wife, but there was something they could both have done. They could have prayed in faith to get out of the situation.
Praying might not instantly restore his fertility but it would:
- keep hope alive and hope will help them keep their joy
- heal their broken hearts
- help in building their faith together in Christ
- keep them from giving in to distractions
- Provide an avenue for them to share their burdens with one another
- Help them to discover God in a new Light together and stabilise them in their Christian Race
We need to always pray and not faint like the scripture says. As we remain in constant communication with heaven, we will receive instructions as to what steps to take. Keep in touch with heaven concerning your situation. He will come and save you in His time when all things will be Beautiful. As you continually pray, search the scripture for His promises concerning you and hang on to them.
Love
omolola ezeifeoma
Some logical reasoning has crept into the church unaware, and our minds are so accustomed to these ideas that we accept them without asking questions. Just as it is commonly practiced in choosing a life partner, we have been told to watch while we pray to find the bone of our bone, and the flesh of our flesh. In fact it is also commonly reported that, if you pray without being on the look out you will most likely loose out on the right person i.e. you will not know when he or she pass by you. Much as “watch and pray” is directly attributed and linked to Jesus statement to His disciples at the garden of Gethsemane, it is obvious that there is serious misunderstanding, most likely due to the King James English translation of the bible.
Matthew 26: 41 in HSBC version states “stay awake and pray, so that you won’t enter into temptation. The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak”. What has been translated as “watch” by the King James translators and commonly used in churches today means to stay on guard, alert or be awake. This was because in verse 40 after Jesus prayed for a while, He found that His disciples were sleeping and did not join Him praying. So He had to tell them to stay awake and pray just as He was doing.
If you believe that what Jesus meant is that each time we pray specifically about a situation we should also rely on our senses to get the results, then it means we are no longer relying on Him to handle the situation we are praying about, then the question is why do we pray if our senses can do the job? It is possible that God communicates His will about what we are praying for through our senses but this will purely be as He wills, in essence, God has a way of working through us (For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure {Philippians 2: 13}). The best of what our senses produces is still referred to as our decisions, except God has worked through it; God’s will and workings is irrespective of our senses. Next time we pray, we should not be mindful of looking for what it will look like. We should pray with alertness of mind towards God not “pray-sleeping” or “pray-mind traveling”.
-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.