It Dripped Like This Everyday

It dripped like this everyday. The reusable rags I used when I ran out money for the fancy pads regardless. It dripped like this everyday...

The Middle Eastern sun is hot overhead and casting shadows. The city has visitors, but I cannot see Him in the crowd. They say He is walking surrounded by 12 men, but they lie. They told me that of the 12 men, I knew 3 and could get to Him by calling in favours. One Matthew I had known several years back as a cheat at the Roman tax office.  One James ben Zebedee was a short tempered twin fisherman and customer of my father’s.  One Judas who had shady deals with my physicians. They should have told me He was surrounded by 12 men and then all of Jerusalem. I would have to press my way through the crowd of oblivious men, gawking women and obnoxious children.

With this gagging odour of infected blood which hung around me, they would smell me a mile away. It had been 12 years, but even I had not gotten used to the fishy reek. I shuffled first forward, then sideways judging my best approach. Last week, I heard he had come to one Lazarus on a sycamore tree. If he won’t come to me today, I will go to Him. If He will not touch me, then I will just touch the hem of His garment. They say anyone I touch is unclean, but I’ll take my chances.  This is really my last chance. It drips like this every day. Some mornings I just can’t get up for the light-headedness, palpitations, weakness and swooning. My life drips like this everyday.

Endometriosis. Withdrawal bleed. Cervical cancer. Bleeding Bartholin cyst. Dysfunctional uterine bleeding. They don’t know what it is. They pretend they know and spout their ignorance masked by white coats and huge books expressed in deafening technical jargon; but I know they don’t know what it is. It drips like this everyday.

Vaginal laceration, cervical ectropion or bleeding fibroid was what the first greedy, thieving scam artist and quack said it was. He kept changing his mind at each visit. Each visit made my heart heavier and my pockets lighter. After six months of experiments called practice, he passed me on to swindler number 2 who was sure it was the placenta even after I insisted that I had not been pregnant. Placenta previa or abruptio placenta. They are ignorant, these people and they are robbers armed with pills and potions. But maybe I am not fair. Physicians are humans- and flawed. Everyday, they uncover my nakedness and put their hands on my inside. Everyday the bleeding continues. It drips like this everyday.

I have travelled miles to see several physicians-the best of them and the rest of them. Fellows, professionals, specialists, generalists and herbalists. I have been under the knife twice, swallowed every potion; conventional and unconventional, orthodox and alternative, drank every pill- bitter and sweet, said every incantation- dark and light, changed my diet a hundred times and more; yet it drips like this everyday.

I have forgotten the colours on the inside of the temple courts and have not heard the Torah recited in the synagogue once these 12 years. My friends and family are gone. Acquaintances which Moses’ Law didn’t were driven away by the odours; those who weren’t driven by odours were driven away by my debts. But today...today, the odours would make a way for me through the crowd. I had made up my mind that the stories of the lepers’ cleansing, the blind seeing, the lame walking, the deaf hearing, the weak strong would transcend to my reality today. If I could just touch the hem of his garment...

As I jostled through the crowd, conscious of the angry stares and covered noses, I saw them. Pharisees and Scribes in their flowing garments and phylacteries. The established order of religion capable of stopping me by whatever ordinances were written by Moses. I must hurry. Each step is laboured, each breath shallow. My heart is pounding in my ears with the frenzy of pagan drums. He’s nearer now. Can I make it? The fainting spell seems to be coming on. My vision is now blurred with my tears. Can I make it? My clothes seem more wet than ever before and I am conscious of the eyes drilling my soiled behind. It dripped like this everyday. Shame, pain, fear...I’m not sure what I should feel. I know I feel an intensely odd blend of all three but I am overwhelmed by hope. Taken by faith. I shove people aside faster and with more daring. Everyone is pushing anyway. There He is!

I reach out now; first faltering, hesitant, cautious...then boldly. It dripped like this every day. Or did it? Done. What was that? Like a warm jolt of fire, a pleasant scorpion sting, coursing through my right hand, up my arm, through my torso and into my head and down to my feet. Every fibre of my being is ignited with an unseen fire. What was that the Rabbi had said about a bush on fire in the deserts of Midian that did not burn?

Something has happened. I feel dry. Stronger. Clear headed. The pain beneath my navel is gone. Could it be? It dripped like that everyday, but I don’t feel it anymore. Thank you unseeing Rabbi. I know you don’t know. 12 years of reproach, 12 years of going through many physicians; now poor, wretched, hurt in body and in mind and standing behind this extraordinary Saviour. Dry. Under my breath, I whisper the mantra, “Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai E ad. Yeshua Meshiach- You are Messiah...” As I turn to make my obscure escape from the teeming mass of humanity, lost in the sea of faces, I hear the clear question by His incisive voice carrying above the hum and murmur of the crowd. It was not asked in accusation. It was not framed for guilt. I heard amusement, curiosity, affirmation. Gasp. He knew!

But it had dripped like that everyday- and I knew from His voice that He had loved me everyday.

“Who touched Me?”

~The woman with the issue

 

You cannot escape unnoticed from the Grace you have touched.

*Any resemblance to individuals or patients treated by the author is purely coincidental and should not in any way be seen as a breech in confidentiality. The story is however based on a true story circum AD 28 recorded by a first century Physician named Luke (Luke 8:43-48). What is your issue?

The Power of Prayer

The idea that everything would happen exactly as it does regardless of whether or not we pray is a specter that haunts the minds of many who sincerely profess belief in God. It makes prayer psychologically impossible, replacing it with dead ritual at best.

~David Brainerd

Case Study: Israeli King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20.

Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death (the power to change circumstance), and was heard (the power to move God) in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience (the power to change you; the intercessor) by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.

Heb 5:7-10 (brackets and emphasis mine) 

There are 3 scriptural dimensions of the power of prayer.

1. The power to move God

2. The power to change circumstance

3. The power to change you (the intercessor)

There is power in prayer to move God. Hezekiah moved God by his tearful intercession. God was moved to cancel the appointment He had made on Hezekiah’s account with death. The prophetic word was reversed, and the prophetic messenger had to turn back from the courtyard to assure the praying King who was still had his face towards the wall in prayer. Prayer can rally all of heaven for the cause of one man.

There is power in prayer to change circumstance. A sepsis with a leg ulcer focus was claiming the life of Hezekiah. His tearful intercession despite a prophetic edict heralding his death changed the circumstance and brought him a healing word. Not only was he healed, time as we know it was altered- the sundial was turned backward by 10 degrees- because of heartfelt prayer.

One of our pastors in the Redeemed Christian Church of God at Abuja, Nigeria was involved in a church building project. A blessed widow with only one son was an immense blessing to that church. Every weekend, like clockwork, she would bring her open-back vehicle loaded with cement to the church building site and the labourers would off load the truck. This went on for quite a while. One day, she drove in hysterical and jumped out of her vehicle with cries of, “Pastor, I have brought your cement. Come and take your cement!” Cement? It was not the usual day of the week she used to come with the bags of cement; plus she appeared distraught. She didn’t want the site workers to off load the cement today. She insisted that the pastor come carry it himself. When he got to the truck to offload the ‘cement’, he was shocked to find the cold dead body of the widow’s only son lying where cement should have been. The woman kept screaming, “Pastor, oya, come and carry your cement!” They picked up the body and carried it into the pastor’s office. Ministers then began to pray asking God to restore the life of the boy. The sorrow stricken widow sat just outside the door to the pastor’s office and positioned herself so no minister could leave. All she kept saying to heaven was, “Jesus, accept my cement. Jesus, please accept my cement!” This pastor and his ministers prayed all manner of prayers for over 24 hours, but the boy did not wake. About to give up, the pastor placed his Bible on the chest of the dead boy and challenged God one last time. As he was about to walk out to the child’s mother and walk away, the dead boy sneezed. Breath returned into him. That is the power of prayer to change circumstances.

There is power in prayer to change you- the intercessor. Hezekiah prayed and he was changed from a sick, death bound king stuck in bed to a healthy man who would go up to the Lord’s house on the third day. As we pray, we should mutate. As you pray, your heart should change to become more and more like Jesus. Prayer carries power to change your motives, overhaul your decisions, transform your character, modify your worldview, alter your perceptions and revise your ideologies.

The caveat is this. Luke 1:37, For with God nothing shall be impossible. It is with God that nothing shall be impossible. Let us not give prayer the place of God. Some of us read it in our religious mindset this way- For with prayer, nothing shall be impossible. No. We pray not just for praying sake. We pray to the God who is able to do the ‘impossible’. Don't make prayer an idol. Your faith should be in God; not in religious prayer. Some demonic and fleshy prescriptions of 7 days of fasting, 6 nights of vigils, 7 hours of serious prayer with sweat, Psalm 7 and a 7,000 naira offering as being the key to getting anything you want in life are a misdirection. It is not prayer that saves you. It is God. Prayers don’t just answer themselves. God answers prayers. God empowers prayer to move Himself, the change circumstances, and to change us.

Prayer: Father reveal to me by experience, the power of prayer.

Positions of Prayer

'...He threw Himself upon the ground on His face and prayed...' Matt 26:39

When life knocks you on your knees, you’re in the perfect position to pray.

~Anonymous

In Gethsemane, Jesus’ positions of prayer were fluid. Is there a right posture in which to pray?

I was a zealous 15 year old full of the power of the Holy Spirit. It was an orthodox church night prayer meeting. Nobody particularly taught me to, but I stood up to pray and began to pace. My eyes were open and my hands were in my pockets. Maybe I didn’t want to sleep. Maybe I was feeling cold. Anyways, I paced, eyes open, hands in pockets. A Reverend Gentleman saw me and got furious. He slapped my hands out of my pockets, sternly instructed me to stay in one place and shut my eyes. In His mind, I was disrespecting God. Was I? Is there a right posture in which to pray? 

In Matthew 26:39 and Mk 14:35, we glimpse Jesus prostrate before God in prayer- the traditional posture for intense supplication. Certain African cultures use this posture to show respect before kings and elders. Small wonder that when we lie down before the King of kings in worship he is honoured. Some of my most intimate moments in prayer are flat on my face before Majesty. We find Joshua, Daniel and many other saints in this prayer position before God.

I remember one Sunday in our untiled church auditorium when we were sharing testimonies. A woman had had a delay in child bearing and was considered barren for 13 years. Her relatives and in-laws took her everywhere in search of a child- spiritists, mediums, priests, prophets...She had bathed in rivers, worshiped mermaid spirits, ate various concoctions and potions including crushed rat droppings. After much searching, she came to her breaking point and said, ‘God, if You will not give me a child, I do not want one.’ When she stopped seeking alternatives and focussed on God, God showed up. She got pregnant without knowing it. She gave birth to a wonderful boy full of energy. As she shared her story with tears in her eyes, this miracle mother neatly dressed in impeccable, immaculate white began to roll on the unfinished rough cement floor giving glory to God. She got up dirty, but God must have been pleased at her undignified worship. True worship is usually not far from the floor.

Still in the garden, Luke 22:41 tells us that Jesus knelt down to pray. Kneeling is the traditional posture for requesting favours from a king. It implies humility and submission.

In Mark 11:25 and then in John 11:41, before the grave of Lazarus, we see Jesus standing and looking up in prayer.

Luke 18:10 describes another man standing in prayer, only this time looking down possibly with hands clasped at the waist. This is the traditional posture reminiscent of a shackled prisoner of war brought before a conquering king and is used in submissive, penitential prayer. The man was not proud of his deeds and was approaching God’s throne for mercy.

The Jewish pattern of prayer found scattered throughout the scripture is that of lifting up the hands with both palms facing upwards. Paul writing to Timothy confirmed it as a New Testament practice when he said in 1 Timothy 2:8, “I would that all men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands.” Standing, looking up with eyes open and hands uplifted is the oldest posture for prayer.

In 1 Kings 18:42, Elijah was in intense repeated intercession for rain upon a sunburnt earth which had seen no rain for 18 months. He cast himself on the earth and put his face between his knees. Try it! Acrobatics in prayer didn’t start with the Pentecostals.

In a daze David sat down before the Lord to pray after receiving a prophetic word that would position his entire generation for the throne. In wondrous amazement, 2 Sam 7:18 says he sat before the Lord and prayed, “Lord, who am I?” Sitting down to pray routinely began only shortly before the time of the reformation when the church introduced pews into houses of worship. We must never lose the wonder of sitting before God our King.

We can lie in bed to pray. 2 Kings 20:2 shows us King Hezekiah of Judah lying in bed with his face to the wall and communicating with God. The Psalmist says, “Let them (the saints) sing aloud on their beds.”

What is the lesson?

a. It is the position of your heart that first matters to God.

You may sit, stand, lift up your eyes, kneel, lie, roll, rock or meander. God hears prayer in any position; he can give you a nation even if you pray hanging upside down. Just let your heart be properly positioned before God. There is the story of the boy who was standing on the church pew whose father repeatedly asked to sit down. After a threat he sat down. Dad was happy, but the boy said, “Daddy, I may be sitting; but inside, I’m still standing!” I may be kneeling in prayer, but my heart is standing in defiance. I may make a show of lying down before God, but when he checks my heart, he may find me standing in rebellion. It is the position of your heart that first matters to God.

b. Genuine fervent prayer fuels expression.

Fervent God-chasers physically position themselves in prayer according to the fervency of their heart. I’ve seen people pray doubled-up. Bent over. With hands on their heads. On their backs with feet in the air. Rolling around on the floor. Jumping up and down. Clapping. Shaking their heads. Banging their heads against a wall. Stomping. Punching the air. I don’t blame them. Their burdens are simply fuelling their expression and posture. Be real in prayer. Let fervency fuel your expression.

c. Christ's positions of prayer were fluid; our positions of prayer should be fluid.

In Gethsemane alone, Jesus knelt to pray and then in agony fell prostrate. In prayer, our positions should be fluid. It will not do to be rigid in our expression or positioning. We too should learn to be fluid.

Whether we stand, sit, walk, kneel or bow in prayer, let our hearts first be positioned properly before God.

NB. Reverend, I was NOT disrespecting God. I was keeping awake!

Prayer: Father, teach us to be real in our positions in prayer. When we kneel, may our hearts kneel before you. When we bow, may our hearts bow to you. When we stand and lift up our hands, may they be clean before you, in Jesus Name.

Pitfalls in prayer 2

Matt 26:41 “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

b. A weak body; flesh

Mark 14:40 And when he returned, he found them asleep again, (for their eyes were heavy) neither did they know what to answer him.

Have you ever slept off while you should have been praying? Countless times, I have fallen asleep on my knees or on my face before God and awoken with a start! Just last week, I caught a brother sleeping while standing during a worship session! Jesus’ observation that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak is not an excuse or an escape route for indiscipline in the place of prayer. The disciples had no excuse- they couldn’t open their mouths to say anything when Jesus confronted them with their indiscipline. Three times he left them with instructions to pray and three times he meets them snoring. Four lessons from the un-empowered apostles are still helping me overcome the flesh in prayer.

Lesson 1. Overcome overload

The apostles were sincerely tired. They had just had a long day. Gethsemane was a trek, the mount of Olives was a climb.  After a long, hard day, the Master required that they pray at night for a few hours. Ahhh! Some days, when coming home from work, your mind is not on dinner or on your family. Your mind is on your soft, juicy bed and fluffy pillow. And then the Holy Spirit moves you to intercession. Hard? The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. That is the time for extra discipline and commitment to living intercession.

Pastor Adeboye once told us the story of a night the Lord moved him to pray. He was very, very tired and on a long fast before the annual convention. He told us he felt God would understand. While resting, he got news from his wife that a volunteer at the camp who hailed from his village had just died. All thoughts of sleep vanished and he jumped up to go pray over the dead man. In his frenzy, he heard God’s Spirit ask, “I thought you said you were too tired to pray?”

We must not permit overload to hinder our prayers. Our schedule should be drawn around our life of prayer. It was Martin Luther that was quoted to have said, “In fact, I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” Don’t wait till you get really tired before you approach heaven. And when you are tired and need to pray, practice the discipline.

Lesson 2. Overcome indulgence

The Passover meal the apostles ate that night was not the size of our Holy communion wafer and 15 ml sip of grape wine. They had just taken a very heavy meal. Without a doubt, the Passover was a feast. The equivalent of our akpu and okhazi soup, beans and gari or tuwo and mian’kuka. When we indulge in heavy meat and drink before prayer, there is every tendency to sleep! Medical science describes a shunting of blood from the brain to the gut after a meal. Splanchnic blood flow increases from 8.5 litres to 11.5 litres...and part of that comes from the brain. That is why lions sleep and laze around after loading themselves with gazelle.

My prayer partner, Wale, would never eat a heavy meal to bed. Never. He would always take a light meal in order to be able to keep his midnight appointments with God. I would almost always wake up to his groaning in the spirit. He discovered that in order to keep the flesh under, he would overcome indulgence.

Luke 21:34
Take heed, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life and so that day come upon you as a thief.

Lesson 3. Overcome indiscipline

The more you pray, the more you can pray. The disciples were undisciplined in the practice of prayer. Jesus, on the other hand, had made prayer a regular discipline and practice. On the Mount of Transfiguration while Jesus was communicating with heaven, Peter, James and John slept. While Jesus prayed at ‘a certain place’, the disciples watched and only when he was done asked him to teach them how to do what he did. In Mark 1:35, Jesus left the house to pray while the disciples were still sound asleep. In essence, while Jesus walked the earth, the disciples were indisciplined in prayer. They had not yet made prayer a part of their lives.

We talk about it, preach about it, exhort others to it but fail at it. Prayer is a discipline; a 'painful' discipline. A habit. We must break the chains of indiscipline in prayer; and the only way to learn to pray is to pray. Not think about it, not talk about it, not pretend at it, but to really, sincerely pray.

Lesson 4. Get rid of emotional distractions

And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow, Lk 22:45

Peter, James and John were particularly close to Jesus and had begun to understand that Jesus really would die. They watched him agonizing in prayer and became sorrowful. The escape route for their sorrow was sleep- kind of like a child who cries herself to sleep after a spanking. Emotional distractions stop us from effective prayer.

Our emotions should not chase us from God’s throne. Sorrow, worry, fear and other emotional baggage may distract us in the place of prayer. The remedy is to bring them all before God. You don’t forget about your issues just before you enter into the presence of God and pick them up when you’re leaving. You cast them on Him in prayer.

1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your cares upon him; for he cares for you.

As far as Jesus is concerned, there is no excuse for prayerlessness. Overload, indulgence, indiscipline, emotional baggage are not legitimate excuses. Listen to Him in the garden.

'Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray.'

Prayer: Father, God of all flesh, let your Spirit quicken my mortal body. Empower me to pray. Deliver me from every pitfall in my life’s prayer journey. Father, open my eyes to your will in prayer.

Action point: Identify and journal your pitfalls in prayer. How do you intend to overcome them?

Pitfalls in prayer 1

"If I wished to humble anyone, I should ask him about his prayers. I know nothing to compare with this topic for its sorrowful self confessions."
~J Oswald Chambers

“And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy.”

Matt 26:39-43

Over the years, in my personal prayer walk, I have noted two things that are pitfalls, drawbacks, snares and snags to my advancement in the discipline of true prayer. They are both lessons of Gethsemane:

A lack of understanding of God's will, and a weak body- flesh.

a. A lack of understanding of God's will. '...not my will...'

Jesus prayed the way He did in the garden because He understood and surrendered to God’s will. The key to praying amiss is a lack of understanding of the will of God.

And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.
1Jn 5:14 -15

The primary pitfall in prayer is a lack of understanding of God’s will. That is the reason why we ask amiss- like a child asking his father for a jack-knife to pick his teeth, or a 5 year old throwing a fit and insisting that his dad give him the car keys. That is the reason why we wrestle in prayer against flesh and blood and sing pseudo-spiritual war songs against our human enemies. That is why we bind people who move our Bibles from our place on the church pew and live as undiscerning Christians praying unintelligent prayers. A lack of understanding of God’s will.

God’s will is revealed in His word and revealed by His Spirit.

When you do not know what to pray, search God’s word and listen to His Spirit. These 2 principles are key to praying God’s will and obtaining answers to prayer.

i. Find out what God’s word has to say.

True intercessors are men of God’s word. Daniel was a model intercessor, but did not begin to pray until he had ‘understood by the books’- the writings of Jeremiah. If I do not pray God’s word, I do not pray God’s will. ‘Understand by the books’ before you get on your knees. If it is in God’s word for you, then God is committed to it.

One of my fathers in the Lord taught me this early by his practice. I often wondered why, when we were praying, he would ask us to open our Bibles and keep them open to particular scriptures from which we prayed. Praying with my Bible open in my hands is often an experience in understanding the will of God.

In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood the number of the years by books, which came of the Word of Jehovah to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

And I set my face toward the Lord God, to seek by prayer and holy desires, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.

Dan 9:2-3 

Daniel’s understanding of God’s will by scripture stirred him to pray.

There are quite a few nasty songs in the traditional Pentecostal tradition that reflect this lack of understanding of God’s will. A popular female award-winning West African gospel singer sang, “Yio sa agolo de Port Har(cort).” The gist of that song essentially is that all people who think evil of me, all my enemies, will run mad- turn schizophrenic- and pick tin cans on the highway for several kilometres. That may appeal to our sense of judgement, but is this the will of God in prayer? A Yoruba prayer in song says, “God that directs the wind, direct my enemies in front of a moving trailer.” Another one, complete with choreography- swinging both arms like a moving steam engine- says, “Mo mu railuway gori ota mi lo, faka, fiki, faka” and means “I run over and crush the head of my enemies with a moving train.” Did Jesus call us to crush our human enemies with a locomotive engine, run them over with trailers or call down fire on them?

Jesus’ answer is in Matthew 5:43-48 -

“You have heard that it has been said, You shall love your neighbour, and hate your enemy. 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 you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love them which love you, what reward have you? Do not even the publicans the same? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more than others? Do not even the publicans so? Be therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

For we have not so learnt Christ.

Has Jesus put His Spirit in our hearts to call down fire on unbelieving men and women?

Jesus’ answer is in Luke 9:52-56

“And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.”

Our battle is not with human beings. Next time you decide to pray that someone should fall down and die, remember that we wrestle principalities and powers, rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places. When we know God’s will, we know how to pray for results.

ii. Allow God's Spirit to teach you God's will.

1 Cor 2:11

For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

The Holy Spirit is the custodian of the will of God. Only in a relationship with Him do we have access to the express will of God.

The Greek word for lusts is the word hedone, from the root ‘to please’, it means sensual delight, desire and pleasure. When we do not ask according to God’s word and by the leading of His Spirit, we ask hedonistically; according to our own lusts. God looks down and sees entire churches holding lustful prayer meetings. Praying to please ourselves and not him; negating the pattern prayer of Christ in which he taught us to say, “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

James 4:3

You make your request but you do not get it, because your request has been wrongly made, desiring the thing only so that you may make use of it for your pleasure. (BBE)

You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend it in gratifying your lusts. (EMTV)

When you pray for things, you don't get them because you want them for the wrong reason-for your own pleasure. (GW)

You ask and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it upon your lusts. (MKJV)

Why do you want that car, that house, that piece of land? Is it not to be like the other nations? To make a name? Oh God, deliver us from lustful prayers!

The Place of Prayer 4

The Samaritan woman essentially asked Jesus, ‘Where should we pray? Our fathers (Abraham, Isaac, Moses, Solomon) worshiped and prayed on this mountain, and you (Jews) say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.’ Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you shall neither worship the Father in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem. For the time is coming- it actually is now- when those who worship God will worship Him in spirit and in truth; when where you are from or where you go to worship and pray do not matter.’

John 4:20-21,23

This is the generation of men who worship God in spirit and in truth; who approach God and pray not necessarily on traditional mountains or church buildings and temples. This is the generation of women whose hearts are connected with God, whose spirits commune with God anywhere, any place.

We are to pray without ceasing; and so, the place of prayer is of universal nature. Everywhere. 1 Timothy 2:8 says, “Therefore, I desire that men pray everywhere...” In the loo, on the bus, on the train, in the subway, in the car, on the plane, on the scooter, in the keke NAPEP tricycle, in the shower, in the kitchen, in the study, in the mall, in the examination hall, in the banking hall, in the parlour, in the skating rink, on the football pitch, in the hotel lobby...everywhere. There is no place on earth from which you can not reach heaven in prayer. Whether in Saudi Arabia or Uzbekistan, China or Syria, Cuba or Iran, North Korea or Gambia, God wants to hear and answer you and me. In many places, we may not be able to pray out loud or above our breath, but when it comes to the place of prayer everywhere and anywhere is game. Still, find a regular place from which to consistently practice the discipline of prayer.

I can be in a crowd, or by myself

Or almost anywhere;

When I feel, there’s a need to talk with God

He is Emmanuel!

When I close my eyes, no darkness there,

There’s only light

 

When I get on my knees

When I get on my knees

There I am before the Lord that changes me

See, I don’t know how, but there’s power

When I’m on my knees

~Mullen, David/ Mullen Nichole/ Ochs Michael

Prayer: Father, teach me to seek you everywhere. Help me to identify a suitable private place for consistent, usual prayer. Help your church and our local assembly to give time to corporate intercession. And above all, teach me to live a life of prayer beyond the church building – a life that prays everywhere and every time.

The Place of Prayer 3

Where else did Jesus teach us to pray? Wherever the church gathers is intended to be a house of prayer. Jesus was angry and violent when he discovered that the temple, which ought to have been a house of prayer, had morphed into a den of thieves.

Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted on My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.

Isa 56:7

Going into the Temple he began to throw out everyone who had set up shop, selling everything and anything. He said, "It's written in Scripture, My house is a house of prayer; You have turned it into a religious bazaar."

Luke 19:45-46 (MSG)

God’s intention for our local church buildings, cathedrals, worship halls and chapels is that they be a house of prayer for all nations. Unfortunately, many of us lock up our church buildings from Monday to Saturday. We open them on Sunday mornings and then shut them up again immediately after the Sunday worship service. We shut people out except for a religious bazaar. Even the hours we spend in church are swallowed up in announcements, committee meetings, dancing, recreation…with little time for corporate prayer. The Lord of the house says, “My house shall be called a house of prayer.”

During our honeymoon, my wife and I met an American missionary who had been married several years. He taught me to take time out to pray before heading home from a busy and demanding work day. Earlier on in his marriage, the demands of his old job put a lot of strain on his family life. He carried the burdens of work home and transferred aggression, disappointments and expectations. The downward spiral became obvious and he finally learnt to do something to save his marriage. Every day, on his way back from work, he broke off the drive to stop at a chapel along the road home. The doors were open, so why not? There he unburdened and prayed before continuing his trip home. A house of prayer for all nations. That helped save his marriage.

So, Jesus taught us to pray in the usual places- on our mountains for regular private intercession and in our churches or places of religious worship. Yet, if we follow Jesus closely, we find both the usual and the unusual. God’s word encourages a usual place of prayer, but we also catch Jesus praying in unusual places. John chapter 11 shows him praying in front of a grave. Mark 1:35 shows him praying in an unnamed secret place.