Skip to main content

How to pray Prayers that really work

In this season, God is really showing and teaching me a lot about prayer - as well as other things like fasting (what it really means and how it helps us) - and having REAL faith when I have no clue what the heck is going on with my life. 

I've learnt so much about prayer in the last few months, and I will continue to share the lessons as I go along. But what I learnt this week was so fundamental:

PRAYER WITHOUT EXPECTATION IS EMPTY. 

I read this fantastic article on relevantmagazine.com, which is AN AMAZING WEBSITE, with lots of AMAZING articles about the Christian life. Gosh, I love it. 

Anyway, the writer said:

"What I realized recently [...] is that the place I may struggle the most in prayer is actually my expectancy. I’ve discovered my really biggest problem with prayer is that I just go through the motions.

You might be thinking that it wouldn't make a lot of sense to go through the trouble of praying if you didn't expect something to happen—but I can assure you that it is quite easy to do.
In my case, it's not that I doubt God's power; it's just that I so easily fall into a pattern of checklist Christianity.
I make prayer a religious task instead of a natural part of my relationship with Him. Instead of praying with heartfelt expectation, I often find myself just going through the motions. I allow it to become more discipline, than delight—more duty than devotion."
I allow it to become more discipline, than delight—more duty than devotion. That got me.
I identified with her thoughts on her prayer life to lengths I can't explain. She made so much sense. Why would there be any power in a prayer that has no real faith or belief that God might actually move on our behalf? If we don't expect Him to, why would he?
I learnt this a while ago: God responds to our faith. Not how many hours we spend locked away in our War Rooms (you need to see the film if you don't know what I'm talking about), or the fanciness of our words, or how many scriptures we have to back up our desires. None of that is any good if you don't believe in Him, or His Word. 

“Scripture reassures us, “No one who trusts God like this—heart and soul—will ever regret it. [...] Everyone who calls, ‘Help, God!’ gets help.”
(Romans 10:11-13 MSG - my new favourite Bible version!)

I believe in the importance of spending quality, alone time with God - and sometimes that means being holed up with Him in a room for an hour. But longer prayers aren't necessarily more genuine ones. Quality over quantity any day is what God really wants. 
So I challenge you today to search yourself and find out if you REALLY believe in God, and believe that He really does desire to help you, wherever you might need it.

"It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him." 
(Hebrews 11:5-6 MSG)

 That's expectation. 

 Kunmi x


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why We All Need To Stop Feeling Bad About Our Bad Habits

Growing as a Christian and getting rid of bad habits is hard. Growing up, I always struggled with a bad temper and angry outbursts. I was simultaneously a great lover (of people) and a great fighter (my secondary school friends can testify so well to this!). But around 19 years old, with determination in my heart and God’s ever-present help, I was able to contain my emotions relatively well and hardly lost my temper any longer.  All that time, I didn’t realise how much God had worked on my heart, until about a year ago, when I tweeted about my anger issues as a teen and a former colleague replied, “Really? I can’t even imagine you being angry, Kunmi.” I literally LOL-ed. Girrrl, if only you knew! But recently, I’ve had to face my demons again. There’s something about being in such an emotionally-invested situation like marriage that can sometimes bring out things that have long been buried in you, or things you never even knew were there. When I got married, I found that I ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Simple, Practical Solution To Reading More of Your Bible

At the beginning of the year, I decided I wanted to read the entire Bible - for the second time - in a year. (I also started using these amazing reading plans on my even more amazing Bible app, YouVersion. It's awesome; check it out! )  My aim is to get more of God's word into my head, mind and heart, and as a result, get to know Him better, as... "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was  God." (John 1:1) Simple, yeah? If God and His Word are one, then by getting to know one more, I get to know the other, right? But to achieve my goal, I obviously had to carve out more time to read God's Word.  Now, truth be told, I often find reading the Bible a little bit tedious (I'll have you know God appreciates my honesty), ESPECIALLY when it gets to certain, not-so-Jesus-loves-you-you-can-do-no-wrong-everything-is-all-GOOD chapters like Numbers, Leviticus and a few others (let's cut them some slack, shall we?). But I rea...
2 comments
Read more

Let's Talk About Time: Where is Yours Going?

I've come to a stage in my life where one of the top 3 things I am most passionate about is how I'm spending my time. Why? It's one of the greatest gift God has given us - and a lot of the time, truth be told, we squander it. How you spend your time is a reflection of what you really care about. When you find that hours on hours are lost on online shopping, scrolling through Instagram, watching your favourite series, complaining about everything that's wrong in your life, it shows that's where you're truly most invested. It's where your heart and your mind are. Aside from chasing our passions and 'living our best life', how often do we remember that we are called to much more? That our lives are not just for chasing pleasures and being comfy? That we were created neither to just pay the bills or make loads of money? What are you doing with your time? It's a question I now ask myself everyday. It's so important to me not to go thro...
Post a Comment
Read more