Why Consistent Prayer?

I know most of you after reading my blog should be wondering why I decided to pick such a title. The first thing you see as you log on the page is Consistent Prayers. As long as I can remember I’ve been taught to pray before bed, when I wake, during meals, at school devotions, after school and you can name the rest. My parents made me do it especially since my mom is a school teacher in a mission school. Part of it is because mission schools teach their students the importance of always keeping in touch with God. Most students don’t like this especially if they are from homes that did not practice it or just the human sin nature.

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and request. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” ( Ephesians 6:18). From the verse you can see that we are commanded to always keep on praying. We were created to worship our creator God. “ God is Spirit and worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). This message is when Jesus was talking to the woman at the well. If you read the previous verses Jesus says it clearly that true worshipers are the kind the Father seeks. If worship is what God wants from us then we need to do it to honor Him. I know it sounds challenging to always keep on praying. Practice makes perfect as my mom always told me. One of my mentors once told me that our morning devotion is an opener to our daily worship. This is so true and has worked well for me. I was talking to a group of women the other day and said worship should be like “ Starting your day with a good morning Lord and ending it with a thank you Lord for today and watch over your servant through the night.” 

The question of the steps of prayers was brought up, by this I mean the model prayer  “The Lord’s Prayer” that Jesus gave to his disciples(us) in Matthew 6:9-13. Yes, this is a model of how we should pray but if we have to be persistent in our prayers throughout the day and when sudden situations arise there is no time to go through all the step of  praising, acknowledging, confessions, thanksgiving and supplication. But if we start our day with a devotion first thing in the morning, I mean first thing when we take our heads off the pillow. This is when you go through this process of The Lord’s Prayer. As your day continues, it is a conversation with God at any given point when he brings somebody or something in mind to pray about. Praying at breakfast or launch for me is always quick and easy or maybe a friend needs prayers or an accident I just saw or the sound of an ambulance etc. I know for sure that when I think of someone it is very important to lift them up to the Lord. Knowing that the devil is always roaming around looking for believers to devour but if we are alert and persistent in prayers God’s promise of never leaving us alone is true.

One of the things I did a lot in my dating days was praying for a husband. You know what I’m talking about if you are single or married. I prayed that God should bring the right person to me daily. When he finally came I stopped praying. Yes, that is our tendency to stop praying when we get what we are asking from God right!  

"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”(Matt 26:41) 

What happens next is the devil tempts us in all kinds of ways. He knows our weakness and strikes right where we are most vulnerable. God knew this before he gave us Ephesians 6:18 and all the other passages on consistent prayers.

It did not take me long to realize I needed to be praying for my husband and my behavior towards him. When you look around and see what is happening in the world ,one may think God is not watching. God is watching and knows what is going on. We have left him as we don’t invite him into our situations or even praise him anymore. God is invisible yet omnipresent just waiting for us to call on Him. We go through suffering because we lack knowledge of the truth; the devil attacks because we cooperate with him ignorantly by not staying in consistent communication with God. I started praying for my husbands safety as the drove to work, while at work to stay away from predators until he comes back home to me. When we had our first child I realized now that he is a father and I needed him to be the best dad to her. So I prayed about it because telling him things to do did not go so well. I started doing some of the things I wanted done to her like reading books to her. When he finally stepped in, he loved every minute of it and now reads to the girls each night before bed. It is a routine but let me tell you I prayed for sometime and saw clearly that actions speaks louder than words. Pray and let the Holy Spirit intercede for you for Jesus know what your situation is. Yes! consistent prayer is key in our walk with God. 

And always pray in the spirit on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and request. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.- Ephesians 6:18.