Before we move on to corporate altars, there is the need to realise the need for continuous prayer.
Praying Regardless of Seasons
If you pray only when there are problems, problems become the reason why you pray fervently. At a point, the enemy will realise and will now make sure you have no pressing problems. That has been the end of many people’s need for God. God is not relevant because there are problems. God is relevant because He created us and we depend on Him for everything.
Attend to your altar. Whether you’re full or hungry, fit or tired, strong or sick, in good times or in bad times, one thing that shouldn’t change is your prayer. When we wait for problems to overwhelm us before we become serious in prayer, our prayer life will be seasonal. When you’re full, pray. When you’re prospering, pray. When you breakthrough, pray. When you make it, pray.
Whereas there are people who give up on God when there are good times, some also give up on God when things become overwhelmingly hard. However, the one who yields to the training of the Holy Spirit will soon become immovable and unshakable throughout the ups, downs, twists and turns of life. If you stop praying, the anxieties will come back; you’ll doubt God; you’ll fall into sin afresh; your life will be stagnant; your relationship with God will dwindle; your life will feel miserable even if you prosper.
Consecration in the Midst of Corruption
We live in a foreign world where bad apples corrupt good apples but good apples cannot turn bad apples good. If a leper touches you, you become unclean. Thus, consecration in the Levitical order was to make sure one is not defiled by any indulgence with evil. I ask myself how Daniel could survive Babylon. Daniel prayed three times; 9am during the morning sacrifice, 12 noon and 3pm during the evening sacrifice. That is practically how he was able to remain blameless in the midst of evil Babylon. We are talking about someone living in the Old Testament.
This is a cold world. It’s like being in a fridge. It’s only a matter of time until you become cold by conforming to the systems of this world. However, the technology of prayer practically connects our minds and realities to God, the One to whom we belong. It’s like being connected to an electric stove while still in the fridge. Although we are in the world, we are not of this world. Therefore, we don’t look to the world, nor do we conform to it. Soon, the fire on our altar begins to affect the temperature of the fridge.
When Jesus came on the scene, He could touch lepers and make them whole. Instead of He becoming corrupted, the corrupted rather became whole. It was by prayer before dawn that He performed miracles during the day. There was never a day Jesus started without having prayed. Prayer is making effective use of the fellowship with the Father. It is by prayer that we download spiritual realities into physical possibilities. By prayer, we remain hot in a cold world. Show me a prayerless Christian, and I’ll show you that that one is no different from a carnal Christian.
Praying God’s Agenda
As you pray, you begin to download prayer points. I know at the beginning, you really have to fight off distractions that come in the form of imaginations. How we deal with that is by being fully involved in the prayer. Put your focus, your attention, your heart, your mind into the prayer. That’s the fervency. Any prayer that doesn’t move you will not move anything. Putting your mouth on autopilot while you allow your imagination to roam all over the place is not fervent prayer. If you forget that you’re even praying, although your mouth is moving and making sounds, you’re not involving yourself.
Once you’re able to fully engage, the imaginations don’t go away. Rather, God begins to use your imaginations to draw your attention on what to pray about. Allow the Spirit to move, and pray in all those directions. If you come to God with your issue, God will use you to deal with many other issues and still answer you in the end so don’t worry. Don’t play stubborn with God and rather bow to your situation. Don’t insist on what you want to do with God and rather allow your circumstances to have its way. God is not your problem so please don’t treat Him as such.
You Cannot Control God
Don’t give God timelines. Don’t command God. If you want to be angry, be angry at the problem. Insist that your situation changes. In your mind, you want to pray for 3 days and everything will change. Meanwhile, God is looking at the bigger picture and wants to solve problems you’re not even aware of. Be flexible with God. Abraham waited 25 years. Joseph waited 13 years. David waited 15 years to be king. Jesus waited 30 years to start His ministry. God already has His own way. As for God, His Way is perfect. If you surrender to His Way, He will make your way perfect.
At the beginning, you can set your own time for prayer. You can even choose how long you want to pray. However, with time, the Holy Spirit would want you to do certain things His way. Don’t insist on yours. If He wakes you up at night to pray, don’t say you can pray in the morning. If He tells you to make the 3-day fast 5 days, don’t say He should have said it earlier. If He wants you to break the fast at 3pm rather than the 12pm you planned, please listen. Every prayerful person receives instructions. Usually, it’s simple simple instructions. If you don’t obey, your prayer will not promote you.
It’s not about taking pride in how long you pray. It’s about loving God and obeying His commandments. As you attend to your altar, it is by that same altar that you’ll receive feedback from Heaven. It doesn’t have to be dramatic but it has to be taken seriously. Whatever little assignment you receive, you will be given enough grace to perform it. That is how God builds us and removes all the insufficiencies of our soul, hasty desires of our flesh and conforms us to the Image of His Son. Enjoy the process. There’s no destination. It is an eternal exercise.
