Sports have a way of bringing the world together but football seems to take the trophy as the most loved of the games, to the chagrin of some and pleasure to others. Thus almost daily, whether a fan or not, you will not miss to hear or read about a football star, predictions on the next game at the football leagues and a lot more.
“Please God”
These are two words that trended awhile back- being a tweet by one Fabrice Muamba. He is an English retired professional footballer and coach who played for Arsenal amongst other top clubs. And what a simple, desperate plea to God. He could identify with Christian Eriksen, a Dane who had just collapsed from a cardiac arrest while playing in a match between Denmark and Finland. The moment took Fabrice back nine years ago when his own heart stopped for an hour and eighteen minutes. He had to stop playing at only 23 years old, but isn’t life the greatest gift? It was therefore not a surprise that when Christian woke up, some of his first few words were “I only just turned 29”. He has since been discharged from the hospital.
Does it matter how long you and I take to talk to God in prayer? Should you also feel guilty in having purposed to fast and pray but when you reflect at the end of the day; yours was more of a hunger strike. You never ate nor prayed as events of the day took control of your time. I can relate to that.
Whispers to God
While it may be a desire to spend much time in prayer, there are moments when all we can afford is a soft whisper to God, a simple calling on the name of Jesus or even silence. Perhaps its urgent actions at work that require you to put in a little more time to achieve a timeline or receiving a call from a friend asking you to mention in prayer their loved in a crisis of some sort. Maybe you have to travel for some few days, thus you are now out of your comfort zone.
He tells us to call in the day of trouble for He will answer us(Psalms 86:7).That is what the Fabrice could afford to pray in that moment when Christian collapsed. Sometimes its sitting in silence and God hears the unspoken prayer. Isaiah 65:24 reads that- It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; And while they are still speaking, I will hear. Yet there are also other seasons we may have an overflow of words to tell God while other moments- his spirit prays through us. In Jude 1:20 we are admonished … to build ourselves up in our most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.
God also determines every season- rainy seasons, hot seasons, winter, summer and the like. In the same way, He also ordains our spiritual seasons. We may experience seasons of rest after a victory. There are however times we will be required to engage in warfare prayers for circumstances that won’t change unless we fast and pray. Jesus advised His disciples. They were used to praying for many who would get healed but experienced a stubborn case. A boy they prayed for just could not be delivered.
Might you have found yourself desiring to spend time in the study of scriptures for a longer time than usual or listening to sermons? Do you have some special grace to spend quite the time in prayer? For every season, there is an activity. You will find that the purpose for each season is linked to the subsequent seasons. Thus, if you don’t plant on time and it starts raining before you do, you are unlikely to get a bountiful harvest. Or perhaps you make an assumption that Africa as a whole experiences tropical weather throughout the year. You then plan a holiday to South of the continent in July, only to find yourself indoors because the days are too short, dark and the biting winter cold just won’t allow you to go site seeing. What a waste.
God would desire for us not only to discern our spiritual seasons but to know what to be doing in such seasons. In Psalms 1 we see a man who finds his delight in the law of the Lord and who meditates day and night on God’s law. That He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. It doesn’t mean that the water levels of the river will not recede in some periods, but the roots of the tree will have gone so deep that it will still be able to tap into the water reserves beneath the ground -even when it is dry.
There are seasons we will be like that tree when the source from which we are drawing is overflowing. Those are the spiritual seasons we can’t wait to spend time in prayer or study scriptures. In such times, we ought to be building a reserve before the season changes and suddenly we have more responsibilities and a lot more demands on our time.
Grow your roots in the season of rest because when the season changes, you will have to draw from the reserve. A two-word prayer will therefore still make the enemy flee because of how anchored or deeply rooted you are in God. In those dry seasons, He will also bring to your memory scriptures you studied when at rest that will back your prayer up.
Strong winds can certainly not bring down a deeply rooted tree, neither will its leaves wither as it is still connected to sources underneath.
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