© Ayo Omolayo
“Cynthia, please help me go through those documents!” I told my secretary.
“Okay ma!” She said and began to open the documents.
I turned to my laptop on the table and continued typing the letter to one of our reputable customers.
My office phone rang and I picked it up. My receptionist said Harmony was here to see me. What could be the reason?
“Please send her in!” I replied and dropped the telephone. Soon, the door opened and she walked in.
“Good morning sister! How are you and how was your night?” I asked.
“It was awesome! Thank you ma!”
I smiled, “You’re welcome”.
She turned to say hi to Cynthia, when I went further to ask.
“So how was your quiet time?”
She looked at me with shock written on her face.
“My quiet time?” She asked as though she didn’t hear me.
“Yes! How was it?”
“Hmmmmm! It’s a long story ma!”
I looked up at her. My face gave the look of I need your explanation.
She looked at me and exhaled.
“It’s a long story ma. Something we can’t say in brief,” she replied.
I wanted to tell her to meet me later, but my lips paused as I attempted saying that. I noticed these things happened to me perpetually. Maybe, I want to go somewhere or something. As soon as I got up to move, my legs would pause in their tracks.
When I stopped, that’s when I would hear within me that I should not go. Sometimes I would want to say something, then I would notice the same thing happening. When I would listen to the inner voice, that’s when I would hear that daddy doesn’t want me to say that.
So I understood and smiled.
“I have time!” I said, closing the laptop screen.
She looked at me, a bit shocked by my actions. I nodded looked at the chair in front of me and she got the message. While my secretary was busy with the documents, I started the conversation with Harmony.
“So tell me, what’s the challenge?” I asked quietly, trying to get the conversation in low tones, because I was not ready to dismiss my secretary. But Harmony didn’t coperate with me. She spoke to the hearing of everyone in the room.
“Ma! I do pray ooo. Thanks for all you taught me about prayer and how to discipline the body. I really appreciate. But the struggle is too much. Today, I’m praying, tomorrow is something different. I’ll get up and pray, but as I’m praying, all I feel is tiredness.
I struggle and struggle and when I cannot continue, I go back to sleep. By the time I wake up, it’s already dawn. I would feel so guilty that day and moody throughout the day. I don’t know why it’s like that. I tried and tried, but I always see myself struggling.
Ma! Sometimes I would wake up ooo. But to get up from the bed Ehn! Wahala! I will just tell myself that maybe a little sleep would help me regain my strength and sleep a little. By the time I wake up, it’s too late. I’m not happy with the turn out of all these. I want a consistent relationship with God. But I don’t know why it’s so difficult to have.
Ma! Please can you help me?” She asked.
“Me too!” My secretary said.
We both turned to her direction.
“I’m tired of struggling. Today, I’m strong, tomorrow I’m skipping quiet time. Today I’ll pray very well, tomorrow, I’ll be struggling with sleep.
There’s a question I used to ask. Can’t God give us the power to pray and keep our quiet time? Why must he allow us to continue struggling? I pray to him to give me grace to pray and it’s as if he’s happy watching me struggle. At least, when I cry to God for grace to pray when I’m struggling, I expect something to happen. But I keep struggling and feel so tired and weak.
I’ll have no other choice than to rest a little so I don’t collapse. I just want to be free from all these.
I’m sorry for interrupting, but I believe this discussion started because of me. What can I do?” She asked.
I exhaled.
“Daddy oya ooo!” I said within me.
“YOU KNOW HOW TO DO IT?”
“I don’t know anything oooo!”
“I MEAN, YOU KNOW HOW TO ACCESS ME WHEN YOU NEED TO SPEAK MY WORD!”
“No sir!”
“IT’S SIMPLE! OPEN YOUR MOUTH AND I WILL FILL IT! FOR IT IS NOT YOU THAT SPEAKS, BUT THE SPIRIT OF YOUR FATHER SPEAKING THROUGH YOU!”
I exhaled and began.
“Let’s look at the Holy scriptures. Open to Judges 16. Let’s read from verse 26.
I brought out my phone and opened it. They did the same and I read aloud.
“Samson said to the young man who was acting as his guide, “Put me where I can touch the pillars that hold up the temple so I can rest against them.”
Verse 27. The building was packed with men and women, including all the Philistine tyrants. And there were at least 3,000 in the stands watching Samson’s performance.
Verse 28. And Samson cried out to God: Master, God! Oh, please, look on me again, Oh, please, give strength yet once more. God! With one avenging blow let me be avenged On the Philistines for my two eyes!
Verse 29. Then Samson reached out to the two central pillars that held up the building and pushed against them, one with his right arm, the other with his left.
Verse 30. Saying, “Let me die with the Philistines,” Samson pushed hard with all his might. The building crashed on the tyrants and all the people in it. He killed more people in his death than he had killed in his life”.
I looked at them and their faces said it all. How does what we just read have anything to do with the questions they asked?
I smiled.
“Sisters, I want you to know something about building your relationship with God. Building your spiritual life is first discipline. Truth be told, God helps to pray. Strength from nowhere comes through the spirit within you. He is a quickening spirit. The spirit of life and grace. He empowers your physical body to do what he wants you to do. But can I ask you a question?”
They nodded on affirmation.
“If I send money to you through transfer into your account, would that money automatically appear in your palms?”
“No!” They chorused.
“That’s exactly what discipline is all about. God has done everything for you. Everything you need to be who you ought to be in Christ Jesus is loaded in the person of the Holy Spirit. The moment you received the Holy Spirit when you gave your life to Christ, you had everything. The grace that has no impossiblities attached to it, was released into your life.
But his grace doesn’t come to you if you don’t go for it. Just as you would need to get up and appear before the ATM machine or POS center and withdraw what your heavenly father has sent into your account.
God has sent you the grace to observe your quiet time. The grace to be consistent in prayers and bible study. But he’s not going to tap you and drag you out of your house to the ATM machine. You’ll have to do that for yourself. That’s where discipline comes in.
I know you want a kind of magic powers. Something that you don’t need to go through the pain of discipline. You get up and start the prayers and energy flows like magic. But that’s not how it works.
Now look at Samson. Let’s read the last verse again.
Judges 16:30. Saying, “Let me die with the Philistines,” Samson pushed hard with all his might. The building crashed on the tyrants and all the people in it. He killed more people in his death than he had killed in his life.
He pushed how?” I asked.
“Hard”, they answered in unison.
“Some translations said, he pushed with everything in him. Am I correct?”
They nodded in affirmation.
“Who brought the house down? Was it Samson or God?”
“It was God!”
“Why was God able to bring the house down?”
“Because Samson pushed the pillars with all the strength he had in him”, Harmony answered.
“Hebrews 10:38. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
Samson pushed with all his strength, then God’s grace took over from where his strength ended. Those who give up at the slightest difficulty. Those who back out would never see God’s grace in the place of prayer.
Now let me tell you a mystery. When you’re praying and your flesh is getting weak. Don’t listen to it. When you kneel down to pray or stand on your feet and all your body aches so badly, that’s not the time to quit. You try your best and all your body tells you is to go back to bed. You have lost the battle.
There’s something in the realm of the spirit called COALS OF FIRE. When prayers ascend into the heavens and those prayers have reached a level called COALS OF FIRE, something dramatic happens.
In the bible, Isaiah said in the year King Uzziah died, he saw God. It was in the realm of prayers. He was on his knees praying when his prayers got to the realm of the coals of fire.
What happens at this realm is not particularly seeing of visions. But this realm is a realm where supernatural experiences that changes one’s life forever occurs. Some see visions, some experience God physically. Like they begin to feel God around in the room. If God touched their shoulder, they would know.
At this point, the power of darkness that holds one captive to sinful habits, inconsistency in the place of intimacy, compromising perpetually and everything that a person struggles with as a Christian is completely destroyed.
Isaiah had a weakness. He had a bad mouth. He could speak unclean words so much that as a prophet, it remained his weakness. But that day, a supernatural surgery in the realm of the spirit happened.
Just a touch from the coals of fire on his lips, his addiction died a natural death. His weakness was gone forever. His struggling with his Spiritual life ended completely.
But you don’t understand this. That’s what we Christians miss. We don’t understand we’re about to break into a supernatural realm through our consistency. We think it’s weakness. We think it our bodies, but it’s more spiritual than physical.
It’s war! The spirit an the flesh have drawn their swords and gone into battle with each other and do you know who is winning?”
“The flesh!” Harmony answered.
“No! The spirit!” I answered.
They looked at me with shock written on their faces.
“So, how can we get into this realm?”
“I’ll teach you?”
To be continued…….
Hmmm! I kept asking, why the struggles? Why the inconsistency? Why the difficulty?
And God showed up with the answer
I’m tired of struggling. Today, I’m strong, tomorrow I’m skipping quiet time. Today I’ll pray very well, tomorrow, I’ll be struggling with sleep.
If that’s your experience, don’t miss the next’s episode.
Get your pen and jotter tomorrow
The lecture continues…..
