© Ayo Omolayo
“So how can one maintain consistency in his or her spiritual life?
I want to teach you the one last ingredient. There are 3 things that makes one consistent in one’s spiritual life.
Number one is discipline. This is the basic or should I say the foundation. If you are not ready to discipline yourself, don’t cry when you see your prayer life dying right before your very eyes. Spirituality is a product of discipline. It’s your ability to always discipline yourself and show up in the place of prayers that attracts the spirit of prayer to you. Remember, whatever you consistently do, invites the spirit attached to it.
Discipline is one of the greatest way to be consistent. I heard about a great Apostle of the faith. His name is Apostle Babalola. According to the story, he usually went to the mountain to pray. That man is a praying machine. He can pray like there’s no tomorrow.
I was told he went to the mountain to pray. While he was praying, he discovered he was dozing off. I was told that the next time he came to the mountain to pray, he went with stones in his pocket. Once he discovers he’s dozing off. He brings out the stones and kneel on them”.
“Oh my God!” I exclaimed.
“He meant business!” Silas said.
“But that didn’t last. Kneeling on stones was not enough to drive sleep away. He discovered he was still sleeping while kneeling on the stones. He decided to do something that shocked me. The next time he was going to the mountain, he went with fresh pepper in his pocket. So when sleep started disturbing him, he brought out the pepper. He would break it and rub it on his eyes”.
“Jesus is Lord!” I exclaimed.
“When the bible says that no man can give excuses to God, it really telling us the truth. Look at the extreme of discipline this man applied in order to maintain his prayer life? That was so much sacrifice. But he did it. He disciplined his flesh and put it through tough training.
I’m not saying we should try what he did, but we should never pamper our flesh. When the flesh wants to sleep, oya sleep. When the flesh wants to eat, oya eat. When the flesh wants to watch movies, oya watch. We don’t discipline it at all. We allow the flesh have whatever it wants and this is the root of it all.
Number two is called, self denial. In the process of building your spiritual life, you’ll encounter the next phase of temptation. It’s what I call, distraction. The day you want to pray, that’s the day your friend will be in a serious conversation with you on Facebook. To end the conversation and start the prayers will become a serious problem.
Sometimes, it’s the day you want to study the bible. That would be the same day Chelsea would have a final march against Mancity. What an interesting game you wouldn’t want to miss. The day you want to fast, that would be the day that mummy would cook delicious, sweet and tasty jollof rice.
Jesus said something in the book of Matthew 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
You need to come to a conclusion that following Jesus goes with a cost. There’s always a price to pay if you must follow Jesus completely. Following Jesus is not going to be a convenient journey. You would have to do a lot of stuffs that will make you uncomfortable.
A lot of Christians are not ready to deny themselves, yet they want to follow Jesus. It’s not possible. That’s not how it works. It’s denying yourself, taking up your cross and then follow.
Look at what Jesus said in Matthew 11:28. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Verse 29. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Verse 30. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Take note of what Jesus said. He didn’t say you’ll drop your heavy load and walk away without carrying another yoke. You drop the yoke of sin and carry the yoke of the cross of Jesus.
There’s no vacuum in the realm of the spirit. It’s either you’re carrying God’s burden on your back or you’re carrying the burden of the Devil, which is what we all call the load of sin.
The only difference between the two is that verse 30 of that chapter said, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
God’s burden is easy and his yoke is light. That’s the only difference. You must have a master in the realm of the spirit. You cannot be in-between. Once you say no to God, the devil automatically picks you up. He doesn’t need your consent to do so. Once you say no to the Devil, he becomes your enemy automatically. That’s how the spirit realm operates.
We are all under a yoke. Either it is that of the spirit of God or that of the Devil. But make no mistake, we are all under a yoke.
You have to accept that following Jesus requires carrying a cross. A lot of believers want to follow Jesus without carrying a cross on their shoulder. It’s so impossible.
Because, if you refuse to carry that cross. You’ll end up following Jesus, with a luggage of sin on your shoulder. That’s the reason why alot of Christians serve God, but live a double life.
That’s why Jesus said that it’s either you’re for us or you’re against us. That’s how the spirit realm operates. You must carry someone’s property. Every human being here on earth is carrying something. Nobody’s back is empty. As you stop your load of sin, Jesus gives you his cross to carry. You put it on your back and begin a new life completely”.
“Wow!” I exclaimed.
“That’s what your bible said. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. I’m not the one who wrote the bible. I wish I was, so you could accuse me”, he said grinning.
“I mean, now I understand what was happening to me all these while. I now understand why life was so frustrating for me back then. This is amazing! I wish I knew all these earlier. I wouldn’t have made the mistakes I made earlier”, I said as if I was talking to myself.
“What mistakes?” He asked.
My mentor, her husband and Silas were all looking at me now.
“I’m sorry, but it made me realize something. You said there is no man with an empty back in the realm of the spirit, right?”
“Yes!”
“What if a man refuses to carry the cross of Jesus? It would be just as you say. When you reject the authority of Jesus over your life, Satan claims you immediately without your consent. Everyone here on earth must have a master. You must carry someone’s property on your back. Either the load of sin or the cross of Jesus Christ, right?”
“Yes”.
“No wonder! That was why I was struggling back then. That was the reason why I couldn’t do what I wanted to do. God wanted me not only to accept him as my saviour, but also as my Lord. All I thought was to give my life to Jesus and continue living my life the way I always did.
Continue my relationship with my old boyfriend. Party and drink alnight with my old friends. Live like I own everything. But as soon as I accepted Jesus, he started demanding alot from me. He started seperating me gradually.
I discovered he wanted more than what I was willing to give him. He was demanding and I was unyielding. But I discovered the more I fought to have my way, the more I fell into sin.
I remembered how I tried to accept Chris back after the breakup. Immediately, I fell into immorality. Because, I rejected the cross, which was giving up that man I loved so much to follow Jesus. And because I rejected Jesus’ lordship, I fell the lordship of the devil. He made me do his bidding. He made me carry his luggage of sin and iniquity on my back.
That’s why alot of Christians cannot walk with God. They want to follow Jesus without carrying a cross. They want to follow Jesus without having to deny themselves. They want to satisfy themselves and satisfy Jesus at the same time. No wonder why Jesus said that no man can serve two masters. God and self are the two masters.
If you’re not ready to give up what you love. That thing you love so much in order to follow Jesus. Then you’ll never be able to follow him. You’ll keep finding yourself struggling and getting more and more depressed”.
“Wait! What made you say that the person will keep getting depressed?” Apostle Robert asked.
Silas answered.
“It’s just another answer to this particular scripture. Psalms 16:4. Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god.
Those who willingly disobey God. I mean people who God spoke to them and they refuse to give God a listening ear are really in for serious depression. A lot of Christians are sinking in depression today just because of their disobedience to the instructions God gave them. They want to obey God, but they want to do it at their own convenient time. They keep telling God they will obey him later and that later never comes. Because Satan will make sure you never obey God.
And the bible says something about them when it says in Job 9:4. He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?
You can never harden your heart against God and live a prosperous life. Everything you will do will keep getting boring and uninteresting. Your smile will only be occasional. You’ll find yourself struggling with everything. Struggling with your parents. Struggling with your relationship. Struggling with your husband. Everything you turn to will only get you more and more depressed.
Untill you go back to God. And the funny thing about it is that whenever you go back to God, that same thing you ran away from is what he will still call your attention to”.
“Exactly!” I concurred.
“Just like he did with me. Everytime I went back to him and asked for his forgiveness. The first thing he’ll say is to remind me of my relationship with Chris. Sometimes I would run away again. But when things get more and more messy, I’ll come back crying. Then he’ll say, ‘Arr you ready to do my will? Are you ready to obey me?’
I’ll be like, Lord, it’s too hard! But today, I’m enjoying the cross on my shoulder. Life is really much easy for me. Because his yoke is indeed an easy yoke. I’m so grateful to God that I let go of Chris. This wonderful gift from. God called Silas, would never have been mine. I was such a fool, fighting God for that pretender. Only God truly knows what’s best for us”.
“Wow! I never knew you were both teachers of the law”, Apostle Roberto said.
We all burst into laughter.
” Now look at what Apostle John said in the book of first John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not a burden.
What you’ve just said was a confirmation to this scripture. Life became more easier for you the moment you surrendered your back to carry the cross of Jesus Christ and follow him. Yes cross looks difficult and scary at the sight of it. Many run away, like you did as well. But those who bent their backs and accepted it, are not regretting it today.
So now, number 3.
To be continued……
Self denial does not look palatable. Self denial looks so scary and unpleasant. But it’s the sure way to that spiritual growth you desperately want.
You’ll have to deny yourself alot of things. You’ll have to let go of a lot of things. Friends, possessions, relationships, comfort and so on.
Are you willing to surrender?
Peter asked Jesus a question in Matthew 19:27. Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?
Verse 28. And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Verse 29. And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
Self denial, is not a decision you will regret.
Many of you are struggling with alot. God asked you to spend time with him everyday, but you keep giving him your excuses.
Now depression have taken over. Go back to God and surrender completely to his easy yoke.
For those of you struggling with how to observe your quiet time, go and read episode 89.
