Aggressive prayer (Part 1)
Verse of the day: Matthew 7: 8 " For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened"
Being imperfect, man is forced to submit to the law of "giving" and "receiving". Several times Jesus reminded the disciples that they have the right to ask God the Father what they lack provided they do so in his name. The problem is that it happens that we face situations when our prayers seem powerless. We pray, we ask in the name of Jesus, we wait, we get discouraged and give up. To comfort ourselves, we conclude that it was not God's will and we do so to avoid confessing that it is impossible.
This teaching will prove to us that this ease to give up or feel that it is not God's will or that it is impossible, is often the result of lack of perseverance in prayer. As it is well detailed in the verse of the day, there are things we receive from God just by asking but there are others that require us to seek and others that we need to knock before having them.
Therefore, there are three options in order to receive something from God: Ask, Seek & Knock. I do not know what you are in the process of asking the Lord but it could be that you are forced to do more than asking ... you may need to seek or to knock. Throughout this teaching, I will focus on the last two options: Seeking and Knocking.
Above all, we must understand that there is a big difference between "Asking" and "Seeking". Asking is one thing while Seeking at is another. Everyone knows how to ask (even children) but very few manage to seek. Asking requires no efforts, but Seeking requires patience and especially persistence. Everyone knows how to knock on the door when there is someone willing to immediately open but very few manage to keep knocking when the person inside did not open the door. No one can continue to knock on a door if he is not convinced that there is someone inside. The duration of your persistence determines the level of your faith.
However, persistence is to be built on a positive faith i.e. in accordance with the will of God. Many prayers according to the will of God are not answered by the lack of perseverance because instead of seeking, we simply ask.
In part two, I will talk about the benefits of perseverance in prayer.
Chris Ndikumana
Aggressive prayer (Part 2)
Verse of the day: Luke 18: 4-5 "For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself: Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!"
In the parable of the unjust judge, Jesus shows us the importance of perseverance without giving up. In the beginning, I did not understand the message of this parable because I had trouble understanding how Jesus taught us the illustration of an unjust judge mercilessly representing God! I found the explanation in verses 6 and 7 (Luke 18: 6-7), where he said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?"
If perseverance can push the villain to do justice to someone, what will happen to God who is holy and who Himself is justice? The verse of the day says that the perseverance of the widow was keep bothering the judge while the perseverance of a child of God is a source of pleasure for the Lord. God takes great pleasure when his child cries out to him in prayer.
The judge granted the widow in order to get rid of her while God grants us to reward us. Just at the end of the parable, Jesus clarified that the teaching was based on faith because without faith it is impossible to persevere in prayer; He asked them the following question: “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"(Luke 18: 8)
As I often say in my teachings, God does everything through prayer and some requests encounter more resistance in the spiritual world than others. Some requests are answered instantly while others require a certain period of prayer and sometimes fasting.
If someone knocks on a door for five or ten minutes and no one opens, he will conclude that there is nobody inside the house and leave. If you see someone knocking for one hour, two hours or more, it means that he is convinced that there's someone on the inside and the person will eventually open. As I said, it is the duration of persistence that determines the level of faith. It is not the knocking that opens the door but when we knock, we inform the one inside about our request and he is the one who decides to open.
To be continued in the third part
Chris Ndikumana
Aggressive prayer (Part 3)
Verse of the day: Matthew 15: 23: “Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, send her away, for she keeps crying out after us"
Today we will clearly see the difference between asking and seeking. When we ask, sometimes the answer is neither yes nor no but we face a silence. In such case, the one who just ask will be discouraged and give up but he who perseveres will even find the necessary arguments to be heard.
If you read the whole passage (Matt 15: 21-28), you will realize that the woman was not entitled to a miracle (during that time) because she was Canaanite. Although her identity disqualified her, she did not give in because she was convinced that the solution to her problem was in Jesus alone. In addition to her race that disqualified her, she was also blocked by the disciples of Jesus who said emphatically: "Send her away, for she keeps after us". Despite the silence of Jesus, she followed them shouting behind them ... she obviously cried out by addressing herself to Jesus. It is interesting to see that Jesus heard her but did not answer a word. She cried out so loud that it bothered everyone, which is why the disciples asked Jesus to send her away.
After noticing that Jesus did not care about her, she decided to block his path and worshiped him (Matt 15: 25) and as Jesus had no choice, he finally spoke to her but he said: “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs “(Matt 15: 26). The children are the Israelites and small dogs are foreigners, a way of saying that she asks for a favor she does not deserve but as she was determined and above all she had seen the solution in Jesus, she insisted saying, “Yes it is, Lord, she said. Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table “(Matt 15: 27). In other words, she did not deny the idea of ??Jesus but she informed him that although she is not entitled to bread, she can be content with the crumbs, a way to show that there was no way she could return home empty-handed. Through perseverance, Jesus finally said, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment "(Matt 15: 28).
God loves great faith and great faith is manifested through persistence. Unfortunately, the majority of Christians are passive but sometimes it takes us some aggressiveness in our prayers.
To be continued in the fourth part
Chris Ndikumana
Aggressive prayer (Part 4)
Verse of the day: Hebrews 11: 6 " And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him"
I finished the third part saying that many Christians are passive while sometimes it takes us some aggressiveness in our prayers. The Bible says that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective (Jacques 5: 16), which does not mean that God does not hear a normal prayer but a fervent one goes straight to his heart and He responds powerfully.
The verse of the day is one of the “key” verses to every believer. It begins by saying that without faith it is impossible to please God. Despite all we can do to please God, faith always comes first, which is why Jesus asked the question: "When the Son of Man comes; will he find faith on the earth?”(Luke 18: 8)
The verse of the day (Heb 11: 6) also recounts the one who comes to God i.e. the one praying. He needs to know that God exists and that he rewards those who seek him. If you would be recompensed by God, you must seek Him.
Earnestly seeking him means spending time in prayer and in his Word to discover him more and approach his throne. The approach that touches the heart of God and transforms us is the one that seek His face more than what he can give us. When we approach the throne of grace to worship, our prayer rises to him like a fragrant aroma that eventually trigger a great spiritual strength in our favor but that does not happen overnight; that is why it takes patience.
The situations that seem impossible are regarded by the Bible as mountains and can only be broken by a continual prayer based on faith.
Teachings like these can motivate us to spend time in prayer in order to find the solution to a problem but I realized that without discipline or strategy, we quickly get tired and the fire goes out.
To be continued in the fifth part
Chris Ndikumana
Aggressive prayer (Part 5)
Verse of the Day: 1 Corinthians 9: 26 " Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air"
The Christian life is a battle of life in which we have to fight constantly against the devil and especially against the flesh. Whenever we exercise a spiritual act as approaching God in prayer, we quickly encounter many obstacles.
When we deal with a situation that seems impossible because of its opposition, it is not enough to ask God but we must seek and seriously knock on the door of God in a continual prayer without release.
There are cases I do not ask anything in prayer, but instead of asking I use the authority that Jesus gave us. Regarding the attack of the devil, Luke 10: 19 is my workhorse, “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you ". I do not know if you realize the power of this wonderful promise? Jesus promises us that we have the authority. Many children of God are unaware that they have the authority and therefore they do not use it. The verse tells us that the authority allows us to walk over the power of the enemy and especially that nothing can harm us. It is this "nothing will harm us" that is my battle tank because if the devil shows me that I will lose, my answer is: "Nothing can harm me in the name of Jesus". When I locate a problem caused by the devil and that I identify the kind of the devil, I directly talk to him using the authority that I received. There are things we request the intervention of God while we have already the solution in us.
Returning to the verse of the day (1 Cor 9: 26), Paul says that he does not run like someone running aimlessly and he does not fight like a boxer beating the air. In some prayers, Christians give the impression of beating the air because of their instability: Today you pray fervently and tomorrow you do not even manage to get out of bed; you make a commitment to pray for a very serious problem until God intervenes, but after a week you are discouraged and you finally give up.
I hope this teaching will get an impact on your prayer life. Do not give up, do not quit but put on your gloves and get in the ring because we are more than conquerors. Sacrifice your sleep and approach the throne of grace through a daily prayer and aggressive when necessary.
Thank you for your attention
Chris Ndikumana
