Christ

When You Pray…

Written by Jennifer Azubuike   At the close of work one day, I jumped into my car happy to head home. The radio came on as soon as I turned on the engine; it was a Christian radio station so I didn’t mind. I drove and listened as the host asked listeners to call in and define the acronym ‘PRAY.’ It was during this conversation, I heard for the first time the breakdown of the word. I call “pray” a word because I had never thought of it as an acronym before that moment. Before I go any further, here’s a useful context on prayer.    The first time Jesus taught His disciples to pray, his words were recorded in the excerpt below. Later, His prayer was termed ‘Our Lord’s prayer.’ Over time it became the template that Christians use to pray. His words go thus:   “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’’’ Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2,4   His prayer, when analyzed, contains elements of praise or reverence, repentance then requesting. I can summarize it as praise-repent-ask. However, The fourth letter of the acronym ‘Y’ as in yield caught me unaware since that element is not immediately apparent until you look closer – “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”   Yield by dictionary definition means to surrender to someone or something. If praying, as I know it, is mainly about listing personal desires to God with the expectation that He would do them like a child asking his/her parents for something, what has ‘surrender’ anything to do with it? But then as I thought about it I was reminded of Jesus’s example in Matthew 26 just before he was arrested and crucified.    ‘Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” ‘Matthew 26:39   Jesus made that prayer the night He was betrayed into the hands of the people who would later kill him. Being all-knowing, He knew what was coming at that moment and was burdened by it, so he asked God to change his fate of death. It was a legitimate request because it was his heart’s desire at that moment, yet after asking he surrendered to God’s will. Because he surrendered, God’s will was established; today we celebrate salvation, deliverance, and many more through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Yielding is a part of praying which I have missed for so long. Of course, it will not be easy to incorporate into praying unless I can trust that God’s thoughts toward me are “thoughts of peace and not of evil to give [me] a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11   **I’d love to read your thoughts on this in the comment section**   Until next time, stay lifted! See other uplifting posts here

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The Secret Place

Written by Jennifer Azubuike — A quick glance again at his wristwatch and Philip realized the time was already 7:45 PM. He has been waiting for over an hour. He had been rehearsing how to present his problems in one breath that he lost track of time. “Where could Dad be? He has never been late to our meetings.” A cool chill ran down his spine making him shrug an ominous shiver.  “Could he be angry that I canceled our last meeting? Or was it two? Wait, it was two, three, four…I can’t keep track! Oh no! How did I let that happen? Well,” He shrugged. “Shouldn’t he have understood I would not cancel without a good reason? I have been so busy at work that I ended most days exhausted.” He glanced around the park. His father was still nowhere in sight, and it was getting darker and colder. Philip pulled his sweater together to keep out the cold, but the cool air persistently penetrated the sweater to grip his heart with such expounded loneliness that he felt like calling out for his father.  Suddenly, in what seemed like a vision in a quick flash, He saw his father standing right there waiting for him to show up to no avail, not once or twice but so many times. Philip started to feel the weight of his selfishness. He had been ignorant on how his behavior must have affected his father. He doesn’t even remember notifying him of his meeting cancellations.  “How did I get this callous? Only several years ago, I started meeting with dad because I was neck deep in trouble and needed help.” Philip soliloquized. “He did not shy away from me. He met with me regularly until my troubles were resolved. We built a wonderful relationship as a result. Our meetings might have mutually benefited us but me a greater deal. Yes, our fellowship provided him companionship but through them, I learned insights into business strategies that won me major contracts; I learned how to manage relationships and hitched my beautiful wife and so much more. So, why did I get careless?”                                                                                                                 *    *   *   *   *   *    Dear child of God, the 91st chapter of Psalms says that “Whoever dwells in the secret place of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” Do you know that every child of God ought to have a secret place? Which is a place where you meet to fellowship with God regularly? Our God values relationships, particularly, relationships with you and I, His children. His children are those who believe and call on Him. A secret place with God is not something dark or sinister, far from it! Think of your closest friendship. Did you build that bond by just giving instructions and being a boss? Or do you make time to do something of mutual interest together or at least talk and listen to your friend? I think you do the latter and call it friendship! With God, it is called fellowship and your meeting time or place is called a secret place. It is ‘secret’ because it is just you and God. Besides, the benefits of such fellowship to any person are a long list. Believe it or not, you can draw strength, know secrets, ask questions, report enemies, find rest etc. from fellowshipping with the all-knowing God.  Do you know what else is true? The devil knows how beneficial this communion with God can be to you, so he will try to prevent it. Preventing it could be physical by keeping a person ignorant, busy, distracted, careless etc. or spiritual through sin and disobedience. Jehovah, the Almighty, is holy and by nature cannot condone sin. Sin therefore can set up a barrier that can keep one away from their secret place just like it did to Adam and Eve, the first couple. However, anyone who confesses their sins to Jesus and stops the sinful behavior will be restored. To go another day without a secret place is like denying yourself of the benefits attached to your citizenship. Don’t be like Philip!   Thank you for reading! Have you read my short stories yet? Click here to read.

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WHERE DOES YOUR HELP COME FROM?

Written by Jennifer Azubuike. Sometime ago, I was working a kind of job where I made deliveries to people based on their request. One particular day, I travelled to a home to make a delivery. When I got to the house, I decided not to turn off my car engine or properly park because I had the intention of making the delivery very snappy. Thus, I put the car in ‘park’ and dashed out. Thankfully, the delivery was quick because the customer responded to her door as soon as I knocked. However, when I exited my car to make that delivery, I pushed down on my ‘all lock’ button on the car door out of habit and didn’t think anything of it until I returned to the car. It was then I realized I had locked myself out with the engine still running and my phone inside the car. I quickly ran back to the house where I had just done the delivery to ask for help. Surely, they will help since I just did them a favor or so I thought. To my dismay, nobody answered the door regardless of the several loud knocks and ‘excuse me please.’ Instead, I felt somebody watching me from a window or something. Creepy right? After standing there and calling for help to no avail, I had to leave. I went back to my car and stood beside it trying to think, but no good idea was coming forth and to make matters worse, neighbors of the woman I made delivery to were beginning to line up behind my car and honk. I didn’t park properly and the size of the car was huge, so there’s no getting around it. I started to explain and beg each one of them to turn around or wait. As the pressure was mounting, I suddenly felt the need to pray. I shut out the noise and prayed quietly to God for help. Right away, I felt calmness flood my mind which gave me some kind of control over my emotions and also came with an inspiration to look further for help. So, I just started walking down the street randomly while asking the Holy Spirit to direct me who to ask. I had walked about two blocks when I found a man working on a house. The moment I waved, he got up and walked towards me, inquisitive. I explained my situation to him and without hesitation he followed me to my car. The first thing he did was speak some words of encouragement; he’s been in that situation himself and understood how it felt. Without asking, he suggested what I needed to do. Additionally, he pulled out his cellphone and voluntarily dialed the cops then handed me the phone to explain the kind of help I needed. Finally, he stood there with me for a couple minutes while I waited for the cops to arrive. He later excused himself to return to his work but not before reassuring me that everything will be fine, and everything did turn out fine. Here’s what I learned that day. Help will not always arise from where you anticipate, and that is okay. If a person is not destined to play a certain role in your life, you will only feel frustrated expecting them to. It helps, I mean, it really helps to be able to pray in ANY situation. Jesus is a present help in times of trouble but it’s important to remember to ASK. Please find previous posts here

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