prayer

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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GOD HEARS…

Written by Jennifer Azubuike It must have been a normal day in heaven. Angels taking orders; YAHWEH, maybe, reviewing orders; the twenty-four Elders and the Seraphim worshiping; Jesus advocating… Just a regular day – when all of a sudden there was a stand still because The Most High ordered a hush! Angel Gabriel turned around to see what the sudden hush was about and found The Father with Christ by His side looking intently down into the earth. Something big must be happening down there to call such attention. He leaned to another angel and asked, “What did I miss?” “Uhm…I am not sure.” The Angel replied. Gabriel moved closer to see. In Babylon there were three young men standing in front of a crowd. This large crowd were all before a magnificent man-like image of earthen gold. He could see a furious King huffing and puffing at these young men. By divine supernatural knowledge, Gabriel could see that these three men were righteous. Who are they and why are they drawing so much attention from us? Gabriel thought. Curiously, he listened intently to the conversation among the men as he could hear it. At that time, everyone in Heaven could hear it. “We serve a living God and will not worship your golden image O King.” The three men chorused. * * * Let’s rewind to how it started. Earlier that year, there had been rumors in the capital city of Babylon that the King was working on a big project. Shadrack was sitting in his office one day when the Chief engineer brought in a budget for approval. “What?! What kind of project would require such big budget?” “Well, it’s a new god for Babylon and the King wants it to be grand. In fact, it is being made entirely of gold that is why the budget is big. I just need you to sign here.” Shadrack shook his head as he signed off on the budget. There are so many gods littered around Babylon, what difference would this one make even if was made of gold? It won’t speak or do anything helpful besides just being a new center of attraction to Babylonians for another few years. Being of Hebrew descent, the God of his own ancestors has evidence that He is alive and spoke to the people when He wanted. The gods in Babylon do not do such. Personally, he thought it was dumb to invest so much in something so useless, but he was only an overseer, and does not really have a say when it directly involved the King. Afterwards, Shadrack did not think much of the incident again except for mentioning it in passing to his friends – Daniel, Meshack and Abednego – until that fateful day. An order had gone out to have every person that held a leadership position in the country to gather at the temple for an occasion. The invitation read ‘Dedication of the King’s image.’ It was signed by the King was very important. Right off the bat, Daniel declined to attend. Daniel was a man of impeccable reputation and has long established it publicly that he only worshiped one God – that is the God of his ancestors. Even the King knows this and reveres him for it. Therefore, nobody bothered that he did not attend. However, Shadrack was curious to see the project he had heard so much about. Meshack and Abed-nego went out of a sense of duty to the King. Little did they know that they would end up in the precarious position of choosing whether to bow or not to bow to the king’s image. * * * [Back to present] King Nebuchadnezzar laughed hysterically. “Here, I will give you another chance. Now if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn… and all kinds of music and you fall down and worship the image which I have made, very good. But if you do not worship, you shall be thrown at once into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire; and what god is there who can rescue you out of my hands?” Shadrack, Meshach, and Abed-nego replied without hesitation “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to answer you on this point. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up!” Gabriel smiled. So that is what is drawing the attention of Heaven. They are men of incredible faith. He looked on. The King was aggravated by their response and immediately commanded that the burning fiery furnace be heated seven times hotter. He had to appease his injured pride. These three Hebrew men will be a public example of what happens to anyone who tried to make mockery of him. He will destroy them by burning them alive. At that moment, there was a great stir in Heaven. What will The Father do? Will He let these men be martyred? Gabriel laid a hand on his sword still sheathed and looked at The Father. His thoughts were clear, “At thy command my Lord, and I will go.” But The Most High raised a hand to calm the stir and turned to Jesus. “Son, will you go?” “But Father, it is not my time to manifest on earth, yet.” “I know, but Nebuchadnezzar challenged Me, so I want him to see Me.” “Hmmm…Okay, I will go, My Father, I will keep them safe.” Heaven rejoiced and continued to watch as Jesus descended to earth. When King Nebuchadnezzar followed through with his threat and threw the young men into the furnace even the henchmen that took them to the furnace died from the heat. But

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