Message
There are different kinds of prayers, but often, the way people pray reveals the depth of their longing and how urgently they desire God’s intervention. Imagine a case where two critically injured people are in a hospital, and one says, “Oh, doctor, come and help me treat this wound,” and then brings out his or her phone to watch cartoons. Then, the other fellow screams out, “Doctor, I am in serious pain. Help me now!” Who do you think the doctor will attend to first? Definitely, the doctor will first attend to the one who screamed out loud for help.
Many people come to God’s presence casually, speaking ‘Queen’s English’, with ‘steeze and composure’, as the youths would say. However, some other people pray to God with their whole heart and strength, and, like Jacob in , they say, “Lord, I will not let You go unless You bless me!”
Sometimes, my friends abroad ask me why we experience so many miracles in Africa, while there are very few in the so-called civilised world. I tell them that it is simply because they believe that they have alternatives. When a person has no one else to talk to apart from God, he or she will know how to pray fervently. Also, if a fellow has an illness that has defied all forms of treatment, such a fellow will understand what it means to pray fervently.
says that the effectual fervent prayers of the righteous avail much. In today’s Bible reading, when the Canaanite woman asked Jesus to deliver her demon- possessed daughter, she cried unto Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David.” That woman was not casual about her prayers; she kept crying out to Jesus until she received a response. Likewise, in , blind Bartimaeus cried out to Jesus with a loud voice, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” All attempts by people to shut him up proved unsuccessful, as he continued to call out to Jesus for help. Eventually, Jesus heard him, and he got his miracle.
Beloved, if anything is troubling you, cry unto God today with all your heart and soul, and He will hear you. Call upon Him with all your strength and humility, and He will grant your requests. He will, however, not listen to the prayers of a sinner who has refused to repent and forsake his or her sins ().