All posts by Nwodo Divine

GENERAL

Practicals on Praying at Night

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The idea of praying through the night can seem daunting to some people.

It makes sense.

The world is dark, everything is closed, and most people are sleeping—except for the few night owls who should have been sleeping hours ago messaging you about not being able to sleep or work they’re doing.

Just the mention of praying in the overnight hours garners various responses, many of which are laced with disbelief, traces of shock, and often are accompanied with confused expression.

“Oh, I could never do that.”

“I can’t stay up that late.”

“I worked nights once—it was horrible.”

It’s understandable. Even the disciples had trouble staying awake to pray.

And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”

He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”

Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:37–41)

A key component of night-and-day prayer is prayer that continues throughout the night hours. However, ever more significant than the time of day prayer is taking place is the reason why prayer is taking place and what it will yield. As we continue to bring our petitions before His throne, our generous Father reveals His desire to partner with us and bring about His goodness and answers to injustice in our present day. The act of praying at night is also a principle referred to in Luke 18, primarily linked to the Lord’s corrective response to injustice.

Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’”

Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:1–8)

Although praying at night is a key component of night-and-day prayer, it really is less about when prayer is happening and more about what is taking place and why.

As prayer continues, we get to enter the reality of the Lord’s Prayer, seeing God’s will being done and His Kingdom coming, advancing, on the earth (Matthew 6:10).

This is what Jesus displayed, not just with His outward actions before men, but His times alone in prayer. Prayer during the night hours is noted throughout Scripture.

It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. (Luke 6:12)

At midnight I shall rise to give thanks to You Because of Your righteous ordinances.(Psalm 119:62)

But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. (Acts 16:25)

Although praying at night may sound like it would be a challenge—and sometimes can be—there are simple steps to help make it easier to stay awake and alert throughout the night.

Take Care of Your Body

Although we often think of prayer as an activity connected to the spiritual part of our being, what’s happening with our bodies can also have an affect on our times of prayer and what we think about these hours we invest in praying at night. Consider these three points and apply them to the idea of praying during the night.

1. Get Enough Sleep
This may seem counterintuitive, but contrary to popular belief, successfully praying through the night actually requires sleep. This is not an exercise in denying yourself rest, but in the discipline of self control as you modify your schedule to sleep at specified times so you’re better able to stay awake and pray throughout the night. If your time of praying at night is extended for a season and requires a complete schedule change, then getting the right amount of sleep for your body becomes a priority in order to maintain a consistent and healthy sleep schedule that works with your circadian rhythm.

2. Fuel Your Body
The human body doesn’t function that well without proper fuel. Unless there’s a specified time of fasting from food, it’s best to follow a balanced meal plan that allows for your body to receive necessary vitamins and nutrients, including fruits and vegetables. Caffeine and sugar may provide a temporary boost, but ultimately are only momentary distractions from our body’s need for balance.

3. Exercise
As a principle, the Lord made our bodies to feel better and function better when we get enough physical activity. Whether it’s our usual time spent in the garden or going for a jog or a walk, actually putting our bodies in motion helps with the overall rhythm of our sleep and alertness. Physical activity also has a substantial impact on our mood and outlook in life.

Get Your Mind Right

Even when all the physical factors of praying at night are working in your favor, it can still be a challenge to find a good routine if your perspective is off.

1. Watch Your Thoughts
When we start to magnify the difficulties, even our mental grumbling and complaining can undermine the current progress we’ve achieved in adjusting to the physical demands of a different schedule. If the constant meditation is focused on what you’re missing by changing your schedule to accommodate prayer at night, or what you’ve given up to make prayer a normal part of your routine, these may make praying at night a short-term experience.

2. Maintain Your Focus
During the time of actual prayer, having an outline of how you will utilize your designated time can be helpful. It could be a list of prayer requests from family members and friends or specific passages of Scripture that you desire to pray over friends, coworkers, people groups, or your own emotions. Actually having a technique for praying, such as pray-reading the Word, can help sustain prayer for longer periods of time, producing a dialogue with the Lord.

3. Let the Lord Judge
It’s normal to start something with an idea of how it should look or what needs to happen. And it’s good to have goals, as long as they’re realistic and you’ve given your body time to adjust. But when there are moments in which your goals aren’t being achieved, you’ve dozed off again, and your body feels tired, instead of condemning yourself or giving into accusation that praying at night is impossible, futile, or worthless, remember to let the Lord judge how He thinks you’re doing. Seek His thoughts to find out what He speaks over your time of prayer before Him.

Whether you feel called to pray at night or just have the desire and the ability to spend hours at night praying, responding to the opportunity to pray when many around you are sleeping is a response the Lord see and appreciates.

As members of the body engage in the reality of Luke 18, we partner with what the Lord is doing in the earth at this time, praying His desires into the lives of those around us—whether we’re asking our good Father for healing, petitioning Jesus for salvation of entire people groups, or inviting the Comforter to sustain hurting people in the midst of violence and turmoil or to bring restoration of broken relationships.

Almighty God is powerful and wise enough to resolve all societal problems and turmoil simply, without hesitation. He has chosen to bring resolution by answering the prayers of His children in this span of time before His Son returns to rule as King of the earth.

In this exchange, we learn how His Kingdom works, how He rules, and what we can give to see His will accomplished in this day.

As we ask, seek, and knock in the nights, we are inviting the God of all the earth to invade the dark places in the lives of friends, family members, cities, people groups, and governments.

We are agreeing with Jesus.

“Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)

Written by fia curley

Source: http://www.ihopkc.org

GENERAL, Spirituality

The Faith that Imagines

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There is a kind of faith that rides on imagination. You see, the highest purpose of the mind, is to aid the spirit. A renewed mind accepts the logic of the impossible because it has been induced by God’s Word to raise antennas which can transmit and receive heavenly signals. That acceptance is called Faith.

This is the value of education and scholarship: to expand the mind such that one drop of divine electricity in the spirit can give God a real opportunity to make a difference in this world. There is a world of the spirit, and there is the world of the mind. Just like a step down transformer would take the ultra-high electric tension and make it just right for household appliances.

So also is the renewed mind. Like a transformer.

Take for instance the centurion, he was able to understand that Jesus could speak a word of healing from anywhere, and did not need to come to his house personally. This he knew because he was a man under authority, a man who had a hundred soldiers under him. Although there are a lot of faithless centurions, someone who has never led a disciplined unit or formation wouldn’t have known it like that. Most required a physical touch from the physically present Lord. This man by virtue of his expanded mind from his operational experiences, said ‘You could speak from there, and my servant would be healed.’

Leadership, scholarship, and life experiences are to open us up to divine possibilities. The mind is to aid the spirit. Even though it is not by itself enough; education is not opposed to faith. This is why Moses had to be raised in the palace so that his mind would be unencumbered by the crushing blow slavery inflicts on self esteem. He learned history, and leadership, and politics, but He had not heard God’s Word.

At the age of 40, he went about with his liberated understanding to accomplish a political salvation, but the greater deliverance to be accomplished was not from the prism shaped pyramids of the Pharaoh; but from the ignoble ignorance of the Immortal, and the Invisible God. Heaven might have said something like ‘this chap is not getting it, let us give him another kind of training’, It took another 40 years. Political without spiritual freedom is a superficial freedom. It does not at all touch the capacity of the incarcerated soul to perish, or the tendency of any human civilisation to inevitably self destruct.

By the time he was 80, Moses was ready. The anointing set to work, all yokes were broken, and all burdens lifted for a long time. A great deliverance was accomplished.

It is one thing to take the centurion’s understanding and invent systems like the PO Box, the facsimile, and instant messaging; achieving commendable feats on this earth realm. It is quite another thing to receive a divine word that heals a sick person, a sick economy, a sick nation- to place the Word upon your education; not as its antithesis, but as its superlative; to be spiritually minded; to employ an earthly system farther than the earthly plane alone by downloading heavenly graces into corporeal systems.

Therefore, this man Moses wrote the first five books of the bible, and so we are not lost today. We are not confused as are the propagators of the big bangs and the ape theories. It is the same for the other man, the apostle Paul; who wrote about two thirds of the New Testament. He was learned, erudite, and was trained under the best. Therefore, when his word came, he was persuaded strongly persuaded concerning the plan of God, having discovered the true purpose of earthly knowledge, which is to lay down its comparatively pale brilliance as the bulb through which true light might shine, and as the wires and transistors through which heavenly voltage may give power to both Jews and Gentiles, enunciating clearly from Romans through Ephesians to Titus…

The manifold wisdom of God.

And this is our reasonable service of life, our spiritual act of worship in all areas of human endeavor- to take our everyday living, and learning, working, and earnings ….reading all books of science, literature and art, researching and studying, exploring and discovering the wonders of the world; advancing in careers and businesses and other things…for no other reason than presenting it to God, neither as a something sufficient for anything, nor as a curriculum vitae; but as parchment for the writing of His Word; a substrate for the combustion of the Spirit; for the diverse expression of an eternal God on this temporal sphere. That is, using the visible as a launch pad, as an Enter key to download…what eyes have not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of men, to prove that good, acceptable and perfect will of God

And this is the meaning of Romans 12:1; presenting your body

A living sacrifice.

Wisdom is therefore the principal thing, therefore folks, get wisdom. Read books. Get an education. Train yourself. Learn everyday… but with all your getting, make doubly sure you as well get understanding from the Word.

It will put all your life’s talents and strengths into proper perspective so that we may be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, subdue it, and have dominion…without wars and murders, slavery and racism, crime and environmental destruction, having the capacity to destroy the works of darkness, and to prove the will of God.

Ebele UzoPeters

Spirituality

A Short Admonition on True Christianity

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Image Source: VectorStock

It is not in the church that Christianity is demonstrated, but in the world.

Christian worship is not just a matter for Sunday, but for Monday to Saturday. Not when you are singing in tongues with the microphone and choir on stage; not when you are dancing with glee during the praise session. Not when you raise your hand in the amen corner to say “Preach it sir”; not when you go to greet the pastor in his office.

Not when you are completing the minister’s scriptural quotations. Not when you are teaching Sunday School and feeling cool. Not when you sit under the teaching or fall under the anointing

(I tell you even an unbeliever can do all these things WELL)!

BUT

When a fellow driving poorly hits your car on the free way, or grabs the parking space you were waiting patiently for. When your subordinate does not greet you or is rude to you in the workplace.

When a fat smelly lady sits beside you on the bus. When the smell of freshly cooked egusi comes wafting your way on fasting day

When you discover your neighbor’s unprotected WiFi.

When your house–help drops your precious plate and it shatters everywhere on the floor.

When you get home tired and your wife starts nagging about everything. When some young ladies insult you because they boarded the same vehicle with you.

When you wake up with a headache, it is raining heavily and there’s no light (electric power).

When someone snatches your phone or purse.

When someone who owes you money is avoiding you you.

When your friends tell you to follow them on Friday night and to stop dulling,

When you are in the fifth month of a six month visa and thinking of staying,

That’s the time for songs,
That’s the time for tongues,
That’s the time for scriptures,
That’s the time for confessions,
That’s the time to dance in the Lord,
And to show you are a child of God,

That’s the time to demonstrate your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the one that proclaims you righteous.

Brothers and sisters, if you want to worship God

Don’t just present yourself in your Sunday clothes.
Don’t just present your splendiferous songs.
Don’t just present your religious or spiritual Sunday self.
Don’t just present your footwork, waist bending or other dancing steps.
Don’t just present yourself as a pastor, an usher or protocol member following the pastor to and fro.

No, you must follow Jesus. Christianity is not only about being in Christ. It is also following Christ. To be in Christ is to be in the Spirit. And to follow Christ is to walk in the Spirit.

And to do this, you have to present your body, your very self; your inward and outward life to God as a living sacrifice. Not chic or tapping or slaying; but holy and acceptable.

This is your spiritual and true worship. It is your reasonable service. It is an all time Monday to Sunday two-four-seven thing.

That, is the time to be a Christian.

Ebele UzoPeters

GENERAL, STORIES

The Pregnant Woman and The Labor Room: An Anecdote

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Once upon a time, a medical doctor was to take the delivery of a baby. The pregnant mother was fully dilated and it was time for her to start the series of pushes that will force the baby, head first and then shoulder next, out. This doctor had seen different kinds of mothers in obstetric labor and no matter how many times he had witnessed this matter, every one still proved to be awesome.

The wonder of carrying another human being in yourself for months and then having him or her delivered from you whether by pushing or by cutting, was never lost on him. In fact, he had since reached the conclusion that childbirth was proof that, generally speaking, women whether mothers or not, were stronger than men. God had equipped them with a little more of that inner capacity to withstand adversity, than men.

This is medical science. Girl babies, especially, premature ones, are stronger than boy babies. They survive more. If ten premature babies die for whatever reason, maybe only 3 will be girls. It is also biblical. The first woman was created to help the first man. That word “help” is like the word “helper” used to describe the ministry of the Holy Spirit. It is a very powerful word. God likes to hide great strength under humility. Just as the Helper submits to the name of Christ in everything and is not with us in His own name (John 16:13-14), the real God-given power of the wife is seen in submission (1 Peter 3:4-5). May worldly ideas not rob our sisters of their mighty estate.

Anyway, where I am going is that this remarkable strenght of our wonderful wonders, also comes with remarkable drama. Real men know how to handle the drama and focus on the strength. Foolish men complain or fight or try to dominate and control.

So that was how this our doctor was to take this delivery and he was monitoring all the 3 Ps of labout [powers (the pushing mother), passageway (the birth canal), and the passenger (baby)], with all the required seriousness; and you wouldn’t believe this woman in labor. She said

“Doctor you are not smiling. You have to smile”

“Wha….What?! Madam?”

As in “Pardon?” He did not see that coming. At all.

“I said you cannot take my delivery with this frowning face. You have to smile”

(Hey! Dear nurse, are you hearing this? Are we all okay? Is this low blood sugar? When last did she have a meal? Is her blood pressure high? Is she dehydrated?)

“Madam please can I see your tongue?”

She shows Mr. Doki. Tongue is wet enough. She’s not dehydrated.

“Doctor I’m fine. I just want you to smile”

(For wetin? In this fairly hot room (cannot be too cold, baby will soon be out and babies don’t do cold) where I’m covered in long gloves, aprons and stuff?
Inside labour you are also monitoring my face? These people have strength. Women can monitor 23 difrerent things at the same time with equal effectiveness.)

“Madam please let us work together to get a smooth thing going here. My smile has nothing to do with this”

“Doctor, I can see your face from here…if you don’t smile I won’t allow you deliver my baby!”

The doctor looks at her. Gosh! She is serious! Ah!

(Goodness me! Worrisdis?! If I don’t smile??? Reeaallly? If I don’t smile?!!! What of if I don’t spectranet?)

Drama drama drama drama

So our doctor had to ask, out of sheer perplexity

………”Why. Do. You. Want. Me. To. Smile?”

She said…..”Doctor, your face is the first face my baby will see when she comes into the world. I want her to see a smiling face!”

(Chei! Say what? Wetin you talk madam? So overgasting and flabberwhelming!)

He did not have time to explain that babies come out with eyes tightly shut and you had to clean their bodies and faces, and so they couldn’t see anything for the first few minutes; couldn’t see beyond some centimetres for the first few days, and couldn’t recognise smiles or frowns for the first few weeks.

No time. Head was wrapped tightly in a small corridor. Imagine this woman!

Maka why?

Tell me, can a man ever put you through this kind of nollywood something, even if he is in labour? Drama upon drama upon drama upon drama! Biko carry your inner strength and be going. Leave us alone.

That was how Mr. Doctor stepped out for 1 minute, and with immediate effect and automatic alacrity, recomposed his serious work-face into a smiling face for our drama queen in labor (It was a real smile too. He understood)

And everything went well.

GENERAL, POETRY

TAILLESS TALE

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Source: BBC News | Pidgin



Lost amidst the crowd of heads
Trailing these disbanded paths of
Disparate feelings, especial aims
And massive protest via riots.

Furious, men in harms sending
Pellets which found, happily,
Accommodations in my already
Dehydrated flesh, I felt faint.

The crowd pushed steadily on,
Leaving me stuck to the tarred
Roads, my mind travelled miles
That seem increasingly unceasing.

The cause I strove to pursue now
Pursues me with no pursuer,
I am on a no-man’s land, trapped
In immaculate robes on pristine
Paths, failing, flowing, famished.


Yomi Kehinde.

GENERAL

PRAYING IN TONGUES

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Throughout the Old Testament, man had to use fallen human language to communicate with God,

He had to use the abundance of words to speak to God,
And those who weren’t skilled in words would have to meet the prophets to pray on their behalf,

There was no direct intimacy with God,

  1. Because the Fatherhood of God was not yet Revealed in the Old testament:

God wasn’t known as a Father in the Old Testament. Even David, who called God a lot of things, never once called God a Father. God had a servant master relationship with man in the old testament.

So there was no need for a special language for communication, because with the exception of an elected few, man never really had intimacy with God.

  1. Because the Holy Spirit hadn’t come to dwell in man yet:

The Holy Spirit is the one who creates tongues in us. The Holy Spirit only came upon the men of the Old Testament. But he never dwelt in their spirits, so there was absolutely no way they could pray in tongues.

But God wasn’t satisfied with their prayer,
Although, He answered it, He wanted more.
The human language was too limited,
God wanted man to pray using a unique divine language.
He wanted to elevate man from praying humanly, to praying using the divine technology of tongues.

Mar 16:17 KJV “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues”

The word ‘signs’ in the Greek is Semion, and it means a mark; a mark that distinguishes someone.

So Here He was saying,
‘I’m going to place a mark on those who believe, and that mark is that they will cast out demons IN MY NAME, and that they will have a supernatural language which they can use to communicate with me when I’ve left this world’

Notice, in the text, He said, ‘… New Tongues’

The word ‘New’ there connotes freshness, newness, something that has never been seen or heard before; something that has never been in existence before.

So the tongues that Jesus was teaching about wasn’t just speaking in foreign country languages, those languages can’t be called new tongues as they already exist,

But He was referring to the language that the Holy Spirit will install into the spirit of man,
That divine language that will enable those that believe to pray in the divine frequency.

Who would have this new tongues?

The Pentecostals? Nope
The Baptists? Nope
Lutherans? Nope

The New Tongues is meant for those that believe.

Do you believe? The New Tongues is meant for you.

So speaking in tongues is not a Pentecostal thing,
It’s not a ministerial thing,

It’s a Christian thing,
Every child of God has the capacity to speak in tongues.

TYPES OF TONGUES

There are two classes of tongues from scriptures. Namely;

  1. Ministerial Tongues (for public edification)
  2. Private Tongues (for personal edification)
  1. MINISTERIAL TONGUES: This is the gift of tongues meant for the edification of an assembly,

It doesn’t happen often,
It happens when the Holy Spirit suddenly takes hold of a person’s lips to minister to His people using a foreign language.

This language could be human or divine.

Let’s see what the Bible tells us regarding this gift,

1 Corinthians 12:10: “..to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another SPEAKING IN DIFFERENT KINDS of TONGUES, and to still another the INTERPRETATION of TONGUES.”

The context of this passage was MINISTERIAL gifts.

Paul was referring to those gifts manifested in the assembly for the edification of everyone present there.

And he was saying that these Manifestations should not in any way cause disputes, envy or jealousy.

He further buttressed his plea for unity even in the manifestation of these gifts, by saying that there are different gifts the Holy Spirit operates in believers in the assembly,

And every member of the assembly has his own gift worked in him by the Holy Spirit,

To one is the gift of miracles,
To another could be the gift of faith,
To another could be the gift of healing,
And another could have the gift of tongues.

Other passages about tongues for public edification include;

1 Corinthians 14:27-28
“If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God.”

Remember, Paul was writing to an assembly, and was giving them guidelines for their services.

He meant in the aforementioned passage, that if there’s anyone who speaks in a tongue in a public assembly, there should be someone to interprete it.

Now, Paul wasn’t saying we shouldn’t pray or speak in tongues when we gather as believers,

He was referring to those who claim that they want to give a message to the Body of Christ during our gatherings,

He said if such a person has a message to deliver and delivers it in a language not understood by anyone, it’s very important that either he interprets, or someone with the gift of tongue interpretation interprets the message, so that everyone in the assembly can understand and be edified by it.

1 Corinthians 14:19
“Nevertheless, IN CHURCH I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.”

When Paul talked about speaking with his mind, he simply meant speaking with human language,

He was cautioning those Corinthian believers, who were fond of showing off with their tongues whenever they were called to address the church,

And he told them that it was better to speak to the body using a language they would understand than to speak in a language in the absence of an interpreter.

He wasn’t trying to downplay the gift of tongues for public edification,
But it was being taken to the extreme by the leaders there,
Hence, the need for this caution.

Now, when Paul talked about how he preferred Prophecy to Tongues in public benedictions,

The prophecy there doesn’t refer to the foretelling of future events,
It rather refers to speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,

To Prophesy doesn’t only mean to tell future events,

When God delivers a message through you, you’re Prophesying.

You can check the Greek meaning of Prophecy to confirm,
It means an Inspired speaker.

PRAYING IN TONGUES 2

Throughout the Old testament, different manifestations were seen,

Healings, Miracles, Supernatural working of faith etc, they were all at work in the Prophets and Saints of old,

But none of these Prophets could pray in tongues,
That’s because tongues is meant for a Private interaction between father and son, and none of the old testament Saints had the father-son relationship with God

None of them had it!

But God when sending His Spirit to dwell in us, installed within our spirits, such a unique communication language, that we can use at any time, to pray at His frequency.

The kind of frequency God wanted now, wasn’t just knowing what to say, it was being able to pray using divine language,

Haven’t you observed that the moment you begin to intentionally speak in tongues, you become conscious of God’s Presence around you,

It’s because at that moment, you’ve switched unto the divine frequency.

Tongues is praying in the divine frequency,
Uninterrupted flow of mysteries.

It is the most mysterious and important gift in the body.

Other gifts are given to a selected few,
The Gift of Healing is given to a selected few,
The Gift of Miracles is given to a selected few,
But Speaking in tongues was made available for ALL Believers,
Because it is a language of intimacy and God desires intimacy with all believers.

1 Corinthians 14:2
“For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit.”

He speaks TO GOD
It is the soul of the child reaching out to His Father,
It is The Saint and God having a one on one discourse, so intimate and cryptic, that no one can know about it.

He utters mysteries,
Mysteries refer to unsearchable things, hidden things, secret counsels, things that cannot be understood by mere minds,

He speaks in a frequency that cannot be decoded,
He speaks mysteries in the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 14:4 “The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself….”

Tongues is the building block of a believer,

Speaking in tongues Strengthen our faith, increases our expectations, intensifies our desires and solidifies our Convictions.

The Believer who understands how to pray in tongues, will always survive what the enemy throws at him,

Because no matter how depressed he is, once he begins to pray in tongues, his soul is lifted, he gets a foretaste of glory divine, a foresight of a glorious future and an equipping by the Holy Spirit to survive such situation without being shaken.

Speaking in tongues will make God more real to you,
It will switch on the consciousness of God that’s within your spirit, and it makes understanding scriptures even easier.

Nothing sharpens our spiritual faculties like praying in tongues,
That moment you begin to pray in tongues, what Paul called, “The Strengthening of the inner man with might” begins to occur within you,

God’s Power within you is awakened,
The Gifts, Unction and Graces within you are quickened into work,
And if you pray in tongues continually, that Power will be so awake in you such that you need not pray for long to awake it anymore,
All you do is to release it from within.

Spirituality

SINGING IN TONGUES

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About four years ago I walked up to the front of the room during a worship service in church. I spoke to the meeting host in a whisper and told him I though I had a song to share with the church.

That was the first time that I ever publicly shared a sung tongue during worship. It was a step in a journey that had started decades before.

You probably know that speaking in tongues is a spiritual gift given to us, to help us to pray to God about things we can’t put into words.

Paul says in Romans that when we don’t know what to pray for, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with wordless groans ( Romans 8: 26-27 ). It’s a wonderful gift which demonstrates the Father’s love for us, to provide a way of praying that goes beyond our own resources.

So if we have the gift of praying in tongues, what’s the need for singing in tongues?
Well – music is also a gift of expression and communication. Whether it’s a certain combination of notes, or the tone, the key, they melody or ‘feel’ – music provides us with another vocabulary all in itself.

God gave humanity this beautiful gift of music early on in our history – the first named musician can be found in in ch 4 of Genesis, when listing the descendants of Cain.

David played music for King Saul and it calmed his spirit – there were no words even involved. You’ve probably felt stirred listening to a piece of music – whether with excitement or joy or even sorrow.

It has been said that “singing uniquely engages our heads and our hearts, our intellect and our affections” and “the elements of rhythm and melody arrest our affections in transformative ways not typical of speech alone .”

So here we have two means of communication that go beyond our learnt languages of words and syntax and grammar.

When you combine the two – the gift of singing with the gift of tongues, you find a powerful form of expression of our hearts to God, something that is more than the sum of its parts.

I started singing in tongues really early, before I even knew such a thing existed. I became a Christian when I was ten years old, in a family that didn’t know God. No one knew I was was a Christian and I stopped going to church, so I basically tried to figure out what living a life faith in Jesus looked like mostly on my own – just me and God.

Like most of us, as life went on things got complicated, families, relationships, health, school, growing up – it’s all a bit messy, right? And so I found myself with all these emotions inside me, emotions which I wanted to take to God but found I didn’t know where to even start.

I couldn’t put into words what I was feeling even in my private thoughts, let alone share them in prayer.

So one day, in desperate need to somehow express the inexpressible, I started to sing. Like I said, I didn’t have any words; I wasn’t going to church so I didn’t know any hymns or choruses;
so I sang what I thought of as random syllables.

It didn’t really matter to me, I wasn’t trying to sing a language, it was simply a form of prayer where I could express things I had no other language for. The melodies just seemed to come from inside me. And I finally found an outlet of expression to take all my fears and joys and anguish and desires to my Father who understood me more than I understood myself.

Without anyone having to teach me about the theology or practice of singing in tongues, God taught me how I could pour out my heart to him from the depth of my feelings. From that point, singing in tongues became a pretty regular part of my personal worship and prayer time.
Now I know some of you are thinking “well, Milly’s musical so that’s just her thing”.

But to think that is to miss the point of the gift of this extraordinary gift. I wasn’t singing for anyone to hear except God. It wasn’t a performance – in fact my favourite time to sing in tongues was while doing the vacuuming! (I lived with parents & two sisters in a small semi – there wasn’t a lot of privacy in that house!) And the wonderful mystery of the gift of singing in tongues is that its power isn’t necessarily in the quality of the expression.

The music, rhythm and melody – that’s all in our hearts. And it, as it comes out, it comes out a bit wobbly, a bit flat, not quite as we intended – that does not rob it of its power.

This gift is given to every child of God – regardless of how well we are able to carry a tune. If you think that singing in tongues isn’t for you, because you’re worried about how well you can sing, then you’re missing out on a form of connection with God that God intended for us all.

Singing in tongues is a gift. But it is not just an individual gift. It is also a gift to be used as a tool for the benefit of others

Like I said, singing in tongues was something I did in private, whenever I thought no one could hear me. And it stayed that way for twenty odd years, even after years later I learned what singing in tongues was.

Eventually I started to sing in tongues during corporate worship too, but only because I felt safe that my voice was incorporated into the mix of everyone else’s. It wasn’t till about 6 years ago that a few people encouraged me ‘bring a tongue’ or to share the songs I had for other people.

Then one day I was stood at the back of the service worshipping (where I apparently believed no one could hear me!), and someone came back to me and said you should go up to the front and sing. My initial reaction was outright horror at the thought!

That started a time for me of confusion and wrestling with the questions around whether singing in tongues is something to be done in public? Questions such as
If I go to the front to sing in tongues, am I seeking attention?

Am I putting myself centre stage instead of God?
Am I showing off my ability?
What if I’m not really singing in tongues, I’m just making it up?
What if I get down the front and I can’t think of anything to sing?

What if I pick up the microphone and my voice breaks and it sounds terrible?
Lots of questions, and lots of fear.


And so we return to that Sunday four years ago, when I found myself at the front of church. I don’t actually remember deciding to go forward (nothing spiritual about that, just a dodgy memory!).

But I do remember the host handing me the microphone, and he must have seen the look of terror on my face as I realized what was happening because he said to me ‘don’t worry – you’re going to bless us’.

That’s what gave me the courage to step up and sing. In that moment, he helped me turn my focus away from myself, and whether I was right, or what people were going to think of me – and focus instead on God. What did God want to do through that song? If God wants to bless the church through someone singing in a language He gives us – why would I want to stop that?

That perspective is still what gives me courage today. When the doubts and questions come – and they still do – I speak to myself – is this going to bless someone? Is God going to bless through this act?

If so, I don’t want to hold that blessing back, just because I’m fearful.
Singing in tongues to bring blessing to others isn’t restricted solely to bringing a sung tongue publicly during corporate worship.

Not every person will do that. However, we can all use the gift for others. Singing in tongues is a powerful weapon in spiritual battle, and seems to be particularly effective in intercessory prayer.

If you’re praying over someone, singing in tongues over them can be a way to invite the Holy Spirit in to lead the prayer for that person – and as the Holy Spirit knows far more intimately exactly what they need, that seems like a good thing!

Even when you are on your own in your private times of prayer, if you are interceding for someone or some situation and you run out of ways to say Please God break through! – try singing in tongues, and see for yourself the power that is released.

If you want to know the top three ways to know for certain if you should bring a public tongue during worship, I’m afraid I can’t give you a list of signals or symptoms to watch for.

Firstly let me say – if you’re wrestling with questions around sharing a sung tongue such as ‘should I?’, ‘can I?’, ‘is this right?’- can I gently suggest that you probably should!
Trust the host to know whether this is the right time in the service, but go forward with what God has put on your heart and bless the body.

Sometimes I have gone forward to sing because during worship I have had that bubbling up of a song that feels more than just mine, it can feel bigger than me. Sometimes it’s when I get that heart pounding moment or my hands sweat and I know the Holy Spirit is wanting to do something.

Other times I’ve brought a song in tongues because I’ve felt that we needed as a corporate body to breakthrough into a deeper place of worship and a tongue will often help that.

There’s no one answer. But each time I do trust God in obedience to what He’s giving me, I learn to hear the Spirit’s leading a little bit better.

So my encouragement to you is – don’t count yourself out of this gift. It’s for everyone, no matter your musicality. Start small, at home, in your private prayer time and allow God to teach you.

And be willing to let Him use you, whether that’s to bring a song to the congregation, or to sing over someone in ministry, or to incorporate singing in tongues into your intercessory prayer life.

When God gives us gifts – it’s because they’re good for us. He’s the ultimate gift-giver. Don’t let doubts or fears or self-criticism rob you of something that God wants just for you.

~ Milly Jones

Spirituality

HOW GOD TAUGHT ME TO PRAY FOR LONG HOURS

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I am not a fan of being time-conscious during prayers, but I am

First, let me say emphatically that if you’re not baptized with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, it will be “difficult” for you to pray for long hours at a go.

Most people who “pray for long hours” without being filled with the Spirit are full of vain repetitions in prayers, and sometimes they wear themselves out by such.

But in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul taught that LONG PRAYERS can be done when a believer is filled with the Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.

I CORINTHIANS 14:18
I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all:

EPHESIANS 6:18
PRAYING ALWAYS with all prayer and supplication IN THE SPIRIT, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

JUDE 20
But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, PRAYING IN THE HOLY GHOST,

1 TIMOTHY 2:8
I will therefore that men PRAY EVERY WHERE, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.

Now it would appear that to carry out the New Testament instruction to PRAY WITHOUT CEASING – 1Thess.5:17, one would need to be filled with the Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.

You never run out of inspiration praying in the Spirit. You never run out of words praying in the Spirit. You never run out of “prayer points” praying in the Spirit.

And also you never run out of spiritual energy, nerve and verve plus motivation praying in the Spirit.

As a matter of fact, I believe that praying in the Spirit brings you to a place where this popular maxim becomes evident in your devotional life, “YOU CANNOT FINISH PRAYING; YOU CAN ONLY STOP PRAYING”.

I remember the very first time I prayed at stretch for seven hours, it was a huge delight. Not a burden at all but it was “fun” all through.

One vital truth you discover while praying in tongues is that the more you pray, the more you want to pray – your propensity for prayer increases at an exponential rate.

I had discovered this truth as far back as Sunday, 18th March, 2001 when I became filled with the Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.

Over the years, by God’s Grace, the Lord has taught me the secrets of long prayers without being tired and I intend to share one of the lessons today and then the second one in Part Two of this teaching.

First, the Lord showed me this scripture and it came alive in my heart:

1 CORINTHIANS 14:14
For if I pray in an unknown tongue, MY SPIRIT PRAYETH, but my understanding is unfruitful.

The Lord asked me to look intently into it and asked me who’s doing the praying? I said, “My spirit”. God told me, “Notice it didn’t say MY BODY or MY MIND”.

Oh, I got the message. Anytime I’m praying in the Spirit, it’s MY SPIRIT that’s doing the praying – the man on the inside – my reborn, recreated and regenerated human spirit.

It was this scripture that liberated me. I discovered that it’s not MY BODY or MY MIND that’s praying but MY SPIRIT, even though in the process MY BODY and MY MIND may get along.

Here’s the gist; a lot of believers pray with THEIR BODIES and they get tired and exhausted along the line.

How do I mean? Somebody wants to pray for let’s say seven hours at stretch but in the first thirty minutes, he’s screaming at the top of his voice to the point that he starts coughing and sweating profusely.

He’s swinging his head, arms, neck, waist, buttocks, and legs as if he involved in acrobatics. You see, most often with time such people become tired.

There’s this notion that tells you that if you pray silently, your prayer is not as powerful as when you pray loudly but nothing could be farther from the truth.

Some people also believe that if you’re praying sitting down or lying down, you’re not serious and your prayer is not as powerful as when you kneel down but these are fallacious ideas.

Your physical postures do not invalidate your prayers because you aren’t praying with your BODY but with your SPIRIT.

It is wise therefore to get a posture that will help you sustain the momentum of prayers, not one that will distract you or make you physically exhausted.

The principle I operate in prayer and as well spiritual activities is that, “DON’T COME TO A PLACE PHYSICALLY THAT WILL MAKE YOU INEFFECTIVE SPIRITUALLY”.

For instance, I do most of my praying walking around. I love prayer walk. It suits me well and by extension it’s a form of physical exercise for me.

But when I pray to a point where my legs are aching me (notice it’s not my spirit that is feeling pain but my body), I sit down to continue praying while I relax my physical muscles and then I stand up again.

There’s no ironclad rule to this. There’s no point getting to a level in prayer where your physical posture is distracting you from the spiritual exercise and you don’t change that posture. No, that’s religion!

We hold vigils in our church where we pray for seven hours. I remember a scenario at a particular edition; when we started, I noticed a brother praying with acrobatic displays and I just knew within me that that brother might not really go far in the vigil.

And so it was; it was like the third hour when some of us were just starting, the brother had “logged off” – he had slept off.

Now let me balance this here; it’s not in all cases that people who have physical displays get exhausted.

There’s need for that balance. Sometimes it’s just a function of the level of “spiritual temperature”.

By “spiritual temperature” I mean the progression of the anointing as it’s rising in prayer. You know we respond to the anointing differently.

But I TOTALLY AGREE that sometimes, you start your praying in the Spirit in a cool and calm manner but with the progression of time, YOU JUST EXPLODE.

At such instance, it’s a function of the anointing and not a display in the energy of the flesh that is wearisome.

The truth however is that as we all become acquainted with the operations of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we should endeavour to become MORE SKILFUL with them so as to sustain them.

Even with the level of “spiritual temperature”, you still have control over your response depending on the setting that you find yourself, and this is a function of spiritual training.

Let me give an example. I have never disturbed my wife or my children while praying in the midnight NO MATTER THE LEVEL OF SPIRITUAL TEMPERATURE IN PRAYER.

I learnt this from Dad Hagin. I could pray under my breath, gently and silently without disturbing my family or anyone around me and the anointing will still be very strong.

Why do I need to wake all my neighbours up in the midnight with the tone and sounds of my prayer because of anointing?

I mean those who do that have not so learnt Christ – Eph.4:20. There’s order in the things of the Spirit – 1 Cor.14:40.

People also have a right to their privacy and it is childish, juvenile, puerile and unchristian to disturb your neighbours with loud sounds and cries of prayer.

Like I said, you must discover your setting. When I get into the Part Two of this teaching and we look at intermittent praying, we’ll discover for instance that if you pray in your office for instance following some free pockets of time, you don’t disturb the other members of staff or you face the music.

It’s important that we should be “Christian” not ONLY in church but also “at home”, “at our work place”, “in our community” and “in all places”.

By and large, we have seen that with the understanding of 1Corinthians 14:14, you can pray for long hours, knowing that it’s YOUR SPIRIT that is praying, NOT YOUR BODY, your physical postures notwithstanding.

This is what the Lord taught me and it has helped me over the years by God’s Grace.

The second lesson that the Lord taught me about the secret of long prayers is PRAYING AT A STRETCH and INTERMITTENT PRAYING.

I will not like to belabour some of the salient points that have been strongly emphasized in the first part of this teaching.

Kindly bear in mind that we’re coming from the background of PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT, although based on the “flow” in your heart per time, there could be spiritual interjections with PRAYING IN UNDERSTANDING.

One of the benefits of praying regularly in tongues or in the Spirit is that you never lack what to pray in understanding.

Praying in the Spirit often triggers and sets the tone for what to pray in human language, but in it all, you want to give prominence to PRAYING MORE IN THE SPIRIT.

The Apostle Paul implied that the more you pray in the Spirit, the more you have the “substance” with which to pray in understanding – this happens by default many times.

1 CORINTHIANS 14:15
“What is it then? I WILL PRAY WITH THE SPIRIT, AND I WILL PRAY WITH THE UNDERSTANDING ALSO: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.”

This sequence of operation goes on and on. And remember that in this teaching, we’re talking PREDOMINANTLY about PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT.

It is this kind of praying that enables us to obey the New Testament injunction to:

1THESSALONIANS 5:17
“Pray without ceasing.”

What does this mean? It means you maintain and sustain the attitude of prayer ALWAYS. It means your spirit is perpetually in tune with the Father of spirits in divine communication.

And these two kinds of prayer that I want to talk about i.e. PRAYING AT A STRETCH and INTERMITTENT PRAYING will help you achieve this.

Remember also that we’re told to PRAY ALWAYS ALL KINDS OF PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION IN THE SPIRIT – Eph.6:18.

The only time that this might not be feasible is when you’re asleep or when you’re involved in “a particular kind of physical activity” that may not give room for it – for instance if you’re giving a public address.

And this is particularly understandable because YOUR WILL is involved in prayer – in other words, your faculties are intact while praying as we saw it earlier in 1Corinthians 14:15.

To be able to pray long therefore, you must first PRAY AT A STRETCH. By this I mean you harness a specific period of time in prayer without any distraction.

If you look at the life and ministry of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, you’ll discover that there are three kinds of prayer that He prayed PERSONALLY:

(1) Morning Prayers:

MARK 1:35
And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

(2) Vigils:

LUKE 6:12
And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued ALL NIGHT IN PRAYER to God.

(3) RETREATS

LUKE 5:16
And he WITHDREW himself into the wilderness, and prayed.

Now these three kinds of prayer go a long way in helping you to PRAY LONG depending on the available time.

You can also pray in the afternoon or in the nightfall if those periods are free for you (remember there’s no bondage here and we have the liberty of the Spirit).

It’s just that there’s “something” about EARLY MORNING PRAYERS and NIGHT PRAYERS that is very amazing.

The former prepares you powerfully for the activities of the day and the latter ensures that there are no environmental distractions and your spiritual antenna will also be at the peak.

Personal retreats are also recommended. You just withdraw yourself from the hustle and bustle of life and you’re alone with God.

So, PRAYING AT A STRETCH is very important and you should try to incorporate that into your daily schedule – even if it’s one hour or two hours or more depending on daily exigencies.

Peter stayed alone with God and PRAYED AT A STRETCH – Acts 10:9. Paul did the same – Acts 22:17 and many of the heroes and heroines of Faith mentioned in Scriptures also PRAYED AT A STRETCH.

However, when you look at the structure of our daily activities generally depending on what you do, your exigencies or geographical location, you notice that for some people, it becomes practically difficult to PRAY AT A STRETCH for let’s say FIVE HOURS per day – it may not just be feasible.

For instance, if you live in the city of Lagos, and going from your residence to your place of work will take a minimum of three hours on the road (that’s if you find favour with God 😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀and the traffic gridlock is relatively favourable) and you have to resume work by 8am and close by 6pm, then it may be difficult to say you want to pray for FIVE HOURS AT A STRETCH at home.

Now I’m talking FACT here that can be related with. Most times when people come back from work in such circumstance, they just eat their meals and sleep off.

There are many other similar examples in that manner but I just singled that out for want of space.

If you have to wait for a spontaneous adjustment of your normal schedule to determine your prayer life, then you will do yourself a disservice spiritually speaking because your prayer life will suffer.

That’s where INTERMITTENT PRAYING comes in. By INTERMITTENT PRAYING I mean making use of your “FREE POCKETS OF TIME” during the day to charge your spirit in prayer.

It also means making use of every available opportunity during the day (even when you’re doing other things that don’t affect praying in the Spirit) to be in touch with God in prayer.

And it works. Yes it works like fire 🔥🔥 🔥 🔥🔥!!! Let me say this dear friend; everyone of us will always have that opportunity during the day to be in tune with God in prayer, but sadly some people are not just sensitive to it while some other people engage in discussions that are not profitable – “gisting” and jesting and what have you.

You see, THERE’S TIME FOR EVERYTHING and TIME WAITS FOR NO MAN. A wise Christian learns to compress about three or more profitable activities into ONE SINGLE TIMEFRAME.

For instance, as a woman, you can be cooking and listening to a message and also praying in the Spirit simultaneously.

You can be in your office and intermittently pray in the Spirit under your breath while you go about carrying out your legitimate duties.

Also, INTERMITTENT PRAYING demands that while you’re on your way to work (let’s say you’re going by a public transport), you can be praying in the Spirit under your breath while some other passengers are listening to Fuji music like “Paso”.

When you get to the office, your break time is there to pray in the Spirit. Even while working you can still maintain that attitude of prayer.

If you’re driving, you can use that opportunity to pray in the Spirit and also listen to a sound message or good music.

I do a lot of praying while driving (especially while going on a trip).

When I was in the University, at times when we were expecting the lecturer to come and he had not shown up, I could just bow my head and pray silently in the Spirit.

You see, INTERMITTENT PRAYING HAS NO BOUNDARIES. You can pray in the toilet, in the bed room, in transit, etc.; you can also pray while expecting a visitor.

Let me say this friend; even as I’m writing these words, I’m also doing INTERMITTENT PRAYING – praying in the Spirit and stopping and also picking it up again – that’s the meaning of “INTERMITTENT”.

If you’re on an aircraft enroute your destination, you can pray in the Spirit.

On your way from church service, you can pray in the Spirit. The list of examples is endless.

There’s no BARRIER here. If you then sum up the time spent in your EARLY MORNING PRAYERS and INTERMITTENT PRAYING at the end of the day, you will notice that relatively, you have done LONG PRAYERS.

Even though it’s not the same as PRAYING AT A STRETCH but THE EFFECT of it on your spiritual life is indelible, and you will just notice that your spiritual antenna is at its best 24/7.

Your spirit is active; you can pick the slightest signals in the Spirit and you’re given to inspiration from time to time.

In the New Testament, LOCATION is no more a barrier. The new location now is IN THE SPIRIT.

We pray IN THE SPIRIT – Eph.6:18, 1 Cor.14:2 and we also worship IN THE SPIRIT – Jn.4:24, Phil.3:3.

Geography is not a barrier. You can pray EVERY WHERE and “ANYWHERE”, not necessarily restricted to your prayer room.

Paul said:

1 TIMOTHY 2:8
I will therefore that MEN PRAY EVERY WHERE, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.

INTERMITTENT PRAYING can sometimes take 5 minutes or 10 minutes or more and it can take lesser time like 3 minutes.

Now imagine if you pray 5 minutes intermittently 24 times in a day plus your one hour morning prayer, you would have “prayed” for three hours and chances are that you can even do more especially if you’re in transit for hours.

By that exercise, you will be practising the scripture which says “PRAY WITHOUT CEASING” because you’re in a constant attitude of prayer.

As I close, I must say that as much as possible, you should have a private prayer time per day (even if it’s one hour); INTERMITTENT PRAYING should not substitute for that; it should rather be A SUPPLEMENT.

We’re in the end-time and the enemy is on the prowl to distract God’s precious people and he does this through loading us with the cares of this world – 1Pet.5:7-8.

We must therefore be SUPERIOR IN STRATEGY to preemt him and to keep him at abeyance.

That’s why I’m thoroughly convinced that PRAYING AT A STRETCH and INTERMITTENT PRAYING will go a long way in keeping us in tune with God’s plan for our lives and for the hour.

Praying that a fresh “Spirit of prayer” will envelope and percolate your life from center to circumference now in Jesus’ Precious Name!

Written by Pastor Bimbo Animashaun