The Lord Jesus unites all men, nations, races, strata of wealth and academic attainments. In Christ, all become one. At the age of 11 years, I gave my life to the Lord Jesus Christ from reading a tract, “Someone died for you,” given to me by my father. The tract explained what Jesus did for me on the cross and what He will do for me when He comes into my heart. So I accepted Him in my heart there and then. Yes, Jesus Christ came into my heart. I was filled with joy and ran to the next village to tell my friend REUBEN, because I was so anxious to obey what the tract encouraged me to do after receiving Jesus Christ into my heart. The tract encouraged me to immediately tell someone else what had happened.
Someone died for you! Jesus Christ died for you! If you allow Him into your heart, He will forgive you, change you and meet you at the deepest point of your need.
After I let Jesus Christ into my heart, I began to read the Bible with an unusual hunger so that I completed the entire Bible twice before I went to secondary School.
I learnt to pray from my father. He was a man of prayer. He will get up at three thirty am (3:30 am) and have his bath. He will then pray from four until six (4:00 am – 6:00 am). From six o’clock to six thirty (6:00 am – 6:30 am ) we would have family prayer. Since my father was a strict disciplinarian and will have to take his bath at exactly three thirty (3:30 am) I had to get up at three o’clock (3.00 am ) to heat the water he will use. I learnt to get up early and by the grace of God it has stuck. I no longer get up early to heat water for my father but to pray – to do what my father was doing! I learnt to pray from my father. When we want to pray, we must have a model from whom to learn. If you want to be a footballer, you will seek out an expert to be your model. The same with one who wants to be a boxer….
When you want to pray, God has not left us without a model. JESUS CHRIST IS GOD’S MODEL IN PRAYER.
1 – JESUS: GOD’S MODEL IN PRAYER – 1
“Why were you searching for me?” He asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” Luke 2:49
At the age of 12 years, He went to the temple. He was among the teachers while His parents were searching for Him. When they found Him, He asked them, “Did you not know that I must be in my FATHER’S HOUSE?” My Father’s House! The house of prayer! This was the first ‘must’ of His life. The place He wanted most to be in was the place of prayer. What He wanted to do most was prayer. The priority of our lives must be prayer.
Prayer must be first and everything else can follow. After we have prayed, we can do other things. Prayer is a ‘must’! Prayer defines a man’s life. The spiritual life is small if a man’s prayer life is small. A man is just as big as his spiritual life is, and his spiritual life is as big as his prayer life is! How is your prayer life?
In prayer, a man talks to God in the courts of heaven. In preaching, a man talks to men in the courts of men.
The first house of prayer is the Heart.
There must be purity of heart for communion and intimacy with God. If a barrier of sin comes in, God cannot hear me. The heart is the house of prayer.
There must also be physical places of prayer where you can withdraw and pray because when a man wants to pray and there is nowhere to withdraw to, he can break. Every believer must ensure that the inner house of prayer is clean and spiritual leaders must ensure that they provide the physical houses of prayer. Before building a church building, we ought to build a place of prayer, because when a man has met God through prayer, he will flow to others.
2 – JESUS: GOD’S MODEL IN PRAYER – 2
When all the people were being baptised, Jesus was baptised too. And as He was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
John was teaching. People were coming and being baptised and going away gladly. Jesus too came and was baptised but He converted the banks of the Jordan into a place of prayer.
He began to pray and continued to pray. Before He began to pray, the heavens were sealed. As He prayed, the prayers went up and tore the heavens open and the Holy Spirit came upon Him. The Father spoke to Him. The Father had wanted to speak to Him all along. The Spirit had wanted to come upon Him but none of these could happen until the prayers of Jesus tore the heavens open.
Until the Holy Spirit comes, we labour in vain and in the flesh. God has ordained prayer for the rending of the heavens so that the Holy Spirit can come upon us. The Holy Spirit comes upon the praying one. Many people want God to speak to them. To have God speak, you must be at the place of prayer and be praying. If He has not yet spoken to you, you must keep on praying.
After the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus, He did not go immediately to preach. Instead, He went into a forty-day fast. He was filled with the Holy Spirit, but did not start the ministry. Fasting was for releasing the power that had come upon Him.
“… Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee…”(Luke 4:14).
Prayer brought the Holy Spirit upon Him. Fasting released the power of the Spirit on Him.
In prayer, the Father spoke. Prayer is reaching out to God. In fasting the devil spoke. Fasting is reaching out against Satan. Prayer is one leg reaching out to God and fasting is the other leg reaching out against the devil. So, it is prayer and fasting, prayer and fasting!!
The Lord Jesus said … When you pray…. (Mathew 6:5).
The Lord Jesus said … When you fast …. (Mathew 6:16)
The Lord expects us to pray and the Lord expects us to fast. He prayed and He is still praying in heaven. He fasted and he is still fasting in heaven. He is our Model. The model is still fasting and praying. The power upon Jesus was released. The Holy Spirit anointed Him. The Spirit anointed Him to preach the Gospel to the poor. To have everything, but Jesus is to have nothing. All who do not have Jesus are poor, very poor; very, very, poor. If you do not have Jesus in your heart, you are very, very poor. But today you can turn from your sins to God. Sin is independence from God. Repentance is a radical about-turn. Before, you lived for yourself, but now, you live for Jesus and His interests. Coming to Jesus is radical abandonment of sin at any cost even at the cost of suffering, persecution and rejection. He will never leave those who follow Him.
The Spirit also anointed Jesus to proclaim freedom to prisoners. Some people are behind bars because of the government, but some are in personal prisons by sin, alcohol, hatred, stealing, magic, sorcery, wickedness, etc. When a man comes to Jesus, He will set him free. He will give the unloving husband power to love his wife. He will give the rebellious wife power to submit. He came to set people free from spiritual and physical blindness, from curses and bondage. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever – Come to Him.
Excerpt from Prayer and A Walk With God – Z.T. Fomum
