Causes of a prayer-less life

Alexander White famously said “if you want to humble a man ask him about his prayer life.” And he was right. Prayer is one spiritual discipline that every Christian is eager to excel at and yet it is one we often fail miserably. Often even our actual prayers are prayer less because they are lifeless. As I search my own life I have discovered that there are several reasons that lead to prayerlessness.

Lack of bible study in my life

Whenever I neglect scriptural intake and I do not hear God speak to me through His word, I find that my prayer life (talking to God) suffers. The opposite is equally true, when I am immersed in the word of God, I invariably find myself praying. I praise God for who he is and thank him what he is doing, I confess my sins as I read more about the God-ward life, I present my requests to him as claim all the wonderful promises found in his word. But when I neglect the study of God’s word my prayers feel like I am talking to a stranger.

When I am leaving in Sin

The psalmist tells us that if we harbor iniquity in our hearts He (God) will not hear our prayers and Peter warns husbands to live righteously with their wives so that their prayers are not hindered. Whenever I stubbornly hold on to sin my praying is affected and until I humble myself go to God in prayer to confess my sins. It is a huge struggle to pray, especially public prayers.

Lack of faith in prayer

I once heard a story of a man who opened a tavern next to a church and greatly disturbed the church with the loud music, the drunken patrons and the rubbish thrown outside. The pastor urged the church to pray for God to intervene and the Lord sent a tornado that cleared the tavern but left the church building intact. The man sued the church and the church claimed they had nothing to do with it. The judge quite surprised at the curious case said “I have an atheist who believes in God and a group of Christians who don’t.” When I don’t believe that God is hearing and will answer my prayers, I lose the urgency and desire to pray.

Lack of balance in my prayer

There are times I turn God into an ATM machine and I just go to Him to get what I want and go on with my life. So each time I pray my giving a list of the things I need given or done for me (often physical things) and before long my praying is dry and fruitless labor. The prayer becomes like those friends and relatives who only get in touch when they need money from you. Instead we ought to praise God, thank Him, confess our sins, intercede for others and present our requests.

Lack of organization for my prayer time

As mechanical as it may sound it is quite true that whenever I don’t have a deliberate time for praying, I almost always find myself not praying. And the same is true for other spiritual disciplines. Spontaneous does not mean without order! So have a specific time for praying.

Lack of hearty praying 

We often say prayer is talking to God. And that beautifully simple and true and yet our prayers easily fall into rehearsed speeches with unnatural tones and a vocabulary we never use in daily conversation as though God only understands a certain language. And the main issue is when our prayers simply become rituals and not coming from a sincere heart it becomes a lifeless ritual. When our prayers are sincere the words of mouths will be in sync with the thoughts of our hearts.

One could add more to the list but whatever the case in one way or another whenever our walk with God is not right praying (talking to him) becomes hard and labored. And yet at the same time talking to God brings us closer to him in the most beautiful way that one does not want to lose it.

  

FIVE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT YOUR PASTOR

It is always interesting to hear people’s opinion on the pastor’s conduct and his duties. There are all kinds of notions and teachings on how a pastor is to live his life. Whereas some of the things said are true and biblical most of what I have heard is unbiblical and unhealthy for ministry. It’s clear there are things that people need to know or simply ignore about their pastors.

1.      Your Pastor is not a sinless perfect Saint

As a matter of fact, you will not find a sinless human being this side of eternity. So whereas pastors ought to be holy and be an example to the people they lead, remember they still struggle with sin and temptation the same way you are. Yes that’s true pastors have to battle lust, worry, greed, lying, stealing, anger etc. Paul says Romans 7

For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.  Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.  For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.  For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

2.      Your Pastor is not a “jack of all trades”

The analogy of the church being a body is very instructive. It means every part has a significant role to play for the body to be fully functional and healthy. However there are people who take the church to be a like a bus, where you can sleep and leave the driver to take you to your destination. Invariably this has led people to come with all kinds of responsibilities for the pastor. If we summed up everything the list would include among other things, a choir master, an electrician, sound technician, a security guard, an accountant, a driver, a chief executive officer, a therapist etc. The apostles asked for deacons so that they may give themselves to “the word and prayer” (Acts 6:1-2). There are things your pastor cannot do and there are things he should not do for the sake of the health of the church.

3.      Your Pastor does not know everything in the bible

This is a hard truth for pastors to admit, but the truth is we do not know everything in the bible. A pastor should be “able to teach” and know what he is teaching but there are a lot of things we do not know in the bible and it is okay- we are human.

4.      Your Pastor desperately needs your prayer and encouragement

The problem with thinking pastors are super saints is you assume they do not need your prayers and encouragement. The ministry can be a lonely, frustrating and discouraging place and it’s a blessing to the soul to know someone is praying for you and to hear someone urge to keep going.  

5.      Your Pastor is not like the other Pastor

Your pastor is uniquely gifted and will never be like the pastor before or the pastor after him or the pastor down the road or the pastor in the next town. No two pastors are the same and God designed it that way. So do not compare your pastor to another man, do not demand that he preaches like another preacher, on the contrary demand that he be faithful to his task.

The Need for Burdened Men and Women

Today’s church is crying out for men and women who are burdened about something. We are in desperate need of people who have a single passion and will be dedicated to pursue their passion with all of their being. The eyes of the Lord are roaming the earth; they are searching for those who are resolved to stand in the gap behalf of the nations. The world needs men and women who are burdened for God and His glory. I fear that one will have more success finding an oasis in the desert than finding people with a real burden. I fear that most Universities and Seminaries are more concerned about producing students who have conformed to a system than are passionately burdened about God’s work, lost people and God’s glory. I fear we invest more in programs than we are investing in people. I fear we are more burdened about updating Facebook and our twitter feeds than in actually making the world a better place. What our homes, churches and countries need are burdened people: burdened for what God and his glory.

What does the bible say about the need for burdened people? There is in my mind, no better place to begin than the amazing account in Ezekiel 9.  It says at least one thing – God takes the absence of a burden among his people seriously.  It was this burden that made Nehemiah do great exploits for God (Nehemiah 1:4).  The oracles of the prophets are referred to as burdens (Isaiah 13:1, 14:28, 15:1, 17:1, 19:1, 21:1, etc., Nahum 1:1, Habakkuk 1:1, Malachi 1:1).  We also see this in Paul’s burden in Athens (Acts 17:16-17) and Jesus’ example also in Matthew 9:36 were His burden for the people moved him with compassion.

Why is it that some people lack the burden and others have lost it? The first reason people are not burdened is a lack of an eternal view. They are only consumed by the affairs of the world and all their energies are directed at amassing wealth, being entertained and getting more educated that they soon lose sight of the majesty of God and forget the reason for their existence. In other words they are living as though the things of this world are all that matter in life. The second is a sinful life. When you are living in sin you lack the desire to do the work of God and the enablement to carry it out. And all you do is go through the motions like a lifeless corpse. The third is when people are detached from the work of the ministry. Whenever someone is not exposed to the needs, frustrations and blessings of the ministry, they lack the burden. When all you have are theories in your head of what should be done, and lack the exposure of what actually on the ground, you will lack the burden that comes with such exposure.

“Men of the time, who discern the signs of the time, the possibilities of the time, the potentials of the time, as well as the seasons, movements, and dangers of the time become God’s prophets to His people and the world. Instead of being cast into the mould of history they make history. Instead of being frustrated by the storms of the times they ride the crest of the waves triumphantly for God and His cause. Thus the question is whether we are tradition bound or anchored fearlessly in such a time as this. Men of the time are urgently needed. While others may survive, these will triumph and lead the cause of Christ in the triumphs of our Lord”[1].

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[1]               Mbewe, Conrad. Church based ministries and missions. Seminar address. 2012

IS AFRICA REALLY FREE?

This week we celebrated African Freedom’s day. The day African countries celebrate their liberation from colonial rule. And while most of us are quite detached from the struggles that our forefathers endured, we should still be grateful to them and thank God that we are no longer under colonial rule. However, are we really free? Have we made the necessary progress after decades of freedom? Are we where we ought to be? Are we winning the fight against corruption, diseases, wars, family breakdown, crime, injustice and poverty? These are real issues that need some honest answers and actions from all involved.

That said, I look around my beloved country and indeed the entire continent and I see people who are not free, bound and enslaved by a very powerful force and millions die slaves to this force. The bible calls this powerful force sin. Sin is an enslaving master that does not spare anyone, regardless of their social, political and economic status in society. From the poorest and lowest to the richest and highest, all are born under the enslaving curse of sin. Oh yes you heard me right, we are all born with sin, the psalmist exclaims “I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5, Rom 5:8-12). So ultimately when we look at the sickening levels of corruption, the unending wars and conflicts, the ever increasing crime rates accompanied by high levels of injustice and all this in midst of abject poverty, the reason is sin. At the heart of all these problems are self-seeking, self-serving, self-propagating, self-centered, totally sinful people.

So how do you solve the African problem? Do you change governments? Do you change the education system? Do you build more hospitals? Do you upgrade government departments? Do you change the constitution? Do you create jobs? Or maybe build more and better roads? Fight and reduce corruption? Promote justice and empower law enforcers? Increase peace keeping and promoting treaties?

All these and more are good ideas and will go a long way in solving our problem. However they only deal with the fruits and not the root or the heart of the problem. So unless people are liberated from the bondage of sin and become free they always are self-centered in life. If your heart is enslaved to sin, your actions will be sinful and self-serving. But when God through Jesus Christ frees you from the burden and bondage of sin (Rom 5:18-21, 6:15-23, 8:1-3, 2 Corinth 5: 17-21) you become a new creation and your whole life is totally transformed. Your attitude towards work, your relationships with your family and your neighbors, your response to conflict, your attitude towards wealth and your entire purpose in life is no longer about you or for you but pleasing God and doing good to others.   

In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus gave the world a lovely invitation when He said “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Anniversary Reflections

Before I got married, people were quite generous in giving advice. It came from the young, old, single and the married. Most of it was timeless, some of it was people pushing their opinion and preference and the rest left you wondering whether you should cry, laugh or be heartbroken. One piece of advice we got from the married was that people change when they get married and all the good you are seeing is pretense and it is stated as a matter of fact that your sweet relationship will soon become an endurance club. That disturbed us because we knew God did not intend marriage to be an endurance club and it further showed where most marriages are.  Well this past Sunday Kunda and I clocked one year in marriage.

And yes we have got to know each other in different light and we have got to experience certain character traits we were not fully exposed to and I very sure 10 years from now we will testify at how we have known each other more. But if anything the last one year has simply taught me how selfish I really am. It has showed me that I would rather be served than serve; it has also shown me how I am quite terrible at leading others in becoming more like Jesus Christ. If there is one thing the past one year has taught, it’s either we let God use our marriage to make us more like Christ  or we let pride rule and our home becomes an endurance club.

I therefore, thank God I am married to a beautiful woman who is prepared to grow with me and learn Christ. I am grateful that though she loves me, she does not love me more than she loves her God.  I am truly blessed to have someone who is not just concerned about my physical well-being but my spiritual life as well. And if the first year is anything to go by, I am surely looking forward to many more years with her.

And Kunda i promise I will TRY not to mix plates but put them according to color or boil more milk than I will actually use or summarize how my day was but share all the details. And in case I delay in improving remember I am God’s instrument to work on your patience J. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MY LOVE.