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Believe it or not, there are so many myths about prayer and faith being preached on pulpits every Sunday. I often tried to adjust my prayer life to suit some of these myths, and with time, through my bible, I realized that they were being preached from a human perspective, and not necessarily in accordance with God’s word. Here are four important ones I’ve picked out:
Myth one: You don’t need to repeat your requests to God if you truly have faith.
I used to believe this; it seemed like the best way to exercise faith was to pray once and know that God has heard you, hence no need to keep repeating yourself. Wrong! In Matthew 15: 21-28, Jesus met with one of his most persistent acquaintances yet! A woman whose daughter was possessed by demons approached Jesus screaming “Have mercy on me O Lord Son of David!” Her cries were so incessant that the disciples got irritated and wanted Jesus to respond and just get rid of her. At first Jesus was silent, but she did not relent, when he did speak, his response was unfavorable – “I was sent only to help the lost sheep of Israel”. Did that stop her? NO! She persisted until she got her miracle. As Christians, we tend to believe we can only show faith by not persisting, I have learnt from several stories in the bible that this is not true. In fact, we ought to persist! We should keep knocking at Heaven’s gates until God helps us! Persistence is a form of faith in itself. It shows that you believe only God can help you, hence you will not stop calling on Him.
Myth two: You don’t need others to pray for you
Yes, we all have access to God. But have you ever wondered about the power of cooperative prayers? They work! Many of us as Christians would rather hide the fire burning beneath our clothes because we are scared of people seeing the problems we have. We want to paint the perfect picture and keep up appearances; hence we fail to seek out those who can pray for and with us when our morale is low. Stop believing you don’t need other people to pray for you. In Acts 12, Peter was detained; his morale was probably low, and he’d probably submitted himself to an untimely death. But there were people praying for him at home! People who ushered his miraculous release through their prayers! You need people who will pray for you wholeheartedly!
Myth Three: You need to listen to the counsel of ‘holy men’.
One fact: No man is holy! No man is a spokesperson for God except God has appointed him so, and even then, many men and women cannot resist their human or logical element. Sometimes, we get discouraged from our paths of prayer by those we look up to. They tell us some miracles are impossible; they could have only happened in bible times. They tell us if God has not yet responded, perhaps it is time to stop praying and move on. There is nothing like moving on from prayer. God can afford everything you need. All you need to do is ask persistently!
Myth four: Crying is not a prayer
Based on personal experience, I beg to differ. Yes, God says we should ask, but God also feels it when we are so hurt, we cannot speak. God knows every thorn in our flesh, and every pain our hearts feel. There are times when we are too overcome to speak, so we break down in tears and cry our eyes out. Believe it or not, God knows, and ‘hears’ those tears!
The truth is that it is impossible to have a breakthrough without prayer. Sometimes, your prayers might be answered without you having to fast and sweat, but sometimes, you need to get up in the middle of the night when your panic attacks start threatening and pray fervently! There is nothing prayer cannot fix, because God can afford every single thing you want.
Any myths you’d like to share?
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