Stop Praying, Start Working

In the prayer room one of these nights; I was “scabashing” as usual. I would do this one-hour everyday at least for about three years. It was great, great experience - so much spiritual growth, I got to realize and experience first-hand what believers authority meant.

I had outgrown petty sicknesses; eternal yoke of poverty had been broken. Miracles became a norm for me. I saw it happen so frequently that I got used to it. God is good. Above all, I received the certified true copy of my salvation and everything was smooth. I never wanted it to end.

So today, I had an interesting conversation with Mr. Pacqueens Irabor - the inventor of “lovepreneurship”, founder of N.A.M.E. Foundation - an organization helping to promote the act of Caring, Giving and Sharing in Nigeria. His experience as the State Manager of Bank of Industry may have helped him see Nigeria for what it truly is. He said something that shocked me; “Stop Praying for Nigeria” - he said. He continued by saying, “We need more of the people of light to come out and shine out the darkness in every corners of Nigeria”.

It resonated with an experience I had that particular night in the prayer room - after about 30 mins, still on the one-hour watch; I heard the voice say… “Go and work!” instructing me to leave the prayer room and go and do some work. I would have thought that must be the devil. Abi who would have thought God would tell his child to “leave his presence” and go do some “canal work”?

But that voice was familiar, it was the same one, which handed me the confirmation of my salvation. My logical (binary) mind was quick to try to deduce that it was either the Spirit of God speaking to me or at the worst, it was the devil that had been leading me all these while. Yes, the Bible taught us to “try all spirits” too; so I did. It turned out; it has been God leading me all along. My journey was like that we read out in Psalm 23.

Over time, I found out there was so much I could accomplish being a prayer warrior as a Christian. But there was so much more I could do with my earthly work. I also found my calling didn’t need for me to pray more than I do earthly work. I found that a lot of prayers had gone ahead of me. A lot of people had prayed for me, just so I could do my work with so much of unwavering strength.

But why do we tend to want (or think we need to) pray more when we ought to work? I traced it back to our nature as humans, being a creature of worship. We are wired to worship anything that works - so because I prayed for money and I got it, I want to pray every time I need money. Meanwhile, it is the plan of God for me to work for money and then help those who are still in bondage of poverty.

I also found that it was in the plan of God that I embarked on that spiritual prayer exercise - praying fervently, fasting a lot of times and experiencing heaven on earth. I wish for every believer to try to attain this level of spirituality. But to also see this as not the destination, but a path on the highway to the destiny God has for them. It is the plan of God for men of light to come out and shine the light of God in every dark corners of the world. Showing the world, a glimpse of the kingdom of God. Christians will not get to do this in the prayer room but in the workplace and every other part of their everyday life.

I've stopped praying for a lot of things. Not because I got tired of praying, but because I have seen in the mirror the answer to those prayers. Rather, I have started working to match the man in front of the mirror with what he sees in the mirror – being that man God wants me to be.

Now, this message is not directed for everyone. If you have been called to pray, then your work is to pray. For those called into the intercessory ministry or pastoring - praying would be the business God has put in your hands. It would be an error for someone who is called into another work praying more than working on what God has placed in his/her hands.

Am I saying Christians shouldn’t pray? Well, far from it; the fire of a Christian who doesn’t pray will soon die. But then there are a lot of concepts to prayer - the simplest is it being a communication channel to God. Speaking to God and hearing back from him is the foundational benefit of prayers. So every believer must know how to talk to God and what he/she needs to do to hear back from Him. Once you have attained this level, what is next is to service it however allows you to also function well in the work God has placed in your hands.

So what prayers have I stopped? I have stopped praying for everything God has embedded in me its answers. Through my journey, I had found out the kind of god I am to the world, having received life from God and with His light shone on me - I now have the responsibility to shine in the world. I have stopped praying for money, God makes money so I now also make money. I stopped praying for my country - Nigeria; God has a government - a kingdom in heaven that I am part of, I will set up my own here on earth like that one He has in heaven. God heals the sick; I will heal them here whether by laying hands or ensuring they have the right medical treatments. If we remove all these petty prayers from our list, we would lead better lives as Christians and lead more people to Christ. Selah!