Many Christians today do not really know how to pray and get result from God. Many have developed ulcer due to ignorance. Many have backslide because they felt God is not attending to their prayers while some Christians are even praying wrongly.

It reminds me of a man who was a devoted child of God. After he got married, he had little delays in having a child. The marriage was just 3 years old. Unfortunately, he backslide due to that small challenges and one of his friends introduced him to an herbalist in Ijebu Ode. He was on his way to Ijebu Ode when he read one of my online messages titled : “we are in the world of challenges “. After reading that message inside the car on his way from Lagos to Ijebu Ode to see the herbalist, he chatted me on facebook messenger and explained his ordeal to me immediately for counseling.

All I observed was that he was suffering from ignorance. He doesn’t know the 5 pillars of prayer of which patience is one of them. He couldn’t wait for God. He has no one to guide him. Just 3 years of childlessness, he lost his salvation. That will be the second time he will be visiting the herbalist in Ijebu – Ode before he came across my message online.

Thank God he hearken to my advice and I was able to stop him from that journey.

Today, many are suffering from the same fate because they are ignorance of the five pillars of prayer namely : Faith, Obedience, Step, Determination and patience.

Faith

Bible advises us to ask everything we are asking God to do for us in faith and not waiver in our request (James 1:6) . Anyone that doubt is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. So when praying, we must have faith in the capability and ability of God to do which we asked. The story of Abraham, Elijah, are good biblical examples. In Nigeria, we have many people who had exhibited the faith they have in God. I was in Ore last week Wednesday when a pastor told me how one pst Babatunde Iyanda in Okitipupa just held the hand of a man who was paralysed by stroke and commanded the sick man to stand up and start walking in the name of Jesus Christ without any doubt and the man who couldn’t walked for 4 days stood up and started working. This is a good example of a man that carries the faith of God. Your prayer cannot go to Heaven if you have no faith. Please take note henceforth to always have faith when embarking on any prayer.

Obedience

If you are praying and you don’t listen to instruction or obey God, you will be wasting your time. Such prayer is an exercise in futility. Deuteronomy 28:1 says that it shall only come to pass if thou shall hearken diligently unto the voice of God to do whatever He commands you to do. It means nothing happens without obedience to God’s instructions. Everything is not fasting or vigil. Some may be obedience to simple instructions. The story of my life is a good example of this. You have heard my story on how I got born again without any preacher. I was afflicted by the kingdom of darkness and efforts to get delivered prove abortive. I have run to many places without solution. It was when I became helpless and was rejected by people as many were dodging me and were running away from me that the spirit of God told me in my house while I was on the bed that I should go to a church and the name of the church was given as MFM. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t even know that the regional headquarters of the church mentioned to me was in the same location where I was residing then. How could I even know when I don’t have a particular religion then. I go to church once in a year and that is always on the 31st of every December and I will visit church 15 mins to enter into the new year only to shout happy New Year. But I obeyed the instructions and went to MFM that faithful day. Fortunately for me, it was the week of their monthly deliverance programme. That was how I got delivered. I attended about 7 different deliverance programs to be sured I have being freed. The rest became history. So, your case maybe an instruction to fast, hold some vigils or bless the work of God etc. Everyone cannot have the grace of hearing from God Himself. He can send your Pastor , or send anybody. God could even send a mad man to lead you on what to do. If you are not obedience , you will be wasting your time praying endlessly. This is part of what people don’t know. Your solution may be ordinary counselling. I hope you know this today.

Taking Step

This is the third stage among the 5 pillars of prayer. When you have prayed, have faith and obey God, the next thing is to take step. You all know the story of Elisha in (2nd kings 2:1-14 ) on how he got the double portions of Elijah. If you don’t know, please go and read the story. He took steps by following Elijah everywhere he goes. His case was like the snail and its shell that can’t be separated. Even despite Elijah’s plans on Elisha to prevail on him not to follow him up and down, Elisha refused to obey. He took steps and succeeded at the end to get what he wanted from God through Elijah. A good example of this in Nigeria today is Senator Saraki and Senator Ikweremadu. The duo became Senate President and deputy president of the Senate of the federal Republic of Nigeria because they took steps even when their party was not happy about such steps and such feat has never happened in Nigeria before where a ruling party and opposition party jointly presented the Senate President and deputy president respectively. Many of us will not take step after prayers. Many will not take step. Many will still be waiting for God to take step for them. And when such prayer doesn’t receive answer, they keep blaming God. I hope you will learn from this.

Determination

This is the fourth stage among the five pillars of prayer. We all know the story of Samson and Delilah in (Judges 16: 6-18) on how Delilah captured Samson and handed him to the Philistines due to determination. After several attempts base on determination, Delilah succeeded in capturing Samson. If you are praying, you exhibit faith, you obey God, and took step, you must also be determined to get result. Failure must not be an excuse. President Buhari is a good example of this. He determined to become Nigeria president since 1999 and after several attempts, he succeeded in 2015. Your prayer is not complete without your determination. Hope you now know this.

Patience

At the edge of breakthrough, many lost their patience and as such, they lost their expected blessings. Prayer is not complete without patience. Jacob served Laban for seven years because of Rachael (Gen 29:20) and the Bible said, the seven years was like a few days to Jacob because of the love he has for Rachael. But because he exercised patience, he got what he wanted. Many lost the battle due to impatience with God. Many have backslide due to our impatience with God. We all know the story of gov Olusegun Mimiko. He contested election and won but the mandate was given to someone else. He refused all the federal appointments offered him and decided to have patience by pursuing the battle in the Law court. He rejected several option of violence but he imbibed the spirit of patience . After two and half years of court case, he won and was declared as the governor of Ondo State. The rest became history. Many lost out at the edge of their success because they couldn’t wait for God. If you have all the four pillars of prayer and you miss patience, your prayer might still be hanging in the balance. Devil may lure you not to wait for God anymore after seeing that your success is around the corner. Many lost out because of impatience.

I don’t really know where you are guilty. Don’t really know where you have missed it. I don’t know what made you to lost your relationship with God. Who knows whether the reason answers did not come quickly for that prayer was because you missed one of the five pillars of prayer.

Today, God has just used me to open your understanding and educate your ignorance. You must confess your sin now and repent of them. If your life needs rededication, please do repent now and rededicate your life. Accept Jesus Christ and confess Him. He is the only one who could help you out of that problem.

Say : Lord Jesus, I am sorry for my sin. Forgive me. (confess your sin) I accept you today as my Lord and Saviour, come into my life and remain there forever. Amen.