Why and How to start Paving way in prayer

1 Samuel 13

¹² then I said, ‘The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord.’ Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.”

¹³ And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. ¹⁴ But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”

The context of the scripture above is very intense. The king had waited on the man of God to come and make an offering unto the Lord, so that the Israelites could go to war. The prophet had not arrived at the expected time, and things were making a turn for the worst.

This is where that saying “God helps those who help themselves would begin to be thrown around.” Yet at the core of this is obedience. The Lord rewards those who are obedient to his will. Obedience is greater than sacrifice. The Lord would rather we become a people who as he asks, than a people who give everything. Are you seeking your own solutions outside of his will because you have become tired of waiting on the Lord?

There was ample justification for what Saul was doing here. As a commander in chief, he was serving his army. Yet, he was disobeying the Lord. Prayer is and must always be the backbone of everything that we do, no matter what. Our challenge should always be to become a people who will not go anywhere without the Lord, a people who would sooner lose with the Lord on their side than win without him.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but at the end of it is destruction. As a prayer warrior, you want to seek the way that is right before the Lord. You want to go after the way that makes no sense to man, but does to God.

As prayer warriors, we are called to warfare, but also to spend time at the Lord’s feet. For this is where we glean his will, pick up his vision and direction.

The greatest gift you will give yourself while going through this course is true reflection. Look at yourself with searching eyes. It is easy to see the goodness in ourselves, while missing the wrong things. King David acknowledges this human flaw, and asks that the Lord would search his heart. Let him search your heart today, and remove and wickedness.

Psalm 127

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

It is very easy to get carried away in doing, and neglect the presence of the Lord. We are called to be doers of the word, but before we are doers we ought to bathe in the word and in his presence, consistently.

My greatest fear in ministry is to reach a point of comfort within the numbers and other measurable metrics that define the success of our work, while losing the immeasurable power that is God’s leadership and presence within it all.

That is a fear that should build principles that govern the way that we approach things. Lord, may I never find comfort in my own strength when it comes to my marriage, when it comes to my relationship with my children. Let it all be done in you and through you.

“If you wait for trouble to show up before you pray, you are already in trouble.” The words of artist Tyrone “TWyse” Smack.

Perhaps the one who embodies this characteristic of paving way in prayer in Christ himself. The bible recounts that he would rise before his disciples and spend some time in prayer before they started their day.

I am inclined to believe that the miracles that were seen in his ministry were a result of wars that had already been won in the prayer closet. In that secret place where he would go and be alone with the Lord before stepping out to meet with men.

The audacity of faith in built up in communion with the Lord. When you have been with him, and know that he is walking through situations with you, you can dare to believe that 2 fish and 5 loaves can feed 5000+ people. Make it a point that your feet would never step where the Lord hasn’t ordered them to. Jesus was not surprised by betrayal, not even from the ones he ate and ministered with.

Prayer opens your eyes to things that you may ordinarily miss. He went on to pave way for the hardest part of his journey through prayer. While the disciples slept, he stayed awake and prayed. The difference here is where they were in their journeys. He was about to be crucified. Don’t relax on the basis of others being relaxed, your yoke is unique, your journey is unique.

You will find later that when their time came, they stayed up and prayed for Peter when he was in prison. The same people who couldn’t stay up at their master’s critical point stayed up for Peter’s because they learned a lesson that you and I shouldn’t have to learn from experience.

“God is not obligated to finish what he doesn’t start with you,” Dr Myles Munroe

The Lord may do it out of his grace, but he is not obligated to finish off your projects. However, when you start something with the Lord, you are guaranteed to have him to carry you through it, right to the end. That is in his nature, he is a God of completion, he doesn’t do half projects.

He is a finisher of all he starts!

Be it ministry or any other aspect of your life, pave way in prayer. Let’s start paving way in prayer.

This module is part of our Prayer Tools prayer course. It is available free of cost. You can start it here