Prayer Is A key, But May Not Be A Master Key

One of the things I learnt from Jim Rohn, the legendary motivational speaker and coach is: learn from life. Learn from the things that happen every day from people’s mistakes,
successes, failures, culture, etc. Simply learn. My aunt was approached by a lady in her church that didn’t have anywhere to stay. She had been putting up with people, but this time no one was willing to take her in. So my aunt took her in and the girl really became wonderful. She would tidy up everywhere and the house sparkled. I simply noticed the difference when I visited. But one thing changed. This lady, who was almost always in every church activity, now didn’t attend any. Even after my aunt scolded her about her coldness towards the things of God, the lady just wasn’t interested.

Then it dawned on me that all the time she was always in every church activity wasn’t really because she loved God; it was simply because she was in lack. Perhaps all her prayer points were for accommodation, and now that God has answered her prayers, there was no need to go to church. Now in my aunt’s house, she could eat whatever she wants. My aunt is an excellent cook. If you want to lose weight, don’t just bother going to her place. It’s impossible to lose weight there. Sometimes when she serves food, I would first snap the food. Her food is simply a delight. It was to this kind of home this lady came, and suddenly all her thirst and desire for church activities vanished. Her problems have been solved, so why go to Church? In the uk, for instance, the oyibos don’t really go to church. Many of the big cathedrals have been converted to mosques or even bought by businesses. The oyibo man doesn’t and will never understand the type of gospel we preach in Nigeria - gospel of things.

I have once said that if Bill Gates were to visit many of our prayer meetings, he might consider himself God because he could answer most, if not all the prayers we make. In this period of recession, the prayer points we receive in Church is for House rent, school fees, etc., and I’m wondering if these things should be Prayer points or Thought points.

Prayer is not the answer to everything. I know we have been raised with that song “Prayer is the Key. Prayer is the master Key…” Yet this song is wrong. Prayer is definitely a key, but not a master key. Prayer does not open every door. There are doors that prayer opens, but definitely not all. What opens ALL doors is Knowledge. I have avoided saying the Word of God for the simple reason that no matter how big your bible is, if you don’t know what is inside and how it applies to you, it’s going to be useless to you. Hosea 4:6 says: My people are destroyed for lack for knowledge. People would rather spend one whole month praying and fasting, but would never spend one hour to think. They would not read.

When God was giving Joshua his marching orders in Joshua chapter 1, I was amazed that all that God focused on was on His Word. He told Joshua: This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate on it day and night, that thou  be careful to observe all that is written in it… If you are preparing for an exam and you do not study, your guess is as good mine - you will fail per excellence. No amount of prayer can deliver a student who refuses to study, from failure. The extent to which you are confident about an exam is the extent to which you have studied and prepared. Of course, you would pray, but your prayers would be for God to remind you all that you read. That actually is the work of the Holy Spirit - to remind us of the things that we learn.

There is no better time to study than now. Now is the time to rethink the way you do your business. Now is the time to learn all there is about your industry. Find out how people survived recession in times past. Find out how you can replicate what they did. You see, success is applicable. It’s a science. 

If you do things in a certain way, you will surely get certain results.