OVER the years, the devil has been replacing the preaching of the Gospel by directing time and energy to unsteady preachers to attack each other. One says he or she is the true servant and the other one says the same. I am not denying the direction of Scripture to rebuke and expose falsehood. However, above everything, I am more interested in putting truth across so that darkness will be displaced by the glorious light of the Gospel.
We are still teaching prayer. Previously we said that God the Father is interested in our heart in prayer. Prophecy had promised the New Covenant in Ezekiel 36:26-27, “[26] A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. [27] And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” Jesus has translated us from servants of the Law written on stones to sons and daughters relating with Him through softened heart.
We relate with the Father in Truth and Spirit. God is interested in salvation and truth. 1 Timothy 2:4 points out, “Who [God] will [desires to] have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” My brief here is the truth part of it. There is chaff we have to separate from the wheat while we wait for the final day of harvest to draw a clear line between wheat and tares.
Let us reconcile some issues in this instalment before we talk about praying in the spirit next week. Under the New Covenant, we pray in the name of Jesus. Let me use different erroneous scenarios. One preacher comes and commands healing in the name of God and multitudes get healed.
Another preacher to one congregation prays a long prayer for healing in the name of Jesus and no one gets healed. There are many factors that could be at play but I want to restrict myself to the fact that God is interested in devotion, allegiance and loyalty.
Someone may be in prayer with her or his heart so deeply in communion with God but not so educated. Let us read Jude 1:20, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,” There are levels in the spiritual realm when you are praying in tongues and you only notice that you have been in prayer for a whole day. This could be the one who prays in the name of God and the Father sees the heart and people get healed.
Biblical advice is that he or she should further education so that we do not have error in the Body of Christ.
The meticulous, articulate and quintessential preacher may not have a devoted prayer life and his or her prayers are just mental with no heart-to-heart fellowship with the Father.
- GRDC in corruption allegations
- Divine insight: Secrets about prophetic timelines
- Grace tidings: Do you understand what it means to be holy?
- Katai fails to make the cut but …
Keep Reading
God speaks. We said prayer is dialogue not monologue. Please allow one example as you know I refrain using myself as an example. In my early years as a student of the Bible, I was asked to teach at a cell group of about 10 people somewhere in Harare. I spent the day in Bible study, meditating and praying. Before I left for the place, I went out of our house strolling in an open space. I began to hear the voice of God. Among many things, He told me to tell a certain lady fully described that her leg was healed. I was still young in faith and hesitated to declare it. After the service I was ushered out by the pastor and a couple. The lady said that she had had a leg problem for long and during preaching she felt something like soothing ice in the leg and was healed.
I am grateful to our Father for teaching me this so early in life. We can as well say that we build our faith by praying as prompted by the Holy Spirit and from the heart. Determine your time and also God Who gifts you does not go to school for you.
One preacher may say; satan, I bind and chain you for ever and plunge you into hell never to return again. A demon goes out and the congregation celebrates and it becomes viral that satan was chained by preacher X so the church rests thinking no more satan around.
These charismatic gifts are given by God to the church by His Grace. We do not work for them. It is up to us to practice and exercise them devoting time to the Giver in prayer.
When someone who carries the presence of God walks in, you do not guess, your spirit agrees to the Holy Spirit. Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling and present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. May Grace and peace be multiplied to you through knowledge.
- All Bible quotations are from the King James Version unless otherwise stated.
- Fellowship with Pastor Makarimayi on Facebook and on www.twitter.com/PEMAKARIMAYI.
