EXERTING THE SPIRITUAL PRESSURE OF PRAYER

Mat 26:36: "Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder."


The garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus spent part of His final night, has particular significance because it was not only an olive grove, but also the location where olives were pressed into oil. Gethsemane derives from the words Geth and Seman-both meaning oil. Jesus took them to this garden when He was about to be arrested to teach them the essentiality of prayer to lift burdens and to birth the purpose of God. Through prayer, God pressed a man and through the process made him discover His eternal purpose for his life which will be a blessing to humankind. Unless we give ourselves to the life of prayer, we won't be able to come to an understanding of the intent of God our living and how we can follow His purpose for our lives. It is through the life of prayer that God will deal with self-life in us and gives us a new perspective and reason for living, which is to please God. No man gives himself to a life of prayer that will not be sold out to God to obey Him, serve Him, and be loyal always to Him.


When Jesus saw the burden of the pain He was about to face on the cross He was troubled and went to God in prayer to help Him so that He will be able to have the strength to carry on. He said, "My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”. Matthew 26:39. Jesus' spirit was willing to carry the cross to save us, but His flesh was weak to follow because of the death that is involved. But through many prayers, His heart was strengthened to be crucified. He said "My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, let your will be done." We must pray always so that we will not be unwilling to follow the will of God because of the discomfort to our human nature that is involved in the process. Just like olives must be pressed for oil to be extracted, so is the exercise of prayer. Prayer is a spiritual pressure that is exerted towards God by faith to lift burdens, solve problems, and birth destinies, purposes, and visions of God. When a woman that is heavy with a child is about to be delivered, she will be told by the doctor in the delivery room to push for the safe delivery of her child. But if she refuses and wants the baby to be born by himself without doing anything about it, sooner or later the baby will eventually die inside her womb. Unless there is pressure from us by praying, none of our problems will be solved and not one of the wills of God that He planned for our lives will be fulfilled. There must be prayer pushed by faith from the earth for the kingdom of God to come upon us and for us to be able to follow the righteousness of God. When the heart is burdened, or troubled, when we have demands to meet or face adversity; prayer must be exercised towards God for them to be solved. That is why the scriptures enjoyed us to cast our burden upon the Lord, for He cares for us. 1 Peter 5:7. God is a burden bearer or a burden lifter. When we cast our burdens, afflictions, or troubles upon Him, He received them from us and took care of them for us. A burden that is truly cast upon God will not remain in our hearts to carry again, but our hearts will be lifted and filled with rest and peace.


The place of prayer is where God crushes the tendency in us to yield to the flesh and creates room for us by grace to obey Him from the heart. Prayer helps our spirit man to be freed from the control of the flesh to obey the will of God. Unless we give ourselves to prayer always, the flesh will have control over our lives. The temptations are lurking around, so we must watch and pray always so that we will not unpreparedly enter or fall into temptation. As we prepared for success in our endeavours so we must be prepared also not to fall into sin, by watching and praying. One of the reasons why we need to pray always is that we will be strengthened to be able to say no to sin and yes to righteousness when temptations come. If you don't pray, you will fall. There are temptations around which are targeting us to sway us from our holy living and right standing with God. And it is the grace of God, His presence, and the power of God that is released through prayer that will strengthen our hearts to be able to stand by faith without giving in to the devil.


Pastor Samson Adelanke

Twitter:@samsonadelanke



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