PRAYER IS NOT THE ‘MASTER’ KEY.

—30/07/24. The title of this article is funny and ironic. Mostly because in my second book, All you have to be is Light, I wrote that prayer is the master key.

Growth happens gradually. I have come to a realisation that does not negate the idea of prayer being the master key but broadens it. It is that realisation I have come to share. 

N.B. – I use the words Counsel, Instruction and Word interchangeably. They mean the same thing in the context of this article. 

The importance of Instruction 

The ‘purpose’ question never gets old, no matter how often it is asked. Even people who feel like they have it all figured out can get to a point where they question everything they have done and thought they knew. For this reason, a ‘why’ is non-negotiable. When push comes to shove and you wonder why you should get out of bed, your ‘why’ stretches a hand for you to hold on to–so you can get your feet on the ground once more.

For us believers, the height of our existence, therefore, is hearing from GOD. If indeed we live unto HIM and not ourselves (2 Corinthians 5:15), then our ‘why’ comes from HIM. If we cannot hear HIM, how can we receive this ‘why’? Every other thing we do, the small and big decisions we have to make daily, is made easier or harder by the level of vagueness of our purpose.

The clearer our ‘why’ and the more we understand it, the easier our decision-making process becomes. 

– Maranatha

For example, if you have to think twice about telling a lie as a Christian then you might not understand GOD’s purpose for your life—which in sum is to glorify HIM (Revelations 4:11).  

In John 10:4-5, JESUS asserts: “When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will never follow a stranger; instead they will run away from him, because they don’t know the voice of strangers.”

For the sheep (us), our existence is strongly linked to the Shepherd’s Voice that carries HIS Instructions. He tells the sheep when to go and come, and when to eat or when to sleep. There is a strict dependency on HIM. If I were a wolf trying to get the sheep away from the Shepherd, the smartest way to do this would be to make them deaf. If they cannot hear HIM, they cannot receive HIS Instructions required for their sustenance—they cannot LIVE. 

This is why 1 John 5:3 says:

“For this is what love for God is: to keep his commands. And his commands are not a burden,”

And Psalm 119:105 insists: 

“Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.”

Then Psalm 19:7 confirms:

“The instruction of the Lord is perfect, renewing one’s life; the testimony of the Lord is trustworthy, making the inexperienced wise.”

If you were on life support, in critical condition at a hospital, and receiving oxygen—is that oxygen a burden? Perhaps looking at the Instructions of GOD in this same way will help us understand the importance of GOD’s Instructions and the gravity of disobedience. If you unplugged a person’s life support, it would yield death. 

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭14‬:‭12‬ ‭says:

“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, But the end thereof are the ways of death.”

Are you walking the narrow way or do you have a hidden death wish?

Why do we pray? 

In The Gospel of Acquired Taste, I wrote that we humans have done ourselves a huge disservice by reducing the power of prayer to mere petition. I also wrote that the best way to come before GOD was to take up a position of emptiness, like an empty glass cup, ready to receive only what HE gives. 

When we pray, what we’re asking for is GOD’s Counsel on a matter; like the Shepherd directing the sheep on where to go and what to do. GOD’s Counsel is the solution to the problems that plague us (so we must obey after receiving Counsel or the problem remains unsolved). 

Prayer in itself couldn’t possibly be the master key then, because we often pray the wrong prayers—and any key couldn’t possibly open up any door. Only the right key opens the right door—only the right Counsel from GOD can solve your problem. If we stood in front of a door, desiring it to open, prayer would be like approaching that door. Prayer would be saying, ‘Ok, I want to open this door.’ This is crucial because many of us think we want to solve a problem but don’t do anything about it—we don’t pray or seek GOD.

The beauty of HIS Counsel

The Written Word of GOD (the Bible) is available for us as our primary source of HIS Counsel. When we worry about the future, for example, this is what happens: Say you have N10,000 but you need N20,000 to make red tomato stew to save your mother’s life (please avoid the absurdity of this scenario and focus on the analogy *wink*). 

What happens is that your mind has gone into the future on a path formulated by the solutions that you can provide (in your own strength) – this includes your N10,000, the N2,000 you can get when you sell your phone and the N1,000 you can borrow from your sister = N13,000. When your mind gets to the end of that road, which cannot lead to the solution you need because the money is incomplete, it comes back into the past (which is currently your present) and informs you that based on your current capacity, this is a problem you cannot solve. This is what leads to anxiety; we’ve gotten to the end of ourselves. 

What the Word does for us is that it reminds us; “Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭CSB‬‬). This restores our peace! Believe in the integrity of the Word, it carries TRANSFORMATIVE power.

However, the best part is that our LORD hasn’t stopped giving specific instructions to us (HIS revealed Word) for our individual lives and seemingly unique challenges. 

Consider that: 

• JESUS is a personal Saviour—HE is tailored to us individually (John 4:29).
• The Holy Spirit is given to you and me as a Comforter so we are not left alone (John 16:7).
• GOD is not so small to utilise a one-size-fits-all approach with HIS children. HE knows the hairs on your head! (Luke 12:7). 

GOD is very specific. Know this. Accept this. 

The many faces (and power) of HIS Counsel

When we seek GOD out, it is for HIS Counsel so that we receive the Word or Instruction HE has already sent out concerning something. Then, we hold on to that Word as we face that challenge or issue. This is because situations will only respond and be resolved by the Instruction that GOD has given to them.  

A very clear example;

The children of Israel did not know this but GOD’s command to the Wall of Jericho was that after the Israelites had marched around six times and on the seventh count blasted the trumpet, it was to fall. Imagine they had marched around only five times? The wall wouldn’t fall. It would not be a matter of what was fair or just; just like you would not blame your fridge for not freezing water if you kept the water in it for less than the amount of time it would need to freeze water. 

Simple mathematics, eh? Not to us coconut-head humans. 

The wall knew that the seven-time march around with the trumpet blast was the one thing to make it fall but the Israelites didn’t—not until they sought GOD out and HE gave them the Counsel. Now things equalised – the wall and the people knew what GOD had said. They used GOD’s Counsel on the wall and it fell, as it should. 

It’s like when a magician puts a spell on something and only that thing and the magician knows the word to unlock it. Without the cure word, you cannot unlock it either. Think of Ali Baba and the forty thieves too, ‘Open Sesame!’

If you do not get it, here it is in simple terms: every situation or challenge in your life has a Word that unlocks it. Every riddle in your life has a Counsel from GOD that solves it. The problem is that the problem knows what you don’t know. The problem knows the Word of the Lord to it but if you don’t know that same Word, you will suffer in prayer because prayer alone is not what opens locked doors, it is GOD’s Counsel in tandem with your obedience to it. Anyone can pray, but not everyone hears God’s Counsel not to talk of obeying it. 

It is when we obey that we align with what GOD has already said about a matter. Sometimes, problems persist because we do not know what GOD has said about a situation or have not given GOD’s Instructions to these problems—we have not obeyed. 

– Maranatha

The sun, moon and stars have a Word from GOD to arise daily and shine. Hebrews 1:3 lets us know that it is the Word of our LORD JESUS that sustains all things! Everything that was made was made by the Word (John 1:3), so of course! When Joshua prayed, GOD’s Counsel was peace to Joshua and a withdrawal of an aspect of HIS Word to the sun so that it rose but delayed to set.

HIS Counsel is the wisdom of the ages. GOD’s Counsel is HIS Word concerning anything. Without it, we are subject to the elements and every turning wind. Coming into the Counsel of GOD is the only way we retain dominion. The animals could be brought to Adam to name (Genesis 2) because there was an alignment of both man and animal to GOD’s Counsel for their creation and co-existence. Sin corrupted that but we see in the case of Daniel that even the lions received the Command of the Lord, acting against corruption, because of Daniel’s obedient trust. So will it be in eternity when a boy plays with a cub (Isaiah 11:8).

Situations respond only to GOD’s Counsel and Word. HE created them. HE has their mumu button (what makes them work) and He can give you if you ask. It’s like Rachel telling Jacob to cook for his father to receive Esau’s blessings (Genesis 27). That was her counsel because she knew her husband so well and what would make him susceptible to Jacob’s trickery. 

God gave HIS Counsel to Moses concerning the Red Sea and it split (Exodus 14). HE gave HIS Counsel concerning everything that will happen if we believe in JESUS (John 15:7), have we tested the Word and found it to be untrue? 

Give the Word to the wall

If we go back to the beginning (Genesis 1), we notice something peculiar about how GOD relates with creation apart from humanity. HE does not ask questions, HE simply speaks HIS solution. The earth is dark so HE gives the Word for light. It is to Adam that we hear GOD first ask a question in the Bible: ‘Where are you?’ (Genesis 3:9). 

Before this, when GOD brought the animals to Adam to name, it was whatever Adam called them that they became. After the fall, we find ourselves asking our situations questions and this is a sign of mishap. It means we are in the wrong place when we ask ‘But why is life so hard?’ ‘Why are things like this?’ GOD’s design, as we see with Adam naming the animals, is such a synchronicity between HIS Spirit and ours that whatever we do is in alignment with HIM, because there is no obstacle of sin or misalignment of will.

But you cannot give the Word if you don’t know the Word. And the Word comes from God; so, we cannot experience the Word if we don’t know GOD. 

There is a reason why some situations in life don’t bother us; it’s because we understand them. The Word is what gives understanding that makes obedience non-negotiable. Because obedience is only an implementation of our understanding of the Word. It should not be a struggle to obey and if we struggle, there is little or no understanding. Understanding is a possession of the knowledge (awareness) acquired. Wisdom is how we apply what we understand.

You don’t (I hope you don’t) struggle to brush your teeth in the morning even though you might not necessarily love it. Why? Because you understand that your speech would be impeded and your oral health compromised if your mouth is unhealthy. We don’t yet understand what disobedience costs us and that is why we disobey. We don’t see in the spirit to see how we’re killing ourselves. 

Every situation or obstacle is powered by a spirit. These evil spirits will turn around to question us and proceed to laugh at us. Why? They are discerning of whether we carry HIS Name and Counsel or not. Take the sons of Sceva, for example, in Acts 19:11-20. The evil spirit was able to overpower them because it knew that they did not have GOD’s Counsel on the matter. GOD’s Word or Counsel is what gives us authority over situations or issues.

Situations respond only to authority; not tears or tantrums. When the sons of Sceva gave their counsel, it was obvious that it wasn’t from GOD and they were flogged black and blue. When such happens, we begin to go quiet and give room for distress, despair, envy and everything not of GOD because we think ‘Why wasn’t GOD with us?’ ‘Why did my prayer not work?‘ This could have been avoided if we had just sought GOD’s Counsel FIRST.

An illustration from your phone’s password:

A password is the perfect example to explain this. You have a phone with a password on it. The phone represents a situation (perhaps it contains information you need to make a crucial decision) and the password represents the counsel. In this context, prayer would be like picking up your phone with the desire to open it and obedience would be like entering the password once you have it.

Now, whoever wants to unlock your phone cannot do so without your counsel. This is because what the phone recognizes is the authority which is inherent and proven by entering the correct password (counsel). Possession of the counsel (password) shows that you have the authority to unlock and access the phone. That is the only thing that the phone (situation) will respond to. 

To make it clearer:

Challenge – opening the phone (maybe it contains important information you need)
Prayer – the desire to overcome the challenge/open the phone by seeking out the password
Counsel – the password that unlocks the phone
Obedience – entering the password to unlock the phone

Situations don’t look at your face or your loud declarations of sonship. They don’t respond to the loudest ‘Blood of JESUS’ uttered without authority from Counsel. It is even worse when you go the route of self-pity, anxiety and fear because the spirits attached to these negative emotions will throw you a seven-day welcome party that never ends. 

Situations are a lock that can only be opened by the correct key – (your obedience to) GOD’s Counsel.

Back to the password analogy:

If you needed access to my phone, you could fast and pray for 30 days. Either that or you could just ask me for my password. It’s either we’re close enough for me to trust you with that information or we go back to the drawing board and begin to form the relationship required for me to give you access. I could also break protocol to give it to you (in other words, I could have mercy on you).

In the case of the prodigal son, his situation only changed when he came to his senses. GOD’s Counsel to that matter was a change of heart and repentance was his obedience (amongst other things) which was what set him free. For some of us, GOD’s Counsel is forgiveness. To some of us, it is to let go and to others, it is to love and let ourselves be loved. But none of these are possible if we do not know the Word—JESUS. These things only exist outside of ’self’. 

We must learn to give the Word to the wall. Without our obedience, GOD’s Counsel would still stand (Proverbs 19:21) but it will bear no fruit in our individual lives. Imagine Joshua received Instruction about marching around Jericho and he refused to do it, the wall would not budge. 

Another clear example exists in Numbers 14 after the Israelites had mistrusted GOD because of the report from the 10 other spies. When they realised their error, they wanted to make things right and go to attack. GOD, through Moses, told them not to do so at that time because they would be defeated by their enemies if they did. They disobeyed GOD’s Counsel and were severely beaten and routed. 

(Prayer) + GOD’s Counsel + your obedience = Master Key!

I have put prayer in a bracket because sometimes we do not directly seek GOD out before HE gives HIS Instructions on a matter. HE has HIS Will too; the things HE desires to do for our good as a loving Father that HE is. For example, Mary did not ask to bear JESUS. We know this because of her worry and cluelessness at Angel Gabriel’s visit (Luke 1:29, 34). Still, she obeyed GOD’s Counsel nevertheless. 

The ‘Weird’ nature of GOD’s Counsel

Enter the iron gate of Acts 12. Peter was imprisoned and then rescued by an Angel sent by GOD. Acts 12:10 says: “After they passed the first and second guards, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went outside and passed one street, and suddenly the angel left him.”

Read what the bold text says again, ‘which opened to them by itself…’ Pause. This gate could have impeded Peter’s flight from prison but guess what? It did not open up until Peter and the Angel got to it!

This is very important to note because many Christians, including me, like to have all things figured out when it comes to GOD. Where then is the place of trust? The gate did not open until Peter got to it! The Red Sea did not split until the Israelites got to it (Exodus 14). Many times–many, many times–the Counsel of GOD will look foolish when perused with our logical senses (1 Corinthians 1:18-25). We can only trust and obey. We can trust that when we get to the gate, it will open up to us. Maybe the LORD’s Counsel to the iron gate was that it would only open up when Peter showed up!

Another ‘weird’ thing that happens is when we have a need and instead of GOD directly answering it, HE tells us to do something else (seemingly unrelated). It’s because obedience leads us to our answer. 

Israel wants to conquer Jericho and HE asks them to dance. You are asking GOD to provide for you and HE is asking you to give out your last card. You are asking GOD to heal your brother and HE is asking you to always emanate joy and be the light whenever you step out. 

Sometimes the connection to victory is clear and sometimes it is not but we have to do it regardless, because it is GOD and HE knows what you don’t. As Daniel was being sent to the lion’s den he abided by GOD’s Counsel to trust HIM (Daniel 6:23)! Even if you do not glean victory in the way you would have liked from it, obedience and the peace that comes from pleasing GOD is your reward.

But here is a logic that I stumbled upon that helps me trust better:

Philippians 2:13 says that: “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”

Take note of two elements of this blessing:

1. to WILL and
2. to DO.

When GOD puts the desire in your heart to do something, HE also gives you the ability to do it. If you get to a point where you have the desire but no ability or the ability but no desire, then you must wait and seek GOD’s face again. 

One without the other makes the formula incomplete. It might not yet be time, or there might be ongoing character development required to handle the answer you seek. Sometimes, GOD may want you to grow into the version of yourself that can sustain the answers you seek.

Sometimes we think we’re ready for something and HE does not give us. Other times, HE gives and HE takes it back. It may be that HE is calling our attention to something that needs fixing first. It could also be HIS Will not to give that thing to you. An example is the prayer of David to save the child of his adultery. Even after David cried and prayed the child died (1 Samuel 12:15-23).

I remember thinking I was ready to print Staying Soft, my third book, only for my dad to randomly pick up the sample copy from my table and spot an error almost immediately. GOD is a GOD of perfection, more than any human perfectionist. It is HIS glory and Name on the line when you represent HIM. 

Listen for HIM. Trust HIM. Wait on HIM.

The conclusion of the matter 

Indeed, everything we need for godliness has been given to us (2 Peter 1:3). Will you accept that you are not alone? HE is here with you. 

God’s Counsel + our obedience IS the Master Key to unlocking any situation.

Sometimes, GOD bypasses our participation (through obedience), to glorify HIMSELF. An example of this is every single time that HE has had mercy on you and me. This is despite our bad decisions and intentional disobedience. It’s HIS mercy through miracles, provision and preservation even when we do not deserve it. 

But no son should live like that. Imagine the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) repeating the same mistake every year like a ritual. Imagine him taking his father’s compassion for granted. He wouldn’t be the prodigal son anymore–that would be the King of Egypt with a hardness of heart, and a lack of understanding. Shall we continue with our disobedience that GOD’s mercy abounds? GOD forbid. 

Stop scratching the surface.

It is time to sit at HIS feet and learn of HIS ways. It’s time to take up HIS yoke, knowing intimately what pleases and displeases our LORD (Matthew 11:29). It is time to be true sons and friends, interested in knowing and carrying out the business of our Friend and Father (John 15:15). It is time to go into HIS vineyard to assist with the plentiful harvest that is ongoing (Matthew 9:37-38) as the day of our LORD draws near (1 Thessalonians 5:2-3).

In another article, I will dissect what it means to seek GOD’s Counsel and how to go about it. For now, please share this with someone and support me if you are led to. 

Shalom.  

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