Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. John 5:19

In the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13), Jesus began His model prayer with these two words “our father”. This was meant to call our attention to the basis of the exercise of prayer-our relationship with God. Genesis 1:27 recorded that God created man in His own image and Psalm 82:6, refers to followers of God as gods “I have said, you are gods; you are all sons of the most High”. In contrast, when a group of people failed to grasp and believe what Jesus was saying, He described them as sons of their father, the devil (John 8:44).

Children are expected to exhibit the traits of their parents most of the time at least. So, as believers in Christ, we are not left in the dark regarding how to deal with situations in our lives. We are simply expected to exhibit our father’s traits in dealing with them. In our main text, Jesus showed His disciples the basis for things He did. He copied what He saw His father did. Repetition, they say, is the mother of skills. God does not want us to reinvent the wheels, He only wants us to observe and repeat things we can see Him do. The good thing is, unlike some earthly fathers, God does not have any secret, He made His ways of doing things plain to us so we can see and do the same.

One may ask that if this whole thing is this simple, why so many complications in the church and why so little result sometimes? My simple response will be found in the story of serpent and Eve. Eve and her husband, Adam, had everything clearly spelt for them until she was prompted by the devil to be curious and take a second look at God’s instructions. The devil asked her, “Has God indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden”? (Genesis 3:1). The devil did this to trigger her curiosity. Knowing well that curiosity precedes doubt. The question was meant to question the integrity of God and then try to make an effort to substitute God’s idea with her own. Falling to the devil’s trick, she took a second look and began to see that the fruit looked good for food. It’s the same today every time we become curious and question God’s promise, we begin to see different things and complications are inevitably introduced.

Until children begin to have their own experience, they mostly believe that their parents are right. They don’t believe there is anything their parents can’t do. So, they ask for anything. If their parents say yes, it is ok. If not, they move on. In the same way, God wants us to relate with Him like children relate with their parents.

For the purpose of this piece, I will make an attempt to bring to our attention few of God’s ways as recorded in the scriptures and encourage us to copy and paste to our lives. No complications!

God is not anxious

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

Anxiety is an energy drainer. It kills your enthusiasm. It is rooted in fear. Fear that something unpleasant will happen. It makes you not want to even try and when you try you run at the sight of the first challenge. It is one of the attributes of losers. Philippians 4:6-7 warns us not to be anxious but to bring every situation to God in prayer. Also, God asked us to come boldly to the throne of grace. He charged us to come with full confidence that he will attend to our needs. Brethren, let us not allow anxiety to deny us of our birthrights.

God believes every word He spoke will come to pass

So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:11

Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Mark 11:23

The key to a successful prayer is not in the content of our prayers but in the content of our beliefs. You may spend eternity praying, if you fail to believe that things you said in your prayer will come to pass, it’s a waste of time. As believers, we must train ourselves to believe that those words that come out of our mouths in prayers will happen. To be able to do this, we need to ensure that the condition of our heart aligns with God’s. This is key to our victory. Believe that what you say in prayer will happen and it will.

God speaks His desires not is fears

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light Genesis 1:1-3

In the text above when God saw the unpleasant situation on earth. It was formless, empty and darkness was everywhere. He did not waste any time addressing these unpleasant situations. He simply spoke His desire into being. What he wanted was light instead of darkness and He simply spoke light into being. What then happens? Darkness disappeared. It is Ok to sometimes address some forces of darkness directly, the point is, don’t focus on them. Whatever you focus your attention on becomes bigger. So, focus your attention on God and on Jesus that lives on the inside of you. Lastly, cultivate the habit of speaking your desire and not your fears. For example, if there is stuff you don’t want in your life, command them to leave and then spend time to create what you want. Remember, there can be no vacuum.

I encourage you to search the scripture and sharpen your expectation in order to see other attributes of God and copy. It’s that simple.

Let’s Pray

Father, thank you for revealing your ways to us. Thank you for Jesus our redeemer and example. Thank you for the Holy Spirit our helper and teacher. Thank you for the access we have to you through the blood of Jesus. Lord, we bow before your throne today. Take all the glory.

Lord, we receive the grace to take you at your word. Grace to believe you without questioning your integrity. Grace to rest on your promises alone. We receive the grace to focus on You and not on our circumstances.

As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations. “He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not. Romans 4:17

It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken. “Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, 2 Corinthians 4:13

Now, begin to “do it like your father”. Begin to speak your desire into 2021 and the rest of your life. With your word, take out what you don’t want and create what you do want.

So shall it be in Jesus name.

Rotimi A. Owoade