War Room (movie): five Lessons on prayer.

I got the opportunity to watch the movie War Room in January.  Before this, all my friends were talking about it and I couldn’t wait to watch it.  I cried, laughed, cried a little more and was inspired in that order. War Room has been my favorite movie this year.

War room isn’t just about getting you entertained; though it manages to do that, it is also a movie about the power of prayer.

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If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. (2 chronicles 7:14)

Prayer at its most basic level is humility. Its telling God I can’t do this on my own, I need your help. In this verse, He has promised us… if we will humble ourselves…if we will pray, then He will answer us.

From this movie, I gleaned so much on fighting …God’s way and winning battles on my knees

1. This is my favorite place; I call it the war room.

  

She has cleared out her closet and made it into a prayer closet.

When you pray, go into your most private room and, closing the door, pray to your father, who is in secret; and your father, who sees in secret, will reward you in the open. (Matthew 6:6)

A prayer closet is a place that creates an intimate atmosphere where God can come and meet us.  It’s my way of saying “I have made a place for you, come join me.” And every time I enter into this place, He is always there waiting for me to show up. It makes prayer all the more special.

It doesn’t have to be limited to just a room, it could be out in nature maybe a favorite spot by the river, or by the trees. Wherever you feel most comfortable at. That should be your prayer closet.

Make Him a special place in your life and see if He won’t come and fill it.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and him with me. (Revelation 3:20)

2. Victory will not come by accident. It’s intentional and it’s deliberate.

Imagine a soldier who goes to war without preparing. He sure won’t be expecting to bring home the spoils.

To do combat in prayer, one has to develop a strategy for victory.We don’t get into spiritual warfare without a strategy. The enemy will take us out. In prayer, God gives us the strategy for victory as we submit ourselves to Him.

Here is an example,

And the Lord said to Joshua; see I have given Jericho, its king and its mighty men, into your hands.

You shall march around the enclosure. This you shall do for 6 days and on the 7^th day you shall march around the enclosure 7 times and the priests shall blow the trumpets. When you hear the trumpets, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of Jericho shall fall down in its place. (Joshua 6:2-5)

When Joshua followed God’s strategy, he had victory over Jericho.

What an unusual way to fight.  But God doesn’t think like us or work the way that we expect Him to.

I imagine the men going back home and their wives asking,

“Honey what did you do today?”

“Well, we went around the wall of Jericho.”

“Did anything happen?”

“No. nothing happen not even a stone moved.”

It must have looked foolish but on the 7^th time of the 7^th day the wall of Jericho came tumbling down and Israel got their victory.

God will often give us an illogical instruction before a miracle.

Sometimes, you might have to do something that goes against logic but when you trust God and obey, you will see amazing results.

3. Prayer is first and for most surrender. The goal of prayer is never to change God’s mind about what you want. The goal of prayer is to realign your heart with what He wants to do, for His Glory. Prayer changes the person who prays.

This I learnt the hard way. For a period of time I felt called to intercede for my future husband (check it here). It didn’t take long for me to realize that the call to pray was more for me to surrender to God’s plan than it was for him.

Yes, there was a need to stand in the gap for him but before I could do that, God realigned, my heart with his will.

Until we surrender, we will just keep going around the same mountains over and over.

In surrendering our will, we get God’s will for our lives and finally realize we have actually received what we were really looking for all along.

I see prayer as an invitation from God to come and be changed.  He beckons us, “Come and see the way I see things. Come and look through the lenses of my eyes.  Come and look at it from a different perspective.

 We now have a different picture, the people we thought needed changing don’t anymore (if they change its fine if they don’t its fine too) because we saw that a change was needed in us too. The circumstance that we once hated isn’t so bad because our perspective has changed.

Our perception has changed, and we discover it is in our ability to change the valley of weeping into a place of springs.

4. When we pray we get to participate in what God is doing on earth. We become co-laborers with God. He wants us to participate in His plan of drawing people to Himself. He wants us to collaborate with him. What a privilege!

This is what intercession is all about us working together with God to see His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It’s here we learn that we cannot do God’s job and He sure will not do our part.

  We understand the authority given to us, and the responsibility that comes with that authority.

Here is our authority.

Behold I give you authority and power to trample over serpents and scorpions ,and over all the power that the enemy possesses ; and nothing shall in any way harm you. (Luke 10:19)

Here is our responsibility.

I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, the things you don’t allow on earth will be the things that God doesn’t allow. The things you allow on earth will be the things that God allows. (Matthew 16:19)

Now the million-dollar questions.

What are you allowing in your life that you shouldn’t be allowing?

Have you allowed the devil to rule your life?

When you allow strife in your house, you are allowing the enemy to rule. When you allow disease to be in your body, you are allowing the enemy to reign.  When you allow the enemy to destroy relationships that God has ordained for you to have, you are allowing him to rule. When you allow him to steal all your joy, he is indeed reigning in your life.

Get in your prayer closet, release the Authority that God has already given you, and tell the devil to exit from your life. Crying won’t change it, begging God won’t change it; pleading with the devil won’t do it. The only thing that changes it is by releasing your authority on earth.

5. Its in prayer that we learn that sometimes the best gifts is not only the easy times when everything is going our way. The best gifts come to us sometimes, disguised as painful, heart wrenching trouble.

When all you have are questions more than answers; when things seem to be getting worse the more you pray. That’s when God is really up to something because God’s initial goal for us is not to keep us comfortable and contented, but to make us like His Son. We wait for the miracles and the breakthroughs and those are good. However, right in the middle of it, God is looking at us and saying she is looking more and more like my Son.

For those whom He foreknew. He also destined from the beginning to be molded into the image of His Son (to share inwardly His likeness), that He might become the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:29)

The person who cultivates a prayer life, will have victory for a lifestyle.

In the waiting... in the process

If you are anything like me, you don’t like waiting, and you get irritated when you have to wait for anything whether its people, answers or even food in a restaurant.  

Generally, human beings don’t wait well. I would say it’s partly because we live in a world that thrives on convenience. From fast food, fast internet, fast cars, to even fast dates, it’s an endless list of fast everything.

However, in this life there will be times we will have no choice but to wait.

I find myself smack in the middle of a very long season of waiting. In the begininng, I felt like God just halted my life. Gifted with a type A personality; it drove me crazy, I looked for ways out , banged on doors that would not barge!

  Eventually, God whispered, “The more you keep trying to get out of it the longer it will take.”   This got my attention, and I began asking these questions.

 How do I wait well?  How do I wait in a way that my waiting releases results?

“I waited patiently and expectantly for the lord; and he inclined to me and heard my cry.” (Psalms 40:1)

To wait ‘patiently’ means to wait uncomplainingly, long-sufferingly, good-naturedly, unwearyingly and tolerantly.

The psalmist isn’t just waiting patiently, he is also waiting expectantly.

His waiting is not  a passive time lapse filled with meaningless things and moments until the main events arrive. It’s an active process, full of expectation and occupied with making preparations to receive.

 When we understand what it means to wait like the psalmist then our perspectives changes, we no longer slack or try to fill our time with unproductive things. Our waiting becomes productive.

The eagle

Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall lift up their wings and mount up as the eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31)

 God uses the analogy of soaring like an eagle here for a reason.

The eagle is a remarkable bird in that it lives very different from other birds. Whenever a storm approaches, an eagle doesn’t find itself a hiding place. Instead, it flies to a high place and waits for the storm.  When the storm hits it spreads its wings wide and allows the wind of the storm to lift it higher. By the strength of the winds of the storm, the eagle is able to soar way above the storm

Isn’t this incredible?  While the storm rages below, the eagle soars above it. It doesn’t escape the storm, it thrives in the storm.

This verse is teaching us that when we wait on God; on His counsel, on His guidance, then we will be able to soar above adversity. God becomes the wind that lifts us above our circumstances. We don’t have to be afraid or try to escape, by learning to wait on God we learn to soar with Him just like the eagle in a storm.

 When we have joy despite our circumstances; when we wait patiently with a good attitude, when we treat people better than they treat us, when we live beyond the way we feel and do the right thing...This is soaring.

The Chinese bamboo tree

There is this interesting tree called ‘the Chinese bamboo tree’. It’s interesting because of the peculiar way that it usually grows. In the first four years, the gardener will see nothing off the ground except a tiny little shoot. Yet in those years, he is required to keep fertilizing and watering this tiny shoot.  As he continuously does so.

 In the fifth year… Something amazing happens.

The bamboo tree shoots up to 90 feet tall in just a few weeks.

 Here is the secret…In the time where nothing visible is seen happening to this plant, something amazing is happening beneath the soil, the tree’s root structure grows deep and wide enough to be able to support the bamboo tree on the outside when it grows to a ninety feet and beyond.

 In consequence, the root structure is imperative; it not only holds the tree in place, it also feeds the tree. Without it, there will be no tree.

There’s a metaphor in here perhaps for us…

In the first four years, the patience of the farmer is tested; self doubt sneaks in and he starts wondering if his efforts are ever going to pay off. He mutters to himself, “Maybe I should just quit and plant another tree, perhaps, am better off planting a palm tree.”

Our time in waiting feels much like this farmer, we have sown the seeds, watered and fertilized the soil but have very little to show for it.  

Like the farmer, just because we can’t see it on the outside it doesn’t mean God isn’t working and doing an amazing thing on the inside.

Like the Chinese bamboo tree, God is working our root structure (our character) in our waiting. He is building our character to be able to hold our dreams and destinies.

Through overcoming adversity and challenges, our internal system becomes strong enough to hold us and bear us in our successes.

Everyone who hears these words of mine and obeys them is like a wise man who builds his house upon a rock

The rains came, the streams rose, the winds blew and beat against the house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation upon the rock. (Matthew 7: 24-25)

In our season of waiting, as we spend time in prayer, as we study the word of God, and keep applying it to our daily lives, the word of God becomes strongly inbuilt in us.

We are now strong enough to overcome life’s challenges because we have a strong foundation and because we have built strong characters in the process.

The Israelites

 When pharaoh let them go. God led them not by the way of the land of the philistines although that was nearer; for God said, lest the people change their minds and return to Egypt when they face war. ( Exodus 13:17)

They had been captives in Egypt for many years; God had a new life, new place for them, but they were in no condition to walk into the Promised Land. God chooses the long way. Instead of an eleven-day journey into Canaan, it took them about two to three years.

Why?

 In order to possess the Promised Land they had to fight giants. And to fight those giants, they had to be very well prepared; therefore, God chose the wilderness as the place for their training.

Later in order to possess the land, in Joshua 12:24, “They had to fight 31 kings in all.” 

These are a lot of battles.

Appropriately, God usually allows us to pass through the wilderness to train us for war. Many Christians don’t like to hear they are in a war, if you don’t believe me check (Ephesians 6:10). The minute you step into the kingdom, you immediately become a target for the enemy. Therefore, it’s paramount that God allow us to go through the wilderness to learn how to fight and win.

In the waiting, God is training you to fight.  The little day-to-day battles, are preparing you for the bigger battles ahead.

Day by day, little by little, you conquer fear, self-doubt, selfishness, despair, unforgiveness, pride…and eventually you are ready to face the giants in your promised land.

When we finally get it, our perspectives change. We now start making good use of our time in waiting.

Our grumbling, our complaining and the ‘when God when?’  Will now change to ‘God what do I need to learn here?’

In the waiting… in the process...God is working out something beautiful.

purity: How far is too far

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 “How far is too far?”

This was a question asked by a high school kid to my youth pastor during a high school mission we had attended.

 As a 3 weeks old baby Christian, my heart literally jumped when I heard him read it aloud (quite sarcastically by the way). Completely surprised by his reaction, I wondered why he was agitated by such an honest question.

He thought that this was a Christian who knew better but was testing the limits on God’s grace. Yet here I was new in Christianity and clueless on what purity meant. I wanted to know just like the person who had asked that question.

So am compelled to write this to the young person who didn’t grow up in church (like me) and everything they know about sex and purity has been what the world has taught them.

Incidentally, he never did explain. However, God knew my heart and was sure to direct me to people who could actually explain to me the biblical meaning of purity.

What is purity?   “ to be untainted or uncontaminated.”

Therefore, to be sexually pure is to be untainted or uncontaminated by sexual immorality.

Here are some things I have learnt about purity;

1. Purity is both a heart issue and a body issue

Is being a virgin the same as being pure? This was a question I kept asking myself and I honestly believed because I was a virgin, I was also pure and I connected the two together. However, I believe you can be a virgin and not be pure at the same time.

 Purity is more than abstaining from sexual intercourse it’s also being uncontaminated in your mind and heart

                                            My story

I got born again at 22 years of age. Before  this, when I was in high school I had made a decision to wait till  am married to have sex (yeah I was those weird types that believed in the ONE) I held to it, fought for it and still am.

My friends mocked, ridiculed and envied me at the same time. They thought it was crazy, some even thought I was having sex on the down low and pretending to wait. I couldn’t blame them, it was so hard. I experienced culture shock when I stepped in campus; the party scene was the in thing, there was a party every other night and with this came the drugs and sex.

Nobody was waiting for nobody.

I dated crappy guy after crappy guy, to be honest it felt like looking for a needle in a haystack kind of thing.

I wondered who am I waiting for? These guys who are busy sleeping with everything in a skirt?

 At some point, it all looked hopeless.

When I became a Christian, I met some great Christian men who were not sleeping around but were honoring God with their lives. I felt relief just to know there actually was a guy out there for me who will love that I actually waited for him.

However, as much as I was all up and waiting, I struggled with masturbation and lust (I blogged about it here).

 Whoever looks at a woman (or man) with lust has committed adultery (or fornication) in his heart. (Matthew 5:28) Emphasis mine.

Jesus was expounding on the sin of adultery but I think it can apply to purity because the people he was teaching believed it was only sin when you slept with a woman but Jesus says when you as much as look at a woman with lust God sees it as adultery .

Purity is not an outward issue it is a heart issue.

 From the outside looking in, I looked all-pure, in the sense that I wasn’t sleeping around.  Yet even though I was not having sex with the guys I dated, I was flirting, kissing, and letting them touch me in a way only my husband should. My heart was a long way from being pure.

2. My body is God’s temple.

Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives within you? Whom you have received from God? You are not your own (1 Corinthians 6:19)

My body a temple of God?  You mean God (creator of the universe) wants to live in me? Whew! This was huge for me.

Purity became bigger than my wedding night.  

Before this I was waiting for a guy but now my purity was coming from a place of knowing that God has made my body His sanctuary and for him to live in there I couldn’t keep polluting it.

when you come to an understanding that your body is no longer yours to do with as you please because it’s God’s temple.   Questions like “how far is too far?” will never come up again, or the even more outdated game (that we Christian people love to play) called, “can you tell me how much I can get away with and still be a Christian?”

 I am yet to attend a church that is dirty, unkempt and neglected.  we go to great lengths to keep them nice, clean and spotless.  If we start viewing our bodies as God’s temple then we will be careful to keep them uncontaminated and unpolluted.

3. Intimacy with God

God has not only made my body His temple, He also wants to be intimate (entrusted with secrets) with me, and sexual impurity hinders this.

I wanted to know God more. I wanted all His secrets.  Therefore, everything that was making me impure had to go.

The movies that were full of sexual scenes, the music that was full of lust, the magazines ,the novels I loved to read ( yes even Christian ones ) the guys that were in my life that continually caused  me to lust had to go. It was such a small price to pay to know and to be known by God.

James 4:8 says, “Come close to God and He will come close to you.”

This verse tells me for intimacy to happen, it’s not only God who draws near, and I also had to take the initiative to draw near to Him too. He meets us half way.

Here is my question, how bad do you want to know God? Do you want Him more than the kissing,  holding hands, the flirting, the movies, the music, the porn, even more than your little feelings? You cannot have it both ways. It is one or the other.

4. A pure bride presented to her groom

My purity doesn’t come from me or from anything I do. It’s a gift from God.  When you know it’s a gift then there’s no ground for boasting.

My greatest joy on waiting till am married to have sex is that, on our wedding night I will be able to stand before my bridegroom and say, “ as hard as it was here I am with no regrets and with no shame am all yours and yours alone .”

He never has to worry if there’s any man out there who knows me as intimately as he knows me, and for me this is worth all the waiting.

That’s not to say that for the ones who didn’t wait there’s no hope, there is hope because the only way you and I are pure is through the blood of Jesus. By His perfect sacrifice he has made us all pure and without blemish before God.

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, Behold, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Jesus is the one who sanctifies me, He is the one who cleanses and purifies me with His word.

Jesus is the one who presents me to my husband as a pure bride without a spot or a blemish. Not me and my little efforts (Ephesians 5:26-27)

Its only by grace that I will stand before my husband purified. it’s by grace that am still a virgin and I know ,he will not only be glad that I waited(through God’s amazing Grace)  but He will also know it’s by Grace that this gift has found its way to Him.

 This is God’s grace; it always goes to the least deserving.

In the world we live in, it may not be the most popular thing to do. You may be ridiculed and mocked for it but to live a life of purity is to live a life that glorifies God.

Let's show the world it’s possible and let’s show them how to do it.

I choose to be pure. I choose God’s way.

Eshet Chayil: The Proverbs 31.

We live in a world that idolizes physical beauty, so as women we learn to conform to a certain set of standards.

We filter our instagram shots; we photoshop, lighten our skins because we have been told we are not light skinned enough. We starve ourselves to death to fit in to that size zero dress. Change hair color because it’s said a certain hair color is for the beautiful ones. Sometimes, even fix our noses because we believe it doesn’t look like the nose on the magazine cover.

 Yet no matter how much we try, we just never feel like we are quite enough.

Physical beauty is not a bad thing. In fact, as a woman, I love it when someone compliments me on my beauty, but if beautiful is all we will ever be then we have fallen short of our creator’s intention.

God has made us for more, so much more than hair, lips, hips and dropping it like it’s hot.

He shows us in His word who he made us to be. 

#Eshet chayil  is the epitome of beauty as defined by her creator, not as defined by the world.

Her value: More than sparkling Jewels

Who is he that can find her? She is far more precious than jewels and her value is far above rubies or pearls. (Proverbs 31:10)

We all know that nobody finds precious stones on the ground. It takes a lot of digging, lots of searching and lots of patience to get rubies or pearls. Whoever wants to possess precious stones must be prepared to go to great lengths to acquire them.

She’s not in the streets nor is she in the market places killing time (pun intended). She is hidden and rare just like precious stones.

Her loyalty: the Bedrock of His Heart

The heart of her husband trusts in her confidently and relies on, and believes in her securely, so that he has no lack of (honest) gain or need of (dishonest) spoil.

She comforts, encourages, praises and does him good as long as there is breath within her. (Proverbs 31:11, 12)

Her loyalty is the bedrock of her husband’s heart; he knows she will always look out for him.

This woman knows that affirming her man is a very important God given task and she takes it seriously. Because of her loyalty .her comfort, her encouragement and her generosity this man is successful and has no need for dishonest success.

She doesn’t do right only when it’s convenient for her. Her actions are not based on how others treat her or what they think about her. She is reliable and dependable.

Her industriousness: A cut above average

She is like the merchant ships; she brings her household food from a far.  She rises while it’s yet night and gets food for her household and assigns her maids their tasks.

She considers a field before she buys or accepts it.

She looks well to how things go in her household and the bread of idleness she will not eat. (Proverbs 31:14, 15, 27)

 These verses portrays a woman who goes an extra mile for quality , she doesn’t settle for a middle –of –the –road kind of service ,her acts of service are first rate .She gives her best to everyone.

She takes good care of those under her authority and doesn’t leave them to figure out their tasks. She is a good steward of her God given abilities.

Because she knows her responsibilities she doesn’t have the time to be discontented about her portion, go around gossiping nor does she have the time to sit around feeling sorry for herself all day.

Her faith: an unfailing treasure

Her lamp does not go out, but it continually burns on continually through the night (of trouble, privation, of sorrow, warning away fear doubt and distrust). (Proverbs 31:18)

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalms 119:105)

It is established through this scripture that her lamp is her faith in the word of God.  Her faith burns through the night of trouble, of uncertainty, of tragedy and it does not go out.

She fears not the snow for her family, for all her household are double clothed in scarlet. (Proverbs 31:21)

Scarlet is symbolic of the blood of Jesus.

 Through His blood, her family is sealed in a covenant with God. It’s also seen in the story of Rahab in (Joshua 2:18) by tying a scarlet thread on her window, her whole family was spared from the destruction that came on Jericho. To Rahab, the scarlet thread was a tangible evidence of the promise of deliverance from death.

Like Rahab, this woman has clothed her house in scarlet and she has no fear of evil days to come.

Her clothing is of linen, pure and fine and of purple (proverbs 31:22)

Linen is symbolically a clothing of purity and righteousness 

“She has been permitted to dress in fine linen, dazzling and white – for the fine linen is the righteousness (upright, just, godly living, deeds and conduct) of the saints.” (Revelation 19:8)

It’s not her beautiful hair, sparkling jewelry or fine-looking clothes that makes her noticeable but the righteousness of Christ in her that makes her stand out. Her beauty is not the worldly kind.

Purple is both a clothing of royalty and priesthood.

In the scripture, kings and priests wore garments of purple. This woman knows who she is and whose she is.

Therefore, she has taken up her role as a priest to her family and those God has put under her. She is a spiritual leader, she teaches them by her example and by her words. She intercedes for her husband, children and all those she loves. She studies the scripture diligently.

As royalty, she crowns her husband king. She’s honorable and respectful. She runs all her affairs with wisdom.

Her wisdom: A fountain of life

She opens her mouth in skillful and godly wisdom. (Proverbs 31:26)

She gives instruction and counsel with great wisdom and through this, she gives life to those who listen to her and who court her wise counsel. Her wisdom is not her own.  It’s not a worldly wisdom, or knowledge from literature, neither is it an opinion of world events. it’s a different kind, from a different source, which leaves a mark on those she touches with her life.

The fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy one is insight and understanding. (Proverbs 9:10)

Her fear of God is the spring of her wisdom and from God comes her insight and her wealth of understanding.

Her kindness: a model for her household

And on her tongue is the law of kindness.

She opens her hand to the poor yes; she reaches out her filled hands to the needy (whether in mind, body and spirit). (Proverbs 31: 20, 26)

She not only looks out for the welfare of her house but she stretches herself to the community. She is not absorbed in the me, myself and mine mentality. She opens her doors wide for those without a home, her table has room for the hungry, and she clothes the naked physically and spiritually with a hand of mercy. She mourns with those who mourn and celebrates with those who are celebrating. She gives kindness even when she doesn’t feel like being kind.

By this, she sets a pattern of generosity for her children and all her house.

Her beauty: unfading and enduring

She has beauty; she has charm. However, she is not dependent upon these because she knows physical beauty is short lived; clever conversation and wit grows old. She has staked her worth in something far greater and lasting, God.

Her secret is the fear of God. And for this a woman is to be praised. She cares about what God thinks about her more than what people think about her. Her main concern is God’s will for her life, not her own.

Because of who she is, her husband has reason to boast of and to praise her, her children also know they are blessed and bless her too.

She is praised above all the excellent women ; more than Esther who risks her life for her people, Ruth the woman of valor, Deborah the prophetess who takes an army to battle, Sarah the woman who conceived a generation through faith.

She excels them all just by who she is.

Let us throw away what the world has taught us a woman should be or what beauty is and run with the blueprint of God’s definition of true beauty. When we figure out who he created to be then we can set a different standard for those that come after us. 

You are  Eshet chayil .....live boldly ,live differently.