Adua

The prayer above is in Igala- a Yoruboid language, spoken by the Igala ethnic group of Kogi state in North Central Nigeria.

From 2020 to 2022, I experienced a profound sense of disconnection from God. I would have a consistent relationship with God for a week and then not pray or read my bible for months. I was sinking in sin and depression for months, and guilt overwhelmed me. I couldn’t see how I could get back to God. I wanted to have fellowship with God, to live for Him, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. The Holy Spirit helped me in rebuilding my relationship with God.

I wanted this time to be different though. I wanted this to be the last time I prayed this prayer. I wanted to remain in Him and go from glory to glory. Hence my induction into the school of prayer.

“Men ought always to pray and not faint” (Luke 18:1, KJV). Man was not created to function independently. As long as you belong to the human species you must pray in order not to faint. This is a command from our Lord Jesus. It’s simple, if you do not pray, you will faint. Between 2020-2022, I fainted many times because I was not praying. My flesh had no strength to accomplish the will of God (Romans 8:8, NKJV). Prayer, especially in the Spirit, makes our spirit roar and silences the devil’s voice – from within (the flesh) and without (spiritual warfare). 

Praying in the Spirit allows the Holy Spirit to pray the will of God for us. 

Romans 8:26-27, NIV In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

So, when we pray sincerely in the Spirit, we engage our Spirit man with God. As our Spirit continues to encounter God in prayer, our Spirit grows stronger than our flesh, silencing it, killing it, and subjecting it to the obedience of Christ. 

You may ask how deeply do we have to pray? Well, let’s look at how deeply Jesus prayed. 

“And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” (Luke 22:44, NIV). 

What does this mean for us if Jesus had the fullness of God dwelling in Him and had to pray that deeply? Jesus was in a human body. Therefore, He was also subject to the law of prayer for a man– “men ought always to pray”. Jesus has never asked us to do something He did not do. He went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray to ensure He didn’t faint at the cross. Fainting at the cross for Jesus was for Him to run away from it, hide or ask God to take Him back to heaven. Fainting would have meant retreating from the cross, leaving humanity in its mess. Jesus indeed triumphed on the cross because He overcame in prayers at Gethsemane.

Gethsemane is the place where you pray for what’s ahead. If you don’t prevail in Gethsemane, you will lose the battle. That is why Jesus brought Peter to Gethsemane. In chapter 26 of Matthew, Jesus tells Peter, “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times’’. However, Gethsemane was Peter’s chance to contest that reality. In prayer, he would have built up his Spirit to overcome the flesh that would deny Jesus. Jesus told him to “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41, NIV).

Jesus left Gethsemane with His Spirit in control of His actions. Peter left Gethsemane with his flesh in control of his actions. Once the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, Peter let anger rise and struck one of the men that came to arrest Jesus (John 18:10, NIV), cutting off his ear. Jesus, on the other hand, said to Judas, “Do what you came for, friend” (Matthew 26:50, NIV), and healed the ear of a man that came to arrest Him (Luke 22:51, NIV). 

When the elders and the Chief Priest interrogated Jesus, He did not protest or defend Himself. He only spoke to declare He was the Messiah (Matthew 26:63, NIV). This fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which said, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open his mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep, before its shearers are silent, so He did not open His mouth” (Isaiah 53:7, NIV).

On the other hand, Peter was interrogated by locals, including a small slave girl, about his association with Jesus. His flesh immediately kicked in, and he began to disown Jesus and lie, cursing and swearing by an oath that he never knew Jesus (Matthew 26:74, NIV). 

Gethsemane is the engine room that brings our Spirit alive, making it strong enough to fight an enemy attacking us spiritually. Your Gethsemane is every morning when you charge up your Spirit to resist “the ruler of the kingdom of the air” (Ephesians 2:2, NIV). 

Your Gethsemane as a young person is preparing for the spouse and parent you will be, building up the spiritual strength to engage in the spiritual warfare that is to come. Prayer is the only way. You cannot avoid it. In Gethsemane, you pray ahead, so you don’t have to pray emergency prayers. 911 prayers are easily avoided if now, in Gethsemane, you labour in prayer. 

“If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small” (Proverbs 24:10, NIV). Remember, Jesus told us that we need to pray and not faint. So, in order not to faint in the day of adversity, one needs to wait on the Lord in Gethsemane. And when you wait, He will renew your strength.

“They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:31, NIV).

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