EXPRESS IMAGE GLORY MINISTRIES
THE MESSAGE NOW
Vol. 5, No. 39 – Sunday 4th October, 2020
(Lk.22:42, 2 Kings.20:1-20)
THE PERFECT PRAYER FROM A PERFECT HEART
No matter how fervent, perfect prayer from an imperfect heart will not be granted. Likewise, regardless of the most soothing words expressed, imperfect prayer from a perfect heart will at best be heard but not answered. A perfect prayer from a perfect heart but which is contrary to the will of God will suffer delay, and may most probably be unanswered. The result of an imperfect prayer from an imperfect heart is already determined ever from before the start.
For sin is the decider of all the offered prayers from inperfect hearts. And an answer to all prayers offered from an imperfect heart against the will of God will certainly spill doom and disaster over time and through time.
Dear brother, dear sister, have you ever found yourself in a situation where you are struggling to pray through over a matter? Did you carefully observe that that struggle is not as a consequence of satanic attack? The truth of the matter is obvious; that prayer is not in line with the will of God. For the Blessed Holy Spirit always stirs up the spirit of man to pray most fervently or with soothing peace and faith when that prayer is in line with the will of God.
The Spirit of God and the spirit of man are the judges of the rightness or wrongness of any prayer. Do you know that the answer to prayers can be confirmed by the Spirit of God through our spirit even before the practical testimonies to those prayers manifest?
I am correct to say that when we talk about perfect prayer from a most perfect heart, no one knows it and does it better than the Blessed Son of the Living God. But as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. He realised that greater rewards always herald submitting to the will of God.
A perfect heart is such which is ever humble and ready ever to submit to God’s choice and not man’s own. The only reason many men married wrong can only point in this singular direction. Beauty of the face and not of the heart was the motivation for many men’s marriage decision. This is the reason most men and most women are married to the form and not the substance; the wife or the husband they married is simply the picture, not the original.
Whilst in that agonizing moment of eternal decision, the Lord Jesus filled with burden for lost humanity considered the painful consequence not the estatic pleasure. Contrast this with king Hezekiah who was unmindful of the consequence.
It was the will of God for king Hezekiah to die and inherit eternal peace. It was the will of man for him to live and have children and the pleasures of life. Don’t get me wrong is good so long as it is in line with God’s perfect will of God at that right time.
Since God is willing to answer prayers when it is presented with strong reasons (Is.41:21), He was forced to accept king Hezekiah’s strong reason (Is.38:4-5) Therefore, king Hezekiah got his prayer answered. Nevertheless, it was a permissive will, not God’s perfect will. Thus God gave king Hezekiah extra fifteen years.
Those fifteen years produced Manasseh, the son of King Hezekiah who reigned after him. Manasseh did so much evil in Jerusalem than all the kings that were before him. Manasseh filled Jerusalem with the blood of the innocent. He served idols and completely departed from the the Lord God, the covenant keeping Jehovah. Also, after king Hezekiah’s healing, those fifteen years produced visitation from the king of Assyria. Spurned with the pride of his heart, he showed them all the treasures of his house. His pride triggered divine judgment and prophetic pronouncement against the future of his children and the entire nation of Judah over which he presided as king. As a selfish father, none of those judgmental pronouncements moved him so long as his reign was assured during his own lifetime.
In contrast, the Lord Jesus was not going to lose going back to heaven if His assignment over humanity was incomplete. But He was passionately burdened with the fact that helpless humanity would be instead lost damnably forever. The consequence was too great and so, He surrendered all to Him who is able to keep in perfect peace him whose mind was stayed upon Him (Is.26:3)
Unlike king Hezekiah, the Lord Jesus Christ was only about 33 years of age. Certainly, He needed more years to enjoy life before going back to heaven. But He realised that His mission and ministry on earth did not require longitivity or quantity. Brevity married into quality was a better option. Afterall, life on earth is temporary, not an eternal bliss.
For a moment, please ask yourself the questions: do you ever feel less concerned about other people’s plight? As a minister of God and as a Christian – child of God, do you ever feel burdened to pray about people, their sufferings and sorrows?
Listen, when the Apostle Paul enjoins us in Philippians chapter 2:5 that ‘let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus’, he meant and means the mind of submission. Please seek the Lord today for a heart that is willing to submit to the will, the word and the way of God always.
IN THE END, GOD ANSWERS IN THREE DIMENSIONS: NO, YES AND NOT YET. ACCEPTING HIS RESPONSE AT EVERY GIVEN TIME IS THE CATALYST ANYONE NEEDS FOR EVERY ACCELERATED PROGRESS. FOR OBEDIENCE BRINGS BLESSINGS EVEN WHEN AN ANSWER IS NO SO LONG IT IS ACCEPTED BY MAN COMING FROM THE MOUTH OF THE ALMIGHTY. IN THEORY AND OFTENTIMES IN THE UNDERSTANDING OF MAN’S ACADEMIC BRAIN,GOD’S RESPONSES ALWAYS APPEARS THE MOST SENSELESS. BUT OBEDIENCE IS THE LONE FUEL THAT LEADS INTO THE UNQUENCHABLE COMBUSTION OF IMMEASURABLE BLESSINGS.
Question and Answer Section
Question: The great questions again! When was the last time that you preached to any soul? Do you serve God with joyful heart or with reluctance? How much hurt is in your soul against that fellow? Won’t rather forgive them and forget their mischief so that you can rightly serve your loving Father? When was the last time you smiled genuinely and truly from your heart about yourself bearing in mind the bright days to come? when was the last time you heard a force praying within your belly without your consciousness? When was the last time you gave some thing to support God’s work apart from your tithes and offerings? When was the last time you supported any man to fulfill a divine or a personal agenda? When was the last time you put smile on the face of someone?
Answer: Hmmm!.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Counseling, Prayers and Appointments: Please contact contactus@expressimageglory.com Alternatively, meet us every Sunday at the address below:
Suit 26, 2nd Floor, Nikky Africana Plaza, 70C Allen Avenue, Opposite UBA/MTN Office, Ikeja, Lagos.
Further information: Be informed that this Ministry has only one Facebook page and no other. Any other Facebook page is counterfeit. Any Concerns or questions about this facebook page should be directed to: contactus@expressimageglory.com
The General Superintendent Minister of this Ministry therefore pleads and urges you to desist from all such fake and ungodly Facebook pages. Our website is: www.expressimageglory.com
ALTAR CALL:
Backslidden – living in sin – needing fresh recommitment (say):
Christ Jesus, You are the Anointed One of the Most High. I come to you today as I am. In your mercy, help me out of my situation. Heal my soul, my spirit, my body, my life and my destiny. I acknowledge you as the only true lover of my soul. Please, deliver me on every side and save me through and through. I promise from the depth of my soul to be yours from henceforth, in Jesus name. Help me now O God. Be my Lord, my Saviour and my all in all from this day. Thank you Lord (read Ps.54 in closing and pray more).
HYMN: All to Jesus I Surrender
PRAY NOW:
1. O God, I repent so genuinely today for disobeying your will, word and way.
2. O God, please give me the grace to submit to your will always.
3. All you my delayed breakthroughs, I claim you back now.
4. Present your personal petitions.
