OPINION| By Cyrus Rod
Brace yourselves as men and eat this; “the church nearby was making a lot of noise as if God is deaf!”
Now a bunch of believers are up in arms screaming and protesting. “How could he say that?” “We need to even pray and shout the more until God does something to heal Uganda!” Honestly? You can’t take criticism as believers?
The last time I checked my bible, Jesus was rebuking Pharisees for making prayers so loud but no impact as if God was deaf. I guess the president sees we are so loud in prayer but the nation ain’t getting better.
Almost every believer is talking about praying for Uganda and I agree, but we must put first things first and prayer is not the first response for believers facing what our nation is facing. HUMILITY comes before prayer. No wonder believers are easily offended for being told we make loud prayers but no impact.
Please understand me! Jesus and even the apostles in the book of acts prayed loud. The sin is not praying loud but the haughty spirit behind the praying that hinders the impact needed. This is why HUMILITY must come first before we talk of praying loud etc.
The Pharisees prayed loud but had the haughty spirit at work and their prayers never made impact. The most painful act a human being can perform is to humble himself. And this must be done before we pray for our nation. Being humble is mortifying to ego, and most of us believers carry around pretty large quantities of ego. See how we are mad when called out for behaving like
Pharisees in prayer! Humbling means submitting to someone else. We must make a deliberate act of humbling ourselves to God. That’s down on our knees, face to the floor, broken hearted repentance that has fruit.
Did you notice that this is the first action of people who claim to belong to God? It’s not “Pray and turn, then make yourselves humble.” No, it’s “Humble yourselves first.” Come into submission. Give up running your own life. Take orders. Put yourself under God’s authority. This is a very strong word. Many times it is used to describe military subjection. It’s the result of losing the war.
Remember, when you believed in Christ, you lost the war of running your life. You became His captive. Someone else gives the orders now. Someone else sets the rules. God says that you have to give up your rights to Him. You have to submit to His way of doing things. Arrogance and self-sufficiency must be left behind. There are no exceptions in this battle plan. It is either submit or die. Humility First.
Cyrus Geoffrey Rod resides in Kampala – Uganda with his wife Robi Rod, and together they are the founders and pastors of Cyrus Rod Ministries. He is the author of fast selling book titled ‘Unlocking Marital Bliss‘.
