WHO HAS THE ‘PRAYERTOMETER’?

 

“That was a very powerful prayer!”, Apostle Rev. Dr. ABC exclaimed after a 20-minute-long opening prayer. As ‘Prayer-Papa’ XYZ displayed a well-calculated ‘spiritual’ gait towards his seat, the congregation exploded with a resounding round of applause. Two aspiring Prayer-Papas met him across the aisle with warm handshakes with the belief of tapping into his anointing. I noticed a subtle exhibition of swollen-headedness and spiritual superiority complex. My perplexed-self was undecided on whether to join in the applause or not; I was simply not sure whether the applause was meant for God or for the Prayer-Papa. But I cannot forget the disapproving looks I received from the ushers for my failure to clap.

Following a brief hiatus, there was a call to mass-prayer. Some aspiring Prayer-Papas saw an opportunity to dethrone Prayer-Papa XYZ by out-shouting him during the prayer session; “after all, what!? Has he not ruled the prayer department for too long? –  Mtchweew! Mugabe of Prayer”, they said in their hearts. Some graduates also saw a chance to unleashed ‘heavy’ grammatical expressions on unsuspecting congregants. I, as well, saw it as a great window to disabuse the minds of those judgmental ushers.

As the prayer topics were raised one after the other, I realised I could not keep up with the typically loud and unnecessarily long prayers, riddled with repetitive phrases; so in a low tone, I would do mine in about a minute or two and would wait patiently for a new prayer topic. Once a while, a Prayer-Papa from nowhere would draw closer to urge me on to pray louder, “My brother! pray! - pray! - pray! – pray! - pray! pray! - pray! I cannot hear your voice! Your prayer cannot even kill a mosquito”. I was genuinely flabbergasted as I knew my aim was not to kill a mosquito; all I wanted to do was to communicate with my heavenly father, worship & praise Him, ask for forgiveness of my sins and seek His continuous blessing and protection over my life. That’s all! In fact, there was absolutely no tolerance for the weak and the voiceless. The only time I noticed a bit of tolerance for the ‘weaker brethren’ was when the prayer topic on confession of sins was raised. Hmm, at that moment, whisper reigned supreme!

After the last prayer topic was dealt with, the Pastor said he felt within his spirit that the prayer session was not powerful enough and therefore instructed the Papas to raise more prayer topics. Despite the obvious disappointment on my face, I could not protest lest I get labelled as man of little faith. I then decided to seize the opportunity to put all my critics to ‘shame’. I prayed for Kumasi Asante Kotoko, ASEC Mimosas, Al Ahly, Zamalek, Accra Hearts of Oak, Berekum Chelsea, Karela United FC, Abusua Dwarfs, Kpando Heart of Lions, Sekondi Eleven Wise, Arsenal and FC Barcelona. My prayers became longer and louder. When most of the Papas were rounding up on the new prayer topic, I was transitioning from Berekum Chelsea to Karela United FC. I immediately found favour in the eyes of both the young and the old.  The Prayer-Papa who used to bother me earlier became very pleased; a proud mentor for that matter. I believe If I had continued in my newly adopted style, I could have become the ‘Papamost-Papa’ in no time.

Now, amidst the euphoria and sanctimony, the question that kept ringing in my mind is, who has the ‘Prayertometer’? (A ‘Prayertometer’, I presume, would be a sacred equipment used for measuring the power exuded by one’s prayer). I struggle to comprehend how people are able to determine whether a prayer is powerful or not. Is it measured by how forcefully the person spoke or how verbose and fluent he was among the brethren?

Thankfully, the Bible has taught us that prayer may be made in various ways (including loud cries and silent meditations) and the Father will listen.  An outward display of zeal, though may do some good, may not necessarily be accompanied with knowledge and understanding or be indicative of a person's spiritual standing with God. 

I pray for God’s abundant wisdom and understanding for all of us in order NOT to unintentionally push others onto the path of hypocrisy. In the name of Jesus, I pray with thanksgiving. Amen.

 

For further study:

Lk 18:9-14, Heb. 5:7, 1 Sam 1:9-18, Matt 6:5-13, Prov. 19:2a, 2 Tim 3:1-5

 

Gameli K. Agboada

24^th April 2021

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