The Prayer I Heard
As I continue to sit in the guest lobby of the female quarters, waiting for my friend Clara to finish dressing up for our usual evening computer training session, I hear a young lady praying fervently in one of the rooms whose entrance door faces the lobby.
She was praying with boldness, quoting Scripture confidently, and asking God for mercy, protection, and deliverance from evil and wicked people. Towards the end of her prayer, she also asked God for the grace to obey His will.
Listening to her, I could tell she was familiar with the language of prayer and the Word of God.
A few minutes later, she stepped out and greeted me with a beautiful smile.
“Good evening! You’re waiting for Clara, I guess? Call me Tilly. I see you around sometimes. Hope you’re doing well?”
We exchanged pleasantries, laughed over a little joke about computer lessons, and she walked away.
When Clara eventually came out, I asked her where her neighbour, who was also her friend, was heading at that time of the night—around 10:30 p.m.
“She’s going for her personal night work,” Clara replied.
I innocently asked whether she worked for a company nearby, and Clara burst into laughter.
“No! Don’t you understand? She’s going out to run the other kind of night work. She won’t be back until about four or five in the morning. She does it to support herself in school, help her family back home, and pay her bills. Please, don’t judge her,” Clara added, now speaking seriously.
I fell silent, trying to process what Clara had just told me and wondering what could have driven her friend into such a situation.This was the same lady I had heard praying so fervently only moments earlier—the same lady who had asked God to protect her from evil contacts and grant her the grace to obey His will.
And suddenly, a question struck me:
How can we ask God to lead us away from sin and the dangers it brings while deliberately engaging in sinful acts and walking straight into those dangers? How can we ask for the grace to obey God while refusing to surrender the very things that contradict His Word and undermine our relationship with Him?
Tilly’s story raises a spiritual issue that reaches far beyond her circumstances. Whether her story is logical or not, yet it shows she is intentional and very much aware of her actions. It is the danger of knowing what God says and want without being willing to do what He says and want.
God wants Obedience , not just Prayers.
In Luke 6:46, Jesus asks:
“And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”
What a searching question!
We can call Jesus Lord with our mouths while refusing to submit our hearts to His authority through our actions.
We can pray for holiness while entertaining sin, ask for deliverance while holding on to destructive habits, and request God’s guidance while ignoring His instructions.
Prayer, among many other things, is not a substitute for obedience. Rather, it is one of the ways we receive God’s strength and grace to resist temptation and remain steadfast in our commitment to staying away from sin.
James 1:22 says:
“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”
Knowing the Bible is not the same as living by it. Quoting Scripture does not automatically make us obedient Christians. God wants His Word to transform our choices, character, relationships, and daily conduct.
The real question is not how well we can quote the Word of God, but how willing we are to practise what it teaches.
Do Not Ask God To Deliver You From What You Refuse To Abandon
Sometimes, we ask God to protect us from the very sins we are unwilling to abandon and the consequences of the choices we continue to make. We pray against sin while deliberately returning to it daily, as though prayer alone can excuse our unwillingness to change. We ask God for financial blessings but refuse to walk in honesty, integrity, and righteousness. We desire the rewards of faithfulness without embracing the responsibilities that come with living faithfully before God.
We pray for peace while deliberately creating conflict, sowing discord, hurting others, and refusing to make amends. We ask God to bless our relationships while holding on to bitterness, pride, dishonesty, and unforgiveness not to mention other ungodly secrete affairs. We plead for His direction but become uncomfortable when His Word challenges our desires. We ask Him to open doors for us while refusing to leave behind the habits and attitudes that are keeping us from walking in His will.
Sometimes, we even convince ourselves that because we have prayed about a decision, God must approve of it. But the fact that we have prayed over something does not automatically make it right in God’s sight. Prayer is not a way to persuade God to endorse our choices; it is an opportunity to draw closer to Him, seek His wisdom, and align our hearts with His will—even when doing so requires us to surrender something we desperately want.
Galatians 6:7 warns:
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
God’s mercy is real, but we must not use it as permission to continue in disobedience.and sin.
Romans 6:1–2 reminds us that grace is not an excuse to continue in sin.
If we are asking God for the strength to stop sinning, we must also be willing to take the steps that the change requires.
And remember this: struggling with sin is not the same as deliberately making peace with it through our actions. God welcomes the repentant heart and gives grace to those who sincerely seek Him and are willing to change.
Do not pray only for God to change your circumstances. Ask Him to change your heart and give you the courage to make the right decision against sin.
Confront Sin, But Do Not Justify It With The Captivating Story Behind Your Struggling
The young woman was trying to pay her bills, support her education, and help her family, yet that does not make her choice of sex work or any other sinful act right. Our situation may be very hard to understand, and the full version of our story might even be weighty and challenging still, it is wrong to justify sin through our struggle or justifying our struggle in the sin we commit.
Jesus came to call sinners to repentance, not to encourage them to continue in sin or delay in the decision to stop sinning and change.
As true children of God, we must uphold God’s standards without using any logical conclusion or compelling reason to aid why we must continue in sin or default at times. We must speak and hold on to the truth always. In fact, In the matter of sin or sinning, our only responsibility is to stop sinning and overcome the act. Where possible, we should also help others find or develop the same strength against sin and reach a practical decision in overcoming sin.
We must preach holiness and demonstrate the obedience to change and submit to God. And we must keep confronting sin without treating sinners as though they are not affected by the consequences of sin.
Conclusion: Let Your Prayers Agree With Your Life
Let us know that, the problem is not that we pray, how we pray or what we say during our prayers. The problem is when our prayers and our practices tell two different stories as Christians.
We ask God for protection but ignore His wisdom. We ask for forgiveness but refuse to repent. We ask for grace but resist the transformation that grace is meant to produce.
Today, God is calling us to examine ourselves so let your prayers agree with your choices, let your confession agree with your conduct, and let your faith produce obedience.
For God is not concerned only with the words we speak when our eyes are closed in prayer, but also with the lives we live when we open our eyes and return to the world.
May our lives reflect the same message our mouths proclaim. In Jesus’ name, Amen.