Postponed Prayer Can Be Deadly

Prayer is the best gift God has given to humanity.

It connects us to heaven and, specifically, to the throne of our heavenly Father, who loves to send the help and blessings we need each moment.

Without prayer, we would be like orphans, with no one to take care of us. The Bible encourages us, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:18, NKJV). God invites us to pray without ceasing, and we should be careful not to postpone our prayers. This lesson has been engraved on my heart by God’s grace after the following experience. In my office, my secretary and I fast and pray each Wednesday.

We spend time in the morning interceding for others, and we present our departmental projects and our challenges to God. One Wednesday my secretary had some errands to run, so I prayed alone. When she returned to the office in the afternoon, I let her know I had already prayed so we should probably focus on getting our work done for the day.

I had a feeling we should pray for our colleagues, particularly the staff who had gone out to do some evaluations. Though I knew we ought to pray, we had too much work to attend to, so I reasoned that we could pray about it later, after we had finished the day’s work. Though I tried to work, I could find no peace. Finally, I invited my secretary to join me in prayer, and we knelt to pray for the colleagues who were at work in the field.

We asked God for protection and success in their endeavors. Friends, little did we know that these colleagues were on the plane at that exact moment and that their plane was not able to land. For whatever reason, they had to remain in the air for an extra thirty minutes before they were finally permitted to land. Interestingly, my husband was on the same plane, and he was the one who told me about their ordeal. It had occurred at the exact moment the Holy Spirit impressed our minds to pray. How I would have regretted it if I had postponed praying until the end of the day. When the Holy Spirit prompts us to pray, when God seeks for an intercessor, let us respond immediately. He will act in response to the prayer of faith. Postponed prayer could be deadly.

Omobonike Adeola Sessou