Living Ready by Pastor Faith Oyedepo

Topic: Living Ready

“When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace:” - Luke 11:21

In my high (secondary) school days, there was always a period in the school’s calendar set out for debates and several competitions. At that time, if you are involved in any of the school’s competition, you would be required to put in much effort in trainings in addition to your normal school work. You realise that the trainings you had in previous years, are different from one another. This is because from the previous competition, you have realised ways in which you can be better.

Also, if you have the same type of contest with different schools, you cannot apply the same approach to all of them. There must be a difference in your techniques if you must win or remain on top. Similarly, the battles of life do not just require preparedness, but a constant update of our techniques.

It is said that we learn from experiences and one of the lessons learnt is deriving new ways to getting better results. There are no quick and fast rules to it. If you must win in life’s battles, then you must be up-to-date. One way to update yourself is to upgrade your prayer and Word study life. These are the areas you store up spiritual energy and build great tactics against the day of battle.

The devil knows this and that is why he tries to keep believers from “training” and “upgrading” these areas of their life. What exercise, good diet and practice is to an athlete is what prayer and Word study are to a believer. Without these, it is impossible for you to become a champion in your Christian journey. This is a secret that every true believer must know and hold on to.

It is not enough to attend church services; it’s not enough to be involved in church activities. As important as those are, they really don’t build as much strength as your personal “trainings” in the Word and prayers does. Therefore, you must create time daily for spiritual practices/exercises and guide these aspects of your day jealously. No one can do this for you, no matter how hard they try and there are no excuses to not being engaged in them.

Thus, if you must be an excellent Christian, it begins with diligence in your “practice times”. Receive strength for active practice in the name of Jesus Christ!

Remain Blessed!