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OVERCOMING THE FOUR DEMONS THAT POLLUTE THE PRAYERS OF THE YOUTH


As a Christian youth, it is never a sin to pray God for money, wife or husband, cars, houses, food and every other good thing of this world as some are doing. And a good number of some are not even DIRECTLY concerned themselves with these things of the world, theirs are ministries and places in the church. As a matter of fact, the fathers of faith ask us to pray continually - not relaxing. And God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, also commands us, "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession" and in another place He says, "I will satisfy you with the riches of the earth."
And, indeed, our youths have not been silently praying God for these things. But, the truth of the matter is that heaven seems locked up, particularly to these prayers and this explains why many Christian youths are getting out of the church to check elsewhere for it. They think God is dead; for even those praying for things that they think should be God's pivotal attention, such as ministries, spiritual gifts and positions of authority where they believe they will make positive impacts to the glory of God, are not getting anything.
Well, the truth is that God is alive; He is always here with us, giving answers to our prayers, but not to every prayer. The fact is that as much as youths are praying without seasons and without answers, it means much of such prayers are being polluted by some demons who never appear as such - demons.

Don't think it yet; these demons are not some kind of weird looking creatures who we might think couldn't withstand the fire ignited by prayers. These ones lie at the very foundation of most prayers - the very reason they pollute even the prayers of generals. The demons include: Lust, Greediness, Pride, Unbelief.

It will surprise some that I didn't mention sins such as heavenly unauthorized sexual intercourse, stealing in private and public places, lies, etc. But if you will take your time to patiently sit down, clear minded and list all those actions of yours you called sins, then you will realise that they are rooted to lust, greediness, pride and unbelief. The point here is not to discuss unholy actions, but how these four demons make the holy unholy, make the righteous unrighteous and deny us the blessings of our spiritual activities.

If you have been praying for something and there are no answers to your prayers, don't think God doesn't want me to have it and stop praying for it. He wants us to ask Him for everything and for anything. But what you need to do is to sit down calmly, clear minded and without anxiety about anything and ask yourself these questions "Why I am praying for this or that?" "What is the motivation behind my praying for this or that?" "With what heart or mind are my prayers for this or that being offered?" And weight them on the scale of these simple explanations of operations of each of these demons.

HOW THESE DEMONS OPERATE
  • The Lust: It is not evil to desire and to want. But lust is simply a desire and want that squash or destroys honour and holiness of God in what you desire and want. For instance: if you desires a woman or a man for outward appearance or sex sake, it is a lust; if you desire food and money for pleasure sake, it is a lust; if you desire position to impress others, it is a lust; if you desire power for controlling and ruling sake, it is a lust. For those are not the primary reasons those things are created; and in this sense of lust, no other things matter, neither God, nor the people that would be involved. You want it and it is for yourself. The power of lust is overflowing of emotion which overrides reasoning in all senses. So nothing more is as important as your cravings. 'I want it.' Why do you want it? 'I just want it for myself.' Why do you want it for yourself? 'To satisfy my cravings.' Does your pivot of desire really want you back? 'Yes.' With the same sense of I-want-it-for-myself at the center? Yes. That's a lust from both ends.
  • The Greediness: This is the husband of lust. Then we might think that it should be more powerful than lust. No; this is how it is. Bible says the adulteress wife reduces her victims to a loaf of bread. That is how it is for greediness. Greediness is a desire and want of another person's possession without logical reason of why. 'They have it, I must have it.' Why do you want it? 'Because they have it.' Any other reason why you want? Because they are not using it well? That's is greediness. Having the wrong judgemental sense, especially of others as the reason for your desire.
  • The Pride: Pride is a bit different from the other two. Pride is not stubbornness; it is an act of justifying one's actions above godly and logical reasons. Stubborn people see what is wrong in their actions and most times feel deep remorse about it. Instead of feeling deep sorry for their wrong actions and adjust, pride gives reasons to justify their actions, taking it lightly and forget about it. What you did was wrong. 'He or she caused it.' You shouldn't have done that. 'I had no option.' You ought to ask God for forgiveness. 'He understands or do it as if being forced.' That's a pride.
  • The Unbelief: When Jesus Christ said to the Pharisees and the people to repent for the kingdom of God is at hand, He was, among many other things, referring to their unbelief towards what God had said He would do. Therefore, unbelief in this context is taking lightly the warning of God that He cannot only do good, but also capable of destroying in lake of hell fire for evil actions. God will destroy all evil doers. 'Jesus Christ has sacrificed Himself for me.' You need to stop that. 'His grace is sufficient for me.' That's an unbelief. Feeling too known at the looming judgement. God is not coming to judge the world for sin, but for unbelief. It is your unbelief that makes you sin, John 16:9.
If you patiently take your time to weigh the reasons and motivation of your prayers in line with the above explanations, you might see why some of your prayers have not been answered.

To do away with these demons, do the following:

  • "...be transformed by the RENEWING OF YOUR MIND..." Romans 12:2.
  • "...you should learn to CONTROL YOUR BODY in a way that is HOLY AND HONOURABLE,..." 1 Thessalonians 4:4.
  • "Flee the evil desires of youth, and PURSUE RIGHTEOUSNESS, FAITH, LOVE AND PEACE, along WITH THOSE WHO CALLED ON THE LORD OUR OF A PURE HEART." 2 Timothy 2:22

What will set you free from these demons is changing your mind from worldly views to godly directions; then learn to control your desires for some things in holiness and honour. Don't say you don't want to have sex with a woman or man and then resolve to masturbation; that's not holy in any sense. Don't desire anything in line with the reasons of others, and righteously, faithfully, lovely and peacefully focus on your desire. And then, if the set of people you move with are not helping you spiritually, drop them. And here is what God is saying now,
"If a man cleanses himself from [those things], he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work." 2 Timothy 2:21.
Also read Your Temperamental Weaknesses not a Barrier to God and Where to Bring your Broken Heart along with BECOME LIKE JESUS CHRIST: WHY AND HOW and not without THE TRUTH TO KNOW THAT WILL SET YOU FREE and GOD WANTS TO DO FOR YOU WHAT HE DID FOR JESUS CHRIST Go back home

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