Your pastor's wife, she tells you that your altar has ashes on it. What does she mean by that? Yes.
I was praying right, I was praying but I was not praying enough for
these new assignments that was on my life. So I was praying enough for me, for me for where I
was, but I was not praying for the assignment God has put in my life. You know for every transition,
you know one thing Christians must understand is that when we talk about growth in Christ,
it is not just growth for manifestation, it is growth for responsibility. So we believe that
when we grow, we manifest more, we manifest more, no. Every growth that you say you are
experiencing as a believer, that does not convey a measure of responsibility on you,
is nothing but a walk in the park. It is not true growth. So the more we grow, the more you feel
you know a pressure to be more for God. The more you grow, the more you know that God is saying,
"You got to be more, you gotta do more." So for me, it conveyed a measure of responsibility on
me. So and that's what it is. So after I was told that and I went back to the altar, prayed, I asked
for Grace. It wasn't easy to pray. I had a lot of struggles at the time. I struggled with my mind,
you know, bringing my mind to the place where it doesn't wander while I'm praying. It was a
big issue for me. My mind will wander very badly again in the place of prayer and once I just say,
"Let me start praying." I'll start thinking, I'll start thinking. My mind will go to America,
come back; go to the UK, come back. You know, so my mind was wondering,
so bringing, you know sparing the time of mind wondering. And that is one little book you know,
I started writing three days ago because the Spirit of God began to say to me,
do you know a lot of people are. And it's going to be a very simple book about how to contain
mind wandering during prayers. Wow. You know so for me, it was, yes it was a major challenge for
me that even as a believer who had grown and I had issues with mind wondering. How to study my mind,
it was a very big issue for me. So but the Lord gave me a template on how to conquer it because
sometimes it's very discouraging. Now if you set out to pray, you know sometimes you're moving,
your mouth is moving, your heart is not there. The heart is not there you know. [Speaking in tongues]
And then you're speaking but your mind it's just, "Oh did you turn off your gas?
Are you sure you turned off the gas? Are you sure that the way the guy spoke to you today,
you know it wasn't really..." And you said you prayed for 30 minutes? No sir,
those were 30 empty minutes that cannot bring down the supernatural. And a lot of us as charismatics,
we just turned on this automatic praying in tongues but our mind does shopping on Amazon,
we're responding to somebody in our mind on Instagram but like we're just praying
in tongues, and I think it becomes like this excuse to be distracted. And I mean,
I know that you're writing a book and so we don't want to spill the secrets, and I do want to go
back to finish the story and what happened to that girl. But what is one thing that you would tell,
what did you do in your earlier days, 9 year old, 12 year old who started to practice the
midnight prayers and how did you get gain mastery over your wandering thoughts to focus on prayer?
Okay, so one major thing, okay that's also you asking me to spill what I'm writing. Yes please.
One major way that I had to contain, now there are seven things I'm going to write on how to contain
mind wondering. So let me just pick one you know and all that. And one major thing that I try to do differently
as it has to do with mind wondering, is that your mind will not stop wondering because you
are praying. Now if your mind is used to visiting too many places when you are not praying, right. It
will not change when you are praying. So these are the people the Bible says, "By reason of use have
exercised their senses." You know, so you are not going to have, like I am now praying right now.
You must be able to be in charge of your mind, even when you are not praying. Like you know I'm
in charge of my mind, I'm the one, my mind is not on autopilot. So we leave our minds on autopilot.
You know my mind wants to x-ray extreme lustful thoughts, my mind goes there, my mind comes back;
my mind wants to go to America. Like you say, my mind wants to shop in Amazon, it comes back.
My mind wants to, so it goes there. Then you're praying, all of a sudden you say, "My mind has to
be together." No, you have not disciplined your mind on ordinary affairs, now you want to get
in the place of prayer and you want your mind to be steady. No! So even when you are not praying,
let your mind know that I'm in charge of you. You can't think everything you want to think,
you can't behave any how you want to behave, and all of that. That in itself puts you in control
of your mind, even when you are praying. So by reason of use, you've been able to
exercise your senses. So that's one of the major things I did. There were seven things,
how to contain mind wondering. So there were seven things I did, but I will not say more than this
one you know and all of that. So but the major thing is that your mind will not stop being your
mind. Like if you're not able to call back, you're getting angry at somebody, you know your heart is
going. Don't let the anger run its course. Tell your mind, "Stop. I'm not going to, I'm not going
to let this run out," you know and all that. So if you can't check mate your mind on a normal day, how can you
try to start check mating your mind now, when you're praying? Your mind does not understand
that you're praying. I've always had my way, so I'm gonna have my way right now when you're
even praying. So for me that was one major thing that I did, that I was able to contain my mind.