Stir Yourself!
One of the most practical things anyone has ever said to me about maintaining a life in the Spirit is
“Stir yourself!”
Don’t wait for it to come. Don’t quit and hope you’ll feel it tomorrow. Stir, Yourself!
It’s not new truth that you will not always feel spiritual. Your flesh will not always want to pray. Your mind will not always want to open the scriptures. And some mornings, everything in you will reach for your phone before it reaches for God — and that’s not a character flaw. That’s a warfare you have to master how to fight it.
This is why I remembered this statement again today…
This morning, I woke up late for work.
Rushed out of the house, scrambled into a bus, and decided I was going to redeem the commute. I opened my Bible app to read and it was just... Nothing. No energy, no pull — just words on a page. So I did what most of us do: I closed it, opened social media, and scrolled.
First video. Second video.
Then I caught myself.
Rhema, this is the warfare we talk about. This is the contention against the knowledge of God in your heart. The drift from the Word to entertainment. This is where you mortify the flesh by the Spirit, rather than entertain it.
So I went back to my Bible. Still dry. I tried to pray in tongues. Still dry. I had prayed the night before. I had done a quick “Thank You, Jesus” moment while getting ready for work. What was going on?
I kept going through the motions — read a chapter, lost focus, went back and read it again because the first time didn’t land. The ride wasn’t cooperating. Lagos wasn’t cooperating. My spirit wasn’t cooperating.
So I made a decision.
Bishop David Oyedepo once wrote that you cannot appreciate spiritual truths except when you are in the Spirit. Apostle John, said: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard…” (Revelation 1:10).
I told myself: Whatever it takes, I’m going to stir myself.
I didn’t have my earphones — they were buried somewhere in my bag. No worship music. No message playing. Just me, a crowded bus, and the noise of the city.
So I began to pray in tongues. Not whispered under my breath the way I do when I’m trying to make sure the person next to you doesn’t notice. Energetically and Deliberately without raising disturbance.
For about 40 minutes into the ride, I pushed.
And then the cloud shifted.
My spirit began to pick up new songs. Line upon line, the lyrics just rose out of my spirit and I sang them. Then I remembered older ones and aang those too. Then prayed again. Then sang again. Then I began confessing the Psalms like a ruminant animal regurgitating — chanting them like incantations as I saw my parents do.
And by the time that ride was done, my spirit was alive.
I walked into the office building sweating. I washed my face, pulled myself together and settled for work. I was fully present - Spirit, Soul and Body - Strengthened. Sharpened. The mind of Christ, active. The energy of the Spirit, flowing.
I share this narrative among many to say to you — even when you don’t feel like it, stir yourself.
Feelings like it matter, but understand that feelings follow movement. You don’t wait to feel alive before you pray. You pray until you feel alive.
Mechanically, deliberately, by the help of the Spirit, you must drive yourself into that place where you’re naturally walking in the Spirit. Where your full mind, in partnership with divine intelligence, is released into your day. Into your work. Into your relationships. Into whatever God has called your hands to do.
Don’t not waiting for a wave to carry you, learn how to swim.
Stir yourself!
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Hmm....Even when you don’t feel like it, stir yourself.
You pray until you feel alive!
Thank you so much sir.