Whether you are praying for success in an exam you are going to sit for or praying for someone else, you need to understand a few things.
Prayer is good but when it is done without understanding, it yields no fruit. There is no point in making prayers for exam success if you lack understanding.
I’ll begin by clarifying why praying for success in your exam is not a wise idea and then tell you what you need to do instead.
Why Praying for Exam Success is Unwise
1. Praying for exam success limits God
When you ask God to help you pass your exam, you put limits on what God can do in your life. The plans of God are beyond our understanding. The Bible tells us through Prophet Isaiah that the ways of God are not our ways neither are his thoughts our thoughts.
While for us we may think that passing an exam is inherently good, in some cases, it is not. God has diverse plans for us and limiting Him to do a specific thing for us is always a bad idea.
If you look at the paths of the men of God mentioned in the Bible, you will realize that the plans God had for them were not what they expected.
Take the example of Joseph, did he ever think going to Egypt as a slave would lead him to become a prime minister there? Going to Egypt as a slave was definitely a bad idea from the human perspective but God knew what He was doing.
The same goes for praying for success in an exam; it may sound cool but it may be going against the plan God has for you.
2. Praying for Success in your Exam puts you in a lose-lose situation
We are believers and we have the duty of keeping our faith in Jesus intact until His return. The devil works hard to destroy our faith.
If you pray for success in your exam, you put yourself in a lose-lose situation against the devil. If you pass your exam after praying for it, you will think of God as a tool to help you pass your exams.
In future if you fail any exam, you will blame God for not helping you as He helped you before and your faith will dwindle.
On the other hand, if you pray for success in your exam and fail to pass, you will be discouraged and your faith will dwindle.
No matter the outcome of your prayer for success in your exam, the long term effects will be negative on your faith. This is why it is a lose-lose situation.
3. Praying for Exam Success raises tough faith questions
If you pray for exam success then a heathen does better than you in the exam, what will you say? I have real life experience having been a prayerful student in school.
I was the most prayerful person in my class but I was never the best performing student. I asked God many times for success in my exams but I can’t say there was any miracle performance.
At some point the teacher in charge of our class mocked me for spending a lot of time praying but not having great performance in class.
It made me start questioning if the prayers I was making were any valuable. The person who used to top our class had quit the Christian Union and switched to a carnal life.
If you never pray for success in your exams, you won’t have to battle with all these hard questions. Treating exams like any other activity that you can pass or fail regardless of your faith is wise.
If you are the best student in a history exam talking about evolution as the way humans came into being as opposed to God creating us, will you praise God for the result?
4. School Teaches carnal knowledge
Mathematics is carnal. Languages are carnal. This does not mean they are evil, it means they add no value to your faith.
At one time Jesus said the words He spoke were spirit and they were life. If you listen to the teachings of Jesus, they nourish you. If you learn carnal knowledge, it makes you more carnal.
The scientists who work hard to disapprove the work of God are intellectual people who did well in their exams. They excelled in carnal knowledge and became carnal in their reasoning.
After this consideration, will you still say praying for exam success is a good idea? I learned mathematics and languages and it helps me today but praying to God to pass an exam in these carnal subjects is a stupid idea.
5. If God gifted you intellectually, you will pass exams without prayer
There are people that God has anointed and called to serve in the academic sector. For such people, God has given them the grace to excel in their academics without destroying their faith.
If you are one of such people, passing exams will be your second nature whether you pray for success or not. For you passing exams will be fulfilling your God ordained destiny and He will make sure you pass.
When you understand that such kind of people exist, you will understand why the most prayerful person is not always the best performer in class.
Therefore, don’t stress yourself praying to succeed in an area that God has not called you to. Channel those prayers to something more meaningful.
What to do Instead of Praying for Exam Success
Instead of praying for success in your exam, pray that God may grant you the gift of knowledge. The gift of knowledge is a million times better than what is taught in schools.
The knowledge taught in schools is a mixture of what God revealed and the corruption of men. But when God gives you the gift of knowledge, you will operate in the purity of His word and live a fulfilling life.
A good example is Apostle Paul; prior to becoming an Apostle who shared so many revelations from God, he was an educated heathen in the law.
The much learning he had gone through could not earn him rest until when Christ appeared to him and gave him revelations.
You can pass all exams in this world and earn as many accolades as you want but in the eyes of God they are all trash. Unless God has called you into that field, all your efforts there will be a waste of time.
God knows that knowledge is vital for us and that is why He provided the gift of knowledge through the Holy Spirit.
Get the gift of Praying in Tongues
To make your work super easy when it comes to prayer, ask God to give you the gift of praying in tongues. Praying in tongues is God’s way of simplifying our prayer duty.
When you pray in tongues, you never have to worry about anything because the Holy Spirit will intercede for you. If you were called to the academic field and God wants you to succeed in an upcoming exam, by praying in tongues, the Holy Spirit will intercede for you and you will do well in your exam.
The Holy Spirit knows the mind of God and so when He prays for us He prays according to God’s Will. This is why praying in tongues is very important for every believer.
Until next time…peace!