The Yield to Maturity of Prayer – Richard Okunola

Yield to maturity (YTM) is a financial term used to depict the total return anticipated on a bond if the bond is held until it matures. It is considered a long-term bond yield but is expressed as an annual rate. In other words, it is the internal rate of return (IRR) of an investment in a bond if the investor holds the bond until maturity, with all payments made as scheduled and reinvested at the same rate.

How does this relate to prayer?

According to Wikipedia, Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. Collins Dictionary puts it this way “Prayer is the activity of speaking to God”. Many times when we pray, we often categorize our prayers into two. While one is seen as monologue (a one-way communication without any response), the other is a dialogue (a two-way communication). It takes only the spiritually inclined to discern that prayer is meant to be a dialogue and not monologue, whether in a church premises or in your closet – God’s listens and answers.

Nonetheless, the relevance of YTM on prayer is based on the fact that sometimes, the answer to our prayer is usually delayed. This can be frustrating especially when you expect God to act speedily on a particular situation, but nothing happened. Some go to the extent of giving up on God. Why is this so? The answer is in Eccl 3:11, paraphrasing … “God makes all things beautiful in His time, so that no man can find out the work that God did from the beginning to the end”. When we pray oftentimes the delay is not as a result of our sins, neither is it that God did not hear us, but rather because God wants to shine through the process, and help us learn some lessons during the waiting time. Just like the yield to maturity, our waiting period after prayer, is the period in which God is preparing us for the realisation of the prayer.

Looking closely at the definition of yield to maturity, it takes a number of years for a bond investment to materialize/mature, not only that, it also shows level of progress (IRR) annually, and that is where our prayer comes in. When a child pray to God to give him a car at age 8, definitely God is able to do it according to Matthew 7:7a “ask and it shall be given unto you…”, although God might delay the plan because He knows that the car is not a priority to the child at that moment. This does not mean God ignored the little boy’s prayer request, but rather God knew it was not yet time for that, and instead, he prepares a better plan and gift for the boy which will last the boy till he’s ready to own a car, this can be a bicycle or something worthwhile.

As believers, all we need to do is to fulfil our part of a prayer request, is to trust God for the realisation of our heart desires, we must trust him to help us remain calm while waiting, we must understand that he wants the best for us. During this waiting period, there is a need for us to also learn from the process and understand the applicability of the lessons to future prayers. God will not default in his promise, so expect a fantastic yield-to-maturity on all your prayers.