Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6
Education gives you a general and broad knowledge and ability to fit into every role with minimum knowledge. Training on the other hand is job specific. Training gives you a skill which is mustered through repetition of sometimes monotonous routine. But, at the end of it all, the skill acquired shapes who you become in future.
According to Fyodor Dostoevsky,
"The second half of a man's life is made up of nothing but the habits he has acquired during the first half."
The Art and Science of prayer comes through practice. If you want to cultivate the art and science of prayer, spend hours of your youthful life praying.
I remember in the 1990s, after Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke visited Ghana, I use to pray with my brothers (4 boys in our teens) on our own ALL NIGHT LONG non-stop. This extended to Corporate Prayer with other Christians on the football field of Oninku Primary/Middle School in Tema. During my National Service in Ho in the 1990s, I was part of the prayer warrior for Pastor Tritriku of the Redeemed Evangelical Church (a.k.a Last Bus Stop). We prayed for hours throughout the night, during crusades. We hid under the stage being used by the Pastor. We were bent over and sometimes on our knees as we could not stand upright praying ALL NIGHT LONG. Throughout the crusade 6pm to 5am for 7 days. I had a friend called Foster; we use to go into the forest at the outskirts of Community 12, Tema and pray for hours unend.
Today, at my age, prayer is my passion. I pray every dawn and evening. Friday through to Saturday I have evening, night, dawn and morning prayer. I do not leave my house without prayer. I cannot live without prayer. I have written a book on prayer, 'Men Ought to Pray Always' which is aimed at inspiring men and women all over the world, to Lift up those Holy Hands unto God in prayer for family, church and country 24/7; 366 days non-stop.
The second stage of my life is full of prayer; because, during the first half of my life I spent hours praying alone, with my siblings and with other Christians. Today, unprecedented in our time and age, as siblings (both males and females and our spouses) we pray every Saturday morning through the Zoom Cloud Meeting App. Distance (some leaving abroad) and COVID-19 Pandemic has not been able to stop us from Lifting up those Holy Hands unto God in prayer.
I have trained my myself for this, that's why I.LOVE praying. Whatever you desire to do in life, spend hours at it, during the first half of your life. It becomes a reflex action during the second half of your life.
Bro Ritchie Edukwesi WOANYA