WHAT BREATHING IS TO PHYSICAL LIFE IS WHAT PRAYING IS TO SPIRITUAL LIFE.
THE MOMENT YOU STOP PRAYING YOU START FAINTING
EVERY BELIEVER IS CALLED TO PRAY.
EVERYONE WHO IS A CHILD OF GOD IS ORDAINED TO LIVE A LIFE OF PRAYER NOT JUST TO HAVE A PRAYER LIFE.
THE ELECT OF GOD MUST BE THOSE WHO CRY TO HIM DAY AND NIGHT, CEASELESSLY.
WHEN YOU AND I ENGAGE THE ALTAR OF PRAYER WITH CHILDLIKE TENACITY WE BEGIN TO SECURE UNUSUAL ANSWERS.
WHEN GOD’S MATTER BECOMES FIRST, YOUR MATTER CANNOT BE LAST WITH HIM.
THE CHEAPEST HIGHWAY TO SECURING HEAVEN’S ATTENTION WHEN IT COMES TO PRAYER IS GIVING ATTENTION TO WHAT GOD DEMANDS.
- Pastor David Oyedepo Jnr on PRAYING TO GET RESULTS 6 at Covenant Hour of Prayer || Saturday, 20th January 2024.
Lord Jesus, this morning we have come to you full of gratitude because you have been so good to us, you have been so kind to us, you have been so faithful to us and we give you all the glory. For answers to our prayers, we are grateful. For the testimonies, we are thankful. Church Gist. This morning, our eyes are fixed upon you. Lord that which we do not know teach us today and give us light from heaven and let our lives be changed supernaturally. We give you thanks for it.
All through this week we have been looking at this line of exhortation that is captioned: PRAYING TO GET RESULTS. We have been able to establish all through this week that prayer among others is the calling of every believer. Every believer is called to pray. Our mother in teaching us showed us that from scriptures that every believer is called to pray. Church Gist. Ephesians 6:18. Everyone who is a child of God is ordained to live a life of prayer. Not to have a prayer life but to have their lives as lives of prayer. That is the ordination of every believer.
In fact, we discover that what breathing is to physical life is what praying is to spiritual life. Luke 18:1. If they clip your mouth and clip your nose and you cannot breathe for a few moments, the first thing that happens is that you cannot breathe. The moment you stop breathing, you start fainting. In the same vein, the moment you stop praying you start fainting. So our spiritual life can actually be measured by our prayerfulness in life. One of the vital signs of spiritual vibrancy is prayer fervency. Romans 12:11-12. Our spiritual vibrancy can be measured among others by our prayer fervency. Church Gist. How fervent our prayer lives are is a measure of how fervent our spiritual lives are. This is why prayer becomes a non-negotiable subject in the life of any believer. You cannot discount the place of prayer. Prayer is an absolute necessity because it is what expresses genuine spiritual vibrancy. My prayer this morning is that our prayer lives will be injected with new lives today.
If you look through scriptures, after the first Church was born. The first sign that we saw was the enactment of the platform of prayer. Acts 2:42. Those were the four evidence of Christianity at the beginning. 1. They were in the Word 2. They were not missing services 3. They were taking communion 4. They were in prayers. Church Gist. Those four vital signs were the evidence of these individuals having spiritual life. It means therefore that when prayer dies, spiritual life dies. That is why we said earlier that when a person stops praying, they start dying spiritually. Our spiritual lives can be measured by the vibrancy of our prayer lives.
It is important to note that as the redeemed, we are not ordained to pray in frustration. Our prayers are expected to secure heaven’s attention. The believer’s prayers are ordained for answers. Jeremiah 33:3. Isaiah 45:19. According to scriptures, we see that everyone’s prayer life as far as God is concerned is ordained to secure answers. Church Gist. We discovered that one of the vital forces behind answers to prayers is faith and we have looked at that in the course of this week. Mark 11:24. So there is a demand for engaging the platform of faith.
This morning, we are going to look at something very important and unique. If we are going to have answers to prayers, what is required? We must refuse to take No for an answer. Everyone who has an effective prayer life operates in this dimension. Refusing to take No for an answer. Galatians 6:9. Jesus told us two parables that give us a perfect picture of this. Luke 18:1-8. Church Gist. Here Jesus gives us this parable of a woman that will not take No and He said this is the example we must take as believers. He said the elect of God must be those who cry to Him day and night, ceaselessly. The ones who refused to take No for an answer. Jesus told another prayer in Luke 11:5-11.
Luke 11:5-10. Another version says: ‘Keep asking and you will receive’. That is, refuse to take ‘No’ for an answer. This is the picture that Jesus is painting to us from Scriptures. I remember the story that was told by a man of God he said: His son, when his son was very young. If you promise the Son anything and say: ‘Okay, go tomorrow I will give you this, the Boy will go and come back and say: ‘Daddy, is today tomorrow’? Church Gist. If he says: ‘No’, he will go and come back again and ask him again: ‘Is today tomorrow’? He won’t go, until you turn that tomorrow to today because he will frustrate you by asking you over and over again. ‘Daddy, is today tomorrow yet’? You will say: ‘No, it is not tomorrow’. He will come back again. By the time you do that from morning till night, that tomorrow will become today. He will say: ‘Okay, take and go’. Because the Boy, that is what is called importunity, he won’t let you go, he won’t let you rest. Shout hallelujah!
When you and I engage the altar of prayer with childlike tenacity we begin to secure unusual answers. You see? When it comes to spiritual things, you cannot begin to conduct yourself with a physical maturity. ‘No’! There must be a childlike desperation, a childlike tenacity. You know that when you have children, particularly when they are very young and they don’t have too much understanding. Church Gist. Don’t promise them what you don’t intend to give them because that child, the promise, no matter how incapable you are of doing it, the child will hold on to that promise because his father or his mother said that it would be done. In the same vein, when you and I go before God, we must maintain that childlike tenacity concerning every subject we present. Shout hallelujah!
Two examples of individuals that had this in Scriptures:
- Jacob.
Genesis 32:24-28. The Bible says Jacob was left alone, there wrestled with him a man and the Man said: ‘Let me go because the day breaks’. The day must not break and meet me here. He said: ‘I will not let you go until you bless me’. He touched his thigh, the whole of his thigh came out but he kept holding on to him. And he said: ‘Listen! Now as a prince, you have power with God and power with men and prevail, your name will no longer be Jacob it will now be called Israel’. Church Gist. I turn you from a person to a nation on the basis of importunity. ‘I will not let you go until you bless me’. Genesis 32:28. The truth is, you and I have responsibilities, we must ensure that in this season, we don’t let go. 21 days are already rolling away, this is the time when you’re holding on to God: ‘I won’t let you go’!! By the 21st day is like the breaking of the day concerning Jacob, ‘I won’t let you go’!!!
-As you hold on to Him like that, you will see things change supernaturally on your behalf. Church Gist. Somebody who believes, say a loud Amen.
- Elijah.
Elijah refused to take ‘No’ for an answer. He stood there and prayed. 1 Kings 18:40-46. He prayed and prayed and prayed until the cloud came and then the rain began to fall. Church Gist. He stood there in prayer refusing to take ‘No’. He sent the Servant the first time, ‘Do you see anything’? He said: ‘I don’t see anything’. ‘This prayer is not a waste, I will stay here God until I receive a response’.
-You and I must engage the same.
But let’s take note of this as we conclude this morning, the cheapest highway to securing Heaven’s attention when it comes to prayer is giving attention to what God demands – The agenda of God. When God’s matter becomes first, your matter cannot be last with Him. Church Gist. When God’s matter becomes first! If we engage that kind of childhood tenacity in what matters to God, then what matters to you will matter to God. Therefore, let’s take advantage of this season and watch how God dramatically changes our story. Just about a week more left is more than enough time for anybody’s story to change. Therefore, I would like each one of us to be expectant. These 21 days will end with your total transformation!
——PRAYERS——
-The grace you have called on God for, that grace answers on your behalf!
-For you, from this time onward, your prayer will secure results. Church Gist. You will get swift responses from Heaven. Even way beyond what you ask, God will begin to put (it) into your hand.
Remember like God’s servant told us, there’s a company of those who before they even ask, God answers them. And that’s the company of Kingdom addicts.
-Because you and I are registering among that company, where the things we have not asked in this season will be delivered into our hands. Church Gist. If you believe it, say a loud Amen! So shall it be in Jesus’ precious name.
—-PRAYERS—-
-Now the day is declared blessed! For you, it will be a day of testimonies, a day to be much remembered in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
-Everything you have declared today answers on your behalf in the name of Jesus. Church Gist. So shall it be in Jesus’ precious name. You believe God, say a loud Amen. It is done in Jesus’ precious name!
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