Subject: Weekly (Sunday) Column
Title of Column: Redemption Outreach from the Diaspora
Columnist: Pastor Sam Adelusimo, Resident Pastor, RCCG Chapel of Praise, Northwest Arkansas, United States of America.
It is a brand-new week, and today, Sunday, September 17, 2023, I will be teaching us the centrality of prayers in the life of a Christian. As Christians, we must embrace a prayerful life in this strange world.
There is power in prayer. As a child of God, you must never believe in the saying that, “What will be will be” (que sera, sera). This should not be the belief of a Christian. As believers, we declare and decree what we wish to see or manifest in our lives. God has given us the power to create the situation we want. Prayers are one of the means to do this.
When things are good, you pray. When things are not good, you pray to turn it around. When life is good, you pray to sustain it. When life is discouraging, you pray until it turns around.
Prayer should be done without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:16-17). Everywhere you see a turnaround, consistent prayer is in the details. In James 5:14-15, the Bible shows us how efficacious prayer is: “Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him”.
Here, we are urged to seek God’s face through prayers to turn around a situation, such as sickness. Even if we have sinned too, we seek Him in prayers for forgiveness.
Prayer is thus something for which we must have courage. It is what we need in all situations. If we truly desire a miracle, we must embrace prayer more. Even if we have been praying before, we must engage more in it. Prayer is never too much. Prayer is a lifestyle we must embrace.
But, what is prayer? How does it affect our lives as children of the Most High God?
Prayer is where we speak to God about our needs. It is a channel of communication between God and us. That is how to talk to God. When we do it, He hears and He speaks to us. There is no situation that is too small for which prayer is not important. God created that spiritual channel by which we talk to Him, make our requests, confide in Him, and unbundle or unpack our hearts.
Prayer is where we find succor. We cast all our burdens in His care by this methodology. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6).
Worry is a choice. Prayer is a choice too. Choose to pray and not to worry. When you choose to pray, Philippians 4:7 plays out: “and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”.
What happens when we pray?
Through prayer, we turn our battles over to God. We hand over the burdens to Him. He knows the beginning; He knows the end; and He knows the end from the beginning. He has the master key to any situation and has solutions to all problems. No one in the real sense has any powers. The power we have is the power to pray and take control. All powers belong to and come from Jesus. We get the powers only from answers through our communication with or petitions to God.
Anyone who stops praying has chosen a life of defeat. Prayer does not have age grades or time-scope. The moment we grow to become conscious of our existence, prayer has become the only option we have as believers, as a lifestyle. We have to continue praying until a good old age.
How to engage the power of prayer.
The first means is to acknowledge that there is power in prayer. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:6). This implies that we must first understand that the earnest prayer of a believer and anyone who walks right in God’s sight has great power and produces wonderful results. The believer must know this fact before he can even appreciate or embrace a prayerful lifestyle.
In Acts 12:1-11, we are taught about how fervent and consistent prayers can turn around captivity or any odious situation. Our prayers can accomplish great things. It tells us about the relentless persecution of the apostles and Christians under King Herod. Due to the relentless prayers of the brethren, a dire situation changed dramatically.
“On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared, and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him up, saying, ‘Get up quickly.’ And his chains fell off his hands” (Acts 12:6-7). In the middle of a death sentence, captivity became freedom. Ceaseless prayers saved Peter!
Friends, our prayers will always make a difference in all matters of life. When you pray consistently for a child who is not doing well at school, at a point, you will see a dramatic difference. When a marriage is not doing well and consistent prayers are offered for a change of situation, things must definitely change.
Something does not go wrong and you simply mouth or agree with it or else it would collapse. You must reorder it by prayer. You will not accept that situation and join them in saying that what will be will be. No, friend! You must pray it back to orderliness, the way God has ordained it, and the way you want it.
Furthermore, in as much as we engage in congregational prayer, let our private time with God be a top priority. We need personal time with God at all times. He is limited by our prayer life because He is waiting for us to ask. He cannot do anything until He is asked, and when we do, He gives us everything (Matthew 7:7).
Closed mouth can become a closed destiny. Let us open up in prayer and make those demands through Christ Jesus. Let us engage in personal prayerfulness, seeking quiet time with God from time to time, and change that situation.
Finally, brethren, we do not learn how to pray by going to a school for it. We learn how to pray by praying. Practice makes perfect. God will grant us the grace to embrace prayer as a personal lifestyle, so that we can experience the revival and move of God in our homes, relationships, careers, and in all that we do.
God bless you in Jesus’ name.
•Pastor Adelusimo is the Resident Pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Chapel of Praise Parish, Northwest Arkansas, United States of America.
