The Power of Prayer (part 1)- Apostle Peterson O. Abu

The main idea of this information is that prayer is important for believers, as it has the power to produce results and take away discouragement, frustration, and anxiety. The speaker emphasizes the need for believers to present their requests to God through prayer and supplication, rather than being anxious or depressed. Prayer is seen as a means of seeking the kingdom of God and communicating with Him. It is highlighted that God hears and answers prayers, and believers should rely on Him for their needs and challenges. The speaker also mentions that prayer is a form of mass communication with God and a way for believers to express their absolute dependence on Him. a believer, that a Christian, that a man or a woman should pray and never to be faint. That means instead of you to faint, the word faint there talks about discouragement. The word faint there talks about giving up. The word faint there talks about depression. The word faint there talks about frustration. Instead of you to faint, instead of you to be frustrated, instead of you to be depressed, instead of you to be confused, instead of you to be discouraged, it said you should what? Pray. Now what is the relationship between prayer and fainting? Why would Jesus say that instead of you to faint, you ought to pray? It is because prayer has the capacity to produce life. Instead of you to get discouraged, instead of you to give up, instead of you to say you are not able to continue again and you are thinking of suicide or you are thinking of quitting Christianity, the Bible says before you give up, before you give up everything or before you give up on God, you must have prayed first. That means prayer has the power to produce a result that can take away your what? Your fainting. Philippians chapter 4 verse 6, Philippians chapter 4 verse 6, in the book of Philippians chapter 4 verse what? Verse 6, the Bible says in verse 6, be careful for what? But in everything by prayer and what? Supplication. With thanksgiving, let your what? Request be made known unto God. That what? Be careful for nothing, actually also means that do not be anxious. Do not be what? Anxious. Yes, there is every tendency for you to be too anxious about life. There is tendency for you to be discouraged. There is tendency for you to think about what will I, what am I going to eat? There is tendency for you to talk about where am I going to have the money? There is a tendency for you to be disturbed in life. And the Bible says that you should not allow that anxiousness to come. That in everything, what should you do? You should present those things in prayer and what? As supplication. Human being have the tendency, they have the tendency to be disturbed. They have the tendency, there is no food to eat. Just like what Jesus was saying to the Samoans on the mount. If you read the book of Matthew chapter 6, chapter 7, chapter 5, 6, 7. That was Samoans on the mount. And when Jesus was speaking to them in chapter 6. He said the Gentiles, the people that are unbelievers, what do they seek everyday? What are the things disturbing them everyday? He says what to eat, what to put on and where to stay. And these are the basic necessities of life. What to eat, where to stay, what to put on as clothes. And these are the things disturbing people. These are the reasons people do not have time for God again. These are the reasons why people are committing suicide. These are the reasons why people are committing murder. Going into different atrocities. These are the reasons. The people that are the fosters that are collecting money of other people from other nations. They call them Yahweh, Yahweh here in Nigeria. Why are they indulging or indulging into those things? It is because of what to eat, what to put on and where to what? Where to stay? Why are people going into ritual today? Why are they killing? What to eat, what to put on, where to stay? Why are even believers backsliding? Why is it that believers now they don't even have time for God again? What to eat, where to stay, what to what? Put on. And Jesus, if you read Matthew 6. Jesus said these things should not be your disturbance. He said these are the things that the Gentiles are seeking about. But he said seek ye first what? The kingdom of God. But how do you seek the kingdom of God? This place has given us a revelation. It says be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication. Let your requests be made known unto God. When those things are not available, talk to God about them. You see, most of us, we don't know the power of prayer. We think that we must have a big problem before we go to the Lord in prayer. No. Even the slightest thing. You see, sometimes you may not even have energy to cook. And you just say, Lord, give me what? Energy to cook. Sometimes you don't even have the energy to even probably you need to go to a place. And there is no transport to go there. You say, Jesus, provide me what? Transport. But do you know that you will not pray about it? Instead, you will be anxious about it. Instead, you will be disturbed about it. Instead, you will be depressed about it. You didn't talk to God about it. You are not talking to God about it. You are not praying about it. You are not supplicating to God about it. And yet you come up and say, I'm tired. The little things we say to tell God about will result to situations that we ourselves will get tired of life about. So when the Bible says, be anxious for nothing. But in everything, by prayer and word, supplication, let your request be made known to God. There is a difficulty. You cannot pay house rent. And then your landlord is coming to knock at your door. Before you say, God doesn't care, have you talked to God about it? There is an issue. Your car developed fault. And then you are not able to repair that car. And because of that, many appointments you have in your business place, you were not able to go because of the distance. And then you are not talking to God about it. You say, God doesn't care. Even to the slightest headache you have, no matter how little that thing is, it's just an ordinary headache. Instead, be anxious for what? For nothing. But in everything, by prayer and word, supplication, let your request be made known unto God. This is the same thing as seeking faith in the kingdom of God. And it's what? And it's what? And every other thing shall be added unto it. It's the same thing. Seek ye the kingdom of God. Take ye to the Lord in prayer. If you are seeking the kingdom of God, one of the ways you seek the kingdom of God is to seek it through prayer. Is to seek God through what? Prayer. Is to seek God through what? Prayer. So be anxious for nothing. But in everything, by prayer and supplication, let your request be made known unto God. Your business is not going well. You are not selling the way you are supposed to sell throughout the week. It's not going well. Just the way it went last week. And now this week, it's not going well again. Instead of you to be depressed. Instead of you to pour all the challenges and say, Nigeria is bad. This is why I hate my country. No. Go to the Lord in prayers. It is to listen. Why did the Bible record prayer? It is because there is a God that answers what? Prayer. If there wasn't God that answered prayer, there wouldn't be need of any record of that prayer. People pray to God in the Bible and God answers them. And that is why it is recorded, documented as the word of God. For us to read and to believe that God answers what? Prayer. When we talk about prayer, we are talking about the act of communication between man and God. Prayer is all about communication. Sometimes you may be so tired to stand up from where you are lying down because of that sickness. God is not saying that you must stand up and jump up and scream before He answers you. It's not a deaf dog, God. It's not a deaf and dumb. He hears and He speaks. Even as of the time you are meditating about that thing in your heart, He has already heard it. I was teaching some of you the other time. I say when you get to heaven, you will not communicate most times with your mouth. Are you getting me now? Praise the Lord. When you get to heaven, most times you will not talk with your mouth. You will talk with your heart. Because in heaven, what you think in your heart is loud enough for people to hear like what you say. So when you get to heaven, the moment you are imagining it, everybody is hearing it around you as though you are speaking it. Are you following me now? So at the point where you are thinking about it and you are talking to God in your heart and say, Lord, this is what I'm going through, Lord. Can you just help me? You are saying it in your heart. That is prayer. So prayer is a communication between God and who? And man. It is mass communication with God. Mass communication with who? With who? With God. And prayer is also called calling upon God. It is call upon me in the days of trouble and I will deliver you. Calling upon God. When things are difficult, call upon God. When you cannot understand why challenges, why things are so difficult and tough, call upon God. You see, sometimes we don't understand this Bible we are reading. You know, the thing that brings deliverance is not the reading of the Bible. It is the understanding that what? That brings deliverance. When we are going through challenges, we shouldn't cast that problem on our wives, on our husbands, on our children. You have a problem. Maybe your boss, when you are working in your company, your boss has to query you there. And then you carry that problem home. Instead of you to carry that problem to the secret place and say, Lord, look at this, my boss. He is trying to push me to do what is not according to your word. Lord, talk to that man. Lord, talk to that woman. Jesus cares enough to hear your problem. He is not too busy. He is not tired. God is not an over-busy God that he cannot hear you. Prayer anytime, he hears you. Praise the Lord. So if prayer is a communication, God expects you to be talking to him every day. If prayer is a communication, God expects you to be pouring your heart to him every day. It is calling upon God. Prayer is man's way of talking to God. And whenever you are praying, there is just one thing you are proving to God. Anytime you are praying, you are proving your absolute dependencies on who? On God. So anytime you say, I want to talk to God about this, you know what God will start saying? He will say, this is my daughter, this is my son. Always depend on me. And this is why you shouldn't do anything without talking to God about that thing. You shouldn't do anything. You shouldn't take any step. Because anytime you are pushing in the place of prayer, you are telling him that, Lord, I depend on you. I absolutely depend on you. Prayer is one of the best privileges that God has given to man. That you don't need to go and meet a prophet. That you don't need to go and meet a high priest. That you can access God yourself. Do you know that we are more prayerful than the Old Testament people? In the Old Testament days, you didn't see anybody went to go and pray except Elijah and a few of those generals. But normal people, average people in those Old Testament days never had a prayer life. Because anytime they want to pray, they carry their animal and they take that animal to the temple and give it to the priest. It is the priest that will take their request to the holy of holies. And that happens once a year. But look at you. Now, the curtain has been parted. And the Bible says, now let us come boldly to the throne of who? Of grace. You can access God without anybody. You can access God without any pastor. You can access God without any man. You can access God without any woman. Why are you not accessing God? If you were to be in the Old Testament, you would say, I'm not praying every time because it is only the priest that can enter there. But now, you can enter there now. Why are you not entering there? Prayer is powerful. Prayer is powerful. And the Lord is calling us as a church that we should become a praying church. We should become a praying people. We have types of prayer. Number one, prayer of thanksgiving. Most times, the prayer you pray is prayer of warfare, which is the last one there. You can take a whole 30 minutes just to thank God. Prayer of thanksgiving, where you thank God for where you are. This was not the way you were generally. Where you have to thank God for where you are. This was not the way you were 10 years ago. In every of your life, there has been finger of God. The point of God, the finger point of God can be traced in every year of your life. If we say, let us talk about last year. If we talk about last year, you will see that the finger point is so much in your life last year. Let us talk about this year. You will see the finger point of God that God helped you so much this year. You have to thank God. If God is a person, if He is a king, then He expects you to thank Him. He needs your thanksgiving. He needs your thanksgiving. We call it prayer of thanksgiving. Thanking God for food. Thanking God for water. Thanking God for clothing. Thanking God for shelter. The basic essentials of life. Thanking God for them. We have to thank God. Number two is the prayer of adoration. The prayer of what? Adoration. Where you have to praise His name. Praise His name. Call His name. I like the Yoruba for this. When you see Yoruba start calling God's name, even you that is not God, you will be tempted to stand up and say, hey. Are we together? Even you that is not what? God. You will be tempted to stand up and say, hey. Because when they start singing, when they start calling God's name, you can be in your room and start calling His name. Come dancing. Just make sure that you are standing before the king of kings. Just make sure that this standing is a physical standing. And start dancing. Start calling His name. I tell you that affliction will go. It will take that affliction. You don't need to go and look for a man of God somewhere. There are some strategies that scripture has defined. Just start dancing. Dance before Him. Prayer of adoration. Prayer of adoration. Prayer of adoration. Call His name. The king of kings. The boy and the minister. You start calling His name in your dialect. And then you will see the king of kings standing in heaven. And when God stands up for your kids, that case has already been settled. Everybody will see that. So people that are standing against the Lord, you see that. Prayer of what? Adoration. Number three, we have the prayer of supplication. This is where you meet God with your personal needs. You meet God with what? Your personal needs. You tell God about your personal pain. The ones your husband doesn't know. The ones your wife doesn't know. The ones people around you, your friends, they don't know about. You tell God about your personal what? Pain. We call it prayer of supplication. It's also called prayer of petition. Then number four, we have the prayer of intercession. Prayer of what? Intercession. Where you have to lift up others in prayer. Pray for the church. Pray for Nigeria. Pray for your families. Pray for your relatives. Pray for your friends. Pray for your neighbors. Pray for people far. Pray for men of God. And then number five, prayer of warfare. This one is a very violent kind of prayer. You come against demonic activities in your home. You come against satanic activities against your business. You come against witchcraft powers. You put down demonic powers. This is prayer also. Prayer is a commandment. There is a commandment of what? Of prayer. Praise the Lord. We are commanded to pray. It is not an assumption. When I was teaching some people in the school of discipleship, I told you that we are the sin of omission and the sin of commission. Praise the Lord. That the sin of omission is you refusing to do what you should do. People don't know. And this sin of omission is what takes a lot of believers to hell. Yes, you are not committing fornication. Yes, you are not committing adultery. Yes, you are not killing. You are not stealing. But the things you should do, you are not what? You are not doing it. The things the Bible says you should do, honor your father and what? Your mother. You are not honoring them. You are sinning. Read your Bible. You are not reading your Bible. What are you doing? You are sinning. People don't know that it is a sin. They don't consider that sin separates a man from God. So because they don't see prayer as a commandment, they feel like it is anything they like to pray. And they don't know that the person that doesn't pray, and the one that went to fornication, both of them should be confessing the same sin. They have committed the same sin. But because they have not prayed, you will see they come with boldness. And the one that is committing fornication, you say that one is a sinner. You have not prayed, you are a sinner too. And they will never repent of the sin of prayerlessness. Praise the Lord. So there is a commandment to pray. If you read Matthew 6, from verse 6 to 8, Jesus was talking about prayer. He said, when you pray, enter into your closet. He used the word when you what? Pray. It is because there is a time to pray. That is why he used the word when. He didn't say if you pray. If Jesus used the word if, that means it is not necessarily a personal opinion. But when he said when you pray, it means that you ought to what? Pray. So he said when you are going to pray, do not pray like the hypocrite. Okay, let us go there. I want to use that to answer somebody's question. Matthew 6, are we there? Matthew chapter what? Chapter 6. I read from verse 6. If you are there, say Amen. If you are there, say Amen. Okay, I read verse 6. But thou, when thou what? Prayers. Enter into thy what? Into thy closet. And when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy father, which is in secret, and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. Verse 7. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as ye even do, for they think that they shall be heard for their monge speaking. Be ye not therefore like unto them, for your father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. Praise the Lord. So Jesus, he talked about prayer. Because he was a praying man. Jesus had been praying before the age of 30. He had been praying from childhood. And he is giving us the pathway of prayer. That prayer is a central focus on God. Prayer is not for people to applaud you. You are not praying for people to what? Applaud you. You are praying to God which seeth you in secret. There is a God that seeth you in what? In secret. And that the same God is a God who should talk to God. If you are in the secret place, you don't hide anything. You don't hide anything. God does not backbite. If you tell him that this is your weakness, we are not going to sit down with a German guy and say, he has that person talking about his weakness. He says he is a liar. God will never discuss your matter with anybody. Why not with him? Lord, I have this problem. I have this problem in my heart. Nobody knows but you know. This might be the reason my blessing has never come. Lord, I have this problem. Lord, I am into this. Lord, I am admiring this. Lord, I am secretly doing this. You talk to God about those things. And that is why when any man dies, you cannot accuse God that he was not there to help you. You didn't talk to him about your problem. Praise the Lord. So Jesus said when you want to praise, he said enter into the secret and talk to God about your pain. That is a commandment. You are commanded to pray. You are commanded to what? To pray. Luke 18 verse 1. Man ought always to pray and not to faint. Ephesians 6 verse 18. He said pray always with all prayers and supplications with thanksgiving. Pray always. Pray always. Always. Always. You are inside the taxi. Pray. You don't necessarily need to come down and kneel down and say father, father, father, father. No, prayer is communication. Praise the Lord. Prayer is communication. You communicate to God and tell him your pain. Tell him your challenges. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 17. He said pray without ceasing. Pray without what? Ceasing. The day you stop praying, you will start complaining. The day you stop praying, what will happen? What will happen? You will start complaining. And you see, some of the people you complain to, they don't even care for you. Some of your friends you tell your problem, they are just there to hear your current condition. They are not there to help you out of your problem. The day you stop praying, you will start complaining. The day you stop praying, you will start mumbling. The day you stop praying, you will start gossiping. You can't stop praying and still be connected with God. Because there must be somebody you talk to every time. And if you are disconnected from that person, that means you are talking to somebody already. Praise the Lord. And that is why we must give ourselves to prayer. We must give ourselves to prayer. We must dedicate ourselves to prayer. It's a commandment. Then there is commitment of prayer. Commitment. Praise the Lord. Prayer is a more sure way of being committed to God. There is no better way. Forget about who ever says, I am committed to God. And you shed their light, there is no prayer. One of the ways that shows that you are a committed believer, that you are a committed Christian, is where there is what? A prayer life. No man is committed to God. No woman is committed to God without a praying life. Praise the Lord. I discovered that many of us as parents, we spend much time, we use much money, we involve much money to make sure that our children go to school. We don't teach our children to pray. One of the things that we leave for the church, most parents leave it for church to do, is to teach their children to pray. You know why? Because the easiest way you can teach your children to pray is you starting to what? To pray. You know you cannot teach, I remember my father went to Bible school. Praise the Lord. That was 2014. While he was in Bible school, there is a course on prayer. So they have different lecturers. Different words, lecturers. This one can come and teach you on salvation. So there is a man that was handling prayer. That is the course they were studying. Before the man teach you, they will do two or three hours of practice in every of the man's class. So when he comes to his class to come and take his own lecture, maybe he has six hours, or he has five hours, or four hours. He will use three hours for what? For prayer. For prayer. They will pray for three hours. Because the easiest way for you to teach a man prayer is to engage that man in what? In prayer. So our children never grow up seeing daddy groaning every morning. Our children never grow up seeing mommy groaning every morning. Our children never grow up seeing their head above the water groaning every day. What do they see? They see that daddy is with phone 24 hours. Mommy is with phone with what? 24 hours. And you see those children start asking for what? For phone. Because they want to be called. That thing you are doing online, they want to get involved. Not in prayer again. The best way for children to be able to understand God is more than head knowledge. It is more than what? They must pray. Prayer makes all the things you have taught them from the Bible to be able to enter. It is prayer that makes it to enter. And you will see that the people of other religions, as young as their children are, they are using their heads to hit the ground. As young as they are. And we want to take over the nation. You are joking. Somebody has been hitting heads for more than 30 years. And you think you can just go and meet that man and put that man on Christ. Except that person has a canter and will never leave that religion. Because for more than 30 years they have been using their heads to hit the ground. Look at your children. For five years they have never prayed once. Prayer is the only sure way of a canter. Are we together? Now we come to the advantages of what? Of prayer. The advantages of what? If you are there say Amen. The advantages of prayer. Psalm 50 verse 15. It is a call upon me. And I will answer thee. It is a call upon me in the days of what? It is a call upon me and I will deliver you. Let us go to Psalm 50 verse 15. Psalm 50 verse 15. Psalm 50 verse 15. If you are there say Amen. Okay let us read it. One, two, go. It is a call upon me in the days of what? Trouble. And I will what? It is a call upon me in the days of what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? 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And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. And I will what? Trouble. You can't be obedient to God without prayer. Obedience is art. It's what? It's what? You can't do it in the flesh. To be an obedient person is not what? You must be dead. If you still have will, you become a rebellion. A rebellion person is one that fights against an authority that has already been declared. Are you getting me sir? You can't obey God. God's commandment. You can't do it in the flesh. You think it's easy? Do you think it's easy for you to see an opposite sex? And your spirit is saying, this girl is fine. You are trying to fight against it. It takes prayer for you to make that decision and say, I will never go into fornication. Or somebody come and present money to you and say, Do the thing evil, you will get this money. Or don't you know that some of the people that are singing music in the world today, that you are playing their song, you don't know that some of them began from the church? Do you know the hope that the devil gave to them before they switched to the world? It takes prayer for you to stand on decision. You cannot know God without prayer. Without prayer you will be rebellion. So we are not just praying because we want to be religious. We are praying because that is the only way we can remain submissive to God. No man is greater than his prayer life. No man is greater than his prayer life. It's unfortunate that the generation we are living in, the easiest way for you to grow in ministry is that a defender can be a multimillion. He has money. Are you getting me now? And you want to start ministry, just make sure that the whole world is very, very assaulted. Put every assaulted instrument, everything, put this light, stage light and everything and invite just a few choristers that have wonderful voice and just put a program. Invite just two ministers of God that have used years to grow themselves. A person that they are inviting, a person that has taken more than 30 years to grow themselves, you have just started the ministry, you will not invite them to just enter their level immediately with 30 years. And that is what we call greed. That is what is happening. Before social media came, go and ask our fathers, how did they grow ministry? It was with pain and tears. One of the fathers of faith in Nigeria said, it was me and Jesus that built my church. He said, it was both Jesus, blood and my words that built my church because he gave his life, he gave everything for the church. That is the denomination to grow. In the place of prayer, he swept in the place of prayer. It was not an instant growth, it was a compact to take over that territory. Prayer. No man is greater than his prayer life. One of the most fearful people I fear to work with are prayerless people. Prayerless people cannot design the handwriting of God. It becomes difficult for you to tell them what God is saying because they will always rebel. It takes prayer for you to become an authority in the state. It is not a thing of war. It is a thing of war and Jacob wrestled with God. In the place of prayer, if you want to know that you are a patient person, pray. Even if it is 20 minutes, do it for one month. If you can pray consistently for one month, 20 minutes every day, without you saying maybe the next day you didn't pray, then you are not learning how to be patient. Not the one you celebrate after one week you stop. You are not prayerful yet. You are not yet prayerful. Prayer is not more of the duration, it is the consistency. Can you be consistent for one month? One of the ways you can build a life of consistency is through what? Prayer. If not, you will discover that many things you start, you are not able to finish there. That is why one of the ways you build discipline is through what? Prayer. You pray every day. If you can pray for three months, every day, three months, you will discover that you will be developing the ability of consistency. Are we together? Are we together? The last one says, having in the place of prayer can bring spiritual transformation. A spiritual man is known by the depth of his what? Of his prayer life. A spiritual man is known by what? By his what? A non-believer can become a true follower of Christ without a fervent prayer life. A fervent prayer life. To remain fervent for God is to keep a fervent prayer life. Prayer has the capacity to grow your faith by activating the word of God within. Prayer has what? To do what? By what? Activating the word of God. When you read your Bible, are you getting me now? The way I trained myself, because when I started meeting other people, I started discovering I was doing my own opposite. Are you getting me? When I knew that God born again, I never knew that you have to read Bible before you watch, before you pray. That was not the way I, because nobody mentored me. So the way I normally do my own those days, I would wake up by two. That was those days. I would pray from two to five. I would now read my Bible from five to what? Six. But I would advise you, you read your Bible before you watch. So that what you read, you can pray about it. If you are reading Bible without praying, it's as if you are doing nothing. Because for what you are ready to become in life, you must put it in what? In prayer. Lord, I have read about this. This thing must possess me. Lord, give me this nature. That is how you become the Scripture. Praise the Lord. So prayer is very important. Prayer is a solid road to encounter. There are three pathways to what? To encounter. Three what? To what? Three pathways to what? Three pathways to encounter. Number one is what? Fasting. Examples of people that fasted and encountered God are what? Number one, Jesus Christ. Number two, Moses. Number three, this man fasted and he encountered God. Number two pathway is what? Giving. Solomon gave and what happened at that moment? God dispatched him and said, Solomon, how many animals did Solomon give to God? If you get this one, I'm going to give you handshake. Nobody wants to get it today. One thousand what? Animals. And the moment Solomon took that one, do you know how mighty that altar would be? For them to sacrifice one thousand animals on the altar, that altar would have been a mighty what? Altar. And the moment Solomon did that, that the same day, and they went home, God visited them in the night. And said, Solomon, what do you need? It's like God giving you an open shack. Tell me what you need. And Solomon said, well, you have given me people that are mighty. I think I need something that will be able to control them. Give me wisdom. And when God discovered that what Solomon asked for was himself, are you with me? Who is the wisdom of God? Jesus. Jesus is what? The wisdom of God. So, what Solomon was asking for, what God himself was Jesus. And God said, because you didn't ask for carnal things, you asked for something spiritual, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his what? Righteousness and every other thing what? So, when he sought the kingdom first, every other thing followed. He said, I'm going to give you long life. I'm going to give you wealth. And the last of it all is prayer. Elijah prayed and he encountered God. Moses was a man of prayer and Moses encountered God. Jesus encountered God. Now, we come to the last one before we close tonight, this evening. Advantages of what? Prayer. Number one, building intimacy with God. Prayer helps you to build intimacy with God. Let us be sincere. Sister Comfort, before before you even saw your husband, before you accepted your husband and said, you love your husband, am I right? Am I right? Am I right? And I don't know when you were in a relationship but if it was those days that we were doing midnight calls, free calls, I think two people would be the ones that were finishing the business. That you would be on call from twelve till five. I think it was five. And that is when we start sleeping. When all of us are waking up. Are you getting me now? Love. What are you talking about? It is the same thing you discussed yesterday. You will discuss it today. Even tomorrow call, you will see that he just wants to be hearing the rest of his voice. That is up where he is. If you are always talking to God, you will be getting closer to what? To God. That is why sometimes we advise that even when both of you are married, inside marriage, sometimes take your wife or your husband as, maybe we don't have service Monday, Tuesday. Am I right? Or Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Just go to one place to go and lodge. It can be a bar. Just go anywhere. Not everybody switch off their phone. Just you and me. Let us talk. Because in communication, intimacy is what? It is built. The moment communication is not constant, intimacy is gradually dying. So prayer builds what? Intimacy. Prayer builds what? It makes you to be intimate with God. You are always praying. You are always with God. You are always talking to God. You are always talking to Him. You are on the road talking to Him. You are walking, just talking to God. You are inside the car. The moment you pray, if you want to be prayerful, you will keep your phone aside many times. Because you just want to be what? Talking to God. Lord, what do you want me to do next? Lord, what is your plan for this community? I have been in this community for just one month. What is your plan? What is your agenda for this land? I know that this land is not just existing by mistake. You have a plan for what? This land. Lord, reveal your plan to me. I am ready to be part of the people to use for this land. You are praying kingdom prayer, not the one you are saying, powers from my father died. You have been praying that prayer since you were young. Now you are getting old. There is no difference. Praise the Lord. Yes, that is how some people got tired. I was hearing a young man spoke to his mother. He said that she should pray. He said, it is not praying again. He said, why? He said, mommy, when I was small, you were praying against foundations. He said, mommy, I am a man now. He said, you are praying against what? The foundation is too strong. He said, why did Jesus come to us? He said, die. He said, it is not praying again. He left the mother. He said, it is not even going to church. The day he stopped praying that prayer, it succeeded. The foundation you have is your ignorance. That is one of the teachings I want to teach you. If I teach you about that foundation, you will not pray it again. That thing is not too strong. Are you getting me now? It is a psychology to detain you in one position. Most of the things we call barrier. When you travel out of your vicinity, you will discover that it is not a wall. It is not a barrier. Let us take you from here now and to America. You will discover your prayer point is changed. You will not pray. In one year, if you see someone smoking like this and the person just looks like him, I say, this one is a witch. This one is a witch. The moment you go home, the witch that looks at me dies. When you go there and you see someone with their car, I say, please come. Your prayer point will change. I tell you this prayer of thanksgiving. You will make it 90 minutes. You will be thanking God for 90 minutes. You will not pray and say, God, thank you. Thank you for yesterday. Your prayer point will change. It is all about psychology. There is a power in Christ that breaks a man free, which will be one of the studies we are going to have in our Bible study. Praise the Lord. Number two, it brings spiritual growth. Prayer helps you to experience spiritual growth. Number three, it helps in developing obedience and love filled heart. It helps you to develop obedience and love-filled heart. Your heart will be full of love. Number four, it brings divine security and intervention. Things negative cannot just happen to you. It brings divine security and what? And intervention. Number five, it brings down the power of God. A praying church will always experience the power of God. Number six, it esteems the promises of God. The things God has said is going to do for you, when those things start getting delayed, prayer can hasten it. It can make it to come to pass early. Number seven, what is number seven? It spiritually sanitizes the environment. It gives environmental work. Demons, suddenly you start seeing your children becoming stubborn. Like a woman called me and said, my children, all of them just become stubborn. When you discover that it is a sudden switch of character, you tell your children, you go and do this in there. You tell this other one, go and do something there. When the environment has been polluted, enter into what? Into prayer. Start coming again the spirit of disobedience that rules over the heart of men. The Bible says in the book of Ephesians chapter 2, it says the spirit of disobedience that dwells in the children of what? Disobedient. That means there is a spirit that dwells in the heart of a disobedient person. That person will not feel bad. He will not know that he is disobeying. And that disobedient has taken that name out of the book of life. He will be willing to disobey you more. Ah, you don't take that for granted. You sanitize the environment. Praise the Lord. So when you enter your house, maybe you went to shop like comfort and when you reach back home, the moment you just enter your room and just sit down, suddenly you become depressed. You were not depressed in the place of work. Why is it like this? When you enter house, you become depressed. Just sanitize the environment. Lord, I sanctify my room with the blood of Jesus. Every presence that is not of God, I cast you out. You spirit of depression, you spirit of frustration, I cast you out. You sanitize the environment with prayer. When you are praying, you will be able to sanitize what? The environment. Praise the Lord. Nobody hates what? It increases unity in the home and what? And the church. It increases unity in the home and in the church. When the husband and wife, they are not praying. Not necessarily praying together. Praying together is very good. If they don't have... In fact, praying together would not be possible if they don't have individual praying what? Other. Because when you pray together, you bond that unity together. And also in the church. When the church is not prayerful, this one will be carrying faith against other person. This one will be carrying faith against that. Because no prayer. Prayer exposes the enemies. Number nine, it brings what? Dominion. Number ten, it attracts angelic activities. And that is why I tell you always pray. Praise the Lord. I remember, let me tell you a story. I don't know was it Kenneth Hagin's book I read. I don't know, but there was a book I read about angels. That was some years ago. So when I read about that book, praise the Lord, I was like, wow. So that means I have a personal angel. That book was talking about you have personal what? Angel. I said wow, so I have personal angel. So I started becoming conscious of it. If I'm praying, when I finish praying, I will say angel. I will be talking to myself, say angel please I want you to go and talk to this person. I want this person to So when I started doing that, I was one day, I was in the bathroom. And in that bathroom, we have this electric heater. Are you getting me now? And then we have Bob. I just finished bathing. The moment I just left, I heard a boom. So when I heard boom, I was shocked, I ran away. So when I ran into my room, and the voice just came and said your angel just rescued. That the thing had been wanting to fall. But it was suspended because I was bathing directly. Are you getting me now? And I became conscious of the angel. That means I have to relate with my angel. Some of you have to understand, the moment you got born again, God gave you an angel. It will wash over you. It will wash over you. Praise the Lord. So, when you are praying every time, you are empowering that angel to carry out activities. We call it angelic what? Activities. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. And what is the last thing there? It attracts divine provision. God can provide for you. You have not yet prayed. God can what? Provide for you, but you have not yet what? Pray. We have just a few minutes, less than three minutes. Let us stand up on our feet and pray. We are going to talk to God and say, Lord, build my prayer life. Make me a praying Christian. Revive my prayer life. Open your mouth and begin to pray. Lord, revive my prayer life. Ask the Lord to revive your prayer life. Say, Lord, I want to be prayerful. Lord, I want to be prayerful. Lord, I want to be prayerful. Revive my prayer life. Open your mouth and begin to talk to the Lord. Lord, revive my prayer life. Help me to become a praying Christian. Help me to become a praying Christian. Give me the energy to pray. Give me the strength to pray. In the name of Jesus, open your mouth and begin to pray. Lord, I want to be prayerful. Lord, I want to be prayerful. Ask the Lord to help you to become prayerful. Ask him to help you to become prayerful. Give me the prayer grace. Give me the energy. Give me the strength. Give me the power. Give me the ability to pray. Give me the ability to pray. Open your mouth and begin to talk to the Lord. Help me to pray, Jesus. Help me to pray. Lord, help my prayer life. Lord, help my prayer life. That should be your prayer point. That should be your prayer point. Lord, help me to pray. In the name of Jesus. In Jesus name we pray. So my God and my Father, every power causing weakness in my life to become weak to pray in the night and to become weak to pray in the day, I destroy you in the name of Jesus. Open your mouth and begin to talk to the Lord. The spirit of weakness invading my life, the spirit of weakness invading my prayer commitment, my prayer wash, I destroy your prayer. I cast you out in the name of Jesus. I set myself free from the power of spiritual weakness, prayer weakness. I cast you spiritually out.