Prayerlessness is powerlessness and a prayerless Christian
is a powerless Christian. A prayerless Christian is a backsliding Christian. Backsliding
cannot begin the day you stole or committed fornication---No! It started the
day you lost your prayer life. The first attack on you is for Satan to steal
your prayer life and if he succeeds in stealing your prayer life, then he
can come through other things and get over you.
Moreover, if you stop praying you start sinning and if you
start sinning you stop praying. There is no way you can combine the two together. YOU PRAY, YOU SIN---No, No!; Just look at our families; many people
no longer gathered their family to pray even among Christian families. You gathered and the family becomes
video-centric. Television and video movies becomes the center of
the home, where you can watch movies from part 1, 2 and 3 all at a straight for
about 4-6 hours but to pray it become difficult.
Everybody will sleep, no
wonder we have dreams, snakes pursuing us, skeleton and lion pursuing us in the
dream. Hence, the security defense of
the family altar is devastated. When you don’t have a watchman on the wall of your
family, when there is no watchman on the wall of your church that is number
one victory for the devil. A prayerless man doesn’t enjoy the continuous
presence of God.
Look at our churches; you know in every church there are two
members. We have what I called, the participant and observer. Let me ask you, who are you in your church;
participant or observer? There are some people, when the glory began to
move during church fellowship that is the time they will moved out to ease
themselves, that very moment the glory is radiating as if the devil is pushing
them to get out.
Moreover, some of them will get outside but only to removed
their head tie and retied-it and come inside. Hence, when a prayerless man is in
the church, when the glory of God is moving it will seem as if he is already in
Hell. Although am a preacher but let me say this “IT IS EASIER TO PREACH THAN TO PRAY” Someone can stand and preach
for 2-3 hours none stop, then ask the same person to pray for 2 hours. It’s
also easier to sing than to pray.
It’s even easier to hold a committee meeting for 24 hours,
day and night than to pray. It’s also easier to run about for God, to run from country to country than to settle down and pray. In fact, carnal Christian
can enact all this things but they hate prayer. And a prayerless work is a
fruitless work. When you don’t back-up a work, a crusade, a revival or anything
with prayer don’t expect any result.
THE CAUSE OF PRAYERLESSNESS
1. Lack Of Spiritual Gift; Moreover,
sometimes we often blamed the condition. Let me emphasized the problem we have
when we failed to pray. When we failed to pray spiritual gift will not
manifest, we will even begin to have an orthodox service in some Pentecostal churches. We will have dryness when we ceased to pray.
2. Untimely Death;
When we failed to pray we will bury more people we shouldn’t have buried. Do
know that prayers can stop certain death. Nehemiah
1:4 “And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept,
and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,
That is reason why Nehemiah wept because the walls of Jerusalem were broken
down and God said I have set watchmen upon thy
walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that
make mention of the LORD, keep not silence. And give him no rest, till he
establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth; Isaiah 62:6-7.
3. Ascribing Glory To
Satan; When we failed to pray Satan can come and steal people away but when
we begin to pray, prayer can stop certain death. When we failed to pray our
testimonies will filled with what the devil is doing. Some people will say, “Pastor I have a testimony” then he/she
will stood before the congregation and says “Brethren
I want to tell you what the devil is doing in my family. I came out in the
morning the devil, I wanted to eat the devil, when I went to bath the devil and
when I was on my way the devil” They will cried. In fact the one that
pierced my heart is that a fellow shepherd (pastor) in the church will joined
in the chorus of crying. Why are they crying? Crying because of what the devil
is doing to them.
When we returned to prayers and begin to pray our
testimonies will give the devil an headache. When the church begins to pray more
sick people will be healed. It’s the will of God that our churches will become
a healing center. It is only prayer will cause God to plant a spiritual
bow-hole in our congregation, so that out of this churches shall flow rivers of
power and revival. So people will jumped into this river and be healed and
delivered.
4. Lack Of Fear Of God;
When we failed to pray sinner will not be afraid at Zion. Do you know right
now sinners are no more afraid at Zion? A sinner can maneuver us and get
baptized and become a full member of the church. A sinner can maneuver us and even goes to
theological school. A sinner can maneuver us and be elected as a deacon, elder
or a committee member and become an ambassador for Satan in that committee.
What am I saying? Just because we are not praying; Oh God, let that day come
when sinner comes to altar-call when nobody has called them.
5. Lack Of Repentance
Heart; Prayer is a source of repentance heart. When someone will step into the church and the glory will gripe him.
Do you know that there are no more tears in churches? Tears are gone and sober
reflection messages are no more pricking in some quarters. The bible said Now when they heard this, they were pricked in
their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and
brethren, what shall we do?" Act
2:37. When messages no longer prick the heart of people, then the church
becomes another cemetery. Let revival come and this revival can only come when
we begin to pray.
Though, there are some who are praying. But God is saying, “I want a man on the gap, who can pray and seek my face” When
we begin to pray sinner will be afraid at Zion. We have a serious problem in
our midst today. Do you know that prayer can melt a strong place? It’s only
prayer can cause an earthquake in the kingdom of darkness. Those Church
politics practice in our churches will not solve our problem. When we resolved
to prayer we shall see a glorious manifestation and the glory will comes.
When the glory comes, the backslider on our pulpit will
either be revived or changed. When revival
swipe across the church, unbelieving believer among the gospel artist will
either repent or surrender their instrument. When the glory comes back to the
church, people who occupied positions in the church but are not broken or
revived, people who are sinning and still handling holy things, the bible said, Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the
LORD" Isaiah 52:11b.
How many today in our Churches bearing the vessels of the
Lord are Holy? Oh God! Where are we? Let the church comes-up and began to pray. Let the spirit of prayers come afresh upon the church because any moment we
began to pray the devil will begin to think of going on transfer. Yes, sinner
will be afraid at Zion. Do you want to accomplish much work for God? Get into
prayer because prayer is an opened ministry.
Moreover, someone might say "I don’t know what to do
for God" you are a liar. That is a black lie because there are things to do for
God. Who told you that you don’t know what to do for God? That is a black lie
because there is something to do for God. All church revival comes as a result
of prayers. There are some churches that will organize a revival meeting and
everybody will eat and sleep waiting for the evangelist with a portfolio full
of revival. Yes, on that day the evangelist will come with a portfolio full of
revival and while going it will also pack the revival inside the portfolio and
go with it.
That is why after revival there is no revival that remains.
But show me a church that will stage a program and the church will begin to
swim in the ocean of prayer, definitely before the evangelist comes the revival
will begin and as the evangelist goes he can’t go with the revival. Prayer has
no substitute. Money cannot take the place of prayer. Inasmuch we need Naira
and Dollar millionaires in the church we also need prayer millionaires.
Howbeit, victory on the pulpit is not gotten by opening
prayer before the sermon. There was a man called Duncan, after a powerful message people came to him and asked him
what his secret? He replied, “13
hours of consecutive prayers” Do you know our problem? Many of the preachers are too busy to settle down and pray. They can go from one meeting to
another, flying from one country to another without much interest in seeking
the face of the Lord in prayers.
In this age for clamoring for degree, Theology without
Neology will end in ethnology but when we begin to pray, prayer will released
the supernatural. The degree can never
take the place of power and revival, let get back to the school of neology.
There is a gallant call today for every Christian to usher into prayer. Let
that day come back when musician got their song on their praying knee.
Right now, some gospel musicians can bring-up certain
nonsensical-nonsense pieces of tunes; they will bring beans and rice into their
songs lyrics, singing rubbish. Hence, let that day come when gospel musician
will be at the praying mountain seeking for the face of the Lord and God will give them a songs. That songs
that God give you sing it anywhere and certainly the glory will move. You are
a chorister, when did you sing last and someone received Holy Ghost in the
congregation? When did you sing last and the glory took over the church?
Now, we are mostly interested in technical-ism
of the song
while the spiritualism is lacking. I mean, how will it not happen? After choir practice we closed with gossip meeting. How can God move? When have we devoted
time to pray? Honestly, majorities are not praying and that is why the devil is
working overtime. The devil has bribed the church not to pray. But I can still
hear the Holy Ghost saying “Wanted,
wanted, wanted, a praying Christian that will bring down the glory of God”
Moreover, there is no way of bringing down the glory of God except prayer.
Today, there is dryness, powerlessness and wretchedness in the church due to prayerlessness. In
fact, some have lost their former glory.
Do know that the new name of some
Christian is Ichabod “The glory has departed" They are
managing but the main glory has departed. Ezekiel says “I saw the glory of God moving out through the window” Ezekiel 10:18 Then the glory of the LORD departed from
off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims" To
some people their glory has departed due to prayerlessness. I pray that God will revived our prayer life on this last day so that the church can usher into the new way we are expecting in Jesus name.
