Ministry Of Prayer Part 1 — Prophet Cherub Obadare

Look at it. And he asks his father, how long is it ago since this came on him? And he said, of a child. Meaning since when he has been born. Hallelujah. You may need to do a a brief recap to be so that our friends online can be on the same page with us. Praise God. Hallelujah. So, we are studying the book of Mark chapter 9 and from verse 14 to 29. And we are trying to establish uh on a title, pray and prevail. Pray and prevail. And we'll be able to see that um it takes prayer to prevail in our world. If you can't pray, you cannot prevail. And the truth is this, God we not um in uh invade or come into human territory without using a man. And that's why God depends on our prayer life. The only channel, let me say this, the only channel, write it down, the only channel that God deploys spiritual resources to change activities in the earthly realm is through the prayer of faith. Write it down, please. The only channel through which God deploys supernatural resources to change activities in the earthly realm, to change and stop satanic activities in the earthly realm is through the weapon of prayer. And when there is no man praying, meaning nothing will happen, praise God. And so we are studying Mark chapter 9 verse 14. We've been able to see how um in Mark chapter 9 from verse 14 to 29, how the disciples of Jesus could not cast out a demon that was um inside of a boy, and the scribes began to question their authority. So it became a show of shame because the Bible says the great crowd of multitude came around them and they were so helpless like this is a boy, they could not cast out the demon inside of the boy. The parents that were hoping that, okay, these are the followers of Jesus. These people have been with Jesus when Jesus um, you know, do these things, they should know how to do it. So, it was becoming like a shame. Can I talk to you? When you don't have a consistent prayer life, there is possibility that the enemy will put a show of shame around your life. They will do everything to question. Have you have you seen people ask? They ask believers, and you say you are a believer. Why is this happening to you? They are questioning your fellowship. They are questioning your identity. Now, it was what they did to the disciples. They question them the scribes. People who were who use logic to explain to begin to tell them, you guys, who are you? Who sent you? Who are you to even lay hands? Praise God. And so, we saw how Jesus came and rescued them and as described, what why do you question them? And they say, well, we brought a child that was possessed with a dumb spirit and your disciples could not cast them out. And for Jesus, verse 19, he was disappointed. You know, another person would say, you know, they are still disciples. Jesus did not pamper their inability to do what they should do. He didn't pamper them. Say, oh, faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? And bring him, and I say, bring him to me. Jesus was disappointed at their incapacity. We are going to see why they couldn't cast out the demon. We are going to see. And they brought him unto him and he saw him straight away with straight away the spirit saw him and he fell on the ground and wallowed foaming, meaning when the demon inside of the boy saw Jesus, he could not stand his presence. He he he wanted to do all he could do to cause the boy the last pain because he knew it was over for him as soon as he saw Jesus. And we made reference to Acts chapter 19, the sons of Sva when they brought a man that was possessed and they say in the name of Jesus that Paul preached, get out. They didn't have the atmosphere that Paul and Jesus had. And I said they were beating. The the the the the man that was possessed pounced on them and them, stripped them naked, praise God. So, it's important that for you to prevail in life. Now, prevalens don't only it's not only to prevail it's not only in spiritual matters. In your marriage, listen to me, if you are married, you are not praying, it's a matter of time. The Bible said the enemy, the devil is roaming about, looking for whom to devour. He's looking for a prayerless life to cause havoc in your education, cause havoc in your marriage, cause havoc. When he finds you, when you ought to be praying, you are snoring. Have you Have you forgotten the scripture that says, when men slept, meaning, let me tell you something, that word slept did not mean literal sleeping. You are sleeping when you are not praying. It could be daytime. When you live a prayerless life, you are that scripture. You are the person that scripture is describing. When men slept, the enemy comes and saw, saw, weed in their vine. And so, when the enemy moves around and see you sleeping, so not to have a a a a a consistent faith prayer life is a it's a it's equal to a sleeping believer. You are sleeping. It's called spiritual slumber. You are actually slumbering, you are sleeping spiritually. It is not literal sleep, it's spiritual sleep. So, when men slept, the enemy comes. So, it explains at times some of the things that happen in the life of some believers. It explains when we begin to question, why should this happen in this life? It's it's it's it's it's a pointer to a life that has that has no prayer altar. When your life does not have prayer altar, anything can happen around your life because there's no altar. It is an altar that you put in place to dictate to the enemy. An altar is a is a platform where you stand to tell the enemy where the enemy belongs. And so when you don't have one, you don't have what to say. You don't know what you don't Listen to me, prayer there's nothing. Let me tell you something. I'm a beneficiary of a prayer life. I don't know what my life will look like now if not for prayers. Not, you know, another thing we used to think is we think, well, my father is praying for me. Listen. Listen to me. There's difference between somebody praying for you and that you are praying by yourself. Because when you are praying by yourself, you are building momentum. My prayer for you can only give you a cover, but cannot build in you spiritual momentum. Are you getting what I'm talking talking about here? When I'm praying for you as a pastor, I am giving you a cover, but it cannot amount to spiritual growth. Until you engage in in spiritual prayers by yourself, then you are personally, you know, putting demand on your spiritual life, then it becomes for you a plus. If I'm praying for you, you could have a cover. You could have a cover from the enemy and but to come to a place of maturity and growth, you have to that's why, you know, if you look at the book of Romans chapter 8 verse 29, uh before verse 29, if you read from verse 26, he said, even the Spirit knowing our infirmity that we know not how to pray making intercession for us. Now, that intercession for us doesn't mean he's praying for us and we are not involved. It means he's praying with us. Now, if you look at um it, from other version of the Bible, he is he is tearing us up when we pray. That's why if you want to pray at times, you actually don't feel praying most often when you want to pray. There's nobody that will tell you that I just it's not always, you know, in agreement with the flesh to pray. You just pray because you you need to pray, not because you feel like praying. And so, as soon as you go beyond the level of feelings, you conquer your flesh, you conquer your emotions, because your body does not want to pray. That's the truth. The flesh where the devil wants to control you does not want As soon as you overcome that side and you suit, the Holy Spirit takes over from there. You will not be wondering about one hour into the prayer. You are so strong that you don't want to stop praying. Compared to how long shall I be with you? How long shall I you bring him on to on to me. Verse 20, and they brought him unto him and he saw him straight away the spirit tear him and he fell on the ground and wallowed foaming. And he asked, how long since when he was a child? Now, let's go on. And often times, verse 22, it came, it asked, cast him into fire. Look at this demon. Why would the demon put the boy in the fire to end his life? The demon throw him into fire. Do you know how the Bible describe them? He said, we wrestle not. Ephesians 6 from verse 10. Be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. If you read further, it says, for we wrestle not against principalities and powers, spiritual wickedness in the heavenly. Now, they are wicked spirits. Listen to me. They hate humanity. They hate human beings. That's the truth. So, the Bible says he's he often cast him into fire and into the waters to destroy him. And if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us. They already insulting Jesus. And even if you cannot do, like your disciples did, just show us mercy. Look at it, verse 23. And Jesus and and Jesus said unto him, if thou believe, all things are possible to him that believed. And straight away, the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe. Can you imagine? The father has gone through pain. He was already crying. The Bible says he said with tears. He said with tears. Help thou my unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people came unto him together, he rebuked the foul spirit saying unto him, thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him. And he was no No, it was the father that cried earlier. It was the boy that was crying. Now, it was that spirit that cried. When it's when the spirit saw a higher power, the spirit cried. The spirit cried. Verse 26, look at it. And the spirit cried and rent himself and came out of him, and he saw he was one and he was as one dead, that's the boy. In so much that many said he's dead, some people thought he had died. And Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he rose. Verse 28. And when he was come into the house, his disciples now all of those period, disciples are you know, are positioned like people, you know, that have disappointed their masters. They are disappointed the people who trusted in them, they have disappointed their entire, you know, multitude around. So, the Bible says, and when he saw when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, why could not we cast him out? Why? Why you know, it's like they're alamenting. Why do we have to go through that kind of shame? Why couldn't we cast him out? Look at the answer Jesus gave to them. And he said unto them, this kind can't come forth by nothing except by prayer. The King James version had fasting. If you check the TLB, the NIB, the message, there's no fasting there. Because you can actually fast and not pray. Yeah. There are people who fast, I call it hunger strike. If you fast and you don't pray, you have wasted an entire day. I mean, you have starve yourself. The essence of fasting is to be able to concentrate in prayer. That's the essence. It's nothing more. You are not fasting to help God. You are fasting to help you. The essence of fasting because fasting has been made a religious thing. Now, lately, among the churches in Nigeria, which is there's nothing wrong having days of fasting. Look at it. It has become a kind of um a religious competition in the body of Christ. 100 days fast from January, 50 days fast. Some people do it routinely without the main in the main subject, which is prayer. The essence of fasting is to just get you focused to pray, that's all. That is all. And so if you fast and don't pray, it's starvation. But you know, in the in the in the actual, you know, Greek context, it is prayer, he said. They added fasting. The the writers here added fasting. He said, this kind can't come forth by nothing except by prayer, meaning you cannot prevail over devils like this. You cannot win this kind of battle. Meaning, listen, there are things you do physically. You can use logic. But listen, there are some when it has to do with confronting spiritual wickedness, you must pray. Can I talk to you? There is no solution to defeating satanic forces without prayer. Let anybody tell you any gimmicks, remove prayer, you have failed. You are a failure in emotion. In defeating any spiritual attack or forces, in defeating any satanic advancement towards you. No matter what anybody teaches you, remove prayer out of it. Then you are a failure in motion. A failure that is about to happen. No matter how gifted you are, don't pray. That your gift will not lift you. It's not all gifts that lift men. Go and see gifted people around, wallowing in shame. They have depended so much on their gift things that they have left, you know, that that was the temptation that came around the disciples. They said, no. Though we have we have the anointing, we have everything, but let's focus on our life of prayer. Most often, gifted people are distracted by their gifts. Yeah. So, they go on manifesting the gift. You are somebody that sing, you sing, sing to a point that you don't have a prayer time again. You are a preacher. It has happened to me before. I was a preaching machine. Oh, my good God. I could preach anytime, any day, to a point that I I didn't have a time to pray. I didn't know that I was already getting dried. One thing is this, when you when you base your your strength only on gift, you don't quickly notice you are going down. Because gifts will keep deceiving you. Until there's an attack. Until the enemy comes to weigh you so you know that's you have missed something. Then you now run back to the place of prayer. For days, I'll go from one meeting to the other preaching. Preach and preach and preach not ten minutes of prayer. Why? I was already looking like a professional preacher. It is gifts that makes a man think like that. Because when you are gifted to do something, it is a gift. But listen to me, if you don't have a prayer life that protects the gift, that provides a cover around your gift things and the demonstration, it's a matter of time. So, you see many gifted people were not lifted. They are just there by the wayside of life. They've been crushed down. There's no there's nothing like the gift of prayer. You grow in prayer. You grow your life deliberately, deliberately praying. Hallelujah. So, don't get distracted. The Bible say in Acts chapter 13, he say, and certain teachers and prophets, I love that scripture. Certain teachers, these people were already they were intermediary ministers. They were engaged already in ministry. The Bible say certain prophet and teachers. The Bible say, and they ministered to the Lord and fasted. And I taught you in one of our series, to minister to the Lord means they prayed to the Lord. That's the meaning of the and they ministered, verse two says, they ministered to the Lord and fasted. And the Holy Spirit led them. The ministry to the Lord. So, in in in when you pray and prevail, you prevail not because you are independent of God, it's because you are in fellowship with God. You pray and prevail, not because you you have some independent ability because you pray. It's because prayer brings you in such an intimacy with God. And that is where your prevailing lies. Yeah. That's where it lies. So, that you are praying is not be is not that you me because of your prayer, you have become an independent authority. No. It is that prayer that brings you into fellowship. Fellowship brings you to the class of God. The class of God gives you prevailing capacity over the enemy. Yes. You know, in not in every area of your life, you see success like this, every area. Let me give you a testimony. I was trusting God so many years ago, I was trusting God for for a a house. I was at that time living with my parents. I was already working in bank. So, a lot of my friends want to come visit me and I was not comfortable having them…