SEND PRAYERS AHEAD
I struggled a bit with the prompt that Irewamiri was the woman to marry. By pastoral privilege, she had told me she did not love the “work of ministry” in the strict sense of it. I also learned that she was not yet filled with the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues. I mean, she did not feel like “pastoral or ministry material.”
But the Lord taught me a simple lesson. I picked a prompt to wake up at night and intercede for an hour about her. My heart cry was simple, “Lord, shape her into whom you desire her to be.”
Amazingly, three days later, she told me she had been having an unusual experience. She would feel a tap on her feet as she slept. The one for the previous night was even more profound for her. After the tap, she heard a voice say, “Jeremiah 18:1-6.”
Guess what was there: The story of the Potter shaping clay!
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands, so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me. He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. (Jeremiah 18:1-6 NIV)
Do you remember my prayer point? Lord, shape her into who you want her to be. Days after, she also got baptized in the Holy Ghost in a midweek service.
I know that we are in days of intellectual awareness, but any intellectual growth that makes you as a believer overlook or undermine the power of prayer is cancerous growth. It will eat you up. You must wake up again to the power of prayer.
If we labour well in the place of prayer, we will not struggle with convincing men. Why? If Cornelius had to walk up to Peter himself, that connection would never have worked. Peter would resist because of cultural differences, but the prayers and giving of Cornelius activated a sequence of events that made that connection happen by the Spirit.
I told a dear one who is a businessman that, “You must pray as much as a Pastor and even more.” Life is deeply spiritual.
For the singles, when the Lord shows you the man or woman, position yourself by prayers first, not just by giving the green light. Let the green light come from the spirit. A dear sister met her husband the second time after a while when his car broke down right in front of a restaurant where she was having lunch in Lagos!
For the married, do you know that praying for your spouse triggers a new flow of passion in your union? Try it!
I await your testimonies. Take prayers seriously.
temilOluwa Ola, Eruwa.