The greatest weapon in the hands of a believer is prayer. Every child of God is called unto this ministry. Without praying, God may not do anything.
Matt. 7:7 “Ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.” God had learnt this lesson during the creation when he saw that Adam needed help-meet and made Eve for him. Gen. 2:18 “And the Lord God said it is not good that the man should be alone, I will make him a help-meet for him.” Adam later ate the forbidden fruit and his eyes were opened and went into hiding. Gen. 3:11 “Who told thee that thou was naked, has thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?” Vs. 12 “And the man said the woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat.” That is, if you (God) had not given me a wife, which I did not ask for anyway, I wouldn't have gone into sin. Hence, God learnt his lesson. Since that day you receive only when you ask, except when His grace intervenes. God knows everything we are in need of but we have our own part to play. We need to ask. Prayer is the master key. Anyone who does not pray in this world must be doing something else which cannot last.
Anything that happens to us here physically had already been settled in the spiritual. Therefore, to succeed or exceed in life, everything has to be settled on our knees though prayer. Prayer is the communication between you and God. You talk to him and he responds, Isaiah 38:1-7. But majority of us are careless, instead of taking things to God, we fold our arms and relax. Things don't just happen. A lot of prophecies had been said concerning us but instead of going to God in prayer and praying until something happens, we stay mute. Enemies are not happy about our progress or making it to heaven.
Prayer cannot be substituted. A prayer-less Christian is a powerless Christian. Prayer will close sin door, poverty and problems at the very verge of breakthrough. It was Jesus Christ that prayed for Peter before he denied him 3 times. Mk. 1:35-36 “And in the morning, rising up…etc.” Jesus Christ, our example - the Son of God, prayed. Therefore, who are you not to pray? You must pray on whatever you want from God. For example, if you were trusting God for the fruit of the womb, pray. Hannah was trusting God for a child, she prayed and God heard (1Sam 1:9-18). If you were trusting God for long life, pray. Hezekiah prayed and 15 more years were added to his age (2 King. 20:1-6). If it were change of destiny, prayer works. Jabez prayed and there was a turn around to his situation (1 Chr 4:9-10). Challenges will come but they could only be tackled with prayer. Therefore we need to be prayer addicts.
From the time of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take by force (Matt. 11:12). We need to pray aggressively and consistently. “While men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among wheat and went his way.” (Matt. 13:25). The period of sleeping is the period of relaxation, especially when a battle is won we relax. Whereas this is supposed to be the time to be more fervent and aggressive in our prayers. Have it in your mind that the end of the battle is the beginning of another even greater one. Devil has a very organized team; principalities, powers, wicked spirit and territorial spirit etc. As far as Satan is concerned, he uses all kinds of weapons and never gives up. The motto of all heaven bound saints should be, “Be prepared.” Therefore we need to give ourselves to prayer and fasting.
Our daddy in the lord, Pastor E.A. Adeboye is a man of prayer. He paid, and is still paying, the price; that is why he is excelling in the ministry. “Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” (Matt. 17:21). We should allow our digestive system to rest. When we pray, it must be with the word of God. He watches over His word to perform it. It is the word of God that gives substance to prayer.
Sometime ago, I was in a gathering where a pastor was introduced that he prays loudly, weeping and shaking his head like an illiterate. Brethren, it is better to pray like an “illiterate” and receive solution to your problems than pose “sophisticatedly” with no result. When you pray, back it up with faith and cover it with infectious praise and worship.