The favor of the Lord will surround you like a shield; it will cover you from now on; the power of God will keep erupting in your life, making way for you now and always in the mighty name of Jesus. God will bless you today, He will make you bigger – physically, spiritually, in your finances, you’ll be bigger, you’ll be stronger, you will be mightier, in the mighty name of Jesus.
God will make you happier than you came at the end of this service in the name of Jesus; He will wipe away every tears, He will answer every prayers, every prayer you pray from today the Lord will answer in the mighty name of Jesus. Today will mark the beginning of your rising, God will lift you up, He will bless you, He will defend you, He will grant you divine enablement, He will take you from power to power, from grace to grace and from victory to victory, and of the increase of your celebration there shall be no end, so shall it be, in the name of God the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed. Praise the Lord!
Good morning daddies and mommies, good morning brothers and sisters, we are all welcome to this glorious service in Jesus name. Firstly, let me thank the Almighty God for this opportunity to come together again; I want to appreciate the choristers for a job well done this morning, God has used you to set the tone for this service and I can assure you it shall be glorious in Jesus name; His power will keep on erupting in our life positively and of course the fire of the Holy Spirit shall be in our soul in the name of Jesus.
By the grace of God we’ll be having our prayer chain tomorrow, 6:30 p.m, and the topic for tomorrow is the “Mighty Hand of God”, Isaiah 41: 10. I pray that you will experience the mighty hand of God in every area of your life in the name of Jesus Christ.
Today is the last Sunday in the month of March and that speaks to the fact that we are making progress on a daily basis as we continue our journey to the year 2025; one thing that is very sure is the fact that the good Lord who has started the good work will surely complete it, so be rest assured of the fact that it’s going to be honky glory for you regardless of what the economic these things are saying, one thing the Bible has assured us is that I was young, now I’m old, yet I’ve not seen the righteous forsaken nor the children begging bread, you will not beg for food in the name of Jesus.
Psalm 65: 1 & 2, today we will share the word and we’ll pray, the last Sunday is what we always refer to as our super Sunday or renewal Sunday and we always like to share the word and pray accordingly, and once again I thank God for the choir whom God has used to set the tone for the service of today. Psalm 65 1 & 2 says praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed. 2O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.
This morning, I’ll be sharing with us something that we talked about a few weeks back during one of the prayer chains, and our pastors have considered it necessary for us to share it with a larger house so that we can all be educated and of course we can all benefit from it, so this morning I’ll be talking to us on “The Lord that Answers Prayers”.
In Joel 2:32, it says and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered (if you want to say amen today, please say amen with all your mind); and also in Acts of Apostles 2:21, it says and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. I decided to give you a few scriptures just to lay the foundation for what we have come to do today; David, in our text, that is Psalm 65, praised God for hearing prayers and of course for forgiving sins, the scripture also expresses the fact that God is the source of blessing and satisfaction for those who follow His will, and that is why I pray for every one of you under the influence of my voice this morning that God will satisfy you because you are here today in the mighty name of Jesus.
From the pages of the scriptures, it is quite clear that God delights to answer certain specific prayers, and these kind of prayers are not usually the long ones, and I remember the day we first talked about this, I told them that when you go through the Bible, the Bible is replete with accounts of God answering prayers but you will agree with me that most of the time, the prayers that God answered are not the ones that were prayed for 10 hours, the prayers that God answered were not the ones that were prayed for 24 hours, and the fact that you come to God with a long list of prayer requests is not a guarantee that God will answer your prayers. I am not saying you should not pray long prayers, after all Jesus Christ, the Bible made us to understand that He prayed in Garden of Gethsemane to the extent that the sweat that was coming out of His body was like a drop of blood, but again when you go through the scriptures you’ll find out that most of the prayers that God answered were prayers that were made in specific times, they were short and potent prayers.
In Psalm 145: 18, the Lord is nigh unto all of them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth. God will answer the prayers of those who call upon Him provided you call upon Him in truth; there are many of us when we come to the presence of God we come with a long list of prayers such that even after the prayers if you are called and asked what and what have you prayed for, many of us have forgotten and we have forgotten simply because the list is so long, but I want to tell you this that when we face crisis we cannot engage in long repetitive prayers just as we do today, our prayer contents must be based on the word of God.
In Matthew 6: 7, the Bible says but when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard by their much speaking. When you talk about the heathen you talk about unbelievers, when you talk about heathen you talk about those who are lacking in faith, but here, Jesus was telling the disciple when ye pray use not vain repetitions; when Peter was yearning as he walked on water, he did not have the time to pray a long prayer, what was his prayer, ‘Lord save me’, that you find in Matthew 14:30, but when he saw the winds boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, and he cried, saying, Lord, save me, how many of you want God to save you – to save you from failure, to save you from illness, to save you from rising and falling? Wave your hands unto the Lord and cry out to the Lord, Lord, please save me.
When you are in a state of emergency, I said it that you can hardly speak in tongues, praise the Lord! Have you been on air before, you’ve been on a plane and there was turbulence, what kind of prayer do you pray there? Do you say God I want to thank You because I am here? You’ll say God help me o. I shared one experience, I was flying (I think) from Houston to Dallas, I’ve never had that encounter and may I never have it, in fact I never thought I would survive that day, the drinks they served us, the snacks, the things were flying from one place to the other and I grabbed the seat, hey God help me o, it is when you don’t have problem you come with a long list.
Peter was walking on the waters and he was sinking and he shouted, he said Lord, save me. I remember another time I was flying from Abuja, former ADC, no sooner that the plane took off in Abuja and suddenly the man told us oh we are encountering a very serious storm, this and that and that, before he could finish making announcement, there was scatterings everywhere, myself and my group finance director were in there, the thing continued, the man now made an announcement all things being equal we will try to do – I said all things must be
equal; it is when you don’t have problems that you’ll pray to God, ‘provide clothes for me’, when you are in a mess like Peter, please save me, specific and direct.
Psalm 34:6 says the poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The Lord hears the prayers of the poor notwithstanding his economy status, God will always save those who cry unto Him for personal salvation and deliverance, I pray today in the mighty name of Jesus that for whatever it is, the Lord will save you in Jesus name.
In Psalm 50: 15, we are encouraged by no other than God Himself to cry to Him, He said call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you, and thou shall glorify me. I pray as we cry out to the Lord this morning, the Lord will hear and answer us and He will deliver us in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
Another important prayer that God earnestly cherishes in our lives is ‘Lord help me’; how many of you needs help? I pray that help will come through for you today. God responds to us when we need help brethren; in Isaiah 41:17, the Bible says when the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, (it says) and their tongue faileth for thirst, (He says) I the Lord will hear them, and I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I pray in the mighty name of Jesus, for as many of you that are in need today, God will hear you and He will not forsake you in the mighty name of Jesus. Brethren, God is committed to helping the helpless, when you ask the Lord for help He will surely respond with His succor and assistance.
Prayer for divine help is also one of the prayers that God delights to answer; in 2nd Chronicles 14: 11, and Asa cried unto the Lord his God, (how many of you will cry to the Lord your God this morning?) and said, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God: let not man prevail against thee. King Asa and many others who sought divine help were helped in the scriptures. In Psalm 121:1, (if you read from verse one), David said I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help and my help cometh from the Lord which made the heaven and earth.
Brethren, God is still in the business of helping people because He’s the same yesterday, today and forever, and today I have that assurance and we have that great confidence that He will hear and answer all our prayers in the name of Jesus Christ.
Thirdly, God always delights in the prayer of lifting, in other words, when you pray to God ‘lift me’, God is ever ready to lift as many that call upon Him. In Psalm 113: 5 – 7, it says who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high. 6Who humbleth Himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth! 7He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill. Brethren, our God is a lifter of men, when we turn to Him, His lifting force is released; when you look up to Him, His lifting force will be given and so you will be lifted.
In Psalm 3:3, it says but thou, O Lord, are a shield for me; (it says) my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. Today I want to tell you that there is a tremendous space for you up there for God to lift you up, and as you cry unto Him for a lift today He will do that for you in Jesus name. Today, God will lift you up; from sorrow, He will lift you up; from death, He will lift you up; from shame, God will lift you up, and from sin He will lift you up in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
He is the lifter of our heads and if He doesn’t, no one else can do it but God is committed to lifting us up and that takes us to another prayer that God delights to answer and that one is ‘God bless me’, the prayer of Jabez is very relevant, it wasn’t a long prayer, he simply asked God for blessings indeed and his life was transformed.
You know the story in 1 Chronicles 4: 9 & 10, the prayer of Jabez; and Jabez was more honorable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, because I bore him with sorrow. 10And Jabet called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou will bless me indeed; (how many of you will want God to bless you this morning, He will answer your prayer in Jesus name), and enlarge my coast, and that thine might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested. You see Jabez did not go to God with two pages of prayer points, if you follow even our father in the Lord you’ll find out that his prayer points during the Holy Ghost service, sometimes seven, maximum I’ve seen is maybe 9 – 10, when prayer points become too long you would not even know whether God has answered them.
Jabez came before the Lord, he presented ‘if only you will bless me indeed, take away this problem, enlarge my coast’, and the Bible says the Lord granted his request. So today I’m sure you are learning something new and this will guide your prayer life moving forward that when you come to God, come with specifics and as you cry unto the Lord, He will bless you in the name of Jesus.
Brethren, one important thing that you need to know is that God cannot bless you and you will remain an ordinary man, there is no man that God has blessed that remains an ordinary man, iy pray today in the name of Jesus that the Lord will bless you, He will transform you in the mighty name of Jesus. There’s no way God intervenes in the life of a man that progress will not be made, the Bible tells us in Proverbs 20:22 that the blessings of the Lord maketh rich and add no sorrow to it.
The next one is the prayer of mercy; you know this is our month of mercy, God is always at alert to accede to such requests whenever they are made. In Mark 10: 46- 52, the Bible says and they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. 47And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. 48And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.
49And Jesus stood still, (today Jesus will stand still at the voice of your cry in the mighty name of Jesus), and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. The same set of people that told him to keep quiet were the ones that delivered Jesus message, I pray that the same set of people who have been blocking you that will not allow you to enjoy the manifestation of God’s grace, they are the ones that will come and say your door has been open in the mighty name of Jesus. 50And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. 51And Jesus answered and said unto him, what wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.
You see there was no beating about the bush, he went straight and many of us today when we get to the place of prayer, we first and first we tell the story, God you know when this thing started in 1976, I was told my parents were not supposed to go to Ibadan but they went to Ibadan and that was the beginning of that trouble, what is God’s business with whether it will happen, what is important is that God wants to give you a solution. I pray today in the name of Jesus that God will meet you at the points of your needs in Jesus name; whether the problem happened in Benin or it happened in Ibadan or it happened in Akure is immaterial to God, one thing you can be sure of is the fact that today, an end has come to that problem in the mighty name of Jesus because the mercy of God will come through for you and the scripture says mercy triumph over judgment, even if that problem has crept into your life on account of sin, on account of carelessness, but by reason of God’s mercy and by reason of God’s presence in the house today, mercy will prevail in the name of Jesus and the problem shall be solved in the name of Jesus.
Lastly for today is ‘Lord, empower me’, how many of you wants empowerment? The Lord will empower you today. In Deuteronomy 8:18, the Bible says thou shall remember the Lord thy God: for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which is swore unto thy fathers, as it is this day. Brethren, when the Lord empowers a man, you will become an extraordinary and a supernatural being; difficult things becomes easy, impossible become possible, and I pray today in the mighty name of Jesus that the Lord will empower you in the name of Jesus Christ.
When the Lord empowers you, things that you could not do before you begin to do it, the Bible tells us in Acts 10:38, it says and how God anointed Jesus Christ of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost with power: and He went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him, and I want to tell you today that just as God was with Jesus, that same God is with us, God is with you, tell your neighbors God is with you, and because God is with you, you can do the supernatural and I pray in the name of Jesus that today, whatever you ask to go will go, whatever you ask to come will come in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
I was sharing with workers and minister recently, you know we often say oh the spiritual controls the physical, but Apostle Paul disagreed, he said the physical controls the spiritual according to 1st Corinthians 15:46, and indeed when you think about it, Jesus Christ told His disciples whatever you bind on earth, earth is where you are – physical, it is the action you take here on earth that is confirmed in heaven; whatever you ask, whatever you bind on earth is what will be bound in heaven, whatever you loose on the earth will be loose in heaven, so there is power in your mouth, you are a carrier of power, you have authority, check, you can take authority over those spirit that operates in the spiritual places. It says howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. (it says) look, the physical thing comes before the spiritual, so don’t just allow yourself to be oppressed, don’t allow yourself to be harassed and say it’s happening in the spiritual realm, you can control the spiritual realm, whatever you bind on earth, look at the distance between the earth and heaven, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, so heaven also listens to what happens on the earth.
Shall we rise on our feet …
[Altar call]
We are going to pray five or six prayer points, we are going to do them very quickly, we are not going to embellish them, we are not going to paint them, we are not going to make them look so big because sometimes we make the problem so big, God Himself will be saying ki lo le to bayii nau, is it more than this? We want to pray and God will answer, but the first prayer you need to pray if you are here you have not given your life to Christ is a prayer of forgiveness, so I will just give you one minute if you are here just pray that prayer, Lord I’ve sinned against You, I’m not even worthy to be called Your child but for the sake of Your mercy, for the fact that I’m here today please give me a second chance, overlook my righteousness, let Your mercy cover for me in the name of Jesus, let Your mercy prevail in my life, I promise You from today, I want to walk with You, I want a guarantee of answered prayers and by reason of my confession and my repentance today Father, write my name in the Book of Life, and from this moment, whatever I bind here on earth let it be bound in heaven, whatever I loose here on earth let it be loose in heaven, let me enjoy bliss, let me enjoy favor, let Your favor surround me as a shield and let Your name be glorified, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
How many of us have prayed that prayer? All eyes closed all heads bowed, very quickly because we want to pray, if you have prayed the prayer of forgiveness,
[Altar call]
The first prayer we are going to pray is the prayer of Peter; Peter, when he saw Jesus walking on the sea, he asked Jesus should I come? Jesus Christ said come, but the moment he saw himself walking on the sea and get to see that that consciousness that ah, this is Peter walking, he began to sink but he prayed one prayer very quickly, he said Lord please save me and God saved him. So you are going to cry to God this morning and say Father, please save me, in the name of Jesus. You know what you want God to save you from, you know the areas of your life that you need salvation and divine rescue, pray to God this morning, Father, please save me in the name of Jesus. Is a simple prayer, is a direct prayer, Lord save me from laziness, from indolence, from poverty, from inability, from rising and falling, from bad behaviors, Father please save me in the name of Jesus, God please save me, thank You Father because You have answered, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
I join my faith with yours and I decree this morning that God will save you from known and unknown issues that will not allow the glory of God to be made manifest in your life, deliverance will come your way in the name of Jesus; for you and your children and the family that you represent, today will mark the beginning of new experiences in the name of Jesus Christ, so shall it be, in Jesus name we have prayed.
The next prayer we are going to pray is the prayer of help, how many of you desire help? You need help and you know the area that you need help, Asa said it is nothing to God to save by many or by a few, so you are going to rise and cry unto the Lord and say Father, please help me in the name of Jesus. You are the help of the helpless, You are the great helper of my time, Father please help me, you can mention the areas that you need help possibly, pray to God this morning, Father please help me in the name of Jesus, Father please help me, in my business help me, in my family help me, in my marriage help me, in my academics (if you’re a student you need help). Pray to God, this morning Father, please help me in the name of Jesus, let help come through for me and let Your name be glorified, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
I pray today that help will locate you; from above, help will locate you; from the north, help will come your way; from the south, help will seek for you; from the east and the west, you will enjoy divine health, so shall it be, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
The next prayer we are going to pray is a prayer of lifting, when God lifts you up no man can pull you down, and David said God is the Lifter of my head, so you are going to pray to God this morning and say Father, please lift me up, above principalities and powers in the name of Jesus. Father please lift me up, lift me up above principalities and powers, above sorrow, above failure, above shame, above inabilities in the name of Jesus. Father please lift me up, Father grant me a lifting, Father grant me a lift oh Lord today in the name of Jesus, thank You because You have answered, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
For Jabez, it was blessing, he cried unto the Lord, oh God, if only You will bless me indeed, and the Bible captured the fact that God granted his request. You see, God is not a respecter of man, whatever He gives to one under the same condition He will give to B, so I want you to pray to God this morning and say Father, please bless me, (what do you want God to bless you with?) you want a child, you want a partner, you want enlargement, you want favor, whatever you need, pray to God, there is nothing God cannot give.
Father, please bless me, You blessed David, You blessed Jabez, You blessed Hannah, Father, today please bless me, bless me Lord Almighty God, enlarge my coast, let what is not enough become more than enough in my life, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
The God that blessed Jabez, the God that blessed Joseph, the God that blessed Jacob, the God that blessed Isaac, the God that blessed Hannah, the God that blessed Sarah, that same God will bless you today; in the morning, you will be blessed; in the noon time, you will be blessed; in the middle of the night, you will be blessed; from today, no more pains; from today, no more failure; from today, no more poverty, God will make you bigger and better, you will be stronger and stronger to the praise and glory of the name of the Lord, in Jesus name we have prayed.
What is the next prayer we are going to pray, prayer of mercy, how many of you deserve mercy? The Bible says mercy triumph over judgment, you know what that means, where you have been pronounced guilty mercy will reverse it, there is what they call leniency, you’ll get leniency; somebody has been sentenced to death, I think is Adamawa state, everybody is talking to the governor because the governor is empowered to exercise the power of leniency, once that power is exercised then that death penalty is canceled. I pray today in the mighty name of Jesus that mercy will find expression in your life in the name of Jesus.
I want you to cry unto the Lord, say Father, have mercy on me, have mercy on me, in the name of Jesus have mercy on my children, have mercy on me, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
And lastly you are going to cry to the Lord and say, Father, You are the mighty enabler, my please empower me, empower my household, empower Your church in the name of Jesus. Open your mouth and cry out unto the Lord, empower me Lord, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
My God will hear and answer your prayer and you will testify to the praise and glory of His name, in Jesus name we prayed.
