Sunday Worship Service (21st January, 2024): Engaging the force of fasting and prayer for your enlargement

By Pastor Kola Oyekale

Text: Proverbs 19vs21

Everywhere there is government, there is constitution. The constitution gives rise to a government. If someone violates your right, you can go to the court and make a petition. The court is there for you to claim your rights. You however cannot make a petition unless you have right. Prayer is not a religious activity. It is a political right.

God wants us to pray to him based on his promises to us.

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭19:21‭-‬23‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
[21] There are many plans in a man’s heart, Nevertheless the Lord’s counsel—that will stand. [22] What is desired in a man is kindness, And a poor man is better than a liar. [23] The fear of the Lord leads to life, And he who has it will abide in satisfaction; He will not be visited with evil.

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭29:11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
[11] For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. God’s promise for you is for peace, not evil and to give you a good future.

If Joseph was not hated by his family, he’ll have remained with his family and not fulfill purpose and destiny. As long as he remained his father’s favourite, that would have been the best he would have ever gotten in life. God uses bad things to achieve his purpose.

Things may not go the way you want, you may not like what you see but remember this verse: “I know my thoughts towards you” says God to you.

All that God is and his plan towards you and I can only be actualized through prayer. The Kingdom of God, of which God is in it charge. has a constitution with promises for you.

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12:22‭-‬24‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
[22] But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, [23] to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, [24] to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

When you go before God, you go with Jesus, who pleads your case before God who is king of the kingdom. You actualize God’s plan in your life though prayer. If you don’t know your right, it’s not God’s problem You must know your rights as a child of God.

You get God’s plan for your life through prayer. The lowest form of prayer making petition for your needs. The second level of prayer is corporate prayer. It is a prayer that meets the needs of the nation, church, people… The third level of prayer is a prayer of faith that enforces God’s will on earth.

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:1‭-‬3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
[1] I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, [2] with all lowliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love, [3] endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

We must deal with pride this year. Let love find expression in your life. If the reason why you have come to God is because of money and material things then you have reduced God. Many people are selling their birth rights for pleasure. God is after transforming your mind, values and thoughts.

It is the love factor that give value to prayer and fasting.

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭58:6‭-‬11 ‭NKJV‬‬
[6] “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? [7] Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? [8] Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord.

Kola Oyekale is the Senior Pastor of GREEN PASTURES WORLD OUTREACH, No. 29, Kingsway Road, Enugu, South East Nigeria