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25.10.2014 Religion

IMPORTANCE OF PRAYERS (2) -When Answers From God Don't Come Quickly. -The Need To Fast Or Seek A Pastor's Help.

By Apostle Kwamena Ahinful
IMPORTANCE OF PRAYERS2  -When Answers From God Don't Come Quickly.  -The Need To Fast Or Seek A Pastor's Help.
25.10.2014 LISTEN

Several people are usually beset with some harsh, unyielding problems which can only be solved or eliminated through fasting and prayers to God. This fasting and prayer medium normally brings answers from God, but where these answers still seem to be delayed, then the suffering believer will have to turn his or her attention to a TRUE pastor of God who is invested with the real Holy Spirit power to assist him or her spiritually.

Have you ever heard the argument being bandied about on some FM airwaves to the effect that a man can always pray to God directly to get what he wants, and thus it is not necessary for him to go to a pastor or a prophet to pray for his deliverance or for the solutions of his problems? Do you believe this? I certainly don't. This is because there are certain critical times when a man is so much confused or even so sick, weak or perplexed that he cannot pray at all or pray effectively, and therefore will need the intercessory intervention of a man of God endued with divine power. In fact, I am ever of the opinion that just as a seriously sick person cannot heal himself unless a doctor intervenes, so shall a weakened or a spiritually depressed, immature believer not be able to tap effective divine supply unless a man of God mediates. That is why I laughed overmuch when I heard a fellow pastor of an Orthodox church (a possibly old minister of the Christian Council denomination) denouncing people who seek intervention from charismatic pastors. This happened on radio early this week, and it was both ludicrous and ridiculous—a Biblically trained minister openly saying this? May God forgive him this theological trespass.

The principle of intercession is one of the cardinal pillars of Christianity. And pastoral theology, which, among other things, concerns itself with man's spiritual needs, boldly embraces the principle of intercession, as clearly enunciated in the Bible -namely: Jesus Christ is the mediator between God and man (Romans 8:27, 1 Peter 2:5), the Holy Spirit is the intercessor before Christ (Romans 8:26) and Christian believers, especially men of God, are intercessors for others (Matthew 5:4). Colossians 1:9 says 'We [the apostles] … do not cease to pray for you'. The intercessory role of pastors or prophets is clearly defined here by St Paul.

It can be deduced from the quotations above that whenever some powerful or really charismatic men of God pray for some people, especially by the utterance of the Holy Spirit who 'intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express' (Romans 8:26), divine intervention surely occurs. After all, if intercessions were not necessary, why should God choose or appoint pastors, prophets, healers, evangelists, miracle-workers etc? This point is richly self-explanatory and goes to entirely debunk the intellectual whimsicalities or spiritual ignorance of those who speak against the intercessory role of pastors.

Another moot point is the anti-intercessionists' specious remark that most people don't get what they want when they route their requests to God through pastors, so this shows how intercession is ineffective and unimportant in a believer's life. Since the contention that most people don't receive answers to their intercessory petitions cannot be statistically proven, one cannot draw any cogent conclusion that can be used to denounce intercession. Experientially, however, 'most people' have their petitions answered through intercessory prayers.

On the other hand, I accept the fact that some people don't get answers to their intercessory petitions. And here, from my own research analysis, I would blame 10 per cent on the petitioners themselves. First of all, some petitioners have doubting faith, and these are known as 'if-believers' (or doubting Thomases) who would go to the pastors with the thinking that 'ah well, let me try there and see, if things will be okay'. In charismatic spiritualism, the word 'if' is like a tree that is felled across a road, blocking the way and preventing one's good from coming along. So an if-believer (or a try-try petitioner) can never have his petition answered by God, unless he becomes a sure believer. The Bible expressly says that 'without faith, it is impossible to please God… He rewards those who earnestly seek him.' (Hebrews 11:14)

Mind you, Christ's principle of 'according to your faith be it done unto you' (Matthew 9:29) is as operative today as it was in the days of old; so an if-believer will get a nil result. There are also those known as spur-of-the-moment (or 'emotional') believers who hear of a charismatically powerful miracle-working pastor and quickly, happily and hopefully rush to him. But knowing what advantages or good will come to these hopeful believers, evil forces work through some friends or relatives who will threaten or ill-advise these hopeful believers not to go there any longer; or such forces work some laziness in them and they stop going there. Yes, Satan is doing his own thing then!

Some of these hopeful believers who allow themselves to be coerced, or deceived or discouraged, make their faith become S-negated (Satan-negated or Satan destroyed) and they lose their forthcoming miracle. In the Bible, such 'S-Negs' are described by Christ 'as the seeds that fell along the path and some birds came and ate them up' (See the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13). The 'birds that ate the seeds' are the evil forces that destroy or negate the faith of the hopefuls. S-Negs can't get anything from God through a pastor's intercession. Again, there are some people who are known as 'Miracle-Now' believers, who go to pastors expecting some miracles at once. But sometimes God delays answers for certain reasons.

When that expectation is not met instantly, or if after a short while the 'Miracle-Now' believers find their worries either at a stale-mate or even worsening, they begin to lose faith and back off. In Christ's Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13, these 'Miracle-Now' people are called 'the seeds that fell on rocky places… and sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow' (they only had some minimum faith to push them to the pastor, verse 5). But 'when the sun came up, the plants were scorched and they withered because they had no roots.' That is, when troubles came up or worsened, their shallow faith got burnt up, so they backed out.

These miracle-now or 'shallow-rooted' believers, better known as 'S-Roos' (shallow-rooted), have no time to wait to receive answers to their petitions and therefore can't get anything from God. But the spiritual secret of waiting is receiving, and David says it all in Psalm 40:1: 'I waited patiently for the Lord, He turned to me and heard my cry.' If only the pastor is powerful (with track records of miracles), just wait, and your petition will be answered. Don't be an 'S-Roo', but be a 'D-Roo' (Deeply-rooted believer).

Let me be permitted to give a personal example of what happened recently to some two D-Roos who showed exceptional faith worth emulating by believers in God. A couple came up to me some years ago seeking God's intervention on behalf of their ward who had almost been refused admission to a Senior High School in Cape Coast, in spite of his excellent aggregate. Two days after I had started praying over their petition, a prophecy came to me during our church worship that the boy would be admitted. I announced it.

Ironically, three days after the prophecy, the bad news came that the school authorities had at long last decided not to admit the boy because he was late. I simply laughed because the Lord has never failed me in His prophecies since I started my ministry 32 years ago during that year. All the same, the parents were not discouraged and they told me 'we still know that God will do it'. I really became surprised at so great a faith—a 'D-Roo' belief when all things seemed hopeless. Then a week later, a sudden urgent message came to the parents that the boy had been offered admission into that Cape Coast school. Wow! God is always truthful: He is a miracle-working God. Certainly, it was the strong faith of the parents that pleased Jesus (Hebrews 4:5) to turn the tide when all was hopeless. But how many such 'D-Roos' do we have in our society, people whose faith can move mountains, in spite of all odds? Believe it or not, it was God who worked such mere luck.

There is no doubt that an intercession works wonders; and faith, strong faith of the petitioner is often the catalyst that moves it to tap answers from the heavenly kingdom. So don't be an if-believer, but be a 'D-Roo' (a deeply-rooted believer) and answers from God will come to you through his anointed servants so to solve your hard problems. Surely, a pastor's intercessory intervention is necessary when there is crisis in your life. Go to a TRUE pastor to pray for you, a pastor with a track record of miracles, a morally upright, humble pastor who doesn't charge consultation fees, a pastor whose words are comforting and enlightening. Go to such a pastor to pray for you, and you will get sure results. God bless you.

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