Dr. D.K. Olukoya

General Overseer – MFM Worldwide

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Date: Sunday, 12th of August 2018.

Venue: MFM HQ Youth Church.

Programme: Youth Connect 2018.

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Text: Ps 109:7; Ps 80:4; Ps. 35:13; Prov. 28:9.

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I have a word from the Lord for you before we go into our prayers. I prophesy into your life that:

You are bigger than the nation you were born into; you are bigger than the family you were born into;

The God of Elijah shall silence your silencers;

What destroyed others will take you to higher heights;

Beginning from today anyone who belittles you, shall become little for your sake in the name of Jesus!

The prayers we are going into now are not ordinary or gentleman prayers. They are:

1. Multipurpose in action and total in their effect;
2. Single prayers with multiple tentacles;
3. Concluding prayers;
4. Prayers that send confusion into the camp of the enemy.

It was this single prayer that a man who had been attacked by a strange wind prayed. All of a sudden as he began praying this prayer, his stomach started rumbling. After some minutes, he vomited a tortoise that had been resident inside of him and the problem disappeared.

The first time I heard this prayer was in 1969 at a crusade in Akure, Western Nigeria. It wasn’t a normal kind of crusade. It was a strange one. In that crusade, when you arrive, you’d meet a counsellor who after interrogating you, would direct you to the appropriate quarters that would cater for whatsoever problem that brought you there. Apparently, the crusade ground had been divided into different prayer departments, namely: Career/Academic breakthrough department, Marriage breakthrough department, Holy Ghost baptism department, those seeking for fruit of the womb, those under witchcraft attacks etc. I happened to be on the crusade ground when this woman who had been barren for 12 years came and upon seeing the sign post for “those seeking for the fruit of the womb prayer department”, she headed towards there. As she started going towards her section, the counsellor called her back and pleaded with her to join those praying for the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Thank God she heeded. The pastor leading that assembly read from Acts 1:8:

“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

The inference of this scripture is this – if the Holy Ghost doesn’t come upon you, there is bound to be some powerlessness in your life. Anything that doesn’t allow you to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues is your greatest enemy because it shuts the door of power against you.  He instructed them to pray the prayer with reckless abandon. As the prayer went on, all of a sudden the woman began to shout saying “my stomach! my stomach!…” People rushed to her and took her to the toilet where she delivered a living snail. One month after, she conceived.

All the while, I didn’t understand that prayer till I became more mature in my Christian walk. One day, as I read from Luke 1:34, 35:

“Then said Mary unto the angel, how shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”

This is an excerpt of the conversation that transpired between Virgin Mary and the angel, Gabriel. Here, Mary was stunned by the assignment the angel came to deliver. Hence, her question. Gabriel’s answer was just sufficient. His response was that, that which Mary thought impossible could be made possible by the Holy Ghost overshadowing her. Once the Holy Ghost comes upon someone and the power of the Highest overshadows that person, anything, I, repeat anything is possible.

I am praying for someone today, that as you pray this prayer, where they say you’ll never reach, what they say you’ll never achieve; the kind of greatness that is strange to your family, the kind of greatness that would shock your friends and surprise enemies would happen in your life in the name of Jesus!

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It was when I read Luke 1:35 that I now understood the power of the prayer that pastor called that day in 1969. The prayer was this:

 Holy Ghost overshadow my life in the name of Jesus!

 More Prayers:

1. Anything from darkness assigned against me, die in the name of Jesus.
2. Every dark power assigned to render me naked, die in the name of Jesus.
3. By the power that overshadowed Mary, Holy Ghost, visit me in Jesus name.
4. Any curse affecting the works of my hand, break in the name of Jesus.
5. Darkness assigned to waste my time, you are a liar die in the name of Jesus.

You do not need a microscope to know that things are turning upside down presently in our world. Many strange things are happening. It is glaringly evident that the respect for human life seems to have disappeared. Never before in the history of the world has there been so much kidnappings, senseless murder, ritual killings. All these attest to the fact that there is a crisis. To be honest, the only place of refuge that we can find now is at the altar of prayer.

When MFM started, we were subjected to ridicule because of the complexion of our prayers. Our detractors were of the opinion that all we needed was praises, worship, sermonizing etc. However, of all the acts of spirituality, be it worship, praise, prayer, preaching, bible study etc. the only one we are instructed to do without ceasing is prayer. This is not to say that the other acts of spirituality (both listed and unlisted) do not have their place. Unfortunately, the enemy ensures that many people don’t like prayers.

Categorically, I’d state these points about prayer:

1. If you can really pray, you will have no problems;
2. Prayer is the greatest privilege on this side of heaven;
3. It is the greatest expression of God’s power as it can uproot, plant, strengthen, revive, and resurrect;
4. Prayer is the power ordained to bring the miracle power of God to bear in our lives;
5. It is the greatest of all forces.

Once you become an eagle in the place of prayer, then, no power can mess up with you. It is saddening to know that many of the youths of today would rather opt for the Word only and in the process, relegate prayer. I assertively put it to you that the Word without prayer is useless. One of the tragedies of American Christianity is that they preach many powerful messages but with very few prayers.

Of all powers on earth that the enemy detests, there is none he hates more than the power of prayer. It is an unchallengeable fact that the most dangerous powers troubling the world currently aren’t the powers that hinder evangelism, not the powers that hinder preaching, not the power that hinder churches, and definitely not the powers behind ritual killings. They are the powers that hinder prayers.

Listen beloved, the awesomeness of the power of prayer is yet to be explained to our generation. The more you pray, the more you know, the more you grow. The higher the level of prayer you pray, the better the standard of your life.

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The reason Joseph Ayo Babalola remains a force to be reckoned with in the Pentecostal movement of today is because of his prayer life. He was an engine of prayer. That is why he was able to disgrace all those boasting idols and put the demons to shame.

Of the numerous anecdotes of his life, this one suffices. One day, 9p.m on Sunday, the Great Apostle Babalola was conducting evening prayers with some of his ministers before they retire to bed for the day. While on their feet, he was deeply engrossed in the prayer till early the next morning. Suffice it to say they (the ministers) fell asleep while he was still praying. He went on praying on the same spot for the next three days. He ended the prayers on Wednesday morning to find out that he was the only one left. They had to break it to him that the prayers he began Sunday night, was just concluded on Wednesday morning. Apparently, he wasn’t aware.

I pray that the anointing of prayer would enter into our lives in the name of Jesus!

If you were to really understand the power of prayer that is what you would chase after. This kind of prayer was the one that this poor lady who had a dogged determination to study abroad keyed into. Having not paid the tuition, she went ahead and obtained a passport. Then, she came to me for prayers on the passport since she needed a visa to fly. I was overly thrown aback by her level of rugged determination and to be honest, much of it bordered on shock because I know she needed to pay her tuition first before going to obtain a visa. This prompted me to ask her if she had paid her school fees. Her response was “No Sir”. I continued and said to her that she wouldn’t be issued a visa unless she could provide the tuition receipt. Her response was “the Lord shall provide”. Three days to that time she stopped eating; she also refused to return to her house and lodged in one of the MFM Guest houses praying. The day of the interview came and the white man at the embassy after having asked her some questions on the reason for her travelling, asked for her tuition receipt. Her response to him was “God shall provide.”

The man rebuffed, “…what?! So you mean you haven’t paid and you think you can get a visa. Sorry, I can’t grant you.” Upon hearing that, this lady went diplomatic in her approach and replied saying that cannot be true because she had a word of knowledge that assured her of a positive outcome. The man replied, “what is word of knowledge?” She went on to confuse the man the more and said “a word of knowledge is a prophetic utterance.” He asked what a prophetic utterance is. She responded by saying “prophetic utterances are words vomited by the Holy Ghost through His prophets.” He continued by asking who His prophet was and she mentioned my name. To cut a long story short, on account of her strange approach and naughtiness, he staked his career and gave her the visa. That was how she came back to the Headquarters with visa without paying anything. She didn’t even have money for the ticket. To the glory of God, as I speak she holds a Masters degree. This is what prayer can do.

The Bible says in James 5:17 says:

“Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.”

Permit me to say this again, the awesomeness of the power of prayer is yet to be explained to this current generation. My prayer is that amongst us, God should raise prayer eagles that anytime they start to pray, the enemy starts to fidget.

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Next ⇒ When prayer becomes sin – Part 2