Partnership in Prayer 4

Every morning, growing up, when Lester Sumrall walked into the living room, he would find his mom and the Ladies’ Prayer Group partnering in prayer. His first encounter with the power of God to heal was through these long-skirted women who would not wear makeup. As a child, he was diagnosed with a fatal vitamin deficiency at the time. The ladies laid hands on Lester and prayed. He was completely healed and eventually grew to become an evangelist and missionary giant who travelled to 110 countries and a thousand cities to spread the saving, healing and delivering power of God. There is real power in partnered prayer. Power to reach our world. Power to speak and see things. Power to transform circumstances.

The Nigerian revival spearheaded by Apostle Joseph Ayo Babalola and heralded by the 1930 Oke-Oye outpouring with miraculous signs and wonders (the dead raised, many saved, the deaf hearing, the lame walking, those vexed of devils delivered, schizophrenics healed, witch doctors coming to Christ and burning their charms, idols and amulets) was ushered in by three relatively unknown partners in prayer- one Sister Sophia and 2 men; J.B. Esinsinade and D.O. Odunbanjo- who led a body of intercessors then called the Diamond Society of Nigeria, to pray for a restoration of apostolic Christianity to the then lukewarm Nigerian church. The Christ Apostolic Church was a direct response to partnered prayer.

The roots of the Redeemed Christian Church of God can be traced back to partnered prayer by an intercessory group called the ‘Ogo Oluwa Society’ (transliterated from West African Yoruba to mean ‘The Glory of God Society’) headed by Pa Akindayomi. Today, by the grace of God, under the leadership of Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, the church has over 32,000 parishes in Nigeria alone and presence in over 180 countries of the world and is still growing with a vision for church planting and expansion described by CNN as something similar to Starbucks. God does great things in response to partnered prayer.

We hear of revival in South Korea, and we know why. The Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul is the largest single church in the world with 7 services every Sunday and over 200,000 members- some of who would be asked to skip church on alternate Sundays so as to make room for younger Christians. For centuries, Korean believers have been gathering without fail by 4 am every morning to pray. Each neighbourhood lived in partnered prayer.

The Welsh revival of 1904 was birthed by partnered prayer by the Church in Wales. Even the little children were taught to pray morning and evening “send the Spirit to Moriah (Chapel) for Jesus Christ’s sake!” When the church gathers to pray, heaven happens. Every major move of God on earth has been incubated because God’s people partner in prayer.

Satan knows this and fights tooth and nail to stop us from coming together as a house fellowship, a church, a city-wide body of believers or a nation to pray. One reason why there is so much inter-denominational bickering and baseless fighting over hair-splitting doctrines is because the enemy is all out to stop us from ‘agreeing as touching.’ As long as we’re busy castigating and criticising one another, we won’t have the time or reason to come together to pray. When we’re busy shaking our heads, praying in our own little corners that other believers should fall down and die for moving our Bibles from our personal church pews, we can never experience the power of partnered prayer.

Outside revivals, it is a worldwide charismatic phenomenon that prayer meetings are possibly the least attended of all church activities. We won’t miss Sunday services, bazaars, love feasts or potluck dinners but will sleep at home through a prayer meeting or vigil because it is drizzling. We forget that there is power in partnered prayer.