Partnership in Prayer 5

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.

Through the years, I have had several prayer partners; largely dictated by location. Some older, some younger. Some more prayerful, some less prayerful. Some radical, some conservative. Some quiet, some loud. Still, the truth is, I have learnt something of prayer from each of them. Wale Otagbo would grab me anywhere, anytime for extended times of heartfelt prayer with days of fasting. Sometimes we would sleep several nights on the church altar at Power Sanctuary groaning in the Spirit. Other times, we would go over to his single room and have appointments with God. I never knew such depth and discipline was possible until I watched him pray. Mr. Sam Opiah would invite me over to his home as a teenager so we could pray. He taught me humility and openness in prayer. Joseph was from a very conservative denomination sometimes noted for not interacting with other Christians; still he approached me in our first year pre-medical school desiring that we be prayer partners. He taught me barrier breaking in prayer. Tope Ibiyeye would take a couple of cabs and pay hard cash to come over to another University campus so we could pray at night in an open field. He taught me to pray for revival. Irabor Ikharheba would scream, shout and dance right outside the Christian Corpers Fellowship family house on those nights of partnered intercession. He taught me passion. God sends partners to instruct and sharpen us in prayer.

 

I would encourage you to have a prayer partner. If you are married, your spiritually minded spouse can serve. My wonderful wife is now my prayer partner. A brother or sister in your local church or fellowship can serve. Someone at your place of work or school with a heart for God and a burden for prayer can serve. You need to connect in an atmosphere of prayer so you can ‘agree as touching’ many things. Remember that your meetings are not for gossip or for sharing juicy titbits of the latest not-so-personal information, but for prayer. Don’t covert your prayer meeting into a talking meeting. Talk more to God than you do to each other.

Unleash the grace in partnered prayer!