Earth-Shaking Prayers
Memorise:
And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. – Acts 4:31
Read: Acts 4:23-31 (KJV)
23 And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.
24 And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:
25 Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,
30 By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.
31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
MESSAGE:
There are certain prayers that cause the earth to shake. Not prayers of “God give me this, God give me that”, though. I am talking about prayers of dedication, prayers like “Lord, my life is at Your disposal, do whatever You want with it. I lay my life on the altar and I become a living sacrifice to You today; Lord, use me for Your glory”. When God begins to hear these kinds of prayers, He will come down. Acts 4:23-31 tells us that the disciples were praying and thereafter, some people told them not to preach the gospel again. They gathered themselves together and said “Father, You hear what they are saying; over to You. All we ask is that You give us boldness, give us miracles, give us signs, so that we can preach more”. The Bible says the house shook.
In 1979, my Father-in-the-Lord called me and four others to his room high up in Mayor Hotel in Tulsa, USA, saying “My children, I am going soon; the one who will be taking over from me is Pastor Adeboye”. I collapsed on the floor and everybody began to pray. You can be sure that the prayers offered were not the gentlemanly kind; they were serious prayers. Suddenly, we heard a knock on the door. On opening the door, we saw the maintenance manager of the hotel who asked what kind of musical instrument we were playing. We explained that we were not playing any instrument, but he insisted that we had to have been playing one as the hotel was shaking and the source of the shaking had been traced to our room. We insisted that we were only praying, but he didn’t believe us, so he checked under the bed, the wardrobe and looked everywhere in the room then left when he didn’t find anything. The hotel was locked down because they could not find the source of the shaking and they didn’t want to believe that it was just prayers. Recently, I went back there and as I looked at the hotel, I felt compassion for the owners, so I laid my hand on the wall and prayed a simple prayer. It was reopened six months later.
It is very clear that the great things happening in the RCCG today are a result of the prayers that fateful day in our hotel room in Tulsa. If you want the glory of God to come down into your life and transform everything for good, you need to start praying earth-shaking prayers. Pray for power to do God’s work, pray for boldness to preach in any situation, pray for a national revival in your country.
Action Point:
Go ahead and pray some earth-shaking prayers now.
Bible In One Year: Acts 20:4-23:35
Hymn 26: Stand Up, Stand Up For Jesus
1. Stand up! stand up for Jesus!
Ye soldiers of the cross;
Lift high His royal banner,
It must not suffer loss:
From vict’ry unto vict’ry, His army shall He lead,
Till every foe is vanquished
And Christ is Lord indeed.
2. Stand up! stand up for Jesus!
The trumpet call obey:
Forth to the mighty conflict
In this His glorious day.
Ye that are men, now serve Him
Against unnumbered foes;
Let courage rise with danger,
And strength to strength oppose.
3. Stand up! stand up for Jesus!
Stand in His strength alone;
The arm of flesh will fail you;
Ye dare not trust your own.
Put on the gospel armour,
And, watching unto prayer,
Where duty calls, or danger,
Be never wanting there.
4. Stand up! stand up for Jesus!
The strife will not be long:
This day the noise of battle,
The next the victor’s song;
To him that overcometh
A crown of life shall be;
He with the King of glory,
Shall reign eternally.
