and ministries can also be in Satanic Chains. This might sound strange, but it is true. Demonic forces can hold down a church that is not moving in the fullness of the power and the spirit of God. And it is very easy to detect such churches. The symptoms are: lack of holiness, lack of development (physical and spiritual), and rapid decrease in membership, stagnation, constant quarrelling and hatred among the members, and even among the ministers. We see all these happening in some of our churches today. All these are caused by powers of darkness; to make sure that the affected churches do not fulfil God’s programme for them.
The devil knows very well that a united church is the avenue through which God wants to spread His will, save lost souls, display His Power and ultimately humiliate the enemy. So he will do everything to see that the church does not expand and that it is also kept in permanent confusion.
I once served in a church in the oil-rich city of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. This church had existed for 13 years before we came. Up till the time we came, the not-too-large building was yet to be completed. There were no doors, no windows and no ceiling in the church. The membership was going down rapidly. Only a few friends from the same tribe kept coming to the place. The power of God was not there and very few people were making what looked like progress at the place. And not just that, the members and ministers lived in immorality and practiced witchcraft, even inside the church.
I remember once our prayer team was holding vigil and I suddenly announced that somebody (a young man) in our midst was practicing occultism, bringing charms into the place and still coming to pray with us. And immediately, the senior pastor interrupted me and reminded me that he was still in-charge. He was living the same life as the young man – in immorality and witchcraft.
Months later, the same man was accused of various immoral acts and the worse; he planned to poison me for exposing their diabolical and immoral activities in the so-called house of God. But God’s power, presence and grace were heavily upon me. These kept them off. In fact, he acquired the poison, but the Spirit of God informed me that he was afraid to use it on me. Yes, He builds a hedge of protection around those that fear him!
You needed no prophet to tell you that this was completely a dead church. A church with a beautiful name but was held down by the powers of darkness. When we came there, God led us to form a praying and deliverance team. (It is imperative for every church to have a standing and formidable praying and deliverance team). We started holding prayer meetings every night in that place. Sometimes we would fast in the daytime, and come to the church to pray through the night. I mean real intercessory prayers. We did that consistently for several months.
What was the result? The power of God came mightily upon the church. The chains and yokes of Satan were broken off the place. The powers of darkness were chased away, though not without fierce resistance. But God prevailed. Miracles, signs, wonders and powerful deliverances began to take place in the place.
Consequently, the membership began to grow rapidly. The once dead church was revived. The building was completed and the members began to prosper tremendously. The members also became more dedicated to God. This is what midnight prayers can do. In fact, we extended such programmes to other churches and also got the same results. The glory, power and blessings of God will come down when the church learns how to exploit the power of midnight prayers.
Now let’s go back to Paul and Silas. They were terribly beaten and thrown into that dreaded underground cell. The bible said that around midnight they began to pray and sing praises to God. Unusual! People that were severely beaten with wooden rods, instead of nursing their wounds and pains, decided to sing hymns and praises. Now, when we serve God in an unusual way, in unusual environment, He will begin to do unusual things on our behalf. True!
Again, I also believe that it will only take a man that is filled with the Holy Spirit and has sold totally to God to sing and praise God in such an excruciating, humiliating, harrowing and extreme situation.
What do you do when the enemy strikes? Do you weep and blame everybody, including God? Or do you genuflect and look for a way to escape; even if it means denying your faith? We must ask God to give us the spirit of courage and faith, even in the face of life-threatening situations. The bible said that God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power.
Then, why would these men of God wait until midnight before doing what they did? I believe they must have known something about the potency of the midnight prayers. They must have known that great battles of life are best fought at midnight hours and it is also possible they have had the experience in the past. After all, the apostles held so much to what they learnt from their master Jesus.
He was also doing it at midnight. They sang and prayed. These are the two main businesses during midnight battles. We will take them one after the other. The first is prayer.
PRAYER
Chapter Four
Prayer
Prayer is communicating with God. Making your requests to God and receiving answers from Him. It is a two-way communication between man and God. God variously in the bible encouraged us to commune or pray to Him. In fact, the word of God said that we did not receive because we have not asked. Jesus Himself said that,
“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will be given what you asked for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks.”
And this is exactly what we do in midnight prayers. It is a time to commune, relate, and communicate with God. It is a time to ask, seek, knock and make our request known to Him. If fact, I see the midnight prayer more as a time to knock vehemently and violent on the doors of heaven. And you heard what Jesus said, that it is when you knock that the door will be opened for you. So, if you have been asking and seeking and have not had your breakthrough, now you must begin to knock.
Through prayers we birth the will of God on earth. Through prayers we break the yokes, chains and bondage in our life and around us. Through prayer we stand in the gap for others. And through prayer, we draw souls into the kingdom of God. We must go into midnight prayers with all these in mind. Praying is like admitting that as humans, we are limited, but God remains infinite and omnipotent. He can do all things.
Abraham Lincoln, the former American President understood this very well when he said,
“I am oftentimes driven to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I have nowhere else to go.”
True! He knew that it was only from God that he could find help at the time of need. Thank God for such men. America is blessed to have had such godly men as leaders. These are the people that laid the solid foundation for that most prosperous and most powerful nation on earth today. I pray they retain this foundation. (Read my recent article In God We Trust? on www.ezinearticles.com/gabrielagbo).
There are numerous great men and women in the bible who knew, sought and received God’s deliverance at their time of need through prayers. Look at the accounts of Samuel, Jehoshaphat, Esther, David, Moses, Joshua, Elijah and Daniel. Let’s take a look at a few of the very powerful ones. See the account of Samuel in 1Samuel 12:16-18,
Samuel
“Now stand here and see the great thing the LORD is about to do. You know that it does not rain at this time of the year during the wheat harvest. I will ask the LORD to send thunder and rain today… So Samuel called the LORD, and the LORD sent thunder and rain.
