Under the old covenant, priests and prophets were appointed by God to serve as mediators between God and man. You cannot break this order. A priest cannot serve as a prophet and a prophet should not serve as a priest. Likewise, a king cannot serve as a prophet or priest. Disobedience to this arrangement was sometimes punishable by death. This is what ended Uzzah in 2 Samuel 6-6, which touched the Ark of the Covenant when she tripped over a donkey. It was only the exclusive prerogative of the Levites, whom God appointed as the sole guardian of the ark. It was the same with Saul, who lost his throne because he violated God’s order by offering a sacrifice that only the prophet Samuel was supposed to handle (1 Samuel 13:8-10).

But when Jesus came, he abolished this order and decreed a new order of relationship between God and man. And now according to 1 Timothy 2-5, “there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. We must understand this theological foundation before we can understand why prayer is an extremely critical component of the Christian faith.

Prayer as a master key to open every door or any door?

So it was the cross that established the principles of father-son conversation. The cross of Jesus nullified the old order of communication through priests and kings, and brought us into direct relationship with God. You and I can therefore go to God through Jesus and pray to him on various subjects of life. However, here is the plain truth: there is no place in scripture where God established prayer as the master key to opening every door or any door. This is purely the product of many false teachings believers have been fed over time. Prayer is not the main key. Wisdom is the main thing, and therefore, the master key (Proverbs 4-7). You can be very prayerful, and yet be very stupid. But you can’t be very wise and not be very prayerful.

Today we want to look at the four groups of people or places for which prayers should be made regularly. And if you look at 1 Timothy 2-1, there are four types of prayers that we should always pray:

1. Supplication: (“And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication”), Zechariah 12-12. The Hebrew and Greek words most often translated “supplication” in the Bible literally mean “a request or request.”
2. Prayers: Which is true dialogue or two way communication between God and man in the name of Jesus. Jesus gave us the pattern prayers in Matthew 6-9, ‘Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day’ today our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
3. Intercession: (It involves taking hold of God’s will and refusing to let go until His will is done. Intercession is warfare, the key to God’s battle plan for our lives. “Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. we know why we should pray as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that cannot be uttered”, Romans 8-26. Always in Romans 8-27, the Bible says, “He that searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” Also in Hebrews 7-25, the Bible says “Therefore also he can perfectly save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to intercede on their behalf”.
4. Giving thanks: Thanksgiving is another very powerful type of prayer. Thanksgiving is a fierce weapon of prayer – always give thanks for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Ephesians 5-20; “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they loved not their life unto death” -Rev 12-11

On this basis, which should then be the focus of our prayers. First, if you look at 1 Timothy 2-1, the Bible says, “Therefore I urge first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all men, for kings and for all who have authority. So, we must always pray for:

1. Political leadership of our nations: This is according to 1 Tim 2-1. You don’t know how serious these types of prayers are. God treats leadership errors as national errors. When David sinned by taking a census in Israel against God’s warning, God judged the whole nation. See 1 Chronicles 21-1, “Now Satan rose up against Israel, and urged David to number Israel.” Who moved David? Satan. This is what drives all evil rulers to wreak havoc in the world. If we don’t pray for political leaders, we will end up with political merchants, who will exchange our peace for money and power. See how Abraham prayed for Sodom and Gomorah in Genesis 18. What about Nehemiah in Nehemiah 1 & 2. Satan is the prince of this world (John 14-30). He does not want godly rulers to be in charge of the nations. If the church does not pray for political leaders, we will end up with political pushers.
2. Church leadership (local and ecclesia). Paul in Ephesians 1:15-19, in Pauline Prayers says he never stopped praying for the Church at Ephesus. So we need to pray for the church – the local church and the whole body of Christ. Many of us do not know that we are members of the same body; this statement means nothing to many Christians. Can you laugh at your feet when your feet hurt? Likewise, when a man of God falls into sin and you take on the role of making fun of him on social media, you are making fun of yourself. There is a difference between speaking with love against evil and making fun of people. The Bible says, “A scoffer will seek knowledge and not find it” – Proverbs 14-6. When was the last time you prayed for your pastor or leader? How many pastors are on your prayer list?
3. Personal prayers: Third, we must pray for ourselves. 1 Thessalonians 5-17 says we should pray without ceasing. You must develop a prayer program that is rooted in a specific prayer altar. No player shrine now but a prayer shrine. Your prayers should cover supplication, intercession, and thanksgiving using the pattern of Jesus in Matthew 6. You should pray God’s will for your life. You must pray for your location, your career, your marriage, your decisions. You must pray, prayers of inquiry. You must pray in tongues. In Ephesians 6:10-13, prayer is one of our weapons of war. If you don’t pray, you will probably be prey. You can never be greater than your prayer life. The prayer altar is where things are changed.
4. Pray for the family: This one is essential. The man who is the priest of the home has the role of encouraging his family to pray for each other on a daily basis. The battles unfolding in marriages in recent days are beyond words. Husbands, pray for your wives. Wives, pray for your husbands. Not religious prayers. Take his name and take a scripture and start pouring prayers into his life. Then do the same for your children. Pray for their marriage; pray for their relationships; their schools; their health; pray the fear of God in their hearts. You will be amazed at how the hand of God will align their hearts to his will. They can never be wrong. A man of God died and went to hell when he was much younger..

These prayer focus groups are essential for survival in these last days. You don’t live well because either you don’t pray at all or you don’t pray well. Prayer is not an option. This is the only option to survive the satanic onslaughts of the past few days.

Ayo Akerele, Leadership and Systems Development Strategist and Minister for Speech, writes from Canada and can be reached via [email protected]