Praying in the Spirits of Just Men: The Spirits of the Righteous Praying Man: a Novel Insight

By Kenneth Benjamin

Drawing on the word of God and stories of some spiritual elites coupled with his few years of experience, Kenneth Benjamin offers messages that will rekindle your faith and help you launch to the new frontiers of prayer so that you can claim territories for Jesus in line with the great commission for His worldwide agenda.

This book answers the questions about the following:

* Relationships between prayer and fasting
* Levels of fasting
* Physiological effects of fasting
* Challenges of the praying man
* The spirits of just men
* The spirit of Elijah, Moses, Joshua, and Christ Jesus
Kenneth has filled this book with inspiring topics that will fire up your zeal for intercessorial deliverance prayer not only for your families but for people in troubled nations around the world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Oct 26, 2012
• ISBN: 9781466962606

Book preview

CONTENTS

Dedication

Acknowledgement

Preface

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Comments

Bibliographic Notes

Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the Valley of Ajalon (Joshua 10:12)

Dedication

This book is dedicated to Jesus Christ, our great intercessor and to all the secret intercessors who intercedes for People, Cities, States and troubled Nations around the World.

Acknowledgement

I want to acknowledge God who directed my hand and my intellect by His Spirit in the writing of these inspiring fine details on the subject of prayer.

I must not fail to acknowledge the impactful teachings of Dr. John Youell and Dr. Frank G. Tunstall of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC) on Prayer and spirit of prophecy respectively at the 26th graduation lectures of the West Africa Bible College Lagos in 2009. It always refreshes and re-echo in my spirit and formed the basis of the teaching that spurred the writing of this book.

However, my heartfelt appreciations go to the following dedicated servants of God: Rev. Dr. Ben Onyesoh, Rev. Dr. David Nwaohia, Rev. Dr. Luke Nnadi, Rev. Dr. Raphael Oladokun, Dr. Japheth Oyutu, Elder Dr. Uche E. Azubogu, Apostle Dr. Ekenenyem Moses, Pastor Kester Onowu and Venerable Stephen N. Dimelu.

I also appreciate the effort of Miss Olawoye Abiola who typed the manuscript and all the proof readers.

Preface

Some of the information contained in this book is the interplay between Science and Christianity with evidence that they agree together and in no wise would they conflict with each other. This is based on the understanding that God gave the wisdom and knowledge for scientific innovations and all are traceable to the scripture (Ex. 31:2-3, 6).

Every action we take in life has a purpose and benefit, and with that mindset, detailed discussions on purpose, benefits and types of prayer found in the scriptures are rendered in this book.

More so, the subject of prayer cannot be discussed in isolation; and so must include fasting. In this book I took time to give details about prayer including the model prayer Jesus taught His disciples.

It is no doubt that prayer and fasting go together, and this discussion is not limited to purpose and activity during fast but includes benefits and levels of fasting coupled with its physiological effects.

Further reading through this discourse will reveal the challenges of the praying man; followed by two key points in the subject of prayer featured as praying in the will of God, and praying in the spirit.

However, my main interest and purpose of writing this book is centered on the spirits of just men. The Bible characters that served as examples of the spirits of just men are Elijah, Moses, Joshua and Jesus Christ.

I hold the view in this book that for one to claim a soldier of Christ and to be enlisted as an army of the Lord; he must be operating in the spirits of these men. This is because the spirits of these men embodies the spirit of prayer, intercession, prophecy, humility, deliverance, fire, warrior, passion for fairness, and admission of spiritual supremacy over the natural. I dare you to pray in the spirits of just men, which is a challenge to pray in the order and similitude of these men.

Chapter One

1.0 What is Prayer?

Every Christian writer tries to define the term prayer from his or her own perspective based on the biblical provisions of the constituent elements to cover its purpose and functions.

Some may not strictly want to define prayer, but apply a descriptive pattern for a richness of perspectives.

However, for the purposes of clarity and exegetical exactitude, I will employ both definition and description to do a fair treatment to this subject. But before that is done, I want to quickly refresh your mind on the broad spectrum nature of the word prayer. This is because Christian believers have the impression that they are the only people that do pray to God. It may interest you to know that people of other faith pray as well as we Christians do. African Traditional Religion has a praying pattern and liturgical process that guides their operation to communicating with the Supreme Being.

Consequent upon this illumination on the broad spectrum nature of prayer; let me attempt to define and describe the term called ‘prayer.’

Prayer is a means by which individuals, both Christians and people of other faith including the African Traditional Religious Priest Communicates with the true and only living God called the infinite intelligence, the Almighty God (El-Shaddai) or the Supreme Being.

This definition is broad spectrum in nature to cover the macrocosmic nature of the word prayer. In the microcosmic perspective; it is a means by which a Christian believer communicates with God through the way of His Son Jesus Christ.

It is so, because, the scripture says in John 14:6;

"I am (Jesus) the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the father, but by me (KJV).

Jesus is the gate by which you can access the father in heaven. This is the reason every prayer of the Christian believer end in the name of Jesus.

In this sense, we in the Christian circle believe that prayer is the sign of the new birth. We have this understanding that praying is not the same thing as saying a prayer.

Praying is an act that is in the continuum. That is why the Apostle Paul said to the Thessalonian Church to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17). Praying is done with whole heartedness, contrition, faith, righteousness and obedience.

Saying a prayer is a continual process meaning that it can be repeated at intervals. It will interest you to know that Muslim faith finds value in this process as a pattern.

Unfortunately, the Christian believers are guilty of the offence of not praying according to Paul’s admonition and exhortation. Rather, we find value in saying prayer instead of praying. Praying is matching what you say with the appropriate word of God.

However, the aim of this book is to give captivating insights to the subjects of prayer, so that Christian believers will take their place in the art of communicating appropriately with their God.

It is my hope that men and women will wake up to find the true purpose of prayer. Christian believers need to go back to their Upper Room which is their prayer closet to unravel the mysteries of and about prayer.

"If one only reads the word, neglecting prayer, then cold pride and conceit will be the result. If one only prays, neglecting the word, then fanaticism and all the blindness that is ever connected there with will be the result, for the thoughts of God will not be known—Heijikoop H.L.

In the scriptures, great emphasis is put upon prayer. The Lord Jesus began His ministry with prayer. This is evidenced in Luke 3:21, thus:

"Now when all the people were baptized it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized and praying the heaven was opened (KJV).

The church also was birthed from the womb of prayer. The assembly was formed and three thousand men were converted after a long prayer.

"And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter and James and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Mathew, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon, Zelotes and Judas the brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren Acts 1:13-14(KJV).

In the school of prayer, the most valued and a key to everything important is praying especially in the will of God.

No man is greater than his prayer life. One who is not praying is playing and the people who are not praying are straying. Today, lack of praying has turned the pulpit to become a shop window to display gymnastics whereas the prayer closet allows no showing off.

Leonard Ravenhill says, Prayer is profoundly simple and simply profound. Prayer is the simplest form of speech that infant lips can try, and yet so sublime that it, outrages all speech and exhaust man’s vocabulary.

This explains what happened to Hannah when she prayed unto God and Eli thought that she was drunk. The lips were moving but her voice was not heard.

There are groaning which cannot be uttered. This brings us to another simple definition of prayer. Prayer is talking with God. Remember, we said earlier in our broad spectrum definition that, it is a means of communication. The complete cycle of communication is two way. In this sense prayer is a two way communication with us speaking to God and Him speaking to us. This is akin to the Newton’s third law of motion in physical sciences that says action and reaction are equal and opposite. That means, to every action (our prayers to God), there is equal and opposite reaction (answers from God).

I have only used this analogy to buttress the fact of channel in communication and it does not imply measurability in any sense in regards to our prayers and answers from God. The weight of the answers from God is solely His choice and dependent on Him.

Prayer is multidimensional in purpose because God shapes the world by prayer.

Rev. E.M Bounds said:

"Prayers are deathless, the lips that uttered them may be closed in death, the heart that felt them may have ceased to beat, but the prayers live before God, and God’s heart is set on them and prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them; outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world".

E.M.Bounds continued in another statement thus: The prayers of God’s saints strengthen the unborn generation against the desolating waves of sin and evil. Woe to the generation of sons who find their censers empty of the rich incense of prayers; whose fathers have been too busy or too unbelieving to pray, and perils inexpressible (unspeakable) and consequences untold are their unhappy heritage. Fortunate are they whose fathers and mothers have left them a wealthy patrimony of prayer.

Do We Need to Pray?

Yes! Men are to pray and to pray for the advancement of God’s cause. This is because prayer puts God in full force in the world.

Prayer is not only something done because we have to, or to please God; it is a privilege. We as true disciples of Jesus are allowed to come before God and speak to him: the king of kings, and yet your