From Praise to Petition: Experiencing the Power and Passion of Prayer

By Danuta Goah

Prayer involves entering into the presence of God. But what does one do in His presence? In this book, you will read that prayer is a journey. On this journey, one engages God at every step. As you learn the steps taught in this book and understand them and begin to practice them, your prayer life can never be the same. You will experience more power and a passion to pray. A desire to praise God will be ignited in you. From Praise to Petition: Experiencing the Power and Passion of Prayer is a book for all believers who want to remain engaged with the Spirit of God in their time of prayer. "Prayer has a new name...." - Charles Goah

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: May 10, 2017
• ISBN: 9781635750201

Book preview

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From

Praise to

Petition

Experiencing the Power and Passion of Prayer

Charles Goah

Endorsements

"Pastor Charles Goah in his book, From Praise to Petition: Experiencing the Power & Passion of Prayer, offers an exceedingly practical guidebook for all of us who want to have a more passionate prayer life.  Pastor Goah’s international perspective and long-term faithfulness in life and ministry combine to give us confidence that we are hearing from one who has had a heartfelt commitment to the spiritual discipline of prayer and has seen how God’s power has been unleashed in real life as a result. 

From Praise to Petition gives us a path toward renewal in our own practice of prayer and help in our leadership of others we influence to engage more faithfully in this life-giving discipline."

Bishop Timothy A. Johnson, Executive Director

Minnesota Church Ministries Association

* *

Pastor Charles Goah out of his experience and through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, has helped the body of Christ with a book that falls in the ranks of versatility! This book provokes a prayerless Christian to begin to pray, one who has backslidden in prayer to experience a revival in their prayer life, and those who have a consistent prayer life to be stirred up to pray even more! I highly recommend this book to Christians at all levels: layman, church leaders, pastors, etc.

Rev. Dr. Francis Tabla, Pastor Ebenezer Community Church, Brooklyn Park, Minnesota 

* *

This book offers an encouraging and practical approach to enhance one’s spiritual relationship to God through prayer. Rev. Charles Goah has been an effective church leader in Minnesota, and especially within the Liberian Christian community in the United States. His commitment to prayer – even before the experiences described here in this book – has been evidenced by the ways God has used him to advance the Gospel of Jesus. The stories and insights about prayer, shared in this book, are words of wisdom that will help the reader to deepen their personal relationship to God through a life-giving habit of prayer.

Carl Nelson, CEO & President Transform Minnesota - 

the evangelical network

ISBN 978-1-63575-019-5 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63575-020-1 (Digital)

Copyright © 2017 by Charles Goah

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

296 Chestnut Street

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Dedication

I dedicate this book to all whom I have prayed with and have had a prayer relationship with over the years!

Beginning with my wife, the list grew, and soon, I was praying with about seventeen persons in a seven-day span. I did not pray for seven days with each person on the list. For some, it was only two days in the cycle; others, three or five days, and for a good number, we prayed all seven days together. That season of my life was very exciting, to say the least. All those people know themselves. Some are my spiritual sons and daughters; others my brothers and sisters in Christ. It is to you, I dedicate this book.

Introduction

This book began as a thought in my head in the early spring of 2006! That thought was implanted after my visit to the eastern European country of Ukraine.

In December 2005, my wife and I travelled to the Ukraine. We were in Poland (my wife’s homeland), spending the Christmas of ’05 with her family. Before leaving the United States, we had planned that we were going to visit Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.

My desire to visit Kiev began at least one and a half years earlier to the date of our visit. On the Internet, I had come across the ministry of Pastor Sunday Adelaja, a Nigerian-born journalist, who studied overseas, and later felt called to preach. Pastor Sunday is the founding pastor of the Embassy of God Church, the largest evangelical church in Eastern Europe.¹ While surfing the Internet, I came across the name of Pastor Sunday and the church he established. I became fascinated to know that a fellow African (a Nigerian) was leading one of the most influential churches in all of Europe.² Over the next several weeks, I read about Embassy of God Church in Kiev and followed the ministry reports of Pastor Sunday. I told myself, I would love to visit the church.

A year and a half later, my wife and I were in Kiev. My dream had come true. But prior to going to Kiev, I had sent e-mail communications to the appropriate persons in the church, introducing myself and informing them about my desire to visit the church.

What fascinated me were the reports I read about their weekly prayer meetings. Who would come to a prayer meeting in the middle of winter late at night with snow and ice on the ground and stay for over six hours? I would see that for myself. In the first chapter, I describe for you my experience in Kiev, and how, as a result, God birthed in my spirit a desire and a new way to pray.

But what is prayer? Can I convince you that it is the most important activity in the life of the believer? Prayer is simple, yet it is complex! Prayer is communication with the Divine Creator of the universe. One writer has said that God is the greatest force in the universe. His power is released on our behalf through prayer.³ That means God’s power is unleashed when we pray. Imagine that! The greatest force in the universe (God) is moved to act as a result of the words we say. That’s incredible.

Most people may read that and only focus on one portion of prayer—the one that has to do with asking or making a petition! But is prayer only about making a petition? The title of this book has already given you food for thought. Frankly, prayer, as I have come to discover, is a journey. That’s how I have seen it since my experience in Kiev.

Chapter 2 gives the theological answer as to what prayer is. Mostly, people say that prayer is communication with God, but as described in the book, you will discover that it is more than a communication. It is also a communing with God.

In chapter 3, you will read briefly the history of prayer (coming into the presence of God and making petition to God). It is interesting to note that formal prayers began with people who had a desire to follow God. Also, in this third chapter, the book makes the case more solidly as to the importance of prayer and how in many instances miracles were the result when prayers were offered to God. There are places in the Word of God where miracles took place as a direct result of prayer. We will review a few of those.

In chapter 4, we observe the disciples making the request to the Lord Jesus to teach them how to pray. Have you considered why Jewish men with a strong religious history would make a request as the one found in Luke 11:1? We explore that! If indeed prayer is the most important activity in the life of the believer, do all believers know how to pray?

Usually, when we go to a prayer retreat or prayer meeting, we expect the participants to already know how to pray. But is it possible that many who profess the Christian faith really do not know how to pray? Is there a way to pray? The disciples in Luke 11 certainly imply that a person can be taught how to pray.

The fifth chapter examines the prayer life of Jesus. Here, the Lord Jesus demonstrates without a shadow of a doubt that prayer is important. The life of Jesus shows how He prayed and when He prayed. We also find out for what He prayed. We will spend time with Jesus and see exactly how He demonstrates this.

Prayer is a subject that we come across in the pages of the Bible very frequently. Then beginning in chapter 6, I expose you to what the Spirit of God birthed in me as my wife and I rode for twenty-five hours to Gorzow Wielkopolski, Poland, on our way back from the Ukrainian capital. I believe in the message of this of this book. That’s why it is finally written. Prayer for the individual believer, is indeed a journey. That journey begins with praise. Praise to God is the first step on the journey. The subject of praise can be a book all by itself. In the chapter on praise, you will discover not only what praise is, but what praise does to the believer ultimately. Once you have understood the magnitude of praise as the first step, based upon what God revealed to me from Psalm 148, you will be convinced that the next logical step on the prayer journey is confession.

According to D. L. Moody, praise, which is the same as adoration, puts God in His right place.⁴

The third, fourth, and final steps in the journey of prayer are the following: thanksgiving, worship, and petition! In thanksgiving, the believer seeks the opportunity to give thanks to God. You will see that giving thanks can be one of the most exhilarating aspects of prayer. This is followed by worship. Worship is subdued praise. The worship that I teach in the book is actually the act of being surrendered, and it is based on a portion of Revelation chapter 4. And then, finally, petition. This is the last step on the journey of prayer. Petition, as the word depicts, is when we bring our list of needs and desires to the Lord. In the final step, we just ask the Lord for whatever it is we need or desire. But that is not just for ourselves. Our petition may include the needs of others. It is actually here in this last step that we do intercession.

So from praise to petition—with confession, thanksgiving, and worship in the middle—is how I have come to understand prayer and the way I pray personally. I am convinced that praying in this fashion (as I have described in the book) is worth the experience every time! I have prayed this way for many years now. I have prayed for as little as fifteen minutes, to as long as three hours in one prayer period using this