Pastor Funke Ige has reminded Christians to praise God and rejoice even when it seems like their prayers have not been answered.
She remarked in her sermon at the April 21 Thursday Showers, during which she also took her reading from 1 Thessalonians 5:17, that God would always fulfil His promises to them.
According to Pastor Funke, believers need to pray always, especially as it is a commandment. She also said that sometimes, when there is persistence in the place of prayer and answers seem not to be forthcoming, there is a need to change the prayer focus to thanksgiving.
The cleric encouraged the congregation never to grow weary and not to forget that they serve a faithful God.
“Once He says it, He will do it. This should spring up a well of joy in us whilst disregarding the discouragement and the obvious,” she urged, whilst reading from Hebrews 11:6.
The clergywoman from The Fountain of Life Church, Grace Family, explained that persistence is needed in the place of prayers.
While citing Daniel’s case (Daniel 10:12) to buttress the need for persistence, she noted that he never relented in asking till he got the answers to his prayers.
“We must never give up, for we are the people of the promise. We must also understand that there is a place of waiting (Isaiah 40:31) in prayer which will eventually lead to growth in our walk with God,” she said.
If a believer notices some forces working against their prayers, they should intensify and pray more, she added.
Pastor Funke Ige posited that believers should always pray according to the will of God. This, she stated, makes prayers effective and likely to be attended to by God.
The clergywoman admonished Christians not to be distracted while praying. Distraction, she explained, dishonours God and may pose a threat to their prayers being answered.
This is as she reiterated the place of “faith” (James 1:6) as a tool for answers to prayers.
The wife of Pastor Tolu Ige of The Fountain of Life Church, Grace Family, cited Elijah as a case study (1 Kings 18:41-45) of the importance of faith to prayers.
“Although Elijah was told of just a small cloud like a man’s fist, his faith got hold of it for he understood what an abundance of rain was and he got the answers to his prayers,” she told the worshippers.
She went ahead to admonish believers to always confess positively (Revelations 12:11) irrespective of the situation.
The cleric said: “As believers, we have ministering angels assigned to us and we should use them. We have the Holy Spirit with us as well, so we should always use our weaponry (the word, angels, Holy Spirit, etc) to disarm the devil.”
Pastor Funke Ige admonished the congregation not to try to arm-twist God.
“We should be aware that we cannot force God to do what we want, which is contrary to His will,” the preacher added. “We should always pray according to His will, leaving doubt out of the way, and be intentional with our prayers,” she stated.
