This is the ‘Year of the Gathering Clouds‘, the clouds are being filled with rain as we pray, and positive changes are happening all around the world, says Pastor Chris Oyakhilome.
May is the ‘Month of Praise‘ our Man of God declared at the Global Communion Service and Praise Night. He explained that God is preparing His people for the upcoming ‘Unending Praise’ in the month of June.
Following the Global Communion Service and Praise Night, we had a week of global praying and fasting, where we were changing the circumstances of nations of the world to align with the will and purpose of God through prayer, intercessions, and prophecy.
Now Pastor Chris is offering a special prayer and fasting for ministers of the gospel from the 12th of May till Saturday, the 14th of May. It will be broadcast live daily from 6:00 pm GMT +1 on selected ministers’ network platforms.
Pastor Chris Oyakhilome said that praying and fasting are necessary in order to prevent bad things from happening. “Our prayer gives us the allocation of our time for us to utilize as God intended rather than to lose it to Satan. We have an allocated time,” the Pastor continued.
“You have got to pray. Jesus said: ‘Men ought always to pray.’ Pray! There are things that we must make sure do not happen. And guess what, when they do not happen, we are all going to be happy and thank God they did not happen. Of course, there are going to be people who will say: ‘Oh, they were not going to happen,’ but listen… Eventually, they will happen,” he said.
Where did praying and fasting originate?
During the “Your LoveWorld” prayer, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome emphasized why it is important to listen to God’s prophecies.
“At least most of the world has experienced and are maybe experiencing some form of lockdown of their cities and flattening of their economies. Things that they never dreamed could happen. But you know, a whole lot of people have faith in man and not in God,” he stated.
Pastor Chris Oyakhilome then went on to compare it to the Bible story of Noah’s Ark.
“And you look at the Bible when God told Noah to build an ark. An ark of salvation because he said he was going to destroy the world with water. They did not believe. They did not believe. All they thought was: ‘Oh come on, Noah, that will never happen.’ Because there were so many that did not believe that somehow it was not going to happen… You know, there is a faith people tend to develop in numbers. They think that if they were many enough, no one would do that,” he said.
In order to prevent those thoughts, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome initiated the three days of fasting and praying.
All of the fasting and praying services came after Pastor Chris Oyakhilome and Pastor Benny Hinn’s extremely successful Global Prayer Day on March 27th, 2020. At the beginning of April 2020, the Pastor introduced his first week of fasting and praying, and since then, the event has been extended numerous times.
The right time to pray and fast according to Pastor Chris
Pastor Chris discussed the right time to pray and fast in a Rhapsody of Realities last year.
“Prayer and fasting have been part of our spiritual activity as Christians. We fast when necessary.”
“When is it necessary to fast?” someone might ask.
“First, when your local church or congregation proclaims a prayer and fasting program, that’s a time to fast. Never isolate yourself from such a call, because it’s part of our corporate fellowship. There are things we do corporately, such as corporate worship, and many other things that are intended for spiritual growth and edification; prayer and fasting are among them.”
“Secondly, when you choose to fast and pray, or the Holy Spirit leads you to do so, don’t ignore it. That’s another great opportunity, especially if it’s the Spirit guiding you; and you’ll know when He’s the One leading you to fast.”
Some people schedule prayer and fasting as a means for their own spiritual exercise, and that’s excellent. So, in whichever way and at whatever time you’re guided to fast, take it seriously. Make fasting and praying a part of your personal spiritual routine.
He encouraged the congregation to be disciplined to always get involved, being aware that the benefits are essential to your spiritual growth.
Remember that through fasting and praying, your effectiveness in the things of the Spirit is improved. Your ability to hear and receive from God is sharpened, and you’re more attuned to the finer signals and instruction of the Spirit that you need for a higher level of life; a life of continuous glory and success!
Sometimes as Christians, we miss God’s order of things. God is a God of order, and order gives meaning to things. For example, all around the world, people tend to confuse the order and say, “fasting and prayer,” instead of “prayer and fasting.” Prayer comes before fasting in the Scriptures.
Not understanding the right order may account for the reason many people fast without praying, which is largely a waste of time and effort. The emphasis should be on praying. It’s a call to prayer, and because you’re praying, you’re consciously staying away from eating. The fast is on, because you’re praying, not because you’re not eating.