To say that prayer changes things is not as close to the truth as saying, prayer changes man and then man changes things. This is the teaching about the study of God’s workings delivered by man of God and general overseer of the Omega Fire Ministry (OFM) worldwide, Apostle Johnson Suleman.
According to Apostle Suleman, who is today ending a two-day prophetic conference being held in Kumba, Cameroun, tagged ‘Intimacy 2024’, “prayer doesn’t change things; it changes you till things change. So, if you don’t see answers now, it means you are being changed; soon things will change.”
There’s something about engaging God in prayer about a situation, the ‘Restoration Apostle’s lecture suggests: God wants to help, but God wants to help you in His way. That means He wants to change you first for things to change. His answer will be the answer He thinks you need, not necessarily the one you need. We do not tell God that this is the answer we want. That is a prayer mistake. God knows us and our situation better than we do. And His answer will reflect that.
His timing is not ours. We erroneously think that once we pray, the solution will be instantaneous. It’s not. God knows what is going on and all of the pieces that need to come together before the answer will come. Changing us is the optimal response for things to change.
Scripturally, Jacob was a great prayer warrior. He knew how to stand alone in the place of prayer. He knew how to challenge God in prayer for his demand, and won’t let go until God moved to deliver his request. But things changed when he had a changed name, not just answers to prayer. Jacob had a new personality, identity, and story.
Apostle Suleman teaches that, when we pray and the situation does not seem changing, from God’s perspective, things are changing but He is changing us first. He works most of His solutions away from our sight. Sometimes, changing us ahead of changing our situation is God’s way of growing our faith.
One of the most intriguing aspects of prayer is that it’s intended to change the one praying. It’s intended to get us on God’s page, to help us to see the wisdom of His perfect will, and to bring us to want what God wants rather than what we want. What the praying man does is to bring his will into line with the will of God so that God can do what He has all along been willing to do. Thus, prayer changes the man and enables God to change things in answer to man’s prayer, the man of God elucidates, praying that believers are blessed with the Spirit of grace and supplication, thereby making us engage passionately in the prayer and return with undeniable transformation on all sides.
Judith Iyoh writes fashion, lifestyle and real estate investment.
