Book: Riches Of Prayer
Author: W. F. Kumuyi
Pages: 157
Publishers: Life Press Ltd, Lagos, Nigeria
Reviewer: Banji Ojewale
Years ago, a journalist approached Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi, General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, DCLM, eager to know what he hid under his miracle-laden prayers that always landed, bereft of boisterous baggage. The newsman wondered: ‘’What I find amazing … is that some other pastors would lay their hands on people and shake them till they fall down and roll about. But you don’t do that. You just stand at the podium and pray a simple prayer, a normal prayer, no theatrics, and people get healed.’’
The respected founder of Deeper Life Bible Church, DLBC, told his interviewer: ‘’There are no theatrics in our church, because, from my background, I don’t like anything that is turned into a show or drama. Some pastors like the drama rather than the results. I want the results rather than the drama. I have also looked at the ministry of Jesus Christ, and I want as much as possible to follow the life and ministry of Jesus Christ…So in the earlier years, I prayed, ‘’Lord, I want this kind of ministry, the Jesus type. I don’t want anything fake. I am not building up myself or exalting myself.’’ (So) I will keep praying for the people and trust the Lord to deliver the results.’’
Pastor Kumuyi has since gone ahead to write a book, Riches of Prayer, that details the ‘’Jesus type’’ of ministry that undergirds the clergyman’s potent prayer life. It has led him to roaring fiery results far beyond his base in Africa to the outer reaches of the world. In language not cluttered, not convoluted nor complicated, Kumuyi says the simple secret is the Lord’s Prayer that famously opens with, ‘’Our Father in Heaven’’. He insists all what we need do to enjoy the depthless riches of prayer is to strictly follow Christ’s archetype. Not more, not less.
His work turns the Lord’s model ‘’inside out’’ line by line to teach us that although the Bible proclaims, “O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come’’, there are conditions to be met to access Him. Those terms are built into the Lord’s Prayer. Christ should know the kind of plea that receives Heaven’s attention, He being of Heaven where earthlings direct their petitions. He says that since man can’t do without prayers to their Creator for their needs, spiritual and physical, we must learn to do so properly for profitable outcomes. Kumuyi recalls that Christ Himself prayed to prove the indispensability of prayer in the relationship between the serious believer and God.
The founder of DLBC says following Christ’s pattern, we must first establish a bond with God through being again and forsaking our sins, to enable us sincerely refer to Him as ‘’Our Father which art in heaven.’’ He writes: ’’How do I say, ‘Our Father’ if heaven does not see in my character, that I am living as a child of God would. I cannot say: ‘which art in heaven’ if am laying up no treasure up there.’’ Again, he argues, you’re not allowed to say ‘’Hallowed be thy name’’ or ‘’thy kingdom come’’ if your deeds don’t honour God to hasten His Kingdom’s advent. Still more: you can’t talk of God’s will to be done here on earth as it is done in Heaven if right here in the world, you’re already trampling on His Word; asking for ‘’daily bread’’ implies complete dependence on the Lord for all supplies without shady deals and compromise; when we ask God to forgive us our debts, we must have overlooked those of others; and as we call on God to deliver us from temptation and evil, we must also not go close to their terrain; finally, how can one tethered to the passions of this passing realm, say, ‘’Thine is the kingdom, And the power, And the glory for ever?’’
Kumuyi cautions that Christ’s approximately 66-word prayer (in the original Greek version) isn’t meant to be parroted robotically in our worship service or at home. Not at all. Instead, Christ brought it to teach us how to pray, not a prayer to recite every time. It’s the reason we can’t find it in the prayers of the believers in the New Testament.
According to Kumuyi, three things should stand out when we pray and expect Heaven to grant our requests. These are Desire and Concern for God’s Kingdom, Knowledge of God’s Will and Submission to God’s Will. At each stage, God must be present, dominant and constant. Any prayer that fails these tests, Pastor Kumuyi asserts, ‘’will rebound on us, and that is where it ends. No effects. No heavenly sanction; vain words! At best such prayers are mere babblings engaged on to kill time and to appear pious.’’
These bold views of the man of God in Riches of Prayer clearly challenge what we witness in the Church today. Christ says ‘’Watch and Pray’’. But the pulpit and pew do more of praying, which, even at that, is a complete negation of the pristine principles put in place by the Lord.
Alluding to this disturbing departure, Pastor Kumuyi declares: ‘’In an age when religious activities have become popular, it is common to see people pray, or rather, appear to pray…But whether this is a measure of a world becoming more inclined toward God is very doubtful…Prayer goes beyond the use of the right words. One may use the right words in prayer, but if the heart, attitude and dispositions are wrong before God, then prayers become …empty words, unprofitable, and an exercise in futility.’’
Pastor Kumuyi’s book, delivered in artless language in congruence with the simple diction of the Lord’s Prayer, is gently saying that the prayer that moves God is one arising from a ‘’meek and quiet’’ soul with lingering links to Heaven, not one who maintains a gymnastic presence before God, offering carnal abilities like clapping, shouting, jumping,l long supplication etc. as grounds to receive from Heaven.
*Ojewale is a writer in Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria
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