Consumed by Passion: a Clarion Call for Prayers

CONSUMED

BY PASSION:

A Clarion Call for Prayers

DR. BONIFACE OKENCHI EZIOMUME

Copyright © 2014 DR. BONIFACE OKENCHI EZIOMUME.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Unless otherwise noted, all scriptures used in the book are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scriptures marked (AMP) are taken from the Amplified Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-2173-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-2175-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-2174-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014900368

WestBow Press rev. date: 01/09/2014

CONTENTS

Acknowledgement

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Call to Prayer

1. Prayer Principles

(a) Create time for prayer

(b) Seek a quiet place to pray

(c) Spend time with the Word of God

(d) Unshakeable faith in God

(e) Prayer outline

(f) Discipline yourself to be consistent and passionate

(g) Fasting intensifies prayer

(h) Holiness – A weapon of prayer

Chapter 2: Where are the Jeremiahs of our days?

(a) Where are the Isaiahs of today

(b) Where are the Micaiahs of today

Chapter 3: Where are the Intercessors?

1. Great Intercessors of the Bible

(a) Jacob the Intercessor

(b) Queen Esther the Intercessor

(c) Hannah the Intercessor

2. Intercessors are made and not born

3. The result of the work of Intercessors

4. Intercessors extend the limit on Grace

(a) Abraham pleaded for Sodom

(b) Grace extended to Nineveh

5. Intercession breaks the yoke of sicknesses and diseases

6. Intercessors are God’s first responders

7. The absence of Intercessors produces God’s judgement

Chapter 4: Where are the Miracle workers: have Signs ceased?

1. Faith produces the Miracles

2. Signs and Miracles are for the bold

3. Radicals not Conformists

4. Signs and Wonders accompany obedience

5. An Empowered church

Chapter 5: Fasting - A forgotten virtue?

1. Fasting ignites the fire of revival

2. Fasting calls for a disciplined lifestyle

3. Fasting and its result

Chapter 6: Satan: A late entrant to the game

1. Divorce in our society

2. Homosexual relationships

3. The days of battle are here

Chapter 7: The challenge of acceptance

1. The New Testament Church

2. Our Churches today

3. A call for Revival

Chapter 8: With Jesus in the School of Prayer

Chapter 9: Igniting Fire through your Prayer Language

1. Basis for praying in tongues

2. Attacks against speaking in Tongues

3. Tongues as a gift and a sign

4. Why do we need to speak in Tongues?

Chapter 10: Soul Winning: The death of all mankind in Adam

1. Every man needs a Savior

2. Disciples aflame

3. Where are the Christian Apologetics of today

4. The gospel is a message of hope

5. One on one Witnessing

Chapter 11: Spiritual Warfare

1. Understanding Spiritual Warfare

(a) The four Hebrew children

(b) Job’s temptation by Satan

(c) An accuser of the brethren

2. Overcoming the adversary through Christ

3. The spirit of violence in the land

Chapter 12: The Fire in the Passion: The dilemma of the anointed

1. What is the Fire?

(a) Abraham the father of faith

(b) Joseph the deliverer

(c) Hoshea the Prophet

(d) The Apostle Paul

(e) Stephen, a man full of grace, power and faith

(f) Jeremiah the Prophet

2. Let not your fire kill the Passion

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

All the glory, honor and gratitude go to the Lord Jesus Christ without whom this book could never have been possible.

My sincere gratitude to the love of my life, my precious wife Ifeoma Eunice Eziomume, and my lovely children Victory, Chisom and David. Their support and encouragement is beyond compare.My sincere appreciation to Mr and Mrs Ndukuba and family and all my other brothers and sisters.

Thank God for my church family, all the brothers and Sisters of Dominion International Ministries. Your love, encouragement and commitment are very refreshing. Thank you for all you do for the Kingdom. Special thanks to Sis. Patti-Walters Robinson, for helping with the manuscript. My special thanks to Mr.Antonio and Keisha Mcdonald of Oneshot photography for the design of the cover page. You are truly a brother. My gratitude also goes to Mr. Vincent Hardison.

I thank God for all my brothers and Sisters in the African Christian Fellowship. Your love and commitment is ever encouraging.

To God be all the glory.

INTRODUCTION

The inspiration to write this book came as a result of an increasing burden in prayer for God’s intervention over the unfolding events of our time. However the timing for its writing was never premeditated but had suddenness about it when the Lord spoke and guided me through the weeks of the writing. The Bible declares that in the last days because iniquity shall abound, that the love of many shall grow cold. As our societies increasingly depart from God, we become bold in iniquities and adopt ways contrary to the word of God. But our God, who is rich in mercy and love does not wish for any to perish but rather that all should come to repentance and to a place of intimate relationship with Him. His heart therefore is that intercessors should arise who will stand on the gap and pray until the yoke of deception be destroyed that makes this generation think they can find peace and satisfaction outside of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This book therefore is an attempt to awaken all to the call of God for intercessors for our churches, families, friends, society, nation and nations of the word. Materials has been presented in such a way that those who say I don’t really know how to pray, or I can’t pray for long without my mind wandering will be guided through to a place of intimacy with God. This is a call to the body of Christ to arise and pray until we experience a revival and an outpouring of the Spirit of God upon our land with signs and wonders following. My prayer is that as you read through the pages of this book, your heart will be stirred up and consumed by passion through the texts, scriptures and numerous testimonies contained.

All through the centuries, God has always responded to the deep heart cries of His people resulting in great revivals, deep spiritual awakenings and mighty moves of the Spirit in signs and wonders. Now, the Lord is calling us all to rise up in passionate prayers for the outpouring of His Spirit upon our churches and communities. Our nations are plagued by the spirit of violence, sexual deviance, teenage pregnancies, and abortion. Our nations have degenerated far below the standard the nation of Israel was centuries ago when the Lord called for His judgments against them:

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. Why should ye be stricken anymore? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Your country is desolate; your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city, Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.(Is.1:2-9). Should God be silent to all our transgressions when he judged Israel for theirs? The advent of social media has taken our generation to a new low level of moral apathy. Hence, the question is no longer whether God will judge this generation for our transgressions but rather when that will come and in what ways and manner. Are we already beginning to see the signs of His judgments? The only hope our nations have to avert God’s judgment is the prayers of the saints. Hence, the clarion calls for prayers.

It is my prayer that the Lord who has placed this book in your hand will use these humble presentations of mine to awaken you, your church and community to prayers. May the Lord cause you to be consumed with His passion.

Chapter 1

THE CALL TO PRAYER

This book is a result of many years of struggling to pray without much success until an encounter with the Lord in 1994. After reading many books on prayer, some by intercessors who wrote from a place of personal experience about a life of prayer and many by others who were expounding the theories and doctrines of prayer, I was still struggling to pray. However, in that encounter, I expressed to the Lord my struggles and disappointments in the place of prayer, such as lack of burden, passion, and inability to stay long and focused in the place of prayer without my mind wandering and being distracted. The Lord spoke to me, saying, son, you learn prayer by praying. I asked Him, Lord, what do you mean by that? He said, son, go into your room, lock the door, and start praying. There and then, I understood that prayer is not just something we talk about, think about, read about, or even meditate or pray about. Rather, prayer is something that we do. Prayer does not just happen; we make it happen.

Armed with this revelation from the Lord, in my spirit, I knew that the Lord was speaking of the place of discipline in prayer. I resolved in my mind to obey the Lord, to take this seriously and give myself in obedience to prayer. So I began locking my doors for hours, seeking the face of the Lord in prayer. When tired of kneeling, I stood, sat down, or laid on my back, on my side, or face down. I did all but pray.

The time for these prayers stretched from minutes to an hour and then to several hours. The prayer moved from one day to several days of being under the atmosphere of prayer and then to months as the Lord enabled. Rather than the usual prayer for personal needs, the burden shifted to others, churches, nations, souls, etc. With the long hours of prayer came the burden for souls, a greater hunger for the Word of God, and then tears and compassion in the place of prayer. An increasing stay in the presence of God led to my heart being warmed toward God and the things of God.

The place of prayer in our lives can never be overemphasized, and the transformation that comes from staying in God’s presence can best be experienced rather than talked about. Does not the present lack of passion, burden, and compassion for the